Chapter 66: I Am Not A Merman (III)

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Chapter 66: I Am Not A Merman (III)

“Dr. Cui, have you discovered something?” Qin Yuan asked when he arrived at the laboratory and saw the visibly excited researcher.

Dr. Cui pointed at the screen, disbelief written across his face. “The blood and other tissue samples we collected from Flame contain an extraordinary substance. After repeated testing, we found that it can rapidly promote cellular growth and mutation, repair damage, and even alter an organism’s original genetic profile. I’m certain that compared with dolphins from two hundred years ago, Flame has undergone major changes—or rather, evolution.”

“Is any of this harmful to Flame?” Qin Yuan asked.

“We haven’t found any harmful effects so far. On the contrary, if our theory is correct, Flame should be healthier and longer-lived than ordinary dolphins.” Dr. Cui paused, then continued, “I think the dolphin plague two hundred years ago was less a natural disaster than a brutal process of natural selection. Four hundred years ago, humanity also suffered a worldwide outbreak of the FD virus, which claimed nearly one hundred million lives. The survivors not only developed stronger constitutions, but their bodily functions also underwent varying degrees of mutation. The prevailing theory is that those mutations represented a form of special evolution.”

Qin Yuan said coldly, “This so-called evolution severely damaged humanity’s reproductive ability, and the birth rate has been plummeting. Fewer than forty million children were born worldwide last year. We’ve already reached a dangerous threshold.”

The average human lifespan was now around one hundred eighty years, yet fertility had fallen by sixty percent. Among every five couples, there might not even be one child between them, and even with technological assistance, the success rate for conception was only thirty-seven percent.

“I believe humanity will solve that problem soon enough.” Dr. Cui was quite confident and did not dwell on the subject. At present, the two dolphins interested him far more.

Qin Yuan had no intention of discussing the issue further and abruptly asked, “How old is Flame?”

“About twelve or thirteen. He’s right around the age of sexual maturity.”

Mature at twelve or thirteen? As far as Qin Yuan knew, wild dolphins had an average lifespan of around fifty years. By human standards, Flame should still be little more than a child.

“So Wave isn’t Flame’s child?” Qin Yuan asked.

“No,” Dr. Cui replied. “We’ve already tested them. They aren’t directly related by blood. There may still be other dolphins living somewhere in the ocean, but our survey teams haven’t found any yet.”

Upon hearing that Wave was not Flame’s child, Qin Yuan felt an inexplicable surge of happiness.

After leaving the laboratory, Qin Yuan headed toward the aquatic area out of habit.

At that moment, Shang Ke was racing through the water with Wave, the two dolphins repeatedly leaping above the surface. Their joyful antics unconsciously softened Qin Yuan’s normally severe features.

Qin Yuan looked up at the gloomy sky. A major storm was expected in two days. They needed to prepare in advance.

The next day, Shang Ke and Wave were moved into the base’s inner waters. Several separate zones had been partitioned there to house many different species of marine life.

The changing weather made the creatures throughout the base restless, and they passed signals among one another that humans could not understand.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, casting everything in a gloomy light. Fierce sea winds howled past as waves rolled and crashed heavily against the reefs, throwing enormous sprays of water into the air.

Shang Ke and Wave sheltered inside an underwater passageway. Solid metal walls stood on both sides, a metal grate blocked the exit, and beyond it lay an underground waterway leading farther into the base. As long as they stayed there, even the fiercest waves could not reach them.

Shang Ke kept the little dolphin protected beneath him, gently swaying with the water while the two hemispheres of his brain took turns sleeping.

After an unknown amount of time, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly sounded overhead. The entire base trembled violently, and fragments of various objects began falling continuously into the water.

What happened?

Shang Ke quickly swam to the grate and could faintly see flames blazing above the surface.

There had apparently been an explosion.

As far as he knew, the base was protected by a photonic-energy defensive barrier capable of withstanding storms below Level Five. Even if its energy were completely depleted, it still should not have caused an explosion.

Shang Ke turned around and followed the underground waterway toward the interior of the base, with Wave staying close beside him.

