Bai Chunian braced himself against the now-transparent outer wall of the box-shaped cultivation chamber, leaning his face close to the icy metal surface as he studied the little mermaid trapped inside.
Before this, he had never found a chance to properly look at Pearl, even if it was only a completely gray-white undead summoning body—Pearl’s soul.
His slightly round baby face had not fully grown in yet, but it was still clear he was a beautiful little child with fine bone structure. His curled long eyelashes drooped softly as he slept obediently.
“Ai’ai,” Bai Chunian softly spoke his name. He had flipped through many books before giving Pearl this name, because white dwarf stars possess lifespans of billions of years, eternal and undying. He hoped Pearl could be like Lan Bo, sharing the same lifespan as the ocean.
“randi, you really love him.”
Lan Bo climbed onto Bai Chunian, wrapping both arms around the alpha’s neck as he hung on his back, rubbing gently against his temple in comfort.
“If he had been born alive, I would also scrape off his scales again and again, making him train alone in the sea until he grew scales capable of protecting himself, just as my mother and father did to me. He would bleed, cry, run away, and then be caught and brought back by me. When you saw that scene, you would hate me.”
Bai Chunian shook his head.
“And he has siren scales. I don’t want my child to grow siren scales.” Lan Bo raised his fingertips and, through the transparent wall of the cultivation chamber, touched the little mermaid inside. On the side of the little mermaid’s leg was also a special scale. Though gray-white, Lan Bo still recognized it.
Lan Bo’s touch was gentle, but the emotions in his eyes were somewhat complicated.
Lan Bo still did not want to sink into the deep ocean trench, spending tens of thousands of future years accompanied only by darkness. He wanted to stay with Xiao Bai, wanted to fulfill his promise—to embed Xiao Bai’s remains into the throne after his lifespan finally came to an end. Therefore, he did not want to abdicate.
Whenever the throne of the sea clan changed hands, a brutal battle would always erupt. The old king had two choices: voluntarily yield the throne to the new king, then retreat into the deep sea forever with their mate, never appearing again; or choose to slaughter one another with the younger generation. The victor would be king. Once defeated, the new siren would take their place, inherit the former king’s clan—and his queen.
The previous siren had voluntarily yielded to Lan Bo without the slightest resistance. It was precisely because he had a beloved queen that he had not dared to risk battling the overwhelmingly powerful Lan Bo, because he did not have absolute confidence in keeping the throne, nor could he bear to give up his beloved.
Lan Bo had always buried these thoughts in his heart and had never revealed them to Xiao Bai. Back then, when Xiao Bai questioned why he was so cold toward Pearl, he had been unable to answer. This was the cruel, strength-worshipping instinct ingrained in merfolk bloodlines—something no one could change.
“Don’t you love him?” Seeing Lan Bo lost in thought, Bai Chunian shrugged and called to him.
Lan Bo looked compassionately at the sleeping little mermaid. “I’m destined to be unable to give him too much. Raise him, defeat him—that is the love I can give him.”
The cultivation chambers on both sides continued inching toward the center, the space becoming increasingly cramped. Lan Bo’s fish tail gradually shifted into a warning red.
“We need to leave as soon as possible.” Bai Chunian reluctantly withdrew his fingers from the chamber wall. “I’m afraid Aileen wants to destroy the evidence and bury us together with her experimental subject base.”
Bai Chunian turned around, glancing back one last time at Pearl sleeping in the cultivation chamber.
Unexpectedly, he suddenly met a pair of wide-open gray-white eyes.
Pearl stared at him with vacant eyes, pressed against the transparent cultivation chamber wall, silently watching him.
Startled, Bai Chunian stepped back, and the chamber door holding Pearl suddenly lit up with a green access light, indicating it had been unlocked.
The cultivation fluid inside rapidly drained away, and his fish tail transformed into legs. Pearl stood up, arms hanging lifelessly at his sides, his soaked white hair plastered to his cheeks.
“This is bad—he’s coming out.” Bai Chunian made an immediate decision and rushed to block the chamber door, bracing himself against the entrance with his body. He had already promised Lan Bo that if they ever saw Pearl again, he would kill him and send him back to the ocean for rebirth. Besides, what stood inside the cultivation chamber now was only an undead summoning body manifested from his soul.
