MASG chapter 38

 

The truth came to light, sending chills down the fish’s spine.

After the mermaid was captured, some of her blood dripped into the sea. Xiban had followed the scent of blood from thousands of miles away, but he had arrived too late. The mermaid had likely already been eaten by the starving captain and crew. Mo An suspected as much, though he desperately hoped he was wrong.

“I came too late.” But Xiban’s words shattered Mo An’s faint hope—they were both too late.

Light blue diamonds were scattered across the floor of the B3 equipment deck. They weren’t obvious at first, but with a closer look, they could be seen everywhere. Like a silent accusation, they proved that a mermaid had once wept there.

“Whose are these?” Mo An picked up a diamond.

“I don’t know her name. I only know that she was my sister.” Xiban’s tears welled up, too—the same light blue color.

“Your tears…” Mo An reached out, wanting to wipe them away. He looked so fragile, so different from the fierce Meng Qingqing.

“When we’re sad, our tears are blue. When we’re angry, they turn red.” Another tear slid down Xiban’s cheek and transformed into a small red diamond. It was a deep, dark red—the color of a mermaid’s rage.

“When we suffer for love, our tears are pale pink—a gift for the one we love,” Xiban said, wiping his eyes.

“Suffer for love… I don’t understand.” Mo An shook his head. He was still too young to grasp it. “Can we sell these diamonds? Do all our tears turn into diamonds?”

“In most cases, yes. But there’s one kind that’s different, called the ‘Tear of Siren.’ No siren has ever shed one, and no one knows what it looks like.” Xiban gathered a handful of blue diamonds. “My sister was eaten by them.”

So it was true. Mo An fell silent, stammering, unable to respond.

“She was one of the mermaids who hatched with me seventeen years ago. We bit each other’s necks so that we would remember each other’s scent. I had many sisters, and most of them lived peacefully until six months ago when I smelled her blood.” Xiban spoke softly.

“You followed her scent to find her?” Mo An tilted his head.

“I’ve been searching for her. But only a drop of her blood fell into the ocean, and it was too faint to trace. The crew must have hidden her well. That drop must have come from when she was first wounded.” Xiban bent down and put the blue diamonds in his pocket.

“I’m so angry.” Mo An helped him gather them. They couldn’t find her body, but the diamonds were proof that she existed and lived for seventeen years. The claw marks on the deck were from when she’d been caught, and the ones in the cargo hold were from when she’d been imprisoned. This ship had imprisoned her.

They dragged her from the open sea and locked her away. Perhaps tens of thousands of her sisters were still searching for her out there, but only Xiban had managed to follow the Tide ship.

“Later, I finally found the Tide. Her blood scent was stronger, but something strange had happened on the ship. I couldn’t understand or board it. I could only linger nearby. Every night, I sang to call her, but she never answered. I think she’s gone.” Xiban closed his eyes. “Something terrible happened on that ship. Humans may think that eating mermaids flesh grants immortality, but in truth…”

“In truth, what?” Mo An asked.

“Those who eat mermaids flesh become slaves of the sea forever—living corpses beneath the waves. A parasite called ‘Sea Slave’ takes over their nervous system.” Xiban opened his eyes again; the tears were gone. “Let’s go. Let’s head back.”

“All right.” Mo An didn’t linger either. Instead, he swam one more circle around the B3 deck to make sure he hadn’t left any diamonds behind. Although he didn’t know Xiban’s sister, he still felt sad. The shared emotions of the mermaids made him want to cry—it was as if he could feel their loneliness, despair, pain, and death.

The two mermaids swam out of B3 together and returned to the porthole they had seen earlier. The ocean-going cargo ship, which had been in service for 70 months, had finally stopped, resting on the seabed forever. Its end also marked the completion of its mission to hunt mermaids. Now, the Tide had become part of the ocean floor and would someday become a new home for sea creatures.

Mo An adjusted his direction again and turned to ask, “What’s your branch exactly? Your singing can confuse people?”

“Yes. As long as we see someone, our song can completely enchant them.” Xiban hovered above the Tide.

“Ah? No wonder xla and I weren’t completely charmed. We were small and sitting at the back of the speedboat, so you couldn’t see us.” Mo An was worried about the safety of Xia Yu and Yan Xia and wanted to urge Xiban to hurry. However, Xiban’s soft, pearl-white ear fins stretched backward and turned into long “ribbons” of the sea.

He was returning to his true form. Mo An widened his eyes.

The transformation began with his ear fins and spread to his back. The fabric tore open from the two fins that sprouted there, like giant wings. Xiban began circling above the ship. His pants and boots shattered under the power, and his legs fused together in the water.

Mo An was both familiar with and unfamiliar with this process. Though Xiban’s tail hadn’t fully emerged, Mo An could already tell that it was different. It was much longer than a siren’s tail — within moments, it had grown to nearly ten times the length of his body.

When Xiban’s ventral fins spread open, Mo An realized it was a twin tail.

