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

"...Crying? Singing?"

Nathan was almost spilling the ice water he was carrying.

"...What I'm hearing is Scottish Highland bagpipes...it's so beautiful and moving!"

Klaus's eyes darted around before finally settling on the fish stick he had just modified, his brows furrowing into a deep frown.

"It's impossible for the same sound source in the same medium to transmit completely independent audio signals to different individuals. Unless... we've encountered brainwave interference at a specific frequency..."

"Stop, we're having a collective auditory hallucination," Renyi quickly interrupted Klaus, making a wary gesture.

The lively atmosphere on the deck vanished completely.

Ivan pulled out "Thoughts" with a backhand and stepped to the edge of the ship's side.

Having gone through the fake Sirens incident, the word "auditory hallucination" here is basically synonymous with "dying miserably."

However, Aurora and Sita both shook their heads, indicating that they did not experience any mental pollution and, apart from hearing different voices, did not feel any discomfort.

But that crying sound kept lingering in my ears, changing its tone every now and then...

Like a phonograph with a cassette tape stuck?

"Advanced cabin".

Instruct a few people to hide first, so that they can be prepared to perform a physical exorcism in case things go wrong.

The slender ship pushed through the sea and fearlessly plunged into the thick white fog ahead.

100 meters...

Fifty meters...

Twenty meters.

The moment before entering their field of vision, everyone is prepared to face a sudden attack from a banshee or something else.

However......

The expected mental deception, the gaping maw, and the slender beauty were nowhere to be seen.

Something drifted alone on the undulating black waves.

...not entirely alone—

Because it's just too big!

A blue-pink clam shell whose outer shell looks like a plastic product!

It was as big as an SUV, bobbing up and down with the waves, and all sorts of chaotic songs—choruses, Scottish bagpipes, and even cries—were leaking from its shell...

Not only does it offer multi-channel independent playback... but it also features stereo surround sound!

What followed was something even more unsettling for them.

On top of the clam shell, some kind of plant was tangled up haphazardly, binding a humanoid creature tightly to it.

"This is... a siren?"

"It doesn't seem like it..."

Sirens don't seem to have males.

So this is a... mermaid?!

Similar to the pseudo-Siren we'd seen before, it had a male torso, long green hair that looked like dried seaweed, messily covering its entire head, and a wide, blue-green fish tail that was twisted and folded back, whether to prevent it from breaking free or for some other reason.

"What kind of seafood blind box delivery is this?"

Ivan's mouth dropped open, and he even put down his axe.

"To be precise, we picked it up ourselves." Nathan quickly took a sip of water to calm his nerves; this was too surreal.

I don't know how long we've been adrift at sea.

The skin of this magical creature with a fish tail was dry and cracked, and many of the scales on its tail were curled up.

"So, is this radar guiding us through this clam shell, or this dead fish?!"

Klaus asked with a troubled expression.

"It's probably a clam shell. Who catches a dead fish with a proper fishing rod...?"

"I'll go take a look."

A single hammer blow can decide the outcome.

Regardless of which one is being guided, both are now his for the taking!

Buy one get one free...

No, I got both for free! ✧(≖ ◡ ≖✿)

He let [Deep Sea Shadow] get closer, carrying a fishing stick in his left hand and [Raven] in his right, and nimbly jumped over the railing onto the clam shell.

"Splash..."

The clam shell was quite stable; it stabilized with just a slight wiggle.

The instant I bent down and touched the clam shell—

【Lv4 Deep Sea Demonic Sound Giant Clam (Rare)】

[Review: Automatically reads biological brainwaves and matches them to the sounds the subconscious most wants to hear or most rejects—pure mental torture. A giant, pristine ocean MP3 player, unfortunately without a song skipping button. PS: Not tasty; it's good for making soup, at least it makes some noise.]

This is great stuff!

Although it's only Lv4, it is indeed rare, and this attribute is clearly intended for the evolution of one of his [Deep Sea Shadow] modules.

The radar is good, and Klaus is awesome.

He straightened up, turned around with a confident look, and gave Klaus on the ship a thumbs up.

But the moment he raised his hand, the expressions of the people on the boat instantly switched from curiosity and joy to terror.

Specifically, this manifests as wide-open eyes and a tendency for the mouth to open into an "O" shape.

Actions outpace thought.

Without taking his eyes off it, he leaned to the right, his shoe soles screeching against the slippery shell of the clam.

at the same time.

A tremendous force came from the outside of my left calf, with a slightly elastic feel, like... a huge adult Labrador wagging its tail at my leg!

It's okay.

His tactical evasive maneuver was correct. Once his right foot landed firmly, he turned in the next second, and [Raven] swiftly slashed across the attacker's neck—

Or any other part of the body.

Unfortunately, he forgot about the messy seaweed on the clam shell.

"Thump!"

Water splashed everywhere.

A beautiful slide step turned into a flat-ground wrestling match.

The seawater instantly submerged his head, and he could still hear the audio of the [Deep Sea Demonic Sound Giant Clam] changing from underwater.

I was caught off guard and could only stand there dumbfounded...

"..."

This clam is pretty cool.

Just as Ren Yi was about to kill it, he suddenly realized that this clam... didn't seem to be wild?!

[Hahaha! The most embarrassing piece of history that this big shot wants to delete in his life has been revealed!]

[I'd give that evasive maneuver a 99 out of 100... minus one point because she tripped.]

[Holy crap, this mermaid is still alive?!]

[Doesn't this scene look just like when the pros first entered the game? Hahaha.]

The ship was in complete chaos.

Nathan frantically cleaned up the glass he had accidentally broken.

Aurora, Siddhartha, and Klaus clung to the ship's railing searching for people, while Ivan dove in.

"It's okay, I'm fine."

He popped his head out of the sea at will, tossing the hair that was blocking his eyes to the sides.

I was just about to mention what I found under this clam shell—

"What are you looking at! Haven't you ever seen someone being robbed before?!"

They were speaking an unintelligible language.

However, after being translated by [Ocean Era], the pronunciation was clear and the voice was full of energy.

This rough roar completely drowned out the background music of the [Deep Sea Demonic Sound Giant Clam].

Not only were there no signs of near-death weakness, but also no hoarseness like that of dehydrated fish; they were all displaying the fierce spirit of Sparta's pre-battle mobilization.