Chapter 45: Anomaly

Chapter 45: Anomaly

Fortunately, Kong Tela replied at that moment, snapping Jiang Xun out of his thoughts. He turned away, as if to cover up his distraction. "Oh, Kong Tela replied."

"What? What?" Xiao Jin, who had just come downstairs with the diving suits, hurried over. "What did I miss?"

Liu Hai waved at them. "Come crouch down here to see! I want to look too."

Jiang Xun crouched beside him and showed him the screen. "Seems a little off."

"Huh?" Liu Hai widened his eyes in confusion, reading the words aloud. "You’re in the north now?"

"I see."

"I’ve got good news to share in a few days."

"Whoa—"

Liu Hai gasped. "I read the whole thing out loud!"

Jiang Xun ruffled his hair first. "Nice job!"

"Hehe!" Liu Hai flicked his tail fin and tilted his head. "But what’s the good news?"

He pressed the voice message button and asked, "What’s the good news?"

The other party seemed to be waiting by their phone and replied quickly, "Sorry, but for you, it might not be good news at all."

Liu Hai blinked in confusion.

It probably wasn’t his imagination—even through the communicator, he could sense the undisguised malice from the other side.

Liu Hai looked up at Jiang Xun. "Is this really Dr. Kong Tela?"

"He seems kinda shady."

Jiang Xun took back the phone. "Hmm, maybe he ate something bad, or it messed with his head."

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it."

Liu Hai was puzzled. "Huh? Can food really mess up your brain? What kind of food is that dangerous?"

Jiang Xun avoided Liu Hai’s gaze, his expression grave. "Kong Tela?"

"What do you mean?"

"Seems like you’re impatient." The other side sounded pleased. "Fine, since you’re so eager, I’ll hurry up."

"Tomorrow, maybe even tomorrow. Just wait."

After that, Jiang Xun’s messages went unanswered, as if they had sunk into the sea.

Jiang Xun frowned deeply and turned to signal Xiao Jin and A Yu to take Liu Hai to prepare first. He walked aside to call Jian Yu at headquarters for confirmation.

Xiao Jin and A Yu exchanged glances, both looking concerned.

Xiao Jin quickly cheered up, putting on her usual smile. "Ugh, it’s probably just another one of Dr. Kong Tela’s jokes! He’s probably still mad at the boss, right?"

"Nope." Liu Hai shook his head seriously. "Kong Tela doesn’t smell like this when he’s mad."

"Well, maybe ‘smell’ isn’t the right word, since he’s far away and we can’t actually smell him now."

"It’s more like... a feeling?"

Liu Hai was uncharacteristically solemn. "Feels really bad!"

Xiao Jin and A Yu shared another worried look, but she quickly adjusted her demeanor and grinned. "Hey! Don’t worry about it! The boss’ll handle it. Nothing bad will happen! Absolutely nothing!"

"No, that’s not it." Liu Hai looked up. "I’m not saying something bad will happen to *me*. I mean, something bad might happen to Kong Tela."

"That’s the feeling I get."

He said worriedly, "Shouldn’t we go check on Kong Tela? Is he at sea? Is he far from the northern waters?"

"Maybe he needs help right now, just like A Yu back then."

A Yu scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Me? I wasn’t really in danger back then."

"I’ll pass it on to the boss. Don’t worry—the company’s got plenty of people. Not everything requires Liu Hai to step in."

"Yeah, yeah." Xiao Jin added cheerfully. "Aren’t you the Mermaid King? Kings gotta learn to delegate."

"Oh—" Liu Hai had a lightbulb moment and immediately put it into practice. "In that case, Xiao Jin, grab me some grape juice! A Yu, I’m craving fried fish today!"

The two nodded in unison. "On it!"

Liu Hai watched them head off to fetch the food with relief.

Though he was still worried about Kong Tela, he didn’t want them to worry about *him* in turn. That would just create a chain reaction of bad moods.

Liu Hai nodded slightly. Better let the Mermaid King figure it out.

...Even if he was technically the Seal King.

Jiang Xun returned after finishing his call. "Where’d those two go?"

"Gone to grab me some food." Liu Hai asked with concern, "How did it go?"

"Ah, I thought Kong Tela was acting weird, so I contacted Jian Yu to check on him." Jiang Xun said calmly. "On the *Siren*, his work logs have been uploaded on time, and he attended a meeting not long ago."

"So... he’s probably just in a bad mood. Nothing serious."

Liu Hai widened his eyes slightly and nodded. "Oh, I see. That’s good then."

"Yeah, that’s good." Jiang Xun also patted Liu Hai’s head. "We’re almost ready, and the tide’s coming in. Let’s head out."

"Okay!" Liu Hai responded enthusiastically.

Watching Jiang Xun’s retreating figure, he propped his head up with a sigh. It seemed Jiang Xun didn’t want him to worry either.

***

"The sea—" Xiao Jin, now in her diving suit, stood on the speedboat with her arms outstretched. "Whoa, it’s freezing!"

A Yu splashed her with seawater before dumping a bucket over himself. "Do your warm-ups properly and get used to the water temperature. Even if it’s not winter, the northern waters are still cold."

"I know, I know. I was just marveling at it." She looked out from the speedboat and called, "Liu Hai! You good?"

Liu Hai burst out of the water with a splash, effortlessly propping himself on the boat’s edge. "All good!"

"I'm not cold at all."

A Yu was already mostly prepared: "We confirmed this before, right? Liu Hai should be a cold-water species."

"I know!" Xiao Jin pointed at Liu Hai's bare upper body. "Looking at just his tail, I wouldn’t be too worried—fur and fat can insulate well against the cold. But his upper half is completely human in structure, so it’s natural to worry he might catch a chill, right?"

