Chapter 35: Chamber
The merman’s voice was soft and light, like a gentle sea breeze under the sun. It blew into his ears, dispelling the coldness in his blood, bit by bit.
His mental sea began to calm, and the Jiaoren’s sharp claws no longer appeared. But his fingertips were still aching faintly. The residual pain was like a sharp blade, asserting its undeniable presence in his already ravaged mental sea.
A slight touch would cause it to bleed profusely.
But he could only endure.
Si Jisheng made a promise, “I will cure my illness.”
He would not forget again.
Deng Xi’s lips curled up, revealing a small, soft dimple. “Then in the future, if Little Mute gets sick again, I will help Little Mute remember.”
Si Jisheng asked in return, “You’re not afraid?”
He remembered how timid Deng Xi had been in the ocean. He clearly had such a heaven-defying racial talent, yet he rarely used it.
If it were in the hands of someone with ulterior motives, the merman’s song would be a sharp weapon to bewitch the minds of any creature. It could easily make everyone obey his every word.
But Deng Xi wouldn’t.
The song was just a means of protecting himself when he encountered danger in the ocean. He would be so scared by the large creatures that he would curl up his tail, but he had never thought of using his song to harm those large sea creatures.
Deng Xi proudly raised his head. “I can sing, and Little Mute will become obedient!”
He wanted to use his song to protect himself, and also to protect the sick little mute.
Si Jisheng’s cold expression had disappeared at some unknown time. A faint smile appeared in his silver eyes. Soon, he said in a hoarse voice, “If the song is ineffective, don’t stay by my side. Swim as far away as you can.”
Deng Xi said worriedly, “Then what about Little Mute?”
Si Jisheng reassured him, “I will return to normal on my own. Don’t worry.”
Deng Xi nodded, half-understanding.
Si Jisheng remembered something and continued to instruct, “When I’m not around, if someone asks you to sing, you don’t have to listen to them.”
Deng Xi tried his best to remember and nodded vigorously.
After all that needed to be said was said, Si Jisheng bent down and placed the blue-tail in the pool. The moment his tail fin touched the seawater, Deng Xi subconsciously tightened his grip on Si Jisheng’s arm, as if he were reluctant to let go of the little mute and leave this embrace.
Because of the hugging posture, most of the blue fish tail that was hanging in the pool was pressed against the human’s legs. Deng Xi belatedly realized that the rough human clothes were rubbing against his fish tail.
From the transparent blue scales that spread downwards from his abdomen, they were already pressed tightly together.
Si Jisheng’s hand, which was letting go, paused.
Deng Xi subconsciously lowered his eyelids to look because of the rough, grinding sensation, and then, he froze for a moment.
“Teacher Xiaomei,” who had been teaching about human organs, suddenly appeared in Deng Xi’s mind. Deng Xi’s face turned red. He obediently let go of his hand and slid into the pool from the human’s body.
Humans were so strange.
They didn’t have a merman’s chamber. Wouldn’t they feel very shy when they were close to their friends?
Deng Xi didn’t quite understand. He stammered, “I didn’t know before. I won’t look at Little Mute’s… there anymore.”
He sank into the water, only revealing the lower half of his face and a pair of eyes. After guiltily lowering his eyelids, he saw the little mute’s human legs standing on the steps of the pool.
The loose combat suit was completely soaked, and the legs wrapped in it could be clearly seen. The merman’s features had completely disappeared, not even the bright silver scales.
On the planet where Deng Xi lived, it was all ocean, with no land. The only things that protruded from the sea were the sharp corners of reefs. For Deng Xi, land and the legs that could walk on land were very novel.
If he could also walk on land, he could go and find the little mute, who wouldn’t always be in the seawater.
Si Jisheng noticed Deng Xi’s gaze and saw the curiosity in his blue eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Deng Xi flicked his tail fin and looked up to ask, “Why does Little Mute have human legs?”
Because Si Jisheng was standing on the steps of the pool, while Deng Xi was submerged in the seawater, he had to try very hard to look up to meet the lowered silver eyes.
So Si Jisheng bent down and sat on the steps, extended his hand, and also pulled Deng Xi up. The blue fish tail hung down one step after another.
Deng Xi looked at his own tail, then at the little mute’s legs, and asked curiously, “Can I also turn my fish tail into human legs?”
Si Jisheng avoided the question and only answered the last one, “You can try.”
He was originally a human, but his genes had suddenly undergone atavism, turning him into a silver Jiaoren. But mermen were different. The documents recorded that mermen were born from eggshells.
Although they were so similar they seemed to be of the same race, in reality, there was a fundamental difference between them.
It was a fundamental difference that, with just a single word, would make the blue-tail realize that something was wrong and resolutely return to the ocean.
