Chapter 18: The Undersea City

“Crack, crack!” The wooden structure of the ship began to show signs of splitting under the sound waves of Fang’s howl.

This was his sonic howl, akin to a sonic attack, capable of shattering wood and severing the nerves within a creature’s brain.

Lin Qiu’s entire body leapt out of the sea, his jaws opening wide. In his throat, a black vortex appeared.

A ripple spread across the surface of the water, and the massive ship started to sway, drifting toward him. Invisibly, a mysterious force seemed to descend upon the vessel.

With each movement, the ship’s size appeared to shrink. The three-hundred-meter-long ship, when it reached him, had become a tiny boat no larger than a palm.

Drawn by suction, the miniature boat spun and vanished into his throat.

Lin Qiu closed his mouth, and only then did his body fall back into the water.

“What a waste! This ship alone cost over six billion at the factory, and I just ate it in one bite?!”

Lin Qiu swished his tail, his heart bleeding with regret.

Before his rebirth, he had lived as a nobody, struggling for daily meals. Now, reborn as an orca, both civilian vessels and warships had become his food, as well as all the seafood in the sea—he could eat as he pleased.

But he felt no joy.

Depressed, Lin Qiu sank below, vanishing from sight.

A day later, a clear mental wave rang in Lin Qiu’s mind: “Brother Lin Qiu, hurry up!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

In the region of Shallow Bay, a group of young dolphins swam in the same direction.

Among them, two dolphins less than a meter long tangled and played with each other.

Lin Qiu watched the cheerful little dolphin before him, his heart troubled.

After leaving a day ago, he had encountered a migrating dolphin pod.

Since the ocean’s mutation, dolphins had awakened their intelligence.

This was a tribe of gentle sea creatures; after their awakening, their bodies had scarcely changed, growing just a bit larger.

The system had told him that not all mutated sea beasts would develop massive bodies. If they became enormous, it meant their bloodline was noble—their ancient ancestors had been formidable overlords.

The freedom-loving and peace-seeking dolphin tribe had begun to migrate, searching for a tranquil place to settle.

On their journey, they had spotted Lin Qiu.

His body was only fifty centimeters long, and the dorsal fin resembling a halberd had disappeared.

From his size and appearance, he was indistinguishable from a young dolphin.

Thus, he was assumed to be a homeless, solitary little dolphin and was taken in by the pod.

“You’re all so kind, I feel a bit embarrassed!” Lin Qiu swam along, feeling somewhat uneasy.

With a human soul, he felt a natural affinity for dolphins.

Yet, his genes remained those of an orca; seeing these young dolphins was like gazing at delicious food.

But his human rationality restrained the urge to devour them.

Especially this little dolphin beside him, who chatted and entwined with him, calling him “brother” and slowly melting his heart.

Though the restraint was agonizing, he held on.

This torment was akin to a cat seeing a mouse it couldn’t eat, turning it into a friend instead!

“Lin Lin, stop fooling around—you’ll fall behind!”

Lin Qiu shifted his body, leaving Lin Lin’s side.

Lin Lin was the little dolphin, also a homeless waif.

They were similar in size, and Lin Qiu was quite fond of her.

When he was human, he had longed for a younger sister.

Now, though fate had granted him one, she was a young dolphin.

A dolphin sister was fine—he himself was an orca!

Lin Lin was a name he gave her—pleasant and memorable.

Lin Lin swam around him, circling and darting back and forth.

“Brother, let me sing for you!”

Lin Lin’s voice was ethereal, like music from heaven.

Perhaps awakened to intelligence, her dolphin song had grown clearer, reaching deep into the soul.

Lin Qiu was enthralled.

Sometimes he felt that having a sister with a dolphin’s voice was quite nice.

“Lin Lin, where is the elder taking us?” Lin Qiu asked curiously.

At the front of the dolphin pod, a three-meter-long dolphin swam, emitting deep, resonant dolphin calls.

The sound was penetrating, yet not harsh.

“It seems to be an ancient city left from prehistoric times, deep under the sea.”

“An underwater city?”

Lin Qiu’s voice was tinged with surprise.

“Yes, that’s what the elder said. I don’t know anything else.” Lin Lin swam joyfully beside him, singing beautiful melodies.

“System, are there really ancient cities beneath the sea?” Lin Qiu asked directly.

“According to the system’s survey, in distant eras, there existed a brilliant civilization beneath the sea, built by aquatic races.”

The system explained.

Back in those remote times, before and after several ice ages, the creatures of nature had all awakened intelligence.

With wisdom, they had developed their own civilizations.

There were civilizations on land, in the sky, and under the sea.

After each ice age ended, new life forms, under the radiation of golden fluid and source energy, awakened intelligence one by one.

When they reached their limits, extraterrestrial asteroids would descend and wipe them out, plunging the world back into another ice age, ready for the next cycle of rebirth.

The races were extinguished, but their civilizations truly existed.

The underwater civilization was much like modern society, with complete order.

There were centers of power and many large underwater cities and towns.

“But system…” Lin Qiu inquired curiously, “since these civilizations have been buried, how do they know these cities even exist?”

“Host, you may not be aware,” the system began to explain. “Every civilization leaves marks that are passed down.”

“Especially those advanced civilizations, which were centuries or millennia ahead of today’s human society.”

“When their intelligence awakens, the ancestral marks within their bloodline gradually emerge.”

“This is a kind of memory inheritance, passed down through generations. Whenever awakened, they can recall what once happened.”

Lin Qiu clicked his tongue in amazement.

He hadn’t expected the civilizations to be so advanced.

To think that knowledge could be stored within bloodlines, passed down through countless generations.

Humanity, wanting to preserve knowledge of civilization, could only rely on oral tradition, records, and writings. As times change, the best way for humans to preserve their legacy is still to carve it in stone.

Only stone, weathered by millennia, could endure, though it might suffer some erosion.

Modern technology, books, bamboo slips, and other storage methods all succumb to the erosion of time, eventually vanishing from history.