MASG chapter 74

 

The environment hadn’t changed. Everyone was still in the middle of a crisis. Yet, one sentence seemed to shift everything again, pushing danger aside for the moment.

But this was absolutely not the confession Mo An had imagined!

He had no experience. His affection was overflowing and impossible to hold back. Even if he didn’t say it aloud, it would show in his eyes. A random flick of his tail would be a gesture of “I like you.” The worst part was the timing. Mo An had thought about asking the Ling Shi or Jingwei to help him plan a romantic ceremony that could win someone’s heart at once. Maybe underwater or on the ship. He could also take Xia Yu to the mid-layers of the ocean and blow out bubbles shaped like “I like you” over mesmerizing reefs.

But there was no such option now.

They still needed to deal with at least two knights, and Nuwa was hunting them relentlessly. Life or death was uncertain. So Mo An suppressed the romantic feelings inherent to mermaids and only wanted to secretly tell him—quickly. No one could predict what would happen next, but in that moment, he wanted Xia Yu to hear him.

And then… everyone heard it.

The others reacted too, realizing it was a confession. Silver Fang, who was standing closest, had a vape clenched between his teeth as he watched with pure amusement. Good kid—trying to date at the end of the world while being hunted? Fish brains are truly built differently from human brains.

Mo An shifted his gaze back and stared blankly at Xia Yu. It was truly over. A heart-shaking confession had turned into a brotherhood meeting.

“What were you saying just now?” Xia Yu asked, his gaze fixed on Mo An and his tone the same as it had been since childhood. “What liking-not-liking stuff?”

They knew each other too well. Xia Yu had known what Mo An looked like since they were very young. His younger brother was as beautiful as a doll but had sensitive ears that wouldn’t let anyone touch them and sharp teeth that could easily bite someone or break a metal spoon. Now, his sudden outburst could only mean one thing…

After the terrifying events of the past few days, he lacked a sense of security.

So Xia Yu bravely stepped forward, rubbing Mo An’s silver hair nonstop with his gloved hand. “Alright, I know. Don’t worry. I like you too. I like you the most.”

The cramped stairwell was filled with Mo An’s despair. He frowned, thinking he probably looked “tormented by love.” But in Xia Yu’s eyes, even his frown looked adorable. “Don’t overthink it. I’ll always stay with you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed his little brother’s frown didn’t relax. Instead, it deepened.

“Mm…” Mo An’s eyes locked onto Xia Yu’s. “Just…just, is there a possibility…”

“He said he likes you!” Silver Fang couldn’t stand it anymore and unexpectedly helped, “Not the brotherly kind. The man-and-woman kind… Wait, you’re not a woman. It’s the kind of liking between men!”

Xi Ban smiled in relief. Finally, Anixida had taken that big step. He did it—he found someone he liked. Mermaids around the age of eighteen would experience their first emotional period, which included psychological maturity and a major physical leap. After that, he would know better how to treasure his precious one.

Thinking this, Xi Ban shed tears. Transparent tears fell to the ground and turned into golden diamonds. Tears of joy are golden.

107’s eyes were wider than anyone else’s. They were big, beautiful eyes full of disbelief. Wait—had Mo An’s inner desire become that intense without confessing? They weren’t together yet?

“What!? What what!?” Mi Dou exclaimed, breaking the silence. He rushed toward Xia Yu and looked at Mo An, searching for answers in his friend’s eyes. Finally, he noticed that Mo An looked at Xia Yu… differently.

The three of them had agreed to grow up together, yet these two had secretly liked each other the whole time?

“Xia Yu, is it true? Does Mo An like you? And did you just say you like him too? Is that true?” Mi Dou asked loudly.

Xia Yu lost his ability to think, his usual quick decisiveness vanished. All he could see was Mo An’s smile and Silver Fang’s booming reminder. Mi Dou’s shouting buzzed in his ears. Only the words “I like you” echoed in his head. Obviously, he had misunderstood the first time. Clearly, Mo An meant the other kind of “like.”

“Yes, Silver Fang was right. I like you.” Mo An simply went all in. A faint smile appeared on his face, and a blush spread down his neck as if he were wearing a collar. “It’s…that kind of liking. I want to be with you. I want to take you to see Haisiruola. I want to… marry you.”

