A heavy scent of blood lingered in the dim depths of the sea. The red coral reefs were stained a murky crimson, and the half-torso of a shark, nearly as tall as half a person, lay sprawled across them. Its cross-section had even been hollowed out, leaving a bloody void amidst the mangled flesh where stark white bones were visible.
To the Empire’s Marshal, who had campaigned for years, this level of gore didn’t even qualify as “bloody.”
But to Deng Xi, who had always kept a respectful distance from sharks and never considered them food or enemies, this was no different from waking up to find a long-time neighbor suddenly dead! And the murderer had dumped the body right on his doorstep!
Too much! Absolutely despicable!
Deng Xi was so frightened that the rims of his eyes turned red. “The creature that killed the shark… will it come for us next?” he sobbed, his mind racing. “Will the next c-corpse be us? Little mute, should we… should we move? Let’s leave this place.”
The true culprit of this bizarre case remained silent, his body tensing as Si Jisheng tentatively reached out to pat Deng Xi’s back, trying to reassure him.
The craggy butterfly bones on the boy’s back slightly pressed against his palm. Having studied every part of the human anatomy to kill enemies efficiently, Si Jisheng was intimately familiar with skeletal structures. In the next instant, he involuntarily modeled the beautiful, nearly perfect curve of Deng Xi’s spine in his mind—the texture was incredibly silky.
Acting as a gentleman, Si Jisheng kept his touch light. His calloused fingertips brushed across the boy’s back like feathers, causing Deng Xi to shiver uncontrollably from a physiological stress response. Because they were pressed so closely together, Si Jisheng could clearly feel the tremor through their skin, and he froze instantly.
Deng Xi buried his head against Si Jisheng’s shoulder, not daring to look out. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the image of the shark’s tragic death. “Don’t touch me,” he whimpered. “We’re… we’re discussing serious business.”
“The big guy who killed our shark neighbor must be very, very scary! We have to leave! Right now! Immediately!” Deng Xi plucked up his courage and looked up firmly at the silver merman.
In the next instant, his gaze followed the silver merman’s downward glance.
Time seemed to freeze in the dim nest. Their fish tails were tightly entwined, their breaths mingling in the shadows, and the sensation of scale rubbing against scale felt vividly real.
Whether Jiao-man or mermaid, the tail is undoubtedly their most sensitive organ. The bright silver tail was icy and tense, while the gradient blue tail entwined it as unreasonably as a serpent’s. The blue mermaid’s body temperature was slightly higher than Si Jisheng’s; the cold seawater and the lingering chill of the night seemed to melt away against him.
Si Jisheng closed his eyes, restraining the instinct to flick his tail—if he did, Deng Xi would be flung out, and his fate would be exactly like that of the sharks from last night.
Deng Xi, belatedly realizing the situation, realized: They were mating. (Or rather, tail-tangling, which signifies the intent).
Deng Xi slowly looked down at their tightly entwined tails. Tightly entwined! Tails!!!
His eyes went wide with shock, and he immediately tried to pull away. But while entangling was easy, disentangling was hard. Their scales were pressed tight; if Deng Xi tried to pull away, it meant every scale on Si Jisheng’s silver tail would slide against the “reverse scales” of his blue tail.
Deng Xi steeled himself and began to pull away, bit by bit. He didn’t speak, and Si Jisheng couldn’t speak; the only sound in the dark nest was the quiet, constant rasp of scales rubbing together.
Despite the cold seawater, Deng Xi felt as though his entire body was burning. Heat shimmered around his eyes, and a deep flush spread from his cheeks to his eyelids.
The moment he pulled free, Deng Xi flicked his tail fin like a spring, retreating to the entrance of the nest. He lowered his head, deeply reflecting on his “rogue” behavior, and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“I was just too scared just now; I didn’t mean it.” Deng Xi almost raised four fingers to swear an oath. “Little mute, I absolutely, definitely have no intention of courting you. You have to believe me.”
Courting? Entwining tails was indeed the Jiao-man method of courtship. Si Jisheng curled his fingertips, wanting to rub them together as he recalled the sensation, then paused. He nodded and then shook his head, indicating he believed him and it didn’t matter.
Deng Xi breathed a sigh of relief. “Then where should we move to?”
Si Jisheng shook his head again. No need to move.
They swam out of the nest. Deng Xi followed closely behind Si Jisheng, clutching the silver merman’s forearm while tentatively pointing a hand. “It’s right there.”
