Chapter 82
Some say that by pressing your ear against a conch shell, you can hear the sound of the ocean waves.
The internal structure of a conch shell is unique. It’s unclear whether it’s the air passing through that creates a roar similar to ocean waves or if its spiral structure actually functions as a sound recording device.
Several major canyons in the Americas and Africa have rocks like this. Such terrain can record the roaring sound of hurricanes, sometimes even the sound of off-road vehicles passing by or the cannons of war, which is quite miraculous.
But for mermaids, the sound of the waves was unnecessary to listen to inside a conch shell. They always lived in the vast and boundless ocean. Only those in shallow seas can hear the sound of the waves; when they tire of it, they dive into the deep sea. That’s how it went.
In the past, mermaids rarely ventured into the deep oceans; they swam near shipping lanes.
Only there could they encounter humans smoothly, those desperate cries before death… and perhaps the person they were destined to meet. Thus, the legend of mermaids has always endured.
Later, some stories said that sailing on the high seas would be lured into irreversible paths by the mermaids’ songs, crashing into reefs and sinking ships. Another part of the stories said that drowned princes would be rescued by mermaids, but they would always leave the ocean to marry beautiful women, leaving the mermaids to despair and die.
Combining legend and fairy tale, deleting parts that praise kindness or lure sailors, basically accounts for the truth.
As long-distance trade became more prosperous and navigation safer, and with mermaids being of such a fierce nature, their numbers gradually decreased. Even the habitats they lived in underwent significant changes, moving towards the vast oceans and places prone to storms. If several tornadoes, such extreme disasters, appeared, even mermaids would die.
Sirens had no idea when their kind began to disappear from the oceans.
This time, the threat truly came from death. In the tornado, only small objects or fish could survive, otherwise merely hitting debris could cost lives.
The sound of the waves was getting closer, especially loud, probably floating on the sea surface.
The Siren’s arm moved slightly, to a minor extent.
In a half-dazed state, the mermaid’s memory lingered in that dark storm. Vaguely, it was the last drop together with a storm, but fortunately the thunderstorm cloud layer had released ahead of them. Otherwise, even a chance to fall would not have been present.
The intensity of the impact was very high, as Siren tried to hold onto Xia Yi, back to the sea surface.
Although prepared in advance, the sudden force shook the Siren’s insides so much that he probably vomited several mouthfuls of blood. Then a big wave washed over him, and Siren passed out.
At that moment, he still held Xia Yi tightly in his arms. His only panicked thought was that he hoped to wake up quickly after the storm subsided.
There were many sharks in the Coral Sea, and Xia Yi had wounds on his body. What would happen then—
“Splash!”
Sea water splashed onto the Siren’s face, and his fish tail lightly patted the ground unconsciously.
Wait, something wasn’t right!
The Siren struggled to wake himself up. His fingers were empty, his palm grasped nothing!
It was evident he lay on firm, solid sand, damp with seawater, very uncomfortable.
The more urgently he tried to wake up, the more he felt a dull pain in his chest and back, worse than being hit by a blue whale—not just pressure on the bones, it was unbearable.
His arm was sore and twitching from improper exertion and prolonged stiffness. His fish tail felt powerless, as if he had just crossed the entire Pacific Ocean at full speed.
“Splash!”
The sea water was coming from the wrong direction. Clearly, the sound of the waves was still distant, so why was it pouring down from above?
It was like falling from a void into reality.
First, he felt pain and sea water. Then a jumble of noises came through: low conversations and the clinking of barrels.
Humans?!
The Siren subconsciously moved his arm.
He felt genuine terror—X
ia Yi was gone!
He abruptly opened his eyes.
A chorus of surprised shouts followed, and then figures crowded around. The Siren saw only dark faces, stifling him almost breathlessly due to their animosity.
His fish tail suddenly slapped the sand in hostility, but this movement aggravated his injuries. Sharp pain in his chest forced the Siren to slow his breathing. The gills behind his ear fins slightly opened, air passing through instead of the usual feeling of moist water.
Where was Xia Yi?
Had he left because of these people?
Countless thoughts flooded the Siren’s mind. Out of anger, the deadly song of the reaper echoed once again in the sound of the waves. But the Siren quickly realized it was futile. There was no tempting dark aura, no danger or hostility—only surprise and curiosity in those pairs of eyes.
Realizing that crowding around like this wasn’t a good idea, the crowd murmured briefly before dispersing. Several men still carried buckets, while three or five children huddled nearby, and an older man pointed at the distant sea, saying something to the Siren. However, there was no language in the world that the Siren could understand.
Surveying his surroundings, the Siren saw a dozen palm trees leaning in all directions, with obvious debris of ruined houses below them.
Bare-chested men were energetically sawing broken tree trunks, and women in single robes carried large baskets, picking up things left behind by the receding tide—shells, crabs, and familiar-looking anchovies. Perhaps they were swept into the tornado with him.
Although they were busy, the locals couldn’t help but look back curiously.
Since the Siren showed no reaction, the old man stopped, shouted at the men carrying buckets, and trotted over. Soon, he fetched seawater again and poured it all over the Siren without a word.
This was on a gentle slope, far from the sea. The Siren guessed he was washed ashore by the waves during the hurricane.
