TYMIMA Chapter 88

Chen Shun’an lay on the damp balcony. He felt warm liquid flowing from his body, soaking his clothes and binding his skin to the wooden floor.

Those two chefs had shrunk to palm-size, lying against the railing and roaring angrily down at him. One of them ran off while the other remained on guard, watching him, afraid he might fall into the sea and escape again.

But they were truly overthinking it—Chen Shun’an no longer had any strength left.

He gazed up at the profound sky with weary eyes, discovering that the dark clouds had dispersed and the starry river flowed toward him across the heavens, just like sixty years ago—

Utopia City bordered the Caribbean Sea, yet the people of Utopia were not allowed to learn swimming. That clear, azure sea, blue as amber, became their eternal prison.

He could no longer remember how he had boarded that ship leaving Utopia.

Perhaps it was his parents, perhaps some kind-hearted person.

In any case, they escaped on a similarly starry night with hanging constellations and peaceful, windless air. The patched-up little wooden boat cut through the water’s surface, silently sailing toward the distance.

Many people were crammed onto the boat. They had to sit motionless with knees hugged to their chests to ensure the small boat’s weight was evenly distributed.

After traveling for an unknown time, they were already far from the coast. Everyone relaxed and fell into slumber.

Until the incident occurred.

Chen Shun’an was awakened by piercing whistle sounds. He struggled to open his eyes and discovered surging waves with their boat pitching up and down.

A massive black behemoth was pursuing them from behind, sweeping the sea surface with searchlights.

That was a ship belonging to the overseers.

The people on the small boat panicked, weeping quietly. But Chen Shun’an still didn’t understand what he was about to face—after all, he was only six years old that year.

Suddenly, he and a girl were lifted up by the adults. They were passed hand by hand toward the back, all the way to the bow.

Someone handed them two wooden planks, then without allowing refusal, threw them into the icy seawater.

Chen Shun’an still remembered that middle-aged man’s eyes to this day—eyes that were both desperate and calm. Those eyes turned away from his and the girl’s cries, then resolutely steered the bow in another direction.

The people on the small boat stood up, facing toward the large ship, quietly waiting.

The waves pushed the wooden planks farther and farther away. Chen Shun’an’s cries and shouts were completely drowned out.

He looked in panic at the receding small boat, the receding people, his heart filled with incomprehension.

Until a thunderous explosion erupted on the sea surface—raging fire filled the sky, thick smoke billowed, and the small boat sank into the deep sea under cannon fire.

Chen Shun’an was shocked by the scene before him.

How could there be fire in water? How could people be burned to death in the sea?

No one could give him answers. The massive behemoth left without looking back, and he and the girl became survivors.

In fact, they weren’t far from death either.

They couldn’t swim, were hungry, losing body heat, and couldn’t find the shore.

Sooner or later, they too would sink into the deep sea and become food for large fish.

The two held hands and drifted on the wooden planks for another three days, finally becoming utterly exhausted.

The girl was already too weak to lift her eyes. She said intermittently: “You can drink my blood, eat my flesh, and live on.”

Chen Shun’an barely managed to shake his head.

“I’m human, not a large fish.”

Only large fish would eat people—how could humans eat humans?

Fortunately, at the last moment before their death, Sandro appeared.

That day the sunlight was brilliant, the sea surface seemed scattered with gold powder, sparkling with rippling golden light.

In that expanse of golden radiance, waves surged and revealed a crystalline, transparent figure. Then a cool tentacle extended over, gently brushing across his and the girl’s faces, as if testing their breathing.

Immediately after, the tentacle withdrew. It stirred up a string of water splashes on the sea surface, and two dolphins immediately swam up from the deep sea, nimbly carrying Chen Shun’an and the girl on their backs as they sped toward the distance.

Before losing consciousness, Chen Shun’an thought he had witnessed a divine miracle.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in a wooden house. The house swayed gently, and the air carried the briny scent of seawater.

A young, handsome omega stood beside his bed, frowning as he looked down at him.

