The Record of Unusual Creatures

“Your collection?” Hao Ren was taken aback by Katreina’s words. “You mean the flotsam and random things you found in the ocean?”

“It’s not just that.” The Queen blinked. “There are quite a few surprises in them — what do you say, care to have a look?”

Before Hao Ren could say anything, Lily was already leaping excitedly towards them. “Yes, yes! Landlord, let’s go let’s go let’s go…”

Hao Ren had to push Lily’s head down to stop the werehusky’s shoving. He nodded at Katreina with interest. “If you don’t mind showing them to us outsiders — yes, we’d be delighted to see them.”

“It’s not a national secret or something.” Katreina smiled and turned around. “These items were thrown away by the humans of this world. We merely collect them. Come with me, the gallery is just around the corner.”

Hao Ren, Vivian and Lily followed behind the Queen of Sirens, walking past the lively square outside the palace and the city’s old defensive walls, which were still under construction. There were fewer and fewer sirens around them where they were heading, but more and more guards and siren soldiers in mantis shrimp form patrolling the area, all armed with tridents. Finally, they reached the entrance to what seemed like an entrance to an underground subway. The structure in front of them looked like a tunnel that emerged from underground at an angle. There was a heavy blackiron gate at the entrance, framed by sparkling water gems. A few heavily armed sentries patrolled about the gate. The festive atmosphere in the city did not reach this corner of Nasaton.

Hao Ren blinked. “Didn’t you say this isn’t some national secret…”

“It’s not, but the guards are still necessary.” The Queen waved at the sentries, who bowed respectfully at her and then proceeded to open the gate. “The humans on land may have forgotten about these things, but we still think of them as treasure.”

A string of bubbles blew out from the sides of the gate. Hidden gears creaked as the heavy door opened to the sides, revealing a dimly illuminated hallway. It seemed to lead to the deeper parts of Nasaton.

Katreina led the trio into the highly cherished “treasure room” of the sirens. When Hao Ren stepped inside the hallway, he immediately noticed the pipes crisscrossing along walls and ceiling. There was also some light coming through the gaps between the pipes. Katreina introduced the place. “This was a machinery room. We never knew what it was for. The machines were all broken, probably because the ship crash-landed here. After we cleared away all the machinery in here and patched a few holes, we repurposed it as a storage room.”

The hallway in front widened into a massive underground expansive.

“Ten thousand years ago, various odd trinkets and things fell into the ocean. The earliest things were left behind by Otherworldlings, but when the humans conquered the ocean, their things became the majority. There were so many things left behind in the ocean, and sirens are very curious in nature. When we went traveling, we like to bring back some of the more interesting things back with us. That’s how the ship anchors, torpedoes and propellers you saw in Nasaton came to be. As we gathered more and more things over time, we decided to throw away the less amusing things into the oceanic trenches, and keep the most interesting things here in the collection gallery.”

The huge underground space still had traces of its ancient days as a machinery room. The metal walls that extended from both sides still had pipes and holding clamps, but the machines were all removed, leaving behind a spacious room that was now littered with all kinds of weird things. Rows and rows of item racks filled the room, leaving three-meter spaces between them. Each rack had a striking label. Hao Ren stared. He was slowly realizing that this place probably had the richest collection of items in the planet — ten thousand years of worth of history, gathered from every corner of the ocean, including things from humans and Otherworldlings, all neatly stored and categorized!

Any historian or collector would have died from happiness if they saw this!

“This…” Hao Ren started, but the first thing he did was ask, “Err, why did you suddenly think of showing us this place?”

As Katreina had explained, this room of treasures was not exactly a national secret, but it did not look like it was open to public. Hao Ren had a good relationship with the sirens, but the Queen’s sudden invitation must have been spurred on by some reason.

As expected, Katreina pointed towards a deep corner of the room, and a siren emerged from the exhibits. It was Mrs Nangong, Ayesha.

“It was Ayesha’s request.” Katreina explained with a smile. “She said that you would probably be interested in these things — the planet’s history of events, and the evolution of the lives of Otherworldlings in the last ten thousands of years. If you’re researching about this, our collection might be of some help.”

Hao Ren realized now what was happening. The Queen did not know the details of his job, but she did figure that he would be interested in things like cultural history. She probably knew he and Vivian had been actively studying the Otherworldings on Earth. Since Ayesha suggested to let him and Vivian visit the sirens’ collection, Katreina agreed readily.

“Well, do you find them to be of interest?” Ayesha swam over from behind one of the racks, with Nangong Wudi trailing behind her. “I’ve never visited the collection gallery for a long time… Years ago, I had loved this place. I contributed at least ten of the items in here.”

“They’re useful, very much so!” Hao Ren rubbed his hands together and looked around eagerly at the things that came from different periods in history and different civilizations. “It will take ages to go through them, just a brief look at them will tell me so much! This… Hey, why aren’t Sanba and Wuyue with you?”

Nangong Wudi shook his head. “They’re outside looking after Lil’ Pea. Besides, they are not exactly interested in this place.”

Hao Ren dragged Vivian and Lily towards the rows of display racks, marveling at the objects that were crystallized memories of their time. Lily stared with her eyes wide as she kept her tail carefully between her legs for fear of accidentally damaging any of these items. “Say, Batty, do you recognize them all?”

Vivan studied the relics that had been left underwater for ages wistfully as she replied, “That’s just impossible, right… But I can roughly tell when and where some of these things come from. This plate, for example, is from around three of four hundred years ago, from Europe.”

Vivian pointed at a delicate white porcelain plate. It was arranged together with two old flintlock pistols. Despite their age, the sirens had used a unique anti-aging formula to keep them looking good as new. Katreina saw the porcelain antique and offered, “That was in 1647. A French merchant ship were attacked by pirates at sea. The plate was part of the captain’s collection, and the captain was one of the few humans who knew black magic. After his death, part of his spirit lived on in the porcelain ware. This tiny plate had sunken three ships after that, and went down with the last ship into the ocean. No human ever saw it again.”

Hao Ren was surprised. “He knew black magic, and yet the pirates still got the better of him?”

“When you can’t chant faster than the brick flying at you, all the black magic you know can’t save you.” Lily had her arms akimbo in pride. “Why, Batty here got a taste of my bricks before…”

“What’d I tell about repeating that incident?!” Vivian glared at Lily. “I wasn’t feeling very well, okay?! Besides, never in my ten thousand years have I seen a werehusky throw a brick, surprise is the only reason you got me!”

Katreina studied Vivian and Lily curiously, but did not comment. She pointed at the racks and said, “These things are arranged by chronological order, and labeled by whether it belonged to humans or Otherworldings. Have a look yourselves, perhaps you may find something of use.”

“Are there anything from demon hunters?” Vivian asked.

Katreina nodded and pointed towards a corner of the room. “The sea is wide and all-reaching. Anything can find its way to the sea. The earliest artifacts from demon hunters are in that direction, including the huge bow that shot down the solar ship and the sword used to slay Hydra.”

Hao Ren felt a renewed respect for the sirens — they were very dedicated collectors!