Marry? Marry? Marry? Is that what you mean? Xia Yu finally understood, but he didn’t dare show it. He kept his gaze fixed on Mi Dou’s round face. “Haha, so…so it’s like this…Let me think…marry, haha…”

Think what? How? Xia Yu was always eloquent and well-regarded within the team. He could talk strategy with Yan Xia all night or chat with a vegetable seller until they became friends. His standard procedure for dealing with major problems was always: “Let me think about it.” First, calm down—there was always a way.

But now, he couldn’t even think. Mo An alone had overturned his entire logical framework.

Mo An’s smile faded. His emotions were complicated. What was Xia Yu laughing at? What did he plan to think about now? Was he thinking about accepting or rejecting his feelings?

So he said, “I’m not forcing you to answer me now. You can think slowly.”

“Ha… okay, okay, I’ll think slowly.” Xia Yu immediately took the opportunity to step back and change the topic.

“When you’ve figured it out, and then say yes, we’ll get married.” Mo An continued.

Suddenly feeling cornered, Xia Yu avoided Mo An’s sharp gaze. His eyes were piercing, and his heart was pounding wildly. Was there something wrong with his parenting style? Why did he choose his younger brother as his marriage partner? Did he not understand the meaning of marriage? Wait… Xia Yu suddenly remembered that he had promised to marry Mo An when he grew up!

It’s over, the nonsense of a child was taken seriously by Mo An, and now he wanted Xia Yu to fulfill that promise. Were they really going to get married? Xia Yu’s mind was a tangled mess. If they got married, what would they call each other afterward? Who would be the bride?

“All right, all right. Let’s find a place to rest first, then we can talk about these things slowly later.” Xi Ban walked forward and stood between them. There was no need to rush things between a young man and a young mermaid. “Mo An, isn’t that right?”

He signaled to Mo An—Xia Yu needed time to accept this. Don’t scare the guy. Talking about marriage right away was impatient. This really wasn’t a patient fish. Then again, anyone would be shocked if their younger brother, whom they raised, suddenly fell in love with them, confessed in a way that couldn’t be taken back, and insisted on a definite answer.

It must be said: Mo An really was a fish raised in human society. He didn’t learn any of the delicacy and elegance mermaids are supposed to have.

With Xi Ban’s help, Xia Yu finally let out a small breath and pretended to be normal as he continued upward. Only a few minutes had passed, but their relationship had turned upside down—from pure brotherhood to fiancé and fiancée … Cough, cough. Xia Yu didn’t even dare think about it. Every time he remembered Mo An’s tone, his heart burned.

Only Mi Dou refused to let it go. “What’s going on? Why am I the last one to know? How long have you two been together?”

“We’re not together,” Xia Yu explained quietly.

“You are. You can’t hide anything from my little bear ears. I heard you say, “You like him, too.” Where are you two planning to have the wedding?” Mi Dou wanted to ask every question he could think of.

While he muttered to himself nonstop, the group reached the upper level of the prison castle. 107 had come down to walk on his own because he wanted to look around properly. “So those people held their meetings here? Discussing… how to lock me up for even longer?”

“What did they usually do to you?” Xi Ban noticed that there were many files left on the table, all stacked in bundles as if they hadn’t had time to take them.

“Actually, they didn’t do much. They just made me read other people’s thoughts. They never used knives or guns on me, but they weren’t friendly, either. Their eyes were like looking at a dead fish. It was as if I shouldn’t exist on Earth and as if there shouldn’t be any mermaids in the ocean.” 107 bravely recalled it, the fear in his eyes much lighter and more stable now. “Tell me…why do you think they caught me?”

“Just open it and see.” Mo An was the first to sneak a glance at Xia Yu. Then he immediately picked up a stack of files from the table. Without hesitation, he tore it open and dumped all the papers out. But when it came time to read them, he froze for a long time. Xi Ban understood his feelings—he wasn’t illiterate, he was preparing himself mentally. Mo An didn’t want to face the suffering of a fellow mermaid. He was afraid he would look up and see photos of 107’s experiments.

