Chapter 56
The long-awaited island finally appeared on the surface of the sea, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. It looked just like a beautifully synthesized image from a computer. Before Xia Yi could even feel joy, he saw a row of bright yellow rubber rafts at the edge of the island.
This was really bad news.
A survivor under the coconut tree saw the waves and shadows stirring in the distance and exclaimed excitedly:
“Look! That dolphin has been following us. Is it leading the way for us?”
“Pah, stop dreaming! You were dreaming yesterday that you’d wake up with superpowers, and now you’re hoping for a dolphin to guide us. What’s going on? Wake up from your daydreams!”
“How about this? I’ve always seen through you. What kind of tour guide are you? You’re just the boss of a travel agency’s crony, you know nothing. We all pretend to be obedient to you, giving you all the benefits first, and enduring your chaotic commands! And now you’re pretending to be innocent, grabbing the best food. I’ve endured it for a long time!”
Several people were fighting on the beach, and the scene was chaotic. The rest of the survivors looked panicked and bewildered. They couldn’t help but be led away from Saipan Island, powerful enough to even snatch military supplies from American soldiers.
But Annie seemed not to notice at all, staring fixedly at the sea.
“Annie?”
“Let them go. It’s already this late. If one person dies, it can save on housing consumption,” Annie said lightly. Her voice was not loud but very clear, and the fighters seemed to stop as if someone had hit the pause button, listlessly slumping to the side.
It was a timid young couple who had originally gone to Saipan Island for their honeymoon who nervously said, “That dolphin, something doesn’t seem right…”
“How do you know?” the captain asked sharply.
The two young men shuddered, and then the man said softly after careful consideration, “We met at the ocean park… Because we like dolphins, we’ve watched a lot of related movies and documentaries.”
“When dolphins leap out of the water, it’s to clean themselves, using seawater to rinse their bodies. Rapid spinning is to shake off any parasites that may be present, but if they don’t have companions or natural enemies nearby, they wouldn’t be so active!”
Is there danger?
Now everyone’s spirits were lifted, staring at the sea.
“He’s right. Since seeing that dolphin, and just now, I’ve felt that there’s someone with abilities nearby…”
Annie’s expression was serious. Her ability was developed on Saipan Island. She speculated that it might be a mental wave affecting abilities.
For example, Li Shao and Xu Qishen’s presence was particularly strong; even twenty meters away, she could sense them (by the way, Xu Qishen is the guy with the wind attribute ability).
Li Shao often muttered that guy had an either transparent or background attribute, and he wouldn’t speak until it was crucial…
That evening, Li Shao fell into the sea several times in confusion, showing that the guy’s attribute was sinister and needed to be labeled harmful, and kept away from as much as possible.
However, other ability users were much weaker; she couldn’t sense them unless they were within ten meters.
The island wasn’t big, and the sea was calm, capable of concealing a living person, requiring a distance of at least several dozen meters…
This made Annie uneasy; it could be a quite powerful ability user.
“Could it be a sea monster?”
Xu Qishen suddenly said, while Li Shao, who was digging around on the beach looking for food with a paddle, lost his footing and fell flat on his back.
After getting up, Li Shao grumbled discontentedly.
“I thought it was Xia Ge!”
Ever since he could hear the sound waves of sea monsters, Li Shao’s fear of these creatures had decreased drastically. After all, he had encountered giant octopuses, giant jellyfish, sea serpents that looked like dragons, and sea turtles that could disguise themselves as islands…
Unless Godzilla emerged from the sea, a creature that could only be defeated by Ultraman, there was nothing to be surprised about!
“No, I think it’s staring at us… Ah, it’s gone!”
Annie muttered, and then slumped down as if exhausted.
Xia Yi had already swum far away. He hadn’t noticed any ability users on the island, let alone knew that Annie and Li Shao were there. He just didn’t want to see anyone else; he planned to find a flat spot on the seabed nearby to rest for a while and come back to this island tomorrow evening.
The island wasn’t big, so there probably wasn’t any freshwater there. Drifters couldn’t stay there for long.
