MASG chapter 90

 

The device didn’t seem to intend to harm Aituoda; however, it also didn’t plan to leave just like that. It circled the overly curious black siren at a speed comparable to a swordfish’s, making the mermaid dizzy and unable to predict where it would appear next.

“What is it? What does it want to do?” Aituoda angrily swung his fishtail. His blood-red eyes stared fixedly at the device, trying to find clues in its movement.

“Come back!” Nixida swam toward Aituoda, repeatedly trying to grab his tail. But the black siren’s tail was too smooth. Without a sharp fin, it slipped through his palm, leaving him holding nothing. Even more amazing was that he discovered the black siren’s tail secreted a layer of mucus. Compared to his own tail, the feel was very different.

Nixida stared at the silver device again. He didn’t know its origin or purpose, but he wanted to destroy it.

Aituoda disliked it very much as well. Wandering at the edge of the territory, it was clear that this thing had bad intentions. After several exchanges, Aituoda had figured out its movement pattern. “This thing seems to move in a triangle, circling around me nonstop.”

“Don’t bother with it. Come back quickly!” If his injuries weren’t so severe, Nixida would have rushed over in a few seconds. Now, he could only cover the wound on his chest and slowly swim forward. He couldn’t let Aituoda get close to it, nor could he let it continue wandering around.

“Don’t come over. I can catch it! I’ll grab it and bring it back for Sister to see.” Aituoda also wanted to protect the territory. He could hand problems he couldn’t solve himself to his sister—that was always a good idea. In an instant, he locked onto a fixed point amid the rapid displacement. His webbed hand thrust out rapidly and pierced straight through the silver device’s “wing.”

“Got it!” Aituoda shouted excitedly.

Crack!

Even before the words were spoken, a blinding white light burst from the “wing.” In this deep-sea trench, its brightness far surpassed that of any fluorite. How could Aituoda have ever seen such a light? A black tear membrane instantly covered his blood-red eyeballs, but he was still blinded by the glare and temporarily lost his sight.

Nixida had foreseen that this thing would emit light and use weapons to suppress its own kind, so he had covered his tear membrane in advance. His powerful fishtail launched a swift, fierce attack, whipping the machine around in a blink. When the fishtail touched it again, the siren’s scales shredded the machine to pieces!

It went from a complete object to scattered fragments. As the broken metal fell downward, Nixida felt strangely familiar with it. It was as if he had once seen countless glowing metal pieces surrounding him in the sea, specks of light like a river of stars.

“How are you?” But Nixida had no time to think now. He grabbed Aituoda’s tail again and pulled this horned, black siren back. As he got closer, he noticed that Aituoda’s black horns were faintly glowing red.

“I…I think I can’t see anymore.” When Aituoda spoke again, his words were shocking. He rubbed his eyes in confusion. After the confusion came the fear of blindness. “Wait, wait! Why can’t I see? What’s going on? What’s going on?”

“Don’t panic!” Nixida was equally at a loss. He knew the thing that shouldn’t have appeared on the seabed was hiding something. “I’ll take you back first!”

“Sister, sister!” Aituoda helplessly grabbed Nixida’s arm. In his panic, he softly called out Aibaoyin’s name. Despite the pain, Nixida slowly swam back with Aituoda, bringing this dangerous news back to the trench.

Aibaoyin arrived quickly. She swam like a black snake, coiling along the cliff walls of the trench and spiraling down to their side. Her companions had already surrounded Aituoda. Their red eyes continuously checked Aituoda’s injuries, and then they whispered among themselves while sizing up the newly arrived mixed-blood.

“How is it? Let me take a look.” Aibaoyin cupped her younger brother’s small, delicate face. Although she usually disliked her younger brother for always messing up, she was clearly fond of him. “Have you used the mucus?”

