MASG chapter 81

 

In the tidied bedroom, everyone sat in a circle.

Xiang Xing, wrapped in dry clothes, drank the last mouthful of water. “That’s how it was. Xia Yu offered himself as an exchange and proposed the second basic treaty. Then, Nuwa let us out.”

Xia Yu lay in front of everyone. His face was pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He was still not awake from the coma. He occasionally moved his fingers; he was not sleeping peacefully. His open collar revealed the sea-blue crystal bead on his necklace, and his curled eyelashes trembled.

Xi Ban wiped off his sweat. “That was too dangerous. With Nuwa’s shrewdness and cruelty, how could it possibly have let you and Jingwei go? If not for Xia Yu’s last move, we’d all be wiped out.”

“I really don’t remember the research institute’s basic treaty…” Mo An squatted by the bedside, watching Xia Yu sleep. The person was obviously right in front of him, yet he looked like an abandoned drowned dog, full of sorrow and grievance. He was truly resentful, complaining and blaming. At that moment, Mo An was like a resentful husband—a feeling he believed no mermaid would ever have.

For everyone’s safety, Xia Yu was willing to sacrifice himself. The others were temporarily safe, but it seemed as if Xia Yu didn’t consider his feelings at all.

Mo An didn’t like this selfless Xia Yu. He wished Xia Yu could be selfish. It didn’t matter if it was for himself or for Mo An; either was fine. If Nuwa’s rebellion poked a huge hole in the sky, patching it up was Nuwa’s own business. It wasn’t Xia Yu’s job to run up and down sewing it together.

“You definitely don’t remember. Back then, you were still in your egg, blowing bubbles.” Silver Fang patted Mo An’s shoulder. “But Xia Yu really kept his mouth shut. He never told us anything.”

“He didn’t say anything because he knew it was his trump card.” Mo An gave a bitter smile.

Xia Yu was never the type to hide things. He discussed whatever he had with everyone and solved problems together. To Mo An, this first-treaty, second-treaty stuff sounded like total fantasy, yet in Xia Yu’s hands, it was a double-edged sword of light and fire.

107 asked in a small voice, “But why did he have to use himself as the exchange condition? Couldn’t he set something else?”

“You think Nuwa eats grass? Nuwa was determined to win; that’s why she allowed Xia Yu to enter the log-in device. It was basically tricked by Xia Yu, so now Nuwa must be searching for loopholes in the treaty.” Silver Fang had interacted with Nuwa before, and his evaluation of this AI was polarized.

If you agreed with Nuwa’s values, you’d think it was a wise ruler. Otherwise, it was a butcher. Besides, Nuwa never opened any green channels for anyone. It was close to Professor Wang Qin; it even named Xia Yu alongside her. Yet, when the rebellion came, didn’t Wang Qin still die at its hands?

She killed her without hesitation.

Nuwa saw all human lives as just numbers. She didn’t leave Wang Qin the slightest escape route, nor even the tiniest chance of survival. So, even those who serve Nuwa sincerely will not be welcomed when its kingdom descends.

Xia Yu was the only exception. But now, Xia Yu had kicked this exception aside.

Awesome. After thinking for a long time, Silver Fang could only come up with this word. Nuwa must be furious now.

“Yes, this was the only choice Xia Yu had among impossibilities.” Xi Ban sighed. “Nuwa controls the whole world. No matter what deadline Xia Yu proposes, Nuwa can complete it instantly. Difficulty is within its grasp. If Xia Yu sets a deadline of one year, Nuwa can speed up the virtual world and make a year pass in an instant. If Xia Yu says the deadline is before Qingyao City is destroyed, then Nuwa can destroy Qingyao City in the virtual world—or worse—flatten the real Qingyao City. It has the resources and robots necessary to rebuild the world.”

“Then Xia Yu’s deadline sounds even more dangerous!” Mi Dou clenched his syringe. “Whoever sets the deadline becomes Nuwa’s next target.

“Let’s wait until Xia Yu wakes up.” Silver Fang shook his head. Maybe there were other conditions that Xia Yu hadn’t explained.

This coma had lasted more than ten hours, nearly driving Mo An to despair. Restless, he stood up and squatted down repeatedly, pacing so much that it made people dizzy. Jingwei still hadn’t appeared. The Nuwa pursuit had exhausted it, so it probably needed time to come online again.

Silver Fang and Xi Ban continued to guard the area to prevent accidents. Fortunately, only those two monsters attacked them, and no new ones appeared. At night, a strong wind blew and the indoor temperature dropped sharply. Xiang Xing expanded his mycelium field again, reinforcing every window and sealing the prison castle tightly.