Xia Yi guessed right; Annie and Li Shao’s ultimate goal were to return to the mainland. Of course, they couldn’t stay here for too long, as the supplies they had seized were limited. Xia Yi was solitary in nature, and his parents were no longer alive.
Unlike them, his family, friends, and even his loved ones were still in the city where he used to live, alive or dead, who knew!
When it got dark in the shallow sea, even the moonlight couldn’t reach the seabed. Shadows abounded everywhere. Xia Yi greatly suspected that his eyesight would become astigmatic in the future.
The seawater was always fluctuating, and he always failed to catch fish, which was also related to this. Estimating distances was crucial, and if it weren’t for his ability, Xia Yi probably could only pick up seashells.
So at night, he preferred to swim to the surface to breathe fresh air.
The sea breeze was gentle, and the vast expanse of the sea was empty, except for occasional splashes from big fish in the distance.
Since yesterday, the dolphin had seemed particularly agitated. Although it still leaped out of the water from time to time, it didn’t perform as many tricks as before. It looked rather lifeless, swimming around anxiously, as if avoiding something or searching for something.
What had this strange little creature seen?
Or was there danger nearby?
Xia Yi wondered, enduring a sleepless night. When dawn was approaching, he couldn’t resist swimming back to the island. From a distance, he saw that the rubber rafts were no longer in their original positions, which made him very happy. Before long, he was standing on the beach.
Honestly, Xia Yi now felt that the thing he needed to practice the most was walking.
One step forward, one step back, struggling to maintain balance. The beach was littered with empty cans of beef and vacuum-sealed food packaging left by those people.
It was a mess.
A small shrimp struggled through the garbage, darting into the sea.
Xia Yi even found a torn piece of clothing on the ground. Although it smelled unpleasant, he was in need of clothes. As for the empty cans, after washing them clean, they could be used to hold things.
Xia Yi busied himself with controlling his water ability, cleaning everything thoroughly.
He even took off his clothes and rinsed them in freshwater to remove the salt stains, then laid them on the makeshift barbecue rack made from branches left by those people, weighed down with a few stones, and let them dry.
Although he always had a layer of water surrounding his body, the clothes were corroding too quickly. The armpits of his shirt were already torn, and the sleeves were hanging halfway down. The denim pants had turned completely white, the fabric soaked and shapeless.
Xia Yi had a hard time taking them off, and he doubted if he could wear them again. As for the innermost shorts, well, they were completely ruined.
The dolphin was left behind in the sea, struggling in distress.
At first, Xia Yi glanced at it a few times, but later, he ignored it. He felt grounded and preferred that feeling.
So, silently and stealthily, a silvery figure appeared in the sea, abruptly wrapping its arm tightly around the dolphin. The little creature struggled frantically, but Xia Yi didn’t pay attention.
The Siren quietly emerged from the sea, staring at Xia Yi on the shore, immediately stunned.
Well, humans wear clothes; that’s common sense.
No, wait, some merfolk wear clothes too, made of seaweed and shells. Once a merperson falls in love with a human, they always tend to imitate them. Whatever their beloved likes, they’ll give it to them…
But sea monsters genuinely have no concept of wearing clothes. If we had to force it, does Vorucus count? That guy’s almost entirely wrapped in kelp.
Marine creatures conceal their bodies not out of shame, but for concealment, stealth, hunting, and evading predators, like hermit crabs, or fish disguised as certain rocks.
The reason Xia Yi insisted on wearing clothes was probably because he always feels insecure in his personality.
But now, on this deserted island, why bother with all that?
Even if he wanted to change, he didn’t have the means to do so!
Xia Yi had no idea that he had once drunk Siren’s blood.
Merfolk’s blood and flesh didn’t have the legendary ability to grant eternal youth, but they could be immunized against minor toxins and bacteria found in marine life, combined with the genetic changes of ability users, increasing resistance.
Otherwise, with Xia Yi having spent so much time in the sea, even if his water ability didn’t cause skin diseases, he would have gotten eye diseases and other ailments.