“It’s already been used. It looks like temporary blindness.” An older black siren beside them answered. She slid her fingers in a circle along her fishtail, picking up transparent mucus with her fingertips. It was cool to the touch. She applied it to Aituoda’s burning eyes. Watching the process, Nixida guessed that, besides being able to soothe mermaid emotions through their singing, black sirens’ mucus was also some kind of miraculous substance that could heal mermaids.

He was really lucky to have drifted into the black sirens’ territory after being seriously injured.

“Sister, that thing can light up, and it’s very fast.” Aituoda still remembered to relay important information back home, but he spoke in fragments, stumbling and halting, unable to explain clearly. Aibaoyin anxiously circled around him and finally stopped in front of Nixida. “You tell me!”

In just this short time, two mermaids had run into disaster while swimming out. One was half-crippled and the other was blind. Such a catastrophe had never happened in the territory before!

Nixida steadied himself and opened his palm. Hidden in his hand was a piece of metal that emitted a sharp, cold gleam.

“It’s something made by humans, I think.” Nixida handed the metal to Aibaoyin. “A… silver device. It’s not clear what it was meant to do.”

“Did it come after you? Why did that thing appear as soon as you arrived? Did you bring the disaster here?”

The whispering school of fish finally spoke up. Nixida shook his head. He didn’t know, and he didn’t think it was wrong to be suspected. It was too much of a coincidence. How could something like that appear in a 7,000-meter trench? Yet, once he arrived, that thing followed him. Everyone was right to be suspicious—it was the truth.

“That thing moves in a triangular trajectory, very fast.” Nixida continued to pass on information. While staying in the black sirens’ territory, his silver hair was the only thing that made him appear compatible, proving that he could be treated as one of them. “If you encounter it again, don’t try to grab it. It has metal wings with lights so bright that they are tens of thousands of times brighter than the fluorite in the trench. One look, and you’ll lose your sight.”

“I saw it.” Aituoda said pitifully. Black sirens are afraid of light. In overly bright light, they can’t move quickly. “Just one look.”

“Such a dangerous thing. Why did you get so close? I’ve really indulged you too much.” Aibaoyin’s tail tip slid back and forth across her younger brother’s face. Standing among everyone, she raised her voice and issued orders. “From now on, the territory isn’t safe anymore. We must raise our vigilance. Tell the girls to take turns patrolling the edge of the territory. If you find silver metal devices, report them—don’t handle them yourselves. The boys should collect more mucus and look for food. If you find any metal devices, report back as well.”

“One more thing.” She gave Nixida a meaningful look. “I don’t want any suspicious talk in the territory. Whether or not this matter has anything to do with Nixida has not yet been decided. We must be tolerant and accept our kin. Understand? If that thing is coming for us, it will be a disaster. Clearly, humans have already figured out what we fear.”

“Understood.” The leader’s words silenced everyone else.

However, they did not stop the disaster. A slender, black female siren swam down the trench cliff. “Something’s wrong! Baoyin! There are many silver things appearing around us!”

“They’ve arrived.” Aibaoyin flicked her tail, stirring up several whirlpools. Her single black ear fin pressed from her ear ridge toward her temple, finally covering her eyes tightly to protect them. “Prepare to fight!”

At her command, the female black sirens clinging to the trench cliffs covered their eyes with their ear fins and lowered black tear membranes. They looked like blindfolded female warriors rapidly swimming upward. Nixida watched in shock. His double-layered ear fins could only point straight up or down, and they couldn’t move forward or back at all. The black sirens’ ear fins, however, were extremely flexible.

Aibaoyin naturally charged at the very front. Her devil-like, sharp, black horns had two bends and were half a meter long. When she was still, the twin horns captured vibrations in the seawater—no fish could escape. She held a glowing fluorite in her hand. The faint light was easier on their eyes. As they swam past the trench cliff, Aibaoyin threw the fluorite upward.

As the light moved, countless silver objects hovered above the trench like unopened eyes.

