MASG chapter 93

 

“Shh.” Aituoda reminded Nixida again.

They could clearly feel a creature swimming past, yet they couldn’t see it at all. Nixida couldn’t help but reach out with both hands, wanting to scoop up large handfuls of seawater and see them turn into something solid.

What would transparent seawater turn into? Nixida was confused again. The wound had clearly healed, yet he felt pain again. Something cold pierced through him, and around him… everything around him was blue light.

Nixida didn’t dare be sure, but he felt completely certain that it was the halo of the blue jellyfish. Their bodies possessed a clover-like glow unlike any other jellyfish. Once it bloomed, it was a magnificent sight in the sea. He had been so close to them. This must be the most crucial information.

“Stop grabbing the seawater. Hurry and close your eyes.” Aibaoyin didn’t know what was going on with this fish either. From time to time, it made strange movements. “The Abyssals only appear when their emotions fluctuate. Normally, we can’t see them. When we can’t see them, we don’t interfere with each other. But once you see them, they’re easily startled into screaming!”

Nixida had his mouth covered by Aituoda. Wait—if you won’t let me talk for fear of alerting the Abyssals, then why do you dare talk yourselves?

You two siblings, why aren’t you worried about alerting the Abyssals?

Aibaoyin might have also noticed this oversight and been careless for a moment. But the result was bad. The Abyssals had already discovered their prying. Before anyone could scream, bubbles were already rising.

From all directions—front, back, left, and right—large clusters of bubbles surged up, as if gas were leaking from the seabed. Immediately after, a piercing scream made Nixida’s whole body shudder.

The troublemaking siblings Aibaoyin and Aituoda were clearly prepared; they were already covering their ears with their ear fins!

“Ah—ah—ah—”

The sharp sound turned into blades that stabbed straight into Nixida’s ears. Speechless and helpless, he glared at the siblings. Your ear fins can block your ears—what about me? A siren’s ear fins aren’t that flexible. You angered the Abyssals, then avoided the noise yourselves?

“Ah—ah—”

The sound didn’t stop, clearly driving away these three unknown visitors. Nixida was already irritated from being unable to remember things. At the instant he sensed the incoming current, he simply struck out—and miraculously grabbed one!

The two black sirens were dumbfounded, amazed once again by the siren’s strength and speed. Nixida didn’t think it was amazing at all. He pulled his wrist back and dragged the transparent yet weighty creature in front of him. Though the Abyssals had not yet revealed themselves, their weakness was exposed by their weight alone.

They were weak. Nixida loosened his grip slightly. They weighed only half as much as Aituoda. Perhaps their transparency evolved precisely because they were so thin and fragile. Just as he thought this, a trench behind them erupted with a muffled, deafening boom.

In the deep sea, any movement easily became muffled and quiet, like a giant hammer smashing straight into Nixida’s heart.

A rock exploded!

Ultrasound! Nixida instantly released his fingers. This was the Abyssals’ warning to him. It seemed his inference had been wrong. Though they were slender, they were not weak. They had evolved transparent protection and possessed ultrasound, a powerful superpower.

My Haisiruola, had Nixida angered a whole group of Abyssals? Would he be shattered to pieces by their screams? Aibaoyin and Aituoda covered Nixida’s ears, hoping to protect him and show their submission.

“Sorry!” Aibaoyin said sincerely. “We’re just passing through. We don’t intend to stay.”

Yes, yes, we’re going to look for Haisiruola and the snake woman. We’re only passing through and will leave immediately,” Aituoda pleaded. “He’s…he’s a hybrid mermaid from human society. He was raised by humans, so he doesn’t understand life in the sea. Please don’t be angry!”

Aituoda wasn’t confident that he could appease the Abyssals; he could only try. Judging by the size of the bubbles, there were several hundred Abyssals nearby, and they were all furious. The reason was, of course, about to be discovered. Their temperaments were extremely strange. However, his apology seemed to work. The noise gradually diminished, and the bubbles spun in the seawater and then vanished without a trace.

Great—they had escaped disaster! Aibaoyin had just thought this when—

The next moment, all the Abyssals revealed their true forms in front of them. Pale blue fish tails swayed within a dozen centimeters of their faces.

Abyssals… Nixida raised his head to look. Countless pale blue creatures hovered in front of them, all watching the group together. The scene was both eerie and puzzling. They really were slender. They were about the same length as black sirens but only half as wide. And they had no hair.

“My Haisiruola…” Aituoda couldn’t help but exclaim. It was over—they were still angry. He had never heard of thousands of Abyssals appearing at the same time. The emotional fluctuation was far too intense.

“You…hello?” Aibaoyin slowly spread her ear fins, revealing her friendly and social side.

Nixida carefully observed them. From appearances alone, it was difficult to tell the difference between males and females. They all looked almost the same. The color of their skin and fish tails was completely uniform—pale blue throughout and seamless. At first glance, their bodies appeared to be covered in fish scales yet also wrapped in a flawless layer of skin.

“May I ask… can we leave now?” Aibaoyin asked again. In a situation like this, it was better to run first.

One slender Abyssal turned and swam to the front of the group. Her arms looked fragile, and her fingers were twice the length of her palm. Because she had no hair, her head looked very round.

