The song was lively, like a girl singing to her lover from afar—a poetic scene, dreamlike… Right when the town’s bus traversed the Mountainous Road, skirting the coastline, and circumvented the seashore at the lowest point of the road.
Actually, the sky was dim, and a shadow covered the distant sea horizon, with an impending storm… A weather that should have weighed on one’s mood, yet nearly everyone’s faces on the sparsely occupied bus showed a mysterious smile.
It was as if they had seen something… A gaze both urgent and bewildered.
The driver suddenly slammed the brakes, and swiftly bolted out the bus door, jumping over the road rail, and dashed towards the beach ahead… He wasn’t the first.
The second, the third… The passengers began pouring out, regardless of gender or age.
They rushed out of the vehicle, vaulted over the rail, and ran towards the beach, resembling a scene filled with love… This was Boss Luo’s first impression—he quietly observed these passengers’ actions, without attempting to stop them.
He wasn’t alone… At least, Teacher Prin was still with him at this time—even though this sudden abnormal situation was likely due to Teacher Prin: perhaps it was.
He looked back at Teacher Prin, pondered for a moment, and said, “I take back what I said earlier… Even ordinary people, as long as they have the intent, will still easily encounter strange matters.”
Teacher Prin couldn’t help but smile, “Student, are you saying… that I am the person with intent?”
Boss Luo ambiguously replied, “If it were Teacher Prin, the result would be much better… If someone with intent were to be me, and my words attracted something, that would not necessarily be a good thing.”
—For example, the last time in South America, a subconscious thought ultimately led to chaos. This kind of interference, even causing a direct material rationalization of something, was something Boss Luo could never find a method to control: it’s like you can’t control those spontaneous thoughts from appearing.
“This statement seems to suggest something else?” Teacher Prin became notably curious.
“It’s nothing.” Luo Qiu smiled slightly, “Just suddenly remembered some little things… It feels like something is about to emerge.”
Saying this, Luo Qiu once again looked towards the beach… Most of the passengers had reached the edge of the seawater.
At that moment, three shadows rapidly came from the distant horizon… In a blink of an eye, the shadows emerged from the water, revealing three beautiful women with long auburn hair, gray-green eyes, and pale skin.
Their bodies above the water were obscured, their auburn hair blending with the seawater in a shadowy veil—three women opened their small mouths, and astonishingly, the alluring and sonorous singing came from their lips.
The driver who rushed towards the beach first had already entered the water, moving towards one of the naked beauties… The resistance of the seawater did not hinder his passion at this moment.
Soon, he embraced one of the beauties.
This might be the composition sought by photographers… If one ignored the beauty’s actions at the moment—this naked beauty suddenly opened her enticing lips, unexpectedly revealing teeth like serrated blades, sharp and dense… Terrifying!
She… it bit into the driver’s neck at the moment—strangely, the driver still displayed a bewildered gaze, seemingly unaware of any pain.
Instantly, the other two beauties also embraced other passengers… Revealing their frightening teeth.
On the bus.
“Akreloydes.” Teacher Prin’s voice came through, he had left his seat, and leaned over the seaside row, looking forward through the car window, and said slowly, “Also known as Siren.”
“Siren?” Luo Qiu blinked… When in China, he had encountered many monsters, both large and small; however, outside China, he hadn’t seen many of the Non-Human—only a few days ago, upon entering the Unhuman Domain, did he see creatures like bloodsuckers and Golden Dragons.
He recalled the maid once mentioning Siren—last year while vacationing at a seaside fishing village with Ren Ziling and Lizi, it was brought up during casual conversation… According to the maid, Siren are almost extinct, with only a few hiding near the Barents Sea… Though, not far from the coasts of Britain.
“A few young ones escaped here.” Teacher Prin nodded, “Their parents were hunted by a few monster Hunters some time ago, they fled from the disaster, and eventually arrived here… Rest assured, they won’t really eat humans; they’ll just suck a little blood and release them. Their saliva contains special components that anesthetize humans, while their songs have a hypnotic effect… When these passengers wake up, they’ll forget what happened.”
Luo Qiu looked at Teacher Prin and found him meticulously observing the scene in front of him—it’s evident he recognized these few refugee Siren early on, yet why did he watch so attentively?
“Seems Teacher Prin’s morning exercise includes supervising these Siren.” Luo Qiu thought for a bit and understood a few things.
Teacher Prin looked somewhat helpless, “I truly was exercising, but I also needed to visit the suburbs for some matters. As for encountering them, it just happened to be this day… In fact, they come ashore almost every week—if you want to see them next time, you can choose the same time.”
“Why supervise them?” Boss Luo curiously asked.
Teacher Prin calmly replied, “Every part of Life has a natural process of birth and death, just like trees withering and seas drying up… This is nature’s law. Don’t you think that if this process were distorted by humans, it would be disrespectful to Life?”
Boss Luo nodded, “Indeed, these passengers seem to have long Life ahead, with much more they can do… So, Teacher Prin is like the Overseer of raw rice.”
Teacher Prin seemed somewhat unaccustomed to the term Overseer; he slightly frowned and even showed a hint of confusion in his eyes, shook his head and said, “I just don’t wish for the passengers to hurt them, nor do I want to see them get hurt… If their feeding truly has no impact on the passengers, don’t you think this is the best scenario?—Of course, maintaining this situation requires an impartial existence constantly making judgments.”
“What if the impartial presence misses once, and then an accident occurs?” Boss Luo suddenly asked.
Teacher Prin glanced at Luo Qiu and smiled bitterly, “This is a sharp and biting question… It’s like asking whether after occasionally helping the weak, one can always help them. It’s impossible, otherwise, one shouldn’t even start at first… Right?”
