Beneath the ocean, it was deep and dark, and endlessly vast but not quiet. The magic-like geoactivities of the ocean floor and the small number of deep-sea creatures which were active in this region were making a spooky noise like a crooning of nightmare. The MDT's deep-sea phobia might be fake but Hao Ren knew before long phobia would catch on with it as this place really made people stressed out.
The water pressure at this depth was unimaginable. If not for the power of the siren, Hao Ren felt that even his Steel Membrane Shield wouldn't survive the crushing force. He locked his eyes on those faint lights. His enhanced vision allowed him to see the surroundings with the aid of the low glow of the MDT. A container-like structure was vaguely visible on the ocean floor. The rectangular structure was leaning at an angle and partly buried in the sand, and roughly over 10m by 9m by 9m in dimensions. There were lightings on each upper corner of the container, barely enough to make the entire container visible. The container seemed to be still intact, at least the faint lightings meant its power source hadn't been completely depleted.
The container sit on a deep-sea sandbank and surrounded by higher sloping terrains on all side. On one side of the slopes was a huge trail which looked like a drag mark, possibly as a result from the falling container. When Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue came close to the container, they discovered some strange tiny creatures which were emanating a faint blue light. They looked like some crushed squids—they were flat, and only about 10cm in length. These tiny creatures obviously had made this giant container their new home when it landed here a couple of days ago as could be seen from the many little sand holes beneath the container. But before Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue could come close these tiny creatures had fled.
"It's bigger than what I'd imagined." Nangong Wuyue released her grab on Hao Ren before making her round circling the container. "What look like a small house, it's bigger than any cargo container on earth. Any idea how to open this thing?"
Hao Ren was following behind Nangong Wuyue as she circled the container. There was sign of ablation on the surface of the container and the once shining alloy outer wall was damaged probably due to the high heat during the reentry after the disintegration of the carrier. But the structure itself was completely intact. The container had a double-layer wall; when Hao Ren torn down the damaged outer layer, the thick inner alloy wall was revealed.
"I will find it." The MDT hovered above the container and started beaming its scanner looking for entrance. Before long it found an entry point on the side of the container. "Found it—the safety lock's working. And its backup generator's powering the core protective equipment function. The poor thing inside should be fine but before we open the hatch we need to block off the sea water from causing a secondary damage. Maybe we should move the container up to the surface."
"Getting this huge thing up to the surface?" Nangong Wuyue's eyes blinking. "I'd rather block off the water. Please take a step back, landlord, I'm going to create a dry zone."
As Hao Ren stepped back, Nangong Wuyue once again swam around the container in a circling motion but this time her movement seemed to follow a particular pattern. As her long tail flexed back and forth, a faint glow started to diffuse into the surrounding water. Nangong Wuyue then stopped dead above the container and uttered a strange-sounding syllable, a transparent semi-spherical barrier popped up out of nowhere right above the container!
The spherical barrier was tens of metres across, much bigger than the container itself. Water was separated from the inside and formed a spectacular scene of wonder. Hao Ren swam toward the barrier curiously. As he passed through the soft membrane, he entered into a water-free environment where even the sand under his feet was completely dry.
Hao Ren was awed by what he saw. "What you did is awesome! The ocean's truly your heaven."
Hao Ren turned around and saw Nangong Wuyue was coming in through the water barrier. Without water, the siren maiden could only moved with her long tail like a snake on the dry sand. But her body remained enchanting as ever. However, Nangong Wuyue herself didn't think so. She grumbled. "This' uncomfortable... I've tried to 'walk' this way a few times since I was young, and I still couldn't get used to it."
Hao Ren wanted to say she did look great by swaying her hips that way, but was taken aback by her next move: she shapeshifted back into a mermaid and jumped on her tail. She laid back down after a few attempts. "I couldn't balance myself... How did my mom even do that?"
Hao Ren: "....."
