Chapter 3106: Obtained

Under the office, dazzling lights illuminated the newly built containment vault. The walls of the vault were made of a mixture of metal and a kind of resin. Overall, it looked like walls composed of layers of iron wires as thick as hair, after which semi-transparent resin was cast inside.

This was the branch of the Bitter Salt Tree. The Bitter Salt Tree only grew in the volcanic polar regions north of the continent. The reason for choosing its resin as the partition layer was because it contained molten salt.

Molten salt possessed a characteristic: when energy or matter attempted to penetrate it, it would release a terrifying temperature. Although it could only maintain it for an instant, the temperature was high enough to scorch most energy into a gaseous state.

This was the highest temperature known that could be achieved artificially. Unfortunately, due to the characteristics of molten salt, it was destined to be very difficult to extract it from the resin of the Bitter Salt Tree.

Su Xiao sat on an iron chair in the containment vault. The area here was over three hundred square meters. In the center position were two glass columns nearly 3 meters thick. One glass column contained deep blue seawater, and the other glass column contained a faintly green strong acid solution.

Located beside Su Xiao's feet, the mermaid imprisoned in the crystal coffin was facing a choice: enter the glass column with seawater, or be thrown into the glass column filled with strong acid.

Su Xiao looked down at the mermaid in the crystal coffin, human body and fish tail, a head of bright red long hair, that beautiful face, and plump figure satisfied all men's fantasies.

Don't think too much; the mermaid's mouth was filled with needle-like sharp teeth. Adding the upper and lower rows of teeth, there were at least several hundred. On her neck, there were honeycomb-like small holes, from which tentacle-like nematodes occasionally probed out.

This was a high-level creature where beauty and terror coexisted. Regarding how to eliminate her, the containment agency and the Eclipse organization had joined forces once to discuss countermeasures.

The final result obtained was that there were three methods to completely eliminate the mermaid.

1. Kill all male humans in this world. The mermaid appeared because of men's beautiful fantasies about their spouses. The beauty on her body represented the beauty of love, and the terror on her body represented those filthy and endless desires. Excessive fantasies produced a collection of multiple intentions, and this collection of intentions allowed the mermaid to continuously "reborn" through the method of "childbirth."

2. Kill all women in this world. Without women, there would be no fantasies about love. The principle is the same as conjecture 1. Of course, some men with special hobbies are excluded.

3. Make the ocean disappear. The collection of intentions appeared in the ocean. Without the ocean, the collection of intentions could not appear, and thus the mermaid could not be "birthed."

These three plans seemed funny, but they were indeed ways to completely eliminate the mermaid. As for other methods, they had been tried long ago and had no effect. For example, eliminating the collection of intentions that might appear in the sea in advance, or dog-blood plans like letting the mermaid know what love is, the containment agency and the Eclipse organization had both tried, and they were useless.

What Su Xiao had to do now was to contain the mermaid. After losing her freedom, the mermaid would die before long, but completing the first ring of the main quest was enough, and during this period, he could use the mermaid to attract the Death Holy Grail.

Su Xiao signaled Amu to open the crystal coffin. As the crystal coffin was opened, the seawater inside evaporated violently, turning into a colorless mist that drifted in the air.

It was worth mentioning that the primitive tribes living on the unknown continent, although still in the era of eating raw meat and drinking blood, had manufactured crystal coffins that could completely imprison the mermaid, as well as special seawater that could isolate the mermaid's crying and singing. This was very puzzling.

The mermaid rose from the crystal coffin at a slow speed, appearing harmless. However, suddenly, her expression became ferocious, and she made a move to screech. According to known records, the mermaid had never screeched before.

Slap!

Amu's big palm slapped directly onto the mermaid's face, almost slapping her back into the crystal coffin.

The steel straight cow Amu didn't know what it meant to cherish the jade and pity the fragrance. In its cognition, since the mermaid influenced dangerous objects or creatures through sound, just slapping her mouth was enough.

Bang, bang, bang......

Amu aimed at the mermaid's face and slapped her head and face with a storm of attacks. After this storm-like attack, the mermaid lay straight in the crystal coffin and didn't move.