The twin-tailed mermaids were the gentlest branch. They were protectors of hatcheries and caretakers of eggs. While they slept, their large, layered tail fins covered the eggs, keeping them warm. Now, before Mo An stood a fully grown adult twin-tail. Its pearl-white scales shimmered softly, bringing warmth to the deep sea.

Its massive, twin-layered tail fins swept gracefully through the water. Xiban opened his throat and sang, circling slowly as he offered a final elegy for his unknown sister. Blue diamonds fell like rain, mourning her suffering.

Mo An was awestruck. He wondered if the twin tails in his hatchery had pearl-white scales, soft fins, and beautiful voices, too. They must have. After all, they had once cared for him lovingly. But where were they now?

Two speedboats had already docked on the surface. The mist had grown thin. Yan Xia had been taken by airplane for emergency treatment, and the rest of the team sat nearby, speaking in low voices.

Silver Fang didn’t even need to listen to know what they were talking about. The Tide wasn’t a Level-1 electronic corruption zone; all of the crew were core personnel, and this was the toughest mission they’d faced. When two core members appeared within an infection zone, it was difficult to clear, and casualties were inevitable. If there were many core members, no small team could handle it. The most likely outcome was total annihilation.

The entire ship’s crew was core personnel. None of them should have survived.

Yet, they were all alive. They didn’t have the luxury of feeling lucky, only disbelief.

Yet Xia Yu didn’t share their calm. He squatted by the shore, his eyes darting nervously over the sea as he clutched a syringe tightly in his hand.

“Is that Moruote’s special medicine?” Silver Fang walked over and pulled him up. His impression of the boy had changed—this wasn’t a troublemaking kid but a smart, brave soldier. He was loyal and devoted to his friends, and he had actually found the medicine in the end.

“When we get back, I won’t take your points. I’ll tell the team, and they’ll give you some of theirs. That way, you won’t have to work for a whole year.” Silver Fang also looked out to sea. Mo An still hadn’t surfaced.

The smaller boy might have been lost to the sea. There was another one, but what was his name? He’d been assigned to Group C, but what was his name? Silver Fang suddenly realized that he couldn’t remember what that person looked like.

“The aircraft coming to pick us up will arrive soon. We’ll be back at the middle layer in half an hour,” Silver Fang said, trying to comfort him. “In this apocalypse, people die every day. You may have lost a teammate, but you can still save another one. You’re young, but you have to learn to see things positively.”

Xia Yu remained silent, stunned and still.

Silver Fang glanced at the towering skyscrapers behind them. The numbers flashing at the top displayed the current date and time. “We’ve been on that ship for 19 hours already. If we hurry, we can still save Millian’s son. Let’s go!”

“I can’t leave.” Xia Yu finally spoke up. Mo An would come back.

The surface rippled. It wasn’t the wind or a passing fish. Something was floating up, glowing red through the water like countless fireflies in the sea. “What’s that?” Xia Yu pointed.

“Fragments.” Silver Fang rubbed his mechanical arm. “They’re the things inside the crew’s bodies—self-aware mechanical parts. They had chips implanted behind their ears, and now those chips have come out. We can collect them. They’re worth a lot.”

“Money and points — what’s the difference in the middle layer?” Xia Yu asked, itching to grab one.

“Money is straightforward. You can use it to buy things. Points are used within the middle layer. Even if you don’t have any coins, you can live well if you have points. More importantly, points can only be earned through missions, which are like work experience. Once you accumulate enough, you can apply for a room upgrade or better treatment.” Silver Fang took out his capture gun. He was skilled at collecting fragments, and this wasn’t his first time.

Once the fragments appeared, it meant that all danger had passed. Mission complete.

But this time, there were so many. Even at a glance, the number exceeded all his past missions combined. If they brought them all back, their whole squad would rank up, and everyone could afford a better room.

Just as he activated his gun, the sea grew restless again. Something massive was stirring the water near the shore, like a giant fish swimming beneath it. Silver Fang instinctively aimed his weapon at the whirlpool. The world’s gene pool had once been heavily polluted — who knew what kinds of monsters still lived there?

He had once seen an eight-meter carp with a human face bulging from its belly, clearly fresh from feeding.

“Mo An!” Xia Yu shouted, thrilled — A Ni was back! But could his damaged tail cause such huge waves? The water churned like a rising tide, with immense force. Then something stranger happened. One of the red lights below went out.

Mo An was indeed about ten meters underwater, but he couldn’t have stirred the sea so violently. That must have been the twin-tail’s doing—Xiban’s current. He focused on circling the fragments, waiting for his tail to turn back into human legs.

The fragments glowed. They were tiny — who knew that chips in this world were so small? Could he touch them now? How could he collect them? Curiosity drove Mo An to reach out. As his fingertip touched one, a pulse of electricity shot through it, and suddenly, the red glow of one chip vanished.

It had been absorbed by his touch!

Had he absorbed the energy from the fragment? The chip reverted to its dull, original form. Mo An looked at his palm and felt nothing unusual.

