Once a living bivalve is dehydrated, it can only survive for a single day under high temperatures. For deep-sea creatures, the typical human-suited temperature of twenty-something degrees Celsius is already considered a “high temperature” period. If the room temperature is as low as zero to a few degrees, they can survive for about three days.
Unfortunately, the next day a great sun rose over the sea; the sky was clear for ten thousand miles, the mist had completely dissipated, and sunlight flooded the entire ocean.
Fortunately, when Deng Xi dragged the Little Mute to check right after waking up, the Giant Clam had already fully opened—and would never automatically close again. One could clearly see the moist white clam meat and internal organs inside.
Deng Xi’s eyes lit up.
The meat of a Giant Clam is incredibly delicious and comes in massive quantities. He and the Little Mute could eat for a long time. The last time Deng Xi ate a Giant Clam was back when he found the shell bed he currently slept in. It took him several days to finish that large shell; he didn’t have to go hunting and had meat to eat for every single meal.
Deng Xi generously prepared to share the majority with the Little Mute. Recalling his previous experiences, he used a small stone shard to slice away all the internal organs from inside the shell.
In the past, Deng Xi would have simply hugged the large piece of meat and gnawed on it raw. Now, he had learned to be refined and elegant like the Little Mute, using the stone shard to cut a thin slice of meat and handing it to him.
He waited for a moment, only to find that the Little Mute didn’t take it.
Deng Xi turned his head to see the silver-tail looking down at the clam meat on the rock with his eyelids lowered, though his gaze wasn’t truly focused on anything. It was as if he were lost in thought.
It was a bit strange; normally, handling food was the Little Mute’s job, yet now that Deng Xi had finished the task himself, the silver-tail showed no reaction.
Deng Xi reached out his other hand and waved it in front of the Little Mute’s eyes. Si Jisheng lifted his gaze slightly and instinctively tilted his head—a gesture of confusion. It was a movement he had learned from Deng Xi, but now it had become a habit.
So well-behaved.
Deng Xi’s eyes curved. He tentatively moved the thin slice held by his fingertips toward the silver-tail’s lips, attempting to feed the somewhat adorable Little Mute.
The cool clam meat was pressed against his lips, and Si Jisheng instinctively parted them slightly. The expressionless, icy Naga was fed a mouthful of sweet and savory meat by the gold-haired, blue-tailed little mermaid.
The moment the taste buds exploded in his mouth, Si Jisheng finally snapped out of it. He realized belatedly that he was being fed by the Blue Naga like a pet.
Si Jisheng’s fingertips twitched, and his Adam’s apple rolled slightly as he stiffly swallowed the unfamiliar meat. He took a deep breath, preparing to handle the Giant Clam himself.
But Deng Xi, having experienced the joy of feeding, snatched the silver-tail’s hand away and insisted, “Let me do it, let me do it!” Deng Xi volunteered, “I’ve already learned how!”
He was super smart! He could definitely handle the task! The Blue Naga’s spirits seemed very high.
Si Jisheng pressed his thin lips together, his expression stiff. Deng Xi used the stone shard to slice another piece of meat and held it to the silver-tail’s lips. “Aah—”
Just like coaxing a child.
Si Jisheng’s expression grew even colder, his entire body radiating an icy aura. Yet Deng Xi wasn’t afraid at all, staring expectantly at him, seemingly determined to play out this game of “house.”
In the end, Si Jisheng opened his lips a tiny amount, and Deng Xi swiftly popped the meat inside. The sweet clam meat was swallowed uncomfortably by Si Jisheng, like swallowing a stone—even though it was delicious.
Deng Xi’s wet gold hair blew in the headwind, a few strands sticking to his smiling eyes, his soft dimples, and his small, pinkish nose. He suddenly reached out and poked at Si Jisheng’s long, sullen face, pressing against the skin at the corner of his mouth to hook it upward.
“Don’t be angry anymore.”
Deng Xi felt he was being too naughty by teasing the Little Mute on purpose. He withdrew his hand and placed the stone shard into Si Jisheng’s palm. “The Little Mute can feed me too.”
There were still wet fingerprints left by the Blue Naga on his face. Si Jisheng wiped them away with the back of his hand and let out a very soft sigh before he began preparing the large shell.
Upon inspection, he realized Deng Xi had handled it very well. The stone shard in his hand had been sharpened, the organs that needed removal had been tossed away, and the meat was sliced into appropriate thicknesses and arranged in rows.
