Chapter 98
Xing Nuo woke up groggily, his tail instinctively flicking against the soft merfolk silk of his bed.
He rubbed his eyes and looked up to see a group of little merpeople surrounding his shell bed.
The little merpeople, their faces cupped in their hands, gasped as Xing Nuo opened his eyes.
“He’s awake!”
“The golden merman’s eyes…are black!”
“Black is pretty too! I declare, black is my new favorite color!”
Xing Nuo, not understanding their excited chatter, quickly climbed out of bed.
The chubby, red merchild swam to Xing Nuo, hands on hips, glaring at the light blue merchild.
“Lan Xin moved my bed! I hate you!”
The blue merchild smirked and huffed.
“So what? I bet Xing Nuo prefers to sleep next to me.”
Xing Nuo, caught between the two, patted their arms, trying to mediate despite not understanding their argument.
“No angry, no angry. Merchildren all good babies…no fight.”
Xing Nuo, experienced in comforting others, his earnest, watery eyes made the little merpeople feel ashamed of their bickering, even though they didn’t understand his words.
The red merchild, taking Xing Nuo’s hand, his anger forgotten, led him to his own bed, proudly showing off his decorations.
“Look! My bed is the prettiest! See? Colorful gems!”
Xing Nuo, understanding his gestures, offered a polite compliment.
“Your bed vewy pwetty.”
The red merchild beamed, puffing out his chest.
The other little merpeople, seeing this, pushed him aside and eagerly showed Xing Nuo their own beds.
Not yet adults, and without their own houses, the young merpeople took great pride in decorating their shell beds.
Xing Nuo, patiently examining each bed, his arms now filled with the colorful gems they had given him, his eyes dazzled by the sparkling stones,
placed the gems on the shell bed Lia had prepared for him and, seeing the little merpeople still chattering excitedly around him, asked:
“Little fishies, you know…where witch lives?”
He thought for a moment, then added:
“Or…you know…where Wongcheng is? I want go home…find Big Brother and Daddy.”
The little merpeople, not understanding his words, but seeing his gestures, thought he wanted to go out and play.
The chubby, red merchild, ever enthusiastic, grabbed Xing Nuo’s arm and pulled him away.
“Let’s go to the coral reef!”
Xing Nuo, his tail pulled along, didn’t even have to swim himself, and they quickly reached the colorful coral reef on the eastern edge of the merpeople’s territory.
It was the little merpeople’s favorite playground, where they searched for pretty stones and, occasionally, even gems.
They led Xing Nuo to their “secret base,” excitedly pointing and explaining.
“This is Gween Fowest Cowal! It glows gween!”
Communicating with them was a challenge, but the little merpeople, not minding, continued their enthusiastic chatter.
Xing Nuo’s head spun from the noise, and he covered his ears.
“One at a time! I can’t hear!”
After much gesturing and explaining, the little merpeople finally understood.
The red merchild, their self-proclaimed leader, took Xing Nuo’s hand and encouraged him to explore the coral reef and find some pretty stones.
“You can choose some pwetty stones and gems…decorate your bed!”
The other little merpeople also bent down, picking up stones and examining them.
Xing Nuo finally understood what they wanted him to do.
He sighed. Talking so hard!
The little merpeople scattered among the corals, and Xing Nuo, leaning against a shimmering blue coral, tried to figure out how to communicate with them.
He heard a faint chirping sound.
He parted the blue coral branches and saw a small, transparent octopus, about the size of his hand, stuck in the coral, its tentacles tangled.
The octopus chirped weakly.
Xing Nuo, surprised by the sight of the small, jellyfish-like creature, carefully untangled its tentacles.
The octopus chirped again and swam in front of Xing Nuo.
Xing Nuo, thinking it was thanking him, smiled and waved his hand dismissively.
“You’re welcome. Next time…no go in coral…youw tentacles…get tangled.”
The little octopus stared at him with its two black, beady eyes.
It lifted its tentacles and touched Xing Nuo’s cheek.
