MASG chapter 9

 

Unable to touch the bottom, Xia Yu forgot how to dive for a moment.

Thanks to the jellyfish DNA, diving had always been his strong point. During his years at the research institute, his happiest times were spent studying swimming, though now it had become his way of escaping.

Sure enough, Mo An had just reminded him!

Xia Yu accidentally swallowed a large mouthful of filthy water, the taste almost made him vomit. Countless leeches crawled quickly toward him as if they possessed artificial intelligence, not just crawling aimlessly.

“Ah! Help!” There was nothing under Mi Dou’s feet, so he flailed about in fright and lost his composure completely. He nearly forgot how to breathe as water constantly rushed into his mouth and out again.

The fish egg behind him began to move, the sensation was very obvious. The little fry inside seemed to be experiencing extreme pain.

The umbilical cord connected Mo An’s navel to the inner wall of the egg. Though the surrounding water was still the original amniotic fluid, the external water quality had already changed. The fish egg, which should have been developing in the deep sea, was in contact with human sewage for the first time. A creature that lived in the water was experiencing an unprecedented sense of suffocation.

His long, soft ear fins were hidden behind his ears again, as if he were unable to spread them out. His pale blue hands grasped wildly as he tried to chase away the foul smell in the water.

Unlike human fingers, mermaid fingers are naturally sharp with obvious webbing between them, like a thin layer of pale blue skin. At his most painful moment, Mo An looked toward Xia Yu’s shadow not far away.

Xia Yu had not given up.

He was still desperately paddling, carrying Mi Dou along. It was far more exhausting than swimming by himself. The opposite shore was more than two meters away and felt even farther. They were on the verge of being swept away by the current and were clinging tightly to each other.

“Follow me, follow me…” Xia Yu encouraged Mi Dou, but he accidentally swallowed another mouthful of dirty water. Mi Dou was faring even worse, frequently sinking entirely under the water and disappearing. Xia Yu floated on his back, kicking continuously and gripping Mi Dou tightly with both hands.

A jellyfish wouldn’t die in water—jellyfish floated best of all. Xia Yu encouraged himself, too, but what was happening on shore was horrifying enough to chill the bones.

The man’s lower half was gone—only his chest, arms, and head were propped on the ground.

“Hahaha, why can’t I see? Where are my eyes? Hahaha… I don’t want to be the lowest, I don’t want to, hahaha this is fine, take as much as you want, I don’t want to be… hehehehe…” He laughed madly, his laughter manic. It was as if a huge monster inside his body was sucking him dry. His facial features collapsed completely and several bloody holes appeared.

He shrank, his body melting into leeches—muscle, bone, and fat all turning into them. The leeches were everywhere, crawling out of the holes in his face—the eye sockets, nose, mouth, and ears—all of which had become nests for them.

They were densely packed, coiling within one another and spreading everywhere. Finally, his entire body disappeared, leaving only countless leeches that wriggled rapidly toward the waterway like a red woolen carpet. Xia Yu’s body tingled, and he could sense the leeches crawling onto him.

Cold, soft leeches clung to his skin. That wasn’t enough for them, they tried to bore into his ears, mouth, and nostrils. They attached themselves to his blood vessels and nasal passages and burrowed toward his brain. Xia Yu stared in horror as the leeches ate the man alive from the inside. Shocked to the core, he suddenly bit his tongue.

It didn’t hurt, but it was enough to snap him out of it.

“Mi Dou! Come! Swim!” Xia Yu floated on his back, kicking in the water. No matter what that thing was, they couldn’t die here. Power Plant No. 3 was just ahead. There, they would be safe.

It’ll be safe there. Safe. Safe. Xia Yu repeated this in his mind until his head finally hit the hard bricks of the opposite shore.

Here we are! Xia Yu momentarily let go with one hand to cling to the shore. The climb was laborious, and he slipped several times. Finally, he made it and was about to pull Mi Dou up when he saw that the leeches had already reached the shore and dozens were jumping into the water.

They could swim! Xia Yu was in despair. He had thought that crossing the waterway meant survival, but he never expected this.

“Mi Dou, hurry up! I’ll help you!” With no time to think, Xia Yu pulled Mi Dou up. However, the fish egg was still in the water, and Mi Dou’s fist was tightly gripping Xia Yu’s lab coat. Mi Dou began coughing violently. Before he could catch his breath, Xia Yu forcefully turned his round little face.

“You run. You’re strong. Take Mo An and leave. I…I’ll hold them off!” Xia Yu stammered, shivering. Since Professor Wang Qin was covering the rear, Xia Yu could also let others survive.

Mi Dou shook his head. He was coughing too hard to speak. One hand clutched the sleeve of the lab coat. The other hand clutched Xia Yu. His meaning was clear—if they were leaving, they were all leaving together.

“I’m going to die. You must raise Mo An. Don’t break your word.” Xia Yu was already crying. He knew the price of staying behind all too well—that the leeches would devour his little body completely, leaving not a drop of blood or a single bone. The process would certainly be painful. He only hoped he could bear it.

Mi Dou and Mo An must not go through that pain. Xia Yu cried as he tugged up his lab coat sleeve. He imagined himself torn full of holes. His hands trembled so much that he didn’t notice anything unusual when he touched the fish egg until he saw that Mi Dou’s hands were trembling too.

Only then did Xia Yu realize—this trembling was not normal.

The leeches were close, already halfway across the waterway. Suddenly, the fish egg began to emit a faint blue glow. Touching it caused a tingling numbness that made their hands tremble.

