Chapter 740 Memory of Iolam

As Hao Ren's voice fell, everyone looked at him as if he were crazy. Nangong Sanba was stunned: "Are you out of your mind?"

"I'm not joking," Hao Ren stood in front of the holographic projection, watching the siren spirit named "Iolam" roar silently in space. "She's the only witness to the disaster ten thousand years ago, and only she can tell us who attacked Aerym. Now we've lost the warship samples we had, and the only clue left is this one…" He paused, pointing to space, "I always thought that the world-ending disasters in this universe were caused by the Ascendants, but now there's an exception here. We have to find out what's going on – and the Brain Monster once tried to open a crack to the surface world from here. Aerym must have something special about it, and I can't just leave it alone."

Vivian frowned, looking into Hao Ren's eyes: "I know all these are important, but do you think you can talk to Iolam? This…"

She glanced at the scene on the holographic projection: "This 'god' seems unapproachable. She's just a vengeful spirit now, with no reason at all. And even if she were rational, how do you plan to talk to such a… 'creature'? Her face is as wide as an entire planet! Are you going to stand in the middle of the ocean and shout at her?"

"When the ice was just starting to form down there, I briefly sensed a large amount of information flooding into my brain," Hao Ren tapped his forehead. "I figured it was probably less than a second… but I'm sure it was a memory related to the sirens. So I think I can establish a connection with Iolam similar to the one I have with the Brain Monster. Just let me try, and if it doesn't work, we can run."

Lily and Vivian exchanged glances and couldn't help muttering, "You really are Doudou's dad, landlord. Your spirit of courting death is on the same level. So how are you going to connect? Jump down and soak in the water again? What if you really get frozen this time?"

Hao Ren took a few breaths and nodded vigorously, "That's right, I'm jumping down. But I need the help of some sirens to control the water flow in a certain area. And now there's no interference down there. If the communication fails, I can teleport back up directly, so at least I won't be waiting to be frozen."

The data terminal vibrated twice, reluctantly squeezing out a sentence: "This unit calculates that you do have a certain probability of success, but this unit still has to say that what you're doing is not in accordance with safety regulations!"

Hao Ren patted the console: "Don't be silly. The first rule in the safety regulations section of the work manual is that this job is never safe. If you really want to help, keep firing in space. I'll give you all the permissions for the firepower console, and you can attract the siren spirit's attention as much as possible, so I'll be safer down below."

The data terminal was silent for a moment, then displayed an okay cartoon hand gesture on the holographic projection: "Roger that – you have fifty-five minutes."

Hao Ren immediately turned to Shaqira and the other two sirens and waved, "Katrina, Shaqira, Soma, I want to negotiate with your 'god'. Are you willing to help?"

"A rare opportunity," the Siren Queen stepped forward without hesitation. "There's nothing better than getting up close to 'Iolam'."

Nangong Wuyue also followed: "I'll help too. I'm a siren, after all, and I have to live up to my bloodline."

Hao Ren nodded, then turned to look at the others: "You guys stay on the ship. I'll be right back. There's no danger."

The Petrachelys swiftly weaved through the arms reaching into space, and after precisely calculating a series of trajectories, successfully circled to a geocentric point suitable for projection. Then a beam of white light shot towards the surface of the planet.

The white light dissipated, and Hao Ren and the sirens were already standing on the sea of Aerym.

Surrounding them were surging waves, endless and strangely shaped waves surging around them in layers, forming countless spectacular wonders. The thick clouds in the sky had dissipated, Iolam's activity tearing apart the high-altitude clouds of this planet, disrupting its original atmospheric circulation, and instead causing a strange "clear sky." Sunlight shone strangely on the sea amidst the wind and rain, but at the same time, the storm continued – this was the current state of the planet Aerym. The natural order had been completely disrupted, and a violent soul was wantonly releasing its power.

Nangong Wuyue looked at the surrounding scenery in horror. She saw a magnificent mountain of water rising high in the distance, and further away there were huge columns of water like pillars reaching into space. She tried to withdraw her gaze from those terrifying things, and instead focused on working with the other three sirens to control the surface of the water under their feet, which was more difficult than ever before.

"Okay," the Siren Queen shouted to Hao Ren, "Please hurry, this is very strenuous!"

Hao Ren nodded, gave Shaqira and Soma a look, and then slowly immersed himself in the water.

Calm his emotions, concentrate his mind, and recreate the state of the moment when the connection was established. After connecting with the Brain Monster several times, Hao Ren had roughly figured out the necessary conditions for establishing a connection. Tense and alert emotions were unnecessary. Only a relaxed mood and focused mind could make the connection close.

He felt his consciousness slowly sink into a chaos. This was different from the feeling when he established a connection with the Brain Monster, but he still knew that the connection was successful.

This chaos was Iolam's memory.

However, after the chaos ended, what he saw was not the scene of Aerym being destroyed, but a peaceful and serene primordial seabed.

Hao Ren's spiritual body wandered in a deep sea from ancient times. He saw endless flat beaches and gravel plains stretching out before him, and above him was the endless dark abyss of the sea. Luminous primitive algae and deep-sea fish lived peacefully in this seabed, without any disputes.

The sirens were born in this peaceful and serene deep-sea paradise. Initially, they were a slow and sluggish omnivorous species, covered in scales, with human-like bodies, good at mimicry, and had obtained a life form between elemental creatures and carbon-based creatures in this planet's abundant magical environment. They lived in caves dug in the sand, relying on luminous algae and tardigrade shellfish for survival. The sirens developed in this primitive state, sprouted wisdom, and formed their fragile, primitive, but interesting ancient society.

Their earliest tools were the shells of deep-sea shellfish that were left over after eating. They polished these things for digging in the sand and cutting seaweed. The tools after that were coral and rocks, as well as iron-rich meteorite debris that occasionally fell from the upper layers. When metal meteorites in space fell into Aerym, they would be violently burned by the atmosphere, and then quickly cooled in the sea water, thus becoming refined and strong. This was a miracle of nature's forging. Every metal meteorite that fell into the deep sea through this process was a treasure for the sirens. They reverently called these meteorites "Blackwater Hearts" – because they believed that the endless dark sea above them was the end of the world, and beyond that boundary was an even darker, more chaotic endless water, and the solid iron-containing meteorites were the foundation of the world. Their earliest primitive religion revolved around water and these iron-containing meteorites.

They worshiped the deep sea, undersea volcanoes, and iron-containing meteorites. They once believed that the meteorites falling from the "sky" were signs of the world's shell wearing down and collapsing, and were uneasy about it. They even sent warriors to return these meteorites to the upper layers (they hoped to extend the life of the world in this way), but because they could not adapt to the low water pressure environment, every such expedition was unsuccessful. They then realized that the iron-containing meteorites were a blessing given by the "Upper Water," and so the sirens' earliest meteorite iron age began – at this moment, sixty thousand years had passed since the birth of the first siren who used a shell to dig in the sand.

And it was many years later that the sirens learned to obtain metals through other means and replace easily corroded ironware.

Hao Ren's consciousness was constantly jumping in Iolam's memory, unable to escape, and unwilling to escape. He finally knew what Iolam wanted to do.

She was showing the history of the siren race.

Hao Ren opened his heart and dived deeper into this ancient memory.

(I'm going back to Tangshan in a few days. I've been busy packing my luggage and seeing relatives and classmates, so the update time is unstable. Also, I corrected a small error in this chapter: Lily was not included in the landing on Aerym. That husky was jumping around in my head too conspicuously, and I accidentally counted her into the team.)