"I'm fine!" Liu Hai propped his head up, unsure how to explain it to her.

After all, he’s a mythical creature!

He isn't very sensitive to temperature, and though he’s always eating, he can actually go without food for long periods.

Of course, best not to push it if possible.

"Be careful." Jiang Xun had changed into a thick coat. "The logs indicate there aren’t any dangerous marine creatures in this area, but you never know."

"All of you, don’t swim too far out."

"Got it!" Xiao Jin excitedly did some stretches, pulled on her oxygen mask, and slipped into the water.

Liu Hai eagerly whirled her around for a spin underwater: "Come with me, come with me! I just spotted some really delicious-looking fish!"

A Yu watched them swim away, waiting until Liu Hai was out of earshot before turning back to Jiang Xun. "Captain, is everything really okay?"

"Not sure." Jiang Xun replied tersely. "After I asked Jian Yu, she sent me the meeting footage Kong Tela attended."

"She didn’t notice anything unusual and asked me to verify."

"You’ve always been good at reading people. Any thoughts?"

"Hmm—" A Yu hesitated. "What exactly are you looking for?"

Jiang Xun looked at him. "Whether he’s really himself, or if there are signs he's being forced."

A Yu: "...That sounds serious."

"I hope I’m overthinking it." Jiang Xun shrugged. "But the truth is, the ancient waters hide plenty of dangers. The Siren’s security can only ward off treasure-hunting pirates—it’s hard to handle every emergency."

A Yu hesitated. "I want to watch it too."

Jiang Xun glanced at the sea. "But they seem to be waiting for you."

"It’s fine, I've got this." A Yu called out to the water, "Hey, Liu Hai! See if you can find any seashells or conches underwater. I’ll get the grill ready first, and you can toss them up later. I’ll have the Captain watch them and grill them right away!"

Liu Hai surfaced, skeptical. "Can Jiang Xun grill?"

"Don’t worry, he won’t have to do anything." A Yu gave a thumbs-up. "Just have him time it and take them off."

"That’s good." Liu Hai sighed in relief, then did an excited flip and dove back under. "Can fish be grilled?"

"They can, but we didn’t bring any spears or anything, so they’d be hard to catch, right?" A Yu had just been trying to give them something to do. "No need to push it—just target the slowpokes!"

"Leave it to me!" Liu Hai patted his chest confidently. "I won’t let you go hungry!"

Jiang Xun’s face was impassive. "...What do you mean I don’t have to grill?"

A Yu patted his shoulder. "Never mind."

Jiang Xun: "..."

Easy for you to say.

He expressionlessly looked away. "Let’s focus on the task. I’ll start playing it."

On the screen, Kong Tela sat among a few people, his demeanor as usual, slightly arrogant, and he led most of the discussion.

"Doesn't seem suspicious." Jiang Xun frowned and sighed. "Maybe I’m being paranoid. If there were obvious signs, Jian Yu would’ve noticed."

"Though..."

Jiang Xun scanned the faces of everyone in the footage. "Wang Yiliu isn’t here either."

"I checked the records—he boarded the Siren this time, but he didn’t attend this meeting... Did he skip it on purpose?"

"Wait." A Yu suddenly spoke up. "Captain, rewind a bit."

Jiang Xun complied. On the screen, Kong Tela picked up a cup and took a sip. Slowed down, it became clear—he briefly frowned, looking displeased, but then he took another big gulp.

A Yu said firmly, "He’s drinking coffee."

"The meeting had two beverage choices—tea and coffee. Dr. Kong Tela only ever drinks red tea."

Jiang Xun lowered his gaze in thought. "With just this one odd thing, it’s hard to—"

A Yu: "He’s allergic to coffee."

"If it was just a mistake and he took a sip, that’d be understandable. But his expression afterward—he knew full well he was drinking something he’s allergic to, yet he kept drinking."

"Don't you think that's strange?"

Just as Jiang Xun was about to respond, Liu Hai emerged from the water holding an unconscious fish. "Got one!"

The two instinctively kept straight faces. A Yu turned and said cheerfully, "That’s a big one... Wow! Really big!"

"Heh." Liu Hai gestured proudly. "Big, right? My catch!"

Xiao Jin also surfaced, she looked conflicted as she muttered, "Just how powerful Liu Hai’s tail is..."

"Ah—" Liu Hai hung onto the boat. "Didn’t you say you’d set up the grill? Why isn’t it ready yet?"

"Ah, sorry." A Yu took the blame. "The sun’s nice today, so I got sidetracked sunbathing and lazing around."

"It’s fine!" Liu Hai gave his tail a flick lightly through the water. "I’m not that hungry yet."

"Then I’ll go look for sea urchins with Xiao Jin."

He sounded doubtful. "Are those prickly things really tasty...?"

The two dove back down, and A Yu let out a relieved sigh.

Jiang Xun put his phone away. "Either way, I’ve already alerted Jian Yu, and then—"

His phone rang.

A Yu grew tense. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing." Jiang Xun waved it off. "Just my mother."

Ms. Jiang's message was short and to the point: "Check out the mermaid."

Jiang Xun: "..."

Deadpan, he snapped a photo of the calm sea and sent it over.

Ms. Jiang: "?"

Jiang Xun: "Mermaids live in the ocean."

"Ugh." Ms. Jiang was annoyed. "Such a bad attitude."

"I wasn’t asking for a pic of the little mermaid. I’m telling you to check online—mermaid stuff is blowing up online right now."

Jiang Xun’s eye twitched. He had a sinking feeling.

Author’s note: Ms. Jiang: You there? Check out the mermaid.