Chapter 84
Anuta Island lies on the other side of the Coral Sea. The power of the hurricane had thrown them off course. Around the island, scattered groups of rocks, though not as beautiful as coral reefs, still harbored many small fish darting in between.
Seaweeds deeply rooted in these rocks swayed with the sea waves. Xia Yi spotted a broken palm tree floating on the sea surface, its leaves half-floating and half-sunken in the seawater, drifting further away from the island with each gust of wind.
There was a small dark shadow that darted across the leaves.
Xia Yi surfaced and took a glance.
Surprisingly, it was a very small lizard, entirely brown-green in color. It firmly gripped the wood with its limbs. Its bulging eyes stared nervously at Xia Yi, startled and trying to retreat, but with a gulp, it tumbled into the sea.
It struggled helplessly in the water, kicking up tiny splashes, swimming in a standard doggy paddle style.
Wait, lizards can swim too?
Just then, a wave came and unfortunately slapped the poor little creature back down.
The lizard paddled desperately with its limbs, but its strength was limited. Besides, its body was better suited for crawling. It was only inches away from the sea surface, but it was engulfed by the rolling waves, spinning and sinking straight down.
Xia Yi reached out and scooped it up, then placed it back onto the floating palm tree.
The little lizard lay there for a while, suddenly spewing water from its mouth. Its limbs twitched, then it flipped over and hid among the damp leaves, no longer daring to approach Xia Yi.
“There aren’t any other islands nearby, are there?”
Xia Yi turned back to look at Anuta Island, then stared at the grey, overcast sky.
“They migrate like this in the ocean. Apart from hurricanes and waterspouts, they just lie on the trunks and let the seawater carry them to a new island or continent… Unlike humans, they don’t need fresh water.”
The Siren returned to the sea, where buoyancy helped him move easily without straining his injuries.
The rain intensified, trending towards a heavy downpour.
What could a drifting lizard eat on the sea?
With so many leaves around, there might be curious little fish or shrimp coming close, and a small shrimp would surely make a delicious meal.
Xia Yi remained silent, watching the palm tree drift further away in the stormy waves.
So many things in this world were like this. Without storms, there was no way to leave the original spot. Similarly, if the destination was known, there was no point in setting out on a voyage. It wouldn’t be an adventure, nor would one find the supposed better life. He hoped the little lizard would reach an island more suitable for survival and without natural enemies.
“Xia Yi?”
After this disaster, the Siren felt that Xia Yi’s emotions seemed off lately.
“It’s nothing,” he said, turning to look at the Siren.
Memories from the hurricane were still vivid.
Xia Yi approached the Siren unusually, hesitated for a moment, then placed his palm on the Siren’s back. His fingers trembled slightly, but he stared straight into the Siren’s eyes, as if trying to see something inside.
This made the Siren feel uneasy, and instinctively, he used the back of his hand to stroke Xia Yi’s palm.
Between the Siren’s fingers were webs, and his palms had fine scales. Xia Yi’s hand trembled again.
Many times, he couldn’t correctly judge what he felt toward the Siren. Perhaps he had initially had good feelings, but that one time…
That was why he had wanted to leave the Siren for so long. Xia Yi was tired of being with people, tired of relationships that couldn’t be explained. Even if he did indeed like the Siren, he wouldn’t ignore those hurts just because of that.
He felt that between him and the Siren, there were many differences.
—This was an incorrect relationship, and relationships with distorted emotions would definitely not end well.
Such deeply ingrained concepts and closed-mindedness.
“Siren, why do you think people live?”
“I don’t know… Human matters are something I never quite understand.”
Indeed, such an answer. But it was true.
Humans couldn’t even understand their own matters. Thinking of it with the logic of a sea monster, it was really absurd.
“So then, why do you live?”
Typical to trouble oneself with such questions, was it something only humans would think about?
Or maybe that anglerfish, because it couldn’t reproduce, so it had been searching for a companion?
Though it was large and twisted, it was still female, and in nature, it was always the males who pursued and pleased their partners.
The difference was so stark that it really couldn’t be compared…
“For… me to not leave you!”
The Siren didn’t hesitate at all, immediately coming to this conclusion.
Xia Yi was stunned.
What kind of answer was that?
He wasn’t looking for declarations of love or affectionate words—those were things he definitely couldn’t accept. But such a straightforward statement still moved him deeply.
“You’ll meet someone better…”
“I think you’re the best!”
The Siren cut off Xia Yi’s words abruptly.
Feeling helpless, Xia Yi remained indifferent. He thought the Siren wouldn’t think like this anymore in the future. But in this dying world, life was probably short and limited.
