The Little Mermaid Fell for the Jiaoren 13

Chapter 13: Conch Shell

Mermen could sense the emotions within a song, and Deng Xi could hear it in the little mute’s voice.

He was very sad, silently hiding all his pain beneath the calm sea breeze. Deng Xi didn’t understand why the silver-tail’s mood was so low, but his song had moved him.

A song that could even move a merman was, by definition, very nice to hear.

“I’m not lying,” Deng Xi’s voice was very soft. He looked at Si Jisheng quietly for a long time before asking, “Little Mute, are you unhappy?”

Si Jisheng quietly looked back.

That meant he was unhappy.

Deng Xi had figured it out. When the little mute encountered a question he didn’t want to answer, he wouldn’t make any move, neither nodding nor shaking his head. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to admit it either, so he could only remain silent.

Deng Xi thought for a moment, then leaned over and opened the large shell placed to the side. He rummaged through it and found a large conch shell with beautiful spirals. He held it to his ear and listened, then curled his lips in satisfaction. He turned around and unexpectedly placed it by the silver-tail’s ear. “Listen.”

The sound of distant waves came from the conch shell, wave after wave.

Si Jisheng was stunned.

“This is a gift for Little Mute!” Deng Xi hummed, then thought for a moment. “I hope that when Little Mute is unhappy, it can accompany you on behalf of the sea and me.” Deng Xi didn’t mind or get angry at the little mute’s concealment from him. His eyelids curved slightly. “Tell it all the bad emotions you don’t want anyone else to know.”

In the past, when Deng Xi was sad, he didn’t want to say anything either. Without the company of his kinsmen, his low spirits would spread wildly in the loneliness. Gradually, he would look for all kinds of beautiful conch shells and, when he was sad, listen to the different sounds of the waves in them.

Soon, his mood would become calm.

Companionship was the best medicine.

If he didn’t want to tell him, then he could tell the conch shell.

Deng Xi solemnly placed the conch shell in the silver-tail’s hand.

A hint of a smile appeared in the depths of Si Jisheng’s eyes as he clenched the exquisite conch shell in his hand.

The night would soon pass.

When he woke up again, it would be another bright day.

Big Whale had worked hard all night, carrying the two fish and one shell on its back. At dawn, it stopped in a sea area where the current was relatively warm. Deng Xi swished the seawater with his tail fin, felt the temperature, and was very satisfied. He patted Big Whale’s large head as a reward.

Deng Xi: “We’re here!”

Si Jisheng placed the large shell on a reef beach on the surface of the sea.

Deng Xi also swam into the sea, swam in front of Big Whale, waved at it, and said loudly, “Goodbye, Big Whale!”

The blue whale’s call echoed through the entire sea area the next moment, as if saying to the golden-haired, blue-tailed little merman, “See you next time.”

The blue whale dived into the sea, and soon, its shadow disappeared.

Deng Xi flicked his tail fin and swam to the silver-tail’s side. “I wonder if this sea area has been occupied by other big fish. Little Mute, shall we go and see?”

Si Jisheng and Deng Xi swam around the seabed.

This sea area looked very peaceful, with no large fish, but quite a few small fish and shrimp, at least much more than the sea area where Deng Xi had previously settled, not at all barren. The temperature of the seabed water was also within an acceptable range. It looked like a very good place to live.

Deng Xi was particularly satisfied.

Si Jisheng, however, frowned.

Such a good sea area should have a very complete food chain, but they hadn’t found the top predator of this area, which was a bit strange.

In the depths of the sea, there was a spectacular underwater cliff, like a great underwater rift valley. The depths were pitch black, but the upper part was covered with colorful coral reefs and numerous aquatic plants, making it particularly beautiful.

Not only that, but various schools of fish constantly swam by. In the future, they would no longer have to worry about not having enough to eat.

Deng Xi’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise, and he immediately began to search the cliff for a cave they could live in.

Si Jisheng also joined the search.

Si Jisheng closed his eyes and sensed the flow of the water. He swam to a patch of seaweed on the cliff, pushed it aside with his hand, and sure enough, a cave entrance appeared behind the seaweed.

Deng Xi saw it and swam over.

The visibility on the seabed was very low, and the depths of the cave were pitch black. Deng Xi cautiously followed the silver-tail and swam in. The cave was filled with rugged, strange rocks on all sides, and the bottom was covered with many small pebbles.

Unexpectedly, this cave had no owner and was very clean. Deng Xi breathed a sigh of relief. After cleaning it up with the silver-tail, he moved the large shell here and made a bed for the silver-tail with seaweed.

Deng Xi used all the treasures from the large shell to decorate their new home. The silver-tail helped him. The decoration process was particularly long and arduous, but in the midst of the busyness, they gradually developed a sense of belonging to their new lair.

This was something Deng Xi always did every time he moved to a new home. It would make him feel familiar with the new lair, and his loneliness would diminish. Although it was tiring, it was also very happy.

“It’s finally done!” Deng Xi cheered happily and did a circle in the newly decorated lair.

It was hard to believe that after all this tedious work was done, the Marshal, who had been indifferent to the countless medals he had received for defending the Empire for over a decade, actually felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment.

“I’m so hungry, Little Mute. Shall we go find something to eat?” Deng Xi asked expectantly.

