Chapter 80: I Want to Go Ashore
Late at night, the entire pool became very quiet.
The little merman was curled up in his shell, sleeping, while the silver Jiaoren was lying flat in the shell on the other side, sound asleep.
Around the two large shells, there was also a small shell, which was where the little jellyfish stayed.
Jellyfish were nocturnal creatures.
The empty little shell was wide open on the seabed. The little jellyfish, which should have been sleeping peacefully like the merman, was floating around the outside of the shell, its tentacles opening and closing, swimming up and down on the seabed.
Its transparent, soft outer shell would only be noticed when it glowed. When no one was touching the little jellyfish, it was completely hidden in the seawater.
The little jellyfish circled in front of the large shell where the little merman was sleeping, clinging to the seaweed. Seeing that it couldn’t get into the tightly closed shell bed, it followed the seaweed all the way to the edge of the transparent glass cover.
The next second, its comfortably extended tentacles closed in fright. A human hand was suddenly pressed against the outside of the glass cover, its five fingers spread wide, with a membrane between them.
It was a webbed claw.
Upon closer inspection, there was still a layer of air between the webbed claw and the glass cover. It was as if it were extremely eager, touching the glass cover.
Instantly, the invisible laser net on the outskirts of the entire manor lit up in an instant, releasing an electric current.
It quickly retracted in pain.
The little jellyfish covered its jellyfish top with its tentacles. Even through a screen, it could hear the “sizzling” sound.
It could clearly see a flash of silver under the surface of the water. It unwillingly swam around the glass cover a few times. After discovering that it really couldn’t get in, it left in a huff.
A long time passed before the little jellyfish tremblingly lowered the tentacles that were covering its jellyfish top. It floated and swayed to the front of the large shell where Deng Xi was sleeping and used its tentacles to pull at the tightly closed crack of the shell, its whole body flashing anxiously.
Wake up, wake up! There’s a bad guy!
·
When Deng Xi woke up in the morning and had just pushed open the shell lid, he found the little jellyfish hanging on the shell by its tentacles, crooked and sound asleep.
He carefully poked it with his fingertip. Besides flashing once, the little jellyfish had no reaction. Deng Xi picked it up and looked around. He saw the small shell bed that he had given to the little jellyfish lying quietly on the white sand of the seabed.
Deng Xi said strangely in a small voice, “Little jellyfish, why are you sleeping outside?”
The little jellyfish’s tentacles were floating in the seawater, wrapping around the little merman’s fingertip, and it rubbed against him with its transparent jellyfish top.
Seeing that the little jellyfish was still not awake, Deng Xi carefully placed the fragile jellyfish body back into the small shell. He knew the little jellyfish’s sleeping schedule and thoughtfully did not wake it up. He then gently withdrew his entangled finger and closed the shell.
He looked at the empty seaweed bed in the silver shell. Today, it was still the little mute who had woken up first.
Deng Xi glanced at the tracker on his comm. After confirming that the other little red dot was next to his, he swam two laps on the seabed with a peace of mind, flicking his tail fin.
After waiting for a long time, the little mute finally arrived late with the prepared breakfast. They shared the plate of salmon sashimi.
Deng Xi propped himself up on the side of the pool, his waist out of the water, and his fan-shaped tail fin swayed slightly with the buoyancy. “Is Little Mute not going to work today?”
Today was the weekend.
Si Jisheng nodded. He half-squatted down and covered the wet little merman with a wide bath towel. “Do you want to come up?”
Deng Xi shook his head. “Let’s go and play together!”
His eyes were sparkling.
Every weekend, Deng Xi would stay on the seabed and would generally not go ashore. This was one of the few days that the little mute would stay at home, and it was also the time that he could stay in the ocean.
Deng Xi cherished it.
He wanted to go and play in the ocean with the little mute.
The little merman would drag the little mute to the open sea every week to feel the breeze and sunbathe. He had already found many beautiful little conch shells and shells in this sea.
He had changed several new homes for the little jellyfish.
But Si Jisheng did not immediately agree as he usually did. The news that he was living in District A was no secret. After considering the safety aspect, he had already turned on the manor’s laser net.
In just one night, he had received dozens of warnings.
This was very normal.
A bird flying in the sky, a fish swimming in the sea, and even an ant could all trigger the laser net screen, which was not yet fully equipped to detect thermal energy and selectively turn on the laser.
But it was always better to be safe than sorry.
Deng Xi blinked his blue eyes and looked at the little mute with longing eyes, drawing out his voice. “Little Mute, will you come with me? I haven’t played in the ocean for a long, long time.”
Every day when he woke up, he would eat breakfast, accompany the little mute to his workplace, listen to Teacher Xiaomei’s lecture, play with Bunny, and maintain his human legs for the whole day. Then he would go back home to play, and finally turn into his fish tail and sleep in the large shell.
The time he could relax in the ocean was getting less and less. If he couldn’t even go and play on the weekends, it would be even more pitifully little.
It was not like before, when he could stay in the ocean at all times. As long as Deng Xi wanted, he could swim out of his lair at any time and sunbathe on the surface of the sea.
But it was okay.
He knew that the little mute was very busy, but the other party could still squeeze out a lot of time to accompany him every day.
As long as he had a question, he would answer it. Whether he was happy or unhappy, he could always go and tell the little mute. No matter how busy he was, he would accompany him to do all sorts of things after he was done.