It felt like… an electric shock?

Both Xia Yu and Mi Dou noticed this. As the fish egg glowed, the silhouette of the mermaid infant inside became clearer, revealing its curled posture. Along with the sound of flowing water, there was a faint electric crackle, as if a leaking circuit were constantly sparking.

The faint blue light grew brighter. Since the egg was still underwater, it looked like a dazzling jewel—like a blue moon with a halo. It was beautiful yet dangerous, beautiful yet unreal.

Xia Yu blinked, and in that instant, he seemed to see scales and a tail fin that he hadn’t seen clearly before.

The scales were real, each edged with a blue glow as if sprinkled with luminous powder. But Xia Yu was more shocked by the mermaid’s tail fin extending downward from beneath the fish tail. Its exact shape was unclear since the tail was curled tightly.

Blinking again, Xia Yu saw real sparks arcing across the egg’s surface.

The dangerous situation reversed in an instant. The leeches that had almost reached the shore turned around and fled desperately to the opposite bank. They moved much faster than before, as if even a second’s delay would mean electrocution. With a rustling commotion, they scattered and disappeared into the cracks of the wall.

Xia Yu, who had been prepared to die, stood stunned.

Mi Dou was dumbfounded as well. Could they really be safe in just a few seconds? The urgent task now was to pull Mo An out of the water. The egg seemed aware too, afraid its sparks might shock Xia Yu, and it quietly dimmed.

Once they were certain there was no leakage, they pulled Mo An up together. They were too drained to take another step and gasped for air.

“So scary.” After a while, Mi Dou spoke. “What was that? Bugs?”

“I don’t know, but it was so scary.” Xia Yu’s heart pounded wildly. “But I think it might be related to the ‘parasite host’ Jingwei mentioned. That man must have been hiding something.”

Mi Dou nodded. “Yeah, luckily you were here. But what about Mo An? Why did he change color? Was he leaking electricity? Has he always been like this?”

“I…I don’t know.” Xia Yu could only shake his head. “Back at the institute, he never did this, otherwise, Professor Wang Qin would have recorded it. The X series was useless. I was just a little scrap. But Mo An is amazing.”

As soon as Xia Yu finished speaking, he saw the fishtail inside the egg move. It was clearly communicating with the outside. But why did it suddenly glow and leak electricity? Xia Yu had no clue. The only answer he could think of was that Mo An was about to hatch.

He had slept in the egg for so many years. Was it time to break out?

Really? Could it be? Had he hatched Mo An?

“What do we do next?” Mi Dou asked the hard question.

“Let me think. Don’t rush me.” Xia Yu hugged the egg and rested with Mo An while thinking. “I think we should find Power Plant No. 3 first. Then, after waiting a while, we can leave, right?”

“But it’s dangerous outside.” Mi Dou rubbed his wound and longed for his mother.

“But, that man said the Great Purge is over, the resisting humans killed, and the rest should be able to live. As long as we never resist, we won’t be killed. Besides, we’re genetically modified humans, not the lowest rank.” Xia Yu quickly thought of a way forward. “Rest some more, then we’ll keep going.”

There was only this road, no other way existed. Xia Yu closed his eyes and softly blew on the scratches on the egg’s surface, patting it now and then. Was his little fry about to hatch? When it came out of the egg, would he be able to see its tail and scales clearly?

Would he still be alive when it hatched? Would he still be able to protect it?

Through the translucent egg membrane, Mo An pressed his forehead against Xia Yu’s. After such upheaval, the fry had woken prematurely and was unable to adapt to the light. His tail was still bonded to the membrane, and his umbilical cord was still intact. Under normal circumstances, it would take years before he could leave the egg’s protection.

But he feared he could not wait that long. The little jellyfish looked so fragile.

Unless he risked forced hatching… Mo An closed his weary eyes and fainted from hunger.

Half an hour later, Xia Yu and Mi Dou set out again. They followed the passageway forward and walked for what seemed like forever before reaching the very bottom. A door blocked their way. It looked aged and dilapidated.

“Is this an electronic door?” Mi Dou asked, pointing to the cracked screen.

“It seems so, but not like the institute’s doors.” Xia Yu patted the screen. “Can you pull it open?”

“I’ll try!” Mi Dou gripped the handle with both hands and pulled several times, but the door didn’t budge.

“No good. This door has an electronic lock. It’s definitely sturdier than before. The problem is that it looks like it has no power.” Xia Yu was more familiar with such devices, the institute was full of them.

Having lived in the mines, Mi Dou had no idea what to do. “Then how do we give it power?”

Yes, how do we give it power? Xia Yu thought, his gaze silently shifting to the fish egg.

Minutes later, after charging by close contact, the electronic screen lit up fully. With a click, the door opened.

“It really can charge with Mo An!” Mi Dou hugged the egg again, marveling at Xia Yu’s cleverness.

“Yeah, Mo An is amazing!” Xia Yu slipped through the gap at once, pulling Mi Dou along. They shut the door behind them and both exclaimed, “Wow!” as a wave of hunger swept over them.

They had entered a small storeroom filled with cans and bottled water.

Mo An, drained after discharging, fainted once more. As he blacked out completely, only one thought remained in his mind—hatching.

Unconsciously, three cracks appeared on each side of his neck. These were closed gill clefts that were supposed to open again in a few years. Now, they had opened to a 1 mm gap. The unused gills were still deflated and not engorged, resembling small white pockets.