Man on the ark, forced to become king

"If it's you, then yes."

Skadi thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

She had no concept of secrecy and didn't think there was anything wrong with talking about Agor and the Deep Sea Hunter.

The reason I kept my distance from others and didn't reveal more information was because those people didn't have the ability to deal with Hai Si. Knowing too much would not be a good thing; on the contrary, it would bring them disaster.

Lin Lu is different. He is very strong and has mastered the method to sever Hai Si's connection, so he knows that those things will not affect him.

“Deep Sea Hunters is an armed military group formed by Agor. Its purpose is to fight against the Sea Species lurking in the deep sea—that’s what the book says. Our main job is to hunt down the Sea Species and deal with more disasters caused by them.”

“Agor’s words…”

When Agor was mentioned, Skadi paused halfway through her sentence, her expression somewhat conflicted, as if she didn't know how to say it. It took her a while to think of the right words before she spoke again.

“Agor is actually no different from countries on land; it’s just a collection of cities.”

"Land dwellers move their cities on massive machines, while Agor uses protective shields to isolate the seawater and builds cities on the seabed. However, Agor's technology is more advanced than any land-based city I've ever seen. You can often see very clever machines on the road, and also... flush toilets."

A very intelligent machine, I think, refers to a robot with advanced technology, right?

Raytheon Industries sells similar machinery, but Agor's technology may be superior.

What the heck is a flush toilet?

That thing can be considered high-tech?

Lin Lu scratched her head, somewhat unable to understand the girl's logic.

However, the fact that Agor could erect a protective shield to isolate itself from seawater and build a city on the seabed despite the heavy water pressure demonstrates the extent of its technological prowess.

This leads to another question—if civilian technology is this advanced, military technology must be even more advanced.

If even land-based nations can build high-speed warships and massive cannons, there's no reason why Agor can't. So why form a force like the Deep Sea Hunters, which fights using their own bodies?

Sea creatures appear in groups, and in terms of killing efficiency, no individual can compare to a weapon of war specifically designed for combat.

Or are deep-sea hunters like Skadi just isolated cases, and they also possess weapons similar to high-speed warships?

"What are the fighting styles of the Deep Sea Hunters like? Are they all the same as you?"

If you can't figure it out, then ask.

Skadi didn't hide anything from the question and quickly gave an affirmative answer.

"Pretty much. We mainly rely on melee weapons to fight the Sea Si. The book says that the Sea Si have a strong ability to adapt to evolution. They can avoid all evolutionary paths that would lead to death and deterioration, and evolve in the direction most conducive to reproduction without limit."

"Many advanced weapons will quickly be adapted to by the sea creatures and become ineffective once they are used. Therefore, in order to avoid advanced technology accelerating the evolution of the sea creatures, the deep-sea hunters can only use primitive cold weapons to fight them."

That makes some sense, but it's not entirely true.

Lin Lu had witnessed Hai Si's evolution; after absorbing the power of the Golden Tree, Hai Si quickly evolved a slime component that could resist Talulah's flames.

However, there is a limit to that slime. If Talulah were to go all out without any restraint, she could still burn it to death with power exceeding the limit that Hai Zi could withstand.

Ultimately, so-called evolution is just the optimization and change of one's own physical structure. An individual's endurance cannot really be increased indefinitely, otherwise, wouldn't that make them invincible?

Therefore, if high-powered weapons are used, it should be possible to kill a large number of sea creatures quickly.

Energy weapons, which are similar to spells, might not be very effective, so why not just use kinetic weapons?

Is there any fundamental difference between a cannonball that explodes directly and a slash from a cold weapon?

Could it be that Hai Si is immune to cannonballs but not to swords?

This doesn't make any sense.

If swords can kill Hai Si, then cannonballs can certainly kill him too.

No matter how you look at it, this logic has major problems.

However, Skadi certainly didn't know the answer to that question, so Lin Lu didn't ask further and instead asked about something else.

Do all Agorians have the same physical abilities as you?

"No, most Agor people are not much different from land people, only deep-sea hunters are special."

Skadi lowered her head slightly, as if she had remembered something, and her mood became somewhat downcast.

"Most of those who can become Deep Sea Hunters are... Our bodies have been modified by Agor's technology, which gives us superhuman physical abilities. We can kill Sea Heirs with pure melee weapons. Other Agor people do not have this ability."

"Transformation... I think I understand."