Chen Shun’an had never seen such a noble omega. His skin was slightly bronze, his features profound, his eyelashes thick and dense, with deep purple curls tucked behind his ears.

His wrists and neck were adorned with very beautiful rubies that scattered tranquil luster in the sunlight.

“Awake?” The man reached over and touched Chen Shun’an’s forehead.

Only then did Chen Shun’an notice that his forearm muscles were very beautiful—slender yet powerful.

“Who are you?” Chen Shun’an looked at this person with wariness and vigilance. That explosive firelight had blown away his courage.

“Sandro.”

The omega smiled. His smile was also noble and gentle.

“Did you save us?”

“More or less.”

Chen Shun’an didn’t know that the person before him was the king of the Tasman Pirate Nation. He only felt that this person didn’t seem like a bad person.

Sandro didn’t inquire about his background. After confirming that his body was recovering, he got up to leave. Before departing, Sandro said: “You can stay in the boat house for now. If you want to go ashore in the future, that’s fine too.”

Chen Shun’an recovered quickly. In just two days, he could get out of bed and go outside.

He saw the azure sea, the calm surface, swooping seabirds, and fish wagging their tails.

He was in a boat house made of tin sheets. There were many similar boat houses connected by ropes, forming a uniquely characteristic village.

Fish leaped onto the deck and were caught. Soon, wisps of cooking smoke drifted from chimneys, and a large bowl of fish soup was brought to him.

Chen Shun’an wolfed down the fish soup, then awkwardly touched his empty pockets.

The auntie laughed heartily: “No need to pay! We Tasmans are very wealthy. The allowances and food the king gives us are more than we can use!”

Chen Shun’an finally smiled with relief.

Just then, a dolphin suddenly leaped from the water. The splashed seawater drenched Chen Shun’an like a drowned rat, startling him as he stumbled and fell sitting on the ground.

But soon, he laughed again.

The sea had shown him its gentle, friendly side.

When he was completely well, Sandro had him try catching fish in the sea himself.

Chen Shun’an jumped into the sea. Before long, he blew out a string of bubbles and sank down.

Sandro was greatly alarmed and quickly used a tentacle to coil around him, fishing him out.

Chen Shun’an spat out water in great mouthfuls.

“A landlubber?!”

Sandro was very puzzled why someone who grew up by the sea couldn’t swim.

“I’m not—not a—duck!”

“You are one.” Sandro said mercilessly.

So, Sandro began teaching Chen Shun’an how to swim.

Chen Shun’an went from initially only being able to float like a corpse on the sea surface, to diving ten meters after two months, and later, he could even dive a hundred meters and hold his breath for twenty minutes.

Ten-year-old Chen Shun’an picked up coral, swaying his legs like a fish as he leaped from the water.

He wiped the seawater from his face and presented the most beautiful coral to Sandro.

“Look, super pretty! I think it could make a crown for you!”

Sandro lay floating on the sea surface, propping his chin as he received the coral.

He shook it gently, and two golden little fish fell out from the coral. The little fish dropped into the water and swam away. Sandro placed the coral on his head, looked at his reflection on the sea surface, and said with satisfaction: “Your aesthetic sense is quite good. In the future, you could become Tasman Pirate Nation’s first artist.”

Chen Shun’an climbed onto the boat house, lying prone on the wooden planks, tilting his head to ask Sandro: “Why are we called the Tasman Pirate Nation? Isn’t ‘pirate’ a bad word?”

Sandro’s heterochromatic eyes faced the sunlight, his body rising and falling in the seawater. He squinted and said: “We do indeed make money by collecting tolls, and having a fierce-sounding name means no one dares to offend us.”

Chen Shun’an looked thoughtful.

The girl came running out from another boat house, holding freshly washed clothes, laughing cheerfully: “Chen Shun’an! You’re pestering the king to play with you again!”

Chen Shun’an said righteously: “The king wants to play too! Don’t kings need to play?”

