MASG chapter 173: Extra 13

◎ Another wave of dejection hit him. Mo An endured the brief emotional slump and nodded. “You’re especially jealous of me, aren’t you?” ◎

107’s landing ashore went very smoothly, almost as if he had been hauled up by Mo An.

The white sirens and black sirens looked at each other. A’Dairi asked, “What’s your name? Why did you come here?”

107 was draped in a skirt and smiled. “I came to see my friend Talos. I didn’t expect everyone to be here… Wait a second, this area… why does it smell so good?”

Even though he had just come ashore, the scent was already impossible to hide, drifting through the air at every moment. Humans might not be very sensitive to it and would only catch a faint fragrance spreading quietly through the air, but mermaid knew very clearly that there had to be a male fish in his breeding period nearby.

So 107 first locked onto Xi Ban. “Was it you?”

Xi Ban was the oldest among these male fish and had never had a romantic life of his own. He blushed very quickly as well. “Not me.”

107 furrowed his brows tightly, and the misty white skin unique to white sirens began to flush a flesh-pink color. “Could it be you?”

He was pointing at A’Dairi. A’Dairi’s sharp horns were very inconspicuous in human form, but he stood with his hands on his hips and said, “It’ll be my turn soon. I’m about to go from ‘A’Dairi’ to ‘Dairi’! I’m about to become an adult!”

“Then it definitely isn’t you…” 107’s gaze continued searching among his companions, and finally landed on the worried-looking Mo An. “You?”

Another wave of dejection hit him. Mo An endured the brief emotional slump and nodded. “You’re especially jealous of me, aren’t you?”

“My god, it really is you.” 107 immediately looked at Xia Yu. What were they supposed to do now?

Xia Yu was even more helpless. Mo An was constantly giving off the scent of breeding, like a swaggering diffuser. From a biological perspective, this scent was his pheromones, like the fragrance flowers release to indicate they have entered maturity. And once the scent appeared, there was no hiding it. Everyone present knew that last night they had… gone through a siren’s coming-of-age ceremony.

“Let’s not talk about us for now. Tell us about you.” Xia Yu gave 107 a tight hug and asked with a hint of reproach, “When did you come back? Why didn’t you look for us? Was it Meng Qingqing who found you?”

107 began transforming in Xia Yu’s embrace. His fish tail shrank shorter and shorter, and his unusually long waist gradually changed into human proportions. Before they knew it, he had returned to half-human form in Xia Yu’s arms. Mi Dou also came over and rubbed his arm. “You got fatter!”

He really was fatter than before. When they had first rescued him from Frozen Island, he had been frighteningly thin, and everyone had worried he might faint anytime and anywhere. Now his arms were fuller, there was flesh on his face as well, and his smile had become much brighter.

Xia Xiaoxiao also curiously came over and kept looking 107 up and down. Although white sirens and black sirens differed by only one word, they did not resemble each other in the slightest. Mermaid were truly a marvelous species. Clearly they all belonged to one broad category, yet each branch was like an entirely separate species.

Humans were different. Humans were simply humans.

“Hello.” She took the initiative to shake hands, graceful and poised. “I’m Xia Yu’s older sister, Xia Xiaoxiao. Although we haven’t truly met, the experimental subject on Frozen Island was me.”

“Xiaoxiao? Xiaoxiao…” 107 pondered carefully, then had a flash of inspiration and asked, “Xiaoxiao means ‘rainwater’ in our mermaid language. Are you and Xia Yu biological siblings?”

“Of course. That’s a characteristic of our Blue Jellyfish.” Perhaps because they had both suffered on Frozen Island, Xia Xiaoxiao felt an immediate sense of kinship with him. “My younger brother said you got separated on the way to Yukun City. Where did you go after that?”

107’s face began to shorten, changing from a thin, elongated face to a normal length. “I was swept away by Double tail’s death whirlpool. When I woke up, I was already among the white siren colony in the polar region. They took me in.”