Si Jisheng nodded.

The moment they left the cave, Deng Xi let out a cry of surprise.

In front of the underwater cliff, a swarm of sardines was dancing in the water, swimming past the entrance of their cave in a dense mass. The sight was simply too stunning.

Si Jisheng flicked his tail fin and swam into the school of sardines. His bright silver tail shimmered in the water, and the translucent Jiaoren’s fins drooped down, blown by the current.

Deng Xi’s pupils dilated, and he exclaimed in a daze, “So beautiful.”

I want to touch it.

The next moment, a mist of blood suddenly exploded before his eyes.

Deng Xi’s gaze froze. He watched as the silver-tail grabbed a fish with his left claw and another with his right, as if he wanted to exterminate the entire school of sardines.

He had gone crazy with killing.

Deng Xi swallowed.

He didn’t dare to touch it anymore.

Thanks to the school of sardines and the little mute who had gone on a killing spree, Deng Xi had a sumptuous dinner. Night soon fell, and Deng Xi, who had been tired all day, quickly fell into a deep sleep in their new lair.

He was so tired that he even forgot to close the shell lid.

Si Jisheng touched the comm ring on his index finger with his thumb, glanced at the soundly sleeping blue Jiaoren, and swam out of the cave without a sound.

This sea area was bustling with activity during the day, but at night, it was as quiet as a dead land. Let alone fish, Si Jisheng didn’t see any sea creatures as he swam along.

The seabed was pitch black. Only Deng Xi’s cave remained silent. The fish bones left at the entrance of the lair were suddenly pushed by something in the darkness and fell into the deep sea canyon. The rustling sound disturbed the tranquility of the darkness, and the current was silently pushed.

A cold touch wrapped around Deng Xi’s wrist and climbed up his forearm. The sleeping merman in the shell was slowly dragged. Because of the presence of the water, the dragged Deng Xi floated in the seawater, undisturbed.

He was dragged out of the cave and into the darkness of the deep underwater rift valley.

After leaving the cave, Si Jisheng stopped near a coral reef. He opened his comm and quickly wrote a draft of a statement, then opened the audio interface.

Because he had successfully made a decent sound last night, even though there was only one day left, Si Jisheng was not in a hurry.

He had prepared himself mentally, repeatedly reciting the draft in his mind. He took a deep breath and began to record.

Without any warning.

“Requesting call to XH4-84, Admiral Boer—”

“Requesting call to XH5-85, Major Omar—”

“Requesting call…”

“Requesting call…”

Memories invaded Si Jisheng’s brain like tightly locked vines, pouring out of his mouth and nose. A pair of invisible hands covered his eyes, and his vision plunged into darkness. Then they covered his lips, and his throat couldn’t make any sound.

Si Jisheng’s lips trembled, and he opened his mouth blankly.

He clearly hadn’t spoken, but he was surrounded by sounds. Countless phrases of “requesting call—” swarmed in, weaving a cold, vast net in his brain.

His mind was filled with countless names, each one a ticking time bomb, bombarding Si Jisheng’s heart.

Because he had lost control on the battlefield, the Empire had been defeated, and the owners of these names had died meaninglessly in this battle that was destined to be lost.

Guilty? Ashamed? In pain?

He deserved it.

His gills seemed to have lost the strength to move. As a Jiaoren, Si Jisheng was about to become a drowning victim in the sea. The feeling of suffocation constantly oppressed his tense nerves.

Si Jisheng took a deep breath, and with great effort, squeezed a few sounds out of his throat. Meaningless “uh, uh” sounds echoed in the vast seabed. They were like a dull saw, each syllable scraping against his vocal cords with its blunt teeth.

It was too noisy.

He couldn’t hear what he was saying, so he couldn’t pronounce a single accurate syllable, only roar like a monster.

“Little Mute?”

A voice suddenly pierced through the noisy, dense net, reaching Si Jisheng with unerring accuracy.

“Don’t hesitate, don’t be afraid, and don’t shrink back.”

“Are you unhappy?”

“I hope it can accompany you on behalf of the sea and me.”

“Throw all your bad emotions to it.”

The silver tail fin suddenly moved. The silver-tail shot through the water like an arrow released from a bow. In just a few minutes, Si Jisheng returned to their new lair.

He stopped at the entrance of the cave for a long time, then slowly swam into the lair in the darkness. He stopped in front of his seaweed bed and picked up the exquisite little conch shell.

In the darkness, Si Jisheng couldn’t see the patterns on the conch shell. He rubbed it with his fingertips, controlling his strength so that the Jiaoren’s strength wouldn’t crush it in the next second.

Si Jisheng suddenly wanted to take a look at the blue Jiaoren. He turned to look at the shell, and his gaze paused slightly.

The shell was empty.

The blue Jiaoren was gone.

Si Jisheng’s thoughts suddenly returned to reality at this moment. He smelled the scent of an unfamiliar sea creature in the cave, and his silver, slitted pupils narrowed dangerously.

The pressure from the top of the entire interstellar food chain descended upon this sea without warning. The sea creatures hiding in the dark throughout the entire sea area suddenly began to tremble at this moment, a fear that arose from the very marrow of their bones, their souls trembling.