The Little Mermaid Fell for the Jiaoren 5

Chapter 5: Singing

The boundless surface of the sea sparkled under the golden sunlight. Deng Xi lay on a reef, his blue tail fin flicking back and forth, kicking up waves of water.

Deng Xi rolled over and held up the black iron ring in his hand, along with the blue screen connected to it that had appeared out of thin air, examining it carefully in the light.

He curiously tapped it with his fingertip.

Even though he was only touching air, the content on the blue screen changed. Deng Xi’s eyes lit up as if he had found a new toy, and he began to randomly tap and poke at it.

He didn’t know what he had pressed, but the blue screen suddenly went black and even emitted a burst of white noise.

Did I break it?

Deng Xi hastily pulled his hand back and lovingly stroked his new toy.

Suddenly, the blue screen lit up, and a clear human figure appeared.

Imperial Capital Star, Council of Elders.

Half an hour ago, when the research institute captured the signal from the Marshal’s comm, they not only notified the military but also the Council of Elders.

A few days ago, the Marshal had led the Empire in an unprecedented battle against the Federation. All the citizens of the Empire had believed they would win this battle because they had a God of War who belonged solely to the Empire—the Imperial Marshal who had single-handedly annihilated the entire Zerg race and held immense power in the Empire at a young age.

No one would have believed that this ever-victorious Imperial Marshal, who had led the Empire in expanding its territory, would ever face a day of defeat.

But the fact was, the Empire had lost.

All the Imperial soldiers had died under the Federation’s mechs. All of the Empire’s warships had been destroyed in the boundless expanse of space. Even their Marshal had disappeared, seemingly killed in the battle.

Only the military still insisted that their Marshal was merely missing. Just as the royal family and the Council of Elders were preparing to announce the Marshal’s death, the Marshal’s terminal suddenly regained its signal.

This news was urgently suppressed, and for now, only the highest echelons of the Empire were aware of it.

All parties wanted to be the first to contact the Marshal. The Council of Elders, which had always been at odds with the military, was even more anxious than the military itself. But the Council of Elders never expected that the first person the Marshal chose to communicate with would be them.

When the Elder saw the comm’s notification, his face turned green. On that face, full of wrinkles, it was difficult to discern any expression other than old age, but in that instant, the Elder, who had held a high and powerful position for many years, showed a rare trace of panic.

At the round table conference, the other elders noticed the abnormality. “Your Excellency?”

The Elder waved his hand. “A communication.”

With that, he stood up and went to the back room, locking the door behind him. With a trembling hand, he pressed the answer key. In a moment, his guilty face regained its usual composure. As soon as the communication connected, the Elder asked nervously, “Marshal, you—”

Before he could finish, the Elder froze, staring at the unfamiliar face on the blue screen.

A young man with golden hair and blue eyes.

The Elder was slightly stunned, then narrowed his senile eyes, his mind racing. The person who answered wasn’t the Marshal. Then how did this young man get the Marshal’s comm?

Did he find it, or did the Marshal give it to him personally?

Or perhaps, had the Marshal sensed something was amiss and hired someone to set this up?

In a single second, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. The Elder asked again, nervously, “Who are you? How did you get the Marshal’s comm?!”

The young man: “…”

The Elder: “Young man, did you find the Marshal’s comm, or did you see him in person? Is the Marshal injured? Is his life in danger?”

The young man on the blue screen tilted his head and spoke slowly. It seemed to be his first time speaking the interstellar language, and he was a bit hesitant, but if one listened carefully, one would find that his accent was as authentic as the Elder’s, as if he were just learning to speak. “Who… are… you?”

The Elder retorted, “You don’t know me?”

As long as one was an Imperial citizen, there was no reason not to know him. If the other party wasn’t an Imperial citizen, then things would be much simpler.

The Elder: “Is there anyone else with you?”

Deng Xi slowly uttered a single syllable. “Person?”

Is he a merman?

Deng Xi honestly shook his head, his eyes full of curiosity. He was certain that the owner of the face in front of him was not a merman, because among their merman species, there was no merman who was this ugly.

He was really, really ugly!!!

If he’s not a merman, then what species is he? Is he a “person”? Is the language he’s speaking the language of “people”?

Deng Xi repeated the sounds, which were completely foreign to him, in his mind. The merman species had a natural sensitivity to sound; they could understand the languages of all intelligent creatures without any barriers.

And Deng Xi put the talent of the merman species to good use, quickly mastering this new language.

A glint flashed in the Elder’s eyes. He said inscrutably, “You don’t need to know who I am, young man. I only ask you, have you seen a person with silver hair and silver eyes?”

Is he talking about the little mute?

Deng Xi nodded in understanding.

The Elder smiled. “Is that person injured?”

Deng Xi nodded again.

The smile on the Elder’s face grew wider and wider, all the wrinkles bunching up together. “I’ll give you one hundred million star coins to buy his life.”

What are star coins?