The red light floated up and down, reflecting off his silver scales like stars. It was as if he were swimming through the vast cosmos.

Well then… might as well collect them all. He would take them back, exchange them for points, and eat fried fish every day. With this mindset, Mo An felt no guilt. He gathered all the glowing red chips in his hands. When his legs finally reformed, he surfaced because he couldn’t carry any more.

Xia Yu, who had been waiting, was startled by his sudden appearance and fell backward.

Mo An held out his hands obediently. “I picked these up. Are they useful?”

He reached his little hands toward Xia Yu’s feet, loosened his fists, and several chips fell into the water with a splash. Before Xia Yu and Silver Fang could respond, Mo An fell back into the water and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“Oh right, he’s a fish-man. I almost forgot.” Silver Fang watched the naked little boy jump around in the water. No wonder he hadn’t drowned. “I heard fish-men can hold their breath for half an hour. So it’s true.”

Xia Yu looked at the fragments at his feet. Where did the light go? Not only were the ones at his feet going out, but the ones in the water were too, as if someone were turning off light after light.

“Don’t touch that!” Silver Fang stopped Xia Yu from touching it. “The fragments carry a strong current. One of my team members accidentally touched one and got electrocuted!”

“But my brother is okay.” Xia Yu was dumbfounded. Good heavens, how did Mo An get that?

“That might be… The energy in these fragments wasn’t strong enough, so he’s fine.” Silver Fang didn’t understand, but he couldn’t show weakness in front of a child. He wouldn’t let Xia Yu touch the fragments and opened the grabbing gun himself. The gun had no muzzle or bullets. It was a special magnetic attachment that looked like a ballpoint pen. A red current swirled around the tip. He aimed it at a fragment, and a chip was attracted.

Silver Fang opened the special metal box he was carrying and placed the fragment inside.

During this process, Mo An repeatedly swam ashore, scooping up the unlit fragments and placing them at Xia Yu’s feet. After placing the last one, Mo An rested his hands on the dock’s metal railing, tilted his head back, and burped. “Burp!” A loud sound echoed as his stomach rumbled.

“Come on, get up! It’s dangerous in the water.” Xia Yu quickly pulled Mo An up and took off his jacket to cover Mo An’s bottom. He couldn’t leave him naked in front of so many people. The ripples on the sea hadn’t subsided yet, clearly indicating that there were still big fish below. Xia Yu was genuinely afraid that one of them would swallow Mo An whole.

Just as he thought this, a “corpse” floated up.

“My God!” Xia Yu screamed in fright. Who was this? It was floating up completely naked!

“Hi, it’s me.” The “corpse” slowly raised its face. It was Xi Ban.

His words only made things worse. Xia Yu stared in disbelief, feeling uncomfortable at seeing someone naked for the first time. A few seconds later, someone tossed a jacket to him.

“That’s indecent,” Silver Fang said, tossing the jacket into the water. “Put it on first. Let’s go back now.”

The mission was over, and the aircraft that was supposed to pick them up arrived quickly. When it stopped, the airflow threw everyone about. Xia Yu, Mo An, Xi Bin, and Silver Fang were in one vehicle, which started moving and began whirling aimlessly through the city.

Mo An thought they had only been on the Tide for less than an hour, but it was actually noon the next day. Qingyao City was a city that never slept. Every building was surrounded by holographic advertisements that looked like semi-transparent phantoms.

The screen inside the vehicle showed how much time was left to reach their destination.

“What happened to you?” Silver Fang asked as the aircraft flew past a skyscraper.

Xi Ban looked out the window. The sky appeared bluish-gray, as if polluted. “I was unconscious. When I woke up, I was like this, and then Mo An rescued me.”

“You mean you were unconscious in the warehouse, sank to the bottom of the sea 1,000 meters down with the Tide, were rescued by Mo An, and returned to land unharmed and without any clothes? Do you have to take everything off to swim underwater?” Silver Fang scrutinized him. “Yan Xia is the strongest girl on my team. Her organs are severely damaged; she might need mechanical replacements. And you’re perfectly fine?”

Xia Yu and Mo An both looked at Xi Ban. Actually, Xia Yu was also confused.

“Yes, that’s how it is.” Hi Ban answered with a smile.

Silver Fang didn’t press further, but it was clear that he didn’t believe him. He was just tired. The countdown on the screen kept ticking, and Xia Yu just wanted it to go faster.

Sitting next to him, Mo An would occasionally burp as if he were stuffed or about to vomit from motion sickness. He had never felt this way before—full and uncomfortable with a force surging through his body. The fragmented energy seemed to surge erratically in his stomach. It wasn’t a part of him.

“Burp!” Finally, all of these discomforts turned into hiccups.

Finally, the countdown on the aircraft screen reached zero and stopped on the extended platform in the middle layer. Lao Gui greeted them. His eyes were bloodshot from not seeing them for a day. His first words to them were: “Mi Dou is gone.”

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