MASG chapter 11

 

A frail child carrying a bag of nutrient injections—how could they not be noticed on the street?

Xia Yu turned his head, and the first thing that hit him was the smell. An extremely strong, sour, and foul mold smell made him want to vomit. He had no idea when the strange creature had followed him. Maybe it had been watching him in the energy pharmacy. Maybe it had followed him on the way.

It had followed him into the sewer and was now ready to wipe him out.

“Run!” Xia Yu dashed to the door, eager to close it immediately. But the mold creature was much faster. It pushed from outside, and the door, which had almost closed, now had a gap that couldn’t be shut no matter what.

The stench hit them more fiercely, making Xia Yu and Mi Dou tear up.

“Push! Close it!” Mi Dou shouted. His strength was far greater than that of someone his age — even greater than that of a normal adult. But at that moment, he realized what it meant to have such a disparity in power.

Without him, Xia Yu definitely couldn’t hold on!

The two of them couldn’t hold it either. No matter how hard they pushed, the gap in the door grew, and there was no chance of victory.

Bang! A moldy hand grabbed the doorframe, destroying any chance of closing it. Xia Yu stared in horror at the hand, which no longer looked like a human palm. He was unable to tell how many fingers there were. No, those weren’t fingers but fleshy growths that resembled fingers.

The most terrifying part wasn’t the growths, though—it was the mold. The gray-blue mold mixed with green flesh buds that were still moving as if a large pustule had grown under the skin. Wherever the pus burst, mold covered it.

What should he do now? Xia Yu thought quickly. Their resistance was meaningless, the door would eventually be forced open. It was better to…

“You take Mo An and run!” He had already planned an escape route for Mi Dou. “Go to the nearby vent, open the cover, and get Mo An inside. Take the nutrient injections!”

“No, I won’t run!” Mi Dou kept pushing. He wouldn’t give up until the very end. “We’ll push together…”

“It’s useless. That thing outside is powerful.” Xia Yu wanted to work together to drive away all the monsters and have a warm, safe place to sleep. But the current situation shattered his hopes, there were all kinds of dangers in the world that could kill him.

Mi Dou still didn’t move. Desperate, Xia Yu kicked Mi Dou hard, knocking the shorter man to the ground.

“Run!” Xia Yu shouted. Without Mi Dou’s push, the door gradually opened. A mold-covered head peeked inside, stopping right above Xia Yu. Mold spread along the metal door to Xia Yu’s small hand. Scared and panicking, Xia Yu didn’t give up.

Mi Dou snapped awake now. He couldn’t waste the time that Xia Yu had risked his life to gain. He scrambled to the vent and pulled the cover down with both hands.

He couldn’t open it on the first try. Two, three, four… Finally, Mi Dou used all his strength, and the vent opened! Without a word, he threw Mo An in first. The fish egg flashed and slid to an unknown place. Then, he grabbed the bag of nutrient injections.

Mi Dou looked back, unsure how his heart should beat.

Was Xia Yu dead?

Xia Yu was completely wrapped by the elongated figure as if he had merged into a mass of glue. The frail man was covered in mold, his facial features were invisible. But the mold creature wasn’t satisfied—it wanted to absorb Xia Yu completely.

Like a specimen trapped in amber, Xia Yu could barely breathe and his limbs were immobile. He could feel the mold covering his body. In his peripheral vision, he saw a large patch growing, his hands and fingers were turning dark green as if pustules and flesh buds would sprout at any moment.

Through this layer of transparent gel, however, he saw Mi Dou and Mo An surviving. Now, Mi Dou just needed to escape.

“Sorry, Professor Wang Qin, I can’t fulfill your last wish.”

Thick mold covered Xia Yu’s face and gradually obscured his silver eyes. Everything around him became blurry. He regretted not looking more closely at Mo An just now. That last glance should have been etched in his memory.

Even if he became part of the mold creature, he wouldn’t forget the fish egg’s appearance.

Just as he thought this, brightness gradually returned. His vision came back inexplicably, the mold peeled from his skin like faded dye. The sticky slime that had wrapped around him loosened and fresh air entered his nose. Xia Yu had a strong survival instinct. He took a deep breath, thinking it was the mold creature’s trick.

Was the creature planning to toy with its prey? To leave him with just enough air to torture him repeatedly?

This was Xia Yu’s first thought, his near-death experience amplified his fear. But immediately, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

The mold on his skin vanished. Xia Yu could move again, Mi Dou was pulling him.

Mi Dou hadn’t run because he couldn’t just watch Xia Yu die. He had tried attacking the mold creature with metal pieces. However, stabbing the creature with metal caused no damage. Xia Yu was “spit out,” escaping the creature’s control.

Now was the only chance. Mi Dou gritted his teeth, threw Xia Yu into the vent, and jumped down after him with the bag of nutrient injections.

Xia Yu felt dizzy again as he slid down the vent. He suspected that this was not an exhaust vent, but rather a garbage chute. The weightlessness made his heart race because there was nothing beneath their feet. They could only follow the direction of the vent, turning left and right, until they finally dropped into a messy pile of garbage from above.

They both landed, with Mi Dou landing directly on Xia Yu’s rear.

