MASG chapter 125

 

After a brief silence, the scene boiled over completely, somewhat out of control.

Xia Yu had wanted to be the first to rush toward his younger brother, but he couldn’t even squeeze into the first hundred. The number of people in front of him was beyond imagination, and no one knew where they had come from. They shoved past him one by one and charged toward the side of the swimming pool.

The competition clearly wasn’t over yet, but to these people, it was already completely over.

In the end, Xia Yu was pushed back into his seat and almost got trampled. If not for his mother’s quick reflexes, pulling him up could have turned into a dangerous stampede with both him and Xia Xiaoxiao getting injured. In the frenzied sea of people, Xia Yu’s face was pressed tightly against Xia Li’s shoulder.

“Don’t be afraid. Mom’s here,” said Xia Li. She used both hands like a female eagle spreading her thick, powerful wings to protect her son on one side and her daughter on the other.

The spectator stands swayed back and forth. People ran and jumped wildly on top, shouting things like “record broken,” “impossible,” and “a miracle has arrived.” Xia Yu couldn’t see the edge of the pool, let alone Mo An. All he could see were his mother’s determined profile and arms. When the next wave came, Xia Li didn’t move an inch, becoming the only fortress for him and his sister.

The chaos lasted three or four minutes before stopping.

It didn’t stop on its own. The on-site security personnel forcibly dispersed the crowd, preventing a tragedy. Zhang Mingqiao was pushed away and hurried back to look for his wife and children. Du Meng had been protecting Chen Minghao, who had difficulty walking, and now carried him over, too. When they tried to find Mo An again, he was still surrounded by people, with microphones shoved in front of him one after another as if he were being interviewed. The child was so scared that he didn’t know what to do.

“You stay here. I’ll go find him,” said Chen Ailu, stepping forward. “He’s my student. Don’t let him get crushed.”

Mo An, surrounded and unable to escape, had no idea what trouble he had caused. Half understanding and half confused, he stood by the pool. Suddenly, everything went crazy. People from the stands, the judges’ table, and the lifeguards rushed over. This was a dangerous sign. He wanted to hurry back and protect his family, teacher, and classmates, but reporters surrounded him again. They made him restless and irritated, and he wanted to flip them over no matter what.

“I heard this is your first time competing, right? Have you really never trained in swimming before?”

“What plans do you have next for your swimming career? Can contestant Mo An reveal who your coach is? Domestic or overseas?”

My coach? Chen Minghao and Xia Xiaoxiao are my coaches. If Chen Minghao hadn’t been injured, today wouldn’t have been my turn to get in the water. Just as Mo An was about to leave, he was flanked from both sides. It was as if they had predicted his escape route. They blocked him in on the sponsor’s side.

“What are you doing? Haven’t you seen people swim before? Mo An pointed at the lane. “The competition isn’t over yet. Don’t interview me.”

“Would you be willing to become a national athlete in the future? This is a major decision. Has the national team ever contacted you?”

“Can you tell me who your coach is?”

“Hello, hello. Do you have anything you’d like to say about setting a world record in your first competition? Just a few words is fine. After all, today is a great feat. Going past four minutes was beyond everyone’s expectations.”

“Has contestant Mo An accepted a blood test this year? Please say a few more words!”

“What? What are you talking about?” Mo An froze, finally understanding why he was being “besieged” by microphones. He had only wanted to swim fast and avoid exposing himself in the pool. But once he started swimming fast, he went too fast, moving at an inhuman speed. However, it was impossible to swim slowly. He had learned to swim from Meng Qingqing—if she found out that he, a male siren, had come in last place, she would definitely knock him out with her tail!

Just when Mo An was at his wits’ end, the appearance of homeroom teacher Chen Ailu was like something from heaven.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Mo An’s homeroom teacher, Chen Ailu. If you have any questions, you can ask me. Please don’t disturb the child’s emotions. Thank you.” Chen Ailu took the heat off Mo An and pushed him into the locker room.

What started as just a substitute race spiraled out of control and became the biggest news of the day. The entire Penghu Island trembled because of it. Xia Yu trembled too because he saw something on Mo An’s neck that looked like a gill slit. Combined with Mo An’s shocking victory in the championship despite never having learned to swim, Xia Yu couldn’t help but wonder: What exactly was his younger brother?

By the time he saw Mo An again, it was already 9 p.m., and Xia Yu was waiting in the living room with his parents and sister. Chen Ailu brought Mo An back.

“Thank you so much, Teacher. You’ve really been troubled all day,” said Zhang Mingqiao, grabbing Chen Ailu’s right hand with both of his and squeezing it tightly. “How is Mo An?”

Mo An didn’t feel too bad; he was just extremely busy the entire afternoon and couldn’t go home at all. He didn’t even get to eat. Drawing blood alone took twelve tubes in the afternoon—he was about to be drained.

A questioning gaze stabbed over from the right. Mo An looked over and met Xia Yu’s gaze. He gave Xia Yu a slight smile, but Xia Yu immediately lowered his head. His mind was filled with thoughts of the gill slit.

Strange. Why didn’t Mo An have it now? His skin was intact; nothing was visible. Xia Yu could only lower his head and think in secret while searching for clues on his phone. But he couldn’t find a single answer that resolved his doubts. Now, he suspected that either his eyes had played tricks on him, he had seen incorrectly, or his younger brother was a monster.