It was truly difficult to imagine that less than a month ago, Deng Xi was a Blue Naga who only knew how to live like a predator, eating raw fish on sight.
Deng Xi was actually very clever. He accepted new things very quickly, whether it was the silver-tail or that iron ring. His learning ability was also strong; as long as he saw the silver-tail process food once, he could replicate it the next time. Though he was a bit clumsy, he generally didn’t make mistakes. He was also well-suited to discarding bad habits, no longer eating food without processing it first.
The Blue Naga was actually very well-suited to being brought into a new world. It might be dangerous, it might be noisy, and for a Blue Naga, it would be completely foreign.
But he would be there.
Si Jisheng’s brow furrowed slightly as he picked up a thin slice of clam meat and held it to Deng Xi’s lips. Piece after piece, until the aggrieved voice of Deng Xi suddenly sounded in his ear: “Little Mute, I can’t eat anymore.”
Si Jisheng realized he had been lost in thought again. Deng Xi gently pushed away the hand feeding him, his blue eyes clear. “You haven’t eaten yet. Quick, you eat.”
Si Jisheng slowly shook his head again. Deng Xi was puzzled. “Does the Little Mute not want to eat?”
Si Jisheng shook his head once more. He was refusing a different question.
Si Jisheng looked at the azure sky and the deep blue ocean. Further away, the sea and sky merged into a single line, the color transition looking just like the Blue Naga’s fish tail—clean and soft like nature itself, without a trace of pollution.
Si Jisheng’s tense brow relaxed slightly as he began to eat. For a fleeting moment, Deng Xi felt that the Little Mute seemed a tiny bit more relaxed.
Deng Xi blinked his dazed eyes.
After finishing their meal, they sliced off the remaining half of the clam meat and wrapped it in seagrass. Deng Xi held the meat while Si Jisheng dragged the shell. Together they returned to the nest. Deng Xi placed the silver-tail’s seagrass bed into his own exquisite old shell, then moved the seagrass that had originally been in the old shell into the new one.
He clapped his hands in a finished gesture. Looking back, he saw that the silver-tail had dragged the shell into a corner. Deng Xi glanced at his own lonely shell bed in the middle of the large open space. The silver-tail turned and swam out of the nest, not saying where he was going.
Deng Xi, who had been obediently tidying the new bed on the surface but secretly watching the silver-tail in the shadows, instantly had his eyes light up.
Action!
Deng Xi swam to the old shell that the silver-tail had easily dragged to the corner. He placed both hands on the lid and counted in his heart: 1, 2, 3! Start!!!
The little mermaid used every ounce of his strength, his entire face turning red with effort. Blue-purple veins surfaced on his pale skin, making him look even more fragile. Deng Xi’s fingertips turned white from gripping so hard as he tried desperately to pull and pull.
A minute later, the old shell remained motionless. Deng Xi collapsed onto the lid, exhausted.
When he had first moved this shell, he had asked a great whale for transport and then called a dolphin to help him nudge the shell into the nest with its head. It turned out the shell hadn’t gotten lighter—the Little Mute was just incredibly strong.
Deng Xi rested for a while and changed his strategy. He closed the shell and changed direction. Since he couldn’t pull it, maybe pushing would work? The little mermaid swung his blue tail fin frantically, stirring up the currents inside the nest. When Si Jisheng returned, he saw Deng Xi slumped on the old shell about half a meter from where it started, his gills fluttering rapidly as if he were utterly exhausted.
Si Jisheng slowly closed his eyes and paused at the nest entrance without entering. The moment Deng Xi saw the silver-tail return, he snapped up from the shell and hid his hands behind his back, head lowered. “I… I wanted to… I’m sorry.”
The old shell was the Little Mute’s shell now; it was very impolite to move it without permission.
Si Jisheng’s expression didn’t change. He swam over, placed his hand on the shell, and then watched Deng Xi silently. Deng Xi suddenly understood the Little Mute’s meaning; the other didn’t care and was instead asking what he wanted to do so he could help.
The dejected little mermaid smiled again. Deng Xi pointed to a spot beside his new shell. “I want to move it next to my shell. I want to sleep with the Little Mute.”
Si Jisheng’s breathing hitched. He looked at the Blue Naga smiling foolishly, realizing the other had no idea how ambiguous that sentence was.
