Chapter 34: Sickness
It was just a simple ten-second video. Only a single second was in the light. Besides the darkness, nothing could be seen.
His memory of this scene was also in a state of chaos.
He couldn’t remember how many times this had happened.
Every time he fell into darkness, and every time he woke up, he had to face the things he had done, or not done, in the darkness.
So he tried desperately to remember, but all he got was a blank slate.
Helplessness.
In the dead silence, the video automatically looped countless times until a “ding—” sounded. The call was automatically connected, and a pair of enlarged blue eyes suddenly appeared on the blue screen.
Its owner seemed to be not yet proficient in using this unfamiliar function. His entire face was pressed against the blue screen, very, very close to the comm. Even at this deathly angle, the merman’s beauty was not affected in the slightest.
He was still so beautiful that it was impossible to look away.
“Little Mute?”
Unsure if the call had connected, Deng Xi tentatively called out again. It wasn’t until the silver-tail’s figure appeared on the blue screen that his eyes lit up. “I can really see Little Mute!”
Success!
He was so amazing!
Si Jisheng came back to his senses. “What’s wrong?”
Deng Xi’s eyelids curved, and he said as if it were a matter of course, “I missed Little Mute.”
So he wanted to take a look at the little mute.
Even though they had only been separated for a few minutes.
Si Jisheng stood up. A moment later, he appeared in front of the pool and came to Deng Xi. “I’m sorry, I was dealing with some things and was delayed for a bit.”
Deng Xi wanted to say that there was no need to apologize, but the next second, the little mute placed a blue screen in front of his eyes.
After entering the pool, his body was soaked by the seawater again. In just one day, he had to change his clothes three times. If this problem was not solved, Si Jisheng would have to wear clothes every time he went into the water in the future.
He could only restrain Deng Xi, who had no human common sense.
An apology was necessary.
Si Jisheng opened the sex education documentary that the adjutant had sent over. The moment the video lit up, there was nothing inappropriate for children.
It had to be said that in order to fulfill his commander’s ridiculous request, and also to maintain a good subordinate-superior relationship in the future, the film he had found for the Marshal was very subtle and artistic.
Si Jisheng had only watched half of it before he realized what was going on, and his face instantly turned ashen.
The blue screen immediately went black.
Deng Xi, who was watching the two humans huddle together and chatter, blinked his eyes. “Why did it go black? Is it broken?”
Si Jisheng closed his eyes and suppressed his cold tone. “No.” He took a deep breath. “Don’t look.”
Deng Xi was very confused. He didn’t understand why there were so many things in the human world that he couldn’t look at. He couldn’t look at this, and he couldn’t look at that. It was so troublesome.
Si Jisheng frowned, opened his comm again, turned off the video, deleted it, and sent a message to the adjutant, “Extra training for ten hours.”
Before the thunderstruck adjutant could reply, Si Jisheng opened the star network and started searching. Finally, the page landed on a biology website suitable for teenagers. He clicked on a video explaining the human reproductive organs.
In order not to be a living example while Deng Xi was watching, Si Jisheng handed the comm to Deng Xi and left the pool.
Deng Xi held the comm and lay on the side of the pool, looking at the little mute who was sitting with his back to him, and then at the changing blue screen.
In the lower right corner of the screen was a cartoon character. It introduced itself, “Hello, students. I am Teacher Xiaomei.”
The golden-haired, blue-tailed little merman blinked his eyes, sat up straight very seriously, and listened attentively.
As the video played, the page with both pictures and text also changed. Although Deng Xi could understand the human language, the merman’s ability to receive information also needed a little reaction time, especially when it was mixed with a large number of nouns that Deng Xi didn’t understand. The little merman, who was attending his first class, had only been listening attentively for less than five minutes before he rubbed his sleepy eyes, and his little head began to nod off.
So magical, it was like a hypnotic magic.
Deng Xi thought drowsily.
“Ahem.”
A slight, low cough suddenly sounded.
Deng Xi instantly woke up, secretly glanced at the little mute who had his back to him, and tried his best to stay awake.
Teacher Xiaomei suddenly pointed at the triangular area of the human model. “This place is our male reproductive organ.”
The sleepy little merman’s eyes widened. Although he had never seen a real human reproductive organ, just by looking at the picture, Deng Xi belatedly realized that it seemed a bit like the thing in a merman’s chamber.
Not just a little.
It was very similar.
Deng Xi couldn’t help but want to look at the silver-tail again. He had only turned halfway before he stiffly turned back. Can’t look, can’t look, can’t look!
Mist filled his eyelids, and even the tips of his ears quietly turned red, and his face was also burning.
In the merman clan, a merman’s chamber was a very private place. It would only be opened to their mate, and only their mate could see it. Staring at another merman’s chamber had only one meaning, and that was that you wanted to have sex.
Deng Xi only thought of the little mute as a friend he liked very much.
Between friends, it was simply too offensive.
By his ear, Teacher Xiaomei in the video suddenly became serious. “Children, pay attention. If someone stares at this place of yours, you must stay away from this big pervert.”
Deng Xi’s breath hitched, and he couldn’t help but cover his face.
He didn’t do it on purpose.
And he wasn’t a little pervert fish.
After the video stopped playing, the pool was plunged into a quiet atmosphere. The little merman wished he could find a crack to crawl into. Si Jisheng sat quietly for a while, then thoughtfully gave Deng Xi a buffer.
