Chapter 85

Translator: Bamboo

Translation Checker: Rin

Editor: Agneya

Proofreader: Khun

The dimly lit port factory floor was damp, and a man was hung by a wire rope from an abandoned hammock machine.

An alpha was dangling mid-air with both his hands tied, his toes barely lightly grazing the ground below. His clothes were blood-stained and tattered, his cheekbones had indents in a few areas, and it was obvious that they were fractured. His original face could be hardly uncovered from his mangled appearance.

Bai Chunian squatted in front of him, half a cigarette clenched between his fingertips. The smoke rose from the flickering sparks, obstructing the view of the hanged alpha staring at him.

A layer of skin on his fists was scrapped off due to overuse, but it healed quickly without leaving any traces.

The alpha with his hands tied above himself spat out a mouthful of blood that was choking his damaged chest, and his saliva mixed with blood dripped from his lips.

After a few days of traveling around in the air and sea, Bai Chunian landed at Norman Airport and got in touch with the South American branch of the IOA Alliance. The branch president was an armadillo omega of A3-grade high-level differentiation. She sent agents to contact Bai Chunian, who received weaponry support from the IOA South America branch. And before he left, the resolute armadillo president wanted Bai Chunian to send her regards to President Yan after he returned to China.

Bai Chunian’s first mission in Kingston’s trip was to assassinate the defecting sniper.

In the days when Bai Chunian was accidentally attacked by high temperature, and then Rimbaud was almost arrested by the International Prison, President Yan took this opportunity to clean the Alliance from top to bottom. During the investigation operation, a sniper in the higher-ups of the Alliance Anti-Explosives Squad suddenly disappeared. After a search and evidence collection, it was determined that the alpha sniper named Rilaf had defected and now joined a mercenary organization.

The first task Bai Chunian received was to find and execute Rilaf, and the second task was to investigate the octopus experimental subject on the coast of the Caribbean Sea.

Bai Chunian squatted on the ground for a while, then stood up slowly, walked to Rilaf, and lifted his chin with the cigarette butt burning between his fingers.

“I don’t have the patience to ask anymore. Return the stolen information and I’ll set you free.” Bai Chunian lowered his eyes slightly, staring at him with a faint smile in the darkness.

The cigarette butt made a slight hissing sound as it scorched the skin. Rilaf stared viciously at him with his bloodshot eyes. His throat was hoarse, and he said with difficulty: “You really are a monster. It’s right, what they say about you. You are a ticking time bomb.”

“Ah, who said so?” Bai Chunian lit another cigarette and exhaled lightly while leaning against the container beside him. He changed into a disguise when he came, as the combination of black vest, camouflage overalls, and solid combat boots was the most convenient and practical combination. There was also a faint, blue, fish pattern mark on his shoulder.

“You guys can never be humans.” He roared heavily and spoke frantically, “That foolish President has been brainwashed by all you spiritual experimental subjects… Not only did he let you encroach on the upper-level, but he also wanted to fight for human rights for experimental subjects at international conferences. He’s no longer worthy of our loyalty. Do you think I’m the only one in the Alliance who thinks this way? I just did what others dared not do.”

“You freak,” he growled.

Bai Chunian’s fingertips trembled, and residual hot ash fell on the back of his hand.

The President’s actions were undoubtedly crazy and dangerous for the other members of the Alliance, but on the contrary, hearing them made Bai Chunian’s heart tighten with an inexplicable feeling.

“Hurry up and babble some more nonsense. In any case, these will be your last words in this world. You really don’t know how to cherish them, wasting all of them on scolding me.” Bai Chunian put a hand on his shoulder kindly, “Rilaf.”

In an instant, the body hanging in front of him was compressed by the space. A blood-red marble landed in Bai Chunian’s palm. Bai Chunian pinched it and rubbed it on his clothes to polish its surface. He observed the marble under the moonlight and saw a USB drive wrapped in it like in amber.

“It turned out to be hidden in his intestines. That idiot deserves a beating.” Bai Chunian muttered to himself and then flung the glass ball into his trousers pocket.

“The target is established as deceased, the information is destroyed, and the first phase of the mission has been successfully completed.” Bai Chunian contacted headquarters, “I request that the second phase of the mission be started immediately.”

