"I really didn't expect to come here with all the hard work, but I was imprisoned again, although this time the room in prison is much more beautiful than before."

Lying in front of a window with iron mesh, Lingji sighed. Kiki next to her looked out the window:

"The tall buildings in the distance are so beautiful, I have never seen such a streamlined and golden building. If only I could live in a house like this! ”

Aaron, who was nested in the corner of the room, squinted at the two girls, a little unhappy: "It's good that you guys are locked up, and you still have leisure and elegance to watch the scenery." I don't know what happened to Captain Akang who was escorted out to negotiate, and did Grandpa Uji wake up? ”

"Kiki, I suddenly want to ask you," Lingji turned her head to look at Kiki:

"The prisoner car that escorted us just now, is the big guy in the trailer a lizard or a sea monster? It looks so cool! ”

"Huh...... I think it's like the dinosaur, which the book says disappeared millions of years ago. Kiki replied in the affirmative.

Aaron behind him snorted and sighed with some dissatisfaction: "When is it?" And talk about those useless things. ”

It was a sturdy room with white walls that seemed to be flooded with light. There is a table and a few chairs in the center, and nothing else that stands out. A window large enough for the two girls to lie there and a door that was locked from the outside, it was as simple as that.

"Bang!" There was a sound of the deadbolt being pulled open outside the door. Aaron, who was napping behind the door, was so frightened that he almost fell out of his chair. The door was opened, and a white-clad guard stood there, looking young and energetic despite his mustache. With a smile on his face:

"Three friends, you have been wronged. Please come with me to Captain Akang, he is waiting for you. ”

The guards didn't say much, and led Kiki and the others through the long hallway, up the winding staircase, and finally into a circular hall. Captain Akang was also seated there, and a large mermaid in a straight uniform at the white round table with a gold filigree pattern stood up and smiled and saluted:

"Hello, friends, I've figured out everything about you." The big man has short blond hair and a tall nose bridge that looks heroic:

"Our captain of the guard has captured you, so let's make amends to you first. But you can't blame them all, there's a reason for that, I'll tell you about it.

Taiping Imperial City, there are four city gates in the southeast, northwest and corresponding entrance passages. Its three gates, the southeast, north and south, are the most spacious regular passages. And the West Gate, for many reasons, is used as a very passage. A special guard at the outpost outside the gate is required, and after some way conveying a message of trust and requesting permission to the gate, the guards stationed in the city can close the vortex barrier and the labyrinth trap mechanism in the underground tunnel. Finally, the guards at the outpost outside the underground tunnel were used as guides to enter the West Gate Passage with trusted visitors to the Imperial City.

You entered through the west gate, which was full of organs, and closed the whirlpools and traps without first informing the people inside the gates. And what he brought in was the Uji Sentinel Guide, who was unconscious and speechless for a while, and was easily regarded as an intruder. It's still an unidentified intruder, so I've imprisoned you until things are clear.

Before, because the time was too short, there was no time to inform us in advance that the city would shut down the mechanism, so my teacher Uji led you all the way in. Ay! Although my Uji teacher is familiar with the labyrinth passage, he is also too reckless, and it is very dangerous to break through like this.

I also understand that you have chosen the nearest Simon in a hurry. The other gates are too far away from you to have time to travel that far. But I also have to say that I admire you for coming in from such a dangerous road. ”

The three of Kiki, who were sitting around the round table, were relieved and relaxed.

"Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet, my name is Torres, I'm a student of Uggie, and I'm also a dolphin pet. ”

Torres looked at Captain Akon on the side, then turned his head to look at the three of them and said, "A few of you have come to the Imperial City with information, I need to tell you two precautions: First, the matter of cetaceans that you discovered going on a rampage to hunt their pet owners is very important, and the Security Bureau of the Imperial City has sent someone to investigate. Until the results are known, you need to keep it a secret for the time being, so as not to cause panic among the citizens of the city.