Lin Lu nodded thoughtfully, her gaze falling on the girl's body. After scanning around, she came up with a guess that was very likely close to the truth.

"Have you ever wondered why those sea creatures are chasing you so relentlessly? Even if you run deep into the land, they can still find you?"

"It's probably because of some things I've done..."

Skadi felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, shrank back, and answered softly.

“Those are secondary. The real reason is that you have a part in your body that is the same as the Sea Si. In a sense, you can also be considered a special kind of Sea Si. That’s why they can locate you directly through the connection between bloodlines. That’s why your blood attracts the Sea Si.”

"what?!"

Skadi's eyes widened immediately, and she stood up abruptly.

She doesn't care about other things, but this is something she can't possibly ignore.

She was clearly Hai Si's hunter, so how could it be Hai Si himself? She couldn't accept it!

"Haven't you noticed the changes in your body? In this world, no life form can hide from the Golden Tree. Hai Si's blood does indeed flow in your veins. You and Hai Si share the same origin."

“If all deep-sea hunters are like you, then what Agor calls technological modification is essentially transplanting parts of the Sea Child into your bodies, giving your bodies evolutionary abilities similar to the Sea Child, strengthening them, and thus granting you physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.”

"This, this is impossible..."

Although she said that, Skadi's expression clearly showed that she was wavering.

Perhaps she had suspected it, but she just didn't want to admit it or think about it.

The Deep Sea Hunters are a special unit formed by Agor specifically to deal with the threat of the Sealings, and their casualties have always been high.

During the battle with Hai Si, some comrades would inexplicably go mad, and even experience physical abnormalities...

Agor's official explanation is that those people have been corrupted by the sea, which is why they exhibited such anomalies.

This argument seems plausible, but in reality, it's not very reasonable.

Skadi had fought countless battles against Haizi, and she knew very well what Haizi's corruption was like, unlike her comrades who had shown abnormalities.

If we use Lin Lu's explanation, then it makes sense.

The reason why Deep Sea Hunters undergo mutation is that the Sea Species within their bodies invade their original body tissues, directly transforming them from humans into Sea Species, which is why they look that way!

Including herself...

After that battle, the Deepsea Hunter was attacked by an unknown force. She lost contact with Agor and ran ashore. During this time, Skadi could clearly feel that something in her body seemed to have changed.

Her food consumption increased, and her strength grew accordingly. Hai Si relentlessly pursued her, almost to the point of madness, and even leaving a single drop of blood would reveal her location.

This situation is also very abnormal.

The inexplicable resistance that often surfaced in her heart also became more and more severe over time, trying to affect her thinking.

Isn't this exactly a manifestation of Hai Sihua?

But if that's the truth, then what's the point of her persistence and her never-ending fight?

No, that's not right...

She became a deep-sea hunter to avenge her family!

Yes, yes...

Her family died in a sea monster attack... Why did those sea monsters appear in the city without warning? What about Agor's defenses?!

Those teammates who suddenly disappeared, and the transformation process...

Doubt is like a seed; once planted, it will inevitably take root and sprout someday.

Perhaps Skadi herself didn't realize that the seeds of doubt had long been planted in her heart, but she had been comforting herself in a seemingly reasonable way, deliberately ignoring those doubts.

Now that Lin Lu has pointed out her biggest doubts, all the hidden flaws have come to light all at once, almost overwhelming her.

All the battles, all the efforts, all the perseverance, all seemed to have become a joke.

"Wake up."

A blue light swept across, and the golden tree cast a beam of light that enveloped Skadi. Lin Lu, as she wished, placed her hand on the girl's head and patted it twice.

Under the combined influence of magic and the Golden Tree, the swaying Skadi managed to steady herself, and the chaotic thoughts surging within her calmed down.

"Thank you."

"Your condition is strange."

Without prior physical contact, it was difficult to make a judgment on some situations, but at this moment, as Lin Lu touched Skadi's soft hair, she immediately sensed the abnormality in the girl's body.

It is true that it has the blood of the Sea Child flowing in its veins, and the purity is quite high, much stronger than the Sea Child that was sent over as a fish before.

However, this is just a minor issue.

The Golden Tree, having reached the stage of the Forge of Life, is the origin of countless lives. The mere Sealing bloodline can be completely integrated into Skadi's body or separated from her; it will only take some time at most.

The real problem is that Skadi's body contains not only the blood of the Sea King, but also some kind of deeply hidden foreign substance.

Her current situation is very similar to Surtr's.