Deng Xi was confused again. “Star coins… besides a life, what else can they buy?”

The Elder found this young man quite humorous. “Of course, you can buy whatever you want.” His tone was light, yet it carried an overwhelming air of condescending corruption. He tempted, “In the future, you will have everything.”

“You will no longer go hungry, no longer be without proper clothing. You can have feasts for every meal, eat whatever you want…”

A knock suddenly sounded on the door of the private room. The Elder paused, then said ruthlessly, “One hundred million, no, one billion. I’ll give you one billion star coins, young man. You know what to do.”

With that, the communication was swiftly cut off.

The blue screen suddenly went black. Deng Xi poked his new toy again, but the iron ring didn’t respond.

Deng Xi slapped the water with a troubled expression, thought blankly for a moment, then dove under the surface, feeling a little bored.

·

The best way to replenish one’s strength is to eat.

Even though his injuries had been stabilized, in a situation where Si Jisheng was all alone, recuperating was equivalent to waiting for death.

He was searching for food.

His keen hearing, sense of smell, sight, and even touch allowed Si Jisheng not to lose his way in the vast ocean, even though he had rarely had the chance to experience a completely natural sea.

But a Jiaoren’s intuition was enough for Si Jisheng to analyze every surge of the ocean current and from which direction the faint smell of fish was coming.

The silver-tailed Jiaoren swam swiftly through the deep sea.

He swam for a long, long time, and his wounds split open again from the strenuous movement.

But within a range of several thousand meters, Si Jisheng didn’t see a single fish. With a Jiaoren’s keen senses, he could perceive danger ahead, but because he needed to eat, Si Jisheng still chose to enter the territory ahead.

There were obviously conflicting currents in this area of the sea. As he swam longer, the seaweed, small fish, and shrimp on the seabed gradually became more numerous.

Si Jisheng encountered a school of fish and began his attack. These fish were no match for a Jiaoren.

The crimson blood of the fish exploded in the deep sea, dyeing the water completely red. The thick scent of blood also slowly attracted the master of this sea territory. Danger was approaching in the dark.

The Jiaoren’s sense of smell was masked by the thick scent of blood. By the time Si Jisheng realized something was wrong, he was already surrounded.

The scent in the water was the foul smell of blood on the serrated teeth of great white sharks, overwhelmingly salty and metallic. A dozen gaping maws seemed about to swallow this silver Jiaoren. In front of these great white sharks, the silver Jiaoren was like a tiny, weak ant, so small it could be crushed with a single step, not even enough to get stuck in their teeth.

The school of great white sharks in this sea territory all surrounded the single point of silver in the middle. The scent of blood grew thicker and thicker. Several times, when he looked for an opportunity to escape, he was blocked by the menacing great white sharks.

His wounds had torn open again during the intense struggle. Excessive blood loss was already making Si Jisheng feel dizzy. His most prized weapon, his tail, was greatly weakened because of the broken bones, and his severe injuries had not yet healed.

If there were only one great white shark, he could still put up a fight.

But there was a whole school of them.

He could only wait for death.

Si Jisheng stood still in the water, his two-meter-long silver tail hanging limply. He closed his eyes wearily, too lazy to even bother resisting.

As the blade of the Empire, he should never have resigned himself to fate.

But he had.

Seeing that their prey seemed to have finally given up, the great white sharks could no longer hold back and lunged forward with their bloody maws wide open.

The next moment, the ocean suddenly began to sing. The seawater surged in waves, its movements so light and graceful. Every cell touched by the flowing tide resonated and trembled.

One couldn’t help but sink, couldn’t help but become intoxicated.

It was like falling into the embrace of the mother of all living things.

Gentle, soft, yet full of power.

The graceful song was like the rising sun on the sea’s surface. It was not scorching, but warm and impartial, scattering a shower of fragmented golden sunlight on the sea.

Tense nerves involuntarily relaxed. The cold body warmed up with the returning heat, and the ugly shadows that had reared their heads were pressed back into the depths by this gentle embrace.

When the song stopped.

The school of great white sharks docilely retreated to their lairs, which were most familiar to their instincts. Only a spot of bright silver and a dazzling splash of blue remained in the deep sea.

Si Jisheng slowly opened his eyes.

The blue-tailed merman burst into his cold, silver eyes like a small sun.

Deng Xi was also very scared. He had been hiding behind a reef, hugging his big tail, his face buried behind it, carefully peeking out with his light blue eyes, observing the tense situation.

As for that iron ring, Deng Xi had long since thrown it somewhere along the way while searching for the little mute.

The little merman, his face pale with fright, circled the silver-tail nonstop. He proudly lifted his chin. “Little Mute, aren’t I amazing?”

Si Jisheng heard this malicious nickname, but his eyes were not filled with the same ferocity as last time. He was slightly stunned.

Deng Xi swam around with his hands behind his back, acting like a little adult. “It’s okay if you can’t talk.” His eyes curved into a smile. “Little Mute, from now on, let me sing for you, okay?”