MASG chapter 177: Extra 17

◎ “We are born hunters!” Mo An clenched his fists. ◎

Something seemed a little wrong.

After the little fry finished crunching through his own umbilical cord, his talent for language began to show. He had already mastered seventy to eighty percent of human language, namely the Chinese they used. Xia Yu’s guess had been correct—he really was very weak. Unlike Mo An back then, who could run and jump, he simply could not stand up.

In other words, he could only lie down, or lean against someone else. Most likely he would need to be carried around for some time.

After eating his fill, the fry also relaxed his guard. Leaning against the headboard, his big eyes looked around everywhere. The surroundings were things he had never seen before, much more comfortable than that glass tank, especially because there was another of his kind here. The aura of his own species could soothe the heart, especially after the little fry realized this same kind held no killing intent toward him. Curiosity gradually surfaced, and he rolled all over the bed.

“So what should we do now?” Xia Yu and Talos looked at each other, then toward Mo An. “Should we send him for a physical examination?”

Mo An looked at how he could not stand and casually assessed, “Yes. If there’s a problem with his legs, he might not even be able to swim in the future.”

Xia Yu had a headache. A mermaid’s instinct was to return to the deep sea. If he could not even swim… Xia Yu did not dare imagine the consequences. Meng Qingqing and her sisters would never accept a child with physical defects. That was the survival law of mermaids. The reason mermaids were so strong was because they evolved through generation after generation of survival of the fittest.

When Talos’s ship docked, 107 was already waiting by the shore. The one who came to pick them up was Xiang Xing.

“Let me see that fish.” 107 walked around Xiang Xing and looked toward the mechanical people unloading things. The vast majority of the aberrants were carried down, only that one was being held in someone’s arms. Xia Yu was afraid Mo An would grab him and toss him again, so he carried him personally, every step especially careful.

“Don’t be like this. He’s not that fragile. Our vitality is much stronger than humans’.” Mo An walked beside him.

“That was because your vitality was strong when you were little. He’s different.” Xia Yu recalled that back then Mo An had been so chubby he could not even carry him properly. Several times he dropped him onto the ground, but Mo An was always fine, rolling around twice before laughing and running back. The one in his arms now… would probably die if dropped. And the little fry was not stupid either. In one glance he identified the person most likely to treat him best from the crowd, and now buried his little face in Xia Yu’s neck while clutching the glass bead around his neck.

“What is this? What is this?” he kept asking.

When he asked, his fiery red eyes met Xia Yu’s gaze, reflecting Xia Yu’s unique watery-colored pupils into a pale orange shade, like an orange sea. “This is…”

“It’s Aquamarine crystal, something you’ve never seen before,” Mo An interrupted first.

“Aquamarine crystal, why haven’t I seen it before?” the little fry quietly asked, his pronunciation still not especially standard.

“Because this comes from the sea, and you’ve never swum in the sea before. When you grow up and return to the seabed, naturally you’ll see this thing.” Mo An continued reinforcing his mermaid worldview. “Mermaids are monsters of the deep sea, horrors in the darkness, monsters among aberrants.”

“Wow!” the little fry could not help shouting, “Monsters among aberrants!”

“We are born hunters!” Mo An clenched his fists.

The little fry stretched both fists toward the sky. “Born hunters!”

“Very good.” Mo An nodded in approval. Xia Yu was already overwhelmed. Sigh, if Xi Ban were here, things would be better. Just then, the fry in his arms widened his eyes vigilantly. Before Xia Yu could react, he immediately curled up and tightly hugged Xia Yu.

“Scared, scared, I’m scared.”

The reason was simple. 107 had come over. He was also a mermaid, and the little one sensed him.

“So it’s actually… actually like this? I’ve never seen one before.” 107 circled around him while looking. “How can he be this small? How old are you?”

Only after sensing that he carried no killing intent did the little fry raise his head, and instead asked back, “How old are you?”

“I’m asking you, hahaha.” 107 knew there was no major problem once he saw he could still talk. “Let’s go, we’ll head back first.”

Xiang Xing was responsible for piloting the aircraft the whole way. Once it entered stable autopilot mode, Xiang Xing could no longer hold back and secretly stretched over a miselium. “This little guy is so cute. Why are his eyes red? Is he a new species or something? Hello there.”

“Hello!” The little fry was no longer afraid of people, because he sensed neither of the two same-species carried any malice. Besides, this adult called Xia Yu liked him very much and kept holding him.

Ever since he had memories, he had been inside a fish egg, always alone, very lonely. He had little awareness, but he could sense living people nearby. The lights rarely turned on, dimness was the norm. Also, the seawater soaking him was not fresh and only got replaced every few days, so he had always lived in a state of insufficient oxygen and poor nutrition.

Sometimes, he could also sense lives dying nearby.

Mermaids possessed an innate sensitivity toward the ecosystem, and that sensitivity deepened his fear. Ever since becoming conscious, he had lived like this until he heard deafening noises.

What he did not know was that those sounds came from Xia Yu and the others firing guns. But in his understanding, something major had happened outside, and he had to break free from the fish egg and swim away from here as quickly as possible.

Now the fry leaned against Xia Yu while sitting. The moment he looked up he saw Xia Yu’s smiling face and concerned eyes. Xia Yu kept holding him too, and the aquamarine crystal around his neck was also very beautiful. The little fry could not help wanting to look at him more and reach out to touch him.

“Wait, we still don’t know what he’s called.” 107 suddenly said. “Little guy, do you still remember your name? What about your parents? Did any double-tail take care of you?”

Everyone’s attention landed on him, making the little fry uneasy. He shrank further into Xia Yu’s arms.