Upon hearing this, Sandro scooped up a handful of seawater and splashed it on Chen Shun’an, deliberately putting on a stern face: “Kings don’t love to play. Kings always prioritize the bigger picture and worry about the country and people. At this very moment, I’m also contemplating grand strategies.”

Chen Shun’an was half-convinced: “Really?”

But he clearly saw that Sandro was just lazily floating on the water surface, basking in the sun.

Sandro remained poker-faced: “Of course. You’re a child so you don’t understand—when adults seem to be resting, they’re actually working.”

The girl stuck her tongue out at Chen Shun’an: “The king is nothing like you! The king handles countless affairs daily, while you have no grand ambitions!”

Chen Shun’an was displeased: “Hey! Someday I’ll also handle countless affairs daily. I want to become the king’s strongest helper, his best friend.”

Upon hearing this, Sandro propped himself up and stopped playing with the water.

He looked at Chen Shun’an seriously: “Helper is fine, but friend is not.”

Chen Shun’an was stunned. He thought he and the king had already been friends.

The king gave him toys from the mainland, showed him cartoons he’d never seen before, celebrated his birthday, and let him taste birthday cake for the first time.

The king also taught him swimming, diving, fishing, studying… He had long regarded the king as his most important friend—no, not just a friend, but even… a father.

Chen Shun’an was deeply hurt.

Was all of this just his wishful thinking?

His expression changed dramatically. Without saying a word, he turned and rushed into the boat house, slamming the door with a bang.

Sandro looked at him with concern but never came after him to coax him.

Later, the girl secretly told the auntie about this incident, so the auntie came to visit Chen Shun’an with ice cream.

She said to Chen Shun’an earnestly: “You’ve misunderstood the king. It’s not that he doesn’t consider you a friend—he doesn’t dare to have friends.”

Chen Shun’an was puzzled.

The auntie sighed: “The king is an immortal jellyfish Awakened one. His life has no end—he won’t age, won’t die. He’s destined to watch friends and relatives leave him one by one, disappearing from his side. How many separations can a person’s lifetime bear? But for the king, this seems endless.”

“Decades from now, when we’re all gone, the king will still look the same as today. When he remembers us, he’ll feel pain. That’s why he doesn’t make friends or marry anyone. Eternal life is both a gift from heaven and a curse.”

Chen Shun’an felt the complexity of human nature for the first time. So good things often came with bad things, and fortune and misfortune were separated by only a thin line.

From that day on, he never mentioned friendship again, and Sandro acted as if nothing had happened.

Until Chen Shun’an turned seventeen and awakened.

He became an animal-type sea turtle form Awakened one, with a maximum lifespan of three hundred years.

Chen Shun’an was overjoyed. He dove headfirst into the sea, nimbly swimming toward the king’s palace. He discovered he no longer needed oxygen tanks, no longer troubled by water pressure. He broke into the giant bubble created by kelp trees and rushed toward the king’s bedchamber.

“Sandro! Look, I’ve become a sea turtle! I’ll have a very long lifespan—I can accompany you for a very, very long time. You don’t need to worry about losing me. At least three hundred years, I guarantee!”

Sandro stared at him blankly. After a long while, he finally smiled.

“Good. In that case, I can be friends with you now.”

Then, Chen Shun’an became an artist of the seabed. He designed palaces for Sandro, decorated bedchambers, arranged seaweed, and managed the seabed in perfect order.

He married the girl. Since she couldn’t become a marine life form Awakened one, they still lived in the boat house. Later, they had a child whom they named Chen Mingbi.

The child was very smart and promising, excelling in studies from a young age, though he had an upright character and tended to be overly serious.

Later, Chen Mingbi became the king’s right-hand man, mainly responsible for Tasman’s foreign trade, never making a mistake over the years.

Chen Shun’an was completely free, spending his days playing chess with the king or polishing coral.

Later still, the girl from long ago, now an old woman, passed away.

Chen Shun’an finally understood the king’s feelings.

Because of fearing loss, one becomes even more afraid of possession.

Chen Shun’an buried his wife on the seabed. The king attended the funeral, his expression also moved, since the girl had become part of his memories too.

