79: Chapter 79 Welcome to Atlantis

Dungeon: Deep Sea Dragon Palace (S-Class Relic)

Current Depth: 8,200 meters below sea level

With a slight resistance, as if passing through a film of water, the specialized deep-sea submersible finally broke through the dark blue energy barrier.

*Pop.*

The billions of tons of seawater that had been pressing hard against the hull were instantly shut out by an invisible force.

The air pressure warning light inside the cabin turned from red to green.

"We're here."

Lin Yuan looked out the window, his gaze narrowing slightly.

The hatch opened slowly; with no seawater flooding in, the three stepped out of the submersible.

Looking up, the energy shield that kept out the ocean was a hundred meters overhead, with schools of bioluminescent deep-sea fish swimming outside like a starry sky.

Before them lay a magnificent crystal city stretching for countless kilometers.

The streets were wide and straight, flanked by buildings that soared into the clouds, constructed entirely from transparent crystal and an unknown silver metal.

The architectural style featured the upturned eaves and bracket sets of Eastern mythology, fused with a minimalist, streamlined design that surpassed modern technology.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Holy crap... is this the legendary Atlantis? Or the Dragon King's palace?"

Wearing his heavy "Deep Sea Titan" armor, Xiang Lie looked around like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. "This is too spectacular! How much would a single brick from this place be worth if I pried it off?"

Su Xiaoxiao was also dazed. "It's so quiet here... eerily quiet."

Indeed.

It was too quiet.

No sound of wind, no sound of water—not even a trace of life could be felt.

"Don't touch anything."

Lin Yuan led the way, his expression wary.

His Spiritual Telekinesis swept the surroundings like radar; through the vision of Gods Insight, this seemingly glorious city was permeated everywhere with the gray, decaying energy of death.

"Look over there! So many statues!"

Xiang Lie suddenly pointed to the sides of the street and exclaimed.

Countless lifelike "statues" stood on both sides of the wide crystal boulevard.

Some wore ancient armor and held weapons; others wore white robes and seemed to be praying. The expression on every "statue" was incredibly vivid, with even skin textures and wrinkles at the corners of their eyes clearly visible.

"This craftsmanship... it's divine!"

Xiang Lie couldn't help but reach out, wanting to touch a statue that looked like an ancient general. "This material must feel..."

"Don't touch it!!"

Lin Yuan shouted sharply, startling Xiang Lie so much that his hand jerked back.

"Those are specimens."

Lin Yuan walked up to a statue. Under the system's deep analysis, the internal structure of this "crystal statue" had nowhere to hide.

[Target: Ancient Human (Sealed State)]

[Status: Deceased (Instant Flash-freeze/Crystallization)]

[Time of Death: Approximately 5,000 years ago]

"Look closely at his eyes."

Lin Yuan pointed at the "general's" face, his voice cold.

"This wasn't carved at all. It's a living person who was sealed in an instant by some kind of high-energy crystal."

Xiang Lie leaned in for a closer look and gasped.

Beneath the transparent crystal shell, the face still held its final expression—mouth wide open, pupils dilated to the extreme.

It was as if, a second before being sealed, he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

"It's not just him."

Lin Yuan looked around at the thousands of "statues" standing along the streets. "Everyone here died in a single instant."

*Crack!*

"What was that sound?" Su Xiaoxiao whipped the barrel of her machine cannon around.

*Crack, crack, crack, crack!*

The sounds grew more frequent.

At the end of the street, several massive statues that resembled the legendary "shrimp soldiers and crab generals" began to tremble.

[Target: Deep Sea Guardian (Codename: Shrimp Soldier - Type III)]

[Type: Semi-mechanical, Semi-biological Golem]

[Combat Assessment: Third Rank Peak (High Defense/No Pain Perception)]

*Hum!*

Dozens of pairs of crimson electronic eyes lit up instantly, locking onto the three outsiders.

"Intruders... eliminate..."

Accompanied by intermittent synthesized electronic voices, these mechanical golems, over three meters tall, launched a charge toward the trio!

"Damn! I knew it wouldn't be this easy!"

Xiang Lie roared, the engine of his B-Class armor rumbling as he raised his heavy tower shield to meet the charge. "Xiaoxiao! Cover me!"

*Bang!!*

Sparks flew!

Xiang Lie felt as if a train had slammed into him. He skidded back several meters, his feet carving two deep furrows into the crystal ground.

"What incredible strength!" Gritting his teeth, Xiang Lie swung his chainsaw sword in a backhand strike, hacking fiercely at the opponent's waist joint.

