Yan Chi was familiar with the Azure Sea and asked, "Is this Xi Chang's hometown?"
Shen Mingsu nodded, his expression filled with regret, "But now there are no more mermaids in the sea. Otherwise, we could go see their performance; it's quite entertaining, and we could also buy some pearls and other local specialties while we're at it."
It sounded like a vacation.
Yan Chi was very tempted by his description, but then he thought of the mermaids and couldn't help feeling a little melancholy. "Will the mermaids come back?"
"That depends on your father."
"Hmm?"
Shen Mingsu smiled and gently flicked his pert nose. "Forgot what I said before? Your father is a master of idealism. Now that I have completely taken over the Azure Sea, it's a piece of cake for him to bring the mermaids back to life."
Speaking of Yan Qingyuan, Yan Chi pursed his lips, gazing at the setting sun. In the afterglow of the setting sun, "I...Is my dad alright?"
Shen Mingsu blew on the freshly grilled meat skewers in his hand and brought them to Yan Chi's lips. "He's alright, I guess. He's still not awake. Even if you go now, you won't see him."
Yan Chi's curled eyelashes drooped, hiding the worry in his eyes. He only took one bite of the skewer before shaking his head. "I'm full, you eat."
Shen Mingsu took the remaining skewers and continued eating. He noticed a round little jelly bouncing over, scooped it up, and tossed it into Yan Chi's arms.
Yan Chi instinctively hugged the little jelly, looking down to meet Sethia's bright, watery eyes.
Where's his dad?
Yan Chi turned his head and saw another, larger, round, golden jelly lying on a mat of leaves, holding a meat skewer in one hand and a berry in the other, taking a bite of fruit when it got tired of meat, looking quite content.
He hadn't even noticed that the little jelly boy beside him was missing.
"Teacher, don't be sad." Sensing Yan Chi's low spirits, Sethia softly comforted him. He produced a pale pink flower from somewhere, tiptoed, and presented it to Yan Chi. "Here's a flower for you."
"Thank you, Sethia." Yan Chi hugged the little guy even tighter. Sethia's jelly-like body felt like a gentle squeeze, and a light rub instantly lifted his spirits.
Sethia wriggled. "Hahaha, it tickles, Teacher."
Yan Chi played with him for a while, a gentle smile on his face. Sethia truly seemed like a warm little sun, capable of dispelling all unhappiness.
Before Yan Chi and Shen Mingsu prepared to leave, Yan Chi asked Sethia, "Are you coming with us now, or staying here with your dad?"
Sethia glanced at Yi Luo, then toddled over to the big jelly, "I want to stay with Daddy, I'll go back to school tomorrow."
"Okay, remember not to be late tomorrow."
Yan Chi gave a brief instruction, waving goodbye to Yi Luo and Sethia.
Before they left, Yan Chi saw the big jelly suddenly pin the little jelly down. The little jelly cried out, but couldn't push away the overwhelming weight of fatherly love.
A familiar dizziness washed over him. Yan Chi closed his eyes tightly and buried his face in Shen Mingsu's arms, a deep, true smile emanating from above him.
Shen Mingsu lowered his gaze, watching Yan Chi's fluttering eyelashes, and couldn't resist reaching out to brush them aside. "Alright, we've arrived."
Yan Chi slowly opened his eyes. Before him stretched a vast, azure ocean, the sunlight blinding, the waves shimmering with a soft glow.
But this sea was eerily quiet. No small fish occasionally leaped to the surface for oxygen, no seabirds lurked on the surface. The monotonous, hollow sound of the waves echoed, yet it couldn't mask the deathly silence.
Yan Chi gently stepped onto the water, carefully watching his feet to avoid falling in.
In the sea that Xi Chang had created, dark shadows would occasionally drift by, but now, in these unfathomable depths, life seemed to have vanished.
A small island floated in mid-air. Yan Chi glanced at it, pointed at it, and asked Shen Mingsu, "Where is my dad?"
"Yes, he's here." Worried that Yan Chi might suggest visiting Yan Qingyuan, Shen Mingsu preemptively said, "But he's not awake yet, it's best not to disturb him."
Yan Chi abandoned the idea, dejectedly saying, "Okay."
"Old Shen, Little Chi, come quick, look what I found!"
Xing Zhinan shouted as he ran, his face beaming with joy. He carried two eggs in his arms, hurriedly running to them and proudly handing the eggs to Yan Chi and Shen Mingsu respectively.
"Guess what kind of egg this is?"
The egg in Yan Chi's hand was about the size of an ordinary human baby, its shell covered in pale blue patterns. He had a guess in mind and couldn't help but get excited. "Is this egg a mermaid's?"
