Chapter 29: I Really Like You
The communication was abruptly cut off.
The treatment room was instantly plunged into darkness. A long time passed before a few suppressed gasps sounded in the darkness. This breath seemed to fill the long-standing emptiness, and his sanity was pulled back to reality.
The monitoring system suddenly sounded a piercing alarm, like a sharp knife constantly stabbing at a fragile eardrum. It was sharp and cruel.
His body began to show varying degrees of Jiaoren transformation.
Translucent silver gills appeared, scales slowly covered his entire body, and his hands gradually became webbed.
The adjutant, who had rushed over upon hearing the sound, was frozen in place before he could even step in, stunned by the almost monster-like humanoid Jiaoren in the dimness. He gripped the laser gun at his waist, his throat dry. “Marshal, are you going to lie down in the treatment pod yourself, or should I do it?”
Ever since this operation had ended, their commander had locked himself in the treatment room and had not come out. The adjutant had been on tenterhooks, afraid that during a rampage, a single treatment room would not be able to contain a frenzied Jiaoren.
The silver Jiaoren, who had been motionless in the darkness for a long time, slowly began to move. He lowered his head and took off his mechanical gloves, unfastened the clasps of his combat suit, and lowered his eyes to undo something.
It was a bracelet.
The fishing line was thin and soft, and the blue scales shone with a dim light.
Because his fingers were webbed, his movements were stiff and clumsy. He was afraid that his sharp claws would break the fishing line, so he was very, very careful.
From the adjutant’s point of view, just as he was about to lose his patience and shoot down his neurotic commander during a rampage, the silver Jiaoren suddenly walked towards him, carrying a damp and cold aura.
The Jiaoren’s subsonic voice made the interstellar language sound vague and strange. To make the adjutant hear clearly, he could only slow down his speech. “Send these two fish scales to the research institute.”
The adjutant carefully took the fish scale that the Marshal had handed over. Just as he was about to ask where the other one was, the next moment, he watched as the silver Jiaoren raised his arm and used his sharp claws to cut off the root of a silver scale.
The scales on a Jiaoren’s body were extremely tough, and each one was connected to the muscles of the body. The webbed palm used its sticky fingertips to forcibly tear off the silver scale. Blood dripped down, drop by drop, splashing on the cold ground.
This silver scale, along with some flesh, was placed in the adjutant’s palm.
The adjutant’s scalp was almost tingling. “Yes.”
He reminded, “The treatment pod.”
The silver Jiaoren’s movements paused for a moment. He let out a strange, mocking sound, then turned and walked towards the specially made treatment pod in the treatment room.
This mocking laugh was not directed at the adjutant.
He knew that in his heart.
The adjutant looked at the machine that was called a treatment pod but was no different from a torture device. When a person lay flat on it, their hands and feet would be locked in shackles.
When the Marshal couldn’t control his Jiaoren transformation, the shackles on his feet would physically and effectively prevent his human legs from turning into a fish tail. The forcibly restrained fish tail would cause physiological pain that would constantly fill his legs, and the upright iron bed would automatically retract into the treatment pod behind him.
A normal treatment pod would immediately be filled with a treatment solution that could repair physical trauma, but this treatment pod was different. It was filled with a tranquilizer.
When the sticky tranquilizer submerged his mouth and nose, his rampaging mental sea would be forced to calm down. But the silver Jiaoren, who couldn’t truly fall asleep, would remain conscious in a daze, in a pain that would not be stopped, until the monitoring system successfully monitored that the rampaging mental sea in the treatment pod had completely stabilized, and only then would the treatment pod be opened.
This was a chilling form of torture.
After the trial conference back then, when this treatment pod was delivered to the military’s doorstep, the adjutant had almost been angered to the point of a cerebral hemorrhage and had almost fought the royal family to the death.
But there was no other way.
This was not just the Marshal’s sorrow; it was the sorrow of the aliens.
A blade that could not be controlled by the Empire at all times was better off destroyed, unless he could be permanently controlled and live under surveillance at all times.
The adjutant let out a heavy breath, clenched the two scales in his palm, closed the treatment room, and turned to leave.
The treatment room was quiet for a long time.
It wasn’t until nightfall that the treatment pod was opened again. Si Jisheng, who had returned to his human form, slowly walked out. He leaned on the suspended table, changed into a dry set of clothes despite the effects of the drug, put on his comm, and left the treatment room.
·
Deng Xi was enjoying his dinner.
Aier had left after placing the plate by the side of the pool. Now he was all alone.
Deng Xi frowned and touched the small knife and fork placed next to the plate. Before coming here, Aier had said that his stomach had not fully recovered, and his food was some sweet nutrient solution.
On the first day he arrived, at noon, Deng Xi’s meal had changed to delicious seafood, but he didn’t know how to eat like a human.
Aier had demonstrated several times, but Deng Xi had not learned.
He was so useless.
And he hadn’t found the little mute either.
Deng Xi picked up the fork and poked a piece of salmon on the plate. He thought for a moment, then switched hands to hold the fork.
He was holding it the wrong way again.
Deng Xi picked up the knife with his other hand and clumsily tried to cut the salmon that was being held down by the fork. The tip of the knife scraped against the plate, making a piercing sound. After a long time of grinding, he still hadn’t successfully cut the fish, and had instead made a mess of the salmon.
It was terrible.
Deng Xi let go of the knife and fork in frustration. He looked left and right.
Mmm, no one.
Deng Xi dived into the water and swam a circle.
There was no one in the pool either.