Pearl suddenly raised his head and charged toward the cultivation chamber door glowing green, slamming into it violently.
A terrifyingly powerful force surged from the chamber door, rapidly transmitting through the metal and into the left half of Bai Chunian’s body as he braced against it. First, half his body went numb, then he was blasted away by an overwhelming force, his body sent flying backward.
Startled, Lan Bo immediately reached out to catch him, but missed. Bai Chunian’s back slammed viciously into the cultivation chamber behind him, denting even the thick, solid metal door.
Bai Chunian dropped to one knee, supporting himself with one hand on the ground as dark blood seeped from his mouth and nose. That strike had shaken blood out of all his internal organs. It took a long while for the numbness to fade before the agonizing pain finally spread through every limb and bone.
Slowly lifting his head, dizziness from the impact blurred his vision. Through the haze, he vaguely saw Pearl push open the cultivation chamber door and step out, carrying himself with the same noble contempt and arrogant dominance as Lan Bo.
“So strong… how is this possible…” Bai Chunian coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam, grabbing a handrail on the side of a cultivation chamber and forcing himself upright.
Lan Bo stepped in front of Bai Chunian, his blood-red fish tail crackling with flame-like electricity. “The undead summoning body inherits seventy percent of the original body’s strength. The original body… isn’t a corpse. Stronger than the Pearl outside, the one who can only think through the undead cloak. He possesses a siren’s power, and is…”
“Malignant stage.” Bai Chunian looked toward the control panel outside Pearl’s cultivation chamber. Pearl’s growth status was displayed on it, and his heart sank halfway. “Aileen injected him with Ac accelerant… that crazy woman.”
Bai Chunian shakily reached out and grabbed Lan Bo, pulling him back to his side. “You want to fight him head-on? We’ve already exhausted too much stamina since coming in here.”
Pearl advanced coldly, black smoke gathering in his palm. The smoke condensed into Heart of the Dead Sea rock, then reforged itself into a slender Tang saber, tightly gripped in his hand.
The area enclosed by the cultivation chambers was less than thirty square meters. There was no cover, no possibility of avoiding battle.
Pearl kept approaching. Bai Chunian stayed calm and hooked a finger around the collar at his neck.
But before he could undo it, Lan Bo pressed his hand back down.
“Don’t take it off.” Lan Bo looked deeply into his eyes, his gaze filled with reluctance and pleading.
Bai Chunian’s hand hesitated, then slowly dropped back to his side.
He knew the Heart of the Dead Sea rock collar was a self-deceptive shackle. After being injected with the promotion-combination hormone, the bond of control between him and Lan Bo had become even tighter, to the point where the Heart of the Dead Sea rock could completely confine him within the malignant manifestation stage. As long as he did not remove the collar, the stage could continue indefinitely.
That collar carried all of Lan Bo’s hopes. Once it came off, it would mean farewell forever.
Pearl rushed forward, agile as lightning, kicking off the side wall in a leap. With legs and the power of a fully mimicked malignant-stage form, fighting Lan Bo—who had been away from water too long—on land, how could he possibly fall behind?
Lan Bo peeled off a small piece of Heart of the Dead Sea rock from Bai Chunian’s collar and forged it into a dagger in his hand. He did not even dare make a larger weapon, afraid that taking too much would shatter the collar completely.
Pearl was already upon them.
Lan Bo suddenly turned, slashing a sharp blue arc through the air with the short dagger. Pearl’s reaction speed was astonishingly fast. Just as the blade neared his throat, he stepped on the wall and twisted away.
Lan Bo climbed up along the wall, seizing the moment Pearl paused against it to regain balance. He drove the dagger viciously downward, but Pearl narrowly dodged and countered with a slash. Lan Bo retreated to avoid it, yet the long blade still sliced through the fin at his waist. A thin piece of fin fluttered to the ground.
Both sides possessed Heart of the Dead Sea rock. Bai Chunian could not recklessly insert himself into this fight to the death. He could only stare unblinkingly at Pearl’s movements, categorizing and analyzing them in his mind.
“His fighting style leans toward jujutsu. Both strength and speed are enhanced. He’s using a second-generation combat chip,” Bai Chunian said. “The second-generation combat chip has a bug. It boosts the dominant hand’s strength, but destabilizes the lower body so it can’t keep up with attack speed. Don’t know if they fixed it. Lan Bo, try attacking his left leg.”
