The Little Mermaid Fell for the Jiaoren 2

Chapter 2: Prey

Falling, falling, falling…

This was a nightmare.

Endless darkness, endless slaughter, the blinding flash of crimson, and the piercing wail of alarms in his ears—

“Starship A-101 disintegrating—”

“Warning! Warning! Fallen from Galaxy B26 to an unknown planet—”

“Starship A-101 is a complete loss. Core protection pod activating—”

“High-combustion disintegration of the pod’s outer shell due to high-speed descent—”

“Core protection pod failure.”

With the final alarm, a deafening explosion ripped through the sky. Fire erupted, and black smoke billowed.

A figure, looking exceptionally small against the vastness of the heavens and earth, fell out of the range of the black smoke. With a “thump,” it plunged into the deep sea from a height of several thousand meters.

Seawater flooded his mouth and nose, and his ears were filled with a deathly silence.

Familiar faces flashed through his mind. Their blood was still warm, their expressions frozen in the shock of their final moments, and pairs of eyes, unable to rest in peace, were all staring at him.

His ears seemed to grow noisy again—the mechanical voice of the system announcing the loss of each person’s vital signs, his own futile, powerless roars.

These people had died because of him.

Si Jisheng opened his mouth. His throat was filled with the taste of blood, dry and painful. He couldn’t utter a single word.

Si Jisheng closed his bloodshot eyes.

But what he saw was not darkness.

In a daze, his consciousness slipped into another world.

The sun was so fierce it was impossible to open one’s eyes.

In the filthy, stinking concentration camp, people were packed together, the air thick with the foul smell of sweat.

He sat in a corner, loading bullets into his gun, shrouded in shadow, shielded from the sun. Not a single drop of sweat beaded on his body, and no one came near.

He could feel the faint, ever-present stares around him—contempt, curiosity, jealousy, disgust. There was no kindness.

His keen hearing allowed him to catch their vile and cowardly discussions.

“So what if the new guy killed a few hundred Zerg on the battlefield? What’s he so arrogant for?”

“We messed with his gun. He killed those Zerg with his bare hands.”

After a long silence, someone swallowed hard. “Bare hands? Is he even human?”

“Does he look human to you? He’s the only freak in this whole camp, avoids everyone he sees.”

“Damn it, the guys try to say a word to him and he doesn’t even bother to reply.”

“You guys think he might be a mute?”

A mute.

A few muffled laughs escaped from the crowd’s throats.

The young man’s unhurried movements paused slightly. His lips pressed into a cold, thin line. He stood up, gun in hand, a hint of ferocity rising in his silver eyes.

Freak?

Mute?

It was a simple action, but the entire concentration camp instantly fell silent. The young man turned his back and walked out from the shadows. The cold aura emanating from him forced even the scorching sun to retreat.

Si Jisheng lifted his gaze.

The direct sunlight stabbed at his eyes, making his vision swim. After the dizziness passed, his surroundings abruptly changed.

He turned his head, blinking a few times to confirm that the nightmare was over.

He was awake, and the sharp pain in his body was real.

Falling from a height of several thousand meters—if it weren’t for the Jiaoren’s incredibly resilient constitution, Si Jisheng would be a corpse by now. His current state of severe injury was already considered fortunate: nearly a hundred cuts all over his body, several broken bones in his tail, and his wounds were swollen and inflamed from being soaked in seawater. He still hadn’t managed to stop the bleeding.

Being alive was perhaps more painful than being dead.

Si Jisheng propped up his upper body using only his arm strength and looked at his tail.

Was that tingling numbness his imagination?

Si Jisheng’s gaze darkened slightly as he scanned his surroundings.

An endless ocean, a few scattered reefs. Let alone a person, there wasn’t even a single fish.

Si Jisheng frowned. He thought he had seen something.

Deng Xi hid behind the reef in a panic, clutching the small red grass in his hand. Deng Xi had just gone through great pains to pick it.

This type of red seaweed could heal injuries.

In the merman’s inherited memories, Deng Xi had seen his ancestors collect these small red grasses that grew in the crevices near red coral. They would wring out the juice from a large amount of the grass, let the juice dissolve into the seawater, and after staying in that patch of water for a few days, their wounds would slowly heal.