The large number shocked the black siren warriors for a brief moment, causing an unprepared feeling to flash past. Suddenly, the lights turned on, illuminating the surroundings with extreme clarity as if a sun had bloomed in the sea. The winding trench lay along the seabed, resembling a crack in the ocean floor.

This time, however, the black sirens were fully prepared. The double-layered protection blocked most of the light, and the mermaids who lived in the trench year-round twisted through the seawater like agile snakes, launching rapid attacks at the silver devices. The light sources produced heat, and their sharp horns acted as detection tools to lock onto positions.

Suddenly, another black mermaid rushed from the depths of the trench to the upper layer. He was more than ten times faster than the black sirens, moving so quickly that Aibaoyin could not see him clearly. The devices surrounding them went out one by one, and the crisp sound of metal snapping rang out everywhere.

Was this the power of the siren? Aibaoyin narrowed her eyes. She had seen sirens before, but never a branch displaying its strength like this. At that moment, she felt the huge difference between the branches—the siren was far stronger. Its wide tail fin was like an extra pair of hands. With a single swing, it shattered the devices along with its black elbow fins.

The fins were like two long external blades.

The male siren spun through the water like a crushing, rotating top. Anything that touched him couldn’t survive. He created different whirlpools than the black sirens did, and his exploded scales turned into countless blades.

Only one last light remained. Aibaoyin slowly lifted her ear fin and opened her eyes.

The male siren sped past the device, extending his dorsal fin to split the hard metal in two again. He didn’t need his hands or tail; his fish bones were weapons of endless variation.

Metal fragments fell in all directions, reflecting the fluorite’s light from every angle. Suddenly, Nixida crushed the mechanical wing in his hand, his vicious gaze fixed once again on the seabed. There was a fire inside his body with nowhere to vent. The moment he saw these devices, he found an outlet, wanting to crush them into powder.

“Nixida.” Aibaoyin stopped behind him.

Nixida turned his body slightly, silently. His chest rose and fell rapidly and intensely, his back muscles bulging as if he were biting something. She looked closely and saw that it was the aquamarine gemstone. Fearing it would get scratched during the fight, he held it in his mouth.

After the crisis passed, at night, Nixida and Aituoda lay on the same rock. One had mucus on his eyes; the other had mucus on his chest, abdomen, and lower back.

“That’s how it was. After you came back, everyone used mucus to seal your wounds. You’re really lucky—good thing I found you.” Aituoda chattered on. “If you’d fallen into another branch’s hands, you’d be done for.”

Nixida let out a sigh. “Thank you.”

“No need. Don’t judge us black sirens by our appearance—we’re the healers among the mermaid branches. Believe me, our singing can cure illness. Those white sirens may look soft and weak, but their singing can drive mermaids crazy.” Aituoda explained.

White sirens… Nixida’s head started hurting again. “Cough. Why are your horns different? Some black sirens have red horns.”

“Actually, we’re all black. But male fish use their sharp horns to grind against iron ore on the seabed, which stains them red. It looks better. If they’re not attractive enough, it’s hard to find a mate.” Aituoda really wanted to rub his eyes, but he held back. “I heard Sister say it was you who drove off those machines.”

“Not really,” Nixida replied dully.

“Right now, you’re a hero in the territory. Everyone is very grateful to you.” Aituoda said jokingly. “If you really can’t remember anything, you might as well stay here with us. No one wouldn’t welcome you, and we’ll protect you.”

“No, I will leave.” Nixida was unusually firm and decisive. “When my injuries heal, you will take me to find the snake woman or Haisiruola. I can’t stay here. I have to remember everything.”

He touched his collarbone. The aquamarine stone was hidden in the hollow of his collarbone, providing him with the only support and proof of his connection to the past.

Three months later, the world seemed unchanged.

Talos’s large ship set sail again, gradually moving away from Port A.
From the deck, the lighthouse grew smaller and smaller, meaning it was getting farther away. When the lighthouse could no longer be seen, Midou put on a raincoat and walked onto the deck.

