The sound of the rain pounding on the stained - glass windows of the church was eerily similar to the fingernails of the 37th bride scratching at the coffin lid. Lin Xia, dragging the blood - stained wedding dress train, slumped down in the confessional. The Kris blade hidden in the pearl tiara was pressed against Lu Chen's Adam's apple.
"Turn up my brother's heartbeat." She pressed the dragon - scale mark against the mechanical valve on the man's chest. "Otherwise, this church will have one more corpse."
Lu Chen laughed softly and grasped her trembling wrist. His blood - smeared white suit was open, revealing a chest covered with sutures. The clicking sound of the mechanical heart suddenly grew louder, and the young heartbeat, mixed with electronic noise, came from the shadows - her brother was imprisoned in the voice - print cage in the church cellar, and every breath made the rose - window shake and dust fall.
"The sound - wave cage designed by your mother is quite interesting." Lu Chen licked the blood bead on her collarbone, and his canine teeth sparked against the surface of the mechanical heart. "Do you know why this 1914 church was chosen?"
Suddenly, the colored glass reflected a scene that didn't belong to this era: a woman in an Edwardian - style dress was cutting open the abdomen of an anglerfish in front of the altar. What rolled out of the fish's stomach was not prey, but a baby covered in dragon scales. Lin Xia's temples throbbed violently - the crescent - shaped birthmark on the woman's nape was exactly the same as the photo of her biological mother shown by her adoptive mother before her death.
"Because she transformed me into a monster here." Lu Chen suddenly tore open his suit, and a fluorescent blue liquid seeped out from the joint of the mechanical heart and the flesh. "Replacing the dragon's heart with the anglerfish's luminous organ, using the souls of thirty - seven daughters as lubricant..."
At this moment, gunshots shattered the holy statue. Kane crashed through the stained - glass window and rolled into the church. The muzzle of the sniper rifle was still steaming with dragon blood. "Don't believe him! The voice - print password of your brother is..."
Aaliyah's scream came from the cellar. The Indonesian witch burst out of the ground stepping on a Kris knife, and the Barong scepter was stuck through an exorcist who was melting - it was the cardinal who claimed to help Lin Xia. Her witch's robe was torn, revealing a mechanical spine identical to Lu Chen's on her back.
"Run!" Aaliyah threw the scepter towards the confessional. "The wedding is a trap. They're waiting for the aurora..."
The entire church suddenly flipped. Lin Xia's pearl tiara exploded, and the Kris blades formed an anglerfish - bone whip that wrapped around the chandelier. As she fell, she could see the full view of the church: it wasn't a building, but a mechanical anglerfish disguised as a church. Those stained - glass windows were its luminous organs, and the cross was its row of white, biting teeth.
Lu Chen hugged her waist in the chaos, and the shadow of dragon wings tore open the mechanical fish's belly. "Now do you understand the meaning of the contractual marriage?" His breath frosted on her earlobe. "A hundred years ago, your mother created me with anglerfish DNA. Now I'll use you to restart the immortality plan - what a perfect cycle."
A whale - like wail came from the cellar. Lin Xia's dragon - scale whip suddenly stabbed uncontrollably towards the sound source. The moment it shattered the sound - wave cage, she saw her brother's body suspended in the liquid dragon blood - the young man had mechanical dragon wings on his back, the same as Lu Chen's, but his fingertips glowed with the fluorescence of an anglerfish, just like hers.
"Sister..." The young man opened his pupils filled with data streams. "My program says that I should detonate your gene chain at the climax of the wedding."
The aurora penetrated the underwater church. In the strong light, Lin Xia saw that the guest seats were filled with ice sculptures - they were the creditors frozen by Lu Chen on the cruise ship. Miniature anglerfish crawled out of their eye sockets, with bombs inscribed with "wedding gifts" in their mouths.
Aaliyah's Barong dance reached its climax at this time. The witch tore open her mechanical spine, and the golden blood activated the escape passage left by the first - generation bride. Kane's sniper rifle shattered Lu Chen's mechanical wing, but he was stunned when he saw anglerfish eggs gushing out from the wound. "He mixed your genes..."
"Run!" Lin Xia whipped the anglerfish - bone whip into a noose and trapped her brother. "This church is going to sink!"
Lu Chen's laughter echoed through the seabed, mixed with the mechanical roar. He crushed the incoming torpedo with his bare hands, allowing his left arm to be blown into metal fragments. "Dear, you haven't recited the wedding vows yet." He suddenly tore open his chest, and a miniature altar popped out from the mechanical heart. "Start it with the wedding rings of the 37 brides, or watch your brother..."
Lin Xia's right hand suddenly rose uncontrollably. Pearl - like scales peeled off from the hem of her wedding dress and formed a phantom of her biological mother in the air. The anglerfish - shaped ring on the woman's fingertip emitted a dazzling light, and all the ice - sculpture guests exploded. The splashing mechanical parts formed an escape pod.
"Mom?" She held the hand of the phantom.
"Use the anglerfish's courtship frequency..." The phantom kissed her between the eyebrows before dissipating. "The password of his mechanical heart is your first cry when you were born."
Kane's angry roar came from above. The exorcist was being choked by the tentacles of the mechanical anglerfish, and Aaliyah stabbed the Barong scepter through the church floor. "Lin Xia! The aurora is about to trigger an underwater earthquake!"
Taking the opportunity, Lu Chen grabbed the back of her neck. The two fell into a suddenly - appeared time - space vortex, and the snow and wind of 1914 filled their mouths. In the time - space turbulence, Lin Xia saw the young Lu Chen curled up in the church cellar, and her biological mother was injecting anglerfish DNA into his heart.
"She held me like this back then." Lu Chen's voice trembled rarely. "Saying she would give me a home."
Lin Xia's tears froze instantly. She suddenly started singing a lullaby from a Philippine fishing village to the mechanical heart - it was the song her adoptive mother used to hum when coaxing her brother to sleep. The mechanical gears groaned, and the sutures on Lu Chen's chest broke one by one, revealing the real flesh - and - blood heart underneath.
At this moment, the church completely collapsed. Aaliyah's Barong scepter turned into an escape pod to catch everyone. Her brother's mechanical wings evolved into an anglerfish tail. In the moment of falling into the deep sea, Lin Xia saw Lu Chen use his last strength to press the mechanical heart into her palm.
"Final clause of the contract..." His lips were stained red with blood foam. "When the groom offers his heart, the bride will inherit all the sins and..."
The deep sea swallowed the unfinished words. When Lin Xia surfaced, the morning sun was piercing through the aurora. On the mechanical heart throbbing in her palm, a holographic image slowly emerged of her and Lu Chen sitting side by side on a fishing raft, watching the sunset - it was clearly a future that hadn't happened yet.