Deep-Sea Altar

Three years after his father vanished, Lin Mu, a PhD in marine biology, finds a bronze box engraved with spiral patterns among his father's belongings. Inside is a map drawn on human skin, pointing to a strange fishing village on the southeastern coast: Ximen Town. For a thousand years, the village has passed down a taboo: once every sixty years, the sea opens its eye and devours the living as sacrifices. Following the coded spiral message his father left behind, Lin Mu ventures into an underwater cavern and discovers an ancient giant ship, neither metal nor wood, lying deep in a graveyard of wrecks. Within it is a mobile underwater fortress of worship, belonging to Chaosheng, an ancient maritime kingdom erased from official history. At the fortress's base lies the Gate of Guixu, sealing the abyssal beast Yuan Shou. The seal, renewed once every sixty years, is beginning to crumble. His father's disappearance was no accident: he used his own flesh and blood to strengthen the final line of defense. With bloodthirsty ancient creatures about to awaken and a catastrophic tsunami threatening half the southeastern coast, Lin Mu must choose: revive a thousand-year-old blood sacrifice, or find another way forward through modern science and coexistence? Beneath the deep sea, the Gate of Guixu is opening. The tide's countdown has reached zero. This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.