“You’re not allowed to hide. Mermaids can’t be timid. I wasn’t like you when I was little.” Mo An pulled him back out again, completely forgetting how he himself had hidden in ten-year-old Xia Yu’s arms and cried. “Do you remember your name?”

“Don’t remember.” The little fry shook his head tearfully. The big fish was so fierce.

“You’re not allowed to cry.” Mo An saw that even the rims of his eyes had turned red. “Mermaids can’t shed tears easily. Since you’ve grown up, you have to learn to swallow your tears back into your heart. A mermaid who cries can’t become ruler of the ocean and can’t become strong.”

“Okay, I’m not allowed to cry.” The little fry raised his little face and forcibly held back the tears.

Xiang Xing and 107 simultaneously looked toward Xia Yu. When Mo An said things like this, did he really not feel guilty at all?

As for whether he felt guilty or not, Xia Yu did not know. He only knew Mo An was being somewhat overly strict and harsh. “Alright, he’s even smaller than you were at birth. He naturally won’t cry when he grows up. Looks like he doesn’t remember his parents, doesn’t remember the hatching ground, and doesn’t remember his name either… should we give him one?”

Mo An bent down and saw the little fry’s hands continuously reaching toward Xia Yu, so he flicked the back of his hand.

“Hiss—” The little fry who got flicked painfully immediately expressed resistance.

“You’ve been born for less than two hours and you already dare have territorial awareness? Believe it or not, I’ll eat you?” Mo An frowned and questioned him in the ancient mermaid language. Although the little fry had never learned it, this was a language engraved into their instincts. Just hearing it once completely activated it.

After asking, Mo An shook his head and said, “Xla, I already asked him. He doesn’t remember anything, so you should give him a name.”

“Xia Yu, give me a name.” The little fry looked at him pitifully. Xia Yu was good, Xia Yu was really good.

“Me? Let me think.” Xia Yu was not very familiar with mermaid naming customs. “How do you say ‘flame’ in the mermaid language? His eyes are so red, let’s just call him ‘Flame.’”

“Flame? That works. According to the pronunciation it would be ‘Manqi.’ Since he’s still little, he can be called A’Manqi.” 107 held the little fry’s hand. “From today onward your name is A’Manqi. When you grow to be as big as that mermaid over there, your name will become Manqi. That’s an adult mermaid.”

“Thank you, A’Manqi will behave.” The little fry said ingratiatingly, but turned around and hugged Xia Yu again.

“A’Manqi? It’s actually pretty good.” Xia Yu patted his back and thought of how he had felt the first time he called A’Nixida.

Mo An was in no mood to appreciate it. A’Manqi was too small, and he worried A’Manqi would not live long. Not long after, the aircraft landed steadily on the extension platform, and the group brought A’Manqi and the other aberrants into the laboratory. The lab immediately became busy. Even Yan Xia, who had been run off her feet, came over. As the primary person in charge of Qingyao City, she first registered the unknown aberrants before arranging biological examinations.

Aberrants could possibly carry deadly pathogens. Once spread, it would become a disaster for humans. The second matter was placing A’Manqi into an aquarium tank to observe his vital signs.

On the other side of the laboratory, Little Blue, now twice as large as before, tightly clung to the inner glass wall while observing everything happening outside. When Xia Yu walked over, it arranged words with its tentacles: [Mermaid]

“Yes, a very small mermaid.” Xia Yu touched the glass while replying. “We rescued him.”

All of Little Blue’s tentacles immediately swayed, like large seaweed drifting with the current. The blue light it emitted caught the little fry’s attention. He secretly looked at the jellyfish from time to time and secretly listened to the adults talking. Before long, someone picked him up, intending to pull him away from Xia Yu.

“Ah…” he cried out in alarm. “Quickly hold… A’Manqi.”

But Xia Yu could only loosen his hands. “Be good. Once the examination is over, you can come out.”

“Really? A’Manqi wants to come out.” The little fry stretched his hand toward Xia Yu’s direction.

“Really, I’m not lying to you.” Xia Yu touched his little hand.

“Alright, put him in.” Mo An’s side had already finished preparing, but A’Manqi had psychological trauma toward aquarium tanks. Before he was even placed inside, his vital signs already showed abnormal fluctuations. His blood pressure and heartbeat directly approached the limit. Xia Yu stood outside worriedly, and with a splash, the little fish they rescued returned to seawater.

A’Manqi sank underwater and turned over. Respiratory organs appeared on his neck—gill slits.

“Good thing, he has gill slits. From this it seems there’s no problem.” Xia Yu spoke first. What he worried about most was underdeveloped gills. If the fry truly entered seawater and could not breathe, it would be over. But just after he relaxed for that brief moment, A’Manqi became like a large doll thrown into water, and under everyone’s watchful eyes… sank straight to the bottom.

He did not know how to swim with legs, and his legs had not yet turned into a fish tail, so he could only lie at the bottom of the tank with his little belly sticking out, blinking his beautiful eyes at the people outside.

“Oh god, he really can’t swim.” Xia Yu’s nightmare was about to come true. This fish might have been born too early. He was a disabled little fish.

A’Manqi’s ear fins were unfolding. The double-layered ear fins were like orchid petals, semi-transparent. He could not hear what the people outside were saying, but he still smiled at Xia Yu and copied Mo An’s earlier words: “Xla!”

“Hm? What’s going on?” Mo An knocked on the glass wall. “Brat, get out here.”

 

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【Author’s Note】

Mo An: Beginning wolf-style education!

Fish fry: Awoo!

Xia Yu: I can’t bear to watch.