The soft humming of a mermaid slowly rose in the silent depths of the sea. Deng Xi’s voice was trembling and laced with traces of sobbing, fluctuating in volume as he sang purely by instinct.
Yet, it was still beautiful.
The seawater carried the low, light, and tuneless melody far across the ocean. The seabed, which had been boiling with the threat brought by the silver merman, seemed to regain its tranquility.
A mermaid’s song is a gift from the sea to their kind. It is as inclusive, gentle, and peaceful as the ocean itself, nurturing new life within the silence of all things. Whenever Deng Xi encountered dangerous large sea creatures he couldn’t handle, he would hum a few bars of this tuneless song if the situation allowed. The healing power within the mermaid’s song would cause them to temporarily lose all desire to attack. Often, no matter how fierce the sea creature, it would become as well-behaved as the clingy little jellyfish Deng Xi kept as pets.
Si Jisheng’s tense shoulders and neck slowly relaxed to the sound of the soft singing in his ear. The “berserk factors” in his mental strength gradually subsided, replaced by a sharpened sense of touch. He became keenly aware of the warm body behind him—the youth holding him tightly with both hands, fingertips white from the force of the grip, and tail fins locked together.
Despite being a negligible force compared to his own, the silver merman was easily restrained within this warm embrace. It was an embrace that carried the scent of the sea: peaceful and sincere.
In the dim, quiet seabed, golden hair and silver strands danced and intertwined in the water. The silver-tailed merman stood hollow-eyed in the sea while the blue-tailed mermaid, having swum through the turbulent currents, held him firmly from behind.
The low humming lasted for an unknown length of time before an exhausted Deng Xi finally stopped. His emotions had fluctuated too violently today, and he had endured many scares; swimming back and forth between the two sea regions for so long had left him utterly drained. Deng Xi blinked his tear-reddened eyes, feeling an indescribable soreness. Even his singing had carried a hint of drowsiness.
The hostility radiating from the silver-tail gradually vanished. Even when the song stopped, there were no further abnormalities. Deng Xi tentatively let go of his hands and carefully uncurled his tail. However, the resting beast moved slightly, scaring Deng Xi into hugging him again, which caused the silver merman to settle down once more.
Although the song had ended, the natural affinity inherent to the mermaid race continued to work.
Deng Xi held him for a long time before trying to let go again. He reached out and patted the silver merman’s head, coaxing him clumsily, “Little Mute, be good.” While smoothing the other’s hair, the little mermaid requested in a tiny voice, “Don’t move.”
The movement of stroking the silver hair was very gentle. Subconsciously, the silver merman rubbed his head slightly against Deng Xi’s palm. Feeling this, Deng Xi’s weary blue eyes curved into a soft smile as he praised, “Mm, very good.”
Deng Xi took Si Jisheng’s hand. He did not avoid the merman’s sharp, pointed claws at all; instead, he interlaced his soft, tender fingers with them. Their fingers locked together, held tightly. The sense of security lost when the embrace ended was now replenished.
The silver merman became quiet once more.
Deng Xi held his hand, intending to swim away from this sea region. Before they could move, the silver-tail leaned down and picked up the conch fragments from the gray sand, clutching them tightly in his palm.
Si Jisheng uncomfortably rubbed his thumb joint. To the naked eye, there was nothing there, but when touched, it felt distinctly metallic. The device worn on his hand seemed to be continuously heating up, and it even began to vibrate rapidly and slightly. However, the irrational silver merman merely gave it a glance before looking away, disinterested, and turning his gaze back to Deng Xi.
This time, Deng Xi finally succeeded in leading the silver merman away.
Having been guided through this route once before, Deng Xi’s journey back to the nest with the Little Mute went smoothly. He didn’t get lost, and the Little Mute remained well-behaved throughout.
The two sea regions were separated by several kilometers. By the time Deng Xi swam back into the nest, it was late at night. He was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open, and his stomach was growling, but he no longer had the strength to eat.
Deng Xi led the silver-tail to sit on the shell. He tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn’t; the silver-tail was staring at him intently. Deng Xi swam in front of the Little Mute, looking somewhat troubled.
He believed the conch wasn’t thrown away by the Little Mute for no reason. It must have been because the Little Mute was sick and couldn’t control himself. Deng Xi decided to forgive him. He didn’t know when the Little Mute would recover—even if he never got better, Deng Xi wouldn’t stand by and watch his only “kinsman” become a monster with nowhere to go.
He could keep singing to him. He could also go out and work hard to catch fish every day, just like when the Little Mute was injured, bringing food home until the wounds were healed.
The prerequisite was—Deng Xi touched the purple finger marks on his arm and rubbed his tired eyes, saying in a low voice—”The Little Mute has to stay this well-behaved.”
The uncomprehending silver merman followed the blue-tail’s gaze. He reached out a fingertip to touch one of the finger marks, his lowered eyelids appearing somewhat guilty.
Deng Xi: “It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt anymore—”
He paused mid-sentence, eyes widening as the silver merman suddenly took his hand, brought it to his lips, and without warning, slowly licked it with his tongue. Silver hair drifted down beside the merman’s face. From Deng Xi’s angle, he could only see the other’s cold jawline and downcast silver eyes, focused as he licked the marks on Deng Xi’s arm again.