The usually unstoppable chainsaw sword whirred madly, but it only left a faint white mark on the silvery-white alloy shell!

"Damn! So tough?! This thing is harder than a tortoise shell!"

*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*

Su Xiaoxiao's six-barreled Vulcan cannon opened fire.

A hail of armor-piercing rounds peppered the golems with a cacophony of clangs. Though the impact forced them back, the bullets couldn't penetrate the thick armor.

"The physical defense is too high."

Lin Yuan, who had yet to make a move, calmly analyzed the battle.

"Since physical means can't grant you salvation..."

Lin Yuan extended his right hand. In his palm, a sphere of violent blue-purple lightning began to condense.

It was the [Intermediate Lightning Mastery] talent he had just plundered from the Black Flood Dragon's corpse!

"Then let's try magic."

[Thunder Art: Palm Lightning (Enhanced Version)!]

*Boom!!*

A thick pillar of lightning, like a giant python, surged across dozens of meters with devastating voltage.

Metal is conductive.

Especially for these precise semi-mechanical structures, high-current overload is their greatest weakness!

The mechanical golem, which had been invulnerable, was instantly covered in smoke. Its crimson eyes flickered a few times before going out completely.

Its massive body stiffened where it stood, turning into a pile of scrap metal.

"It works!"

A sharp glint flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes.

[Spiritual Telekinesis: Object Control!]

"Rise!"

Lin Yuan crooked his finger.

The fried mechanical shrimp soldier suddenly disassembled. Its sharp halberd and the hardened alloy armor plates floated into the air under the control of his spiritual power.

"Using their own spears to strike their own shields!"

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!*

Hundreds of sharp metal fragments transformed into a metal storm. Under Lin Yuan's control, they turned back to frantically shred the remaining golems.

"Tear them apart!"

Before a cheater like Lin Yuan, who understood both thunder magic and physical dismantling, these mechanical golems that could only charge blindly became nothing more than sitting ducks.

In just five minutes, the street was littered with mechanical parts and smoking wires.

"Whew... that was close." Xiang Lie wiped the sweat from his helmet. "These metal lumps are really a pain."

Meanwhile, Lin Yuan walked through the wreckage like a scavenger, picking through the debris with his spiritual power.

He picked up a blue-glowing energy core chip and tossed it into his system space.

"This is an energy chip from an ancient civilization. If we take it back to the Military Research Institute, those old fogeys would probably trade tens of thousands of credits for it."

"Xiaoxiao, pick up that arm. We need the alloy formula from it too."

"Xiang Lie, don't just stand there. Take that helmet you just hacked off; it's good stuff."

Xiang Lie: "..."

Su Xiaoxiao: "..."

So, you're basically here to stock up on supplies?

After clearing the perimeter guards, the three proceeded without further hindrance, finally reaching the deepest part of the crystal city.

It was a spherical palace, taller than all the surrounding buildings.

The main gates had long been destroyed. Inside, there was no throne and no treasure.

Instead, there were only countless massive, transparent cultivation tanks filled with green liquid.

When the three clearly saw what was soaking in those tanks, a chill shot up from the soles of their feet straight to their skulls.

Suspended within those ten-meter-high glass columns were all sorts of nauseating, deformed creatures.

There were monsters with human legs but the upper bodies of sharks.

There were giants with dorsal fins on their backs but human faces.

And there were countless clumps of cells in the process of dividing and mutating.

In the very center of the hall stood a dilapidated metal stele, covered in complex ancient script.

[System is translating...]

[Project Name: Poseidon Plan (Experiment No. 734)]

[Objective: To cope with the impending Great Surface Flood, humanity must undergo genetic ascension and evolve into a new species adapted to deep-sea environments.]

[Subjects: Ancient Human prisoners / Marine life gene fusion.]

[Progress: Failure. Subjects are extremely aggressive, exhibit intellectual regression, and are uncontrollable.]

[Conclusion: Seal all samples and abandon this base.]

"Poseidon Plan... genetic ascension..."

Lin Yuan stared at the cold lines of text, his gaze becoming more solemn than ever before.

"I see."

"The so-called 'Sea Race' isn't a naturally evolved species at all."

"The fishmen, the giant crabs, even that Seventh Rank Black Flood Dragon..."

Lin Yuan pointed at the cultivation tanks and said slowly:

"They are biological weapons created by humans of the previous era for the sake of survival."

"It's just that later, the weapons went out of control."

"And the war we are fighting now..."

"...is nothing more than cleaning up our ancestors' mess."