Zhou Yi asked Jacob to slow down.

After resting for half an hour, Bone Man finally regained some normalcy.

It told Zhou Yi, "Chairman, our bones are the carriers of Bone Men's lives. Our memories and experiences are stored in the bones of our whole body, but the most important parts are recorded inside the skull."

"It's easier to repair or even replace other parts of the skeleton, but if the skull is severely damaged, Bone Men are prone to death."

"The secrets recorded in the skull are definitely the most critical secrets of a Bone Man."

After a brief explanation, Jacob looked at the skull in his hand, "I lived aboard the Sea God when I had memories. There were a total of four Bone Men inside including me, Nino, Di Ao, and Conner."

"Our names come from the Sea God. It suggested some names, and we chose what we wanted."

"There were other skeletons inside the Sea God too, but I don't know if they were remnants of dead Bone Men or remains of humans after death."

The Bone Man seemed tired and sat down on a step inside the tunnel.

Zhou Yi ordered the Red Kestrel to take off silently, entering the Sea God through the opened hatch.

He himself sat next to Jacob, quietly waiting for the follow-up.

Bone Man, holding the skull in one hand, scratched the plaster-fixed gap in its cranium with the other hand, "Inside the Sea God, we never bothered to count time, mostly sleeping. When we woke up, we would chat and then go back to sleep or just move around a bit."

"Everyone didn't feel there was anything wrong, nor did we ever think about the larger world outside."

"One day, Di Ao suddenly made a discovery. A pile of skeletons was scattered under a shelf baffle. While arranging bone fragments, Di Ao saw a drawing on the back of the baffle made with scratches, depicting the interior structure of the Sea God."

Jacob murmured, "The drawing also marked a lot of arrows, showing us how to get out."

"Such drawings were in many hidden places, left by the original owners of those skeletons before they died."

"The Sea God would periodically enter an unresponsive state, which I later found out was during the winter. It was probably entering hibernation to reduce consumption."

"The drawing told us that was the best time to escape, just by manually opening the sealed hatch on top to get out."

Zhou Yi couldn't help asking, "If the people before knew how to leave, why didn't they go but instead died inside?"

"They didn't write that."

Jacob looked at his knees, "But Di Ao found the reason. It said that normal Bone Men are supposed to have both hands and feet, but me, Nino, Di Ao, and Conner were all incomplete, making it very difficult to move."

"Conner had a skull, a sternum, and one right hand."

"Nino had two leg bones, but the spine was broken, barely affixing the skull to the coccyx."

"Di Ao had both arms intact but had no legs."

"I was the most severely incomplete inside, left with only a skull."

Zhou Yi listened with a frown.

There was something odd about this Sea God.

"We collected all the remnants, including ourselves. There should be at least 17 skeletons inside the Sea God. Through selection and comparison of these skeletons, we discovered something."

Bone Man continued, "Some of the scattered bones fit onto our bodies perfectly. But our hands and feet, cervical vertebrae and sternum, skulls and spine were all mismatched..."

"That is to say, we were once part of those skeletons. But after becoming Bone Men, our bodies were interchanged; possibly Di Ao's hands were Nino's, Nino's leg bones were Conner's, and my sternum could be on any of them."

"In this bizarre situation, everyone sought my opinion. I only had a skull left, but because of the lesser burden, all the energy was used for brain function."

"I originally thought that Bone Men were supposed to be like this. But according to the Dead Sea Atlas and records on Bone Men I found in Recursive City, it's different. Bone Men must preserve the relative integrity of their physiological structure to be awakened under the effect of Death Light. In our case of massive damage, natural awakening is impossible."

"Inside the Sea God, our skeletal structure was deliberately disrupted by an external force, made chaotic and dull. An invisible hand was playing with our bones, scattering us, preventing us from thinking and remembering what had happened."

Jacob spread his five digit bones, slowly extending and then gripping them, "Am I still me now? Am I just preserving this part of the skull and the memories in this body, whether they seem real or truly exist? I can't tell, Chairman, I really can't tell."

Zhou Yi was at a loss for words for a moment.

Honestly, his situation was even more severe than theirs.

But unlike Jacob, Zhou Yi didn't dwell on it. What's happened can't be changed; what mattered was what to do next.

He told Bone Man, "Existence is meaning. Life in this world isn't solitary; we all exchange and connect with our surroundings. If it's unclear, there's no need to make it clear."

Jacob fell silent in thought.

After waiting for a while.

Bone Man spoke again, "I told everyone that we might just be those skeletons. Everyone thought it made sense. But why the us from the past—or the previous Bone Men—wanted us to escape, no one knows. But once the idea was born, it could no longer be stopped."

"We noticed more and more suspicions."

