MASG chapter 105

 

Meng Qingqing and Talos almost screamed at the same time.

“Are you crazy?!” Meng Qingqing rushed in front of Mo An. “This is—”

She was still one step too late. Mo An had already reached his fingers into the aquarium. Talos also held his breath. Despite cheerfully persuading Mi Dou every day, he had never truly believed that a jellyfish could recognize people.

And what “Little Blue”? A jellyfish is just a jellyfish. They have survived on Earth for so long, relying only on the movement of seawater. That’s why they developed powerful toxins, carving out a place for themselves in the ocean’s survival-of-the-fittest ecology.

How could they possibly let a mermaid go?

Light, slender, semi-transparent tentacles wrapped around Mo An’s fingers like a friendly handshake. Mo An was nervous, too, and forgot to breathe for a moment. There was no antidote for the Blue Jellyfish on the ship. If he got stung, would he die on the spot?

Deep down, another voice told him there was no need to be so afraid.

Mo An flexed his fingertips, beginning to actively respond to this tentative interaction. He had witnessed the power of the Blue Jelyfish before. On the day Leviathan hunted him, his entire body had been immersed in the jellyfish’s protective layer. They had bought him enough time to reach adulthood. The largest jellyfish were dozens of meters long, like giant trees of life in the sea. Their blue light was both the glow of death and the hope of life.

He saw them once more in the trench.

How had they found him? It must have been extremely difficult.

Their speed was too slow. They could only rely on ocean currents. They must have drifted for months to find him while he healed. After that, he swam faster to look for Haisiruola, and they could no longer catch up. Who knew if this one appearing on the ship now had come here on purpose? Was it only to deliver the toxin? Or perhaps it was also a kind of waiting.

They possessed the wisdom of the ocean.

With this thought in mind, Mo An boldly grabbed the little jellyfish named “Little Blue” and held it in his hand. It wasn’t big; it was very soft and fragile. Any slight disturbance could injure it, tearing its body into pieces. Mo An didn’t dare use much strength. He held it loosely in his fist, as if holding a raw egg in water.

Most of its body rested in his palm while its tentacles slipped through the gaps between his fingers and tapped against the webbing. Mo An felt a bit itchy. This jellyfish’s toxin could poison many mermaids, yet it was beautiful.

“Do you recognize me?” After a long while, Mo An finally asked it.

After asking, he realized he was being silly. How could a jellyfish answer him? He knew that jellyfish didn’t have organs for making sounds. In other words, if a jellyfish actually spoke in front of him, it would scare him to death.

But as soon as he finished speaking, a faint light suddenly appeared in his palm.

It was a glowing blue light, like a small fluorescent flower blooming and clearly illuminating the lines of his palm. This light didn’t bring death. Instead, it made his palm feel warm.

“It’s responding to me.” This time, Mo An completely believed it. He could feel its pulse, its glowing warmth. “It recognizes me!”

“I told you that Little Blue definitely recognizes people. I said so a long time ago!” Mi Dou was also extremely excited. Before this, his hypothesis was just that—a hypothesis. Now, however, it could be put into action—it had reached the verification stage. Jellyfish are indeed mysterious creatures with collective intelligence. Xia Yu’s memories and emotions had merged with the clan, becoming one.

He was the clan, and the clan was him!

Mo An gently stroked the jellyfish’s tentacles, afraid that one careless move might tear them off. Leaning closer to the aquarium, he could clearly see every detail of the little creature, including the clover-shaped halo inside its body.

“Where are you going to take me? Have you always wanted to find me? Xia Yu is gone—can you feel sad too? You are the same as us… right?” Mo An muttered to himself. “Xia Yu… is he still alive?”

This was Mo An’s heartache. He didn’t dare think about it, only assuming the question didn’t exist. Now that he had recovered his memory, he could recall the scene in which he and Xia Yu were separated. He was the one sinking into the water, and Xia Yu was the one drifting toward the surface. They both tried desperately to hold onto each other, yet they could only watch helplessly as they missed each other.

Had Xia Yu been killed by Nuwa?

No. Mo An denied it himself. Xia Yu was too valuable to Nuwa for that. She wouldn’t do that.

The Little Blue in his palm nearly pressed itself against his wrist, its tentacles drifting aimlessly. It just kept glowing and flashing, but the frequency of the light seemed meaningless. Finally, Mi Dou had a sudden idea. “Should we put it back into the ocean?”

“Put it back?” Mo An turned his head.

“Yes, put it back!” Mi Dou became increasingly excited. “Before, we needed to extract the venom, so we kept it. Now, we should return its freedom! Only when it returns to its clan can it convey our message. Otherwise, how will the jellyfish in the sea understand our intentions?”

“That makes sense.” Mo An lifted Little Blue out of the aquarium.

Everyone followed Mo An onto the deck. With so many mermaids present, the seagulls perched on the horizontal mast didn’t dare fly down. They silently watched this group of dangerous creatures. The skirt of Mo An’s clothing fluttered in the sea breeze. He walked to one side of the railing and lowered his head again to look at the little one.

“Help me find my xla. Help me.” He actually kissed it.

Meng Qingqing couldn’t believe she was witnessing such a scene. A mermaid kissing a jellyfish? And this jellyfish didn’t sting him?

Then, Mo An threw Little Blue into the sea. With a “plop” on the surface, the Blue Jellyfish, which had lived on the ship and among humans for so long, completely returned to its true home. It disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye. Mi Dou pressed both hands on the railing and sighed in disappointment. “Sigh. I thought it would be reluctant to leave me, at least swim around the ship once before leaving.”

