Chapter 24 p2: Auction
The merman species could sensitively perceive the emotions of all things, and creatures that had created a link with a merman could also perceive the merman’s emotions.
The blue whale sensed Deng Xi’s obviously low spirits and couldn’t help but nudge the blue-tail with its head. Big Whale’s strength was very small, but Deng Xi was still knocked a certain distance away.
The blue whale let out a low, guilty call.
Deng Xi swam back and lay down on Big Whale’s back, covering his eyes with his arm. His voice was very soft. “Big Whale, I’m lost. Can you take me back to the lair?”
The blue whale let out another low call in response and began to swim.
The little merman on its back became quiet again. His breathing was sometimes light, sometimes heavy, and there were also faint whimpers. After a long, long time, he became quiet again.
He seemed to have fallen asleep from exhaustion.
The blue whale slowed down its movements, afraid of waking the little merman on its back. It swam until morning before it returned to the sea area where it had brought Deng Xi before.
Big Whale shook its body gently.
Deng Xi was shaken off Big Whale’s back and woke up in a daze. He seemed to have cried for too long yesterday, and his head was throbbing. “Are we here?”
His blue eyes curved slightly, and he said softly, “Thank you, Big Whale.”
Big Whale nudged Deng Xi and let out a soft, low call.
You don’t have to smile if you’re not happy.
Deng Xi just patted Big Whale’s head and said quietly, “Wait for me, Big Whale. I’ll be back soon.”
The lair was very quiet. The rose-red shell still had the bloodstains from yesterday. The pearly white old shell was wide open, but the seaweed bed was empty.
Deng Xi picked and chose.
He couldn’t move either of the two large shells. If he were to call a dolphin to push them now, it would take a very long time. Deng Xi touched the old shell he had slept in for a long time and patted the new shell he and the little mute had found together.
He decided not to take them.
And his pile of treasures, which included very beautiful shells and conch shells, but there were too many of them. If Deng Xi were to carry them all, one would fall with every stroke.
In the end, he chose a conch shell that could produce the sound of the waves, the second most beautiful one, and took it with him.
Before leaving, Deng Xi took one last look at the lair he and the little mute had lived in for a long time. Just as he was about to flick his tail fin, something in the dimness was flashing.
It was that fluorescent jellyfish.
It quietly pulsed its transparent, long tentacles and slowly swam to Deng Xi, rubbing against his cheek.
The light never went out, gently blinking in the dark, lightless lair.
The clingy fluorescent jellyfish seemed to have sensed something and gently touched Deng Xi’s wet eyelids with its tentacles.
As if to say silently, Don’t be sad.
Remember to take it with you too.
Deng Xi blinked and promised, “I will.”
The fluorescent jellyfish took the initiative to wrap itself around the little merman’s fingertip.
Deng Xi took one last look back, then left the deep-sea abyss alone with the fluorescent jellyfish and a small conch shell. The blue whale was still waiting for him above the abyss.
Deng Xi sat on the blue whale’s back. “Big Whale, I have a treasure that I like very, very much. I brought him home and worked hard to repair all the cracks on his body.”
“But, a bad guy stole him while he was sick. I can’t find him by myself.”
Deng Xi thought.
What if, after flying into the sky, he fell down again in a place he couldn’t see?
He had to go look for him.
“Are you willing to look for my accidentally lost treasure with me?”
The blue whale let out a low hum, and its call spread throughout the entire sea area.
I am.
·
One thousand and eighty-two days.
It took nearly three years to circle the blue planet.
Deng Xi didn’t know how many times he had helped Big Whale clean the barnacles off its body. Without the silver-tail, he had pried them off one by one with a sharp shell. Now, the blue whale’s body was as clean as it could be.
Today, they stopped near a reef, returning to the sea area where the deep-sea abyss was located.
The fluorescent jellyfish was kept in a small shell by Deng Xi. The blue whale’s swimming speed was very fast, and the jellyfish’s tentacles were very fragile. The small jellyfish could disappear in the blink of an eye, so he had to be very, very careful.
The lifespan of a normal jellyfish was between 2-3 months, with the longest being up to two years. But the lifespan of a fluorescent jellyfish could be permanent. They could revert from the sexually mature stage to the larval stage of a hydra, repeating the cycle and growing forever.
Deng Xi was very fortunate that the one he had picked up was a fluorescent jellyfish that would never leave him.
They would stop in every sea area they passed for at least three to five days. Deng Xi would search the entire sea area. If he encountered a dangerous creature, the blue whale would protect him, and the journey would be without any danger.
Until today, he had returned to the place where he had started.
Deng Xi didn’t have much hope.
He leaped into the seawater, patted the blue whale’s head, and then touched the small shell bed where the fluorescent jellyfish was staying. “I’ll be back soon.”
Deng Xi dived into the seawater.
Even though the hope was slim, and he knew that the silver-tail couldn’t possibly be here.
Deng Xi still swam back to that lair in the abyss.
The seaweed had grown even denser. He had to push it aside for a while before he found the entrance of the cave and slowly swam in.
Because it had been uninhabited for a long time, the clean lair was covered in moss and had become dirty. The bloodstains on the rose-red shell had turned into a layer of black marks.
The two shells were wide open, just as they had been when Deng Xi had left, and their positions hadn’t moved at all. Besides that, the lair was still empty.
Deng Xi lowered his head in disappointment, then turned and swam to the surface. A black dot suddenly appeared in the distance on the boundless sea.
It was very likely some large sea creature.
But Deng Xi still flicked his tail fin and swam towards the black dot in the distance.
As the distance closed, the black dot began to enlarge, and a clear outline slowly appeared. Deng Xi’s eyes lit up, and he swam even faster.
That’s it!
