Chapter 125: The Fierce Mommy
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Lin Xu swam toward the deep sea. The water remained clear, but as sunlight struggled to reach these depths, the world around him grew increasingly dim.
And yet, within the darkened ocean, a structure suddenly came into view—glowing softly with blue-green light. It appeared to be a crystalline palace, forged entirely from transparent crystal. The glow came from bioluminescent creatures housed inside the structure: luminous jellyfish and bizarre-looking deep-sea fish drifted gently through the halls, serving as living lanterns.
Five or six humanoid figures with fish tails floated just outside one of the rooms. Inside, soft silk veils drifted with the current, obscuring the view and muffling sound. Only a small opening remained at the door, allowing glimpses of what lay within.
A male mermaid swam out from the room. The others immediately surrounded him. The lead female mermaid grabbed his hand and asked anxiously, “Lun Yuesheng, how is Mr. Lin?”
“Energy depletion…” Lun Yuesheng hissed softly, flinching as she gripped his arm. “Ji Yu, easy. Don’t yank so hard.” He was one of the merfolk tribe’s most skilled healers, while Ji Yu was one of the current stewards of the tribe. “His nervous system’s overstimulated too—but don’t worry. His life’s not in danger.”
Ji Yu couldn’t help but worry. If something happened to Mr. Lin on his very first day in Thales—under her watch—she’d be branded a criminal.
“There’s one more thing,” Lun Yuesheng added, tightening the air in the room. Ji Yu’s heart climbed into her throat.
“I believe… Mr. Lin might be pregnant. There’s likely an egg forming in his abdomen. But it’s unlike any ordinary merfolk egg. The energy inside it is… immense,” he said slowly. “It’s even feeding that energy back to the host.”
“Well, of course. This is Mr. Lin,” a mermaid behind them chimed in. Lun Yuesheng hesitated for a moment before sharing a guess. “I suspect the other parent of the egg isn’t merfolk.”
“Of course not,” another mermaid cut in. “The Spiritual Monarch already said—there are no other merfolk in Thales, apart from Mr. Lin.”
No other merfolk meant they had to choose mates from other races.
“Didn’t you all say there was a sleeping dragon on the shore? Was that Mr. Lin’s mate?”
Ji Yu hesitated. “It was a dragon, yes. Big enough to cover half the beach. Doesn’t exactly seem… like it could mate with a mermaid.”
“Fair enough,” Lun Yuesheng muttered, giving up on identifying Mr. Lin’s mate. “He’s not injured, so he doesn’t need medicine. Just give him more sea crystals to replenish his energy.”
Ji Yu immediately issued orders, sending a few mermaids to the Blue Sea Plaza warehouse to fetch the crystals. In the meantime, she pulled some from her personal supply and passed them to Lun Yuesheng before swimming off again.
The merfolk had never hosted an outsider before—aside from the Spiritual Monarch, who didn’t need to rest. So, they’d never built any proper guest rooms. With no better option, Ji Yu had arranged for Mr. Lin to stay in a spare room in her own home.
She circled to the underside of the crystal building, brushing aside a thin layer of sea sand to reveal a hidden crystal door. Beneath the ocean’s floor lay a vast expanse of crystal, covered only by sand—sand that was, in truth, fine particles of crushed crystal. When gathered, it looked as white as snow.
Ji Yu returned carrying a bundle of sea crystals from the warehouse, nodded to Lun Yuesheng at the entrance, then swam inside, tail swishing as she moved.
Inside the room, sheer veils floated like clouds. Three soft pink bioluminescent jellyfish hovered overhead, gently swaying their tendrils. In the center lay an enormous violet clam, three meters across, its surface gleaming with the iridescent sheen unique to mollusks.
The shell was open, hollowed out and lined with seaweed and fine silk. A black-haired, black-tailed mermaid rested quietly inside—fast asleep.
Ji Yu placed the crystals on the floor, then swam closer to Lin Xu, gazing enviously at the metallic sheen of his pitch-black tail. The merfolk, having lived in the deep sea for generations, had gradually lost their ability to synthesize melanin. Dark tails had become exceedingly rare. But this one—this tail was as dark as a moonless, starless night. Ji Yu found herself entranced. And that was when the attack came.
A sudden grip closed around her neck. She had no time to react before she was slammed to the ground, both wrists pinned. A razor-sharp dagger pressed against her pale, delicate throat.
She lay there, motionless, eyes wide, breath held. She admired and respected Mr. Lin, truly—but the icy, deadly look in his eyes right now made her heart tremble.
She opened her mouth to speak—then hesitated. Any sudden sound might provoke a mental backlash. So she bit her lip and kept silent, trying to appear non-threatening. Maybe then… he’d let her go. But Lin Xu didn’t soften at the sight of her tearful, trembling face.
He’d been awake for a while now. He’d heard the merfolk outside but had remained still, waiting for most of them to leave. Only when this blue-tailed mermaid entered alone did he act, capturing her before she could call for help.
At the same time, he erected a solid mental barrier in his mind—ready for any possible psychic attack.The mermaid lay frozen beneath him, not daring to move a muscle. Physically or psychically.
Lin Xu spared a sliver of attention to glance at the scattering of colorful stones beside them. They shimmered with radiant energy. He inhaled their scent—powerful and rich. With a flick of telekinesis, he drew one over, crushed it in his palm, and absorbed the energy. The surge washed through him, soothing the pain in his muscles and blood vessels.
“Ji Yu!” A sudden shout cracked the silence.
At that same moment, a streak of silver light shot past, slipping through the tendrils of a drifting jellyfish—slamming into a crystal pillar right beside Ji Yu’s head.