“I feel that the Blue Jellyfish has emotions, but not many,” Talos said.

“But over the past few days, we’ve clearly cultivated a deep friendship.” Mi Dou was disappointed, yet he understood that they couldn’t interfere too much with the survival of marine life. The jellyfish were free, belonging only to the sea. No matter birth, aging, sickness, or death, they were all children of the ocean.

“I wonder if it can successfully return to its clan. What if it gets caught in another ship’s propeller? What if it gets smashed by a fish? It’s really too weak. Even a single crashing wave could shatter it.” Mi Dou couldn’t help but look toward the surface of the sea.

Suddenly, a huge eye appeared on the surface of the sea.

“Ah! Mom—” Mi Dou was so frightened that, before he could see what it was, he fainted on the spot.

Luckily, Talos was right behind him. He scooped Mi Dou up in one motion, preventing his limp body from slipping through the gaps in the railing and falling into the seawater. The eye on the sea surface did not disappear. A gigantic creature floated up from the depths. Its length nearly equaled Talos’s ship.

“Everyone, don’t be afraid! This is my companion!” Mo An quickly spoke up. “This is Little Star. He is a Abyssal Beast!”

The Abyssal Beast swam around Talos’s ship. It was a ferocious sea creature; even slight movements stirred up splashes of water, frightening the seagulls into panicked cries. The Black Sirens and Abyss Beings that had followed along the way were also on its body, as well as Little Star’s older sister, Hu Yu.

“Looks like you really made quite a few friends along the way.” Talos said with relief. “Not bad. You’ve finally found the meaning of your existence.”

They were indeed good friends. By nightfall, the mermaids had transformed into human forms and climbed onto Talos’s ship. Aituoda and Aibaoyin still had black skin; only their horns had disappeared. Kuni was the tallest and thinnest in the group. She looked like a model from hundreds of years ago, with wrists that almost reached the roots of her thighs.

Hu Yu and Little Star both looked like ordinary humans. When they turned into human form, their light gray skin became a normal skin tone. However, their hair remained gray and could not be changed.

“Has he woken up?” Little Star held a fish in his mouth as he looked at the unconscious Mi Dou. “I’m sorry. My appearance was too scary…”

“Don’t say that.” Hu Yu felt sorry for her younger brother. “Among the Abyssal Beasts, your appearance is considered cute.”

“But I scared him into passing out.” Little Star blamed himself. “I really shouldn’t have surfaced suddenly. I knew my appearance was ugly and frightening.”

“Please don’t say that. I don’t like hearing it.” Hu Yu hugged and kissed her brother’s head.

“He was just too tired, that’s why he slept so long. Let him sleep well.” At that moment, Mo An walked over and handed them clean drinking water. Mermaids were strange—when in the sea, they could drink seawater, but once they transformed into human form, they could only drink fresh water.

Little Star took the cup of water but still looked troubled. It would take several days to dispel his guilt. Meanwhile, Mo An walked alone to the railing, listening to the sound of the waves and thinking about the road ahead.

The next day, Mi Dou didn’t wake up until close to noon.

“Ah!” The moment he opened his eyes, he remembered that eye—bigger than a whale’s! Then he saw people sprawled all over the floor. Mo An and two unfamiliar people were sleeping in his room. One person had black skin, and the other had gray hair.

All three woke up at the same time and looked toward Mi Dou together.

“You’re awake?” Mo An jumped up in one motion. “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

“No, no.” Mi Dou shook his head. Recently, his sleep quality had been poor. Strangely enough, he had slept extremely well yesterday—he hadn’t had a single dream. “This is…these…”

“They’re my kind, my friends.” Mo An hurriedly introduced them. “This is Aituoda. He is a Black Siren. This is Little Star. He’s a Abyssal Beast. He was the one who scared you into fainting yesterday.”

“I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. It’s because I look too ugly.” Little Star stood up and bowed deeply.

“Ah, no, no.” Mi Dou stood up too, and the two of them bowed to each other. “It’s because I’m too timid. I’ve never seen such a big fish before… I thought you were a sea monster, so I fainted right away. But actually, that wasn’t bad. I slept extremely well last night!”

“Really?” Little Star was half believing and half doubting.

“Really!” Mi Dou raised his voice. “And you’re not ugly at all! You’re just too big.”

“Big means ugly… Someone once told me that.” Little Star shook his head. Just as he was about to give Mi Dou an apologetic hug, Talos kicked open the door with a single kick. The noise was shockingly loud.

“Young fellows! Stop sleeping!” Talos clenched his pipe, extremely excited. “The Blue Jellyfish is even faster than we thought! Little Blue is a good jellyfish. I didn’t expect it to go back and report so quickly!”

Mo An hurried forward a couple steps and almost tripped over the bedding on the floor. “It’s back? Let me go see it quickly!”

“No, it didn’t come back.” Talos placed a detection device in Mo An’s hands. “A quarter of an hour ago, a large concentration of Blue Jellyfish appeared in one area of the sea. All our equipment detected them. This is them sending us a message! Blue Jellyfish are very good at hiding. They showed themselves on purpose.”

“Where?” Mo An looked at the detector impatiently.

“The East Coast!” Talos said. “At the edge of Yukun City! Xia Yu is most likely being hidden by Nuwa in Yukun City. Let’s go!”