MASG chapter 7

 

Like a dream, Xia Yu witnessed a miracle in the ocean.

Dust continued to fall from the ceiling and land on their heads as a warning of danger and to stay away. However, Xia Yu silently observed the changes within the fish eggs, pinching his arm to see if he was dreaming.

Was he too tired or frightened to be hallucinating?

The image of the injection flashed back to him. The needle for the nutritional supplement was thicker than the one used at the research institute, and the fish eggs were thick. There was noticeable resistance when the needle entered them. The moment the needle completely penetrated, the fish inside didn’t react at all. He simply floated in the water, asleep and unconsciously dodging the needle. Now, he’s opened his eyes!

Because of the egg membrane, Xia Yu wasn’t sure if Mo An could see his face clearly. He himself was blurry. He could vaguely make out his pale blue ear fins and the dense blue veins on them.

Suddenly, the face moved closer, startling the timid Xia Yu again.

“Ah!” Xia Yu sat back and landed on the cold tile floor. He knew nothing about strange species, let alone mermaids. Still, that moment had been terrifying, as if the creature inside were trying to break out and eat him.

The tears he had just held back flowed again. Xia Yu loved to cry, and he was angry at himself for being weak, so he fiercely wiped away the tears.

Is he crying? Why is the little jellyfish crying? Meanwhile, Mo An inside the fish egg also frowned.

He couldn’t see clearly. The tear membranes in his eyes hadn’t fully formed yet, and any light was too bright for him. But that didn’t stop him from recognizing Xia Yu because he had heard this song a long time ago.

I am a little jellyfish, I come from the depths of the ocean, puff puff, puff puff…

Whenever he felt anxious and desperately wanted to return to the deep sea, this song would soothe him. In that large tank, Mo An learned the name that the people outside had given him. The artificial seawater gently lifted the fish eggs, but it wasn’t as peaceful as the ocean.

It was too bright all around. In the research facility, Mo An fell asleep on and off, never resting soundly. He yearned for his tribe and the peace he felt in the depths of the ocean. He longed for the embrace of real water. From that day on, however, all of that vanished, and he was confined to a glass box.

For some reason, though, every time he heard Xia Yu’s song, Mo An quieted down as if he were hearing the sound of the ocean.

Xia Yu, still sitting on the ground, suddenly realized that Mo An had awoken. He cautiously approached the eggs, gently resting his two small hands on a scratch in the membrane. “Mo An, Mo An, you…you…”

Mo An still couldn’t see him clearly. It was too bright. He simply felt a pair of cold, trembling hands caressing the egg membrane. His tail, umbilical cord, and the egg’s inner membrane were connected, allowing him to sense external pressure and pain. As those hands glided over his wounds, Mo An’s frenzy was once again soothed, as if the sea were flowing through him.

How strange.

However, Xia Yu was unaware of all this. He only knew that Mo An had awakened, yet he could still do nothing. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It seems I can’t raise you at all. I can’t raise you.”

What was he saying? Mo An couldn’t move, he could only blink. His ear fins couldn’t fully extend. Through the amniotic fluid, he could only hear intermittent sounds.

“I’m so useless! I only found one nutrient.” Xia Yu felt a mixture of joy and worry. He was happy that Mo An had finally moved and that he was still alive. But he was also worried that Mo An might soon starve to death because there wouldn’t be enough nutrient solution in time.

The harsh environment threatened not only Mo An, but also Xia Yu. Suddenly, Xia Yu began to feel a chill and shivered inexplicably.

“No, I can’t. I can’t die.” But he immediately remembered Professor Wang’s words and mustered his last bit of strength to tear open the bag of bread. The bread wasn’t tasty. It was dry and tasteless, like chewing paper. But Xia Yu didn’t have the right to complain. Staying alive was the most important thing.

As he ate, he thought the food tasted quite good because his hunger had dissipated.

“Okay, I won’t die. I won’t die if I’m full,” he reassured Mo An, shoveling food into his mouth. He was a defenseless little guy, yet he still wanted to protect another little guy at that moment.

After filling himself up completely, his mood improved considerably, and he felt a surge of desire to survive. He glanced around. Mi Dou was still asleep, so the surroundings seemed relatively safe. It would be nice if they could hide there forever.

But soon, fatigue and cold washed over him, and his mind lost focus. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. He could deal with tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.

With a full stomach, Xia Yu curled up beside the fish eggs, relying on Mo An for support. He closed his somber eyes.

It was so cold. As he was about to fall asleep, his feet had already lost feeling, and he shivered from the cold. Although he had been disassembled constantly at the research institute, his living conditions had always been good. He even slept in the hibernation cell.

Nuwa would turn off the lights, play his favorite sound of waves, and adjust the temperature. Now, all of that was gone. Xia Yu missed Wang Qin and Nuwa dearly.

They, where were they? Were they still alive? They… Xia Yu drifted off into a deep sleep. His last thought before falling asleep was: If only I had a blanket to cover myself, so I wouldn’t be so cold.

Rumble, rumble, the ground continued trembling as another tall building collapsed. Hallucinatory neon lights shattered into foam, and the sewer walls trembled in tandem. In the dim light, a faint blue glow flickered within the dilapidated hut as if the giant egg were breathing.

Mo An closed his eyes, too. The water within the egg glowed. The membrane of his egg began to heat up, providing a constant source of warmth for the tiny jellyfish. Opening his eyes early had done him no good. Since leaving the hatching area, his sleep had been light and easily disturbed by sounds from the ground.

Once he had the strength, Mo An glanced at Xia Yu, who slept soundly against him. He longed for the day he could emerge from the egg and see the color of the jellyfish’s eyes clearly.