“How about I do it?” Xi Ban stepped forward.

Mo An handed him the documents. “What does it say? How much do they know about us?”

“This, this, this…” Xi Ban stumbled over his words. His gaze suddenly fixed on someone—and it wasn’t 107. “They were researching Xia Yu!”

Xia Yu, who had been about to look elsewhere, immediately turned around. The cold feeling of being watched and analyzed washed over him again, creeping up his legs and into his body.

“Impossible!” Mo An snatched the file from Xi Ban. “They never had a chance to contact him. How could they have researched him?”

He stopped, suddenly frozen, his fingers pressing so hard into the paper that they almost tore it. The experiment record had an attached photo—of Xia Yu. But it was a younger Xia Yu, probably just an adult. The notes clearly stated, “Experimental sample, age 18 years old.”

“Impossible. This is fake.” Mo An denied it again. “When Xia Yu was 18, he was with me every single day. How could they have caught him and brought him here for experiments?”

“Let me see.” Silver Fang snatched the paper from him. In just a few seconds, Mo An had squeezed an angry hole in the sheet. “Blue Jellyfish toxin research… Dual-body trait manifestation… Cloned embryos not showing toxicity…”

“I’ll look myself. Let me see.” Xia Yu’s steps were unsteady. Exhausted, hungry, and tired, but suddenly energized as if he’d been injected with adrenaline, he continued. He had a strange feeling—his “dual-body trait,” which had troubled him for more than twenty years, was finally about to be explained. It was something that even Professor Wang Qin had never fully solved. Here, in the secret lab on the frozen island, there might be an answer.

Mo An quickly moved beside him, his eyes full of worry. “Slow down. If you’re too tired, you don’t have to read it now.”

He was afraid there would be disturbing content. Xia Yu needed rest, not emotional distress.

“It’s fine. I’m not that fragile.” Xia Yu met his gaze, and the earlier confusion vanished, leaving only warmth. Silver Fang handed him the stack, and he flipped through the pages urgently, then flipped back again. “This isn’t me, but it’s not my clone either. The report says that cloned embryos with Blue Jellyfish genes are not viable. They couldn’t break through the technical barrier, and they never understood the genetic fragments of the Blue Jellyfish mixed with human DNA.”

“We already knew it wasn’t you,” said Mi Dou, who had already opened the other bundles filled with jellyfish toxin research. “I get it! I get it! I get it!”

“What do you get?” Silver Fang knocked his head. “Say it.”

“The reason they captured mermaid, captured 107! I get it!” Mi Dou’s speech sped up—he became extremely sharp whenever experiments were involved. “Their goal wasn’t to teach 107 to read minds. They wanted to figure out how to kill mermaids on a large scale!”

In that moment, 107, Xi Ban, and Mo An—the white siren, the double-tailed mermaid, and the siren—became a community of shared fate.

“And they were close to success. Rijianmei Plastic Surgery Hospital had already studied the Blue Jellyfish toxin. It’s a natural enemy of mermaids—just a tiny amount can cause hallucinations or death. If the polluted seawater is released globally, not even your god, Haisiruola, would survive.” Mi Dou spread the toxin’s structural diagram before them. “They were nearly done. The only thing left is that they can’t replicate the Blue Jellyfish’s natural toxins, nor can they clone it. The concentration they need is too high, and the blue jellyfish in nature are elusive. They can’t determine the number of natural samples!”

At this point, Mi Dou revealed another conspiracy of the Rijianmei Plastic Surgery Hospital.

“Then… who is the person in the photo?” Silver Fang asked, even more puzzled.

“She’s my sister.” Xia Yu said, sitting down after finishing the lab report. “Our hermaphroditism is reflected in our reproductive method. To ensure the stable survival of our offspring, the Blue Jellyfish gives birth to two identical baby jellyfish at the same time: one male and one female.”

“I don’t know how I was created, but Professor Wang Qin is clearly hiding something from me. I was born with a sister who was taken away by Rijianmei. Therefore, the gene scanner can’t detect my gender because the electronic program cannot determine whether I am male or female by tracing gene fragments.”

“I am not alone in this world.”