MASG chapter 129

 

After a few minutes of silence, Xia Yu spoke first.

“I don’t believe it. What kind of weird reason is this? Do I look like someone who’s easy to fool?” He didn’t stop there; he casually grabbed another cushion and smashed it at Mo An’s face. However, he didn’t use much strength. Just as he started to exert force, he pulled his arm back. In the end, the cushion lightly hit his younger brother’s forehead, causing no real harm.

Mo An raised his hand and rubbed it, sitting quietly upright. A few seconds later, he lifted his head. His voice was full of nostalgia as he said, “So nice, you’ve started hitting me again.”

Xia Yu was at a loss for words for a moment. What exactly is going on inside this guy’s—no, this mermaid’s—head?

“Hurry up and explain. What exactly is going on? Are you born this way, or is it a genetic mutation?” Xia Yu paused. Even now, he still couldn’t fully believe it.

“Born like this. I was born a mermaid.” Mo An chuckled softly. One lie requires more lies to cover it up. “But I’m not the only one in this world. There are many, many others. We all live deep in the ocean. If it weren’t for the coincidence of our meeting, I would never have come ashore in this lifetime.”

Xia Yu listened in a daze. “Have we really met before?”

Mo An patted the spot beside him, signaling for Xia Yu to sit down. Xia Yu didn’t dare sit directly next to him, choosing instead to sit at the foot of the bed. He rested both hands nervously on his thighs and pressed his lips together slightly. He couldn’t help but look into Mo An’s eyes. Amazing—too amazing. His completely black eyeballs really did look different from a human’s.

After accepting this fact, even Xia Yu was surprised at how quickly he did so. This was clearly an earth-shattering secret, yet now he was thinking about helping Mo An keep it secret rather than spreading it.

Could this be the magic of mermaids? In supernatural novels, mermaids have the power to enchant people. They sing at sea to lure sailors into the water.

With only half a meter between them, Mo An was completely satisfied. Thinking back carefully, he realized it had been a long time since he had opened his heart, revealed his identity, and properly sat down with Xia Yu. Especially now—Xia Yu no longer looked frightened. Subconsciously, he was still able to accept him.

The heavier the rain outside, the warmer and safer the atmosphere inside felt, making it hard to leave. The scent of hot milk blended perfectly with the woody fragrance of Xia Yu’s pajamas. In fact, it made the fully combat-ready male siren drowsy.

Here, we can hold hands. We can kiss. We can… Mo An grew excited, and warmth spread across his cheeks unknowingly.

“Are you really a mermaid?” Xia Yu thought about that question again. “Wait, then that means… your mother was a mermaid, but your father didn’t know?”

“Mm… you could say that. They weren’t the same race.” Mo An told him a half-truth, half-lie. Although this wasn’t the first time he’d come to Xia Yu’s bedroom for a heart-to-heart talk, this time was clearly different. “After they separated, I returned to the deep sea and continued living as a mermaid. When I was a little older, I met you—right at the bay of Penghu Island.”

“Really?” Xia Yu didn’t remember at all.

“Really? I swear—if I lied to you, then I’ll choke on water every time I swim from now on.” Mo An first stretched out his fingers and pointed them at the ceiling. “Then, because I was afraid you’d remember what I looked like, I used mermaid amnesia magic.”

“So, you just knocked me out?” Xia Yu touched his face. Good thing it didn’t mess up his looks.

“Mm, more or less.” Mo An paused. “That day, in the 1,500-meter race, I really did cheat. In the second half, I grew gills and could breathe underwater the whole time.”

Xia Yu nodded, recalling the scene—it really was like that. “It’s fine as long as you’re telling me the truth. Actually, I saw it that day. Luckily, I was the only one who saw it. If someone else had found out… No, that won’t do. We need to think of a way to hide this secret!”

“Huh?” Mo An had originally wanted to hold Xia Yu’s hand, even if only in the name of brotherhood. But suddenly, Xia Yu stood up.

“No, this can’t be known by anyone else—not even Xiaoxiao. She might not be able to keep a secret. She could blurt it out as a joke. She’s too carefree.” Xia Yu thought carefully about the matter, but the more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. “Tomorrow, I’ll go find your homeroom teacher and talk to Teacher Chen. I’ll tell him that you can’t participate in swimming competitions anymore. Those coaches will make you swim desperately. Once you’re exposed, it’ll be extremely dangerous. Scientists from all over the world will rush over and trap you, doing nonstop experiments on you.”

“Mo An, we must—” As he spoke, Xia Yu suddenly turned to look at Mo An. But Mo An was staring at him absentmindedly, deep in thought and clearly not following his train of thought.

“You want to protect me, right?” Mo An understood everything because Xia Yu was like this, too. When they were little, Xia Yu was also like this. What worried him most was being captured and experimented on. He hadn’t expected that, even in the virtual world, it would be the same. His memories were gradually being activated.

“I…I’m the older brother. Of course I have to protect you as long as you don’t hurt me.” Xia Yu scratched his head.

“Believe me. I’d rather hurt myself—tear off my tail fin or break my ventral fins—than let you shed a single drop of blood.” Mo An extended his hand toward Xia Yu and spoke in an encouraging tone. “You can try touching my hand. It’s different from yours.”

Xia Yu actually wanted to touch it. His eyes already betrayed him. He was too curious. Everything he knew had been overturned overnight, like a star falling right beside him and becoming a miracle. So he extended his hand too. His warm fingertips touched Mo An’s, and scenes of Mo An accelerating through the water and stirring up splashes appeared before Xia Yu’s eyes.

So cold—this was Xia Yu’s first thought about Mo An’s palm.