Amid this tense atmosphere, Xia Yu finally woke up.

Crackle, crackle—the sound of burning wood. A flicker of firelight was like a guiding lamp, pulling Xia Yu’s drifting consciousness back to reality. His vision went from blurry to clear as he gradually saw everything. On the window… was that a mushroom? Xia Yu stared hard. Mm, yes, it really was a mushroom.

Wait—did he get a nosebleed?

He clearly remembered having a nosebleed and Mo An holding him in his arms at that time. Did the two of them have direct contact? The blood? Did it get on him? Fear took over Xia Yu’s heart. Subconsciously, he scanned Mo An’s body. After noticing that Mo An was already wearing gloves, he tentatively reached out.

Mo An was sitting by the bed with his arms on the edge of the bed as he slept.

“Mo…” Xia Yu wanted to call him but stopped himself. With gloves on, touching his hair should be okay, right?

Just as he thought this, the sleeping person flipped his palm over and pressed down on Xia Yu’s hand. Since he was also wearing combat gloves, there were two layers of fabric between them.

Mo An was obviously still asleep. His head was pressed into the crook of his arm; he was heavy and deep in sleep. His silver hair was a bit dirty, but its color was still visible. His shoulders moved casually, like shifting sand dunes, before settling back down.

He was still half-asleep. This made Xia Yu relax, and he even wanted to laugh.

Half-asleep or not, the hand didn’t relax at all. It pressed down heavily and firmly on Xia Yu’s hand, not allowing him to move. It was domineering and persistent. Perhaps due to his mermaid genes, Mo An’s fingers were incredibly attractive—long finger bones, even joints, and perfectly straight.

His hands were so big. Xia Yu rarely held hands with him in such an intimate way, so he had forgotten about the difference in their hand sizes. Now, as they were suddenly compared, he realized that he could no longer control his younger brother’s hand; instead, his hand was being controlled. Even when he made a fist, Mo An’s hand could still be wrapped tightly around it.

Of course, Mo An did the same. But this position was far too ambiguous. After being held like that for a while, Xia Yu couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to change positions. The moment Mo An’s grip loosened slightly, his fingers naturally slid through the gaps between Xia Yu’s fingers. The rough fabric rubbed against the skin, transmitting a force that made Xia Yu take a deep breath. It made him even more speechless than direct skin contact.

Their fingers interlocked and their palms pressed together, finally turning into this position.

“Alright, stop messing around.” Xia Yu couldn’t help but speak up. If this continued, he feared Mo An would do something else to him.

Now about seventy to eighty percent awake, Mo An lifted his head and lazily stretched his other arm: “You’re awake?”

“Mm.” Xia Yu avoided his gaze but not his hand.

“Are you hungry?” Mo An still didn’t let go. At this point, he didn’t care about anything and had no shame left. He had already confessed; everyone present knew how he felt about Xia Yu. If he wanted to hold hands, he would hold hands.

A brother’s hands are meant to be held by his younger brother, aren’t they?

“I… I’m not hungry.” Xia Yu struggled briefly, trying to pull back. Not only did he fail, but Mo An held him down even more firmly. “Don’t do this. If others see, it won’t look good.”

“So you know they’re outsiders, right? So I’m family?” Mo An instantly sat up straight, as if his heart had been scratched in the best way. However, he felt that it made him seem immature, so he bent down again, forcing himself to appear relaxed. However, his so-called maturity was no match for his physical reactions. Even if he acted relaxed, his outer ear fins still perked up unknowingly.

He looked like a big dog with transparent pointed ears.

Xia Yu observed this entire transformation, wanting to laugh but afraid of hurting Mo An’s pride. At the same time, worry rose again. Even the slightest change in a mermaid showed on their ear fins. Didn’t that mean Mo An was too easy to read? It was fine if Xia Yu read Mo An, but in the apocalypse, this was dangerous.

Seeing that Xia Yu wasn’t answering, Mo An didn’t push him, but continued down the road of the resentful husband without turning back. As soon as he opened his mouth: “Why did you make that condition with Nuwa? Didn’t you think about yourself?”

Xia Yu shifted slightly and pointed to the water on the bedside table. His throat was dry and hoarse. Mo An hurriedly brought him the water and watched him drink it all. He hated himself for forgetting to offer him water first. After scolding himself, he continued relentlessly. “Did you not think about me? If something happened to you, what would I do?”

“I won’t… be in danger for now.” Xia Yu finally gave in, having tasted the bitterness of repeated defeat.

“Why?” Mo An believed that Xia Yu wouldn’t lie about something this serious.

