Chapter 23: Separation
The merman’s soft hum slowly sounded in the silent seabed. Deng Xi’s voice trembled, with a hint of a sob. It was sometimes loud, sometimes soft, singing purely on instinct.
But it was still very nice to hear.
The seawater carried the low, soft, and unmelodious song far, far away. The seabed, which had been in turmoil due to the threat of the silver Jiaoren, seemed to have returned to tranquility.
The merman’s song was the ocean’s gift to their kind. It was as tolerant, gentle, and peaceful as the sea itself, nurturing new life in the stillness of all things.
Whenever Deng Xi encountered a dangerous, large sea creature he couldn’t handle, under controllable circumstances, he would hum a few out-of-tune notes. The healing power in the merman’s song would make them temporarily lose any desire to attack.
At such times, no matter how fierce the sea creature, it would become as obedient as the clingy little jellyfish Deng Xi kept.
The tense shoulders and neck slowly relaxed to the soft song by his ear. The violent factors in his mental power gradually subsided with the song. In their place, his sense of touch became acutely heightened. Behind him was a warm body, the youth’s hands tightly wrapped around him, his fingertips white from the force, their tail fins intertwined.
It was clearly an insignificant force, yet the silver Jiaoren was easily imprisoned in this warm embrace.
An embrace that carried the scent of the sea, peaceful and sincere.
In the dim and silent seabed, golden hair and silver strands danced and intertwined in the seawater. The silver-tail with empty eyes stood in the water, while the blue-tail, having passed through the turbulent current, hugged him tightly from behind.
He didn’t know how long the soft hum had sounded before the exhausted Deng Xi finally stopped.
His emotions had fluctuated too much today, and he had been frightened many times. He had been swimming back and forth between the two sea areas for a long time and was very, very tired. Deng Xi’s red-rimmed eyes blinked lightly, and an indescribable soreness filled them. His song was even tinged with fatigue.
The fierce aura around the silver-tail gradually dissipated. There were no other abnormalities even after the song stopped. Deng Xi tentatively let go of his hands and carefully released his tail. But the resting beast stirred again, scaring Deng Xi into hugging him again, and only then did the silver Jiaoren settle down.
Although the song had stopped, the merman’s innate affinity was still at work.
Deng Xi hugged him for a long time before tentatively loosening his grip again. He tried his best to reach out and pat the silver Jiaoren’s head, clumsily coaxing, “Good boy, Little Mute.” The little merman purred as he stroked his hair and requested in a very small voice, “Don’t move.”
The touch on his silver hair was very light. The silver Jiaoren subconsciously rubbed against Deng Xi’s palm. Feeling it, his drowsy blue eyes curved slightly, and he praised, “Mmm, very good.”
Deng Xi took Si Jisheng’s hand. He didn’t avoid the silver Jiaoren’s sharp claws at all. Instead, he inserted his soft, tender fingers between them.
Their fingers intertwined, holding on tightly.
The sense of security that had been lost when the embrace was released was replenished.
The silver Jiaoren became quiet again.
Deng Xi led him by the hand, wanting to swim away from this sea area. Before he could pull him, the silver-tail bent down and picked up the conch shell fragments from the gray sand, clenching them in his palm.
He uncomfortably rubbed the knuckle of his thumb. To the naked eye, there was nothing there, but upon touching it, he could feel a distinct metallic texture. The thing on his hand seemed to be continuously heating up, and even began to vibrate rapidly.
The silver Jiaoren, who had lost his reason, only glanced at it indifferently before looking away, uninterested, and turning his gaze back to Deng Xi.
This time, Deng Xi was finally able to lead the silver Jiaoren.
Because he had been led once before, Deng Xi had a smooth journey back to the lair with the little mute. He didn’t get lost, and the little mute was very well-behaved.
The two sea areas were separated by several thousand meters. By the time Deng Xi swam back to the lair, it was already late at night. He was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, and his stomach was growling, but he had no strength left to eat.
Deng Xi led the silver-tail to the shell and sat him down. He tried to pull his hand away but couldn’t. The silver-tail was still staring at him intently.
Deng Xi swam in front of the little mute, a little troubled.
He believed that the little mute hadn’t thrown the conch shell away for no reason. It must have been because he was sick and couldn’t control himself.
Deng Xi decided to forgive the little mute.
He didn’t know when the little mute would recover. Even if he never got better, he wouldn’t just stand by and watch his only kinsman become a monster with nowhere to go.
He could sing forever.
He could also go out and work hard to catch fish every day, just like when the little mute was injured, and bring the food home until he recovered.
On the condition that—Deng Xi touched the purple fingerprints on his arm, rubbed his eyes, which were almost closing, and said in a low voice, “Little Mute has to be this good always.”
The oblivious silver Jiaoren followed the blue-tail’s gaze and reached out his fingertips to touch a fingerprint. His lowered eyelids looked a little guilty.
Deng Xi: “It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt now—”
His words trailed off. He widened his eyes as the silver Jiaoren suddenly took his hand, brought it to his lips, and, without warning, slowly licked it with his tongue.
The floating silver strands hung down the side of the silver Jiaoren’s face. From Deng Xi’s angle, he could only see his cold jawline. His silver eyes were lowered, and he seriously licked the fingerprints on Deng Xi’s arm again.
When his thin lips parted slightly, he could see the silver Jiaoren’s sharp fangs. The temperature was low, like a snake’s tongue, leaving a cool touch.