“You just said—who was raised in human society?” the Abyssal spoke. Her round eyes made her appear somewhat childlike.

Without ultrasonic wave enhancement, the Abyssal’s voice sounded weak and the volume was very low. To Nixida, it sounded like hazy muttering.
“It’s me, it’s me. Sorry, I grabbed one just now because I was too afraid.”

You? Afraid?” Aituoda tilted his head and looked at him in disbelief. Nixida wasn’t afraid—he was ignorant and fearless!

“I apologize again.” Now, Nixida finally knew that the other party was not someone to mess with and not someone he could afford to provoke. “It was my recklessness that caused the current situation. To show my apology, we’ll leave immediately.”

“Did you really grow up in human society?” The Abyssal showed no intention of driving them away but instead dug into this question.

Nixida nodded and showed his aquamarine necklace. “Probably, but I lost my memory. I need to find Haisiruola to get it back. My companions said I’m an artificial mermaid. There are too many traces of humans on me, unlike someone who grew up in the sea.”

“All right, then come with us.” The Abyssal just nodded. Then, after turning around, he said again, “My name is Kuni. I am the leader here. I think we have run into some trouble. You all follow us.”

Trouble? Was it because of trouble that they had emotional fluctuations and were forced to reveal themselves? Not because of anger from embarrassment? Aibaoyin felt relieved. At least she knew that her rudeness hadn’t caused a disaster. They couldn’t leave at this point, so they could only follow the Abyssals and dive deeper into the trench.

Once the dive began, Nixida only noticed that the seawater was getting colder.

“Don’t worry. The seawater won’t freeze you to death.” Kuni noticed their confusion. “As long as you’re a mermaid, seawater won’t freeze you to death. What are you? A siren or a black siren?”

Nixida swayed his tail. He could also hear the Abyssals whispering softly. “I’m a hybrid. My mother was a siren and my father should have been a black siren. I belong to two branches and have inherited abilities from each.”

“Hudamo, Abyssals—come and go without a trace, voices that pierce through the waves. That’s us.” Kuni also introduced herself. “Mm… If you’re a hybrid, have you developed any strange, terrifying abilities?”

“Yes, I can blend into the colors behind me. At the same time, I inherited the siren’s power and the black siren’s precognitive ability.” Nixida looked her over. “Our body types are very different.”

Kuni smiled. “So strange. You’re the branch with the best physical strength, but we’re the branch with the worst. Swimming a few hundred meters tires us out, and swimming tens of thousands of meters in one breath is impossible. We’re normally transparent. We only appear when our emotions fluctuate. What’s strange is that we’re born hating being seen by the other branches. Once we’re sure we’ve been discovered, we inexplicably want to roar and drive everyone away.

Nixida rubbed his ears. “I totally understand.”

“In our branch, many ancestors went ashore to live. After going ashore, our branch could generally find work. Hundreds of years ago, the most dazzling human models were all from our people. But with the advent of mechanical models, the human body became commonplace, and no one was willing to leave the trench anymore.” Kuni pointed ahead. “We usually live below ten thousand meters. Twenty thousand meters too.”

Aibaoyin sighed. “That’s too deep, much deeper than us.”

Kuni turned her head. “Horned black siren, have you foreseen anything recently?”

“I think it’s better you don’t know.” Aibaoyin wouldn’t immediately reveal that she had foreshadowed the end of the mermaids. “Talk about your predicament. What exactly happened that scared all of you so much?”

Kuni sighed repeatedly and slowly led them to dive deeper. The pressure of the seawater had no effect on them. When they dove to around thirteen thousand meters, Nixida saw light. However, it wasn’t the green fluorite of the Black Siren territory or the blue jellyfish. It was a cold, red beam devoid of emotion.

“That’s the thing. We’ve never seen it before, so we can’t infer its intent. But one thing is certain—it definitely comes from human society.” Kuni pointed at the crimson beam. “It sank into the trench yesterday. At first, we thought it was just more marine debris.”

“Humans always throw things around.” Aituoda said indignantly.

“Yes, they’re used to it.” Kuni took a moment to tap her head. “But this is different. I sent my subordinates to investigate, but they didn’t come back. Now, the seawater over there seems to be polluted, forming a sticky isolation zone. We can’t get close to that beam of light.”

Aibaoyin narrowed her eyes. The red color still looked bright to her. “What isolation zone? Can’t you force your way through?”

Kuni sighed helplessly. She had already considered the methods Aibaoyin suggested. “No, we don’t know what happened to the seawater. Besides, once you swim into that ring, your gills stop working. It causes severe damage to your gills, creating the feeling of drowning alive.”

Nixida’s head felt as if it had been struck hard…

“Fragment…” He suddenly spoke.

“What? What fragment?” Kuni immediately turned to him. “So you really know the truth. Quickly tell me. How should I take away that fragment and save my poor subordinates? If it isn’t dealt with soon, the polluted part of the trench will only grow larger.”

Nixida shook his head helplessly. “I just thought of a word. It might be related to the whole incident. I’ve forgotten so much. How about this: I’ll swim over and see how I can deal with it. Even if I can’t solve it, I can try to save your subordinates. Once they’re rescued, we must leave immediately and continue searching for Haisiruola.”