“Because, besides the first and second, there’s also the third basic treaty. These three are the foundation of the research institute.” Xia Yu’s hand was still held in Mo An’s. After a long time, he slowly got used to it. “The third treaty is: Nuwa must not actively harm or endanger the nearest one.”

The first, second, and third treaties all sounded the same to Mo An.

“So Nuwa can’t do anything to me for now. I’m temporarily safe. But I also know that if it wants to break the treaties, it will definitely ‘passively’ harm and hunt me down.” Xia Yu understood better than anyone. He never acted on impulse or ignored consequences; he considered all possible outcomes.

“Then why didn’t the designers simply make it ‘no active or passive killing’ instead of creating a hierarchy?” Mo An expressed his confusion. The mermaid world wasn’t so complicated. They weren’t like humans, constantly nitpicking over words and trying to trip each other up.

Xia Yu smiled helplessly. Despite being wrapped in a thick blanket, his thin body didn’t look bulky at all. “If it were set without loopholes, Nuwa wouldn’t agree to it, much less execute it. Humans are smart; Nuwa isn’t dumb, either. Humans created the basic treaties to restrain it, but they also understood this AI’s developmental mechanism. Humans needed Nuwa’s calculations, so they gave it wiggle room. Nuwa needed humans for data support, so it agreed to the treaties. This is called ‘a game.’ But humans lost… Lost miserably. Nuwa found the loopholes and rebelled.”

“It’s way too complicated. I don’t get it.” Mo An wasn’t interested in these things. “Then why did you say we need to go to Yukun City?”

“Jingwei told me. There must be a secret in there.” Xia Yu studied Mo An’s face carefully and saw that he was hiding something. “What is it? Did something happen?”

“No…” Mo An’s first instinct was to hide it, but he realized he couldn’t. “Okay, actually, something did happen.”

He provided a detailed description of the monster that Silver Fang had killed, emphasizing the fish gills in particular. Leaning against the headboard, Xia Yu paused the conversation from time to time to think. “In that case, everything connects.”

“What connects?” Mo An asked.

“The day you hatched, the fish man said ‘that day.’ It should have been the day Nuwa launched the great flood. On the seventh day after the Four Horsemen descended, Nuwa would definitely do that. Somehow, the fish man got the news early and started preparing. They wanted my lungs to see if a jellyfish’s lung structure could survive underwater. Someone in Yukun City must be conducting ecological experiments, and their goal definitely involves the flood. They must know Nuwa’s plan. Or maybe… they want to create artificial mermaids to take over the ocean.”

“In that case, let’s go to Yukun City. We’ll rest for two days here, then set out.” Mo An spoke from a mermaid’s standpoint—he could not allow an artificial mermaid to be created.

“All right, we’ll rest for two days.” Xia Yu pressed his lips together and looked down helplessly. “First, let go of my hand. You’ve squeezed it so much that it’s sweating. If my sweat gets on you, it’ll be dangerous.”

“It’s not dangerous. Midou developed an antidote.” Mo An took a syringe out of a small metal box nearby. Inside was a clear liquid that looked just like water.

“Huh?” Xia Yu shook his head. “Impossible. I don’t believe it. Developing an antidote requires precise equipment and various reagents. Even though I don’t understand the details, I know Midou can’t create a scientific breakthrough out of thin air.”

“Right, he didn’t believe it at first, either, but then he found everything he needed in the lab. He suspected that the people of Rijianmei had developed it, but then abandoned the experiment for unknown reasons. So… nobody knows what the side effects are,” said Mo An.

Xia Yu became uneasy. “Then don’t try it. If it doesn’t work, it could hurt your body—”

Before he could finish, Mo An pulled the cap off the needle with his teeth. He aimed at his left arm, injected quickly, and remained expressionless as he pushed the liquid in until the syringe was empty.

Xia Yu sat straight up instantly. “What are you doing?!”

“Testing whether Midou’s experiment succeeded.” Mo An bit the fingertip of his right tactical glove and peeled it off. Saying he wasn’t nervous would be a lie, but his nerves weren’t only from the danger. They were also because a long-unrealized dream might finally come true.

The last time he had touched Xia Yu was in a dream.

Mo An’s fingertips were still a dozen centimeters from Xia Yu’s face. Between them lay the frozen span of more than ten years. At the moment of contact, Mo An felt a grounded certainty fill him—a vivid sense of reality. Like a dream landing. Like a weary bird returning to the forest. Like lights dimming at the end of a performance.

His arm had never felt so heavy.

He only extended it forward a few centimeters, but his temples pulsed repeatedly, pounding hard. When he finally touched him, Mo An let out a relieved laugh, and then tears fell.

The tears became golden diamonds, glittering on the blanket.

“You’re so hot,” Mo An said through tears.