“Ouch!” Xia Yu shouted, nearly crushed by Mi Dou.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch…so painful.” Mi Dou had a large bump on his head and was holding the bag tightly. Still shaken, Xia Yu stood up, looked around, and pulled the starry-eyed Mi Dou toward Mo An, who was rolling in the distance.

“Are the fish eggs okay? Don’t let it break.” Mi Dou’s legs wobbled.

“I need to check.” Xia Yu was not optimistic. Even though they landed in garbage, maybe the fish egg cracked during the fall. If the amniotic fluid leaked, the unhatched Mo An wouldn’t survive.

Xia Yu unbuttoned his white coat and rolled the fish egg on the ground, carefully examining every inch. Luckily, there were only previous scratches, it hadn’t cracked. However, Mo An’s condition was poor, and he showed no reaction.

“Quick, give me the injection!” Xia Yu reached behind him.

Mi Dou quickly handed him a nutrient injection. Xia Yu took it with no time to think about why the mold creature had spared him. He had to save Mo An first. Drawing on his experience, he worked quickly—opening the needle packaging, pushing the liquid, expelling the air, and forcefully injecting it into the top of the egg.

“Mo An, don’t be afraid. Eat quickly. Don’t be scared.” Xia Yu tried to wake Mo An.

The pale yellow nutrient slowly entered the egg’s fluid, nourishing the mermaid and flowing to his gill slits. One injection wasn’t enough, so Xia Yu tore open another and pierced the egg membrane again.

The tiny needle holes became crucial bridges, delivering nutrients. Exhausted, Xia Yu injected five in a row and finally checked himself for new injuries.

“Mi Dou, how are you? Hurt?” He approached Mi Dou and noticed the large red bump on his forehead.

“Here, it hurts.” Mi Dou pointed to his forehead. “Sigh. We finally had food, but now it’s gone. What do we do?”

“It’s okay. I think we’re already inside Power Plant No. 3. We’ve definitely made it in!” Xia Yu looked around. “Let’s rest a bit before moving on. I’m sure there’s more food in the warehouses!”

Mi Dou listened, smiling in satisfaction. “Right, we must have confidence.”

“Yes.” Xia Yu smiled. They rested on the ground, then continued along the waterway, unsure of what awaited them. Suddenly, Mi Dou asked, “That was so dangerous just now. Why did that monster let you go? I hit it hard, but I couldn’t…”

Xia Yu shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe it got scared because you hit it so hard. I need to thank you!”

“Hahaha, no problem. You saved me, so I had to return the favor. We’re good friends.” Mi Dou thought it over and concluded that this was the only possibility, maybe the mold creature looked unharmed, but it actually feared pain.

Xia Yu agreed. Otherwise, it made no sense. After surviving, the two children’s mood shifted from heavy to light and happy, grateful for their luck.

However, Xia Yu still had many questions. Why the power plant? Why did Jingwei go offline sometimes? AI is widely used because it’s always online and accompanies humans. But Jingwei wasn’t. Strange.

Could Jingwei also be avoiding danger like them? Was it forced to hide, going online at times and offline at others?

They walked along the waterway for a long time. Luck was on their side again when they found a way into the power plant. It was a giant door, five or six meters high. Not even ten or more Mi Dous together could push it open.

The only way in was through the waterway.

“Let’s rest. I don’t have the strength anymore…” Xia Yu couldn’t hold on anymore. “There’s another door. Let’s go check it out.”

“All right, rest first.” Mi Dou followed Xia Yu to the small unlocked door. Xia Yu gently pushed it open.

“Wow…” Xia Yu rubbed his eyes, feeling as if he were dreaming.

The room was a restroom with food, drinking water, and a small bed, likely left by a previous guard. Xia Yu ran in, planning to turn it into a safe room. He hid the nutrient injections under the bed and placed Mo An on it.

“Great, we can sleep well here!” Mi Dou sat at the edge of the bed.

“Yes, it’s so nice here. The three of us will sleep on the bed tonight.” Xia Yu knelt beside the fish egg and unbuttoned his white coat. He peered into it desperately, wanting to see Mo An move.

Still no movement? Asleep? Starved? Xia Yu didn’t dare imagine the worst. He whispered: “Mo An, can you hear me? We’re in a safe room. We can sleep on the small bed. Can you hear me?”

Inside the quiet fish egg came a strange sound, a bubble rising, breaking against the inner membrane. A face appeared and stared at Xia Yu through the membrane.

Xia Yu held his breath—he had successfully summoned a mermaid for the first time!

Another bubble rose, and this time, Xia Yu understood. Mo An was hiccupping because he was already full.

“Great.” Xia Yu patted the fish egg. “I brought enough nutrient injections for several days. Why are your eyes all black? They’re different from mine.”

Mo An could only see vaguely in the amniotic fluid. His all-black eyes had no tear membrane yet, it was not developed. He had fainted but had recovered and felt full.

“Hic.” Mo An hiccupped again, revealing his sharp white teeth.

He didn’t know what had happened outside while he slept, but he had already begun trying to move his tail.

The slight tug caused him pain, and he tried to move his untouched tail fin, wanting to hatch prematurely.