The second thing is also very strange, the girl with long hair is Kiki, right? ”

Torres looked at Kiki with a hint of anxiety, "I heard you know the general structure of that labyrinth. Regardless of how you learned about this labyrinth, all of you must keep this matter a secret, otherwise it will bring danger to Kiki and unnecessary trouble to the Imperial City. Because the labyrinth, as one of the barriers to prevent foreign enemies from invading, cannot reveal the secrets of its route. If you let the enemy know who knows the path of the labyrinth, you may be captured by the enemy and used as a guide through the labyrinth. Does that make it clear? ”

The four captains were stunned, Torres's meticulousness was worthy of being the first of the three generals of the Taiping Imperial City.

Everyone agrees to keep Kiki's secret.

"How's Uggie doing now?" Captain Akon asked Torres with concern.

"Hehe, fortunately you sent it in time, his poison has been cured. Told me about you, you guys are really brave. Thank you, let's have fun in the city for a few days and relax. ”

Lingji was already sitting there with a stupid smile on her face. Only Kiki understands that when she recalled the lively streets she saw from the window of the prisoner car escorting the capital, those handsome guys who were gentle and elegant and had their own merits.

On the roof of a streamlined building that wasn't too high above water, Torres hurried out of the attic door, jumped on the back of a long-legged lizard that had been waiting there, and pulled the reins. The lizard leapt into the air with agility, creating a reflective curve from the roof of the building, leaping from the air into the water passage below, stirring up white spray.

When they surfaced again, two guards of the same mount appeared and saluted: "General, you got up so early. ”

"It's not early, I've kept you waiting." Torres replied.

"We just arrived, so we didn't have to wait long." The Armor Guard said.

"Let's go, we have to hurry."

"Yes, General."

Torres' long-legged lizard immediately swam swiftly through the waterway, the waves of the water lining up in both directions. Two guards followed closely behind. The long-legged lizard is one of the animals used for riding in the Taiping Imperial City, and it is an amphibian species. Being able to swim in the water and run on the ground is a very popular urban transport force.

After swimming a section of water, I went ashore. They also ran through the roads and streets on the shore, and pedestrians gave way along the way. Because he saw that the mount that Torres rode had a saddle with a military-specific weapon sleeve, and a fierce lizard painted with paint and patterns on the scales.

"It's the city's carnival today, General!" The guards shouted, "There are too many people in the square ahead, do you want to take a detour?" ”

"No need to go around." Torres replied.

"But the crowd in the square is so crowded, how do you disperse?" Guard B asked.

Torres did not answer, and sped into the square.

The two guards who accompanied them were dumbfounded, and the black crowd in the square had not yet moved out of the way. However, when General Torres was about to meet the mermaid citizens who were partying and reveling, the long-legged lizard jumped into the ......

It turned out that the square was surrounded by a circular diagonal wall, and Torres jumped onto the wall on his mount and ran on it. The lizard's black-green scales shimmered, creating a black-green shadow on the circular wall of the plaza, moving rapidly. The guards of A and B did not dare to slack off and grabbed the reins. Let's go up the wall and follow along.

Seeing this, the reveling citizens cheered, thinking that someone from the military department had arranged a catwalk show at the festival celebration to cheer up. But Torres didn't have time to wave to the citizens, and he received a notice of an urgent meeting from the Ministry of Defense of the Taiping Imperial City. He has been preparing for many years, and the time is coming to make a difference. His instincts told him that the Pacific Ocean was about to roll up in a stormy sea.

After crossing the square, Torres, with the help of his mount, infiltrated the waterway beneath the city. Because after entering the inner city from the outer city, the huge inner city has mermaid citizens who gather and revel, regardless of whether it is a waterway or a dry road. In order to speed up, you can only dive through the underwater tunnel.

Waterways make the city's transportation network more convenient, just like the capillaries at the bottom of the city are densely packed and scattered. It not only plays a certain role in transportation, but also can be used to transport nutrients and nutrients needed by certain plants and animals in the city.

While the lizard swung its long tail and swam, the webbed that evolved between its toes helped a lot. Let it travel for miles in a short time, the only fly in the ointment is that this lizard is only good at running and swimming, and has a small mouth and short teeth, and only eats vegetarian food, and is easy to be hunted by others many times on the battlefield.