"Every window of the Sea God was completely sealed with Light Soot, and the same was true for the exhaust and drainage holes, cutting off all contact with the outside world."

"Then, there were many signs of wear and scratches on our bones, but the inside of the Sea God was very smooth, hardly ever rough. Otherwise, with our incomplete bodies, we would not be able to move around so freely."

"Especially since everyone's skulls were severely worn, the memories inside wiped clean, and some would experience familiarity that seems right, yet isn't. Like Di Ao would look at a bulkhead and say it's as if he remembered there being something there, only to then discover the painting underneath..."

"Another thing is, Sea God never tells us what's going on outside; it doesn't talk about the outside world as if it doesn't exist."

The Bone Men's suspicions of Sea God continued to accumulate.

After a long period of contemplation, Jacob reached a conclusion.

They were the pets of Sea God.

Kept in a closed environment, mainly for Sea God's amusement, and if any situations it disliked arose, they were dealt with just as the previous Bone Men had been.

Sea God would scatter them anew, wipe their previous memories, and restart this pet game within the black box.

Zhou Yi, however, was somewhat puzzled by this.

Electromechanical Life possesses inherent functions and order principles, so what was the purpose of Sea God's actions? For amusement? Or some kind of experiment?

"I don't know."

Jacob shook his head, "We were just very scared at the time, because this kind of repeated, cyclical torment felt worse than death itself. That's why we decided to escape."

"During another winter while Sea God was dormant, we assembled legs and bodies, and escaped following the clues left by the previous Bone Men."

"I was the first one out. As soon as I climbed to the exit outside, I felt weak all over, and a piece of my skull, for no apparent reason, broke off and fell inside, splitting in two... Because our energy was so limited, we could only carry out basic movements with the energy supplied by Sea God."

"After getting out, I instinctively ran. At that time, Sea God had entered the tunnel in Yalong Bay, looking as though it had been swallowed up and devoured."

The Bone Man murmured softly to himself, "Later on, I walked onto the sea floor of Dead Sea, and found a moored cargo ship by a small island. I clung to the bottom of the ship and followed them all the way, ending up in Sand Port Region after the ship broke apart in rapids."

"Chairman, I haven't told anyone about these things before. This is the first time I'm sharing them."

Zhou Yi verified this through Yalong Bay.

"Indeed, a Bone Man emerged from the submarine, appearing very panicked and weak, but I can't recognize the Bone Men, so I'm not sure if it was this one. But the one at the time was indeed missing a piece of skull."

The submarine base provided witness testimony, "That was also the first time Sea God entered the storage cave, and since then it has remained unresponsive, stranded to this day."

As understanding of Sea God increased, the mysteries surrounding it not only failed to dissipate, but became even harder to comprehend.

Zhou Yi suddenly felt uneasy.

Red Kestrel had been inside the submarine for quite a while, with not a single message sent back.

Zhou Yi took out the remote control he carried with him and attempted manual operation.

The display showed.

[No signal, response from Red Kestrel failed, please proceed with manual recovery.]

The last time there was a response failure was due to an energy issue.

Zhou Yi's heart sank.

Something had gone wrong.

A rescue was urgently needed, or it would be too late.

Red Kestrel, unlike the Bone Men who could recover after being shattered, was a non-combat member with a very fragile body.

Upon learning this, Jacob began anxiously waving his arms, "Chairman, you absolutely can't go in there, it's very dangerous. I suspect that I was deliberately let out, just to lure more people in! I'm the bait!"

Zhou Yi said, "I am aware of the risks, you withdraw to the safe area in Jade City first."

He first found St. Petersburg and told it that if he didn't emerge within an hour, to direct its fire at Sea God and destroy it.

"Don't worry, friend! St. Petersburg will rescue you in time," the submarine assured with confidence.

Zhou Yi also requested Yalong Bay to cut off all aid and maintenance to Sea God for the time being.

A moment later.

The interior walls of the tunnel where Sea God was located returned to darkness, with only a faint light remaining at the top.

Then Zhou Yi gathered the whole Warrior Crab Sequence, including senior members like the Weapon Master, Hammerhead Soldier, and Double Swordsmen, and quickly assembled them at the storage cave.

His order was simple.

If he did not come out within an hour, after St. Petersburg had blasted open Sea God, they were to dismantle the electromechanical submarine.

Finally, Zhou Yi clambered onto the dark submarine, and at that moment, Jacob still ran over, plucking up courage, "Chairman, I'll go too, I'm familiar with the inside! Maybe I can be of help!"

Zhou Yi nodded, "Then come along."

For safety, he conducted an energy transfer to the Bone Man, to facilitate communication on the same frequency.

Then, Zhou Yi and Jacob, one in front and one behind, crawled into the hatch.

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