I rushed home as quickly as I could, just in time to catch my dad before he was about to leave. He was all geared up, with a utility harness, gloves and a combat backpack slung over his shoulders. He glanced up grimly when I approached.
"Jun Wen, you're finally home. Take care of your brother when I'm gone."
"Dad, please let me come with you."
"Huh?" Dad paused for a moment, but I stared at him determinedly.
"I'm a cultivator as well, and I have an affinity with water, so I'll be of use out in the sea. And I'm familiar with the offshore lab – mom brought us there a few times before. I can navigate the layout better than most of the people in your squad."
"…fine." Dad didn't take too long to consider. He took a deep breath and nodded before he raised a finger. "But on one condition. You must obey all of my orders."
"You know I will."
"Yeah, that's the only reason why I'm bringing you along." Dad turned back to the door. "Jun Hai, you watch the house. We'll be back before you know it."
"Roger that, dad." Jun Hai did a mock salute. He looked at me and dad worriedly. "Stay safe. And please find mom and make sure she's okay."
"We will."
"Oh, and big bro." Jun Hai disappeared behind the door before reappearing with a backpack. He tossed it to me. I caught it and stared at him, bemused, but he grinned. "I knew you would want to follow dad, so I packed some stuff for you. I know you already have your bow, but there's a sword and some first aid supplies in there."
"Thanks!" I bowed my head slightly and waved. "I really appreciate it!"
"No problem. Just stay safe, okay?"
"We will," dad promised. Then he placed a hand on my shoulder before turning around to stalk off. "Let's go."
"So what do we know?" I asked as I kept up with dad's quickened pace. "They say all contact was cut off from mom's offshore lab after it was attacked, but that's about it. Who attacked them?"
"Spirit beasts…or something similar to them." Dad paused and glanced at me. "We call them spirit beasts, but they are closer to…another race."
"Huh?"
"We don't have any more information than that, but it seems to be an undersea tribe. Humanoid, but not humans. No other details. They overran the small security detachment in the lab, and your mom and her team locked themselves in the central lab before we lost all contact."
"I…see." I swallowed, feeling worried. I prayed to the heavens that my mom was safe. Please, don't let anything happen to her.
While I followed dad to the helicopter that was waiting for us in the large parking lot not too far away from our house, I caught sight of a new notification window.
-New quest issued: Secure and protect the Ancient Aquatic Artifact in the user's mother's offshore marine laboratory. –
"Huh? Ancient Aquatic Artifact?"
"What?" Dad glanced at me, puzzled. "What did you just say?"
"No…nothing."
After over a month, the system finally issued me a new quest, and it had something to do with the underwater relic that my mom's team recovered some time ago. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know the specific details on what my mom's team of researchers were working on. I didn't even know what the relic looked like. It was so top secret that I wasn't allowed to see it.
Not that it mattered, even if my mom was the lead marine biologist in her lab, I was still an outsider. Unlike Jun Hai, I didn't have much interest in marine biology. I took after dad to become a cultivator, so it was unlikely that I would follow in her footsteps.
We boarded the helicopter, which took off instantly. Already there were a couple of guys waiting for us inside, dressed similarly to dad. Cultivators. I would have called them marines or special forces, but after the manifestation of spirit beasts a couple of centuries ago, military terms had been intermixed with cultivators.
I didn't recognize either of them. I rarely met the cultivators that dad worked with.
"You're bringing your kid along?" one of them snorted derisively. He peered at me. "Beginner Yellow Rank? Will he even be useful?"
"As long as he stays out of the way and not be a burden, I don't care if he tags along," the other cultivator muttered.
I didn't blame them for their dismissive attitudes. I would be annoyed too if my boss's kid tagged along, and I probably would have assumed he was a spoilt brat or something. To be fair, my dad's two subordinates were aware that I was there because I was worried about my mom, but even so…
I surreptitiously studied them, noting that they were both Mystic ranked at least. Intermediate, no advanced? Just a couple of levels below dad, who was an Earth ranked, Intermediate cultivator. That alone put my dad at a pretty high hierarchy in the military, which was why they still treated him with respect even after he retired.
He must have pulled a few strings and got a few of his old subordinates together to form this makeshift squad the moment he heard mom was in trouble. As an instructor in the military, he still had his old connections, after all.
As the helicopter rose into the air, I peered outside and saw that a whole squadron of them was following us.
Damn…even after he retired, dad still had a lot of former subordinates willing to join him for this particular mission. I was amazed.
"We'll take back the offshore marine lab, no matter the cost," dad said with a smirk, though I saw how hard he was clenching his fist. I nodded silently and continued to watch the outside breeze past, the sea rushing toward us. Inwardly, I wondered why we weren't just riding on flying swords like typical cultivators, but I supposed reality wasn't that cool.
