The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

Sirens — these creatures were a mystery to all the supernatural creatures on earth and in the legends told by humans. They were deep-sea spirits, recluses in the darker parts of the ocean. They were the most enigmatic water creatures that lived under the gigantic and unpredictable waves of the sea. Like water, they existed in no fixed form. Human sailors from older times believed that one could hear the alluring singing voice of a siren in every breaking wave. Back in the days, even the Gods and other non-humans thought that Poseidon himself could not control these deep-sea recluses.

The freeform underwater sea spirits that seldom make an appearance were once shrouded in thick mystery — but now, Hao Ren could hold his hand to chest and inform the storytellers that this could all be attributed to the lack of scrutiny. The reason people could tell all those captivating stories about sirens was because they never had the chance to get up close and personal with these stay-at-home ladies…

Of course, those b*stards who were locked for over a century in the City of Sirens did not count.

The sea spirits were quiet and gentle creatures, but just like the how ocean had many facades, the sirens also had their livelier moments. Hao Ren should have realized this when he saw them in their mantis shrimp form. As Shaqira led them further into Nasaton, the view along the way could be summed up as this — a crazy supernatural dance party. The sirens were joyfully shaping themselves into anything that could be found in the sea. They were curious to try their hands at almost anything that found its way into the ocean. Hao Ren even saw two wheels rolling around him. Someone must have lost their car into the sea, and the wheels had now become another reference for the sirens.

Shaqira pointed at the two wheels and explained to Hao Ren, “The one at the back is a siren, but the one in front is a real car wheel.”

Hao Ren was speechless.

“Your… leisure activities are quite interesting.” Lily trailed behind them with a gaping mouth. The chaos in Nasaton was unlike what she remembered in her last visit. The last time she was here, the City of Sirens had a dark, terrifying, and crazy atmosphere. The city had looked like the home of devilish creatures… It was still terrifying now, but in a completely different way.

“It’s not always like this.” Shaqira explained with a grin. Young Lil’ Pea followed behind the beautiful mermaid, twisting left and right along with her tail. The young mermaid felt like it had returned home, and swam happily along the way. “Ever since the incident last time, Nasaton had taken a long to rebuild itself. It was difficult, mendin the ancient facilities and the hearts of our sisters. We lived under the shadow of our past for a long time. However, when Hao Ren brought new about Io to us, we came to know about the origins and history of us sirens, and felt that we cannot continue sinking into further degradation. The Queen decided to introduce some changes.”

Shaqira explained as she easily dodged her tail from a tuna fish heading straight for her. The fish was the size of a human, and after it shot past the mermaid, it transformed into a beautiful sea snake maiden with a reddish golden tail and blew some bubbles of apology in Shaqira’s way. Hao Ren thought he had seen that siren before, and soon remembered her as one of the guards at the underground tunnel near the Queen’s palace. Y’zaks had simply rolled the snake into a ball and tossed her aside…

Shaqira continued. “The truth is, we had always been sending scouts out to the surface, to keep up with the events on dry land. However, when our people were corrupted by evil spirits about a hundred years ago, we stopped caring about them. When our city has mostly recovered, the Queen ordered for us to fill up the gaps in these 100 years. We even got in touch with a few Otherworldling species on land. Back then we had sent a message to them, announcing the Day of Return, but now it has become our link to the outside world. Through our efforts, we were able to keep up with the world around us once again, and also find out how humans managed to develop this planet so much in the past 100 years.”

“It’s interesting to see how other stronger species remained stuck to their old ways and declining in the past century, while humans had started and finished two world wars and even sent people to the moon in the same period. The Queen showed us the latest technology by humans, especially in air and space travel. That’s how we understand the concept of Nasaton being a spaceship.”

“We have hid ourselves in the deep sea for too long. Our worldview is distorted. Hence, when we found out all the effort our ancestors put into space exploration, we realized that we have to acknowledge the importance of the outside world. In this matter, our Queen believes the humans to be our best teachers.”