The dagger in Lin Xu’s grip vibrated in the current. Lun Yuesheng froze, wide-eyed, as a strand of Ji Yu’s hair floated away, cleanly sliced.
The shout left Lin Xu’s head throbbing. His vision swam for a moment. But thanks to the sea crystal’s energy, he didn’t black out. No… Something was wrong.
The voice that came from the mermaid was crystal clear—no different from normal speech on land. But this was the deep sea, where currents couldn’t carry sound the way air could.
It seemed… these mermaids were transmitting their voices directly into his mind.
Lin Xu used his telekinesis to pull a glowing jellyfish behind Lun Yuesheng and wrapped its tendrils around his hand and the crystal pillar. The green-tailed mermaid looked on, terrified.
The mermaid could easily break free from the jellyfish’s flimsy restraints with a flick of power. But in front of Mr. Lin, he didn’t dare move. Lin Xu turned back to Ji Yu, opening his mouth to speak. But before he could make a sound, salty seawater rushed in, flooding his mouth.
Ji Yu seemed to understand that Lin Xu was trying to communicate verbally. Having roamed beyond Thales alone his whole life, he had never encountered another mermaid—he likely didn’t even know how mermaids were supposed to communicate with each other.
Last night, on the beach, Ji Yu had tried to speak with Lin Xu using the mental energy method unique to the mermaid race. But when his consciousness suddenly entered Lin Xu’s mental domain, Lin Xu mistook the intrusion as an attack. Ji Yu had tensed up to defend himself, but drained of energy, he fainted instead.
The mermaids had brought Lin Xu back with them, but the dragon who had come to Thales with him was far too heavy to move. They had no choice but to leave the dragon behind on the beach for now.
This time, Ji Yu shifted his mental energy into a gentler, more cautious state and sent out an invitation to Lin Xu’s mind. Lin Xu sensed a delicate tapping against the walls of his mental domain.
Seeing him frown and pause, Ji Yu assumed his signal had been received. He blinked slowly at Lin Xu—his eyes the only part of his body he dared move.
Do mermaids really communicate using mental energy? Lin Xu hesitated, then carefully opened a tiny crack in his mental defenses, allowing Ji Yu’s voice to slip through.
“Mr. Lin!” Ji Yu sounded on the verge of tears. But before he could say anything more, Lin Xu somehow produced a dagger and pressed it against Ji Yu’s neck.
“You know who I am?”
The mermaid language seemed to be a dialect of Huaxia. With some effort, Lin Xu could understand it.
How do they know my name?
“We all know you!” Ji Yu said hurriedly. “You’re our—our ancestor… wait, no.”
She faltered, realizing that the word ancestor was usually reserved for the deceased. And Lin Xu was very much alive, standing right in front of him.
“I mean, you’re our progenitor… That’s not right either. You’re—you’re our mother!”
Lin Xu’s expression darkened with suspicion at Ji Yu’s rambling. Even Lun Yuesheng seemed exasperated with the socially anxious mermaid. He stepped in. “Mr. Lin, the ancestors of the Thales mermaids were genetically modified from your DNA. We’re all your descendants.”
Ji Yu nodded quickly. “Yes, Mr. Lin! We all respect you very much. I swear, we have no ill intentions!”
“So, back on the beach… you were trying to communicate with me using mental energy?”
“Yes!”
Lin Xu looked around again. The room didn’t look like a prison, and neither Ji Yu nor Lun Yuesheng carried weapons. The stones scattered nearby were all energy-rich food sources. At least for now, there didn’t seem to be any real conflict between him and these mermaids.
He felt the cold blade lift from Ji Yu’s throat. A moment later, the pitifully tangled jellyfish binding Lun Yuesheng unraveled at his command, releasing the other mermaid.
“Mr. Lin, would you like to replenish your energy first?” Ji Yu asked, still respectfully keeping his distance. Though he admired Lin Xu deeply, he was clearly frightened—his fish tail flicked anxiously as he hovered beside a pillar in the corner.
Lin Xu picked up a colorful crystal and crushed it in his palm. The energy seeped into his skin, smooth and pure—exceptionally refined. Lun Yuesheng stepped forward with a calm smile. “Mr. Lin, that’s a sea crystal from Thales’s seabed. It’s the primary energy source for mermaids.”
Sea crystals were incredibly hard. Most mermaids had to bite into them with their teeth. None of them could simply crush one by hand like Lin Xu had. Lun Yuesheng suddenly understood—Lin Xu, as the first mermaid genetically engineered for deep-sea adaptation, had inherited the raw strength and wild aggression of top-tier predators.
Life on Thales was peaceful and quiet now. The mermaids had grown docile and gentle over the years. But Lin Xu exuded danger. His black tail shimmered with a cold, metallic sheen—just looking at it, Lun Yuesheng shuddered. That tail could probably snap a shark’s spine with one sweep.
After confirming that the sea crystals were safe, Lin Xu crushed a few more to absorb their energy. Lun Yuesheng stood nearby, smiling politely and not interrupting. Finally, when the pressure in his palm grew a bit uncomfortable, Lin Xu spoke.
“Your ancestors… they came from Earth?”
“Yes,” Lun Yuesheng replied.
“Who sent you here?” Lin Xu asked. “Was it the Spiritual Monarch?”
Imperial scientists had long since concluded that the mermaids of Thales didn’t have the technology for interstellar travel or divine boundary construction.
Lun Yuesheng blinked, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. “Yes—it was the Spiritual Monarch who sent our ancestors here. But… how did you know? According to our records, you perished before the Spiritual Monarch was even born…”
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