Upon seeing the figure sealed in ice on the bed, Fu Zhu immediately rushed over, throwing himself at the bedside. Subconsciously, he pulled out his Pickaxe, wanting to liberate March 7th from the 'prison' of Six-Phased Ice.
"Fu Zhu, wait a moment!"
Himeko hurriedly reached out to stop Fu Zhu, deeply afraid that he would really smash the Six-Phased Ice. After all, the crew knew all too well how heaven-defying the tools in Fu Zhu's hands were.
Stopped by Himeko, Fu Zhu also calmed down.
After regaining his composure and looking at the Six-Phased Ice sealing March 7th again, Fu Zhu no longer felt it was a kind of 'prison', but rather more like a layer of protection.
Fu Zhu took a deep breath, forcing himself to cool down.
March 7th shouldn't be in too much danger. Whether it was the prophecy from Elio—[One body and soul split in two, hard for others to find yet close at hand]—or the note (Incomplete) after March 7th's icon on the minimap, both indicated that March 7th was likely just forced into a state of 'Soul Separation'.
"Himeko, what did Black Swan say?"
Fu Zhu immediately thought of Black Swan. As the 'culprit' who invited the Express to Amphoreus, and as a Memokeeper, she should have discovered something.
Seeing Fu Zhu calm down, Himeko felt much more relieved. Fu Zhu's power was undoubtedly strong, but she was genuinely worried he would make mistakes due to losing his cool.
"Miss Black Swan examined March. She said March's memories were very likely hijacked and taken to Amphoreus. The ones hijacking the memories are most likely some radicals from the Garden of Recollection."
Fu Zhu pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"I understand. March is safe for now, but we can't let her wait too long. We must reunite with her as soon as possible."
"But, Fu Zhu, do you know which timeline March 7th is in within Amphoreus?"
Welt was somewhat worried. Fu Zhu and the other two had already been separated into two different timelines. If March 7th was also split into another solitary timeline, he was really worried something unexpected might happen to her.
Fu Zhu also felt it was a bit troublesome. If he could go to the timeline where Xing and Dan Heng were, he could directly use Observer Mode to search through the timeline. Even if it took a bit longer, it wouldn't matter.
But currently, the timeline he was in was the past. As long as the timeline March 7th was in was later than his, he was powerless.
Fu Zhu explained his thoughts to Welt and Himeko. Welt nodded after listening.
"In that case... I'll go find Miss Black Swan. Who knows, she might have a way to pull you back from Amphoreus's past and send you to the timeline where Xing is."
"Mhm, I'll leave it to you, Uncle Yang. Although I sent a message to Herta before, she hasn't replied to me even now. I'm afraid you'll have to go find her yourself."
"Leave it to me."
Welt exhorted Fu Zhu to pay attention to safety again, then hurriedly left March 7th's room, planning to return to Herta Space Station to invite Herta over.
After Welt left, Fu Zhu was just about to go make other preparations when he turned his head and saw Himeko looking at March 7th on the bed with a worried face. He comforted her softly.
"Himeko, don't worry. I will bring everyone back safe and sound. Even an Aeon can't stop me!"
Hearing Fu Zhu's comforting words, Himeko finally revealed a smile. Her eyes looking at Fu Zhu were full of relief.
"I didn't expect to be comforted by you in the end... But Fu Zhu..."
Himeko suddenly reached out and cupped Fu Zhu's face, her expression serious.
"Protector yourself. Don't give yourself too much pressure, and don't think about shouldering everything alone. We are a family. We have the ability and the qualifications to share the pressure with you, understand?"
Fu Zhu laughed dumbly, gently pressed his hand on the back of Himeko's hand, and nodded.
"Mhm, I've noted it down."
"That's good. I'll stay on the Train to look after Little March. I'll leave Amphoreus to you guys."
"Mhm."
Fu Zhu walked out of the room and took out his phone to call Chadwick.
The call was connected very quickly, and Chadwick's voice came from the other end.
"Sir, you're back from Amphoreus?"
"Mhm, temporarily. Doctor, are the preparations for the Radiant Feldspar complete?"
"Mhm, roughly there. Do you need the Radiant Feldspar to do something?"