The waterways are dizzyingly dense with curves and forks. Most people who don't walk it often will get lost in the middle of the road, but it wasn't built to resemble a labyrinth. Therefore, although there are many turns, there are text road signs to mark a certain place and a certain direction, and they usually do not let people who are not fools get lost.

There is a building in the inner city of the Taiping Imperial City that is shaped like a giant corn cob. Each "corn kernel" is an office, which is the Ministry of Defense building in the Taiping Imperial City. The building is surrounded by four giant sculptures, guarding the peaceful and peaceful world like loyal guards. The four statues are of different shapes, and the weapons on their bodies are also different, and it is said that they are designed with reference to the shapes of the four elders at the beginning of the creation of the mermaid race.

A white-haired veteran trotted to the square in front of the building and pressed a switch on a large pillar. Two stone slabs slowly rose from the nearby ground, revealing a pool of deep water below, which was the exit of an underwater passageway. Ordinary citizens don't know about this passage, and those who know about it are famous people.

"Boom la la ......"

In the deep water, three trembling shadows dripped, were Torres and his two guards who had arrived on long-legged lizards. The long-legged lizard that landed after a beautiful spinning somersault gasped and shook its dripping scales. Torres spun off its back and jumped off the ground, handing the reins to the white-haired veteran.

"Old man, you're still so energetic, help me take care of my mount, hard work!"

"Yes, sir." The veteran said with a little compliment, "Sir, I noticed that your mount has grown taller again, and I guess I only touched its back when I let it lie down." ”

"Your eyes aren't old at all, they're still so bright." Torres replied and ran straight to the building.

After walking through the long corridors and stairs, ignoring other idle matters, he finally strode into the military chamber.

"I'm sorry, it's a little late on the road, and it delays everyone's precious time." Torres apologized to the people in the room.

The ** person at the end of the long table in the hall is the empress of the Taiping Imperial City. On either side of the long table sat two great men, Kuraken and Quillen, who were the empress's right-hand man and the patriarch of the imperial city. Then there were Psimon and Julius, and Torres, who had just arrived, and these three were the three generals of the Imperial City. A green veil dressed in a green robe at the end of a long white table, she is the intelligence officer of the Imperial City.

"Don't blame yourself, you're punctual, we're early." The queen sat in the middle, her hands clasped together, her long blonde hair draped around her waist. With thick eyebrows and big eyes, she exuded the temperament of a leader, and she said, "Kulaken, it is time for everyone you have gathered except for the wise Gurus, and the meeting begins." ”

"Hello everyone, let's get straight to the point." Kuraken stood up and faced everyone: "Someone from outside the city has sent back a message that the cetaceans are on the run wild and hunting their pet owners. This is a very serious matter, and it means that the balance of the marine ecology is threatened, and Gurus disappeared after going out to investigate. I would like to ask, Green Yarn, who is in charge of intelligence work, have any results of your investigation? ”

Kuraken has a golden complexion, but his expression is always serious and even cold. There is a black mask hanging on his chest all the time, and he is wearing a black trench coat with white markings, which always gives people a solemn calmness.

On the side of the long table, reflecting the cold white light, was a small mermaid dressed in green oil. Although she was not large, her head was a little disproportionately large, and she replied with a debt of owe:

"Since Gurus set out to investigate the cetacean incident, I have also sent my pet bombies to various places in the ocean where whales can be encountered, and used them to suck on the body of the subject whales and observe them all the way. But I didn't find any useful and valuable clues, and my bonifish were hunted one after another. It is not safe to attach to any fish, and by scraping rocks and churning on the surface of the sea, they shake off the parasites on the surface of their bodies and hunt and eat them. I think the enemy behind the scenes knows the secret that we use bonito to find information. ”

"Are you saying there are moles among us?" Kuraken sat down and stood up unhappily: "Midorisha, your information came too late, but you still seem to be making excuses for your poor work, do you think this is appropriate?" ”

"Kulaken, you've always been calm. It's not too late to listen to her work report before commenting. The Quelen on the other side softened his tone, making people feel a kindness and calmness in his voice.

