The conch lay abandoned beneath the gray sands of the ocean floor, its smooth, polished spirals once again covered by grit and silt, completely enshrouded in darkness.
Before leaving, Deng Xi couldn’t resist glancing back one last time. The sandy seabed stretched for kilometers, littered with a dense carpet of shells; a tiny conch wedged among them was far too insignificant. At a glance, nothing could be seen.
This conch was Deng Xi’s absolute favorite. Its spirals were intricate, its vortex orderly, and it possessed a beautiful blue-green hue speckled with bits of pearly white.
It was a very rare specimen.
Deng Xi only had this one. He had given his only one to Little Mute, and he had no second shell of equal beauty to offer.
“Little Mute, how about we look for it a bit more?” Deng Xi turned around, wanting to ask the silver-tail if he wanted to stay. “Or you can go back to eat first, and I’ll”
The space behind the little merman was empty; the silver-tail had already swum away at some unknown point.
Deng Xi blinked blankly, frozen in place with a sense of helplessness. The silver-tail’s swimming speed was much faster than his; in just a few short seconds, he had already swum very, very far—a distance Deng Xi’s short little tail could never hope to catch.
In the past, Little Mute would never have left him behind to go on alone, but today he had swum off first without a word. Deng Xi thought that it must be because the conch was lost; Little Mute was likely a bit unhappy.
Deng Xi flicked his tail fin and followed, but because he swum so slowly and the silver-tail had no intention of waiting for him, he could only watch as the distance between himself and Little Mute grew wider and wider.
The silver-tail seemed very, very unhappy.
Deng Xi wondered if there was another conch in his collection that could also let one hear the sound of the waves and look just as good. As he thought, he swung his tail fin, doing his level best to catch up with the silver-tail.
Gradually, Deng Xi went from being able to see the silver-tail clearly to only seeing a vague outline, and finally, there was only a glint of silver before he vanished completely into the churning waves.
Deng Xi had no strength left. He could only stop and drift with the current. After resting for a while, he realized he had been swept away to somewhere unknown by the waves.
In the vast, boundless ocean, the underwater “architecture” changed every moment. Deng Xi had only moved to this sea area a few days ago and was not yet familiar with the surroundings.
In short, Deng Xi was lost.
The little merman bobbed up and down in the water, his head spinning. He couldn’t distinguish the correct direction to swim and was so tired he wanted to just sink into the sea right then and there.
Deng Xi suddenly felt as if the entire ocean held only himself again, empty and hollow. He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes; seawater smeared across his face and flowed down his cheeks.
He was a little tired, and a little sleepy.
He wanted to rest.
His stomach was also grumbling loudly.
He wanted to eat.
Deng Xi sank into the water, wanting to look around for some edible seaweed to fill his stomach first.
When the underwater world suddenly unfolded before his eyes, Deng Xi couldn’t help but rub his eyes again, suspecting he had seen wrong.
That glint of silver, which usually vanished in a blink, was waiting quietly in the distance.
Deng Xi’s eyes lit up.
Little Mute had been on the seabed the whole time; he hadn’t abandoned him.
Deng Xi stopped looking for food. He swam toward that flash of bright silver, and the moment they returned to his familiar sea area, the silver light vanished from sight.
Deng Xi felt much more at ease than before. He found some edible seaweed, nibbled on a few seaweed balls to replenish his strength, and then swam toward the nest.
Upon returning to the nest…
Deng Xi discovered that the clam meat he had left behind hadn’t been touched by the silver-tail. Instead, Little Mute had placed it atop his own new shell.
As for the old shell, the silver-tail had dragged it back into the corner, its opening facing the wall. From Deng Xi’s perspective, he could only see the translucent silver, fan-shaped tail fin draping out of the shell.
Little Mute was sulking in the corner.
Deng Xi’s eyes curved. He took the clam meat, swam quietly over the old shell, and leaned over the cover to look down. “Little Mute?”