Shaqira spoke as she led the group along the way. Seeing Hao Ren and his group again pleased her very much. Nangong Wuyue nodded in understanding and said, “Is that why you have celebrations now, like humans do?”

“Ah, that’s one of the reasons,” Shaqira said as she corrected Lil’ Pea’s swimming posture. “It’s mainly because work on rebuilding the city put us under a lot of pressure, and we needed a way to relax. Our Queen decided then to celebrate human occasions too, deep down in the ocean…”

“There’s only one tiny problem.” Vivian raised her hand and said. “Do you know what date it is on land today?”

Shaqira’s tail froze. “Ah?”

“Halloween’s is two months ago.” Hao Ren looked around at the crazy scene in Nasaton. “How big is the difference between your deep-sea calendar and the one on the shore?”

“Is that so?!” Shaqira looked surprised, as she had never considered this problem before. She then flicked her tail and said, “Oh, it’s alright, any celebration is fine, as long as we’re happy. Do tell the Queen about it later, we’ll just call this our Day of Rebuilding.”

Lily went slack-jawed in surprise. “… Are you always so slipshod?”

Shaqira replied with an air of seriousness, “It’s not slipshod, it’s a serious matter. Only the Queen can rename this celebration.”

Lily was speechless.

“Alright, let’s put the issue of your culture aside.” Hao Ren smiled crookedly, and then looked at the sirens that came in all kinds of shapes and sizes around him. Indeed, “all kinds” was not an exaggeration. “So, is your way of celebrating changing into all kinds of odd shapes?”

“It’s a common form of entertainment for us!” Shaqira replied enthusiastically. “We’d change into all sorts of new and interesting shapes, and then try to guess what each of us are mimicking. The one who is the most successful and thorough in their mimicking is the winner. So, when we heard that humans celebrate this Halloween Day occasion, where everyone dress up in weird costumes, we decided to do something similar! In addition to the mimicking, there are also other activities in the city. Near the fountain, along the streets, you will find stalls selling miscellaneous items found in the shallower parts of the ocean. They are all left behind by humans! Quite interesting, don’t you think?”

What could Hao Ren possibly say to that? This was an eye-opening experience for him. He never imagined that these unassuming deep-water creatures could organize a celebration with such vigour. Their form of entertainment and celebration activities were also quite fascinating. Nangong Sanba smiled and said, “Think about all the other terrestrial Otherworldlings, fighting so bitterly against one another. They’re nothing like the sirens.”

“It’s normal,” Vivian said, unsurprised. “They are the only species that maintained good social order and lived uninterrupted by other species for a long time. It’s only natural for them to have rich social activities like humans do.”

The group had now walked past the hustle and bustle of the city. Shaqira led them to a huge, transparent tube, and opened a small door by the tube. She ushered them in. “It’s still a long way to the palace. Let’s take this for the rest of our journey.”

The tube was the most common form of public transport in the City of the Sirens. Using water flow and pressure, it offered a fast and safe mode of transport. It was also one of the few old technologies that the Sirens still used today. Hao Ren and the others crept into the tube. As Shaqira keyed in their destination in a control panel nearby, Lil’ Pea noticed something semi-transparent and rubbery along the inner walls of the tube. The young mermaid quickly made its way to the rubbery layer and began to slam itself repeatedly into it. “Daddy, Daddy, there’s something here!”

Shaqira had noticed the thing sticking onto the inner wall of the tube as well. She poked it curiously. “What’s this? We do have people cleaning up the station every day… Wah!”

The rubbery thing suddenly twisted, and then popped off the inner walls of the tube into identical semi-transparent pieces. They then merged and transformed into a the shape of a petite mermaid. “Wah!”

“Don’t ‘Wah!’ me!” Shaqira scowled at the young siren with her arms akimbo. “No shapeshifting and hiding along transport routes and around common mechanical facilities, or have you forgotten about the rules?”

The young siren considered that for a moment, and then gasped again, “Wah!”

Hao Ren smacked himself on the head. “I have a feeling that this is not the right time to visit… Nasaton right now is simply full of surprises.”

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