A light rain fell over the sea. Transparent raindrops hit his body with soft pattering sounds. The goose-yellow raincoat was covered in a layer of water droplets. Midou lifted his hood to reveal a face dotted with small freckles. He picked up the cup in his hand, took a sip, and used the warm honey water to wake himself up.

“Still no news?” This time, Lao Gui came out with him. He hadn’t experienced the terrifying whirlpool, but the outcome was clearly extremely tragic. Silver Fang was still in the middle layer, repairing equipment. The others who had fallen into the water were missing.

Or maybe…

“No, Talos said nothing was found.” Midou took another sip. “Meng Qingqing has already spread the news throughout the sea, searching for a male siren. But the ocean is too big. She said that if they check branch by branch like this, it would conservatively take decades to search through all the seawater.

“Oh.” Lao Gui nodded.

“The others… there’s no news either. Where did everyone go?” Midou sniffed. “It’s like I lost all my friends overnight. Lao Gui, do you understand how I feel?”

“Of course.” Lao Gui nodded. Over the past few months, Midou had been constantly going out to sea, almost crazed. He wasn’t just sad or lonely. He refused to believe that the missing people were gone. He wanted to find each of them and bring them back.

“I understand you best, which is why I came with you.” Lao Gui rested both arms on the railing. “No bodies seen, alive or dead—that’s the most terrifying thing. It becomes a lifelong nightmare.”

Midou quietly looked at him. There was something behind his words.

“Haha, let me tell you about myself.” Lao Gui rubbed his hair. “My real name is Xie Dang. Lao Gui isn’t my nickname; it was my brother’s code name.”

“Your brother? You have a brother?” Midou was stunned.

“A brother with no blood relation.” Lao Gui smiled. “I grew up in an orphanage. No one knew my background. Later, I was adopted by a couple who already had a son two years older than me. We grew up together, studied together, and became demolition experts together. Haha, those were such foolish, silly times. We treated demolition like an exciting game and planned to dismantle all the bombs in the world.”

“What happened later?” Midou felt this was a sad story.

“Later, of course, there was no later.” Lao Gui’s voice quickly dimmed, mirroring the withering of his life. “We were sent on a mission to defuse a bomb. It should have been my turn that day, but he said he was more confident. Then it exploded. I couldn’t even be sure if he had started dismantling it. The building collapsed, and clearing the rubble took half a month. I wasn’t sure if he was blown to pieces or what happened to him, but he was never found again. After that, I started having problems with my hands. As soon as I got close to a bomb, my hands would shake violently, and I could no longer do the job. They said I had psychological issues, so I went into treatment, until now…”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” Midou lowered his head.

Lao Gui laughed. “What I fear most is not knowing whether you’re alive or dead. Even if you’re dead, I hope to get a definitive answer. I can no longer find my ‘Lao Gui,’ but you will definitely be able to.”

“Really?” Midou perked up immediately, sweeping away the gloom. “Actually, I have a bold idea.”

“Let’s hear it.” Lao Gui encouraged him.

“Mo’an hatched right under our noses. He has no siblings, and no mermaid knows the smell of his blood. But he bit Xia Yu back then, so he remembers his blood. Xia Yu is a jellyfish gene-modified human. Maybe the scent of the Blue Jellyfish is hidden in his blood. If we catch a few Blue Jellyfish, extract their blood components, add human blood, and drip the mixture into the ocean, maybe Mo’an will come to us on his own. It’s a very unscientific method, but I have no other way.”

“All right, I’ll help you. First, let’s go catch some Blue Jellyfish.” Lao Gui forcefully patted Midou on the back.

Midou looked toward the sea horizon. The sunshower seemed to be coming to an end. He firmly took off the hood of his raincoat and breathed in the fresh air as his chest gradually filled. “Let’s get to work. We’ll find them one by one.”