Chen Ailu was truly exhausted. She could only speak smoothly after drinking a big cup of water. “It was indeed very troublesome, but no matter how troublesome it was, it’s over. Mo An met with the Sports Bureau, the Education Bureau, and school leaders this afternoon. Everyone places a very high level of importance on his results. If he can maintain this performance and gain international recognition, forget about getting into the best university in the country—he alone will rewrite world history.”

Wouldn’t that be too much? Just swimming for 10 minutes would rewrite history. Mo An really didn’t want to admit that he hadn’t used his full strength. If he were in mermaid form, he could actually finish in 3 minutes.

“Then…then what should we do?” Zhang Mingqiao and Xia Li were both happy and flustered. “You see, we don’t have the ability or experience to take care of a top-level athlete.”

Chen Ailu reassured them. “Don’t worry. You’ll take care of him the same way you did before. I estimate that professionals will come looking for him very soon. Chen Minghao has also contacted Mo An’s nutritionist. His nutrition will need extra attention from now on.”

“Please rest assured about that. Even if we’re tired, we’ll make sure he eats well,” said Xia Li happily.

“Then I’ll head back first. Congratulations to you,” said Chen Ailu. No matter how tired she was, it felt worth it—every bit of hard work had paid off. Next year, Mo An would have a very good chance of being accepted to a good school. After she left, Zhang Mingqiao and Xia Li immediately went to see Mo An. They had a thousand things to say, but they couldn’t get the words out. In the end, Zhang Mingqiao tentatively hugged his son.

“Strange—how did I end up with such a capable son?” Zhang Mingqiao had been tense all afternoon, but he finally relaxed.

Xia Xiaoxiao grabbed Mo An’s ear and emphasized, “Hey, hey, hey! Don’t forget it was me who taught you how to start and take off. If you become a global champion, you have to mention my name!”

“Xiaoxiao, don’t pull him,” said Xia Li, worried that Xiaoxiao didn’t know her own strength. “Are you hungry? Want to eat something?”

“Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m not hungry either,” said Mo An as he relaxed. He had been “wandering” outside all day, and the only thing on his mind was going home. He didn’t want to interact with anyone—he wanted to go home, chat with Zhang Mingqiao, eat Xia Li’s butter-roasted silver fish, argue with Xia Xiaoxiao, and think about Xia Yu.

He looked at Xia Yu again, but Xia Yu seemed hesitant and didn’t come over to hug him right away.

It wasn’t just the family who were excited. Du Meng and Chen Minghao were so excited that they forced Mo An to do a half-hour video call before going to sleep. The three of them talked about the reactions at the swimming venue that day. Du Meng said with lingering fear, “Boss, you have no idea—I almost got squeezed to death.”

“Get out of here,” Mo An said, not believing him. “With your height and weight, you’d be lucky not to squeeze other people.”

“This one’s on me,” said Chen Minghao. “I can’t run fast. I panicked and jumped onto Du Meng. He carried me and sprinted the whole way. Du Meng, I’ve decided. I’m going to tutor you.”

“Forget it. Spare me,” Du Meng said bitterly. “I just want to take over my family’s small convenience store and be happy. When are you coming over for dinner? Afterwards, we can play games together.”

“Let’s sleep first. I’m exhausted,” said Mo An, who wanted to end the call because he was not only exhausted but also hungry.

In the real world, twelve tubes of blood wouldn’t be much, but here, it was a considerable amount of blood loss. It made Mo An feel tired and weak. He put down his phone. It was just past midnight—the perfect time to find something good to eat…for example, the fish in the pond.

As soon as he thought of fish, the mermaid genes in his bones and blood activated again, almost impossible to suppress. He swallowed and quietly twisted the door lock open.

What he didn’t expect was that someone was still awake in the house: Xia Yu, who had been tossing and turning while overthinking. He couldn’t control his thoughts. It was as if a small tear had been ripped open, leading to endless ruin; he would never be able to return to how things were before. As soon as he closed his eyes, the gill slit on his brother’s neck appeared, jolting him awake.

“What’s wrong with me? Why am I thinking like this?” Xia Yu finally sat up. He really didn’t understand why he was experiencing these hallucinations, nor why he had seen countless bluish light spots at the swimming venue.

Just then, he seemed to hear footsteps.

Who was it? Mo An? Xia Yu got out of bed barefoot and walked to his door. He opened it a crack and looked out through the gap. Sure enough, it was Mo An. He went downstairs, moving in the dark without turning on his phone light.

What was he going to do? Where was he planning to go? Xia Yu didn’t know where the courage came from, but he followed Mo An without thinking.

Mo An had already reached the fridge on the second floor. He stared at it in a daze, imagining the taste of good food. But when he opened the fridge, he found the food to be tasteless. As expected, no human food could compare to fresh fish. As a mermaid, he still craved fish.

He couldn’t overcome his beastly genes—no matter how much he pretended to be human, he couldn’t restrain them. Mo An gently closed the refrigerator door, swallowed again, and walked downstairs. He was going to the fish pond. He was going to eat all the fish in it.

Not far behind him, Xia Yu quietly followed.