"Now do you believe me?"
"Did you invent it?" Alena asked excitedly.
"No, it's my grandfather Ronnie's robot."
"Him again! Your grandfather is truly amazing. His influence is everywhere. I really wish I could meet him."
"Unfortunately, he still died. I've always wondered how he died; he should have had the 'Telomere Rejuvenation Liquid'."
"Brother, are you still unwilling to give it to Mom?"
"What?"
"The 'Telomere Rejuvenation Liquid'!"
"If she suddenly became young again, what would people think? Unless we leave the city-state and find a place to live where no one knows us."
"Then we need to hurry. Mom is already eighty, I'm afraid she can't wait much longer." De Silva, having just obtained the robot, didn't want to leave the city-state yet. "Let's wait a bit longer. Her body still seems very healthy."
On the shore of Lake Turkana, five people stood—four men and one woman, one of them in a diving suit. After a short while, another person emerged from the water. "How is it, Jack? Did you see anything?"
"No, the water's too deep." These people had heard a fortnight ago that there was a huge treasure here, which is why they had ventured out. "Jenny, is your information reliable?" Jack, having just come ashore, asked the girl. "Of course, it's reliable. My friend detected it with sonar; there shouldn't be a problem."
"Then how deep is it?"
"I don't know, they didn't tell me," the girl replied.
"I heard the deepest part of this lake is over eight hundred meters. If the treasure is there, we've come all this way for nothing." In the Eagle's Nest, Daechir had been monitoring them through surveillance ever since Jack entered the water. This was already the fourth group to go in. She wondered, "What on earth are these people looking for?"
Just then, a shout came from outside the room, "Daechir, what are you doing sneaking around in there?" She turned off the surveillance screen, opened the door, and asked, "Potato, what do you want?"
"Why have you been hiding in your room lately?"
"My business is none of your concern," Daechir replied coldly. "Sharu left half a month ago, why isn't he back yet?" Potato asked.
"He said he'd been here too long and wanted to go out and have some fun. He should be back soon." As the two were talking, the alarm inside the room suddenly blared. "Not good!" Daechir cried out, immediately rushing out the door and heading straight for Channel Sixteen. "Wait for me!" Potato shouted from behind.
Daechir leaped into the lake with utmost speed and swam forward. As she approached the glass sphere, she looked up and saw a submersible robot over fifty meters away, filming in her direction. "They really don't know what's good for them. It seems I need to teach them a lesson." She took out a box containing three spiders, tipped them out, and the spiders slowly ascended. On the shore, the group saw Daechir's stunning face through the submersible robot. Jack exclaimed, "It's a mermaid! So beautiful!"
There were three more people here than before, likely recent arrivals. "If we can catch her, we'll be rich," one of them said.
"Such a beautiful girl, and you plan to sell her?" Jack asked angrily.
This person chuckled, "What? You want to marry her or something?"
"Huh? Why is the image gone?" Jenny said, pointing at the screen.
"It seems the mermaid destroyed it just now," another replied. "Looks like she's quite intelligent. This won't be easy, huh?" one person said.
While these people were talking, the three spiders had surfaced. They approached stealthily, and soon, one person screamed, "Damn spiders! Get away!"
Jenny was terrified of spiders; upon hearing those words, she turned and fled. The others weren't so lucky; within about two minutes, eight people were killed. Daechir, unaware of the one who had escaped, thought she had handled the situation perfectly. After Jenny ran out, she went to call the police. The police took it very seriously, dispatching personnel to Lake Turkana that same afternoon. A large contingent of reporters followed, and television stations broadcasted live from the scene. De Silva and his group were watching on the city-state's television. "Isn't this lake near the Eagle's Nest? Could it be Daechir and the others are in trouble?" Alena spoke first.
"No way, don't worry yourself needlessly." De Silva was still somewhat resentful about being blackmailed last time. The camera switched between several underwater cameras when suddenly a huge crystal glass sphere appeared before the audience. Standing not far from it was a girl with an enraged expression. "It really is Daechir!" Alena cried.
"What is she doing there?" Nicola asked.
"She must be protecting that crystal ball," De Silva replied.
With a few "bang, bang, bang" sounds, the screen turned to static. The camera then switched to a host on the shore, who was saying, "Dear viewers, we sincerely apologize. A mermaid just destroyed our underwater cameras in a very short amount of time. However, we were still able to witness a truly spectacular scene. This is believed to be a prehistoric cultural site from the Omo Valley."
"What utter nonsense," De Silva cursed.
"Brother, what do you think is inside the crystal ball? Why is Daechir protecting it?"
"Daechir is from a future technologically advanced society. She must be protecting something from the future, possibly a person."
"Could it be your grandfather, Mr. Ronnie?"
"Probably not. He returned to the future long ago and has passed away!"
"Should we go to the Eagle's Nest and check?" Alena asked.
De Silva hesitated. Seeing Daechir in this situation worried him too.
Seeing him silent, Alena added, "Afastin is there too. I'm worried something might happen to him." Hearing her son might be in danger, Nicola urgently pressed, "Then you two hurry over and bring him back to the city-state as well."
"Mom, the city-state isn't our home; we can't just waltz in and out. You have to register first," Alena explained. Daechir entered the glass sphere to find Alice. Vega smiled, "What's going on today? You're back before the year is up."
"Where's your aunt?"
"She's taking a bath. Please wait a moment."
"No, I have urgent business. I need to see her immediately." As she spoke, she started walking further in. "Vega, is that Daechir?" Alice asked from the bathroom.
"Yes, she says it's urgent."
"I'll be right out." Half a minute later, Alice emerged, wrapped in a bath towel, her long hair pinned up, and barefoot. She asked with a smile, "Daechir, what happened?"
"I have bad news. This place has been exposed. We need to leave here quickly."
"Oh! Then where shall we go?" Alice asked with a calm expression.
Daechir found her reaction a bit strange and retorted, "Did you already know this was going to happen?"
"After staying at the bottom of this lake for over fifty years, being discovered now is quite an achievement. You should be glad."
Vega's lips, however, curled into a slight smile, because all of this was her plan. For several years, she had been writing notes, stuffing them into bottles, and intentionally releasing them onto the lake's surface to expose their location, thus attracting these outsiders. Of course, Alice knew nothing about this; Vega had been carrying it out in secret.