Chapter 15: Xi Xi

Chapter 15: Xi Xi

The mermaid's song and the merman's low hum gently echoed in the deep-sea abyss. Deng Xi didn't wait long before the seaweed covering the entrance of his hiding cave was pushed aside.

The silver-tailed merman swam in, radiating a chilling aura.

Under the merman's overwhelming presence and sensing the power within the mermaid's song, the sea snakes, which had just begun to calm, were instantly re-provoked into a frenzy. The patterns around their ventral eyes darkened in an instant.

Dozens of sea snakes immediately lunged forward.

Deng Xi's eyes widened in terror. Forgetting all pretense of hiding, he released the large tail he had been clutching tightly and cried out, "Little Mute!"

The merman's skin was as tough as battle armor. Had Si Jisheng not fallen from several thousand meters into the sea, he wouldn't have sustained such severe injuries. Against a great white shark's nearly two-ton bite force, Si Jisheng, in his weakened state, would have avoided confrontation.

But now his injuries had mostly healed, and the sea snakes' bite force was utterly negligible.

Deng Xi gripped the glowing jellyfish tightly in his hand. It pulsed weakly, casting a dim light that illuminated the cave.

The merman's sharp claws glinted silver in the gloom. Before the dozen or so charging sea snakes could even touch Si Jisheng, they were sliced in half—followed by their "seven-inch" vital spots, heads, and ventral eyes...

Deng Xi stared blankly as Little Mute, a single merman with just his claws, effortlessly dispatched the swarm of sea snakes that had trapped him for so long.

His eyes saw it all.

Every single detail.

Si Jisheng calmed his surging emotions. The lingering scent of sea snake blood kept his silver vertical pupils from returning to their normal state.

The cold, predatory gaze pierced through the darkness, fixing directly on him. Deng Xi instinctively recoiled, looking at him like a stranger, and asked hesitantly, "Little Mute?"

Was Little Mute truly this powerful?

Was this really his Little Mute?

Remembering his earlier concealment, Si Jisheng stiffened slightly before silently bending down. The powerful merman lowered his head and extended a hand toward the little mermaid curled up in the corner.

This hand was not pleasant to look at; its fingertips were stained with sea snake blood, fragments of entrails were lodged between his fingers, and his palm lines were filled with blood.

Dirty, he thought.

Si Jisheng glanced down and subtly curled his fingers.

The next second, cold fingertips unexpectedly met a warm, pale hand.

Deng Xi, who had just been staring fearfully at the silver-tailed merman, now tightened his grip on that hand. His face was ashen from the terror of the sea snakes, but he managed a faint smile, his pale lips curving slightly. "Thank you for coming to find me, Little Mute."

Si Jisheng’s tense body relaxed slightly. He led Deng Xi out of the cave, but before leaving, the silver-tailed merman glanced back at the floating sea snake corpses in the water. He selected a few, picking them up to take back as tomorrow’s meal.

Deng Xi watched silently.

Suddenly, he remembered the sea snake he had once found among the red coral near their old cave in the previous waters.

A venomous snake with broken fangs.

But had they truly been broken on the rocks?

Had he really been so lucky, finding just the right amount of food every day outside their home to keep himself and Little Mute fed?

Deng Xi lowered his gaze to the cold hand holding his and suppressed his questions—because besides this, there was something else he wanted to know even more.

When the usually boisterous Deng Xi fell silent, the absence of chatter made the atmosphere between them oppressively quiet.

Gathering his courage, Deng Xi called out, "Little Mute."

Si Jisheng looked down at him.

Even without emotion, those silver slitted eyes were chilling.

Deng Xi hesitated, then ventured hesitantly, "Are you...?"

Si Jisheng cocked his head questioningly, his pupils narrowing slightly.

Under that intense stare, Deng Xi’s scalp tingled. He paused again before asking carefully, "I want to catch some jellyfish so the cave won’t be so dark."

Si Jisheng nodded and released Deng Xi’s hand, gesturing for him to go ahead.

Deng Xi swam to the seaweed on the cliffside, casually plucking a glowing jellyfish. He lingered for a moment, squeezing it gently and muttering, "Ask, don’t ask, ask, don’t ask..."

With each word, he added another jellyfish to his hands until the last one: "...Ask."

Deng Xi pressed his lips together.

His arms could hold no more jellyfish.

Then—ask!

Deng Xi turned back, working up his nerve again. "Little Mute?"

Si Jisheng watched him quietly.

Just as Deng Xi was about to speak, one jellyfish slipped from his overstuffed arms and drifted into the water.

Now it was "don’t ask."

Deng Xi scrunched up his face in frustration before suddenly releasing all the jellyfish—except one.

Just this one.

The glowing jellyfish waved their translucent tentacles, dancing playfully around Deng Xi. They were naturally drawn to the merfolk’s innate affinity, brushing against his golden hair and hands.

With each touch, they glowed.

In Si Jisheng’s eyes, the blue merman before him was surrounded by a soft, shimmering glow. His blue eyes reflected only Si Jisheng's image, his voice full of open curiosity.

"Little Mute, can you speak now? Was it you calling me earlier? Did you say my name?"

Was it for him that he spoke?

Si Jisheng tightened his grip on the conch in his other hand and nodded slightly.

Deng Xi’s eyes crinkled with joy. "I want to hear it again."