The mess around clearly confirmed this, but the humans here seemed unusually calm. Despite the hurricane just passing, their homes were almost half-destroyed, yet they maintained order.
There was no sorrow or crying after losing loved ones, as if the hurricane was just rain followed by sunshine for them…
Most strangely, upon seeing the appearance of a mermaid, their reaction was merely curiosity.
Their emotions, thoughts—pure enough to not even hear the mermaid’s song.
What kind of concept was this?
Finally letting go of his murderous intent, the Siren disliked humans. He was especially worried that Xia Yi would leave him. But now, faced with this group constantly pouring seawater over him, discussing and gesturing around him, it was difficult to resent them.
“Xia Yi!”
This was one of the few sentences the Siren rarely spoke.
Trouble was, it was in Chinese, and expecting residents of a solitary island in the South Pacific to understand was a challenge.
Because regardless of what these people said, the Siren repeated this word, his eyes clearly searching for something. The old man finally straightened up and shouted loudly, after a few minutes many people ran over, putting a bunch of odds and ends in front of the Siren.
There were coconuts floating over, large patches of seaweed, a few half-dead seabirds, and even the group of women offered their seafood baskets.
Watching a struggling seahorse among the pile of anchovies, the Siren was becoming irritable.
People stared at the Siren without blinking, clearly realizing that the rare mermaid wasn’t interested in any of these things.
What was it then?
Many were puzzled, even the children scratching their heads in confusion.
These were the only things washed ashore by the hurricane!
Wait, there seemed to be one more!
A clever-looking teenage boy who appeared to be barely in his teens suddenly collapsed to the ground, pretending to be unconscious. The people around immediately caught on, quickly lifting him up. After walking a short distance, the boy jumped down and pointed to a crude, low house behind a distant high slope.
The Siren didn’t understand exactly what they were gesturing about, just puzzledly looking in that direction.
Just then, Xia Yi, wrapped in the torn military uniform, walked towards them.
Probably due to blood loss, his face was unusually pale.
Although they were still far apart, when their eyes met for an instant, there was a momentary blankness.
All of this felt too unreal—hurricanes, tornadoes… and this island still darkened by the storm with winds blowing at Force 4 or 5. Curious but restrained, the people were discussing something incomprehensible with kind and happy smiles.
Someone ran up to Xia Yi, blocking his gaze with the Siren. Xia Yi snapped out of his daze.
The person gestured and said a bunch of things, but Xia Yi only understood one word—his own name.
“Siren, where are we?”
There was no problem with infrasonic waves.
“I don’t know…”
Xia Yi’s horror was no less than the Siren’s.
He had no idea such an island existed in the South Pacific. Okay, not that the island was special, but the people here were.
The person trying to communicate with Xia Yi didn’t give up. First, he pointed to himself, said a word, then pointed to Xia Yi, strangely repeated the pronunciation of “Xia Yi” in Chinese, with a rising tone, indicating a questioning sentence.
Perceiving that the people around harbored no hostility—otherwise, they could have acted when Siren and Xia Yi were washed ashore—Xia Yi also inexplicably relaxed.
Especially now, standing among the crowd, Xia Yi didn’t feel that peculiar sense of alienation he usually did. It was very strange because he always felt out of place in any group, simply from the complex or scornful or ironic looks that were enough to create an eerie atmosphere.
But the looks in these people’s eyes were purely curious.
The Siren even sensed that relaxed and happy emotion, which before meeting Xia Yi, he would have wished to leave quickly, contrasting with the dark negative emotions, which were precisely what mermaids disliked the most.
Watching the sweating people gesturing and comparing notes, Xia Yi couldn’t help but nod slightly, considering it an answer and confirmation.
The young man happily shouted, but instead of continuing to speak, he ran straight to an apparently influential old man, yelled for a while, and then everyone smiled kindly.
Some continued to turn back to their work, sawing trees or collecting seafood.
Most of the impact of falling into the water was borne by the Siren, so Xia Yi had only completely passed out, without struggling in the vortex of the waves. Except for the stiffness in his arms from clinging to the Siren and the bruises and deep wounds on his waist and shoulders that had stopped bleeding, Xia Yi smelled of herbs all over his body.
“How are you?”
“I probably won’t be able to move for several days…”
The Siren looked at Xia Yi approaching, eagerly grasping his arm, almost pulling him down. The fingers with webbing repeatedly rubbed the back of Xia Yi’s hand, as if confirming him existence.
“I’ll take you back to the sea!”
“What about these people?”
The Siren stared at Xia Yi, not letting go.
“These people?”
Xia Yi hesitated, looked around, not realizing the Siren was actually afraid she would stay.
He just said, “We were washed ashore by the hurricane, they must be trying to rescue us. Of course, we should thank them, but—”
Xia Yi really didn’t know how to express gratitude to others. It had to be something she was familiar with, very familiar with, like how Li Shao just had to go to a better restaurant to eat. The Siren didn’t have to back away and avoid contact. But what about a group of people with different races and languages?
“Go catch some tuna to give them?”
Uh?
Xia Yi quickly glanced at the Siren, and it turned out to be a sea monster way, important always only food.