That’s the black behemoth that took the little mute away!
Deng Xi dived into the seabed and swam towards it quickly.
The black behemoth was sunk at the bottom of the sea, and a huge net could be clearly seen attached to it.
It was the net that had bound the little mute.
If I’m bound by it, can I be pulled up too? If I’m pulled up, maybe I can see the little mute.
I can use my song to confuse those strange creatures, and then save the little mute.
Deng Xi knew that time would change many things. The little mute had been captured for so long, he had probably been tortured by them…
Deng Xi didn’t dare to think any further.
But all he could see before him was this slim hope. He could only do his best to grasp it.
The blue-tailed merman threw himself into the large net. The net, sensing the struggling prey, instantly tightened. His tail fin was entangled by the rapidly shrinking net, and Deng Xi subconsciously struggled with his tail.
But the more he struggled, the more the net tightened, and his tail was even more deeply entangled. Deng Xi frowned, took a deep breath, and stopped struggling.
The next moment, the net that bound Deng Xi was dragged up from the seabed. Just like the silver-tail before, he was slowly pulled onto the cruise ship.
With a “thump,” the blue-tailed merman was thrown onto the deck.
Deng Xi was dizzy for a moment, then raised his head in a daze.
What met his eyes were several familiar black figures. They had no tails, and their bodies were forked from the waist down. Their entire bodies were covered.
What strange creatures.
But Deng Xi knew that he had found the right place.
These were the creatures that had captured the silver-tail.
Deng Xi stared at them warily, his eyes filled with resentment.
These creatures also looked at him warily, communicating in a strange language.
“Where’s the tranquilizer?! Quick, quick, quick.”
“What kind of alien is this? I remember that the only alien with a fish tail in the entire universe is probably that one from the Empire, right?”
Someone swallowed, their gaze greedy as they looked at the winding fish tail on the deck. “Don’t tell me we caught a Jiaoren?”
“If it really is, then we’ve struck it rich.”
The second Jiaoren in the entire universe was in their hands.
The few of them exchanged glances, then raised their guns and slowly walked towards the wary blue-tail on the deck. Several dark muzzles were aimed at Deng Xi.
The blue-tail was pressed onto the deck of the cruise ship, unable to move. A long, thick, and sharp needle extended from the muzzle and was mercilessly pressed against his skin. A cold liquid was forcibly injected into his body.
Pain.
Deng Xi thrashed his tail wildly. He was like a fish on a chopping block, the smooth blade held high, reflecting his helpless struggles.
It hurt so much.
The few of them exchanged glances. Seeing the blue-tail’s violent struggles, they hesitated and stopped the injection.
Three years ago, the missing Imperial Marshal had suddenly appeared at a trial conference and announced his Jiaoren identity to the entire galaxy.
From then on, besides humans and Zerg, there was another race in the galaxy. Normal people called humans who had atavistic phenomena and had certain bestialized body parts aliens.
Because of this trial conference that had shaken the entire universe.
Humans began to discover aliens who had been hiding among normal people and had never been discovered before. And all aliens would have occasional rampages.
During a rampage, aliens would lose their reason and be filled with hostility towards all living creatures. Only tranquilizers could calm them down.
To prevent the alien’s sudden atavistic rampage, the tranquilizer injected into Deng Xi was several times the normal dose. But he was just an ordinary, weak merman who couldn’t even compare to a normal person.
A normal dose of tranquilizer would make the injected person fall asleep, or keep them mentally relaxed and their muscles weak.
But an overdose of tranquilizer could be fatal.
If Deng Xi’s genes were not those of a merman blessed by the sea, he would have already become a cold corpse.
But the adverse reactions of the drug quickly appeared on Deng Xi. Nausea, vomiting, headache… slowly, Deng Xi couldn’t even feel the pain anymore. He just felt very uncomfortable.
So uncomfortable, so uncomfortable.
Many, many times more uncomfortable than when he had been taken to the reef by the little mute and his tail had been dehydrated.
It was completely different from what he had naively thought. He didn’t even have the strength to sing.
Deng Xi slowly closed his eyes. In a daze, he felt his weak body being carried and stuffed into a large black water tank. After the lid was closed, he sank to the bottom. In a haze, all he could see before him was darkness.
In a daze, he seemed to have returned to the deep seabed, curled up alone in a pitch-black cave, the cold, hard rocks beneath him, no pearly white shell, and no sparkling silver tail.
Where are you, Little Mute?
When you were captured, were you also curled up in a small water tank, so uncomfortable? Were the wounds on your body also so painful?
For a moment, Deng Xi seemed to have returned to the time before he met the little mute. The whole world, the entire ocean, was left with only him, a single merman. His calls would never be answered by his kinsmen. A thick sense of loneliness crept into his heart.
Very suddenly, Deng Xi missed him a little.
The physical discomfort was infinitely amplified. He couldn’t fall asleep, and his mind was diluted into a chaotic mess by the tranquilizer. Deng Xi allowed his consciousness to sink into the dark and deep sea of consciousness. He had not lost consciousness, but had simply shielded himself from all external perception, drifting aimlessly in the vast sea of consciousness.
The merman’s mental feelers were slowly expanding.
It was emitting the subconscious call of its master’s body.
One after another, even though he had never received a response.
So weak, so fragile that it could be blown away with a single puff of air, yet it never stopped.
A soothed intelligent creature could, like the blue whale, hear the merman’s call and respond. A merman could also send a call to a soothed intelligent creature.
But they were too far, far apart.
Deng Xi didn’t get the response he wanted even after he had completely fallen asleep.
He thought, he hoped that the blue whale and the jellyfish, who were waiting for him to return, wouldn’t be sad after they didn’t see him.
·
