Ihasli

"Haige, the plan is about to succeed, and Lord Shandi will be back soon. Your days are numbered!" Lu Li spoke in another voice. After constantly fishing for information, he had learned quite a bit about the hybrids. He slowly approached Haige, who was walking ahead with a torch.

"So what if he comes back? His mother was just an ordinary human. Even if she gave birth to him, we're the ones who share the same blood. That old hag was nothing but a breeding tool. She should be grateful we let her live this long. And she dared take in outsiders? Killing her was only right." Haige spoke nonchalantly, holding up the torch. Then he heard an unfamiliar voice from behind him:

"What a cold-blooded race."

Haige sensed something was wrong and hurriedly turned around. Lu Li stood alone behind him; all his companions had vanished. "You're the human that old hag took in. What did you do with my companions?"

"Don't worry. You'll be joining them soon..." Lu Li shifted his feet and lunged at Haige. His muscles swelled as he unleashed their power, and he punched at Haige. Haige hurriedly swung the torch in his hand forward and raised his other hand to block Lu Li's attack.

In Haige's eyes, this lowly human might have some strange tricks, but there was no way he could match Haige in strength. The great Deep One bloodline within Haige had awakened. In terms of power, that human was no match for him.

But by the time Haige came to his senses, Lu Li's fist had already ignored the torch and knocked him down. The shadow behind Lu Li writhed, binding Haige's arms and legs before dragging him in front of him. Another shadow tentacle emerged from Lu Li's hand.

As Lu Li had fought with shadows more and more lately, his control over them had improved tremendously. The shadow in his hand kept changing shape, thinning into a blade roughly resembling a scalpel. Looking at Haige, who couldn't move, Lu Li grinned excitedly. "I've been learning dissection lately, but I haven't had a chance to put it into practice. Thanks for helping me get some hands-on experience."

Lu Li lifted the shadow scalpel and worked as he spoke. "First, make a small incision under the chin, then cut open the surface... By the way, your scaly skin is really ugly."

"You lowly human, you filthy mongrel! How dare you treat the mighty Deep Ones this way? You'll be punished by the great god, and your soul will..." Haige cursed furiously. But before he could finish, Lu Li had already removed a strange lobe from his lung.

"Your lungs can actually store water, to regulate the pressure inside your body and your weight." Lu Li cut open the waterlogged lung. It was full of foul-smelling, fishy water. A shadow tentacle turned Haige's head to the side while Lu Li examined the gill-like structures on his face. "Your respiratory system is becoming more and more like a fish's."

"And your heart... Sorry, I cut your main artery!" Blood reeking of fish sprayed all over Lu Li, and the poor hybrid was already dead. Seeing that his captive had died, Lu Li instantly lost interest. He released the shadows binding the hybrid and let his ruined body fall to the ground. "How boring. He died just like that. I'd better get more practice next time."

From questioning the hybrids earlier, Lu Li had learned quite a bit about this place. At the end of the passage stood a three-story building on the seabed, where several humans were imprisoned.

Reproduction was extremely difficult among the Deep Ones, so to maintain their population, they had chosen to mate with humans, with whom they had no reproductive barriers.

These humans were naturally kept on the second and third floors.

Beyond that three-story building lay Ihasli, a city the Deep Ones had built on the seabed. Most of the severely mutated hybrids and a small number of Deep Ones lived there and performed rituals. After the rituals were complete, they would leave on their own and head for the cold depths of the sea.

To keep the humans alive, they had converted the first floor into a prison. Seawater seeped in to a depth of about half a person's height. The water had been enchanted, allowing it to exchange oxygen with the sea outside and release it into the building.

Lu Li had reached the end of the passage. Seawater soaked the lower half of his body. The first-floor prison lay ahead, guarded by quite a few hybrids. The Shadow Assassin's footwork that Lu Li had learned allowed him to move without making a sound and conceal his movements, but it was meant for use on land. Now that everything below was underwater, no matter how skillful his footwork was, moving through the water would inevitably stir up currents. The hybrids, who had lived underwater for years, would easily notice those unusual currents if they paid close attention.

Lu Li narrowed his eyes as an idea came to him. He waited quietly for the right moment. He didn't know how long passed before a group of Deep Ones appeared up ahead. After exchanging a few words with the guards, they opened a prison cell and extracted more than a dozen humans with vacant expressions. The Deep Ones needed to perform a sacrifice to please their god.

The dozen or so humans were herded off to one side. Their expressions were numb; they already knew what awaited them. Over the past few days, they had seen plenty of people led away, but none had returned. Some had survived shipwrecks, some had been sold to the hybrids by slave traders, and others had been traded to the Deep Ones by humans on the islands for catches of fish and gold. They had been confined in the water prison for some time. No matter how they struggled, they received only a few fish at set times each day. By now, they no longer wanted to resist. They only wanted to die as soon as possible.

Suddenly, the last person in line struggled frantically to one side, disturbing the water. The Deep One leading them let out an angry, hoarse, shrill cry and came over to teach the troublemaking human a lesson. It grabbed the person and beat them without listening to an explanation, causing another commotion. Someone stumbled over something and fell into the water. Before long, the Deep Ones finally quelled the disturbance. They had no idea that there was now one more person among the humans...