After hearing this, Lan Bo’s body became wrapped in blue lightning, moving along the walls like wind. Pearl pursued closely, thrusting his saber toward Lan Bo’s back. Lan Bo had anticipated it, shifting direction to evade the strike. His fish tail wrapped around Pearl’s left leg and violently flipped him over.
Pearl was instantly thrown down. Lan Bo coiled around him, tightening his tail rapidly. His left arm locked around Pearl’s throat from behind while his right hand gripped the dagger and slashed toward his neck.
Sensing a severe threat to his life, Pearl suddenly curled into a ball, blocking Lan Bo’s fatal strike with Rupert’s Tear. Then a dense tuberose pheromone burst outward as he violently struggled free.
Lan Bo’s fish tail was yanked taut. Torn scales fell in clusters, exposing tender red flesh beneath where the scales had ripped away, blood continuously seeping out.
Lan Bo retreated to Bai Chunian’s side, encircling him protectively like guarding a nest within his territory. His fish tail turned fiery red, the tip raised high and twitching irritably. His scales scraped together with threatening sounds as he bared sharp shark-like teeth at his opponent.
Pearl, too, was breathing heavily, opening his mouth full of sharp teeth to growl lowly at Lan Bo.
At this moment, the two merfolk leaders resembled wild beasts battling for tribal dominance, tense and poised to strike.
To remain evenly matched against a malignant-stage experimental subject, Lan Bo’s combat strength had truly reached the pinnacle of combat-type experimental subjects. Even if younger challengers came to provoke him in the ocean, absolutely no one could steal the throne from him. So long as he wished it, he could rule the seas forever.
After several exchanges, Pearl realized his opponent was not easy prey and could not be defeated quickly. The Heart of the Dead Sea rock Tang saber in his hand melted in his palm and reforged itself—this time into a handgun.
Pearl’s M2 ability was Hydrated Steel. Appearing as an M2 differentiation ability, its power surpassed Lan Bo’s innate companion ability by a considerable margin. He could forge firearms from Heart of the Dead Sea rock—something Lan Bo could not do.
Pearl aimed the gun at Lan Bo and pulled the trigger without hesitation. A Heart of the Dead Sea rock bullet tore through the air. Lan Bo instantly compressed into a streak of blue lightning and left his position, rapidly climbing along the walls, while Pearl’s gun muzzle followed his movement, firing shot after shot, each bullet chasing closely behind Lan Bo’s tail.
Lan Bo was forced to keep climbing and dodging, but this inevitably exposed Xiao Bai behind him to Pearl’s line of fire. Pearl suddenly shifted the muzzle and fired at Bai Chunian.
The cultivation chambers on both sides had already moved inward by a meter. The space they occupied had become unbearably cramped, leaving only a one-meter-wide passage in the middle. Even spreading one’s arms was difficult. Though Bai Chunian possessed extraordinary speed, there was nowhere to dodge.
Two bullets flew toward him. Bai Chunian immediately ducked, narrowly avoiding the one aimed at his chest, but he had no way to avoid the lower shot. Just as he placed his hand on the collar, preparing to remove this restraint, he was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace.
Lan Bo had wrapped himself around him.
His body shuddered violently. Bai Chunian touched the bullet wound on Lan Bo’s back. The Heart of the Dead Sea rock was draining Lan Bo’s life force.
“Xiao Bai, as long as there’s even the slightest chance, don’t take off the collar, okay? I still… can get up… I’ll save you.” Lan Bo let out a sharp cry and dug the bullet from the wound in his back with his nails, as though unable to feel pain, clutching Bai Chunian tightly in panic.
He rarely spoke such pleading words. Even the once-graceful and arrogant king could bow his head.
Bai Chunian held him and sank to the ground, resting his chin on Lan Bo’s shoulder, unable to suppress the tremor in his voice. “Don’t do this. Don’t beg me.”
Step by step, Pearl approached. He raised the reloaded handgun and aimed it at the back of Lan Bo’s neck.
Bai Chunian’s pupils shrank abruptly. He tried to push Lan Bo away, but Lan Bo stubbornly held him, refusing to move.
“I would never let you be destroyed before my eyes.”
