National destiny: Starting with a coffin, building an aircraft carrier is broadcast live globally.

Third floor medical room.

Nathan had just finished telling how the arrogant Noah got his nose bleed from being punched by the captain, and then vividly described that deadly ethereal singing voice.

—Of course, the part about someone attempting to jump into the sea is omitted.

He even stopped to drink some water because his mouth was dry from talking.

"Smack."

The bottom of the cup hit the table.

Sean, who was comfortably listening to the story with his hands under his head on the hospital bed, suddenly became interested:

"According to your description, isn't that the kind of creature that can confuse people with just a few shouts, like Queen Liv of the Deep Blue Kingdom—a pure-blooded siren?"

"Whether eating the flesh of a siren grants immortality is unknown, but a curse is certainly possible..."

Nathan had just opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by a sudden voice:

"Creak..."

A groaning sound, like something heavy moving through a metal pipe, came from the ceiling.

Everyone fell silent, staring intently at the only exit above them—

Ventilation opening.

The vent was no bigger than a head, or at least a small head, and it was covered with a copper mesh.

"Crunch... crunch..."

Another, increasingly close scraping sound came, as if some large thing that shouldn't be there was struggling to move in the narrow pipe.

Klaus and Aurora exchanged a glance, then silently lifted the completely drunk Ivan up from either side and retreated to the door.

The sound grew closer and louder...

Finally, it stopped abruptly with a thud.

Then came a minute of silence.

Just as Nathan was about to get impatient and go under the vent to take a look, a muffled sound, distorted by the pipes, came out:

"Wait...wait a minute, I can't get through there, I'm stuck..."

Why does this tune sound so familiar?

The people inside looked at each other in bewilderment.

Before they could figure it out, another equally distorted voice rang out:

"It's okay, are you sure this is the place?"

Oh, this looks familiar, it's the captain!

Nathan relaxed, ran to the ventilation shaft, and was about to speak when he heard the captain's voice again:

"Simply break through."

The voice just fell.

"Thump!"

Suddenly, the ceiling next to the vent bulged and cracked like a spider web, with dust falling down in a flurry.

"Thump—thump!"

Two more, even heavier blows followed, accompanied by several flying splinters of wood, and a long leg dressed in overalls emerged directly from the hole in the ceiling.

The dusty gray leather boot kicked twice in mid-air as if searching for a foothold, then said helplessly:

"Sorry... it's stuck again."

This time everyone heard it clearly; it was Louisi.

There was another rustling sound from the ceiling, followed by a calm, detached voice:

"Move forward a bit, I'll help you."

Immediately afterwards—

"Bang! Bang!!!"

Louder than before...like two loud thuds of a battering ram breaking through a door.

Dust filled the air, and flying screws grazed Sean's tail fin and ears before embedding themselves in the floor and walls.

This time...

The battered ceiling could no longer hold up, and a rusty metal pipe and two figures fell from the sky.

"Bang."

"Cough cough cough..."

It landed with a heavy thud, followed by a few suppressed coughs.

Wait until the dust settles down a bit.

Renyi had already stood up nimbly, and then reached out to pull the fleshy cushion off the ground.

Louis stretched his aching back and said with a wry smile:

"Captain, this is so sudden."

"Okay, I'll be more careful next time."

Just as Klaus and Sean gathered around, another scraping sound came from the hole in the ceiling.

"Clang!"

A thick, sharp silver tail, mixed with debris from the edge of the hole, fell down, nearly piercing the floor, before its owner got stuck at the hip.

Inside the ventilation vent.

Esting's almost hoarse scream rang out:

"Boss! They're catching up! Those slimy things are impossible to kill!"

[Wow, I'm on Esther's side in split-screen mode, I'm so nervous!]

[That first-person parkour video was so good it made my palms sweat...]

[What's the panic? Isn't there free labor behind us? (doge)]

[Oh right, Noah was at the back... Never mind then, I'll make myself a cup of tea.]

The next second...

A gruff voice echoed through the pipes:

"Stop yelling! I can stop you! Don't touch my clothes! Hurry up!"

Noah's words came out in fits and starts, interspersed with the dull thud of a heavy punch hitting a sandbag and the loud tremors of a pipe being struck.

Time is tight.

He glanced casually at the crumbling ceiling and didn't linger any longer.

"Klaus, widen the hole so she can get down."

"receive."

The engineer pulled over a chair, stepped on it, and placed his hand on the exposed edge of the pipe, softening and folding the hard sheet metal to widen it.

The stuck siren slipped down, followed by a sweating Estin.

"Nathan, Aurora, Luigi, Esteen."

They counted heads as if reciting a menu arbitrarily.

"Take these two fish and wait for me in room 303."

"What about you, boss?"

Nathan peered over the still-noisy ceiling.

The sounds coming from above weren't pleasant.

Besides the off-key curses, there was also a sticky, heavy sound, like a toilet being clogged and forced to flush.

"Let's get an NPC."

He casually put on the python-patterned gloves, took a half step back, squatted slightly, and used the reaction force of the chair to lift himself up, grab the overturned metal sheet of the vent, then pulled in his waist and abdomen, lifted his feet off the ground, and lightly darted back into the dark pipe.

He crawled through the narrow ventilation ducts and into the more spacious maintenance passage.

He quickly found the person after turning a corner.

The thing chasing them had no outline whatsoever; it bubbled and seeped out from various narrow pipes, spreading along the pipe walls.

Noah was covered by this clump of writhing, blackish-red, sludge-like substance at the top of the maintenance tunnel—

It looks a bit like a piece of chewing gum stuck to the wall.

The thing seemed to be able to change shape at will, and every now and then a few sticky tentacles would emerge, some of which went straight for Noah's seven orifices.

He gripped them tightly with both hands, veins bulging on his forehead, barely managing to keep the object less than two inches from his face.

"Why are you here!"

Noah glanced at the approaching figure out of the corner of his eye, gritted his teeth, and squeezed out a sentence:

"This little guy parasitizes animals; stay away if you don't want to become a puppet!"

Regarding external voices...

Renyi has always upheld the fine tradition of selective deafness.

If you subjectively judge something as nonsense, it won't go in either ear or foot.

Without the slightest hesitation.

A cold glint flashed between his hands, and his figure almost left a blur as he met the 'slug' that had sprouted several tentacles and was about to attack. He pressed his index and middle fingers together, wrapping them around the slug twice, and tightened his grip—

The tentacles that had reached out broke off all at once.

Their cut surfaces turned into several puddles of slime, which then rejoined the bubbling family.