Chapter 660: Shedding
Once they were out of the subconscious void, Juniper immediately went to continue her surgery on Nixie’s heart.
A couple of minutes later, she made the final stitches on the Dao Heart, mending the cut that leaked out Aubility Power everywhere.
And finally, the room went silent. There was no chaos, no rampaging Aubility Power, and no more distressed look on Nixie’s face. She seemed to finally be sleeping peacefully for the first time in a few weeks.
"What happened out there?" Reed asked, hugging his wife in anxiousness. "Did you save her?"
Juniper nodded. "Yes, we did. We have successfully pulled Nixie out of her subconscious void, allowing her Dao Heart to recover normally."
Reed and his wife felt their legs turn to jelly out of relief. It was as if a giant mountain was lifted off their shoulders.
"Thank you! Thank you!" He grabbed Juniper’s hands and kneeled in front of her.
"It’s not just me you should thank. I couldn’t have done it without him," Juniper said, pointing to Michael.
She could still vividly remember the scene in which he clashed against the Leviathan, using a strength that was above his own realm. It was unreal.
She was starting to wonder why Michael was still unknown in the greater part of Metropolis when he was already so talented that he could arguably put head to head against so-called geniuses.
Thankfully though, it seemed that someone finally appreciated Michael’s talents. Reed went over to Michael and clasped his hands. "You have made a friend in me," he said. "I genuinely thank you from the bottom of my heart."
Michael awkwardly accepted the compliment even though he knew that Juniper did most of the work. All he did was support her a few times.
Although the mood inside the room was hopeful, there was still a lingering sense of sadness in Juniper.
The senior apothecary approached Nixie’s parents and had a talk with them face to face.
"Listen, I will give it to you straight. We saved Nixie’s life today. But that doesn’t mean that she has been completely cured of her disease.
Since we forcefully pulled her out of her subconscious void, Nixie will become even more lethargic than before. She’ll refuse to do anything: eat, sleep, and move. Her road to recovery is incredibly steep, which means that you’ll have to be with her every step of the way.
You have to keep constantly trying to awaken her out of this near catatonic state or else her Dao Heart will continue degrading, leading to another dangerous incident such as today."
Reed and his wife held each other for emotional support. Even though they’d just passed through a difficult hurdle, more and more hurdles appeared on their way.
"Is there no way to save her? No way to let her live a normal life?" Reed asked.
Juniper wanted to say yes and keep their hopes up, but she knew that she’d be lying if she said it.
"Unless we can get rid of the curse in her Dao Heart, then her situation will not get better. It will get worse, and there is nothing that we can do about it."
Nixie’s parents stifled a cry.
Just then, Michael raised his hand and got everyone’s attention.
"Nixie needs to stimulate her Dao Heart to keep the curse at bay, correct?"
Juniper nodded.
"Then wait for me for a few days. I think I can do something," he said.
And before anyone could ask questions, he teleported out of the room and back into the Nation of Reborn.
He landed in the middle of the desert, with a large patch of the ground in front of him. They had already dug deep to build the rollercoaster’s foundations.
He then saw Kong and the rest of the Rebornian imagineers working hard to plan and conduct the construction project with the best quality and efficiency that they could afford.
"Kong! Listen, have you guys settled on a design for the thrilling rollercoaster as of yet?"
The group of Yellow HobMankey engineers shook their heads, embarrassed.
"I’m sorry, boss. But we can’t settle on a design just yet. We know nothing about the mermen society, so we don’t know which design would give the best results."
He looked at them with a smile. "Well, I’ve got the solution for you. Here’s my plan..."
He began telling them about his experience in the subconscious void, entering Cthulhu’s mouth and being chased by the Leviathan with nothing but the darkest shadows around to accompany them.
ChatJK5 even stepped in and gave them a first-person perspective view on Michael’s memory, allowing them to feel, hear, and experience the thrilling moment that he entered into the mouth of the colossal ocean monster.
About ten minutes later, Kong and the engineers were lit afire with inspiration.
"It’s the perfect way to create a thrilling ride that brings fear and excitement to mermen!" Kong praised. "We shall start out designs as you have said, boss!"
It had already been proven that Mermen feared the monsters under the depths, including the most ancient of them all, Cthulhu.
And if they started the rollercoaster ride the same way their journey started, then the mermen would immediately feel intimidated by sheer instinctual fear they had of being consumed by Cthulhu.
During the ride itself, they would be chased by the Leviathan nonstop, just like what happened to them in the void!
And to do that, they needed to build the biggest structure they’d ever built—one that could be seen even far off from a distance.
Of course, the inside should be expansive as well. It had to be immersive, one that would make its riders feel as if they were transported into the deepest depths of the ocean.
And as for its animatronics, he couldn’t simply use robots with painted costumes. He had to borrow from the real thing. He had to make them from real sea monsters.
He immediately transported himself back into the fishing village, finding Quint back in his tackle shop.
The old man seemed to be very happy seeing his face and immediately bragged to him about his exploits these past few days.
"You won’t believe what happened to me, young fella. At the start, I had an incredibly hard time finding any suitable sea monsters to present to you. However, just a few hours ago, these perfectly preserved carcasses suddenly floated up from the depths of the ocean!"
Quint led Michael to the back of the shop, unveiling the large cover to reveal a snake-like creature curled up dead.
His eyes widened as he realized that the sea creature looked very familiar. Its dragon-like face and its eel-like body reminded him of none other than the Leviathan back in the void!
"Is this?"
"This is not the Leviathan, but its weaker, younger cousin. Still, they’re from the same lineage so you can still see the resemblance."
Michael was incredibly pleased with this. This perfectly preserved carcass was the perfect size to use in the ride.
"And that’s not all, look at this," Quint said, removing another large cover on the ground.
He revealed what seemed to be a shedded skin of a gigantic octopus limb.
"My first thought was that this was one of Cthulhu’s tentacles. But that’s impossible. So, this is probably just another sea creature in the depths that has giant limbs."