Mermaids can perceive the emotions within a song, and Deng Xi could hear it in the little mute’s voice. He was hurting, silently hiding all his pain beneath the calm sea breeze. Deng Xi didn’t understand why the silver tail’s emotions were so low, but the song moved him. For a song to move even a mermaid—it had to be very beautiful.
“I wasn’t lying.” Deng Xi’s voice was very soft. He looked at Si Jisheng quietly for a long while before asking, “Little mute, are you unhappy?”
Si Jisheng returned the gaze in silence. That meant he was unhappy.
Deng Xi had figured it out: when the little mute encountered a question he didn’t want to answer, he would remain motionless—neither nodding nor shaking his head. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to admit it either, so he could only remain silent.
Deng Xi thought for a moment, leaned over to open the large shell, and rummaged through it until he found a beautiful, spiral-patterned conch. He held it to his ear to listen, curled his lips in satisfaction, and then unexpectedly placed it against the silver tail’s ear. “Listen.”
The sound of distant waves echoed through the conch in rhythmic pulses. Si Jisheng froze.
“This is my gift to the little mute!” Deng Xi hummed for a second, thinking. “I hope that when you are unhappy, it can accompany you on behalf of the ocean and me.” Deng Xi didn’t mind or feel angry about the little mute keeping secrets; his eyelids curved slightly. “Tell it all the bad emotions you don’t want anyone else to know.”
In the past, when Deng Xi was sad, he didn’t want to speak either. Without the company of kinsmen, low emotions would spread wildly in the loneliness. Gradually, he began seeking out all sorts of beautiful conches to listen to the different wave sounds within them when he was sad. Soon, his heart would become peaceful.
Company is the best medicine. If you don’t want to tell me, then tell the conch.
Deng Xi solemnly placed the conch into the silver merman’s hand. A hint of a smile appeared in Si Jisheng’s eyes as he gripped the exquisite shell tight in his palm.
The night passed quickly. Upon waking, it was another bright day.
Big Whale had labored all night, carrying the two “fish” and their shell. In the early morning, they stopped in a sea area where the currents were quite warm. Deng Xi flicked the water with his tail fin; sensing the temperature, he was very satisfied and patted Big Whale’s massive head as a reward.
“We’re here!”
Si Jisheng placed the large shell on a reef flat above the water. Deng Xi swam into the sea, stopped in front of Big Whale, and waved. “Goodbye, Big Whale!” The whale’s song instantly echoed through the area, as if saying “See you next time” to the little mermaid. The blue whale dove and soon swam out of sight.
Deng Xi flicked his tail fin and swam beside the silver merman. “I wonder if this area is occupied by other big fish. Little mute, let’s go see?”
The two swam a circuit of the seabed. The area appeared very peaceful, with no large fish but plenty of small fish and shrimp—far more than the barren area where Deng Xi lived before. The water temperature was also within an acceptable range; it looked like an excellent place to settle.
Deng Xi was exceptionally satisfied. Si Jisheng, however, frowned. Such a good sea area should have a complete food chain, yet they hadn’t discovered any apex predator. It was strange.
In the depths of the sea was a spectacular underwater cliff, like a great rift valley. The depths were pitch black, but the upper parts were clinging with colorful coral reefs and various water plants—exceptionally beautiful. Furthermore, schools of various fish swam past constantly; they would never have to worry about an empty stomach again.
Deng Xi opened his eyes wide with wonder and immediately began searching the cliff for a cave to live in. Si Jisheng helped him search. Sensing the flow of the seawater with closed eyes, Si Jisheng swam to a patch of seaweed on the cliff and pushed it aside. Sure enough, a cave entrance appeared.
Deng Xi swam over. Visibility was low, and the depths of the cave were dark. He followed carefully behind the silver tail. The cave was filled with rugged, strange rocks, and the floor was covered in small pebbles. Unexpectedly, the cave was ownerless and very clean. Deng Xi breathed a sigh of relief. He and the silver merman cleaned it up, moved the large shell in, and used seaweed to make a bed for the merman.
Deng Xi used all his treasures from the large shell to decorate their new home, and the silver merman helped him. The process was long and tiring, but in the busyness, he gradually felt a sense of belonging to the new nest. This was something Deng Xi had to do every time he moved; it helped him feel familiar with the home and reduced feelings of loneliness. It was exhausting but joyful.
“Finally finished!” Deng Xi cheered happily, swimming a circle inside the decorated nest.
It was hard to believe that after completing these trivial tasks, the Marshal—who had guarded the Empire for over a decade and remained indifferent to countless medals—actually felt an indescribable sense of accomplishment.
“I’m so hungry, little mute. Let’s go out and find food?” Deng Xi asked expectantly. Si Jisheng nodded.
