Ark - Volume 22 Chapter 8

Deep below the earth's surface, a mystifying subterranean seascape lurks, an archipelago bathed in inky blackness where suspense and horror hold court. Here lie strange islands and even stranger monsters, far beyond the realms of human imagination. In this domain, mankind is far from dominant; instead, madness and death rule supreme.

Pleading for mercy from the unknown creatures of the deep only leads to a slow, tortured existence. The trapped survivors gradually distort, losing what made them human, both physically and mentally, to the gloom as they remain trapped in this eternal obscurity. Their only hope? A perilous expedition into uncharted sea territories.

Fueled by determination, Charles embark on this daunting voyage aboard his steamship, aiming to reclaim humanity's past glory. Together with his crew, they sought a way out of this hidden sea world, a path back to the sunlit world above, where humans once stood tall.

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I read a few comments from Chinese readers that compared this novel with Lord of Mysteries because of similar elements: Lovecraftian, western fantasy, first industrial revolution, and steampunk. However, I have yet to finish reading Lord of Mysteries to do any actual comparison, but I do think those who have enjoyed that novel would enjoy this as well. Also, the author of LotM, Cuttlefish That Loves Diving, also did a shout-out for this novel, so I guess he approves of it too?

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Tan Rou only learned that she wasn’t the Tan family’s daughter when she was seventeen years old. She went from being a rich young lady to living in the slums. The parents she adored belonged to someone else, and this series of knockdowns was hard for a seventeen-year-old girl to accept. She wailed like a child for the sake of proving this was all a lie. The vicious words she spouted had hurt her biological family but she didn’t notice.

She thought the Tan family was her real family despite them seeing her as an eyesore, and was even naive enough to want to befriend the Tan family’s real daughter, Tan Jing. Alas, the latter drugged her drink and arrange for a thug to rape her. Tan Jing even brought their classmates along to catch them in the act so Tan Rou was now tainted for life. After being reborn, she looked down at the man she was stepping on. Tan Rou swore not to be a useless wretch in this life or be bullied to death.

She would stomp on those who wronged her and make it up to her real family. They wouldn’t have had to die tragically on the streets in the past life had it not been for her. Tan Rou turned completely evil after crawling back out of Hell. Everyone claimed that the real young lady was educated and talented, while the fake young lady was arrogant and incompetent. Tan Rou scoffed upon hearing this. She held back her brother from trying to stand up for her. “We have all the time in the world. Let’s just wait and see.” Just as everyone was waiting for Tan Rou to make a fool of herself…

A top-class perfumer, a top scholar, a world champion… The fake young lady’s multiple identities kept getting exposed one after another, bumping her up to number one on the trending search, shocking the world. Wait, where was the promised humiliation?

Navier was the perfect empress, however, the Emperor wanted a wife, not a colleague. And so, the Emperor abandoned Empress Navier and placed an ens*aved girl beside him. That was fine until Navier heard the Emperor promise the s*ave the Empress’ position. After many ups and downs, Navier decided she would accept being the Queen of the neighbouring country and remarry.

Blue Star has entered the extraordinary era, everything is evolving, and monsters are rampant.

Humans awaken their star souls in evolution to fight against raging monsters.

Zhou Xuan, who was doing odd jobs in the Demon Town Tower, accidentally awakened to an unscientific sign-in system.

Sign in on the ancient desolate beast and gain the power of the wild. Sign in on the weed spirit, and the star soul evolves into the nine-leaf sword grass.

The thousand-year black turtle, the ten thousand-year sea king, the immortal true phoenix, and the sky-swallowing dragon have all become the targets of his registration.

There are countless monsters in the Demon Suppressing Tower, Zhou Xuan signed in silently, and if he was not careful, he would be invincible.

- Description from novelbuddy