If he worried too much while alive, what would happen with too many regrets before dying?
Like that lizard, it might be willing to lie happily and simply on the trunk for a lifetime, but unfortunately, the hurricane threw it into the sea with the tree. The long journey had begun, and it seemed impossible to turn back.
—It can only hold onto the tree and be unable to leave.
But if there were no such tree, everything would be gone.
It took Xia Yi a long time to come to his senses. Siren hadn’t moved either. The water’s flow caused their hair to entwine with each other as they floated in the sea. Xia Yi suddenly remembered that when he woke up, there were still two or three silver hairs between his fingers.
The wound on his back also began to ache faintly. Actually, if the Siren had been willing to let go of him at that time, he probably wouldn’t have been swept into the hurricane.
“I’ll go find something to eat.”
Xia Yi stopped the Siren from following.
“Just going to find some shells and sea urchins. I’ll be careful.”
It wasn’t like he couldn’t do anything without the Siren.
However, even though he said that, after swimming a distance, Xia Yi still saw the familiar disappearing fish tail next to the reef when he turned around. He had a strange feeling that made him want to laugh but couldn’t.
The Siren seemed reluctant to directly refute his own meaning, but behind the scenes, he would remain as stubborn as ever.
There were no diverse tropical fish here like coral reefs, just some small, pitifully dark red or silver-white fish occasionally peeking out from between the cracks to avoid the waves.
Indeed, there were no large fish near the coast.
However, after the hurricane, this area of the sea would become lively because the waves would overturn nutrient-rich water from the deep sea, and migrating schools of fish would chase after plankton.
Xia Yi bypassed a shallow bay where the sea was slightly calmer. The fine white sea sand was evenly spread on the seabed.
There were almost no signs of human habitation around Anuta Island. Because the sea was blue, there was no garbage on the seabed, and the sea sand was clean and beautiful enough to be directly poured into a glass bottle and then stuffed with a conch.
Xia Yi was touching the sea sand and sighing at how soft it was when he suddenly froze.
A sprout suddenly emerged from the sea sand ahead—like a bean sprout.
Its head was cloudy, resembling a bean, with a long, slightly curved body underneath, completely resembling a yellow bean sprout emerging after a spring rain—no, it was a white bean sprout, white in color with a black head, and tiny black spots on its body.
And it was so small that Xia Yi hadn’t had time to see clearly before seeing a group of the same kind emerge one after another from the sand.
What is this?
Growing faster than bamboo shoots?
Those curved, large patches of bean sprouts seemed to make the fine white sea sand look like a group of question marks. Looking from afar, it was almost like a fairy tale world. Even question marks could grow on the ground, especially like the big question marks added to the contestants’ foreheads on variety shows.
Xia Yi swam closer and looked down, but found that the “question marks” were very vigilant. They all retreated into the sand. One of them even rushed out and plunged into a crevice between the reefs.
Xia Yi stared blankly. So these guys mostly hide their bodies in the sand like this. Sleeping with their bodies erect and motionless in the sand—what a strange habit…
But it seemed to enjoy it very much, like receiving a sand SPA massage and falling asleep…
“I wonder if they stay in the sand all day?”
“Yes, waiting for the ocean currents to pass by and peck at the plankton in the seawater.”
—So they’re not sleeping!
“Their taste isn’t that great, but they’re easy to catch.”
It’s just not easy to eat enough; you have to catch them many times.
“The food I found isn’t them!”
Xia Yi pointed to the beautiful white fan-shaped shell in the Siren’s hand. Clearly, this shell was it.
“The white butterfly shell isn’t for eating.”
The Siren silently looked at the pearl shell in his hand. This was a pearl oyster, which produces pearls. The injured area of the pearl oyster would breed pearls, but similarly, the larger and better pearls came from more severely injured pearl oysters.
How could you eat that flesh?
Watching the Siren peel open the shell and take out a brilliant large pearl, Xia Yi was completely stunned.
In the past, maybe this thing was valuable, but now it could probably only be used for marbles.
No, the most important thing was that they were in the sea, and there was nowhere to put pearls.
“Next time, give it to the kids on the island to play with.”
“Eurybia likes it.”
“…”
Heading south to Antarctica would be a bit difficult.
Xia Yi looked at the sea sand and really wanted to say that this place was good for lying down and healing.
But obviously, there were still many “bean sprouts” hidden in it.
What if he accidentally crushed them?
Xia Yi looked sadly at the thick sea sand and the scattered reefs. Was the only thing he could eat here seaweed?
Just when he was feeling depressed, he felt the Siren gently brush his neck with its soft pectoral fin:
“I’ll go find something to eat.”
