1. Catastrophic setting: The era of reverse flooding
The Cataclysm occurred on the day known as the Blue Marrow Incident. An unfathomable abyss opens in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, releasing high concentrations of blue marrow radiation. The sea water rose 174 meters in seventy-two hours, engulfing coastal civilizations around the world. What is even more frightening is that the blue marrow radiation has transformed all life exposed to the sea water - the tide descendants who can breathe underwater have been born among humans, and marine creatures have evolved wisdom. Among them, the most threatening and divine one is the mermaid.
Mermaids are not beautiful creatures in fairy tales. They are perfect bodies of blue marrow radiation, with torsos covered with scales, gill slits that can open and close in water, bones adapted to high pressure, and emotional logic that is completely different from humans. They established an underwater civilization called Guiming City, using sound waves and bioelectricity as their language, and treating humans as dry people on land.
The remnants of humanity retreated to mountains, shipwrecks, and man-made floating islands. The core stage of the story is Luoke, a floating island settlement transformed from an abandoned deep-sea scientific research platform.
The shell is about two kilometers in diameter, reinforced with a steel skeleton and coral concrete, and suspended above the former East China Sea continental shelf. Thirty-two hundred survivors cultivate seaweed, breed mutated fish, salvage relics from the past, and try to coexist with the increasingly awakening ancient existence in the ocean.
2. Superpower System: Tide Mark
Humans who are deeply affected by blue marrow radiation will form glowing lines on their body surface, called tide marks. Tide marks grant powers, but also slowly erode the sanity, eventually causing the bearer to drown - turning into an empty shell oozing salt water.
Superpowers are divided into six major lineages:
• Sound Abyss: Manipulate sound waves, frequency, and resonance to communicate, attack, or soothe.
• Tide: Controls the growth, healing, and mutation of life, and can resonate with marine plants and animals.
• Iron Salts: Strengthen metals, control rust, and build defenses.
• Undercurrent: Manipulating water flow, pressure, and tides, the most direct combat type.
• Phosphorus Fire: Manipulates light, heat, and bioelectricity, capable of both illumination and attack.
• Abyssal Vision: Precognition, mind reading, spiritual link, the most dangerous and rarest.
Purpose: Reverence for nature
