Chapter 175
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Chapter 175: Title
Half an hour after departing the temple, Ye Linlang found herself returning. During her initial visit, she’d focused solely on the divine statue, overlooking the peculiarities within the temple’s inner sanctum.
Along her path, she gleaned numerous insights. Like many religions, newborn children here were brought to the temple for blessings. Upon reaching maturity, young merfolk underwent a coming-of-age ceremony within these sacred walls—only those bearing the crystalline forehead marking were deemed true adults, permitted to join elder hunts for fishing expeditions.
The merfolk revered these brow crystals as divine blessings.
Juveniles required special passes to penetrate the protective dome alone, a safeguard ensuring their security. When death claimed a merfolk, temple rituals guided their spirit to the gods’ realm, leaving behind a single crystal flower for earthly remembrance.
These luminous blossoms were cultivated in a dedicated burial ground—an undulating sea of flowers Ye Linlang had earlier admired for its beauty. Now understanding its morbid significance, a shiver crawled up her spine. Though unafraid of spirits, the psychological weight of treading through memorials unsettled her.
The temple’s vast forecourt stood barren except for the central idol, its soaring dome stretching high enough to strain observers’ necks. Passing through, Ye Linlang noted merfolk devotees murmuring prayers before the statue, hands pressed to chests.
She strode purposefully toward a side corridor. The temple’s origins dated back to the city’s founding—a credible claim given its architecturally impossible structure clearly wrought by advanced technology. Its pyramidal exterior echoed Earth’s ancient monuments.
Within moments of entering the passageway, her system alerted:
【Security system detected. Initiate decryption?】
"Proceed," she answered, unsurprised by layered protections after the dome’s chip verification.
【Decryption underway… Success. Trace detected—countermeasures engaged… Reverse trace complete. Base One secured.】
"An unexpected windfall," she murmured, reviewing transmitted data while walking. "Summarize Base One’s significance."
【Following Atlantean civilization’s migration from Blue Star to Planet Atlantis, ideological fractures emerged…】
The Atlanteans had mastered curvature engines for interstellar travel yet neglected spacecraft materials. After years aboard ships, they developed terrestrial intolerance upon arrival. Factions formed—some advocated genetic modification (deleting flawed sequences being simpler than repairs), while others insisted on gene restoration.
Though their genetic engineering technology was mature and editing trials underway, debates raged. Initially minority voices, ocean-dwelling proponents gained traction through a zealous scientist devoted to goddess Haetis. This believer wove mythology into reality, asserting Atlanteans should mirror their creator’s form (though the goddess’ humanoid appearance resulted from historical revisions).
When catastrophe struck, their advanced aerospace technology proved inadequate—mere twenty thousand could flee across multiple ships. Leadership fragmented, and this historically peaceful civilization sundered uniquely. The science-aligned faction commandeered vessels for genetic transformation, their dominance secured by the civilization’s research consensus favoring new lifestyles for posterity.
They made an exchange to assist their land-dwelling counterparts in finding a method to restore genetic integrity.
"What happened next?"
Ye Linlang stood before a stone door, her enhanced senses detecting sounds beyond it. Without hesitation, she expended Fantasy Points to phase through the wall.
【The genetic fusion procedures progressed successfully. Though the cured could only survive underwater, the choice to embrace marine life grew increasingly popular compared to enduring agonizing genetic decay.】
【These pioneers became the first Atlantean merfolk colonists, founding cities at designated habitable zones across the seabed.】
Ye Linlang observed the elderly merfolk clad in traditional Atlantean vestments. Unlike the prematurely-aged land dwellers, this sea-born specimen had clearly surpassed 145 years.
‘Are those priestly garments from Atlantis?’
【Affirmative.】
Before the aged priest lay a youthful corpse upon a stone dais – a merfolk male with brutal combat wounds covering his scaled tail and torso. Several younger merfolk stood vigil, their grief-stricken faces and glistening tears marking them as kin to the deceased.
The priest began chanting funerary rites.
Through the verbose liturgy, Ye Linlang gleaned that this Kan Palo – a merfolk not yet twenty-two – had died serving the Atlantean cause. The officiant proclaimed his spirit would join Ocean God Haetis’ celestial warriors in the divine realm.
Though capable of Awakening the corpse, Ye Linlang focused instead on the priest’s azure-crystal Staff. As the ceremony concluded, the priest raised the ornate artifact horizontally, then swung its gemmed tip toward the body.
Blinding radiance flooded the chamber. While others shielded their eyes, the unprepared Major Deity blinked away retinal burns. The luminous cocoon surrounding the dais gradually dimmed over five minutes, revealing only a crystal flower where the body had lain.
"His essence persists in the sacred realm," the priest declared, presenting the flower to a distraught matron who wept over her "beloved Kan Palo."
Ye Linlang’s attention shifted to the platform’s hidden mechanisms. ‘System, locate Base One’s Control Room.’
【Coordinates locked, Your Excellency.】
The stone chamber’s afterlife murals faded as she teleported. She materialized in a shadowy control center, its walls embedded with flickering monitors and dormant panels.
"Activate illumination."
【Lighting systems inoperative.】
With an exasperated sigh, she illuminated the ancient machinery with a flashlight. The control panel’s faint glow hinted at residual power after 18,975 years of operation.
"This Atlantean technology exceeds Level 11 specifications. How functional is this relic?"
【Smart Brain management maintained 55% operational capacity despite cumulative hardware failures. Without intervention, total collapse occurs within 1,000 years.】
Projected schematics revealed the underwater city’s structure, its artificial sun still glowing at the temple’s apex. System projections indicated surface assimilation might spare half the population post-collapse.
Ye Linlang’s lips curved. These zealous merfolk who’d split their civilization over millennia-old dogma deserved special… attention. Their delayed divine reckoning would become her canvas.
As on Blue Star, she’d rewrite Atlantis’ destiny – this time beneath the waves.