Yan Yi responded: “Approved.”

The Alliance Technology Department contacted him: “The monitoring equipment has been activated, and the operation authority of the underwater drone has been transferred.”

Bai Chunian took out a terminal from the backpack, checked the camera and movement functions, and observed the display channel change from yellow to green.

News from the Alliance Technology Department: “Successfully transferred authority, beginning to cruise the Caribbean coast with a vertical depth of 1,000 meters.”

Bai Chunian quickly left the port with a backpack on his back and a micro-computer in his hand and sailed on the route of the cruise ship arranged by the agents of the South American branch.

The location of the merfolk’s nest was just within one thousand meters of vertical water depth.

The merfolk population migrated around the world every 100 years. The creatures they passed by would be nourished and show rapid growth. The dead corals would be reborn, the dying fish would be able to reproduce, and the ocean would get a fresh breath of life every 100 years.

Seventy years ago, Rimbaud led the group to complete a great global migration, and he was already very familiar with the route.

But he did not expect to encounter a volcanic eruption on the mid-ocean ridge on the way back. In order to buy time for the merfolk group to escape, Rimbaud had to climb into the gap in the seafloor and use his own body to cool the lava. He was seriously injured and forced to activate the self-protection mechanism as he used his associated ability to roll his injured body into a ball and fell into the trench. It took him nearly seventy years to wake up once again.

During this period of time, the new leader enjoyed the prosperity that Rimbaud had exchanged with his sacrifice and rose to the throne under the shadow of the old leader.

There was a peculiar island standing in the sea. There was only a small reef in the center of this island, but every ship that entered this area would eventually lose its direction and hit the reef, sinking down. The wrecks of ships have accumulated here for centuries, and the place became a ghost ship island. This was the lair of the merfolk tribe for generations.

Among those ships, a huge and luxurious French cruise ship lay suspended in the water. A huge hole had been caved in at its side, showing a cabin full of marine plants inside. Rich corals decorated the outside of the cruise ship, clustering around the hole. Inside the cabin a large number of jellyfish emitting green fluorescent light floated, exuding an unnerving and terrifying atmosphere.

The new leader of the merfolk group, a great white shark humanoid omega, sat on a throne carved from corals. A carpet of crushed bleached white dead coral covered the cabin floor. Surrounded by several humanoid shark alphas, the great white shark omega sat while gently waving his coarse fishtail.

Two blue shark humanoid alphas knelt on the haggard coral floor, extracted the luminous substance in the jellyfish in a particular manner, and lightly smeared it on the king’s fishtail.

The white shark omega’s fishtail somewhat resembled Rimbaud’s, faintly emitting green light.

“Siren is back.” The blue shark alpha, who bowed his head and knelt beside his fish tail, reported to the king softly, covered his mouth, and chuckled lightly, “A lot of human bandages have been wrapped around his body in order to block the scars of his disgraceful exile. It’s quite pitiful to look at.”

The merfolk language was quiet and mysterious; it sounded even more ethereal when under the sea, bringing along a dreadful feeling when combined with the sunken ships and thousands of desolate skeletons.

The white shark omega rubbed the pearls on the throne: “Wasn’t he salvaged by that group of humans who are engaged in scientific research? And it was me who personally sent him off to his death. Even if he was not made into a pill, he would still be used as a slave by lecherous humans. All the beasts on land like to play like this.”

The alpha who applied the luminous liquid to the king nodded: “You’re right, his brain is probably broken. He doesn’t know how to stay away and even dares to come back and provoke you.”

“B-but, half of the merfolks went to welcome Siren back. I heard that the splendid alfonsino, who previously betrayed Siren and joined you, defected again. When he heard that Siren came back, he eagerly went ashore to pick him up but was torn to pieces.” The alpha laughed so much that his tail trembled.

Another alpha fanned the flames and said, “Once Siren is killed, King can give him to us to eat. Maybe we’ll be able to live longer.”

“We killed all the babies blessed by Siren. What do you think he’s coming back to? Except for those sluggish and weak old fish, who among the young and strong even knows who he is? He’s simply humiliating himself.”

“En… Some people are just overconfident.” The white shark omega gazed into the dark distance of the deep sea, where a dazzling blue beam could be seen gradually approaching.

