Chapter 21: Agree

Chapter 21 Consent

Deng Xi didn't rush forward or make a sound to disturb. He secretly hid behind a distant reef, clutching his large tail, careful not to reveal himself.

If Little Mute didn't want to be discovered, Deng Xi would pretend he hadn't seen anything.

The young merman, hidden behind the reef, covered his eyes, leaving a tiny, cautious slit to secretly peek through.

This desolate expanse of gray sand on the seabed was covered in countless shells. Without the presence of reefs or coral, the silver-tailed figure stood out strikingly.

Deng Xi could clearly observe Little Mute's every move.

The silver-tailed one swam almost skimming the gray sand, his tail fins slowly swaying as he used his fingertips to flip over shell after shell, checking for anything hidden beneath them.

Across the shallow seabed stretching for thousands of meters, one shell after another was turned over. An unknown amount of time passed before the silver-tailed one finished searching just a small corner.

Unconsciously, Deng Xi lowered his large tail and stopped covering his eyes. He lay behind the reef, his blue eyes staring out in a daze.

To search the entire shell-covered shallows would take more than a whole night. Not to mention whether the lost conch had even been carried here by the shifting currents in the first place, or if, even if it had, it might have been swept away again by the waves during their absence.

Searching for a palm-sized conch in the vast ocean—

The hope was far too slim.

Deng Xi had never dared to consider it. The sturdy fishing line was usually very difficult to break, and the knot he had tied around the conch was secure, unlikely to come loose easily.

So how had the conch been lost?

Deng Xi pressed his lips together. He recalled how the silver-tailed one had been inexplicably angry with him today. Had he thrown the conch away because he was mad at him?

Had Little Mute started to hate him?

Deng Xi quietly lowered his eyelids, his heart swelling with an unfamiliar emotion—something he had never experienced when living alone before. It felt a little sad, a little uneasy, a little like he wanted to cry.

Then why was he trying to retrieve the discarded conch now? Deng Xi didn't understand.

Shell after shell was overturned as the silver-tailed one drifted further away from Deng Xi across the gray sand. The area he'd searched grew larger, and as time passed, Si Jisheng's expression grew colder.

"Stop looking."

Si Jisheng froze mid-motion as he picked up a shell.

Deng Xi had, at some point, swum up behind the silver-tailed one. He bit his lip but gathered his courage to ask, "Did you throw the conch away?"

Si Jisheng suddenly clenched his hand. The shell in his fingertips emitted a sharp crack before shattering. The fragments sank into the seawater, while the piece pinched between his fingers had already turned to powder.

Deng Xi couldn't help but shrink back slightly, his fists clenching nervously.

The moment Si Jisheng turned around, he saw the blue merman flinch back slightly.

At first, Deng Xi had been afraid of the silver-tailed one's fierce gaze, but over time, he had grown bold enough to stay close to the aloof figure, chattering endlessly even when Si Jisheng remained silent, always seeming cheerful no matter what.

Gradually, no matter how coldly the silver-tailed one acted, Deng Xi would just respond with an even brighter smile.

But now—

He was afraid.

Si Jisheng’s breath hitched, his translucent silver gills almost freezing in the water.

Deng Xi stubbornly repeated, "How was the conch lost? Did Little Mute throw it away?"

After a long pause.

Si Jisheng gave a slight nod.

The silver-tailed one admitted it.

Deng Xi’s eyes stung, his fingertips turning white from how hard he was clenching them. It hurt a little.

Just a little.

Deng Xi’s golden gills fluttered erratically, his breathing uncontrollably uneven as he asked in a thick voice, "Why did you throw it away?"

Si Jisheng’s lips pressed into a cold, straight line.

A long silence followed.

Deng Xi looked up at the silver-tailed one. "Why do you want to retrieve it now?"

Si Jisheng’s lips parted slightly, only to close them again helplessly. His expression remained cold and distant, his fingers clenched into tight fists.

The silver-tailed one’s aloof demeanor made Deng Xi feel like a clownfish for swimming over to seek answers.

Like he had become something ugly.

Deng Xi knew he wouldn't get a proper explanation—Little Mute couldn't speak, and every word would have to be painstakingly repeated dozens of times before it could be articulated clearly.

But he still wanted to hear it.

Deng Xi took a deep breath. "If you threw it away, it's gone." He said stubbornly, "I don't have any other conches, and I won't go looking for a new one."

"I want Little Mute to explain it to me clearly."

"If you hate me," Deng Xi’s voice was strained as he pushed out each word painfully, "if you don't want to take me with you, or live together anymore—"

"We can end the deal."

A failed experiment, an unknown failed experiment—even if brought back to the empire, he would only be handed over to the military for interrogation. That outcome would be far too ugly.

Better to sever all ties now.

His mind had already settled on the optimal choice, but his body felt like a rusted machine, every joint screaming in resistance. Si Jisheng closed his silver eyes wearily and nodded almost imperceptibly.

He agreed.

The deal was over.

Deng Xi’s mind emptied for a moment, his gills seeming to stop moving. He blinked slowly, his blue eyes in the water blurring—tears refracting light before dissolving into the sea.

Their fragile, one-sided bond, without the active party tirelessly maintaining it, would snap in an instant like a fragile thread, shattering without mercy.

Deng Xi lowered his eyelids slightly. "Okay."

Only the ocean would know the merman was crying.

Only after swimming behind the reef, where no one could see him under the silver-tailed one’s indifferent gaze, did Deng Xi press his face into his curly golden hair. For a long, long time, he remained motionless in the same position.

Si Jisheng stood motionless for a long time before stiffly bending down again, picking up the shells one by one. He repeated this mind-numbing task over and over, the trembling of his gill membranes growing extremely faint, as if suppressing something—like a taut rope where any excess quiver might snap it abruptly.

With each blink, his silver eyes underwent subtle changes, shifting from round and pale to slender and sharp, the pupils trembling slightly.

The entire shallows fell into a heavy silence, a suffocating atmosphere instantly spreading, until a faint disturbance sounded in the distance. The elongated pupils instantly swiveled in their sockets, locking onto the direction of the noise.

A flash of blue-green was the first to catch his eye.

Si Jisheng's breathing grew heavier as he stared at the familiar conch for a long while before shifting his gaze to the large creature carrying it.

It was a deep-sea octopus, its dark gray body nearly blending into the surrounding sandy environment. Massive in size, its parrot-like beak clamped onto the small conch, and with a slight curl of its rasp-like radula, the conch vanished into the coiling tentacles.

His silver pupils instantly narrowed into vertical slits.

The side effects of Merman Transformation consumed Si Jisheng's reason like a ravenous beast.

Author's Note:

Xi Xi: I'm seriously pissed off.