Once the silver-tail silently dragged the old shell to the designated spot, Deng Xi sat on his wide-open rose-red shell, his long blue tail curled on the ground, his gold hair drifting with the seawater. Now, Deng Xi and Si Jisheng’s shells were side-by-side, about a meter apart, opening toward each other. When Si Jisheng sat down too, they were facing each other, the distance reduced to practically nothing.
Deng Xi was very happy, swaying his fish tail. “Little Mute, where did you go just now?”
Si Jisheng lowered his eyes and opened his palm. Inside was some clay and several colorful coral branches. Because he had dug the soil with his hands, the crevices of his fingers were black with dirt.
Deng Xi was momentarily stunned, pointing at himself. “For me?”
Si Jisheng nodded and handed them over. Deng Xi cupped his hands to take them, and his own palms were soon smeared with the clay. He accepted them with great care, not minding the dirt at all. He knew this was a tool the Little Mute had specifically found for him to decorate the new shell.
Deng Xi turned sideways, cautiously using a coral branch to dab some clay. “Hmm…” He thought hard. “Where should I stick it?”
Si Jisheng watched silently as the Blue Naga busied himself decorating the new bed. A multi-colored rose-red shell, paired with colorful coral branches and messy black clay… though Deng Xi racked his brain and kept changing the spots, it didn’t look good at all. Its aesthetic value had dropped several levels below the old shell.
Even Si Jisheng, who usually didn’t care about appearances, couldn’t help but look away.
Deng Xi worked for half the day with no results, only succeeding in getting clay smudges all over his face, turning into a messy little mermaid. He didn’t care at all, curving his lips in a smile.
Suddenly, a hand reached from behind and pulled down a cluster of coral Deng Xi had just managed to stick on. Deng Xi’s eyes widened, and he got angry: “Little Mute! What are you doing?”
The hand paused. Si Jisheng pointed at the two shells; even without words, he visually demonstrated the difference between them. Deng Xi understood. “Does the Little Mute think it’s ugly?” He stuck the coral back on, swam a short distance away, and let the decorated shell be presented perfectly before the silver-tail.
The gold-haired, blue-tailed little mermaid tilted his head and laughed. “But I think it’s very pretty. We searched for a long, long time to find this shell together, and the coral branches were specifically found and given to me by the Little Mute.”
“It’s clearly very meaningful and very beautiful.”
Beautiful? Si Jisheng’s brow furrowed in confusion.
Deng Xi explained, “It’s not beautiful because of its appearance, but because the Little Mute is here, so it looks good.”
Si Jisheng’s silver eyes went blank for a moment as if he had just realized something.
Deng Xi continued, “Because the Little Mute is here, I dare to move to a dangerous stretch of sea with lots of fish. This shell will be a commemorative item of the Little Mute living in our new home forever and ever.”
If not for him… Deng Xi would still be a pitiful Blue Naga, never having enough to eat, a carnivore forced to eat seagrass every day.
If he weren’t here… Deng Xi would still be afraid of those large creatures, constantly chased by dangerous sea life. Even if he were terrified, he would have to sing, and if one day the song failed to work… then after he was gone, Deng Xi would die in a place he could never see.
Si Jisheng had never recognized so clearly just how weak the Blue Naga before him truly was; without him, life would be incredibly difficult.
The silver-tail slowly raised his hand, stroking Deng Xi’s cheek. He used his fingertip to gently wipe away the mud spots on the little mermaid’s face—spots that only highlighted just how clean Deng Xi naturally was. Si Jisheng wiped them all away, knowing that without these smudges, the Blue Naga would become even cleaner.
In a raspy voice, Si Jisheng murmured very softly, “Deng… Xi?”
Deng Xi’s eyes lit up, and he nodded. “Mm-hmm!” I’m here.
Si Jisheng repeated the sentence in his heart many times. Because it was so long, it took a great deal of time to make his broken speech system pronounce it smoothly. The first time, the second, the third… the tenth… Every time the words came out, even Si Jisheng himself couldn’t understand them. Yet Deng Xi looked up, never tiring, listening intently to each attempt as if he could never get enough.
On the thirty-sixth time, Si Jisheng finally managed to utter a somewhat normal sentence: “If… I have to leave… for a very distant… place.”
“Will you come with me… and go together?”
Through those thirty-six attempts, the anticipation in Deng Xi’s eyes never faltered, reflecting only the figure of the Little Mute trying his best to move forward just a little bit each time.
Deng Xi curved his eyes and smiled. “Where are we going?”
Si Jisheng rasped, “Very… far… very… far.”
“Sure.”.