Deng Xi had swum for a long, long time to find it and was panting with exhaustion by the time he swam back. He hadn’t even gotten lost! He had returned to the silver-tail’s side without a hitch.

Deng Xi silently praised himself a little, then peeked out with half his face to check on the silver-tail.

The silver-tail was still lying quietly on the reef. Blood slowly trickled down his body, and his silver eyes were half-open, making it impossible to discern his expression.

Deng Xi ducked his head back again. His blue tail fin swayed back and forth as he frowned, trying to psych himself up. He had to think of an opening line that wouldn’t get him beaten up.

Deng Xi silently rehearsed: “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to die.”

That seems a little off.

Deng Xi made a “pah pah” sound and continued his rehearsal.

“Hi? Your tail is so pretty.”

Deng Xi shook his head and continued silently: “My name is Deng Xi, you—”

Before the word “okay” could leave his mouth, a powerful force suddenly grabbed Deng Xi’s tail and dragged him to the side. Deng Xi cried out in alarm, “You, you, you—”

Deng Xi desperately clung to the reef to resist, but his strength was too meager. He was instantly pulled out from behind the reef by his tail.

Deng Xi turned his head in a panic and, caught off guard, met a pair of silver, slitted pupils.

Deng Xi: “!!!”

How did I get discovered! When did he get over here! Wasn’t he about to die! How is he so strong!!!

Deng Xi was scared to death, but his hand still reached forward, unwilling to let go, hooking onto the reef he had just been hiding behind.

For some reason, Deng Xi felt the grip on his tail suddenly loosen. He instantly flicked his tail fin and shot back behind the reef.

Deng Xi leaned against the reef, his heart still pounding with fear.

So scary, so scary.

After a good while, the uneasy Deng Xi cautiously peeked his head out. The sea surface was empty.

Deng Xi: “!”

Where’s the silver-tail?!

If it weren’t for the lingering pain in his tail, Deng Xi would have thought it was all a hallucination. He swam out from behind the reef and circled the area, even carefully examining the reef where the silver-tail had been lying. There was nothing left but dark red bloodstains.

Such a big, long tail had just vanished into thin air.

Not on the surface, so what about underwater?

A flash of inspiration struck Deng Xi, and he instantly dove beneath the surface, following the faint scent of blood.

Deng Xi dove for a while before he saw the silver-tail slowly sinking toward the seabed.

It was a blurry little shadow, but the striking silver of his tail fin allowed Deng Xi to spot him at a glance. He quickly swam in the silver-tail’s direction.

Back on the surface, Si Jisheng had noticed the small part of a blue tail fin peeking out from behind the reef and had subconsciously assumed it was some kind of fish.

In order to survive, Si Jisheng used his last bit of strength to roll off the reef and dive into the sea. The sound of the crashing waves perfectly concealed his movements. He grabbed the tail fin and pulled with all his might.

He never expected that what he pulled out wasn’t an edible fish, but a living, speaking Jiaoren.

Golden hair and a blue tail. It was a Jiaoren.

Si Jisheng’s silver eyes narrowed slightly. His hand faltered, and finally, his strength gave out, and he was forced to sink into the sea.

After struggling a few times without being able to move his excruciatingly painful tail fin, Si Jisheng allowed himself to sink into the cold depths of the ocean.

Suddenly, a dazzling flash of gold shot into his vision.

It was golden hair, fanning out smoothly in the water. The blue tail looked even more dreamlike in the transparent sea, its butterfly-wing-thin fin cutting a long, narrow current as it moved.

Si Jisheng had grown up in human society. He had once thought he was the only Jiaoren in the world. He never imagined that he would find another of his kind on such a backward, fringe planet.

Just like that flash of gold, it had abruptly burst into his world, approaching him, closer and closer, as he continued to fall.

The golden-haired, blue-tailed Jiaoren reached out a hand to Si Jisheng.

Si Jisheng stared at this Jiaoren without blinking, his constricting pupils narrowing dangerously and with extreme slowness.

