Chapter 86: You’re Very Good
In the time he had swallowed the potion, locked himself in the room, and prepared to get through the drug’s effective period by himself, it seemed that many things had happened.
The moment he had woken up, he had found Deng Xi, who had entered the room at some unknown time, curled up in his arms, sleeping soundly.
The little merman had become exceptionally clingy than usual.
After being carried to the bed, there was no sign of him letting go. The moment Si Jisheng had withdrawn his hand, he had hugged him again with dissatisfaction, his eyelids trembling. He had insisted that the little mute hold him back in his arms before he would fall asleep peacefully.
Si Jisheng had quietly accompanied the sleeping Deng Xi in the darkness and had also fallen into a light sleep. The moment he woke up, he was grabbed and questioned.
In the time he had been unconscious, what had Deng Xi experienced?
Deng Xi was a little confused. He didn’t understand what the little mute meant by not being good enough and being afraid that he would leave.
Because no one had ever been so good to him.
The blue eyes that were looking at the little mute were exceptionally serious. They were very close, so close that Deng Xi’s breath was filled with the other’s scent. The mating season that had not yet passed seemed to be stirring again.
Deng Xi really wanted to hug the current little mute.
He hugged him and shook his head. “It’s not like that. Little Mute is very good.”
Si Jisheng was slightly stunned. His soft cheek was pressed against his shoulder, and his voice was very light. He obediently hugged him and said, word by word, “You’ve already done very, very well.”
“You’re not the one who’s not good enough.”
Deng Xi’s eyelids curved. “And, I’ve said it many times. I won’t abandon Little Mute and leave by myself. Absolutely, absolutely not.” He patted the little mute’s silver hair like a little adult. “Little Mute doesn’t have to be afraid.”
There were many things that the little merman didn’t understand.
But he could sense the little mute’s fear and unease. His keen sixth sense allowed Deng Xi to effortlessly detect it, and then his heart ached as if it were being pricked by a needle.
“Little Mute knew a long time ago that I wasn’t your kinsman, right? But even so, Little Mute still protected me, who is also not so good.”
He was afraid of pain, afraid of hunger, afraid of not sleeping well. He would cry at the slightest discomfort. But when he cried, the little mute never showed any impatience. He would patiently coax him and help him wipe his tears.
They were actually not that perfect.
But to each other, they were already good enough.
This was very good.
Deng Xi felt very satisfied.
He had accepted the fact that he was the last merman of the merman clan a long, long time ago. But Deng Xi, who had lived alone for many years, had always wanted a companion who could spend the rest of his days with him.
It didn’t matter what they did, as long as he was no longer so lonely.
He would no longer have to swim to the surface of the sea by himself every sunrise, feel the sea breeze, find seaweed clumps to fill his stomach, and then wander aimlessly in the ocean by himself, and finally return to the dark cave by himself, sleeping alone in the cold deep sea.
Deng Xi, who had gotten used to the little mute’s company, was very afraid that he would return to those days of the past.
He missed the ocean very much.
But he wanted to take the little mute back to the ocean with him even more.
Not some nonexistent other kinsman, but the little mute, and only the little mute.
“You’re very good.” The deep voice was a little hoarse, but the seriousness in it could be heard. He was always very careful with the fragile little merman, and even his embrace was very restrained.
It wasn’t until now that Si Jisheng raised his hand and hugged Deng Xi back.
Deng Xi said in a small voice, “Can you be a little more forceful?”
He liked the way the silver Jiaoren hugged him. Although he could barely breathe, he had the illusion of being filled.
Of course, he also liked this kind of embrace very much.
So the arms that were loosely wrapped around his waist slowly tightened. Deng Xi’s lips curled up in comfort, and a shallow dimple appeared. He said, “I was originally very angry, because I really don’t like it when others lie to me. But, now I forgive Little Mute.”
“But Little Mute has to promise me that you won’t lie to me again in the future, and you won’t secretly take medicine by yourself again.”
