Ludwig's heart was very heavy, and the day when he had made an appointment with Cong Yi to go to the merfolk land was approaching, but he had not received any recent news about the merfolk land that he had paid heavily for in the Bounty Hunters Association, and what made him even more disturbing was that it was rumored that none of the hunter groups who had taken his mission had returned from the merfolk land so far.

The existence of the merfolk land is not a secret in the circle of bounty hunters, and although the way to get to this place is more troublesome, almost all of these adventurers who like to hunt for curiosities have been to this place. It's just that in recent years, there has been less and less interest in this place, and fewer and fewer people have gone to this place.

It stands to reason that the Merfolk Land should not be a dangerous place. However, neither the scouts nor the bounty hunters returned, which made Ludwig wonder if something had happened in the merfolk land.

Ludwig did not tell Shen Ling about his concerns, but went past him and contacted Cong Yi directly.

He had already learned that Cong Yi had been paying attention to the Mermaid Land for more than twenty years, and it was impossible for him not to know about the changes in the Mermaid Land.

Sure enough, Cong Yi on the other end of the video was silent for a long time after listening to Ludwig's analysis.

"It's my fault that I didn't explain the situation to you, I think, we should meet as much as possible." Cong Yi said, "My team and I are waiting for you in Hailanxing, you don't have too many people, it's best to control it within five, the mermaid clan is in that place, and the many people who go will become an obstacle." When you come over, I'll explain it to you. ”

Ludwig agreed, and a few days later he took his men to the place where Hai Lanxing and Cong Yi had made an appointment.

Ludwig's chosen people were him, Shen Ling, Sue, and Neil.

Su is undoubtedly his most trusted comrade-in-arms in the past ten years, and as for Neil, his piloting skills and achievements in mecha manufacturing have proved that he is a rare talent. Because of his withdrawn personality, Ludwig didn't think he could be invited, but after contacting Neil and explaining the situation, to his surprise, Neil agreed without hesitation.

The four of them happened to be members of the mecha competition they participated in together that year, and it was a little embarrassing for several people to reunite again. It's just that no one is willing to mention the situation of the mecha competition that year, and for a few of them, it is a scar that they don't want to uncover again.

In an ordinary-looking house, the people of both sides formally met.

There weren't many people on Cong Yi's side, only him and the white ghost combined.

After taking their seats, Cong Yi began to explain to them the cause of the anomaly in the merfolk land.

"Over the years, I've been monitoring the Merfolk Land with my own means, and about a year ago, my monitor showed an anomaly in the Merfolk Land, but for some reason, I couldn't send someone to check it, so I don't know what the anomaly is."

"Why did we have to choose this time to go there when something was going on?" Su asked, "We can wait until it's over." ”

Cong Yi shook his head solemnly. "There's no time left. Mermaid is disintegrating, and the size of the planet is shrinking and getting faster and faster. Maybe within a year, maybe two years, Mermaid will completely disappear from the map of the Empire. ”

"How is that possible?" Shen Ling asked in disbelief, "Why did it disappear?" ”

"I can't answer that, maybe we'll have to go inside the merfolk to find out the exact answer." Cong Yi took out a square black box, he put the box on the conference table in front of him, pressed it on the box, a blue light shot out, and the hologram of the mermaid appeared in front of everyone.

"This is the mermaid star. Her oceanic plates occupy 99 percent of the planet's area, and the land plates are only a small one. Cong Yi pointed to a small piece of red in the shape of a maple leaf on the hologram and said, "And this one is almost a forest." Only in the middle, there is a clearing with grass growing on it, and this clearing is where the staircase leading to the Mermaid Temple appears, at midnight at the beginning of each month, but it only appears for two hours, and we have to climb up the stairs in those two hours. ”

"Is it that simple?" Su wondered, "Just climbing the stairs?" ”

Old K explained: "Little doll, don't underestimate this ladder, this ladder is not simple at all. For thousands of years, the Bounty Hunters Guild was known as the Devil's Ladder because no one could climb it to the top, but the number of hunters who died trying to climb it is unknown. ”

"It's the mermaid's song." Shen Ling remembered the time when he climbed the stairs with the White Ghost, "As long as it reaches a certain height, the mermaid's song will make the climber fall into an illusion, because the staircase is very narrow, so most of the people fall to their deaths." ”

"We don't remember at all." S looked at Lao K and Xia, "I only remember that it was a mess at the time, and my love xù was also very irritable." ”

Old K's eyes were slightly dim, and he smiled helplessly: "I probably thought of my sister at that time." He took out a cigarette and lit it and took a hard puff. The thing that can make me cry in this life is my sister. ”

His tone was nonchalant, as if he was just telling someone else's business, but S who was familiar with him could still hear the sadness in it.

S knows that Old K has a younger sister, and Old K's family was very poor when he was a child - in fact, there are several families born in the letter D galaxy. Old K's sister unintentionally offended a nobleman, was brutally beaten half to death by the nobleman, and later did not receive timely treatment, and died desolate at a young age.

"This song will awaken the most painful memories in everyone's heart." Cong Yi said flatly, "We have to find a way to stop the singing. ”

Shen Ling remembered that it was Ash who had awakened himself and the White Ghost people from hallucinations, and he asked Ash in his mind, "Can you stop us from falling into hallucinations?"