The moment they left the cave, Deng Xi cried out in surprise. In front of the underwater cliff was a swirling school of sardines, swimming past their entrance in a dense mass. The sight was breathtaking.
Si Jisheng flicked his tail and swam into the school. His bright silver tail shimmered in the water, and his translucent Jiao-silk fins drifted, stirred by the current.
Deng Xi’s pupils dilated as he stared blankly. “So beautiful.” He wanted to reach out and touch.
In the next instant, a mist of blood exploded before his eyes. Deng Xi froze, watching with wide eyes as the silver merman grabbed a fish in his left claw and another in his right, looking ready to drive the sardines to extinction.
He went into a killing frenzy. Deng Xi swallowed. He didn’t dare touch him anymore.
Thanks to the sardines and the “slaughtering” little mute, Deng Xi had a bountiful dinner. Night soon arrived, and the exhausted Deng Xi fell into a deep sleep in the new nest. He was so tired he even forgot to close the shell lid.
Si Jisheng touched the Light-brain ring on his index finger. He glanced at the soundly sleeping blue mermaid and swam out of the cave noiselessly.
This sea area was bustling during the day but as quiet as a dead land at night. Let alone fish, Si Jisheng saw no sea creatures at all as he swam. The seabed was pitch black; only the cave where Deng Xi lay remained silent. The fish bones that hadn’t been thrown out from the entrance were suddenly pushed by something, falling into the deep canyon. A rustling sound disturbed the silence of the dark as the currents were moved soundlessly.
A cold sensation entwined around Deng Xi’s wrist and climbed up his forearm. The mermaid sleeping in the shell was slowly being dragged. Because of the water, the dragged Deng Xi floated in the sea without being disturbed. He was pulled out of the cave and into the darkness of the deep rift valley.
After leaving the cave, Si Jisheng stopped near a coral reef. He opened his Light-brain, quickly finished a draft of his statement, and opened the audio interface. Having successfully produced a decent sound the night before, he wasn’t in a hurry even though only one day remained. He made full psychological preparations, recited the statement in his heart several times, took a deep breath, and began recording.
Without warning…
“Requesting call to XH4-84, General Bor—” “Requesting call to XH5-85, Major Omar—” “Requesting call…” “Requesting call…”
Memories invaded Si Jisheng’s brain like clutching vines, pouring from his mouth and nose. An invisible pair of large hands covered his eyes, plunging his vision into darkness, then covered his lips so no sound could escape his throat. Si Jisheng’s lips trembled as he opened his mouth blankly. He clearly wasn’t speaking, yet voices were everywhere; countless “Requesting call—” flooded in, weaving a cold, dense web in his brain.
Thousands of names were jumbled in his mind, each one a time bomb detonating in his heart. Because he lost control on the battlefield, the Empire was defeated, causing the owners of these names to die pointlessly in a battle destined to be lost.
Guilt? Shame? Agony? It was deserved.
His ear-fins seemed to lose the strength to flap. As a Jiao-man, Si Jisheng was about to become a drowning man in the ocean; the sense of suffocation oppressed his tense nerves every second. He took a heavy, deep breath, forcing a sliver of sound from his throat with great effort. Meaningless “ugh” sounds echoed in the vast sea; they were like a saw with blunt teeth, each syllable scraping the vocal cords.
It was too noisy. He couldn’t hear what he was saying, so he couldn’t utter a single accurate word, only able to growl like a monster.
“Little mute?”
A voice abruptly pierced through the entire noisy web, striking with absolute precision so Si Jisheng could hear it.
“Do not hesitate, do not fear, and do not shrink back.” “Are you unhappy?” “I hope it can accompany you on behalf of the ocean and me.” “Discard all your bad emotions to it.”
The silver tail fin suddenly flicked. The silver merman moved like an arrow from a bow, traveling swiftly through the currents. In just a few minutes, Si Jisheng returned to their new nest.
He stopped at the entrance for a long while before swimming slowly through the darkness into the nest. He stopped before his seaweed bed and picked up the exquisite, small conch. In the pitch black, Si Jisheng couldn’t see the patterns on the shell; he rubbed it with his fingertips, controlling his strength to prevent his Jiao-man power from crushing it in the next second.
Si Jisheng suddenly wanted to look at the blue mermaid. He turned toward the shell—and his gaze froze.
The shell was empty. The blue mermaid was gone.
Si Jisheng’s thoughts snapped back to reality in this instant. He caught a strange scent of a sea creature in the cave, and his silver vertical pupils constricted dangerously.
The pressure from the top of the entire galactic food chain descended upon this ocean without warning. In this instant, every sea creature in the area hiding in the shadows began to tremble; a sense of dread rose from their bones, and their very souls felt the shiver.