“Okay?”
“Alright.” Si Jisheng paused for a moment. “Do you want to make a pinky promise?” He was using Deng Xi’s way to bind the little merman in his arms, who was saying that he would never leave, wanting this promise to have a heavier weight in Deng Xi’s heart.
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment, then nodded his head heavily. “Pinky promise!”
Si Jisheng extended his hand. This time, his hand was not wearing the mechanical gloves that he would only wear in public. What Deng Xi touched was the little mute’s own hand.
He made a stamp.
His long knuckles had many gun calluses. They were not as sharp as his Jiaoren claws. His fingertips were rounded. It was a very beautiful large palm, but Deng Xi thought of the hand in that photo, whose ten fingers were almost bent back.
He lowered his head with some heartache and blew on it. “At that time, was it very painful?”
Si Jisheng did not hesitate in the slightest. “It didn’t hurt.”
But Deng Xi knew that he hadn’t even said what it was, but the little mute had been able to react. The impression it had left must have been very deep.
Deng Xi: “You just made a pinky promise not to lie to me.”
Si Jisheng was silent for a moment. “I don’t remember clearly.”
Deng Xi looked at him suspiciously. After a long while, he finally said, “Can Little Mute tell me about your past?”
He didn’t want to find out from other sources anymore.
Si Jisheng carried Deng Xi and went to the study. There was a whole wall of medals. All in all, it was very spectacular. A single one, taken out, was equivalent to another person’s lifetime of achievements.
He asked Deng Xi, “What do you want to know?”
Deng Xi was faced with the golden light on the entire bookshelf and didn’t know where to start. He pursed his lips and complained a little, “I don’t even know what they are. Can’t Little Mute tell me from the beginning?”
“For example, Little Mute was born in the human world. Then, like other humans, do you have your own relatives? Or did you grow up by yourself, like me?”
Si Jisheng’s answer was the latter.
E Star was constantly being invaded by the Zerg, and too many people had died. He couldn’t remember when he had become alone. It might have been before he had any memories, that the people around him had all died under the Zerg’s mandibles.
Deng Xi grabbed the little mute’s silver hair, and then carefully smoothed it, as if to comfort him.
“Then when did Little Mute know that he was an alien, and what race he was? Like me, do you also have inherited memories?”
“I don’t remember clearly.”
When he was in his teens, it was night before he went to sleep, and it was still night after he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he was faced with a ground full of Zerg corpses and his own bloody claws and fangs, having lost the memory of what he had done during the day.
It was something from more than twenty years ago, too long ago.
Deng Xi was not satisfied with the little mute’s perfunctory answer. “Then was Little Mute very scared?”
Si Jisheng thought for a moment. “A little.”
Deng Xi patted the little mute’s silver hair again, as if to coax him.
“If only Little Mute had been born on my planet. Mmm…” Deng Xi thought for a moment. “I would have worked hard to catch fish and find seaweed clumps for Little Mute to eat!”
Si Jisheng paused for a moment. He did not say that if that were really possible, then it would most likely still be him catching fish to raise the weak little merman.
Deng Xi pursed his lips. “I have another question. Little Mute can’t lie to me. You have to tell the truth.”
Si Jisheng: “What?”
“When we were in the ocean, had Little Mute already decided a long, long time ago to leave the ocean and leave me?”
“Why did you say you would take me to a very, very distant place, but in the end, you left by yourself?”
“Why did you throw away the little conch shell? Was it because you were angry with me? Did I do something wrong?”
“Why did you never, ever come back to find me? I know now that Little Mute has the ability to come back and find me. Was it on purpose, or… did you forget me in the ocean?”
Deng Xi asked the questions he wanted to ask, one by one. His sentences were a bit clumsy, but he still tried his best to muster his courage.
He wanted to know the answer, wanted to know why.
He didn’t want this little knot to stay in his heart forever.
Si Jisheng was quiet for a long time. “It was on purpose.”