“The polar region?” Xia Yu kept sighing. No wonder Meng Qingqing hadn’t found him; the polar region was far too distant.

107 said softly, “I rested in the polar region for a long time, and I lost my memory again. I didn’t even remember that I was 107, let alone reunite with all of you.”

“You lost your memory too? So did I… I wandered around the sea for quite a while.” Mo An understood deeply. The feeling of amnesia was truly awful.

107 continued, “Later, I remembered everything! Not only did I remember that I was 107, but I also remembered what happened before I was captured. My original name is Xia Luma, and I’m a white siren who lived in the southern seas. After I remembered, I first returned to my habitat and reunited with my sisters.”

Xia Yu muttered to himself, “Xia Luma, your name sounds really nice. But how did you remember everything? Did you also go to see Haisiruola?”

107 mysteriously shook his head. “Of course not. My physical strength simply couldn’t support a trip there. I felt the call of the ‘Tears of the Siren,’ and the urge to return home made me remember everything. When I swam back from my habitat… I saw Talos’s stone statue.”

“You came back already, so why didn’t you look for us?” Xia Yu calculated the time. 107 had been back for quite a while.

“Because… I wanted to awaken Talos first. If I could wake him up, then everyone would truly be reunited. Before I succeeded, I didn’t dare say anything.” As he spoke, 107 completely transformed back into human form, and his complexion also looked much healthier as well. “I don’t know why either, but on nights of the full moon, when the moon is directly above the top of the lighthouse, Talos’s stone statue moves once.”

The revelation stirred up huge waves. Lao Gui stepped forward. “Really? You didn’t see it wrong?”

107 pulled the dress over himself and nodded repeatedly. “It moves once! At most, it’s just a finger moving!”

This was major news. So the stone statue could move after all. After hearing this, everyone immediately informed Nuwa and asked her to analyze the situation. Because there were no surveillance cameras at the lighthouse, only mechanical guards, no one could tell whether Talos had moved. But the No. 3 Power Plant was different. That was the awakening base of Nuwa’s mainframe, essentially an important military stronghold, with even more surveillance cameras than mechanical guards.

Retrieving the recordings became the top priority.

“If we can find Jennifer’s pattern…” Xia Yu lowered his voice, once again falling into thought about something.

Nuwa: [Collecting surveillance records from the past fifteen years.]

Nuwa: [Surveillance records retrieved. Beginning screening.]

“This must be a huge project. Let’s sit down and rest for a while.” Even Lao Gui was tired from standing.

Nuwa: [Screening complete.]

“…All right, forget I said anything. I almost forgot how fast your processing speed is.” Lao Gui helplessly stood up from the chair.

Nuwa: [A total of 180 traces of movement were found. Jennifer’s fingers showed slight tremors. Based on the corresponding times, they occurred exactly on every full moon. In the lunar calendar, which you may not understand, that is the fifteenth day of every lunar month.]

“The fifteenth day of the lunar month…” Few people still used the lunar calendar, and Mo An understood even less. “Does this time have some significance for gargoyles?”

Nuwa: [Perhaps they are transmitting information.]

Boden, who had not spoken all this time, suddenly asked, “What day of the lunar month is it today?”

Nuwa: [The fourteenth day of the lunar month. The fifteenth is almost here..]

Jingwei: [This calculation method is your fundamental algorithm, isn’t it, Nuwa?]

Nuwa: [That is indeed the case. The lunar calendar and solar terms are my foundation.]

“What a fascinating way to put it, but I’d rather believe it’s all true.” Mo An accepted it very quickly, because Haisiruola was the “Nuwa” of the sea, and perhaps she also knew this method of calculation. With what 107 had said, everyone became even more determined about the big plan. They would try again tomorrow.

That evening, everyone stayed on Talos’s ship.

“Has everything on Jennifer’s side been arranged?” Boden had already sent people to the No. 3 Power Plant. If time allowed, he hoped to awaken both sides at the same time.