A mermaid’s skin seemed different from a human’s. It felt somewhat gelatinous to the touch. When pressed down, there was greater resistance, and when released, it didn’t bounce back as quickly. Xia Yu scooted a bit closer and carefully examined the lines on Mo An’s palm. Mermaid fingerprints didn’t look much different after all—pretty much the same as his own.

In those few seconds, Mo An blinked rapidly, his tear film lowering involuntarily. His Adam’s apple rolled slowly for a moment, then quickly the next. Even his fingertips felt numb.

In the real world, Xia Yu had never touched his hand like this before. Poison had become the thorn between them, separating them on opposite sides of the world. Xia Yu was touching him—how could he not also touch Xia Yu’s fingertips?

Light flowed over their bodies and affection that was hard to grasp. Xia Yu’s hand traced circles in his palm, circle after circle, playing and exploring. Mo An truly wanted to never pull his hand back. If Xia Yu wanted it, he could chop off his hand and give it to him. His urge to awaken Xia Yu’s heart immediately turned into the heartbeat of this very moment—light and slow, gradually turning into patience and tears.

Xla finally could touch him like this.

Tears welled in Mo An’s eyes. His chest and throat tightened instantly, making it difficult to breathe; air rushed only up against the bridge of his nose. Mo An’s fingers trembled; the slightest movement caused them to ache. They were holding hands, weren’t they? From the time they were separated at Frozen Island until now, how long had passed? Why did it feel like several thousand years had passed?

Wanting to cry wasn’t good. Mo An stubbornly blinked, afraid of embarrassing himself by doing something stupid. It wasn’t until a big tear fell onto his clothes that they both stopped breathing at the same time.

“You’re crying?” Xia Yu stared at him blankly.

“Sorry.” Mo An endured the sourness in his nose. “Turns out that after coming ashore, the tear glands don’t listen very well.”

“Why are you crying?” Xia Yu slowly moved closer to Mo An and sat down beside him, unconsciously providing him with support.

Mo An drew his fingers in and carefully touched Xia Yu’s fingernails. “I don’t know. Look, my tears are liquid.”

Xia Yu didn’t understand the deeper meaning of his words. He lowered his head again to look at their hands. His skin tone was normal, but Mo An’s hand was pale and obviously different from a human’s. “Here… where else have you been? What are tears like?”

Mo An was so happy that he felt dizzy, as if he were stepping on clouds instead of carpet and floor. “In seawater, in the deep sea. When mermaids are in their homeland, they don’t cry like this. No mermaid can cry liquid tears. Our tears condense into transparent diamonds, one by one. When we’re sad, they’re blue. When we’re happy, they’re gold. When we’re angry, they’re red. If we suffer for love, then our tears turn pink.”

“Pink?” Xia Yu couldn’t help but imagine it. They must be beautiful gemstones—fragile and dreamy. Yet, their origin was cruel. A mermaid had to experience a life-and-death separation and extreme sorrow in love. Then, they had to distill that pain and dye it onto the teardrops.

“Yeah, I once had a lot of pink diamonds.” Mo An tilted his face slightly and wiped away the tears that hadn’t yet fallen.

He once had them? Xia Yu suddenly felt extremely sad. Above his head, it was as if there were a lake hanging in the air, its dam bursting and pouring tens of thousands of tons of icy, bone-chilling water down over his body. It was like a tsunami—the entire sea surface rising dozens of meters in a single breath and slowly pushing forward like a solid wall of water. Still so dazed, Xia Yu unconsciously reached out. After his fingertips touched the scalding tears, he murmured, “You cried… many times?”

Mo An neither shook his head nor nodded; he only touched the face Xia Yu had touched. “It’s late. You should go to sleep.”

“Then don’t cry anymore, okay?” Xia Yu got up to see him off, having long since forgotten how scared he had been. He walked Mo An to the top floor and watched him close the door.

Xia Yu quickly ran back to his room and threw himself onto the pillow. He could feel that his heartbeat was off, but he couldn’t figure out why. Mo An had already broken into his mind and was swimming around in his world. He pulled the blanket over his head, grabbed the pillow, and started counting sheep. As he counted, he opened his eyes again—his heartbeat was still speeding up.

Oh God! Now he had a huge secret. His younger brother was not human but a crybaby mermaid. He absolutely had to keep this secret.

The next few days were very hard for Xia Yu. He quietly observed Mo An, noting the differences between him and humans. In fact, his non-human status had long been evident in the details of daily life. Xia Yu noticed that Mo An really liked eating fish, no matter how it was cooked. He always had a special fondness for seafood.

Finally, one weekend, Xia Yu decided to open the back door for Mo An. “Mo An, come here.”

Mo An, who was doing homework on the top floor, put down his pen and followed Xia Yu. “Are you tutoring my homework again?”

“No, just come with me first.” Xia Yu tugged on his hand. “Mom and Dad aren’t home. Xiaoxiao went to the bike shop to modify her bike. It’s just us.”

“Just… us?” Mo An’s heart started pounding hard inside his chest.

“Yeah, just us. I’m planning to—” Xia Yu hadn’t finished speaking when the world suddenly spun and his feet left the ground. He was scooped up and spun around several times. In the corridor, only he and Mo An remained. His younger brother easily lifted him sideways and held him in place in a princess carry.

“You…” What are you doing? Before Xia Yu could finish, Mo An kissed him.

It was just a simple kiss, yet Xia Yu’s legs instantly went weak, as if he were the little mermaid who came ashore for love and could no longer stand upright.

“There’s no one at home, just us. Is that what it means? I can kiss you?” Mo An blinked his completely black eyes and smiled happily at Xia Yu.

Xia Yu touched his lips; his mind was temporarily unable to think. He had only wanted to take his younger brother to the fish pond to eat fish. How had it turned into…a brotherly romance?

The most unexpected thing, though, was that he didn’t feel repulsed at all.