The Little Mermaid Fell for the Jiaoren 21

Chapter 21: Agreed

Deng Xi didn’t rush forward or make a sound to disturb him. He hid secretly behind a distant reef, hugging his big tail, careful not to give himself away.

The little mute didn’t want him to find out, so Deng Xi pretended he hadn’t seen anything.

The little merman hid behind the reef, covered his eyes, and carefully left a crack to peek through.

This empty, gray, sandy seabed was covered in a dense layer of shells. Because there were no reefs or coral, the silver-tail’s figure was particularly conspicuous.

Deng Xi could clearly see the little mute’s every move.

The silver-tail was swimming almost flush with the gray sand of the seabed, his tail fin swaying slowly. He used his fingertips to nudge the shells one by one, checking if anything was hidden underneath.

On the shallow beach that stretched for several thousand meters, one shell after another was turned over. He didn’t know how long it had been, but the silver-tail had only finished searching a small corner.

Deng Xi unconsciously let go of his big tail and stopped covering his eyes. He lay behind the reef, his blue eyes staring blankly.

If he were to search the entire shallow beach of shells, even a whole night wouldn’t be enough, not to mention whether the lost conch shell had been carried all the way here by the wind-driven waves, and even if it had stopped here, whether it had been blown away again by the waves during the time they were gone.

Searching for a palm-sized conch shell in the vast ocean,

the hope was simply too slim.

Deng Xi had never dared to think about it. The sturdy fishing line was always difficult to break, and the knot he had tied on the conch shell was also very secure and wouldn’t easily come loose.

So how did the conch shell get lost?

Deng Xi pursed his lips. He remembered that the silver-tail had been angry with him for no reason today. Was it because he was angry with him that he had thrown the conch shell away?

Was the little mute starting to hate him?

Deng Xi quietly lowered his eyelids, his heart feeling full and heavy.

It was a strange emotion he had never experienced when he was living alone before. A little sad, a little uneasy, a little like he wanted to cry.

Then why did he want to pick up the lost conch shell now? Deng Xi didn’t understand.

One shell after another was searched. The silver-tail swimming on the gray sand slowly moved further and further away from Deng Xi, and the area of the shallow beach he had searched gradually expanded. As time passed, Si Jisheng’s expression grew colder and colder.

“Stop looking.”

Si Jisheng’s action of picking up the shell paused.

Deng Xi had swum up behind the silver-tail at some unknown time. He bit his lip, but still mustered the courage to ask, “The conch shell, did you throw it away?”

Si Jisheng’s hand suddenly clenched. The shell in his fingertips instantly made a cracking sound under the unbearable pressure and shattered. The fragments of the shell sank in the seawater, but the piece held between his fingers had already turned to powder.

Deng Xi couldn’t help but step back, clenching his fists nervously.

Just as Si Jisheng turned around, he saw the blue Jiaoren take a slight step back.

Except for when he had first met the little mute and was afraid of the fierce-looking silver-tail, Deng Xi had slowly become bold enough to get close to the indifferent silver-tail. Even if Si Jisheng didn’t say a word, he would chatter on and on, always looking happy.

Gradually, no matter how cold a face the silver-tail put on, Deng Xi would just cover it with an even bigger smile.

But now.

He was afraid.

Si Jisheng’s breath hitched, and his translucent silver gills almost froze in the seawater.

Deng Xi stubbornly asked again, “How did the conch shell get lost? Did Little Mute throw it away?”

A long time passed.

Si Jisheng nodded slightly.

The silver-tail admitted it.

Deng Xi’s eyes stung. He squeezed his fingertips so tightly they turned white, and it hurt a little.

Just a little bit.

Deng Xi’s translucent golden gills trembled erratically, and he couldn’t control his breathing. He asked in a muffled voice, “Why did you throw it away?”

Si Jisheng’s lips pressed into a cold, straight line.

A long silence.

Deng Xi looked up at the silver-tail. “Then why do you want to pick it up again?”

Si Jisheng parted his lips slightly, then closed them again, helpless. His eyes were cold and focused, and only his ten fingers were clenched tightly in his palms.

The silver-tail’s expression, which kept everyone at a distance, made Deng Xi, who had eagerly swum over to ask for a clear explanation, feel like a clownfish.

He didn’t look good at all anymore.

Deng Xi knew he wouldn’t get a reasonable explanation, because the little mute couldn’t speak, and every word had to be repeated dozens of times with great difficulty before it could be pronounced accurately.

But he just wanted to hear it.

Deng Xi tried his best to take a deep breath. “What’s lost is lost.” He said petulantly, “I don’t have any other conch shells, and I won’t go looking for new ones.”

“I want to hear Little Mute explain it to me clearly.”

“If you hate me,” Deng Xi’s voice was hoarse, and he spat out the words one by one, “and you don’t want to take me with you, and you don’t want to live with me anymore.”

“We can end the deal.”

A failed experiment, a failed product of unknown origin. Even if he brought it back to the Empire, it would be handed over to the military for interrogation. It would be too ugly to get to that point.

It would be better to have no connection in the future.

His brain had already decided on the optimal choice, but his body was like a rusted machine, his joints creaking with stiffness. Si Jisheng closed his silver eyes wearily and, with an extremely light movement, nodded his head slightly.

Agreed.

The deal is over.

Deng Xi’s mind went blank for a moment. His gills seemed to have stopped trembling. He blinked his eyes very, very lightly. His blue eyes, soaked in the seawater, seemed to blur for a moment, the light of his tears refracting before dissolving into the sea.

This precarious, one-sided relationship, without the active party’s tireless efforts to maintain it, would be like a fragile thread, easily broken and mercilessly shattered in minutes.

Deng Xi’s eyelids curved slightly. “Alright.”

Besides the seawater, no one knew that the merman was crying.

It wasn’t until he was out of the silver-tail’s emotionless sight, had swum behind a reef, and no one could see him anymore, that Deng Xi buried his face in his curly golden hair. For a long, long time, he remained in the same position, motionless.

Si Jisheng remained in place for a long time before he stiffly bent down again and, one by one, picked up the shells, repeating this tedious and boring action. The trembling of his gills became extremely slight, as if he were suppressing something, like a taut rope where any extra vibration would cause it to snap.

With every blink, a subtle change occurred in his silver eyes. From round and pale, they became slender and sharp, and his pupils also trembled slightly.

The entire shallow beach became extremely quiet, and a repressive, silent atmosphere instantly spread. It wasn’t until a slight movement suddenly sounded in the distance that his slender pupils instantly turned in their sockets, looking in the direction of the sound.

A flash of blue-green was the first thing that entered his eyes.

Si Jisheng’s breathing became slightly heavy. He stared at the familiar conch shell for a long time before shifting his gaze to the large creature that was carrying it.

It was a dark gray deep-sea octopus that almost blended in with the surrounding gray sand. Its body was massive, and its beak-like horny jaw was biting a small conch shell. With a slight curl of its toothed tongue, which was like a file, the conch shell disappeared among its writhing, flying tentacles.

His silver pupils instantly became completely vertical.

The side effect of his Jiaoren transformation swallowed Si Jisheng’s reason like a giant, gaping maw.

***

Author’s Note:

Xixi: I’m really, really angry.