That environment wasn’t suitable for humans after all.
It was fine not to go ashore, but once on land, the clothes felt heavy and uncomfortable against his skin, so he had no choice but to take them off.
As for the possibility of being seen naked, Xia Yi didn’t even consider it. He stood comfortably on the sandy beach near the sea, conjuring a large amount of freshwater from head to toe, letting it wash over him.
The rolling water droplets refracted the light, and his previously somewhat pale skin had become slightly tanned from these days of exposure to the sun, with a uniform texture, neither excess fat nor particularly noticeable muscles.
His shoulders were broad, forming an inverted triangle from his chest to his waist. His physique wasn’t particularly muscular to begin with, and now, without regular meals or vegetables and fruits, he had become even thinner.
Before the apocalypse, he could have probably become one of those Parisian models with empty frames.
Um, without chest muscles and abs, it might not be easy to do well.
Yeah, before the apocalypse, no matter how much you screamed about losing weight, you couldn’t. You even gained weight from drinking water.
But in the apocalypse, who isn’t thin? Besides swelling and illness, there’s no such thing as gaining weight from drinking water in the world!
Xia Yi could adjust the height and speed of the water flow that appeared out of nowhere. This shower effect was quite good. Taking a bath was indeed very comfortable. He would consider whether he should replace the layer of water enveloping his body with freshwater in the future.
Um, this ability required quite a high demand.
The densities were different, and autonomous control was difficult.
With a myriad of thoughts, Xia Yi naturally didn’t notice the disappearance of the dolphin’s splashing sounds. The sound of water in his ears confused his senses.
And who knew the Siren was staring blankly…
Clear water flowed down Xia Yi’s back, eager to fall down, but when it reached his waist, it would diverge to the sides due to obstruction.
The Siren, lost in thought, thought that Xia Yi looked quite similar to him from behind. It was just that starting from the point where the water diverged, his was a pale silver color.
The fish tail with scales…
The water flowed down along the straight and slender legs, almost indistinguishable from afar, which made the Siren squint slightly.
Hmm, from this angle, his resemblance to Xia Yi was even smaller—let’s not deceive ourselves, Xia Yi doesn’t have fins on his arms.
Xia Yi, who needed a change of posture, turned slightly to face the direction of the Siren.
Without a second thought, the mermaid casually threw the struggling dolphin out and swiftly dove away amidst the splashing waves.
Xia Yi, watching the sea surface through the water curtain, was startled.
Just now, it seemed like a faint silver shadow flashed by… but it didn’t look like a fish tail, so it probably wasn’t the Siren.
(Hey hey, that’s the Siren’s hair!)
The frightened little dolphin rushed straight towards Xia Yi, almost beaching itself on the shore.
—That monster who kidnapped it from the dolphin tribe has come again!!
Continuing to squander fresh water and carefully washing his hair, Xia Yi casually patted the dolphin’s head and rolled it back into the sea with seawater.
As the sun gradually rose, the sand began to scorch. Xia Yi dared not let his clothes be exposed to the sun, as they would likely be completely ruined. He quickly folded up his pants and shirt, ran to the coconut trees, saw no insects around, and simply spread the clothes he had picked up on the ground. He lay comfortably on top, with the shirt and pants covering his body, pressing down with her arms so they wouldn’t be blown away by the wind, also conveniently airing out the clothes. Killing two birds with one stone.
Xia Yi, who hadn’t slept a wink all night, soon fell into a deep sleep.
The seawater near the shore gently surged, and the Siren emerged from the water, casting a puzzled glance at Xia Yi, who covered his chest and abdomen with clothes (was he trying to avoid catching a cold?), then awkwardly gauging the distance from his current position to the coconut trees.
—After coming ashore, the only way to move is by crawling for a mermaid like you!
It would be even worse if the mermaid who had been spotted came back!
It would have been better to stay separated by the water layer before; at least then, they could make contact!
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Sleepyblue’s Corner:
Please also check my other works! What to Do When I Become a Koi and Fall into the Male God’s Bathtub and Incurable Pain👫
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