The cultivation chambers on both sides had already pressed in too narrowly. The width could only accommodate two people standing front to back, meaning one of them would inevitably have to stand in front of the gun.
“You won’t. I promise.” Bai Chunian placed both hands protectively over the back of Lan Bo’s neck, shielding his vital point. His cold gaze fixed on the steadily approaching Pearl as he searched desperately in his mind for a way to kill him.
The instant Pearl pulled the trigger, Bai Chunian leapt upward, vaulting over Lan Bo into the narrow space above. He kicked Pearl’s wrist, sending the shot astray. The bullet flew into the ceiling, blasting a hole through it.
But the bullet still grazed Bai Chunian’s chest. The Heart of the Dead Sea rock effortlessly tore through his combat suit, reopening an old scar across his chest, ripping the wound wide open again in a bloody mess.
Clutching his chest wound, Bai Chunian crashed to the floor. Wounds caused by the Heart of the Dead Sea rock could not heal. Blood poured out in torrents, quickly soaking through his clothes.
Pearl grew enraged. Reclaiming the Heart of the Dead Sea rock into his palm, he gathered more and more of it, gradually forging it into a portable heavy machine gun, the barrel aimed directly at them.
The area covered by a heavy machine gun’s spray was far greater than that of a handgun. In such a confined space, even Bai Chunian could think of no way to escape its fire.
At last, Lan Bo accepted that this was a dead end.
He grabbed Bai Chunian and wrapped him tightly in his fish tail, shielding him with his back to Pearl, pressing close against Xiao Bai’s blood-soaked body. With lingering obsession and reluctance, he gazed into Bai Chunian’s eyes and softly kissed the corner of his lips.
“I will keep my promise. I’ll take you home.”
“Then come find me in the next life and sleep with me.” Bai Chunian bit hard into Lan Bo’s lip, his fingers gripping the collar tightly.
Just before he could tear it off, Pearl suddenly froze.
Bai Chunian watched with his own eyes as Pearl seemed to be manipulated by an invisible hand, forcibly pressed to his knees, blankly lowering the heavy machine gun.
Lan Bo possessed overwhelming combat experience. He would seize even the smallest opening to strike back lethally. In an instant, his face turned cold and venomous. Clenching the dagger between his teeth, he picked up the Heart of the Dead Sea rock handgun from the ground and crawled toward the kneeling Pearl.
Yet Pearl knelt in a posture of surrender, hands clasped together, lifting his head devoutly toward Lan Bo.
Bai Chunian suddenly understood what was happening. He shouted at the top of his lungs, nearly breaking his voice:
“Lan Bo! Stop! He’s surrendering! Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him!!”
But Lan Bo had already gone blood-mad. The mercy and holiness that once belonged in his eyes had been replaced by despair and madness. He aimed the gun at Pearl’s left chest and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The bullet pierced Pearl’s heart.
The air fell silent.
It seemed to grow colder too, freezing sound itself until even breathing disappeared.
Pearl’s undead form remained kneeling peacefully, hands clasped together.
The one who slowly collapsed instead—was Lan Bo.
Blankness filled Lan Bo’s vision as he lay on the ground, struggling to breathe.
A gaping hole had appeared in his chest. Through it, the black mineral heart inside his ribcage could be seen beating, cracks spreading across the stone.
Weakly, he turned his head toward Pearl’s leg and discovered that the scale proving his siren bloodline had disappeared, leaving only a torn wound where it had been ripped away.
“Lan Bo—!” Bai Chunian threw himself over and gathered him into his arms, but Lan Bo’s complexion was visibly turning gray.
Struggling, Lan Bo stretched out a trembling hand and gently touched Pearl’s reverently bowed head.
“Child… were you worshipping me? So if I killed you, I would suffer tenfold backlash.” Lan Bo’s voice grew hoarse, breaking with emotion. “I misunderstood you.”
At last, Lan Bo released the gun.
The handgun clattered beside his tail.
He lowered his eyes to it as the weapon melted, dissolving into a pool of flowing black liquid.
“This is humanity’s maddest invention. It turns out I was wrong the moment I picked it up.” Lan Bo tiredly lowered his eyelids halfway shut. “This is my fault.”
I am atoning for my swelling selfish desires and my lost divinity.