"I can wake someone who has fallen into a hallucination, but it will drain your energy." Ash replied, "You don't have much soul power now."

"Yes, I know."

"My soul beast can keep everyone from being confused by illusions." Shen Ling announced to everyone.

"Your soul beast is a hidden cat, and its cry can indeed prevent us from falling into hallucinations." Cong Yi nodded in agreement.

"Damn, that weird scream again? Spare me. S scratched her head and sighed, her eyes suddenly flashed, and she asked Shen Ling with a smile, "Xiao Ling, tell Sister Sù, how did you subdue that strange cat into a soul beast in the first place?" ”

S didn't know that Shen Ling was the black boy that their white ghost met on the mermaid planet back then, but on planet D14, Shen Ling sued them. This made them sigh for a long time, but Shen Ling never summoned the soul beast, and several people also forgot about it, and now that they think about it, they are naturally curious.

Shen Ling hesitated and didn't know how to answer, but Cong Yi saved him in time.

"How to catch soul beasts, I have always been the ** of soul beast masters, S, you still don't have to ask more."

After that, several people discussed for a long time how to enter the merfolk land, as well as the possible changes in the merfolk land.

The sky was dark, and Cong Yi said to everyone, "It's late today, everyone board their respective spaceships and prepare to set off for the mermaid land." He held out his right hand to Ludwig, "Your Royal Highness, I wish us a happy cooperation?" ”

Ludwig glanced at Cong Yi deeply, and the smile on Cong Yi's face was very sincere, so that people couldn't find any mistakes.

"It's a pleasure to work with." Ludwig shook Cong Yi's hand with kindness, then left the house with his men and boarded the ship they had prepared.

After eating, Shen Ling felt very tired, and when he returned to the bedroom, he lay down.

Ludwig covered the quilt for Shen Ling, and lay aside to recall Cong Yi's words today.

Cong Yi is definitely not a simple character, judging from Shen Ling's description, Cong Yi is his mother's student and lives on a ghostly planet. But because Shen Ling had promised Cong Yi not to reveal the situation of this planet, Ludwig did not know the specific situation of this planet.

Over the years, Ludwig has been on a campaign and has learned about the big names of the various powers within the empire. A person like Cong Yi who has the strength to monitor the mermaid clan is definitely not just an ordinary person, but he has never heard of the name Cong Yi.

He couldn't help but speculate whether the forces attached to Cong Yi were illegal forces that did not fall under the jurisdiction of the empire.

The New Galactic Empire has a vast land and a large number of people, and there are no less than 3,000 illegal forces that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Empire, but they are all small forces that are not in the climate. Ludwig was worried about whether the force to which Cong Yi was attached would be the Sons of Liberty organization that had been neutral all along, but had a clear reactionary tendency over the years.

The strength of the Sons of Liberty Organization should not be underestimated, and the ambiguity with the planet Mars is definitely a huge hidden danger.

Ludwig left the bedroom and walked alone to the bridge of the ship, where he sat in a chair on the bridge and contacted Big Brother Xiu, who knew the "Son of Liberty" very well.

On the virtual screen, a thin figure appeared.

Over the years, Xiu has fully perked up and matured, but because of physical reasons, he has been following the ruling minister Lance to help King Charles deal with the complicated affairs of the government.

When Ludwig contacted him, he was sorting through a pile of papers.

"Brother, I have something to ask you."

"Say it." Xiu put down the text in his hand, pressed his temples and asked lazily.

"Do you know Cong Yi?"

Hearing these two words that were so familiar that they penetrated deep into the bone marrow, Xiu's eyes immediately sank, and he asked calmly, "Where did you know this name?" ”――

The ship entered the warped space from the space jump station, and soon reached the merfolk land.

Looking down from the air, the merfolk land is still the same as it was back then, a large area is the ocean, and there is only a small piece of land in the shape of a single maple leaf. The sea was so calm that there was not a trace of waves, like a piece of blue oversized glass. The land plate also does not appear to be anything anomalous.

In the cockpit, Sue zoomed in on the map of the land plates, looked closely and came to a conclusion. "No problem."

"The calmer it is, the more abnormal it is." Ludwig pointed to the ocean and said, "There are some alienated octopus monsters in here, and we need to be careful when we land later." ”

The octopus monster left a huge shadow on Ludwig's heart, and until now, seafood is his favorite dish.

"There was no problem, we landed directly in an open field in the middle of the mangroves." Su adjusted the angle of the spaceship and made the ship fly in the direction of the mangroves.

Su negotiated a landing location with Cong Yi's spaceship following behind, and the two spaceships landed at opposite ends of the open space.

"Something seems to have come out of the mangroves." Shen Ling, who was standing behind Su, pointed to the big screen and said.

Everyone looked up in the direction that Shen Ling said, only to see a few small black dots coming out of the woods.

Su zoomed in and saw that what jumped out was nothing more than a few black crows around them.

She shrugged and smiled, "Just a few pet birds." ”

Ludwig's brow furrowed, his years of combat experience had made him sensitive to crises, and he vaguely felt that the crisis in the woods was not just these crows.

Soon Su, who was looking at the screen, couldn't laugh anymore, and a few more crows rushed out of the mangrove forest, and then, countless black dots rushed into the sky from the woods, like countless black bullets, and like a pure black blanket, flying towards their spaceship.