The sound of footsteps slowly faded away.
Deng Xi, who had been burying his head, finally lowered his hands after a while. He flicked his tail fin and spun around twice in place, then shrank under the water and took a deep breath of the cool oxygen in the seawater.
The flustered Deng Xi accidentally knocked over the comm.
The blue screen switched to an uncleared interface upon contact. Deng Xi frantically propped up the comm, wanting to restore it to its original state and prove that he hadn’t done anything.
The moment he looked up, a video was automatically playing.
The image, filled with the fluctuation of the seawater, was constantly sinking in the pitch black, sinking further and further. In the dimness, a patch of seaweed was pushed aside, revealing a dark hole, followed by a slow dive. In the silence, a faint light suddenly flashed.
A pair of familiar silver, slitted pupils appeared in the darkness.
At this time, Deng Xi still didn’t understand.
It wasn’t until the next second that a dozen or so slight, muffled sounds suddenly sounded in the quiet cave.
Deng Xi didn’t know what this sound was, but he was inexplicably flustered. He widened his eyes, but could only hear the muffled sounds in the darkness.
It was the sound of a sharp object piercing into a body.
Sticky blood gushed out from the body. Under the flashing faint light, with every flash, he could see the mist of blood in the dark seawater becoming thicker and thicker.
At the end of the video, the body in the darkness collapsed with a thud.
Deng Xi suddenly realized something. In his memory, the little mute had only been sick once in the lair. At that time, he was sleeping peacefully in the shell.
The video automatically looped.
Deng Xi stared blankly for many times. The salty sea breeze suddenly blew, sending a chill down his back.
He frantically opened his own comm. “Little Mute?”
Deng Xi’s comm automatically dialed, and the comm on the shore also automatically connected. Both comms were with Deng Xi, and only Deng Xi himself appeared on the blue screen. The little mute he wanted to see did not appear.
A huge sense of insecurity washed over him. Deng Xi’s heart was beating very fast. He didn’t understand why he had succeeded before, but had failed now. The little mute who had promised to appear before him at all times had not appeared again.
Deng Xi turned off the comm and opened it again. He tried over and over again, calling out “Little Mute” one after another, but the silver-tail never appeared.
Failed.
He failed every time.
He was not amazing at all.
Deng Xi threw away the useless comm, flicked his tail fin, and swam to the steps of the pool. Because he didn’t have human legs, he couldn’t walk on land at all. Deng Xi could only use his arms to support his body and drag his tail to climb up the steps one by one.
He wanted to go ashore.
He wanted to find the little mute.
The blue tail fin was dragged over one rugged step after another. Deng Xi’s strength was very small, and he collapsed on the steps, exhausted, after climbing a few steps.
Deng Xi lowered his head in frustration. Just as he was about to raise his arms again, he was suddenly lifted into the air. A low voice sounded by his ear, “I was gone for a while and didn’t tell you. It won’t happen next time.”
The damp body also soaked the dry clothes, and the seawater on the blue-tail also dripped down, drop by drop. Deng Xi hugged Si Jisheng back with all his might.
It was an embrace that carried the damp scent of the sea.
It was very sudden and very flustered.
But the missing sense of security was instantly replenished.
Si Jisheng asked in a low voice, “Were you coming to find me?”
Deng Xi nodded and complained pitifully, “But I can’t find Little Mute.”
“That thing is broken.”
Si Jisheng glanced at the communicating comm on the ground and understood at once. He explained, “It’s not broken. It only works when it’s by my side.”
Deng Xi bit his lip. “Then in the future, if it’s not by your side, does that mean I won’t be able to see Little Mute?”
“No.” Because he was afraid that the blue-tail would be dehydrated, Si Jisheng carried Deng Xi and walked down the steps of the pool one by one. “I will come to see you.”
Deng Xi sniffled and suddenly said, “I saw it. They hurt the sick little mute. At that time, I was sleeping in the shell. I didn’t hear it.”
“And then they took you away. I opened the shell, and the little mute was gone.”
Si Jisheng’s breath hitched. “Sick?”
Deng Xi nodded. “Little Mute suddenly became very fierce and didn’t recognize me.”
The mechanical gloves that Si Jisheng was holding Deng Xi with tightened slightly. The Jiaoren’s sharp claws, because they were restrained, couldn’t extend at all. When they were forcibly retracted, a sharp pain shot through him. He took a deep breath, and his voice suddenly became hoarse. “Did I… hurt you?”
A Jiaoren who had lost his reason was an extremely terrifying existence. Almost no one could survive near a frenzied Jiaoren. A little merman who sought advantages and avoided disadvantages would naturally run as far away as possible at such a time. How could he possibly stay by his side?
“No.” Deng Xi said seriously, “Little Mute was very good and didn’t hurt me.” He curved his clear blue eyes. “I brought the sick little mute home.”
“Doesn’t Little Mute remember?”
A long time passed.
Si Jisheng closed his eyes and said a sentence he had said countless times, “I forgot.”
Deng Xi raised his fingertips and touched the seemingly sad silver eyes. He gently touched his eyelids with his fingertips. He had wanted to do this for a long, long time.
He racked his brains and clumsily comforted, “But Little Mute didn’t want to forget either, right?”
“Little Mute also really wanted to come and see me, right?”
***
Author’s note:
Adjutant: Don’t be too absurd
