Shangguan Jing and Jiang Qiao still hadn't come to any conclusions when something happened on the lake. A surge of incredibly powerful energy rose from beneath it, and the water, calm moments before, suddenly swelled into towering waves. To guard against flying mutated species emerging from the lake, the army had set up an instrument-based barrier between the shore and its command center. Now the waves crashed against it like an army of thousands.
The thunderous crashes were relentless. The barrier flickered but held, though no one could guarantee that the continued pounding wouldn't lead to worse consequences.
Half a minute later, the troops stationed at other points along the lake began taking turns bombarding the water.
A few minutes later, the waves subsided. Large quantities of dark liquid surged up, spreading over a vast area of the lake along with a heavy stench of blood.
"I wonder what kind of mutated species are down there," Jiang Qiao's assistant said, wiping away cold sweat. "At that size, they must be bigger than whales."
"They're not as big as whales," Xu Huo said. "There are just a lot of them. They look a bit like pythons, with more than ten mixed in among the water."
The creatures hadn't caused all the waves. Most of them had been stirred up by the energy fluctuations deep at the bottom of the lake.
"The monitoring devices outside the Ruins have all failed again." Jiang Qiao came over with the latest report. "With all this commotion, a new folded space may have appeared underwater."
Records of folded spaces mentioned that the appearance of a new space would cause a spike in energy fluctuations. When the creatures in the lake were disturbed, waves would rise along with them. The bombardment served two purposes: countering the energy