Chapter 18 p1: Failed Product
After Deng Xi agreed, he immediately sprang into action. He hugged his treasured shells. “Can we take these with us too?”
Every shell was Deng Xi’s treasure, a testament to his travels through the various seas of this planet. He couldn’t bear to leave them behind.
Si Jisheng nodded.
Deng Xi happily piled them all together. “Little Mute, you have to remember to bring the conch shell I gave you.”
Si Jisheng glanced at the conch shell he kept by his side, almost always carrying it. Under Deng Xi’s gaze, he took the initiative to hold it in his hand.
I will.
Deng Xi suddenly thought of something. He flicked his tail fin and swam in front of the silver-tail, holding out his palm.
Si Jisheng didn’t ask, but directly placed the conch shell in Deng Xi’s palm.
Deng Xi took out a fishing line.
This fishing line was a lateral line from a fish, which Deng Xi had saved from the last time he had eaten fish. He wrapped the silver fishing line around the tip of the conch shell and tied a beautiful little knot.
Deng Xi lifted the fishing line and swayed it. The conch shell hanging from it also swayed, stable and not falling off. He curved his eyelids. “Alright, this way you won’t lose it.”
The little merman moved closer to the silver-tail, leaning in, and held the two ends of the fishing line up to the little mute’s neck to measure.
Because they were too close.
Deng Xi’s golden hair, floating in the seawater, touched Si Jisheng’s body. The bare, pale skin of his shoulder and neck was lightly brushed by the curly golden hair, leaving a slight itch.
Si Jisheng uncomfortably moved back.
Deng Xi puffed up his cheeks. “Little Mute, don’t move.”
Si Jisheng had no choice but to stop.
Deng Xi hung the extremely simple conch shell necklace he had made himself around the silver-tail’s neck.
It was like a collar that bound the silver-tail, putting a shackle on the powerful Jiaoren.
The silver fishing line was very long, and the small, exquisite conch shell hung down to Si Jisheng’s chest, its cold, spiraled texture pressing against his bare skin.
The golden-haired, blue-tailed little merman propped himself up on the shell bed where Si Jisheng was sitting. As he leaned in, their silver and blue tails were almost touching. He poked it with his fingertip, clueless. “Is it a bit heavy?”
The conch shell was about the size of Deng Xi’s palm.
But for Si Jisheng, it was just a normal size.
His fingertips tensed rigidly. He quietly shook his head, restraining himself and maintaining a boundary with the blue Jiaoren.
Deng Xi straightened up and looked at it with satisfaction. “Little Mute has to wear it always.”
Si Jisheng nodded.
Deng Xi continued to pack his treasures. He touched the new shell, then the old one. “Can we take these with us too?”
In the interstellar age, there would definitely be more and better-looking shell beds on the market, enough to dazzle Deng Xi. There was no need to add to their burden.
Si Jisheng nodded.
Yes.
Deng Xi’s eyes curved into a smile. “Where are we going? Do I need to call Big Whale? Can Big Whale come with us?”
Si Jisheng shook his head.
Deng Xi lowered his eyes with some disappointment.
The blue whale’s body was simply too massive. Not to mention whether a starship could accommodate it, even if they took it, the Marshal of the Empire certainly didn’t lack a place to raise a whale. But if they couldn’t create a suitable seawater environment for it to grow, or find a suitable ocean to release it into, it was very likely that it would die.
This thought flashed through his mind, and Si Jisheng lowered his gaze to look at the blue Jiaoren’s tail. His brow furrowed, and he reached out and grabbed Deng Xi’s wrist.
Deng Xi was stunned. Before he could react, he was pulled out of the lair by the silver-tail.
The tail fin stirred up the seawater as it moved. The blue and silver colors created a rich, vibrant streak in the deep sea, shooting past at high speed, and then breaking through the surface of the water.
It was too sudden.
Deng Xi was pulled by the silver-tail and could barely keep up with the little mute’s swimming speed. When he suddenly swam to the surface, his respiratory system hadn’t switched over yet. He was dizzy and his gills trembled before he slowly took a deep breath through his nose.
The sea and the land were two completely opposite worlds.
Seabed creatures mainly breathed through gills, absorbing oxygen from the seawater. They naturally couldn’t survive out of water. But the evolution of nature had given Deng Xi two sets of respiratory systems. One was in the seawater, breathing through gills, and the other was in the air, breathing through his nose and mouth, inhaling gas into his lungs. In most cases, Deng Xi could switch freely. He could also briefly leave the seawater by relying on his respiratory system.
What about leaving completely?
