MASG chapter 156

 

One and a half years later…

Nuwa: [Weather system notification: There will be gentle rainfall this evening with wind speeds at levels two to three .]

“Then can we go to the seaside today?” Mo An asked with a smile.

In the middle-level corridor, there were still robots, each of whose work lights flickered with a calm, pale blue. A little girl ran toward Mo An head-on, almost crashing into him. Mo An had put on the Control Center uniform again. He was now mainly responsible for the safety of the building and helping everyone adapt to their new lives.

“Be careful.” Mo An picked up the little girl and placed her in the slow lane on the right. When he turned around again, a cleaning robot had just walked up to him.

“Officer Mo An, good morning. Please inspect.”

“All right.” Mo An took the electronic device from the robot’s hands. The list on the screen was clear at a glance. He quickly scanned it, then left his fingerprint signature at the bottom. “There’s no problem. But it will rain this evening, so remember to tell the children not to go to the U-shaped rooftop.”

“Yes, Officer. Noted, Officer. Officer, may I have my head patted?”

“You can, but don’t shock me again.” Mo An flicked the robot’s round head.

The robot’s blue light flashed as it happily shook its head, took a little boy’s hand, and walked away. Mo An raised his left wrist and spoke to his bracelet: “Looks like everything in the new life is on track. Everyone adapted very quickly.”

Nuwa: [I am very pleased to see humanity living happily under my outstanding management.]

“So, can you answer that question now?” Mo An smiled and glanced around. Everyone’s faces were filled with relaxed smiles. “Can we go to the seaside today?”

Nuwa: [Sigh. I already said there would be rain.]

In a coaxing tone, Mo An said, “We’re not afraid of rain. Besides, Mi Dou said that Little Blue really wants to swim in the ocean. We’ve been too busy lately. We haven’t taken Little Blue to the ocean in a long time.”

Nuwa: [Oh my, if you didn’t mention it I would have forgotten. Little Blue is growing so fast.]

Jingwei: [Oh my, Little Blue is growing so fast.]

Nuwa: [Don’t copy me.

Jingwei: [Bleh bleh bleh.]

Nuwa: [Don’t “Bleh bleh bleh.”]

“So that means there’s no problem? We’ll head out around 5 p.m. I’ll arrange the shift handover before we leave.” As Mo An spoke, he walked into the elevator and pressed the button for the 80th floor.

Nuwa: [You do not have access permission to the 80th floor. You refuse to scan your face.]

Jingwei: [Please scan your face!]

“I’ll just tell Yan Xia. It’s such a hassle to scan every time.” Mo An still had to hold his face up to the camera.

Nuwa: [Verification successful. Don’t bother Yan Xia with everything. She handles far more matters than you do.]

“She always takes everything on herself. She could delegate some of her responsibilities to Silver Fang,” Mo An muttered. When the elevator doors opened again, he stepped out.

The 80th floor was the research level. The people here were different from the security team managed by Mi Lian—everyone wore white lab coats. As Mo An passed by, he nodded to each of them in greeting. After turning a few corners, he saw Mi Dou, whose bear ear was missing a piece.

“Why are you here again?” Mi Dou looked up from a new report. The report showed that they had developed a preventive agent for the Moruote infection and were applying for clinical trial approval.

“I’m applying to take Little Blue out to play this afternoon. Are you coming?” Mo An bumped him with his shoulder.

That nearly knocked Mi Dou over. The small bear-type synthetic human looked as though he’d been hit by an armored vehicle. Mo An wasn’t even twenty yet, but he had grown five more centimeters. Mi Dou envied him terribly and wished Mo An would share some of his leg length.

“This afternoon, let me check the schedule.” Unable to resist the temptation to go out, Mi Dou activated his bracelet. The bracelet projected a fan-shaped hologram into the air. He tapped it and found the timetable, then sighed in relief. “I’m free this afternoon. Come pick us up then.”

“Alright, 5 p.m. sharp. I’ll bring the aircraft. Just wait for us at the T-shaped platform.” Mo An smiled brightly. “Can I go see it now?”

“Of course. But Little Blue just finished eating, so he probably won’t be very active.” Mi Dou led the way, using his round face to unlock a door. Beyond it was a laboratory. In the center stood a cylindrical aquarium, five meters in diameter. Since it was feeding time for Little Blue, the lighting was relatively dim. Transparent jellyfish wrapped around its food, moving slowly.

But when it sensed Mo An’s arrival, Little Blue’s tentacles touched the inner glass wall of the tank, forming a face like sand art.

Mo An’s face.

“When did it learn that trick? Quite an artistic talent.” Mo An walked up to the glass and took a photo.

“Last week, it could already use its tentacles to piece together the faces of people it had seen. It really likes drawing. According to my tests, Little Blue can now recognize one thousand words. Its intelligence is equivalent to that of a ten-year-old child,” said Mi Dou excitedly.

“But it’s bigger than a ten-year-old.” Mo An felt worried. The Blue Underworld Jellyfish in front of him was no longer a tiny, thirty-centimeter creature—it was nearly two meters long.

As long as there was enough food, its growth rate far surpassed that of all other marine life. After the incident, they tried to return Little Blue to the ocean. But it had lived with humans for too long—like a wild animal that had undergone socialization, it was difficult to reintegrate into the wild. Every release attempt ended in failure, and it returned once again.

It preferred being around humans. How strange. Neither Mo An nor Mi Dou could understand that, but they knew there were many things about the ocean that were beyond comprehension. After all, humans had explored less than 10% of the ocean.