"Amu, stop first, don't slap her to death."

"Moo."

"Boss, how to deal with her?"

"Don't let her make any crying, singing, or screeching sounds."

"Alright, then should I put a ball gag on her?"

"......"

"Woof?"

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang looked at Baha confusedly, obviously not knowing what a ball gag was. This exceeded its knowledge storage capacity. Baha described it with a lewd smile, and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang tilted its dog head; strange knowledge had increased.

Before long, the mermaid's mouth was sealed with tape, and the honeycomb-like small holes on her neck were also wrapped.

"I ask, you answer."

"Umm."

The mermaid nodded. From her gaze, there was no killing intent or hatred in her eyes, but intense confusion.

"Every time you are reborn, you retain the memories before death."

"Umm?"

The mermaid looked at Su Xiao. A surprising scene appeared: blood-red pupils actually appeared in her originally pure white eyes. Su Xiao's unintentionally drifting blood aura was absorbed by this mermaid.

The mermaid's gaze became icy, completely different from the previous confusion, with killing intent hidden in her eyes.

Seeing this scene, Su Xiao felt he had discovered a new characteristic of the dangerous object S-006 (Mermaid). This thing would imitate the person interacting with her.

Simply put, if the person interacting with the mermaid was kind, the mermaid would be very kind; if the person interacting with her was fierce, the mermaid would also be very fierce.

Su Xiao signaled Amu to drag the crystal coffin further away, keeping himself at a distance from the mermaid.

A few seconds later, the blood-red pupils in the mermaid's eyes disappeared, and the pupils turned pure white again. That kind of white was very clean, as if there was nothing purer than this.

Almost at the same time, Su Xiao and Baha's eyes looked at Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang raised one of its front paws, making a thumbs-up gesture, indicating that it had already understood and needed to brew for a while.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang took out a miniature heater from the team storage space, turned it to the highest temperature, hugged it in its arms, and squatted beside the mermaid.

As the heater in Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's arms became hotter and hotter, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who was born with a genuine leather coat, stuck out its tongue; it was almost heat-dizzy.

Sure enough, black and white pupils appeared in the mermaid's eyes, and her expression became peaceful.

After Amu tore off the tape wrapped on the mermaid's mouth, he retreated a few meters away while carrying the Dragon Heart Axe, ready to chop off the mermaid's head with a flying axe at any time.

"What a beautiful heart, please don't let me... sink into the filth of desire again."

The mermaid tilted her head back, and tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Abyss Hole, Abyss Hole......"

The mermaid kept repeating this sentence in a low voice. The black and white colors in her eyes faded. Each creature could only influence the mermaid for a few dozen seconds. Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang could no longer influence the mermaid.

With a thud, the mermaid fell to the ground, weak to the limit. Although the mermaid was in the intelligent creature category of dangerous objects, most of the time, she acted on instinct. She hated drifting alone in the sea, so she attracted other dangerous objects, or confused the minds of other intelligent creatures to accompany her.

Don't think the mermaid was harmless. If left alone, she would continuously absorb the vitality of marine creatures within a dozen kilometers, eventually turning into Sea Disaster·Helemi (Helemi is a transliteration, originally meaning the chaotic thing in the sea).

After the mermaid transformed into Sea Disaster·Helemi, all marine creatures within a few kilometers of the sea area she passed through would become chaotic, not only attacking each other but also attacking passing ships. This chaos was irreversible and lasted until those marine creatures died of exhaustion.

It was also fortunate that the mermaid could only absorb the vitality of marine creatures; otherwise, the difficulty of containing her would be even higher.

Containing the mermaid into the glass column filled with seawater, Su Xiao looked at the mermaid. If the mermaid tried to cry or sing at this moment, she would be electrocuted instantly.

"Do you want to return to the sea."

"Hmm."

The weak mermaid responded in a low voice. Her pupils had turned ice blue, and she was being influenced by Amu. In this state, the mermaid should be very straightforward.

"Attract the Death Holy Grail, and I will let you return to the sea."