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment. He suddenly felt a dull ache in his heart, and his eyes were also sore. He lowered his eyelids dejectedly and said in a small, helpless voice, “Alright.”
But the next second, his face was gently lifted. As if he had predicted that Deng Xi was about to cry, his rough fingertips gently pressed the corners of Deng Xi’s eyes.
They were so close that their noses were touching, extremely intimate.
“I didn’t forget you. I’ve been thinking about you all along.”
His blue eyes widened slightly. A small bubble suddenly popped up from the bottom of Deng Xi’s heart. The bubble burst with a “pop,” and then many more bubbles popped up.
Deng Xi’s eyelids curved. Soon, he covered up the happiness he couldn’t hide, put on a straight face, and questioned as if he were angry, “Then why didn’t you come and find me? I’ve been looking for Little Mute for a long, long time. Big Whale has been swimming and swimming. We’ve looked in many, many places.”
Who knew that the little mute was not in the ocean at all?
Si Jisheng: “It was because of matters in the human world.” He did not hide anything. “Three years ago, I fell into your planet by accident. At the beginning, I mistook you for a similarly Jiaoren-transformed alien.”
Deng Xi looked down at himself in a daze and admitted that a merman and a Jiaoren were indeed a bit similar. He said in a muffled voice, “I also thought Little Mute was my kinsman.”
“Then the wounds on Little Mute at that time were actually not from other big fish, right? A bad person hurt you, right?” The little merman was filled with righteous indignation. He thought of the conference video he had seen. “I’ve seen a video. There were many bad people in it who were forcing you.”
Si Jisheng also learned from Deng Xi and raised his hand to smooth the golden hair that was hanging down Deng Xi’s back. “I left because I thought you were also one of those bad people.” He used a way that Deng Xi could understand, trying to make the little merman understand. “Many years ago, someone stole my genes and, through human experiments, created a Jiaoren.”
Deng Xi was a little unhappy. “Did Little Mute mistake him for me?” But soon, he paused for a moment, remembering something.
Then that black-haired merman who had been saying that he was not his kinsman, could he be the Jiaoren that the little mute was talking about?
Deng Xi’s eyes widened in excitement. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he deflated in annoyance.
But he had already promised that black-haired merman that he would not tell anyone of his existence. The black-haired merman seemed very pitiful.
Deng Xi was undecided.
Si Jisheng continued, “They used that Jiaoren to develop a potion that targeted me, which made me sick on the battlefield. When I woke up, the situation was already irreversible.”
The most crucial thing was that he only had the memory of agreeing to separate from Deng Xi before he had lost consciousness. If he could have remained lucid during his Jiaoren transformation, Si Jisheng’s eyes were a little cold, many things would not have happened.
Now he could only wait for the results of Dr. Li’s research.
The trial conference back then had not been that simple. The royal family had hidden many things that could not be known to the public. For the sake of the Empire’s face, for the public’s trust, and for the three parties to continue their evenly matched situation, they had let the Council of Elders survive until now.
Si Jisheng frowned.
Deng Xi said softly, “Maybe that Jiaoren didn’t want it to be like this either. What if he was also forced by bad people?”
Si Jisheng paused for a moment. His silver eyes swept over Deng Xi’s slightly guilty expression. After a moment of thought, he let out a slight sound of agreement.
Deng Xi did not notice anything and asked many more questions.
While Si Jisheng was answering, he opened his comm. When he had been unconscious, the military had sent many messages.
The first was from the adjutant. “Marshal, we have searched the entire District A but have not found anything unusual. In the end, we rashly went to the vicinity of your manor and found something interesting on the seabed. We will discuss how to deal with it when you come to the military tomorrow.”
The second was from Dr. Li. “Marshal, the improved potion has already been initially developed. It can be confirmed that it has no side effects, but we are still not very clear about the improvement of its efficacy.”
“Can you personally try it tomorrow?”