The only connection between the two worlds, if it were not to be broken, could only be concealed with lies.
The dull pain in his fingertips seemed to be acting up again. The cold mechanical glove pressed on the blue fish tail, and at the central scale, he gently drew an invisible long line with the pad of his finger, giving Deng Xi the strange illusion that his fish tail was about to be split in two.
His translucent golden gills trembled. Deng Xi couldn’t even be bothered with his tail being touched. He frantically reached out and pressed down on the mechanical glove. The touch was cold, so cold that Deng Xi couldn’t help but curl his fingertips. “Are you going to cut my tail?”
He was about to cry. “Don’t cut my tail.”
Deng Xi had never had human legs before, but every time he saw the little mute transform, the silver-tail always looked very relaxed.
But Deng Xi had just suddenly realized that the two human legs were very likely a fish tail that had been cut in half. Just the thought of it was terrifying.
Deng Xi was a little scared.
Si Jisheng paused for a moment, belatedly realizing that his actions had made Deng Xi misunderstand. He reassured him in a low voice, “It won’t hurt, and it’s not cutting your tail.”
Switching between merman and human forms was no different from eating and drinking for Si Jisheng. To teach the inexperienced little merman, he could only try some clumsy methods to make Deng Xi realize the difference between a fish tail and human legs.
But Deng Xi clearly couldn’t quite accept it. His blue fish tail was curled up, and he drooped listlessly into the seawater.
The deep silver eyes, because of their pale color, naturally carried a strong sense of aggression. But when his brow relaxed slightly, the sharpness was blunted, and all that was left was a reassuring depth.
Under the silver-tail’s faint gaze, Deng Xi calmed down a little, bit his lower lip, and tentatively relaxed his tense blue tail.
Whether for a merman or a Jiaoren, the fish tail was the most sensitive part of their entire body. Si Jisheng did not take off his mechanical gloves. Although the touch of a human hand would be gentler, the warm body temperature would intensify the sensation on the fish tail.
He placed his cold, rounded mechanical fingertips on Deng Xi’s blue tail fin. “Imagine that these are the legs you use to walk.”
The mechanical hand measured accurately, touching its way up, bit by bit. His thin lips uttered cold words, “This is the ankle.”
“The calf.”
“The knee.”
“…The thigh.”
Deng Xi’s eyelids trembled nonstop, almost to the point of being forced out of tears. He wanted to follow along and imagine, but the moment he closed his eyes, all he felt was the cold touch, with the damp scent of the sea, the wet seawater.
His tail was a little itchy.
The further up, the more tingling it became.
Deng Xi was like a fish stranded on the shore. His nose suddenly couldn’t breathe. When he was carried into the cold seawater, his gills seemed to have gone on strike again. So he became a drowning merman, constantly sinking with the temptation in the ocean, unable to break free.
Deng Xi was trying very hard to get closer to the little mute’s world. He shook his head, telling himself to ignore the feelings he couldn’t control. He simulated the words the silver-tail had said in his mind.
What was after the thigh?
The mechanical fingertips paused slightly, stopping on the blue tail. By his ear was a low, magnetic voice, “Do you remember?”
Deng Xi’s blue eyes were about to be filled with mist. He seemed very embarrassed. His voice was very small, so small it was almost inaudible. But on the quiet pool, it was still heard clearly by Si Jisheng.
“…The chamber.” The golden-haired, blue-tailed little merman’s breathing was a bit ragged. He was so shy that his whole body was flushed pink. He reminded him in a breathy voice, “That is my… chamber.”
A second, or two, the fingertips wrapped in the mechanical gloves frantically withdrew, stiffly placed in mid-air, slightly curled, not knowing what to do.
Because the length of the blue fish tail and the silver Jiaoren tail was too different, Si Jisheng thought he had stopped in a safe area, but in reality, his hand had already touched the forbidden zone.
His throat was so dry in that instant that he couldn’t speak.
“…I’m sorry.”
Si Jisheng’s breathing was unsteady. He repeated again, “I’m sorry.”
Deng Xi buried his face and quietly shook his head.
How could he touch that place?
It was too much. He had only glanced at the little mute a few times, Deng Xi thought, but the little mute had touched a place that only mates could touch.
Between friends, how could they touch that place?
The pool suddenly became quiet.
His breathing seemed to have become sticky. Both his nose and his gills seemed to be wrapped in the damp seawater, almost unable to breathe.
In the end, it was Si Jisheng who broke the silence. He asked in a low voice, “Do you want to continue learning how to turn into human legs?”
The quiet little merman seemed to have been startled awake. He frantically shook his head and said in a very small voice, “I want to try it myself.”
“I’ve remembered everything. I can do it myself.”
Don’t touch his tail anymore.