Before long, he discovered fragments of equipment and industrial debris floating through what had once been crystal-clear water. Seawater was flooding into the base while countless aquatic creatures fled in every direction. Shang Ke immediately understood that the base’s defensive barrier had been breached and more than half of the facility was underwater.

Shang Ke led Wave through a shattered glass opening and swam into the open sea. Only after reaching the surface did he understand what had happened.

A passenger aircraft had crashed unexpectedly and struck directly above the base. The tremendous force of the explosion destroyed the defensive barrier. More than a hundred egg-shaped escape pods floated across the surface, apparently deployed as an emergency measure just before the aircraft went down. Most of the pods had already been damaged. Some passengers had been swept away by the waves, while others were desperately struggling in the water.

Shang Ke stared wide-eyed at the scene, unable to believe that the base, perfectly intact only a few hours earlier, had already become a shattered ruin. The flames caused by the explosion had been extinguished by the waves, leaving the world beneath a blanket of darkness, as though some enormous monster had opened its jaws and was ready to devour everything before it…

“Flame and Wave are still beneath the base!” Dr. Cui shouted anxiously at the flickering screens. He and several dozen staff members had taken shelter in an evacuation chamber before the explosion. Its defensive system was separate from the main base, so its barrier remained intact and had not been damaged by the blast.

Under Dr. Cui’s operation, the system quickly connected to every surveillance camera that was still functional. When the footage appeared, everyone froze in astonishment.

On-screen, a dolphin charged straight into the raging waves, pushed a life ring he had somehow found toward a survivor, then bit down on the attached rope and rapidly towed the person toward the comparatively safe waters behind the base before disappearing from view.

Only moments later, Flame appeared again and rushed toward another survivor, supporting the person as he carried them toward safety.

One, two, three… Flame acted like a heroic lifeguard, plunging into the violent waves again and again to rescue one survivor after another. He was the one who should have been waiting for rescue, yet instead he was doing everything in his power to save humans.

The sight struck everyone profoundly.

That agile figure cut through wind and waves as swiftly as lightning, showing no fear before nature’s fury. In the darkness, his body gleamed with faint blue light, like a spirit of the sea—beautiful enough to steal one’s breath.

Unfortunately, not everyone was in any state to appreciate Flame’s beauty. Most of the survivors had no idea that the dolphin was trying to rescue them. Whenever Flame approached, many panicked and struggled desperately against him.

Flame could move freely through the towering waves and nimbly avoid every piece of debris, yet the terrified survivors left him covered in injuries. One of them happened to be clutching a dagger and, when Flame approached to help, slashed a long bloody wound across his back.

Flame convulsed in pain, but still refused to abandon the man. Enduring the injury, he carried him all the way to safety.

The people at the base watched with a mixture of grief and fury, their hearts aching for Flame while simultaneously marveling at his courage and kindness. Even many humans probably could not have done as much.

After being wounded, Flame’s movements slowed noticeably. Blood spread through the seawater in a crimson haze, rendered almost eerily beautiful beneath the surrounding blue light.

“We can’t let him stay out there any longer! He’ll bleed to death!” one staff member cried anxiously.

Dr. Cui steadied himself. “Don’t panic. Dolphins have excellent self-healing ability, so the bleeding should stop quickly. But yes, we need to bring him back as soon as possible. Linzi, K, prepare the rescue equipment.”

The named staff members immediately responded and sprang into action.

But humans were terribly clumsy underwater. Forget conducting a rescue—it was difficult enough simply to keep themselves safe.

After several attempts, they had no choice but to give up and return to the evacuation chamber, deciding to wait until the waves subsided somewhat before trying again.

“Strange. There aren’t any survivors nearby anymore. Why is Flame still swimming around everywhere?” someone asked, frowning at the monitor.

Flame was visibly exhausted. In a little over an hour, he had rescued at least forty people. There were no longer any living survivors visible on the surface, so he should have found somewhere to rest as quickly as possible.

Dr. Cui watched Flame circle the base again and again. Even as his swimming grew slower and slower, he refused to stop.