"Prepare another set of 'guests' to arrive at Amphoreus. According to Elio and the unrevealed Dragon's words, the ones coming to Amphoreus this time won't just be us, the Astral Express."
"Understood. I will keep the [Imaginary Collapse Pulse] in an activatable state at all times."
"Then I'll trouble you, Doctor."
After briefly chatting with Chadwick for a few more sentences, Fu Zhu immediately used [Yamato] to cut open a spatial tunnel again and drilled into it.
Passing through the spatial tunnel, Fu Zhu had just stepped into Amphoreus when the next second, he felt the ground beneath his feet suddenly vanish. His entire person fell rapidly toward the boundless ocean below.
Fu Zhu glanced downward. Seeing it was a vast ocean, he didn't bother managing it. The various blessings on his body were enough to support him moving in the ocean for a long time. Even without blessings, he had means to create a space with air inside the ocean.
When falling into the ocean, Fu Zhu subconsciously closed his eyes. When he opened them again, even though it was dark and sunless, his vision remained clear and bright. He could see the scenery hundreds of meters away clearly.
"Let me see..."
Fu Zhu opened the minimap and took a look. To the southwest of his position on the map, there was an area of buildings that didn't look naturally formed at all. That should be a place where humans had lived before or where marine life existed.
It just so happened that among the Twelve Titans, there was a [Sea] Titan. He could go there to scout for information.
Having made up his mind, Fu Zhu swam rapidly toward the southwest.
After swimming for a dozen minutes or so, within a coral reef where fish gathered, Fu Zhu saw a scarlet figure swimming freely. With a human body and a fish tail, it was extremely like the mermaids in the fairy tales of his hometown.
Fu Zhu hesitated for a moment, but still swam over. Since it had a human-like upper body, they should be able to communicate. Who knows, he might be able to obtain some intelligence.
After Fu Zhu arrived a dozen meters away from the woman, he took one look at her upper body, which had almost no concealment whatsoever, and silently turned his head away.
"Hello, can we chat?"
Fu Zhu's voice entered the woman's ears. Even though this was underwater, he could still open his mouth to speak underwater.
Hearing the voice, the woman turned her head to look in this direction, following the sound with some surprise. Upon seeing Fu Zhu, a trace of confusion flashed in her eyes, but she still immediately swam towards Fu Zhu.
When the woman swam to Fu Zhu's side and saw that Fu Zhu was a complete human, the surprise on her face grew thicker. She circled around him.
Fu Zhu had no choice but to keep turning his angle of view to prevent himself from seeing some erotic scenes. But helpless against this 'Mermaid' being too active, he simply closed his eyes directly.
Only after swimming for a good while did the woman stop, staring intently at Fu Zhu's face.
"Really so strange. Clearly a human, why can you speak underwater?"
The woman's voice was very pleasant. The first feeling it gave Fu Zhu was like the sounds made by those Sirens in legends who charmed passing sailors.
"Just consider it a little trick of mine. I'm called Fu Zhu, a Nameless of the Astral Express."
"Astral Express..." The woman muttered this name, then shook her head. "Unfamiliar vocabulary... You can call me Helektra. You said you wanted to chat with me. Chat about what?"
"Helektra, what is the name of that city state ahead?"
Fu Zhu planned to start understanding from the most basic knowledge.
"Ahead is my hometown, the Kingdom of Sirens, the Phajina Kingdom... You, why have you been keeping your eyes closed?"
Helektra swam in front of Fu Zhu and reached out, wanting to pry open Fu Zhu's eyelids. She grumbled unhappily, "Do humans not like opening their eyes when talking to us Sirens? Clearly, some humans keep staring at us without turning their eyes."
Fu Zhu reached out to hold Helektra's hand that wanted to pry his eyelids. He said with some helplessness, "Because some of our human concepts are somewhat different from you Sirens. Going out without any cover, if I keep staring at your body, it is a very rude matter."
"Pfft."
Helektra couldn't help but laugh out loud. "So it's like that. But this is the freedom of us Sirens. Wearing those clothes on land, for us, counts as bondage..."
A few small jokes made the two of them quite a bit more familiar.
Just as Fu Zhu planned to continue asking some other questions, a low hum suddenly came from the direction of the Phajina Kingdom.
Originally still smiling, Helektra's expression suddenly tightened. She looked towards that side in panic, and before leaving, she didn't forget to leave a sentence for Fu Zhu.