Nanyong Wuyue again shapeshifted back into the tail of a sea snake. She kept moving like a snake as she said to Hao Ren, "I think I should shapeshift into a mantis shrimp, that way I could at least walk steadily. Or maybe a crab..."
"Please spare me!" Hao Ren jumped on his feet and pointed at her tail. "Why don't you just transform back into human form?"
"Yeah, but my cloths are still up there!"
"You're right." Now Hao Ren realized that Nangong Wuyue is just like the werehusky, they both couldn't keep their cloths once shapeshifting. Not every other-kind was as poor and hypocritical as Vivian after all.
"If that's the case, what about your cloth you're wearing now?" Hao Ren pointed at her upper body. "Where did you get that?"
"That's my scales!" Nangong Wuyue patted on her chest. "I'm now practically nude. Just that cultural and aesthetics differences keep my modesty intact before a man..."
Hao Ren: ".....let's get back to business then..."
He felt that if he kept talking with the siren maiden, he was going to lose an important part of his life.
As the water around the container was drained, there was no worry of causing a secondary damage to the occupants inside. The MDT hovered at the side of the big thing. It sent out a light beam and connected to the control system of the container. "Let's hope that the safety host's still switched on, or we'll have to blast through the door.... Yeah, look like luck's on our side."
Right after the MDT said "luck's in our side", a creaking noise was heard under the metal plate as if the door mechanism was rubbing against the damaged outer wall. It then followed by a hissing sound. As the door slid open, it stopped at one-third of its fully open position as if something had stuck the door under the sliding track. But it didn't matter. The opening was big enough to pass through.
Hao Ren squeezed himself through the door.
The cabin was pretty big and everything was intact. The silver white cabin walls were undamaged. The amber and soft ambient light was so soothing that it was in stark contrast with the dark and cold world outside.
"The air and temperature was at a normal level as the atmospheric stabilising equipment was still functioning. That had greatly reduced the impact from the landing." The MDT was hovering closer behind Hao Ren. As it was connected to the cabin control computer, it had access to all data prior to the opening of the hatch. It relayed everything it knew to Hao Ren.
"Where's the occupant?" Hao Ren was carefully balancing himself on the slanted floor as he studied the unknown gadgets around him. There were racks on the wall, a display unit embedded in the wall, and some other strange equipments he knew nothing of. It seemed these things were inbuilt for the container. But the occupant was no where to be found.
The container was empty. There was no-one in there.
Meanwhile, Nangong Wuyue had climbed in. That's right, she was essentially climbing to get in considering the state of her movement. She couldn't move around freely so she stayed behind Hao Ren. "Where's the people?"
"No idea. It was empty when I came in." Hao Ren searched through the equipments and containers on the floor for clues but he found nothing meaningful. The MDT came closer and touched the display unit on the wall. "This thing's primitive, I just couldn't get used to it. Lets see what's inside... there's a login log, which means the occupant must still be here."
There weren't many things in the container. If there's anyone in there, Hao Ren would have seen it. So he gave up searching and went back outside. He let the MDT contact Raven 12345 while Nangong Wuyue was following him. The siren maiden found a white ball which was bigger than a goose egg, she played the ball on the tip of her tail while her eyes was staring at Hao Ren as he made the 'phone call'.
"Hello? Is that Hao Ren?" The lazy voice of Raven 12345 could be heard at the other end. "Did you get it?"
"Get what? The container was empty!" Hao Ren felt depressed. "Is your intel valid?"
"What do you mean 'empty'?" Raven 12345 sounded stunned. "Did you look inside properly? How could it be empty?"
"Yeah, I'd been looking high and low for a day." Hao Ren let out a sigh. As he turned his head around he saw Nangong Wuyue was tossing the white ball up and down, and so he joked. "Yeah, found an egg!"
"That's it! That egg!"
Nangong Wuyue's tail suddenly froze followed by a cracking sound.
Hao Ren; "What the fck!!!"
Raven 12345 was again stunned. "What happened?"
"It dropped!"
"Fck!!"