Boss Luo casually smiled… He was accustomed to posing questions but rarely offered opinions—he always felt that his opinions only represented himself; as for others… This is the beauty of human diversity.
Teacher Prin shook his head, but gave his answer, “If my absence once leads to an accident, then it only means that the destinies of coexistence have reached the end… If this relationship has reached its end, then why should I feel culpable?”
“A genuine argument.” Boss Luo nodded… and continued watching the actions of the three young Siren.
As Teacher Prin mentioned, they quickly released their first prey and then sought the second prey… Only a little blood was drawn from each prey—from a physiological standpoint, this indeed doesn’t affect one’s health… In fact, giving blood promotes the regeneration of human blood.
Soon, the young Siren seemed to have eaten their fill, they released the travelers, then collectively approached the bus… They appeared afraid of stepping onto the shore, merely watching from afar, then slowly retreated, perhaps fearing something.
Eventually, they disappeared into the water, and the darkened sky seemed to clear up somewhat.
Because there was no driver, both he and Teacher Prin could only sit quietly in the car, waiting for the driver and passengers who had fainted by the seaside to wake up—though that should have been the case, Teacher Prin, however, got out of the car, moving the driver and passengers back one by one and placing them in their original positions.
“They seem to be afraid of you, Teacher Prin,” said Boss Luo, keeping a hands-off attitude and not helping at all.
Without turning his head, Teacher Prin replied nonchalantly, “Isn’t it because I’m the one overseeing them?”
Boss Luo simply chuckled and then returned to his seat… Sometime later, the unconscious driver and passengers gradually woke up, completely forgetting the incidents that occurred—though they noticed their clothes were soaked, the car had suddenly stopped on the road, yet none of their belongings were lost, leaving them utterly baffled.
However, when they checked the time—it had undeniably passed considerably, causing the anxious passengers to urge the driver to set off again.
Rumbling… The town bus continued on its original route.
At this moment, Boss Luo suddenly turned his head and said to Teacher Prin, “I heard, Sirens are Queen Persephone of the Underworld’s maids. But because they failed to fulfill their duty in protecting Queen Persephone, they were punished by being turned into the appearance of a monster, to guide the souls on the path to the Netherworld.”
Teacher Prin shrugged, then complimented, “Not much mythological knowledge has been mastered… but, post-class answers won’t give you extra credits, you know.”
“As rumored, it’s really hard to get credits in your course,” Boss Luo laughed.
Throughout the journey, they did not discuss Sirens further… Boss Luo did not ask Teacher Prin more questions, and Teacher Prin did not delve into the background of this new Theology Institute student.
At the section of road near the seaside, no vehicles passed by; only a small shadow suddenly jumped out from the roadside bushes.
It was a black… cat.
…
The black cat easily crossed the guardrail of the road, then walked into the beach area… It walked along the coastline, leaving no footprints on the fine and firm sand moistened by the seawater due to its lightness.
Sometime later, the black cat reached a group of rocks.
It skillfully leaped through the oddly shaped rocks and finally stopped—it paused at someone’s feet.
It was a man… He had his back to the black cat, looking at the narrow sea ahead through the crevices of the rocks… Soon, the black cat, which was no longer content with just rubbing against his feet, jumped onto the front of him.
He reached out and embraced the black cat, holding it in his arms… The black cat gently trembled in his arms, seemingly fearful of something.
“Did you encounter that person again—the one who scares you?” The man lowered his head, stroking the back of the black cat in silence.
For a long, long time, the black cat had completely calmed down… Its body no longer trembled, then it jumped off the man—after a few leaps, it disappeared among the rocks.
The man sighed softly, reaching into his pocket, he retrieved something… smaller than a palm.
It was an unmistakable remote control with red and blue buttons!
“Could it be that this time it will still…”
The man murmured something in a low voice, his fingers rubbing back and forth over the red and blue buttons… Perhaps he wanted to press it, or perhaps he didn’t want to, or even feared pressing it—undecided on which one to ultimately push.
“This is not what I want anymore…”
He finally sighed, put away the remote control with the red and blue buttons into his pocket, and then left this group of rocks.
…
…
In a distant time and space, the Underworld… in the palace of Hades.
When Joe awoke from his slumber, he found himself surprisingly on a soft large bed—yet all around was not bright, whether the walls, the floor, even the large bed, the furniture in the room, they were either gray or transformed into black, and even the sky outside the windows was incredibly dark.
There was no light, but despite the dimness, everything around could be clearly seen… It seemed as if someone had merely turned down the colors here.
However, Joe felt a slight chill—where is this place? How did he come here? He only remembered that he seemed to be taken by his big sister to the seaside, and then… then something happened, but his memory had become vague and unclear.
“Big sister? Big sister! Are you here, big sister? Where is this place?” Young Joe climbed down from the bed, “Big sister, is this your room? Big sister?”
He kept shouting loudly.
Just then, the door of the room creaked open, and a beautiful woman dressed in maid’s attire slowly pushed a dining cart inside, causing Joe to widen his eyes.
This woman was clearly not the big sister he knew… yet he was not entirely sure, because the big sister he knew loved transforming into various appearances to tease him.
“Big sister?” Joe asked tentatively.
“Big sister?” The maid glanced at Joe with a puzzled look, thought for a moment, and said, “It seems you have mistaken me for someone else… However, I am sorry, we did not know each other before this. My name is Ji Si, and I am a maid of the Queen of the Underworld… and now, my duty is to take care of you, Young Master.”
Joe blinked his eyes… What is a Young Master?
My name is Joe!
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