Deng Xi was already very happy.
But he was a little greedy and wanted to be a little happier.
The little merman curled his lips into a mischievous smile, propped himself up on the bottom of the pool with his tail fin, and suddenly pounced forward, pretending to be in a panic. “Little Mute, catch me!”
Si Jisheng reacted quickly and hooked the little merman who seemed to be about to fall. His dripping body pounced into his arms, and his wet arms wrapped around his neck.
His lowered silver eyes met his curved blue eyes.
Deng Xi pulled back hard, wanting to drag the little mute down too. But the silver-tail was still half-squatting on the shore, motionless. On the contrary, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
The weak little merman’s strength was not great to begin with. Even with a surprise attack, he could not move the little mute in the slightest.
Deng Xi was stunned on the spot. He looked at his own hands suspiciously.
Was it on purpose?
Si Jisheng’s silver eyes narrowed slightly.
The little merman didn’t believe it.
Deng Xi pressed down hard again. This time, he could clearly feel the body under his hand sway. His blue eyes widened in pleasant surprise.
Si Jisheng followed the force of Deng Xi’s pull and fell into the water with a loud “splash,” creating a huge splash.
He’s down!
Deng Xi also quickly flicked his tail fin back and happily sank to the bottom of the water.
His silver ear fins instantly appeared. The man, who was soaked, stood up from the bottom of the pool. The black, thin shirt of his combat suit was pressed against his body, and water droplets splashed down along the smooth lines of his muscles.
His silver eyes were stained with the cold, salty seawater. He looked at Deng Xi, who was under the pool. The little merman instantly broke through the water, and with a flick of his blue fish tail, he pounced on the man who was now in the center of the pool.
Deng Xi lowered his eyelids guiltily and, as if to cover up, said, “I didn’t do it on purpose.” He thought he was very smart. “Anyway, Little Mute’s clothes are all wet. It’s so troublesome to change into new clothes when you go ashore.”
“Why don’t you come and play with me?” His soft voice dragged out the last syllable, and his beautiful blue tail was even circling around the little mute on the surface of the water.
Si Jisheng had no way to refuse. “Close your eyes.” He went ashore and took off his soaked clothes.
When Deng Xi opened his eyes again, he saw the sparkling silver fish tail under the sunlight.
Si Jisheng checked. The tracker was still showing up perfectly. Only then did he nod slightly, indicating that he could swim out.
He had already set it up. The laser net had access for him and Deng Xi, including the transparent immortal jellyfish that Deng Xi was raising on the seabed.
Deng Xi happily pulled the little mute through the canyon that connected the pool to the outside.
The blue-tail’s weekly trip to the ocean was actually fixed. As long as one observed carefully, one could remember it.
The little merman would, in the morning when the sun was not fierce, find a huge reef, slowly feel the sea breeze, and after sunbathing for a while, he would pester the silver-tail to go hunting on the seabed together.
What they had for dinner depended entirely on what they encountered. The little mute could catch them without any difficulty.
Last time… Deng Xi thought, they seemed to have had sea urchin sashimi and sardines!
This time, they had caught a few large crabs that were in the process of molting. Because they had no hard shells, he could finish them by himself without the little mute helping him peel them.
After finishing lunch, Deng Xi would leave the silver-tail and swim very, very far on the seabed to look for beautiful shells and conch shells, as well as beautiful starfish and coral branches.
The only pity was that the sea creatures in this ocean were extremely scarce. There were no large animals, whether it was the dangerous great sharks, the poisonous giant octopuses, or the gentle little dolphins and kind whales. There were none.
Deng Xi had not yet made friends with the sea creatures in this sea area.
The little mute had explained that it was because the pollution in the human world was too serious, and many sea creatures had already disappeared from this planet.
Deng Xi swam outwards, looking at the tracker from time to time. The distance between them was constantly increasing.
The little merman was searching for shells everywhere.
The shells he found later would definitely be more than the little mute’s!
He had also won this competition last time!
The vast ocean was so quiet it seemed as if only Deng Xi was left. It wasn’t until he saw a white shell hidden under a reef that he stopped flicking his tail fin.
Just as he was about to pick it up, Deng Xi suddenly frowned and pricked up his ears to listen carefully. Why was it that even though he had already stopped flicking his tail fin, the sound of his fish tail passing through the waves was still echoing in his ears?
Are there other big fish in this ocean?
Deng Xi turned his head curiously.
But what entered his eyes was a silver fish tail. Deng Xi could tell the difference at a glance. The color of this fish tail was not beautiful at all. Because the color was very dim, it would not reflect any light, and it was not shiny at all. It was gray and dusty.
He looked up in a daze. Above the fish tail was clearly a human’s upper body. Deng Xi was in a daze for a moment, thinking that he was hallucinating.
In the human world, besides the little mute, were there other kinsmen of his?
It was a pale and delicate face, with standard black hair and black eyes. It was the appearance of most people in the human world, and there were no features that would make the face-blind little merman remember this face.
And it was not like the merman clan at all, so beautiful and perfect that it did not seem real. Even the gills used for breathing were not the translucent color of a butterfly’s wings. The silver was injected into it in a messy and chaotic manner, like splashed ink.
“Hello, are you Deng Xi?”
A familiar opening line.
“Can you help me with your song? I want to go ashore. You can ask for any reward you want.”
An almost pleading tone.