"I have found out nothing about the disappearance of Gurus. But I thought his family might be able to contact him, so I went to look for his family, but unfortunately all of his family members were missing. Midori was apprehensive: "My bonito pets are also very hard-working, they stick to other big fish, ostensibly for free travel and hitchhiking, but in fact they are always looking for useful information. ”

Before Green Sha finished speaking, her eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had thought of something: "There is a situation that is very suspicious." And I can't tell you what's going on, so let's take a look at the information I saw before I had a bonito pet died. ”

Behind Green Yarn, there is a huge crystal ball hanging in the air, which functions as a large screen. Green Yarn stands on the bottom of the ball and sticks it to the bottom of the ball with the suction cup sticking out of the back of her head. This is the special ability of the boni, also known as the sucker fish, and at this time, the green yarn uses this ability to suck on the sphere. I saw a white glow emitted from the sphere, and a moving image appeared inside:

A group of swimming whales swam to the bottom of a dark seabed. Then they all stopped, and a blue whale in the middle seemed to be instructed by someone to swim out of the line and appear at the front of the black pressure whale group. In the darkness in front of it, a faint fluorescence slowly appeared. A giant lion's mane jellyfish swam out of the dark space and stayed in front of the blue whale. If you look closely, there is a human fish on the body of the jellyfish's hat, and she is the mysterious villain Jellyfish Enchantress. The blue whale's eyes flickered a few times, and then it opened its huge mouth, and from its mouth swam a merfolk with a white glow all over its body and a white helmet on its head. I couldn't tell who it was in a white package, and his white helmet was in the shape of a skeleton, which was really chilling.

Suddenly, the skeleton man in the eyes of the bonito turned his face sharply, and his black, hollow eyes shot out scarlet light. He spotted the one that was watching him, and before the one had enough time to react, the lion's mane jellyfish on one side had reached over with its long stinging tentacles and wrapped it around it......

The image of the crystal ball above Midori Yarn's head is terminated, and this is the dying information sent back by a bonito to the pet owner Midori Yarn.

Slowly turning back, Chief Quillen's deep eyes caught some clues: "Okay, let's analyze the existing information. Torres learned from several merfolk who had escaped from the city that the Lion's Mane Jellyfish Enchantress and the Shark Dubin were two forces that were exposed and suspicious, and that they were in an alliance and cooperation, and that the rampaging cetaceans had also cooperated with them. This is one of them, and the other is the mysterious man in white armor that everyone saw just now, hiding in the mouth of a giant whale. If this person is not a cetacean pet master, then he must be a mermaid genius animal tamer who can control cetaceans. Not only did they control the cetaceans, but they also had some kind of partnership with the jellyfish Enchantress, and what they were working together for was what we needed to know. ”

Quillen's analysis made everyone think deeply, but his words were not finished:

"I wonder if you've noticed? The white-clad man who swam out of the whale's mouth just now, from the ratio of the lion's mane jellyfish next to him and the blue whale, how tall do you think he is? ”

Quelen's question caused a moment of surprise among those present, and they looked at each other, and Quelen continued:

"That's right, this person is at least more than two meters tall, plus he has a high IQ, and there are not many people like this in the mermaid clan, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find."

The participants in front of the stage nodded silently and discussed in a low voice, who will be the man in white in the video? Did the man in white in the video use his ability to evolve and transform to make himself look so tall? How credible is this information? Which of the merfolk is such a tall animal trainer? And which animal trainer is good at domesticating cetaceans? With a whale of this size eating four tons of food a day, and a large group of whales being trained, how much money does a trainer have to afford to raise and domesticate them? Training takes a time process, why did the cetacean pet owners not realize that their fate was domesticated by others at the beginning of training? The white armor clothes are delicately decorated, and which craftsman in the mermaid clan has such a level of craftsmanship?