Si Jisheng looked down at Deng Xi’s hand; the boy’s fingertips were white from gripping so hard. Having reached a certain level of fear, Deng Xi no longer cared about the lingering embarrassment; his eyes were filled entirely with panic.
Si Jisheng had already seen the shark corpse. His carefully chosen gift had become a source of terror; the blue mermaid was truly too timid. Si Jisheng gently pried Deng Xi’s hand off him and signaled for him to stay put.
The silver merman expressionlessly approached the half-corpse, grabbed the shark by its tail, and swam far away, dumping it into a deep-sea abyss canyon a good distance from the nest.
Deng Xi’s fear finally lessened a bit, but he hadn’t given up on the idea of moving. In the ocean, being nomadic and changing nests several times a year was perfectly normal. In the past, even without the little mute, Deng Xi would frequently look for new nests; he never stayed in one area for long.
Deng Xi enjoyed the feeling of swimming freely to various parts of the ocean. He would make many new friends, migrate with warm currents, and find a suitable habitat before the cold winter arrived. Before finding a new nest, he would find a smooth rock on the surface and fall asleep accompanied by the stars and the moon.
Now that the “murderer” had moved from the neighboring waters to his own, they obviously had to run away before the killer turned on them! The little mute had worked so hard to heal his wounds; he couldn’t get hurt again. He was already so pitiful.
In his eyes, he and the little mute were the weakest, lowest class in the ocean, unable to defeat anyone. Although Deng Xi had ways to protect himself, it was better to flee if necessary.
Deng Xi returned to the nest and looked at the seashells he had collected since settling in this area, the hoarded edible seaweed, and the large seashell he used for sleeping.
“I searched for a long, long time to find this shell. It was very, very heavy when it was alive; I had to tow it to the surface for a long time to get it out of the water so it would die naturally.” Deng Xi tapped the red coral he used for decoration. “And it was such hard work to tow it back to the nest.”
The culprit responsible for the forced relocation listened in silence, then gathered Deng Xi’s small shells and threw them into the large sleeping shell. He stuffed the hoarded seaweed in as well, along with all of Deng Xi’s other miscellaneous little treasures. Then, under Deng Xi’s shocked gaze, he easily lifted it all with one hand.
Relieved that he didn’t have to carry the heavy shell himself, Deng Xi’s eyes instantly crinkled with joy. He cheered, “Let’s go!”
Deng Xi swam to the surface, his blue tail appearing and disappearing in the waves as he swam cheerfully through the sea. The low, melodic hum of a mermaid began without warning, echoing through the entire area and spreading outward. The waves surged, the sea breeze brushed past, and the surface shimmered with golden light. One could feel his joy just by listening.
This “move on a whim” journey had no prior preparation or planning; like the mermaid’s hum, it began spontaneously and at will. It was an experience entirely different from Si Jisheng’s years of meticulous life and work very novel.
Deng Xi’s hum was a calling. It soon received an answer.
A call that penetrated the waters and struck the soul rang out, responding to the mermaid. It was a whale’s song. Si Jisheng could hear it clearly; unlike humans, a Jiao-man could distinguish the nuances.
Deng Xi’s hum traveled across over a hundred thousand kilometers of ocean, profound and ethereal. The whale’s song responded move by move, never ceasing; it was a staggering miracle that could only occur in the ocean.
Being the closest, Si Jisheng felt the charm of the sound intimately. Do Jiao-men also have this ability? He touched his own throat, trying to mimic Deng Xi’s hum in his mind, but he still couldn’t produce any sound, unable to utter a single syllable. He let out a soft sigh.
After a long while, Deng Xi stopped the calling. He turned to the silver merman and said, “I’ll take you to find it.”
The mermaid and the whale moved toward each other and soon met successfully.
“Tada—” Deng Xi patted the massive head of the blue whale. “This is my partner, Big Whale.”
Every time he needed to migrate, Deng Xi would call upon the whale species to make an exchange: he would help them clean off the barnacles on their bodies, and the whale would carry him to a new sea area. As for food along the way, he would find small fish and shrimp in the seawater the whale spouted. It was mutual help between friends.
“Now, he is your partner too.” Deng Xi took the silver merman’s hand and placed his palm on Big Whale’s head.
Si Jisheng controlled his strength, petting it very gently.
Deng Xi’s eyes crinkled. “It would be great if you could call them too.”