“Jellyfish… really are beautiful creatures.” Mo An smiled at Little Blue, eager to take it to the seaside.

Just as Nuwa had arranged, clouds gathered at 3 p.m., and around 4:30, the sky above Qing Yao City met the conditions for rainfall. At 5 p.m., a gentle drizzle began to fall, quiet as a whisper, moistening the high-tech controlled city. Due to reminders from Lao Gui and Mi Lian, all extension platforms were closed to children to prevent them from slipping at great heights. It was at this time that Mo An came to pick up Mi Dou. They worked together to move Little Blue onto the aircraft. Under Nuwa’s instructions and with Jingwei’s accompaniment, they left the building.

“Let’s go to the seaside.” Mo An skillfully operated the control panel. They hadn’t reached the shore yet, but he already seemed to see the coastline.

The coastline of A Port had been rebuilt. No trace of the bombing remained. The lighthouse lit up early, its light bright enough to pierce the mist. On the rooftop of the highest building stood the statue of Talos, still guarding his homeland.

The strange giant ship had been docked in the harbor, unmoved, for over a year. Now, only white kittens remained on board—one captain short.

Mo An and Mi Dou worked together to move Little Blue to the shore and tipped over the glass tank.

“Whew, so tired.” Even Mi Dou called out in exhaustion. “Good thing jellyfish can shrink for transport, or I really couldn’t have carried it.”

“Let it play on its own.” Mo An stood barefoot on the sand. Little Blue drifted toward the sea, swimming against the current. Though it preferred human society, each trip into the ocean was still an experience.

Mo An stepped into the surf and laughed loudly. “Look! It’s pretty happy!”

Mi Dou looked at him with mixed feelings and was unable to say anything for a moment.

“Want to walk along the shore?” Mo An turned and asked.

“You go ahead. I’ll visit the lighthouse and help tidy things up,” Mi Dou replied.

“Alright. Maybe he’ll wake up someday. Don’t worry; everyone will have a new life.” Mo An rubbed his ear before walking along the coastline. Mi Dou watched his back for a while before turning toward the lighthouse.

At the end of the lighthouse stood someone—it was Meng Qingqing.

“I knew you’d come today. My intuition is never wrong.” She held a red umbrella.

“You’re a mermaid. Why are you using an umbrella?” Mi Dou asked with a smile. “How have you been lately?”

“Not bad. Same as always. The world has suddenly returned to normal. Actually, we all need time to adapt, right?” Meng Qingqing’s hair was completely soaked. “How has your mother been lately?”

Mi Dou stepped under her umbrella. “She’s always busy. I don’t even know how to persuade her to rest.”

“She’s used to being busy. She can’t sit still.” Meng Qingqing touched his damaged ear. “What about Mo An? How is he?”

“He…he’s like this now.” Mi Dou let out a heavy sigh. Although he could develop medicine and save many people, he could not help his best friend.

On the beach, Mo An picked up a small stone and casually tossed it into the sea as if he were chatting with someone beside him.

“He regularly injects himself with Blue Jellyfish toxin—about once every seventy-two hours. The toxin is extracted from Little Blue’s tentacles. If I don’t give him the injection, he’ll climb into the tank and let Little Blue sting him. Only under the toxin’s influence can he see Xia Yu. Only then does he feel a little better.” Mi Dou said, “it had been a year and a half. I couldn’t make him stop.”

Meng Qingqing didn’t know how to respond. While everyone else’s lives moved forward, Mo An remained stuck in the past. He refused to move on, carrying the syringe with him at all times just to survive. Now, no one could say whether Mo An was clearheaded or had long since succumbed to the hallucinations of the trace toxin and gone mad.

Mi Dou rubbed his eyes and asked, “You went to see Haisiruola? Does she still say the same thing?”

“She only said that the ocean takes them and will return them. But as for when…our god did not reveal it.” Meng Qingqing said, “Silver Fang has also gone out to sea. He firmly believes he can find Xia Xiaoxiao. But…”

“Then… what about the Tears of the Siren? Can’t they find Xia Yu and Xiaoxiao too?” Mi Dou asked urgently.

Meng Qingqing had to dash his hopes. “The Tears of the Siren can only help us find Mo An, not them. After Mo An hatched, he didn’t have any sisters. So, even if he bled out in the sea, no one would have known. But now it’s different. Once he sheds tears, all the mermaids will rush to him.”

“So, there’s really nothing we can do?” Mi Dou murmured. His gaze drifted to his cheerful friend in the distance.

Mo An was building structures in the sand and turned his head. “Does this look like the middle level?”

Xia Yu stood right beside him, occasionally nodding. “Yes, it looks exactly like where we lived.”

“Nuwa said the middle level must be well managed in the future. That’ll be our job.” Mo An grabbed another handful of sand. “What do you want to eat tonight? I learned two new dishes yesterday—one is butter-pan fried silverfish and the other is…”

As he spoke, he noticed the figure before him becoming blurry.

Wait! Wait. Mo An quickly took a portable medicine case off his tactical belt and pulled out a small syringe. He adjusted the plunger forward one notch, expelled all the air, and without hesitation, stabbed the syringe into his arm. The ice-blue liquid entered his veins. Mo An closed his eyes and waited for it to take effect. Suddenly, he noticed layers of blue light illuminating the bay behind him, like an aurora falling from the sky into the sea.

“Huh? What’s going on? Did I inject too much?” Mo An rubbed his eyes.

At some point, a vast swarm of jellyfish had appeared in A Port.