Decades passed. The king’s appearance remained unchanged, while Chen Shun’an had become an old man.

Chen Shun’an hunched his back, smiling cheerfully as he said to the young king: “I’m only in my sixties. Don’t worry, Sandro, I’ll still accompany you for a long time.”

Brilliant stars reflected in Chen Shun’an’s unfocused eyes. He seemed to see his brief yet joyful life in the starry river.

Life was flowing away at a visible speed. He wanted to close his eyes but couldn’t bear to bid farewell to this sky.

He wasn’t afraid of death, but regretted that he would break his promise.

It seemed he couldn’t accompany his friend for a very, very long time after all.

Whoosh—

The balcony’s glass door was pushed open, and a young man with reddish-brown hair walked out.

His skin was snow-white, his features delicate, and those amber fox eyes contracted the moment they saw him.

Chen Shun’an smiled with relief.

He hadn’t remembered wrong—this room belonged to Ghost Eye Guild. He had seen this young man in the bidding hall.

Lance heard a loud “bang” from the balcony and immediately put down his phone, rushing over.

Opening the door, he first saw a person lying on the balcony with a lot of blood pooled on the ground.

When he saw the person’s face clearly by the light, his heart skipped a beat.

That old man!

Lance immediately crouched down to check the old man’s pulse.

The sea wind blew up his long hair, which fluttered against the glass window. His expression was grave, pupils contracting tighter and tighter.

The old man was obviously near death, though it was unclear whether he had accidentally fallen or someone had acted against him.

Just then, from the helipad at the top of the cruise ship, a distant male voice shouted sternly: “The criminal has fallen to the balcony. We’re heading down to apprehend him. All unrelated personnel stay away immediately!”

Lance heard the voice and looked up. Before he could see who it was clearly, his wrist was suddenly gripped tightly by the dying old man.

Chen Shun’an knew he had broken his neck and could no longer speak. Fresh blood poured from the corners of his mouth. He forced himself to hold onto his last breath, tremblingly raising his finger to write with difficulty on Lance’s hand—

【Ghost, High, Save, King.】

After writing these four characters, he looked at Lance with pleading yet stubborn eyes, even though he had already lost his sight.

Lance’s expression was grave. These four characters formed a complete sentence in his mind—

Ghost Eye Guild and High Tower Guild, please save the king.

He looked at those tear-filled eyes, at the features twisted by pain, and as if possessed by ghosts, he squeezed the old man’s hand back.

The old man received the response and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. His strength was gradually drained away, the pain gradually receded, and finally, he completely lowered his arm.

Hey Sandro, it seems I’m destined to trouble you with grief. I hope your sorrow can be brief, and I hope you’ll no longer fear making friends.

Though my life has ended, your future will still encounter many “landlubbers” like me, adorning your long life.

Even now, I still want to say that being able to become your friend, being able to come to Tasman, was the best thing in my life.

In the deep night with heavy fog, the briny sea mist clung to his closed eyes, as if seawater were spreading.

Lance held the old man’s powerless, cold hand, finally understanding what was special about the red parrot crystal ore.

It pointed to and only pointed to two guilds—

High Tower with the highest quality, and Ghost Eye with the largest output.

The king wanted to ensure that High Tower and Ghost Eye both participated in the bidding, came to Tasman, and resolved the crisis he now faced.

But what made him so certain that High Tower and Ghost Eye would definitely lend a helping hand?

After all, Tasman’s internal affairs had nothing to do with them.

Lance’s mind spun rapidly, countless details being connected in his profound and boundless Spirit Realm system.

Sandro had ruled for many years and was extremely clever—he couldn’t possibly place his hopes on illusory helpers.

Since the old man risked his life to convey this message to High Tower and Ghost Eye, it meant the king was certain that High Tower and Ghost Eye would act.

Then, those who could earn such trust from the king, who could issue commands to the bidding squads at any time, who were capable of bearing the cost of intervening in another nation’s internal affairs—

Could only be Lan Wendao and Zhan Qinghe!