He communicated with his colleagues through a communication device. The projected screen was also a holographic image, clear and three-dimensional, as if the underground secret chamber of the power plant had been moved here. Mi Dou was envious of his device and also envious of his research achievements, and kept peeking from behind, wondering when the middle layer could get a set as well.

“Hey.” He was so envious he was about to die, so he bumped Boden with his head again.

Boden turned around and looked around in the air. “Who called me?”

“Me! Don’t laugh at me for being short!” Mi Dou said, hopping up and down.

Boden smiled and looked downward. “So it’s Mini Bear. Go ahead, what is it?”

Mi Dou could not hold back any longer and pointed at his device. “How many points does this cost? Can this copy any scene? Can it be used in the deep sea?”

Xia Yu had not been interested at first, but when he heard him ask this, he also curiously came over. If it could be used in the deep sea, that would be wonderful. It could promote communication between humans and mermaid.

“Deep-sea research is only one of our projects, but it isn’t our main project. If you’re interested, you can send an email to our studio first, and then we’ll need to hold a meeting to discuss it. Scientific research always requires financial support behind it, and this is not cheap.” Boden wagged a finger. “If you want it, I can sell it to you at a discounted price of 65 million points. If you come to my bedroom tonight, I’ll give it to you for free.”

“Too much… too much!” Mi Dou jumped up in anger and hit his shoulder. How could it be that expensive? He was obviously teasing him. Xia Yu quickly pulled Mi Dou over and said, “Don’t really get angry. I think Boden has been joking with you all along.”

Mi Dou sniffed. “Really?”

“Of course. Boden is a cooperation partner carefully selected by Nuwa. No bad record, no criminal history. He just looks like he’s not a good person, but in fact, he is a good person.” In order to comfort Dou Dou, Xia Yu handed him a cup of honey water.

After everyone finished dinner, they began discussing how to rest. Talos’s ship was large enough that everyone could find a suitable bedroom. Only Xia Yu found himself in a difficult position and said hesitantly, “Um… how about I take Mo An back to the lighthouse? That way we can monitor the stone statue at all times and also prevent the scent from spreading everywhere.”

It was not yet ten o’clock at night, but the ship was already filled with fragrance, as if someone had sprayed perfume everywhere. Moreover, the pheromones of a male fish during his breeding period were very unique and only affected his partner. To Xia Yu, the scent simply smelled wonderful. No matter how he smelled it, it was pleasant and could awaken the desire and true feelings in his heart.

But to everyone else, it was overwhelmingly fragrant.

“Hurry and go. Don’t fumigate the ship.” Xi Ban said with a smile. “When Meng Qingqing comes back, I’ll ask her. She’s a siren, so she might have some way to suppress this instinct.”

So Xia Yu took the overwhelmingly fragrant mermaid back to the lighthouse. As soon as they stepped onto the spiral staircase, Mo An picked him up. “What are you doing?”

“Let’s make baby fish?” Although Mo An asked this, his actions were extremely assertive. Carrying Xia Yu, he walked straight into Talos’s bedroom. His long leg moved like a tail and, with a swing, kicked the door shut.

On Talos’s ship, everyone was also preparing to sleep.

Boden chose a room with a porthole. After washing up, he still had not finished his work and first reviewed the video messages. Although Mini Bear was always getting angry, what he said had given Boden inspiration. What if his device could be applied to deep-sea research?

Then they could recreate the appearance of the seabed.

This was a major breakthrough, definitely worthy of writing a paper. Boden contentedly swirled his wine glass. Then, with a bang, a huge noise startled him so badly that his wrist jerked, spilling all the red wine onto his clothes.

It scared the bear to death. What the hell was that? Had the mutant ship transformed? He turned to look toward the source of the sound, which was the doorway.

“I’m here! You can’t go back on your word!” Wearing bear pajamas, Mi Dou stood there hugging a pillow with his hands on his hips. He had just kicked the door flying open with a single kick.

 

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[Author’s Note]

Mo An: Giving off a charming fragrance all over his body!

Mi Dou: Giving off the fragrance of having no money all over his body…