Si Jisheng’s fish tail was curled on the seaweed bed. He sat in the shell facing the corner wall, listening to the movement behind him. He silently turned off his optical computer and turned his head coldly to look up.
Deng Xi: “Are you hungry?”
He let go, and the clam meat drifted and sank through the seawater, landing precisely in front of Si Jisheng.
Deng Xi spoke with the gravity of an adult, “Even if you’re angry, you can’t skip meals. I’ve already eaten; I’m not hungry, you don’t need to save it for me.”
Si Jisheng’s silver eyes lowered slightly. He took the clam meat into his hand, and his long, sharp claws suddenly extended. In a blink, he tore the clam meat into pieces.
It looked particularly frightening.
But Deng Xi wasn’t afraid at all, nor was he scared away. “Little Mute, I don’t have any other conchs.”
On his way back to the nest, Deng Xi had already thought it over carefully. He had no better-looking conch in his collection, but since it was lost, he would surely have to find a better one to replace the old one so the silver-tail wouldn’t be angry anymore.
Deng Xi thought for a bit. “I’ll find a new conch to give to Little Mute.”
The silver-tail kept his head lowered, staring at the clam meat in his fingertips, neither nodding nor shaking his head. He gave no response at all.
Deng Xi suddenly leaned down, his tail fin pointing toward the roof of the nest. He braced himself easily against the shell cover, his body tilting down as he reached out to pat the top of the silver-tail’s head.
The floating silver strands were exceptionally soft and unexpectedly nice to touch.
Deng Xi’s touch was very light, sweeping across the top of his head like a feather. Si Jisheng’s body stiffened. He slowly raised his head to look, meeting Deng Xi’s blue eyes—which were curved despite his exhaustion—and heard his voice, very light and soft: “I’m not angry, so Little Mute isn’t allowed to be angry either.”
The gift Deng Xi had given was lost, yet Deng Xi wasn’t angry at all; instead, he was comforting the Little Mute he thought was throwing a tantrum. But he had no idea that the silver-tail’s thoughts were the complete opposite of his own.
Si Jisheng hid the fleeting flicker of self-mockery in his eyes.
Deng Xi didn’t receive a response from the silver-tail. In the silence, he swam a helpless circle over the old shell. Seeing that the silver-tail still refused to acknowledge him, he had to swim back slowly and shrink into his new shell.
Under the quiet, oppressive atmosphere, he silently closed his large shell, curled up on the seaweed bed, and dejectedly hugged his big tail, hiding his face behind his back.
A merman’s emotions are very sensitive.
Deng Xi felt that Little Mute seemed to be angry with him.
So angry that he didn’t want to talk to him anymore.
But Deng Xi had no idea what he had done or how he had made the silver-tail unhappy. He hated being distanced for no reason, but he was the one who said from the beginning that he had to be patient with Little Mute because he couldn’t speak.
Deng Xi closed his eyes, feeling very, very tired.
Maybe things will be better tomorrow?
The nest remained silent for a long, long time.
Only then did Si Jisheng leave the old shell, swimming out of the nest with very light movements. Before leaving, he stared at the tightly closed rose-pink shell for a long time.
The silver-tail turned and swam away.
Not long after Si Jisheng left, the rose-pink shell suddenly opened a crack, and a pair of blue eyes peeked out.
Deng Xi, clutching his big tail, hadn’t actually fallen asleep. Instead, he had heard the movement outside the shell. He watched the silver-tail’s departing figure, thought for a moment, and secretly followed.
But the silver-tail’s speed was far too fast. No matter how he tried, Deng Xi couldn’t catch up and lost him after a short while.
Deng Xi thought quietly for a moment, then suddenly flicked his tail fin and swum in one specific direction, never stopping even when he grew tired.
He returned to the gray underwater sand he had visited during the day.
In the same place, he saw the same flash of bright silver.
Deng Xi saw Little Mute, who had secretly swum out behind his back to return here and look for the conch.