Shen Mingsu held the egg in one hand. "It smells fishy, most likely a mermaid's."
"It's a mermaid egg, and it's just been resurrected." Xing Zhinan touched the round mermaid egg in Yan Chi's hand. "I just don't know if the baby fish that hatches will be fish bones or a normal little mermaid."
Yan Chi was stunned. "Fish bones?"
"Yes, this egg has been dead for over a hundred years." Xing Zhinan roughly calculated the age of the little mermaid inside. "It's from the same batch of baby fish as Xi Chang, but it wasn't as lucky as Xi Chang. Xi Chang hatched first, and since then, this sea area has been lifeless."
"The little mermaid has been inside the egg for so many years; it's probably already rotten." Xing Zhinan sighed, "So we don't even know what it will look like after it's resurrected."
Yan Chi's grip on the mermaid egg tightened. Had a little creature been all alone inside for over a hundred years? At that moment, he seemed to feel the fear and loneliness emanating from the egg, and he could almost hear the little mermaid sobbing sadly.
"What about the other mermaids?"
Shen Mingsu: "They're all dead."
Although Yan Chi had expected this, his heart sank upon hearing this. "All gone?"
"Not a single one left, except for Xi Chang." Xing Zhinan rubbed his arm. "What you see now is the sea after Old Shen and I cleaned it up. When we first arrived, the surface was covered with mermaid corpses. We had to drag them back to their underwater home before the surface became much cleaner."
A huge group had been reduced to just Xi Chang. Yan Chi felt a chill run down his spine. "It was the players..."
"Hmm." Xing Zhinan chuckled mockingly. "Using this place as experience points to grind, no matter how many times Old Shen rewinds time here, the result is always the same. The mermaids have simply given up."
No wonder the players thought the world would refresh at some point.
It really did refresh.
Yan Chi looked at the mermaid eggs in his arms and asked, "When will they hatch?"
"There are no mermaid elders to take care of these cubs right now, so let's take them back to the school. Whether they hatch as baby mermaids or mermaid corpses, let's find them a place to live first."
Yan Chi finished speaking urgently and looked at Shen Mingsu, asking for his opinion.
Shen Mingsu had no objection, smiled at him, and handed the decision over to him, "It's up to you."
Yan Chi's face lit up with a smile, then he turned to Xing Zhinan.
“That’s fine, but when they’ll hatch… that’s hard to say.” Xing Zhinan stroked his chin. “It depends on the little ones’ mood. Maybe one will hatch any second.”
Mermaid eggs are usually incubated collectively in a warm cave. Experienced mermaid elders are always by the little ones’ side, calculating the hatching time based on the incubation period.
But now, almost all the mermaids are dead, leaving only the inexperienced Xi Chang. Furthermore, the mermaid eggs aren’t hatching normally. Even if Xi Chang arrives, he won’t know when the little ones will hatch.
Yan Chi, carrying the mermaid eggs, followed by Xing Zhinan, dived into the water to check out the mermaids’ incubation cave.
It was Yan Chi’s first time in the water. The moment he was submerged, he instinctively held his breath, but then he remembered his ability. With a thought, his lower body transformed into a silver-white fishtail.
It actually worked!
Yan Chi tried to breathe, but the suffocating feeling of choking on water didn't come. He slowly swayed his tail, mimicking Xi Chang's swimming style, and swam casually in the sea, clutching the mermaid egg.
Sunlight shone through the seawater onto his beautiful fishtail, making Yan Chi's eyes crinkle, his amber eyes full of laughter.
Suddenly, a large hand grabbed his tail. The newly grown tail was extremely sensitive to touch, and Yan Chi instinctively shook it, trying to shake off the excessively hot hand.
"Let go of my tail!" Yan Chi said fiercely to Shen Mingsu. He relied entirely on his tail for balance, and now he was being tossed about by the undercurrents.
Shen Mingsu not only didn't let go, but instead stroked the smooth, delicate scales on the fishtail. "It's very beautiful. Can I hold it?"
Yan Chi was pleased by the compliment and was about to say something when Shen Mingsu grabbed his hand and gently pulled him into his arms.
Xing Zhinan turned around and saw the lovey-dovey couple hugging. He quickly called out, "Hey! I'm still here, tone it down!"
Yan Chi was startled and instinctively swung his tail, but he wasn't familiar with it and the swing was a bit too big, hitting Shen Mingsu in the face and sending a few bubbles slowly floating up.
Shen Mingsu covered his face in shock, "You hit me?"
Xing Zhinan laughed.
"An accident!" Yan Chi quickly checked his face. It wasn't a big problem, just a little red, but overall he still looked handsome. He breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at him, "Does it hurt?"
Shen Mingsu looked pitiful, "A kiss will make it go away."