When the thin lips parted slightly, the silver merman’s sharp fangs were visible. His temperature was slightly low, like a snake’s tongue, leaving behind a cool sensation.
Si Jisheng had no rationality left; he was operating purely on animal instinct. In an animal’s mind, if something is hurt, licking it helps it heal faster.
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but smile. Among the mermaid kind, licking each other’s wounds is something only the most, most, most intimate of mermaids do together. This meant that even if the Little Mute had no rationality and couldn’t recognize who he was, his subconscious still placed Deng Xi within his “safe zone.”
Only Deng Xi was allowed into this safe zone. The most intimate existence was also only Deng Xi.
If it could always be like this, that would be nice, Deng Xi thought. Regardless of whether the Little Mute’s illness got better, they could always, always accompany each other, living together in the lonely ocean.
After the silver merman finished licking, he frowned coldly at his vibrating, heating finger joint, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the blue-tail, who had just let out a yawn.
Deng Xi carefully withdrew his hand. Under the gaze of the now-calmed silver merman, he lay down in the new shell, and the shell clicked shut.
“Goodnight.”
The exhausted little mermaid fell into a deep sleep the moment he was immersed in darkness.
Deng Xi did not know that outside, the silver merman stared at the closed shell for a long time, tilting his head in confusion. After a while, he swam to the shell and tentatively reached out to pry it open. Only after seeing Deng Xi sleeping inside with his eyes closed did he quietly close it again.
A while later. He opened it again, took a look, and closed it.
Like a dragon guarding its treasure, terrified that the gold would vanish if it blinked, he had to constantly confirm the treasure was still there to feel at ease. That night, the rose-pink shell was opened an unknown number of times. Because of the heavy physical exertion during the day, Deng Xi slept very soundly and was not woken up.
It wasn’t until the first light of dawn illuminated the seabed that the silver merman—who had remained excited due to his mental breakdown—turned the transparent object on his finger joint with some impatience. It had been restless all night.
He accidentally touched something.
After the heating Light Brain successfully identified the user, the blue screen suddenly flickered. The signal that had been unable to connect was instantly transmitted, and the location was immediately identified and marked.
Detecting that the blue screen posed no threat, the silver merman looked away with disinterest and continued to stare at the shell in front of him. Meanwhile, the blue screen in the water flickered intermittently.
“We’re connected!” “Quickly, contact the Admiral!” “Report, the Admiral still hasn’t issued any orders.”
The Adjutant, looking at the boundless sea, quickly issued an order: “Proceed according to the original plan.”
The cruise ship on the ocean immediately sped toward the coordinate location. Within half an hour, it reached the designated spot. Several fully armed Imperial soldiers put on oxygen tanks and, upon receiving instructions from the Adjutant, immediately jumped into the sea.
Real-time cameras transmitted the seabed scenes to the ship’s hub. The Adjutant, unable to contain his excitement, paced back and forth.
The soldiers dove deeper and deeper following the location displayed on their Light Brains. The footage gradually became dim and blurry until they stopped above a large undersea rift. Staring into the pitch-black abyss, the men waited quietly for instructions.
Adjutant: “Equip weapons. Dive.”
The video shifted into deeper darkness, scanning past blurry coral reefs clinging to the abyss. After diving for an unknown amount of time, the locator gave a “beep.” It indicated they were less than ten meters from the target.
The seaweed covering the cave entrance was moved by human hands. The slight disturbance caused the silver merman to narrow his eyes and look toward the source.
Under the interference of a strong magnetic field, the image hissed with static. Amidst the darkness, a fluorescent jellyfish suddenly flashed. A pair of cold, silver vertical pupils appeared instantly under the lens. That single second of light was enough to make everyone’s skin crawl.
The Adjutant felt a chill down his spine and reacted immediately, shouting, “Everyone! Level One Alert! Get away immediately!!!”
No one dared to come within half a step of the Admiral when he was in a “berserk” state; that would lead to a very ugly death. The Adjutant finally understood why, after the Admiral issued the “Depart Immediately” order and the starship leaped from the Imperial Capital Star to this water-covered planet, they hadn’t received any further replies.
It was because the Admiral had fully transformed (Sirenized). He had completely become a combat machine with nothing but violent factors left in his mental sea.
Just remembering the tragic scenes that occurred in the past when precautions weren’t taken gave the Adjutant goosebumps. He swallowed hard and forced himself to calm down. “Immediately replace all cartridges in the laser guns with sedatives. If necessary, weapons may be fired to restrain him.”
“The cruise ship isn’t equipped with a medical cabin. We must bring the Admiral back to the starship immediately, or the consequences will be unimaginable!”
Inside the dim nest, fluorescent jellyfish flickered. A dozen dark muzzles were aimed at the silver merman in front of the shell.
Danger.
His brain continuously issued warnings, yet the silver merman remained motionless, standing guard in front of the shell behind him.
Several sedatives were instantly fired into his flesh. The once-invincible silver merman collapsed onto the shell. However, the beautiful but fragile shell was shielded by his body; it wasn’t pierced by any of the high-impact projectiles. It remained perfectly intact, resting quietly in its place.
Through the layer of the shell, the silver merman seemed to still be able to feel the steady breathing inside light and shallow, as if the occupant were having a sweet dream, eyes curved and lips pulling into a faint dimple.
Under the assault of the drugs, the silver merman slowly closed his eyes.
“Take him away.”