The white shark omega got up from the throne and swam towards the blue light, but he didn’t expect him to actually come alone.

Rimbaud was like a wandering sun in the deep sea. The bright, blue electric light brought a long-lost light to the seabed. The tulle-like fins glimmer and dance in the water, followed by thousands of blue jellyfish, turning the night into day.

Rimbaud stopped in front of him, floating slightly higher than the white shark omega and looking down at him.

“Skylla.” Rimbaud called his name.

As he descended into the deep sea with soft light all over his body, jellyfish lingered around him. In contrast, the white shark omega’s fishtail was covered in green mucus as if pretending to be a glowing white shark merman, making him look embarrassed.

“Siren.” The white shark merman laughed, and three rows of sharp fangs flashed through the cold light, “Came back to seek revenge on me? The wound that hasn’t been healed in seventy years has been recovered after being fished ashore for three years? That means the shore is just right for you.”

Rimbaud remained silent.

The white shark merman lost patience and was inexplicably irritable: “Why don’t you speak?”

Rimbaud glanced at the lines engraved on his arm before he remembered what he wanted to say.

The efficacy of the AC enhancer had long since passed, and Rimbaud’s growth stage had returned to the cultivation stage. During the cultivation stage, the brain’s thinking ability and logical reasoning were very poor. Although his poweress in the merfolk language was still fluent, his thinking speed would evidently slow down.

So, before returning to the cultivation stage, Rimbaud carved all the important things into his arm with shell fragments and filled them with sand to prevent the wound from healing.

“Sink the rebels.”

“Clean the palace for the arrival of the queen.”

“Love Bai Chunian.”

There were three sentences written on his arm. Except for the three words Bai Chunian, they are all unique to the merfolk clan. Rimbaud could easily recognize those merman characters, but he couldn’t recognize the meaning of the last three Chinese characters after thinking about it for a long time.

“Love…the kitten,” Rimbaud said silently in his heart.

He stayed in front of the white shark merman, sorting out the logic behind these things in his mind for a long time.

But in the white shark merman’s point of view, the situation appeared to be completely different—the former leader, who was exiled, stood in front of him majestically at this moment, without saying a word, his eyes watching him indifferently.

The white shark merman became more and more anxious, and even a trace of fear could be seen in his eyes.

After the white shark merman took the throne, they first replaced all the managers of the clan with carnivorous humanoid fish. They scoffed at Rimbaud’s occasional eating of seabed plastics, fishing nets, and ropes while he was in charge. So ever since he took the throne, he ordered all the fish not to eat all the garbage that sunk into the sea but to consume meat instead.

They could eat carrion, eat humans, and do whatever they want.

Due to this, most carnivorous merfolk were extremely supportive of their new leader.

Following the white shark merman’s order, the merfolks behind him rushed towards Rimbaud altogether. Most of them were sharks, each with sharp-edged teeth and scathing fish tails. They madly bit Rimbaud, and their claws left an indelible mark of shame on his back as when they had driven him away three years ago.

The seawater was dyed red by Rimbaud’s blood, the scales and flesh on Rimbaud’s body were torn off by the ferocious merfolks, and a thick bloody smell wafted through the entire sea area.

The white shark sat back on the throne to watch the good show and sneered: “As weak as before. In the end, you’re just a mere manta ray humanoid.”

“Cut off his thin tail. I shall tie it to my throne,” said the white shark.

The crimson mist gradually dissipated, and Rimbaud was still floating in the water, gazing at him indifferently.

The torn flesh and blood on his body grew rapidly, the exposed fish bones were re-covered by tendons and blood vessels, and the tattered fins were as shiny as ever.

The white shark’s eyes widened in shock.

The merfolk leader was strong, but with the short-sighted vision of these merfolk frogs, how could they know that there existed a powerful transformation of special operations experimental subjects in the world? Even in the cultivation stage, the self-healing ability of special experimental subjects was extremely powerful.

The merfolks came to a staggering realization that they could no longer leave any humiliating traces on him as they had done back then.

Rimbaud clenched his hand that had been restored to its original state and asked lightly, “Is it my turn now?”

Rimbaud, kicking the white shark to dust: I am the king.

Rimbaud, holding a confused Bai Chunian by the collar: And this is my kitten.