The passage leading to the palace stretched out before them. This was clearly the heart of Nathatone, a place that should have been brilliantly lit, yet it was now shrouded in darkness. The enormous pipes and bulkheads seemed to be covered in shadow—or perhaps to have grown out of some dark abyss—presenting everyone with a road whose future was impossible to predict.
Izax glanced back at the two old military uniforms on the ground. "From here on, we can only rely on ourselves."
Shaqila nodded silently and swam ahead of everyone else.
Pipes and Isolation Doors flashed past them one after another. The oppressive, bizarre atmosphere grew more pronounced by the second. Giant Brain had occupied this place for far too long; it had even changed the atmosphere inside the palace, making everyone who entered feel as if countless hostile gazes were fixed on them, raising gooseflesh all over their bodies. Faint sirens continued to sound in the distance. The sentinels throughout the palace had already realized that intruders had appeared, and the outer passages were being sealed off one by one. It would not be long before they found this place. A clash was unavoidable.
Hao Ren followed behind Shaqila and passed through the final gate. A magnificent domed hall appeared before them. It was a splendid palace built of white metal and pale Green Crystal, with enormous glowing pearls embedded in its lofty dome. Strange bands of light descended from the stained-glass ceiling in the center of the hall, drifting gently through the water like rainbows falling from heaven.
Yet no one had time to marvel at the magnificent hall, because the fan-shaped gate slammed shut behind them. The next second, hordes of Siren warriors suddenly poured out from the hall's dome!
The Siren warriors swayed their long