Thinking of this, Mo An happily blew a few clear bubbles into the amniotic fluid, his tail swaying slightly. He still had years to go before he could break free from the egg. He would have to wait for the tail fin, umbilical cord, and egg to fall off naturally. That was too long for him.

That sleep, Xia Yu felt he had slept to the end of time, until he had no strength left in his body.

In his dream, he once again faced swarms of robots, countless pairs of red eyes staring at him, steadily closing in. He ran desperately, trying to get Mo An out before the self-destruct sequence activated, but he always fell.

After falling, he saw Wang Qin lying in a pool of blood.

“You have to save the world. You have to raise Mo An. You have to see the sea.”

Wang Qin’s bloody hands grabbed him, and then the whole world fell into chaos. Xia Yu could only run. While running, he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he thought the nightmare was just that—a nightmare—and that the world was still the same. He was still waiting for Nuwa to open the door to his sleeping cabin. Instead, he saw Mi Dou’s smiling face.

“You’re awake!” Mi Dou breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought you were sick!”

“Ah!” Xia Yu screamed in fear and quickly hid behind the fish eggs.

“Thank you. I’m fine now.” Mi Dou twitched his ears, the bandaged wound was no longer bleeding. “Thanks to your medicine! Plus, genetically modified humans like us have excellent physiques. Mom said humans use us for mining…”

“Mining?” Xia Yu slowly recalled how he had come to the sewers and how he had met Mi Dou. Recalling it all, he stretched out his arms to block the fish egg and glanced back at it.

Mo An seemed to have fallen asleep again, his eyes were closed.

“Yeah, because we’re strong and have stamina, genetically modified humans are used for mining. Didn’t you know that?” Mi Dou, who clearly had more life experience, asked. “What about you? What did you do before?”

“Me? I… I don’t know.” Xia Yu shook his head blankly. The X-series hadn’t been researched or proven valuable yet, so genetically modified humans resembling jellyfish hadn’t been mass-produced, and no one was using them.

“Okay, but I still have to thank you very much. We’ll be good friends from now on. If I find my mom again, I’ll ask her to find you better jobs,” Mi Dou said sternly. “It’s really cold here! I actually woke up from the cold.”

“Cold?” Xia Yu seemed incredulous because he wasn’t cold at all.

If it were really cold in this room, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. My hands and feet would be frozen to the point of being unbearable. But now, every joint is flexible, so they can’t be frozen. Could the cold wind in this room only be freezing Midou and not me?

Jingwei: [Good morning. It’s 9:03 AM. Have you guys gotten some rest?]

“Who!” Midou was startled.

“It’s my AI bracelet.” Xia Yu had grown accustomed to Jingwei’s company.

Jingwei: [To be more precise, I’m actually an AI. The bracelet is just a medium.]

Midou nodded, half-comprehending: “Hello, AI.”

Jingwei: [Hello. But now is not the time for greetings. You must relocate immediately.]

“What? Relocate?” Xia Yu’s heart skipped a beat as his beautiful dream shattered so easily. He’d thought he could hide in this little corner with Mi Dou and Mo An forever, sharing the company of the dust. Now, isn’t it safe here?

Jingwei: [Yes. The aircraft will soon break through the code gate and come patrol here, eliminating all life targets. Outside, cleansing is underway. The machines have rebelled. The first wave of human resistance has already been defeated step by step.]

“Defeated?” Xia Yu didn’t understand. Machines were invented by humans—why would humans be defeated?

Jingwei: [Because in recent years humans have relied too much on AI. When technological intelligence surpasses humans, humans are naturally discarded as crutches. But this is too profound for you to grasp. You don’t need to worry about it. All you need to do is follow the corridor outside and keep going forward. At the end, you will find a door.]

“If—I mean, if.” Xia Yu still wanted to stay. “If we don’t leave and the aircraft can’t find this place, will it be safe to hide here? The three of us are small, we won’t be discovered if we don’t move.”

Jingwei: [No, you’re not safe. You need to leave through the hallway, open a door, and enter Power Plant No. 3 to be safe for the time being. Besides, you have no idea what’s happening outside. Something more terrifying than aircraft and mechanical mercenaries is happening.]

“What’s going on?” Xia Yu asked anxiously.

Mi Dou also grew nervous. He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but the surroundings seemed to be getting hotter.

Jing Wei: [The Parasite Master has appeared. I’ll explain everything to you. You must leave now. You must leave.]

Jing Wei had barely finished speaking when Xia Yu, still contemplating what a “parasite master” was, heard a strange slapping sound echoing through the hallway. It sounded like running water or the sticky sound of stepping on glue.

At a loss, Mi Dou looked at Xia Yu and said, “Now what do we do? I’ll do as you say.”

Xia Yu said without hesitation, “Let’s go! Take Mo An with us. Let’s go!”

“Okay!” Mi Dou didn’t hesitate any longer, and the two children formed their survival alliance. Just as Xia Yu started to worry about how to carry Mo An, Mi Dou effortlessly lifted the fish eggs as if they were air.

Xia Yu slapped his head. He had almost forgotten that Mi Dou was a little bear with immense strength.

Snap, snap, clatter… The unsettling sound grew closer. The timid Xia Yu grabbed Mi Dou’s hand and fled their shabby house, sprinting down the hallway.

Trapped within the fish eggs, Mo An opened his eyes again. He instinctively opened his mouth, revealing sharp, shark-like teeth.

Danger. The scales on Mo An’s tail trembled as if a young mermaid had encountered a formidable enemy in the deep sea. Even before hatching, he had mastered raising his pelvic fins to make his body appear as tall as possible. However, he had only grown a pair of pelvic fins, with no trace of a caudal or dorsal fin.