"Okay."

The mermaid in the glass column swam in the seawater. Suddenly, her pupils turned black-blue, and she began to be influenced by Baha. What was Baha's personality? In battle, Baha was fierce + full of killing intent; normally, it was loyal + belly-black + vengeful.

A weird arc curled up at the corner of the mermaid's mouth. She made a faint crying sound, and with one hand raised, an ancient metal cup appeared in her hand. The metal cup was inlaid with 4 circles of rubies. This was... the Death Holy Grail!

As early as when the mermaid smiled weirdly, Su Xiao, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha had already retreated ten meters away. This distance was safe enough.

Inside the glass column, the mermaid held the Death Holy Grail with one hand, and the smile on her face was extremely weird. This thing had no fixed pattern of action at all. One moment it might be kind, and the next moment it would suddenly change its face.

With the mermaid as the center, fine gray dust particles floated within 10 meters. This was the Death Domain of the Death Holy Grail. At this moment, approaching within 5 meters of the mermaid would be affected by the Death Domain.

The Death Holy Grail would disappear and move for unknown reasons every 30 to 50 days. During this period, it could barely be considered contained.

Baha flew up and looked down from a high angle, discovering that the Death Grail was already filled with liquid. This liquid did not mix with the seawater, and ripples were spreading across its surface.

"The Death Holy Grail you want."

"......"

"You promised to let me return to the sea."

"Yes."

"Fulfill your promise."

"Wait a moment."

Su Xiao checked the prompt.

【Prompt: You have successfully contained the dangerous object S-006 (Mermaid).】

【You obtained the Tidal Treasure Chest (This is a treasure chest item, not obtained through killing enemies, but rewarded by the Reincarnation Paradise).】

The treasure chest had been stored in the storage space by itself. Su Xiao came to the wall, gripped a metal lever, and pulled it down decisively.

Today, the mermaid must die, even if the opponent would "reborn" on the sea a dozen years later.

Su Xiao used the mermaid to get the Death Holy Grail. As an intelligent creature, once other Institution members learned of this news through the mermaid, there would be a big problem.

With a sizzle, blue-white electric arcs surged in the seawater of the glass column. The mermaid showed her fierce face, her mouth almost splitting to her neck. Before she could counterattack, she was electrocuted into charcoal that was glowing red inside, hissing in the seawater.

The glass column slowly rose by itself, and the seawater inside flowed out along the gap at the bottom. When the seawater flowed out completely, the Death Holy Grail stood on a stone platform nearly one meter high below.

The leaked seawater leaked into the hole in the ground. After filtering, a groove opened on the wall, inside which were black ashes that still contained moisture. This was the residual ash left by the mermaid, which would be useful later.

The process was very smooth. In reality, the real difficulty lay in capturing the mermaid. Having obtained the mermaid, Su Xiao's plan had already succeeded by 50%.

Su Xiao put away the mermaid's residual ash, and a prompt appeared.

【Main Quest·First Ring·Preliminary Containment (Completed).】

【Task completion evaluation in progress......】

【You successfully eliminated the dangerous object S-173 (Calamity Bell).】

【You successfully contained the dangerous object S-006 (Mermaid).】

【You successfully semi-contained the dangerous object S-002 (Death Holy Grail).】

【Because the Hunter's task completion is too high, a second judgment is in progress......】

【You obtained 5 Golden Skill Points (The upper limit of Golden Skill Points obtained from this task).】

【You obtained an extra reward, Scroll Box (Open this wooden box to randomly obtain a type of aura-type skill scroll).】

【Because the Hunter's task completion is too high, the subsequent main quest has changed, and the task difficulty will be greatly increased.】

【You have triggered Main Quest·Second Ring·Abyss Hole.】

【Main Quest: Abyss Hole (Second Ring)】

Difficulty Level: lv. 79~lv.???

Task Introduction: Seal the Abyss Hole.

Task Deadline: 10 natural days.

Task Reward: Soul Crystal Core x3.

Task Penalty: Forced execution.

...... ===== CHAPTER 3107 =====