Chapter 10: Miracle

Chapter 10: A Miracle

“Were your vocal cords injured? Should we send medics to assist you? Marshal, please provide your coordinates—we’ll dispatch a starship immediately to bring you back to the Empire…” The adjutant’s words tumbled out in a rush.

Si Jisheng quickly composed himself, his expression icy as he sent a brief message: “No need. I’m fine.”

“Explain your plan.”

The adjutant immediately shifted to a professional tone, reporting, “Our current plan is for you to issue a statement to reassure the public.”

As one of the few survivors of the war, whether Si Jisheng was the Marshal or not, he owed the public an explanation.

Si Jisheng nodded in approval.

“Additionally, we’re investigating the source of these rumors. The Federation has already claimed that star system, and the Empire cannot conduct post-war cleanup. The military currently lacks concrete evidence, so our priority is to cut off the source.”

“Meanwhile, our diplomats are in talks with the Federation—”

Si Jisheng’s expression flickered slightly as he typed, “Talks about what?”

The adjutant braced himself before answering, “Peace terms.”

Peace. Terms.

The Empire, which had once dominated the interstellar hierarchy, was now suing for peace.

Si Jisheng froze for a long moment, taking a painfully long time to process the words before typing, “Repeat that.”

The adjutant paused, then reiterated, “Marshal, we all believe in you. We’ve witnessed firsthand how much you’ve sacrificed for the Empire, the military, and humanity over the years.”

“Though you’re different from us,” the adjutant chuckled awkwardly, “we would never shun you just because you aren’t human.”

“You personally promoted every one of us. Please rest assured—no one wins every battle.” The adjutant spoke earnestly. Their Marshal, due to his identity, had always been isolated from others, with only a handful of trusted aides ever exchanging words with him.

The adjutant was deeply worried.

The Marshal might not recover alone.

“Though we suffered a brutal defeat this time, you’re not a god. Who can guarantee leading the Empire forward forever—” The adjutant’s voice abruptly cut off as he read the message displayed on his lightpad, his throat tightening until no more words could escape.

“What if I told you I lost all memory of the war and only regained my sanity afterward?”

Through the lightpad, the adjutant stared at the image of the Marshal’s torso displayed on the blue screen, his gaze lingering on Si Jisheng’s iridescent silver gills—something no human would ever possess.

“Are you certain you were out of your mind at the time?” A trace of fear flickered in the adjutant’s eyes.

When the known becomes unknown, when the controllable becomes uncontrollable—

Such a reaction was only natural.

He could understand.

His silver eyes gleamed mockingly as Si Jisheng typed his final line: “In three days, I’ll release an audio statement.”

Text alone wouldn't be convincing, and a video would risk exposing his merman identity.

The call disconnected.

In that brief second, the sea reclaimed its natural silence.

The night sky, like a black curtain, pressed heavily over the vast sea. The meager starlight and the sharp crescent moon—bright enough to cut—cast only feeble illumination.

Surrounded by darkness, Si Jisheng gazed into the even deeper, impenetrable gloom before slowly closing his eyes. The salty wind dried the blood on his upper body, leaving behind countless grimy bloodstains.

He seemed to have forgotten something.

Suddenly, Si Jisheng remembered—he had forgotten to bring the shark for Deng Xi.

Gripping his lightpad, he dove back into the depths. The seabed was littered with corpses, piled haphazardly, making it impossible to locate the great white shark he had initially chosen—the one least mangled.

He had noticed it long ago. When Deng Xi had navigated through the currents, past the great white sharks with their yawning maws, and swam up to him with a pale face—

Si Jisheng had realized this blue-scaled merman was surprisingly timid.

Despite living alone in the ocean for so long, he seemed to lack basic ocean sense—pathetically vulnerable, afraid of pain, and easily frightened.

Sometimes, Si Jisheng wondered how he had even survived this long. It was a living miracle.

Nothing like the merfolk at all.

Completely different from him, who had blended in among humans.

They were both miracles.

Finally, Si Jisheng found a shark corpse that wasn’t too horrifying—its body severed at the midsection by his tail fin, its head lost somewhere in the depths, leaving only half behind.

The only unsightly part was the spilled entrails.

After clearing the viscera, he dragged it back to the red coral reef near the den. Even half a shark was grotesquely huge, impossible to hide no matter where he placed it.