Usually, this was the look of locking onto prey.

Dangerous, and filled with killing intent.

Only Si Jisheng himself knew just how dangerous a species the Jiaoren were.

Every part of a Jiaoren’s body was a lethal weapon.

A Jiaoren’s claws were exceptionally sharp, capable of tearing any living creature apart. Their tail fins were so hard they could shatter stone walls, and their physical constitution was stronger than any beast’s.

From the moment Si Jisheng discovered he was a Jiaoren, from the moment he knew he was a freak among normal people, he had always been an outcast who distanced himself from others to avoid hurting them.

But despite this, because of his Jiaoren constitution, he had still committed an unforgivable sin.

And a Jiaoren like this one—who had never been influenced by any human society, who had no moral compass, and who had grown up wild on a backward, fringe planet—was more likely to kill than to save someone.

Perhaps even engage in cannibalism.

Si Jisheng expressionlessly reached out his own hand toward the other. Deng Xi seized the silver-tail’s forearm.

Deng Xi’s heart leaped with joy. Finally caught him!

The unexpected always comes when you least expect it.

A familiar force, a familiar pull, a familiar, heart-pounding fear.

Deng Xi was so frightened he clenched the red medicinal grass in his hand. Due to the excessive force, the red juice was squeezed out and began to dissolve into the seawater.

As a relatively weak species in the ocean, mermen had always been exceptionally sensitive to danger. Only a very few met with accidents.

When Deng Xi swam over, the silver-tail hadn’t moved, maintaining his weak and exhausted state. It was only when Deng Xi touched him that the silver-tail struck in an instant.

Deng Xi didn’t even see how the silver-tail moved before he was violently restrained, all his movements locked down. His back was pressed against a cold body, and a large hand was clamped tightly around his neck.

It was absolute domination.

The red medicinal grass instantly scattered in the seawater, the red juice spreading further and further.

Deng Xi clawed at the arm choking him, trying to break free.

But a merman’s strength was simply too small. His struggles were completely useless.

Suffocation and pain assaulted him simultaneously. Deng Xi’s vision went black. His two gills flared frantically as his body automatically tried to draw oxygen from the seawater for its master. Deng Xi suddenly shivered, belatedly realizing that something cold was stroking the gills behind his ears.

In that instant, Deng Xi could feel that the silver-tail wanted to rip his gills right out.

The crimson medicinal juice spread through the deep sea like a dreamlike mist. This sacred treasure, used by the merman clan for healing since time immemorial, instantly erased the searing pain the moment it touched a wound.

Gentle, cool, washing away the exhaustion.

The hand clamped around Deng Xi’s neck paused slightly.

Si Jisheng looked at the red medicinal grass that had scattered from the blue-tailed Jiaoren’s hand, and the force of his grip loosened slightly.

Deng Xi finally had room to breathe. Before he could recover for more than a few seconds, he lowered his head and bit down hard on the web between the silver-tail’s thumb and forefinger.

The sharp pain made Si Jisheng’s hand tighten again, forcing Deng Xi to release his bite and lift his head. He looked down at the wound on his hand, a strange expression appearing in his eyes.

It was a perfect crescent-shaped mark. The tiny wound produced a pitifully small amount of blood, so little that if one weren’t paying attention, it would heal in the blink of an eye.

The Jiaoren were a cruel species. Si Jisheng was certain that a bite delivered in anger would have taken off half his palm, not be like this, like a child’s squabble.

The ferocity in his silver eyes subconsciously dissipated. His pupils, no longer slitted from pain and vigilance, returned to those of a normal person.

Si Jisheng narrowed his eyes, sizing up his prey.

Due to the suffocation and pain, the clear blue eyes were tinged with moisture, the corners of his eyes flushed pink. His small face was tense with fear, and he didn’t dare to move a muscle, yet he was secretly grinding his teeth.

His prey didn’t seem to be as powerful as he had imagined. Instead, he was thin, weak, and timid.

Si Jisheng’s expression was unreadable. What kind of Jiaoren is this? No sharp claws or fangs, like a delicate and fragile piece of porcelain.