Yan Chi gently wagged his tail and gave him a light, solemn kiss on his reddened cheek, "Is it okay now?"
Xing Zhinan stopped laughing and looked at them with a stern face.
Shen Mingsu couldn't help but smile, spouting nonsense, "It's alright, it doesn't hurt anymore, thank you, Teacher Xiaochi."
His sticky, slurred voice sent shivers down Xing Zhinan's spine. "...You disgust me."
Shen Mingsu didn't bother arguing with a savage without a wife, completely ignoring Xing Zhinan's sarcastic remarks.
The cave where the mermaids placed their eggs was very well hidden. Yan Chi and Shen Mingsu followed Xing Zhinan, winding their way through the cave until they finally brushed aside a patch of withered seaweed, pushed aside two skeletons, and found a dozen or so mermaid eggs in the dimly lit cave.
Having been neglected for a long time, the mermaid eggs were covered in mud and grime, and several shells were already covered with parasitic barnacles.
As Yan Chi approached, a profound sadness washed over him. He gently picked up an egg, carefully cleaning the dirt from its shell, the pale patterns gleaming softly.
“We can’t take them away now,” Xing Zhinan said, casually picking an egg and cradling it in his arms. “The little mermaids’ life signs are very weak right now. If they leave [I]'s coverage area, the little mermaids inside will likely die immediately. We need to wait until they hatch.”
Yan Chi nodded, counting all the mermaid eggs in the cave. There were thirty-two in total, of various colors, presumably hatching into little mermaids with tails of different colors.
“Crack~”
A soft cracking sound rang out. Yan Chi was startled, turning to see Shen Mingsu squatting in front of a mermaid egg, his hand slightly raised. A crack had already appeared on the mermaid egg, inches from his hand.
Shen Mingsu hurriedly proved his innocence, "I haven't even had a chance to touch it yet."
Yan Chi pushed him aside, swam to the mermaid egg, and leaned down to listen to the sounds inside the shell. His eyes shone with excitement and joy. "The little mermaid has hatched!"
Hearing this, a huge weight lifted from Shen Mingsu's heart. He stood beside Yan Chi, watching the slightly swaying mermaid egg.
Xing Zhinan also came over, and the three of them stared eagerly at the mermaid egg.
The crack in the eggshell gradually widened. Yan Chi heard the little mermaid's whimpering as it pushed against the shell. His heart raced as he looked hopefully into the crack.
"Snap."
A piece of eggshell fell off, and a delicate, white arm pushed open a small hole. Yan Chi saw normal skin, his eyes filled with joy. He bent down to look, and the little mermaid timidly opened its large, bright blue eyes to look outside.
Yan Chi's gaze met that of the tiny creature in mid-air, and both of them froze.
Yan Chi tentatively greeted him, "Hi?"
To his surprise, the little guy pouted, his large, watery eyes filled with tears, muttering something, and looking at Yan Chi's fishtail, he pushed even harder against the eggshell.
Yan Chi was worried that helping the little mermaid hatch might harm him, so he could only gently encourage him from the side, "Take it slow, don't rush."
Hearing his voice, the little mermaid became even more anxious. He finally pushed aside the eggshell that was blocking him and flipped out.
Covered in a layer of slime, the little guy impatiently reached out to Yan Chi, anxiously shaking his short, chubby fishtail.
Yan Chi's heart melted at the sight of him. "Come and hold me..."
"Wait a minute." Shen Mingsu produced a towel from somewhere and wiped the slime off the little mermaid thoroughly. After carefully checking him over, he handed the struggling little mermaid to Yan Chi.
The little mermaid's fair skin was slightly red from being wiped. He nestled in Yan Chi's arms, looking aggrieved, muttering things no one could understand.
But his habit of glancing at Shen Mingsu after each sentence clearly told everyone he was tattling.
After finishing, seeing Yan Chi didn't react, the little mermaid's eyes reddened, he sniffed, and buried his face in Yan Chi's arms, making a "Yi-ya" sound.
Yan Chi observed the little mermaid's reaction, tentatively tapping Shen Mingsu's arm lightly. "Want to hit him?"
The little mermaid rubbed his eyes and made another "Yi-ya" sound, but this time without any sign of grievance.
Not content with Yan Chi hitting Shen Mingsu, he stretched out his soft body, clenched his little fist, and tried to hit Shen Mingsu's arm again, only to retreat back into Yan Chi's arms after the brief touch.
Shen Mingsu: "..."
Xing Zhinan: "Hahahaha—"
Shen Mingsu looked at the little mermaid swaggering in Yan Chi's arms and sneered, "Just wait, I'll throw you to Xi Chang when we get back."
He firmly believed that every bad fish has its match.
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