In less than an hour, we reached the offshore base. It resembled an oil rig, but it was a lot sleeker and nicer in design, a crystalline dome that resembled a turtle shell. There was a huge platform for the helicopters to land on, and the squadron of six descended without issue. Even before ten seconds after the helicopters touched the ground, the cultivators were already disembarking in formation, spreading out to form a perimeter as they clutched their various weapons. Swords, spears, axes and gauntlets…dad's subordinates had a nice variety of gear.
Overcoming my shock, I followed swiftly, reaching for my sword. Dad was the first to get off, and he was on point. he gestured for me to stay at the rearguard, and recalling his instructions, I obeyed without question. Instead of drawing the sword Jun Hai packed for me, I pulled out my bow instead. Normally, a bow wouldn't be of much use inside the tight, confined corridors of the lab, but if I was going to stay at the back, then a ranged weapon would be more appropriate.
As we ventured deeper inside the marine facility, I found myself amazed by how hi-tech everything looked. Mom wasn't bragging when she said the lab was equipped with state-of-the-art machinery. The walls were white and polished, with esoteric consoles and equipment lined up along the sterile-looking walls. Windows constructed of reinforced glass allowed a near 360-degree view of the sea underwater, and cells of laboratories were arranged neatly, gleaming tools and shimmering holographic screens from advanced computers spread about.
There was no sign of damage within the laboratories themselves, the combat confined to the corridors. A few bodies lay, blood pooling under the meager security detachment posted there. Dad paused when he caught sight of the enemy dead.
He knelt by its side, studying it quietly as his subordinates formed a defensive ring. I couldn't help but stare too, intrigued by what I was seeing.
It was humanoid, but with green scales all over its muscular body. A cross between a fish and a reptile, with fins over its head and limbs, and a roundish face with rubbery lips filled with fangs, it was laying on the ground with a mortal wound dealt to its torso.
"Undersea tribe," dad said grimly. "A merfolk."
"Halfway between spirit beasts and humans," one of his soldiers remarked with a nod. "They are not going to be easy."
"This one looks like he was ordinary ranked," another of the cultivators said as he studied the remains. "But I daresay they'll have stronger warriors in the group."
"Yeah. Be careful." Dad stood up and glanced around cautiously. His eyes settled on the far end. "Let's pick up the pace and go straight for the central lab. If there are any survivors, that's where they will be holed up in."
"Yes, sir!"
We jogged toward the central lab, bypassing more scenes of carnage. More merfolk lay eviscerated or cut to pieces by the marine base's defenses, but just as terrifying was the sheer number of casualties they wreaked on the research staff there. I was relieved to see that my mom was not among them, but immediately felt guilty.
Regardless of who had fallen, they were still people…people like me who had lost their lives.
"I hear them!"
One of the cultivators stiffened and listened to the sounds in the distance. Dad nodded.
"They're still fighting. That's a good sign. That means the researchers here haven't been wiped out. Let's go help them!"
The cultivators spread out, adopting a new formation with the vanguard taking up position in what seemed like the point of a spear. As we hurried down the corridor and turned around a corner, I caught sight of a swarm of merfolk hammering at a vault with tridents, claws or biting the metallic door with fangs. Reverberations violently shook throughout the facility, but the creatures failed to penetrate the last layer of defense. For now.
Slowly but surely, they were tearing the final barrier apart, leaving deep scratches and loosening the hinges. Through several of the ragged holes, I could see glimpses of terrified scientists huddling at the back, watching their doom gradually but inevitably approach.
"That's the entrance to the central lab," I murmured, recognizing the massive double doors.
Dad didn't even need to issue orders. The cultivators were already moving, charging ahead silently in a unified formation. Before the merfolk even realized what hit them, the cultivators were among them. Blades flashed and spears thrust forward, cutting the rearguard apart in seconds. The rest of the merfolk spun around at the new threat, and they proved that they weren't easy prey, retaliating with water techniques.
Highly pressurized jets of water sliced through the air, cutting through metal, but the cultivators dispersed quickly to avoid the worst of the attacks. Dad cleaved through a tremendous stream, sending sprays of water splashing on either side of him.
"Kill them all," he ordered.
As the cultivators and merfolk collided ferociously, I provided whatever support I could. To my horror, I saw one of the merfolk break off. Covered by its brethren, it unleashed its watery qi as an enormous liquid axe that it then used to chop the weakening hinges of the final door.
The merfolk then gleefully reached with its claws to yank the door open, only for it to slump over when my azure arrow pierced its skull.
"I won't let you through," I snapped, accumulating more of my qi and coalescing them into arrows. Even as I did so, my heart sank when I heard a thunderous crash. The hinges were no longer able to support the door, which had shaken loose from the previous impact and toppled over. Dread filled my chest when I saw that there was no longer anything screening the cowering marine biologists from the outside.
The way to the central lab was now open.