Si Jisheng found a reef that protruded from the surface of the sea. The surface of the reef had no sharp pebbles that would cut a person. Most of the sharp places were blunt and flat, and it could support the blue Jiaoren, allowing him to completely leave the seawater.
He wanted to do an experiment.
Si Jisheng pulled Deng Xi to the reef and patted the surface.
Deng Xi blinked blankly. “Do you want me to get on?”
Si Jisheng nodded.
This reef was a bit big and a bit high. Deng Xi turned around and found a smooth surface. With a powerful flick of his tail fin, he leaped out of the sea. His blue tail drew a beautiful, bright arc in mid-air. After a half-turn, he sat steadily on the surface of the reef.
His long blue tail naturally hung down from the reef, its fan-shaped fin dipping into the sea, stirring the water faintly.
Si Jisheng looked at the section of the blue Jiaoren’s tail that was soaked in the seawater and unconsciously rubbed his fingertips, then glanced at the clueless Deng Xi.
Deng Xi felt that the little mute’s glance was a bit strange. He subconsciously flicked his tail, but before he could, a tingling numbness suddenly came from his tail fin. It was hot and itchy, causing Deng Xi to instantly straighten his back.
His t-t-tail!!!
Deng Xi lowered his gaze and was shocked to see the silver-tail’s hand resting on his tail fin.
He was… he was being touched…
Deng Xi’s eyes widened, and he didn’t dare to move.
Although Deng Xi’s body temperature was slightly higher than Si Jisheng’s, the palm was generally warmer than the body, not to mention that he was touching Deng Xi’s tail, which had been soaked in the cold seawater.
It was a strange feeling, warm and a bit hot.
A merman’s tail was the most sensitive part of their entire body. Even though the silver-tail was just resting his hand on it and not moving around, it made Deng Xi want to curl up his tail to relieve the constant, tingling itch.
Deng Xi slowly pulled his tail away. Just as he moved, the silver-tail pressed down on it, and then, he placed his other hand on it as well!!!
In the merman species, mating meant courting, and touching the tail meant requesting to mate, which was still equivalent to courting!
Although Deng Xi had also couldn’t resist touching the little mute when they first met, the little mute had been unconscious at the time and wouldn’t have misunderstood. It was completely different from now.
Deng Xi’s ears turned red, and he said in a small voice, “Little Mute, although we’re the only ones left in our clan, the gender I chose after coming of age was not female, so we can’t mate—”
Si Jisheng lifted the blue Jiaoren’s tail out of the seawater and placed it on the reef. Hearing his words, his fingertips curled slightly. He lowered his eyelids and casually withdrew his hand.
Deng Xi, whose voice had gotten smaller and smaller until he was completely at a loss for words, was completely stunned. The next moment, his face instantly turned beet red.
The little merman secretly glanced at the silver-tail, then little by little, buried his hot face in his cupped hands. Heat rose from his eyelids, and his snow-white face was flushed with a pink blush, which spread from the tips of his ears all the way to the base of his neck. His entire body was flushed pink.
Help me.
I’m so shameless.
A long-missed silence filled the small reef.
A long, long time later, a very light, muffled laugh suddenly sounded.
Deng Xi instantly lifted his face from his palms, angry. “Little Mute, you’re not allowed to laugh at me.”
A faint smile appeared in Si Jisheng’s silver eyes.
The silver-tail usually had no expression on his face, not to mention that it was difficult for him to even speak now. This was the first time Deng Xi knew that the little mute could also let out a few low, muffled laughs.
Deng Xi’s little face was sullen, and he tried his best to look angry. After a while, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and also curved his eyelids.
On the boundless sea, the sea breeze blew lightly. It was afternoon, and the sun was slowly moving west. The sunlight was not fierce.
Deng Xi curled up his tail, coiling it on the reef, and lay comfortably on the surface, sunbathing and enjoying the salty sea breeze.
Si Jisheng also leaned quietly against the reef, looking at the distant sea.
Although Deng Xi didn’t know what the silver-tail wanted to do, he obediently followed his instructions and didn’t let his tail touch the seawater. Slowly, Deng Xi blinked his eyes, then blinked again. His little head nodded, and finally, he closed his eyes completely and fell asleep.
Si Jisheng glanced at Deng Xi’s tail, which hadn’t changed much even after being out of the seawater for a long time. The humidity on the sea surface was very high, and even the sea breeze carried droplets of seawater. It would probably be a long time before the blue Jiaoren’s tail was truly dry.
Si Jisheng rubbed the transparent comm ring on his thumb knuckle, paused, but still didn’t open it.