He murmured, “Could Flame… be looking for us?”

Everyone was deeply shaken. When they looked again at that exhausted figure moving through the towering waves, the emotion in their hearts was almost impossible to describe.

Flame was looking for them? He thought they were in danger?

“Doctor, use the sonic signal!” one researcher suddenly shouted.

Dr. Cui abruptly realized what he meant and quickly activated the simulated sonar system. Sound waves beyond the range of human hearing spread outward in concentric circles, creating a distinctive frequency underwater.

Flame seemed to notice it. After circling several times to orient himself, he slowly began swimming toward the source of the signal.

Everyone’s faces lit up with relief. But at that exact moment, an enormous wave reared up behind Flame like a vast open mouth and swallowed him in an instant.

Every expression froze.

Flame had completely disappeared from the screen…

“How bad is it? Were there any casualties among the base staff?” After receiving the news, Qin Yuan ignored every attempt to dissuade him and risked coming to the base, where he found everyone in the evacuation chamber looking grim.

“We’re all fine,” Dr. Cui replied heavily. “It’s just…”

“Just what?” A terrible premonition rose in Qin Yuan’s heart.

“Flame is missing. He was swept away by a wave.” One of the female researchers could not stop herself from sobbing.

“Wasn’t he inside the safe waterway?” Qin Yuan asked icily. “How could he have been swept away by the waves?”

Everyone simultaneously averted their eyes, not daring to meet his gaze.

Dr. Cui sighed, opened the surveillance recording, and replayed everything for Qin Yuan.

Qin Yuan watched in silence. As the footage played, his expression shifted from astonishment to anger, then worry, and finally a profound stillness. Only that spirit-like figure remained reflected in his eyes.

Staring at the frozen image before him, he said with absolute certainty, “I believe he’ll be all right.”

As soon as the sea calmed, Qin Yuan immediately organized personnel and launched a large-scale search of the surrounding waters…

The dark clouds dispersed, leaving the sky washed clean and blue. The ocean returned to tranquility, as though everything that had happened had been nothing more than a nightmare.

In a shallow-water area roughly three nautical miles from the base, an exhausted Shang Ke rested underwater. The wounds on his body were gradually healing. If Dr. Cui and the others could see him, they would undoubtedly be astonished by his abnormal recovery speed.

Just then, Shang Ke sensed something unusual in the surrounding current. By the time he reacted, his body had already been trapped in a large net.

Shang Ke jolted fully awake.

Fuck! Can’t I get one decent nap? Does this ever end?!

He twisted around and shot toward the surface. Before the people above could close the net, he burst through its opening and leapt high out of the water.

A chorus of startled cries reached his ears, followed by someone shouting, “What a huge fish! Quick, don’t let it get away!”

Shang Ke looked toward them and saw a long spear hurtling straight at him. Just as he was about to fall back into the sea, piercing agony exploded from his tail and spread through his entire body. He cried out in pain, lost his balance, and crashed heavily into the water.

“Got it! Haul it up!” the fishermen on the boat shouted excitedly.

Shang Ke was quickly dragged from the sea and thrown onto the deck with a heavy thud.

Shang Ke struggled instinctively. Being out of the water made him deeply uncomfortable, while blood flowed continuously from his wound and stained the deck dark red. He raised his head, but could see only blurred human figures.

You. People. Are. In. Huge. Trouble! Shang Ke roared inwardly.

“What kind of fish is this? I’ve never seen anything like it.” One man prodded Shang Ke’s back with his foot.

“Maybe it’s some rare species,” another man said. “Put it in the tank first. Don’t let it die. We’ll use this fish as the offering for this year’s Sea God Festival.”

“Yeah!” The group erupted in cheers.

Then Shang Ke felt himself lifted and roughly thrown into a tank barely more than a meter long. The cramped space forced him to curl his body tightly, struggling to breathe in the shallow seawater. The spear was still lodged in his tail, and wave after wave of pain gradually blurred his consciousness.

Shang Ke suddenly remembered his mission— become food for humans.

Maybe he was about to complete it after all…

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