"Leave quickly! It's going to become very dangerous here. Hurry back to your surface!"
Fu Zhu sensed the flow of the water body. Opening his eyes, he saw Helektra was already about to disappear in front of him, so he immediately followed.
Helektra was rushing back when she sensed Fu Zhu following her. She turned her head to look at him in confusion.
"What are you following for?"
Fu Zhu spoke straightforwardly: "Looks like you guys encountered some trouble. I plan to help you guys out. This way, you will owe me a favor. When the time comes for me to ask you about some things, you will also be able to answer me with a more sincere attitude."
Sincerity was the ultimate move. Fu Zhu believed that if he did this, Helektra would have no reason to refuse answering some of his more obscure questions.
Hearing Fu Zhu's words, Helektra couldn't help but take a few more looks at him, replying with a laugh, "You are different from other humans. Other humans clearly speak in circles, but you are so direct."
"Did that trouble you? Then I can change to a different method."
"No, this is just fine. However, don't underestimate our Siren race. Who knows, your expectations might come to nothing!"
"That couldn't be better. Then I'll just treat it as tourism."
With Helektra leading the way, the target for the two was very clear. But Helektra didn't take Fu Zhu directly into the Phajina Kingdom. Instead, they went to the other front line of the Phajina Kingdom.
In a region where large coral reefs stood in great numbers, Fu Zhu saw quite a few of Helektra's compatriots holding various weapons, staring vigilantly at the other end of the coral forest.
Fu Zhu looked along their line of sight and saw that in the depths of the azure sea, a thin black line was approaching this side. The closer it got, the larger that 'black line' became, until a few hundred meters away, it had already turned into a black ocean current that seemed as if it wanted to sweep away the coral forest.
Seeing this scene, Fu Zhu couldn't help but frown. While opening the minimap, he asked Helektra beside him.
"What is that?"
Helektra had a cold face, biting her lower lip, speaking word by word.
"Black Tide."
Fu Zhu also saw the anomaly on the minimap at this moment. That anomaly which looked like a black ocean current was actually a 'current' composed of hundreds of thousands of black monsters! Their names were all unified.
[Black Tide Creation · XXXXX]
Aside from this, Fu Zhu also saw a relatively familiar name among Helektra's compatriots.
[Gateway Semigod · Triya]
One-thousandth of Tribios? She was actually here too!
Just at this moment, Helektra said to him.
"Let's go down and regroup with everyone."
"Mhm."
Fu Zhu swam towards the crowd together with Helektra.
The crowd of Sirens who had been guarding the coral forest also noticed Fu Zhu and Helektra. Every one of them looked at Fu Zhu with some surprise.
After all, inside the Phajina Kingdom, humans from the surface were very rarely seen, let alone under the situation of the Black Tide invading.
Among them, a female wearing a crown made of a kind of crystal-clear coral on her head saw Helektra bringing Fu Zhu over and asked in confusion.
"Helektra, who is he?"
Helektra stopped in front of that female and lowered her head.
"My Queen, he is called Fu Zhu. He is a traveler. Just happened to be passing by. Seeing we were in trouble, he planned to help us out."
Hearing Helektra say this, the Queen's expression softened a lot. She turned her head to advise Fu Zhu with a gentle tone.
"Thank you for your kind intentions, human. But you should hurry and leave. The Black Tide... is not something to play with."
Fu Zhu shook his head. Since he was already here, naturally it was impossible to leave.
"Please rest assured, My Queen. I know a bit of boxing and kicking. Protecting my own life is a piece of cake. Moreover, there is an acquaintance of mine here."
"Acquaintance?"
The Queen was somewhat puzzled. Then she saw Fu Zhu cast his gaze toward the most 'special' existence in the crowd, Triya.
"You know the Messenger?"
"Messenger?" Fu Zhu didn't understand. When did Tribios have this title?
The Queen nodded.
"The Messenger came from the surface to Phajina and brought us a prophecy."
At this moment, Triya also swam over. Pushing aside the red hair in front of her eyes, she revealed a smile at Fu Zhu.
"Fu Zhu, haven't seen you for thirty-five years. You are still the same as before."
Fu Zhu's expression changed.
"How many years did you say?"