Xing Nuo smiled, having encountered so many friendly fish, and wasn’t wary of the little octopus.
“Little Octopus, you be careful. I go back to merpeople…ask them…how go back to land.”
The little octopus, hearing this, suddenly grabbed Xing Nuo’s hair with a tentacle.
Xing Nuo gasped and tried to pull it off, but the octopus had attached itself to his head, its tentacles wrapped around his hair.
“What are you doing?”
Before the octopus could chirp a reply, the red merchild’s voice sounded.
“Xing Nuo! What’s on your head?!”
He swam over, his eyes wide with curiosity, and tried to touch the octopus.
But the octopus slapped his hand away with a tentacle.
The red merchild wailed, clutching his stinging hand.
“It’s so mean! A man-eating octopus!”
The light blue merchild also swam over, looking at the transparent octopus.
“A transparent octopus! How rare!”
This part of the ocean had all sorts of strange creatures, even monstrous, predatory fish that resembled land monsters.
But the little merpeople, looking at the small octopus, weren’t afraid.
The light blue merchild asked Xing Nuo:
“Are you going to keep it as a pet?”
The clan leader had once kept a green turtle as a pet, raising it from a tiny hatchling to a giant, finally releasing it when it became too big to feed.
Xing Nuo touched the octopus on his head, his brow furrowed.
“You come down. I can’t take you. I have to go home.”
The octopus chirped, its tentacles flailing, annoyed by the surrounding merpeople.
Xing Nuo, not understanding why it wouldn’t let go, poked it, then, giving up, just huffed, letting it stay on his head.
The little merpeople, curious, gathered around the octopus, chattering.
“If you keep an octopus, you have to feed it a lot, right?”
“What do octopuses eat? The same as us?”
The octopus, annoyed by their chatter, swatted them away with its tentacles.
The little merpeople, stung, quickly swam away.
“Mean octopus!”
Xing Nuo, seeing them leave, spoke softly to the octopus on his head.
“Little Octopus, come down, okay? Don’t stay on my head.”
The octopus chirped faintly.
“No.”
Xing Nuo’s eyes widened in surprise. He tried to look up at the octopus, but couldn’t, so he just spun around.
“You understand me?!”
Having struggled to communicate with the merpeople all day, he was overjoyed to find a creature that spoke his language! He didn’t even mind it clinging to his head anymore.
“You can talk! Little Octopus, do you know where the witch lives?”
The octopus, its voice small and faint, seemingly unhappy with its current state, its tone slightly irritable,
but still patient with Xing Nuo, replied:
“No witches in the ocean. Only stupid fish.”
Xing Nuo gasped and shook his head.
“You no say bad words.”
He then asked, “No witch? Then what I do? I swim to surface?”
The octopus, its tentacles flailing, asked, puzzled:
“Why go to surface? You’re a merman now. Can’t leave water for long.”
Xing Nuo said earnestly:
“I go to land…find way back to Wongcheng.”
The octopus, understanding now, hummed.
“No need. Stay here…play…you’ll go back…eventually.”
It didn’t elaborate.
Xing Nuo, completely confused, tilted his head, and, as the octopus’s tentacles swayed around him, swam to the other side of the coral reef.
The octopus pointed with a tentacle.
“Go there. Purple glowing stone.”
Xing Nuo obediently swam over and, with the octopus still clinging to his head, retrieved a sparkling purple stone from the coral.
The octopus chirped, a hint of pride in its voice.
“Pretty, right? I have a whole lair of gems! I’ll show you later!”
Xing Nuo, looking at the gem, hummed, then smiled, remembering something.
The octopus asked him why he was smiling, but Xing Nuo shook his head, refusing to answer.
The octopus huffed and, with its tentacles, helped Xing Nuo find more pretty gems.
Xing Nuo, his arms filled with sparkling stones, returned to the other little merpeople and became the most popular merchild.
The little merpeople, their eyes shining with envy, gathered around him.
“You’re so amazing! You found so many gems!”
“Wow! You even found the purple gem I wanted!”