Abandoning stealth, he simply let the carcass sink where it was, then gathered some useless but decorative seaweed—something Deng Xi favored—and arranged it around the carcass.

With everything settled, Si Jisheng leaned against the red coral, unsure what to do next. After staring into the darkness for a long while, he glanced down at the lightpad in his hand.

He activated it automatically, swiping through pages, scrolling aimlessly until his gaze landed on name after name—once familiar, soon to be forgotten.

This was the roster of soldiers who had fought in the war. Most were already dead. As a Marshal, it was nearly impossible to remember every single name with perfect clarity.

Yet Si Jisheng recognized each one with instinctive recognition—because he had once spoken every single name aloud.

He read slowly. As a mute, forming each sound required tremendous effort, even if the sounds that left his lips were incoherent to anyone else.

By the time he finished his rehabilitation exercises, dawn filtered through the water. Sunlight pierced the surface, but the depths stayed shadowed—only slightly less oppressive.

Closing the file, Si Jisheng swallowed the metallic taste of blood in his throat, drifting in memory for a moment before remembering something else he needed to investigate.

Why had his lightpad temporarily reconnected?

“Little Mute?” The *Mermaid Language* cut through the water, reaching Si Jisheng’s ears. He shut off the blue screen, and with a few quick motions, shrunk the lightpad from wrist-sized to the width of a knuckle before slipping it onto his finger and swimming toward the den.

Deng Xi roused sleepily, reaching out from the mother-of-pearl shell before withdrawing it and prying the shell open.

“Good morning!”

He turned to greet the seaweed in the corner—only to snap awake in an instant.

Because the seaweed lay bare.

“Where’d the mermaid go?!”

“Where’s that big dummy of a mute?!”

Did his buddy run away as soon as his injuries were almost healed?! What about my hundred fish! Deng Xi yelped in shock, “Little Mute?!”

Deng Xi swam out of the shell and had just started heading toward the cave when he saw the silver-tailed figure swim in. The golden-haired and blue-tailed little merman swam over worriedly, circling Si Jisheng once. “Where’d you run off to?”

Deng Xi threatened fiercely, “Even though your injuries are almost healed, the outside is crazy dangerous! Just look at how many times you’ve gotten hurt already and you’ll know.” He proudly flicked his tail fin, using an especially intimidating tone. “If you take off on me, Little Mute, how will you survive?”

Before getting his hundred fish, Deng Xi would try to get chummy with Little Mute, so that after giving him the hundred fish, the silver-tailed one would stay and live with him.

They were each other’s only family left.

Why would they leave each other?

Si Jisheng copied Deng Xi’s signature head tilt, tilting his head slightly to show confusion and urging Deng Xi to continue.

Deng Xi said matter-of-factly, “Little Mute, look, on this planet, besides you, there’s only me. We’re each other’s only family, but Little Mute, you can’t speak.” He spoke with absolute confidence. “So basically, in this whole ocean, besides me, no other creature can sing.”

“Only I can sing to save you when you’re in danger!”

Si Jisheng hesitated for a moment before nodding.

That conclusion wasn’t wrong.

Deng Xi nodded in satisfaction at his flawless logic. “In summary, it’s not that I can’t live without you, Little Mute—it’s that you can’t live without me.”

The golden-haired and blue-tailed little merman proudly flicked his tail fin again.

Si Jisheng kept his poker face, but after a brief silence, his silver eyes curved slightly as he nodded.

Encouraged by the affirmation, Deng Xi continued, “So, I’m going out to find food now. You stay home and wait for me obediently. Don’t go running off.”

The silver-tailed one nodded.

Deng Xi took off confidently, but less than a minute after he left, a startled cry suddenly echoed from the cave. The next moment, a golden-haired and blue-tailed blur rushed back inside.

Si Jisheng was still standing at the cave entrance, unmoving.

Deng Xi flicked his tail fin, darting back in before crashing straight into Si Jisheng’s arms.

Si Jisheng stiffened instantly.

The next second, he was tightly clung to by two hands, while his silver tail was brazenly entangled by the blue one. Their bare skin pressed together without warning.

The golden-haired and blue-tailed little merman trembled pitifully, about to burst into tears, his voice all shaky and whiny. “I-I-I just saw… saw a corpse in front of our home!!!”

Author’s Note:

Deng Xi: I’m just gaslighting you.

Marshal: Who really can’t live without whom?