Si Jisheng’s Adam's apple bobbed, his fingers tracing the conch’s shell's grooves. Deng Xi’s expression was radiant with happiness—true happiness for him, his blue eyes shining with excitement.

How could he say no?

"Deng Xi."

Si Jisheng’s lips set in a firm line as he uttered the two syllables of Mermaid Language, his voice flat. But his gaze darted away, avoiding Deng Xi’s eyes.

The silver-tailed merman's voice was gravelly deep, rough from disuse, cold and indifferent in tone, yet pronouncing Deng Xi's name beautifully.

Deng Xi smiled, pleased. "You’re the first besides me to say my name." He pondered for a moment, his blue tail fin swaying leisurely, his voice tinged with sadness. "If there were still older kin in my clan, what would they call me?"

Compared to the average merman, who stood over three meters tall including their tails, the blue merman was tiny for his kind. If the merman clan still thrived, Deng Xi would undoubtedly be the gentlest and most well-behaved among them.

Though he sometimes caused mischief, no merman could stay mad at him.

Si Jisheng imagined he’d have a cutesy nickname—one that sounded like a cherished youngling of the merman clan.

If it were him...

Si Jisheng subconsciously mumbled two words in Interstellar.

The unfamiliar language, coupled with the silver-tailed merman's quiet voice, Deng Xi missed it. He blinked in confusion. "What?"

Si Jisheng clamped his mouth shut, refusing to utter another word, though he repeated it silently in his heart.

Xi Xi.

Si Jisheng took a deep breath and turned without a word, swimming toward the abyss’s exit. Deng Xi, confused, chased after him. "Wait for me, wait for me!"

Si Jisheng paused briefly, slowing his pace.

Over half an hour later, they finally emerged from the abyss, entering the normal underwater world. After another ten minutes, they returned to their new nest.

Deng Xi sat with the silver-tailed merman at the entrance of the cave, their long tails dangling in the current. He released the glowing jellyfish from his palm, gently nudging it with his fingertips, smiling as it bobbed inside.

Having been startled awake in the middle of the night and enduring several frights, Deng Xi was utterly exhausted, his eyelids drooping. Still, he pulled Silver-tailed down beside him at the cave entrance. "Little Mute, give me your hand."

Si Jisheng’s slit pupils were just fading, and his merman claws had yet to retract. His palms were still filthy—normally, he would wait until his claws receded before meticulously cleaning them.

Si Jisheng held out his hand on reflex.

Deng Xi carefully skirted the sharp claws, gathering a few strands of seaweed into a bundle. He gently wiped away the blood from the creases of Si Jisheng's palm, flicking gore from his fingers and cleaning the grime from his claws.

Si Jisheng's hand was restored to its pristine state, and he blinked at Deng Xi, stunned.

Suddenly, Deng Xi leaned closer.

Si Jisheng stiffened.

Deng Xi grabbed a lock of his hair.

The silver locks were also stained with blood, and the sharp claws made it impossible for Si Jisheng to clean them himself. Deng Xi used his soft mermaid fingertips to carefully wash away the sticky blood, restoring the silver strands to their silky smoothness.

Like grooming a doll, he scrubbed Little Mute clean, then smiled. "There, Little Mute. Let's go to sleep now."

Si Jisheng gave a stiff nod, looking away uncomfortably. Deng Xi swished his tail, swimming into the cave, curling up exhaustedly inside the shell. This time, he firmly remembered to close it.

Getting snatched at night wasn't a new experience for Deng Xi. His natural affinity for creatures of the wild came with a downside—it painted a target on his back to predators higher up the food chain.

Every time he moved to a new home, if he hadn't befriended the neighbors and failed to seal his shell tightly, he'd inevitably be seen as a snack by the local apex predators, who would haul him off without a second thought.

Though he always managed to talk his way free with song, it was still a life-threatening gamble, dancing on a knife’s edge.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes, Deng Xi paused before closing the shell, suddenly curious as he peered at the still figure of Silver-tailed sitting at the cave entrance. "Little Mute, do you have a name?"

Si Jisheng turned to look at him.

Deng Xi’s name came easy; his own didn’t. In the end, he only shook his head slowly.

"Mind if I stick with Little Mute?"

"Mmm... Little Mute, I'm so sleepy. Goodnight."

The shell clicked shut.

Pale dawn light seeped into the water.

It was already the third day.

Si Jisheng checked his comm again, meticulously reviewing the speech he had drafted. He pressed the conch to his ear, listened, then hit record.

This was not a confession.

Si Jisheng sensed missing pieces in the conflict between the Empire and the Federation.

He recorded multiple takes, grinding through takes until it sounded clear, error-free, and audible.

He wasn’t fully healed yet.

Setting the conch aside, Si Jisheng sent the recording to his adjutant.

With that matter settled, he scanned through the messages and contacts on his communicator, analyzing the political climate of the capital planet since his disappearance.

Abruptly, his fingers stilled.

His silver eyes narrowed, focusing on a particular communication log displayed on the blue screen—a call made shortly after he had fallen onto this planet, when his communicator was lost and he was unconscious.

The recipient was a council elder from the Assembly, a thorn in the military’s side.

The call had lasted nearly two minutes.

Two minutes.

If it had been an accidental dial during the crash, the elder would have had no reason to waste two minutes speaking to silence.

Who else on this planet could have initiated that call, if not him?

Si Jisheng’s breath caught. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before slowly his gaze drifting to the shut shell inside the nest.