……

The Empress of the Taiping Imperial City, sitting in the center, listened carefully to the speeches and questions of the participants. She finally opened up and said:

"Everyone, please be quiet!" With courage and majesty in his tone, he continued: "I have listened to your speeches and questions, and everyone has a point. I think we need to make a plan to find the Whitecoat and deal with what might happen next. ”

"Your Majesty, I think you can look for a white-armored man about two meters tall in various parts of the Pacific Ocean." Psimon, the sailfish pet owner, spoke decisively, and it seemed that before he could say anything, a voice interrupted him.

"Against!" Kurakken is a merfolk veteran and has a lot of experience: "I think that doing some risk assessment and taking the risk of startling the snake will only make this dangerous person hide deeper." The Pacific Ocean covers nearly one-third of the planet's surface area, not to mention that the evolution of merfolk once allowed them to live on land, and it would be difficult to find a highly intelligent person like him at that time. ”

The words of Kulaken, the pet lord of the spotted starfish, plunged the solemn council hall into a deathly silence.

The atmosphere was at an impasse, and Midori Yarn's heart grew more anxious, the information she provided was too limited.

Master Quillen was silent for a while before breaking the silence: "Is it okay like this?" Try to capture the jellyfish Enchantress alive and then interrogate her. Kuraken, you're an expert interrogator. ”

"That's a good idea!" An approving smile appeared on the empress's face: "In this way, it should be much less difficult to make a plan to catch the jellyfish enchantress." ”

……

Squeezing out the crowd of carnivals, the four of Captain Akon slowly wandered through the bustling streets.

"Kiki, that street singer just now sang really well, if only he were a little more handsome." Lingji said as she ate a packet of baked potato chips.

"What does it matter if you're not handsome? It is said that singing is an art that is higher than words, so singers are artists. You see how crazy his fans are, like swarms of bees on land. Kiki also held a bag of something that didn't know anything delicious, and sent it into her small mouth from time to time.

"It's also difficult to be a singer, in addition to singing well, all aspects of his words and deeds are widely supervised by the world. I'm afraid that I won't be liked and recognized by others in some aspects, and if I can't do it perfectly, well, most of them will suffer from depression. Aaron was quite a gentleman, with a full body and a full hand, and a big windbreaker and hat full of all kinds of food and supplies that everyone had bought, and walked behind the two girls.

"Open your mouth!" Lingji turned her head to look at Aaron and smiled weirdly, "I'll feed you some baked potato chips!" ”

Aaron couldn't move his hands from his hands, and he opened his mouth, a little grateful that the little hottie would feed him.

But he didn't know that Lingji grabbed a large handful of baked potato chips with one hand and stuffed them into his mouth, and shouted at the same time: "Oh! Da full of pouring, don't spit out! ”

Aaron knew that at that time, he was no longer able to speak. I choked on eating such a big bite and such a dry thing in one go. I only felt that my eyes were being squeezed outward from my eye sockets, and I was teary-eyed.

"Hahaha!" Uncle Akang, who was walking at the back, couldn't help but smile at the girls: "Okay, Uncle is happy today, and he will return to the post house after spending the money on his body, hahaha......"

In fact, since he was the guardian of the two girls and took them out to practice, he had encountered so many things, and Ah Kang had a faint uneasiness in his heart. Take advantage of this short Taiping Imperial City carnival to let the children put down their baggage and play carefree. Take a look at the starry prosperity of the Taiping Imperial City, and touch the brilliant dreams of the mermaid world.

The city reverberates with the joyful singing of the people, the mermaids and children run and chase the streets, and all kinds of entertainment are staged. People are dressed in all kinds of clothes and talking and laughing......

The night sky of the city is reflected in Kiki's watery eyes. Suddenly, he heard an unusual sound around him, and turned his head to see Lingji fall to the ground, her face pale, her eyes closed, and the baked potato chips scattered all over the ground.

"Lingji! What's wrong with you? Kiki knelt on the ground, desperately picked up Lingji's body and shouted loudly. What happened to the jellyfish Linghime, who never got sick?