Si Jisheng had lost all reason; he only had his animal instincts left.
In an animal’s mind, if you’re injured, licking it will make it heal faster.
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but curve his eyes.
In the merman species, licking each other’s wounds was something only the most, most, most intimate mermen would do together.
This meant that even if the little mute had no reason and didn’t recognize him, he had still subconsciously placed Deng Xi within his safety zone.
And only Deng Xi had entered this safety zone.
The most intimate existence was also only Deng Xi.
If only it could always be like this, Deng Xi thought. Regardless of whether the little mute’s illness gets better or not, they can always, always accompany each other and live together in the lonely ocean.
After the silver Jiaoren finished licking, he frowned coldly at the knuckle that had become even hotter, then was distracted by the yawning blue-tail.
Deng Xi cautiously withdrew his hand and, under the gaze of the now-pacified silver Jiaoren, lay down in the new shell. The shell was closed with a “click.”
“Good night.”
The sleepy and tired little merman fell into a deep sleep as soon as he was plunged into darkness.
Deng Xi didn’t know that the silver Jiaoren outside had stared at the closed shell for a long time, tilted his head in confusion, and after a while, swam to the shell and tentatively reached out to lift it.
Only after seeing Deng Xi sleeping peacefully inside did he quietly close it.
A while later.
He opened it again, took a look, and closed it.
Like a dragon guarding its treasure, afraid that the gold would disappear in the blink of an eye, he had to constantly check that the treasure was still there to be at ease.
He didn’t know how many times the rose-red shell was opened that night. Because he had expended too much energy during the day, Deng Xi slept very soundly and was not woken up.
It wasn’t until the sky was faintly lit and the seabed was illuminated.
The silver Jiaoren, who had been agitated all along due to his mental rampage, finally turned the transparent object on his knuckle, which had been restless all night, with some impatience.
He didn’t know what he had touched.
After the constantly heating comm was successfully identified, the blue screen suddenly displayed. The signal, which had been unable to connect, was instantly sent out, and the location was immediately identified and marked.
After determining that the blue screen was not a threat, the silver Jiaoren looked away, uninterested, and continued to stare at the shell in front of him.
The blue screen in the air, however, was flashing from time to time.
“Connected!”
“Contact the Marshal quickly!”
“Report, the Marshal has not given any orders.”
The adjutant looked at the boundless sea and quickly gave an order, “Proceed according to the original plan.”
The cruise ship on the sea immediately set sail for the coordinates, its speed increased to the maximum. In less than half an hour, it arrived at the designated location. Several fully armed Imperial soldiers put on oxygen tanks and, after receiving the adjutant’s instructions, immediately jumped into the sea.
The real-time camera transmitted the scene of the seabed to the central hub of the cruise ship. The adjutant couldn’t contain his excitement and paced back and forth.
The soldiers dived deeper and deeper according to the location displayed on the comm. The captured footage also became dimmer and blurrier. It wasn’t until they stopped above a great underwater rift valley, looking at the pitch-black abyss, that they quietly waited for instructions.
The adjutant: “Equip your weapons and dive.”
The image switched to the deeper darkness, sweeping past the blurry coral reef clusters clinging to the abyss. After diving for an unknown amount of time, the location finally “beeped.”
It indicated that they were less than ten meters away from the target.
The seaweed covering the outside of the cave was disturbed by someone. The slight movement instantly made the silver Jiaoren narrow his eyes and look over.
Under the interference of a strong magnetic field, the image crackled. In the pitch black, a fluorescent jellyfish suddenly flashed, and a pair of cold, silver, slitted pupils instantly appeared on the screen. It was only a second of light, but it made everyone’s hair stand on end.
A chill ran down the adjutant’s back. He immediately reacted and roared, “Everyone! Level one alert! Get away immediately!!!”
No one dared to get within half a step of the Marshal when he was in a frenzy. That would definitely be a very ugly death. The adjutant finally understood why, after the Marshal had issued the “depart immediately” order, they had not received any further reply from him during the starship’s jump from the Imperial Capital Star to this planet of all seas.
Because the Marshal had transformed into a Jiaoren.
He had completely become a fighting machine with only tyrannical factors left in his mental sea.
Just the thought of the tragic scenes that had occurred in the past due to a lack of precautions made the adjutant’s skin crawl. He swallowed and forced himself to calm down. “Immediately replace all the cartridges in the laser guns with tranquilizers. If necessary, to control him, you can use weapons.”
“There is no treatment pod on the cruise ship. We must bring the Marshal back to the starship immediately, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable!”
In the dim lair.
The fluorescent jellyfish flickered. A dozen or so dark muzzles were aimed at the silver Jiaoren in front of the shell.
Danger.
His brain was constantly issuing warnings, but the silver Jiaoren remained motionless, standing in front of the shell behind him.
Several tranquilizer darts were instantly shot into his flesh. The arrogant silver Jiaoren collapsed onto the shell with a thud. But the beautiful yet extremely fragile shell, because it was shielded by his body, was not pierced by any of the high-impact ammunition.
It was perfectly intact, remaining quietly in place.
Through the shell, the silver Jiaoren could still seem to feel the steady breathing inside, light and shallow, as if in a sweet dream, his eyelids curved, and a faint dimple appeared at the corner of his lips.
Under the assault of the drug,
the silver Jiaoren slowly closed his eyes.
“Take him away.”