The diving passage was also empty. Looking down, he could only see the deep blue of the seawater and the dimness of the cave entrance. But he didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he always felt that the seawater below the passage was flowing slightly.
It should be the sea creature that Aier had promised to let in, saying that it could play with him.
Since no one could see.
Deng Xi swam back to the side of the pool, pushed the knife and fork aside, and picked up the soft, tender salmon he had cut with his fingertips, placing it into his mouth.
The sweet, fresh taste exploded on his taste buds. Deng Xi squinted his eyes in comfort. This was the first normal meal he had had since he was captured.
Fish was still the best.
The quiet pool was filled only with the sound of Deng Xi eating and the sound of the flowing water. Deng Xi couldn’t help but look at the diving passage in the pool again.
The new neighbor seemed to be very noisy.
Deng Xi thought, he had originally planned to secretly get on the wheelchair and leave this place after finishing his meal to look for the little mute in other parts of the research institute.
But now, he couldn’t help but be a little curious about the sea area below the passage. The merman’s sixth sense told Deng Xi that he had to go down and take a look.
If he didn’t, he would regret it.
Deng Xi hesitated for a moment, pushed away the unfinished salmon, and flicked his tail fin, gradually diving down. He swam into the dark passage and slowly swam towards that underwater world.
The seabed was entangled with seaweed, and there were also realistic coral reefs. At a glance, Deng Xi did not see his new neighbor.
Could he be hiding?
Deng Xi closed his eyes, carefully sensing the fluctuation of the seawater, and sniffed lightly. He seemed to smell a very, very faint scent of blood.
Was he injured?
Deng Xi followed the scent of blood and slowly flicked his tail and swam over. When he opened his eyes again, before him was a large patch of coral reef. He could feel the fluctuation of the seawater behind the coral reef.
Deng Xi flicked his tail fin and peeked his head out. “Hello! I’m Deng…”
“…Xi.”
His blue eyes widened in an instant. Deng Xi’s breathing almost stopped. He stared blankly ahead, not daring to blink, afraid that what was before him was his own imagination.
If he blinked, he would disappear.
His heart skipped a beat, and an irrepressible joy leaped into his heart. Deng Xi’s heart was beating very fast. He thought he would laugh happily, but when his eyelids curved, it was an indescribable sourness.
He really, really wanted to cry.
His vision gradually became blurry, and all that was left was a mass of bright silver, quietly sleeping behind the coral reef. Deng Xi reached out his hand and, with a trembling fingertip, touched the winding silver tail.
It was cold to the touch.
Deng Xi remembered the scent of blood he had smelled before. He quickly and frantically sniffed, rubbed his eyes, and looked up and down the silver-tail for any wounds.
Finally, he saw a festering, bloody hole on the silver-tail’s scaled arm. The fish scales there were gone. Deng Xi could tell that they had been forcibly pulled off.
It must have hurt very, very much.
But this was not the ocean; there was no red medicinal grass.
Deng Xi was a little flustered. He lowered his head and gently blew on it. After the seawater was blown, it could only evoke a fine pain, which was of no use at all.
But it was this slight pain.
The tightly closed eyelids moved slightly. The sleeping silver Jiaoren was awakened, and his silver eyes slowly opened.
The moment Si Jisheng looked up, he saw a pair of blue eyes staring at him blankly, stunned in place.
He had passed out due to the residual effects of the tranquilizer.
He parted his lips slightly.
Before he could say anything, the blue-tail clumsily crashed into him.
It was a very, very tight hug.
His body, which had been cold due to the tranquilizer, was enveloped in warmth.
Deng Xi’s body temperature was slightly lower than that of a normal human, but for the current silver-tail, it was a temperature that could melt him.
Even though the golden-haired, blue-tailed little merman was so cold he was trembling, he still refused to let go. He was generous and unhesitatingly shared his warmth.
Deng Xi buried his head in the silver-tail’s shoulder and neck. His voice sounded a little muffled, but he was very happy. “I’ve been looking for Little Mute for a long, long time.”
A really, really long time.
Si Jisheng’s body stiffened, and his breathing gradually became heavy. He struggled to flap his gills and squeezed out the Jiaoren’s subsonic voice from his throat. It was an unfamiliar language that he had already figured out in these three years, a language that he had thought was a racial talent that came with the Jiaoren’s inheritance.
“How long?”
Deng Xi’s voice had a nasal tone from crying. He sniffled. “Ever since Little Mute was captured by the humans, I saw you fly into the sky. I thought you would fall down, so I swam and swam in the ocean.”
Because he knew nothing, Deng Xi’s language was clumsy and childish, but it struck the heart.
“But I had Big Whale with me, and that little jellyfish!” Deng Xi’s eyes curved. “And then I saw that big guy that captured you on the sea again. I thought you would be on it.”
So he had walked right into the trap.
Si Jisheng’s breath hitched. He closed his silver eyes, almost unable to breathe. His hoarse throat automatically said, “I’m sorry.”
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment, a little confused. “How can you blame Little Mute?” His smile was without a trace of shadow; it was pure joy. Even though they were tears, they were happy ones. “It’s okay. Actually, time passed very quickly. I still found Little Mute!”
He was so amazing!
And thank you to Aier, who had brought the new neighbor over.
Si Jisheng asked, word by word, “Why were you looking for me?”
Was it because he was his only kinsman?
What if he wasn’t?
His blue eyes curved slightly. The merman’s language, even when not singing, was so beautiful it struck the heart. Deng Xi said softly, “Because I really, really like Little Mute.”
