"It's back!"
Lansi didn't have time to mourn the jellyfish that had just been dragged away by a tentacle. The moment he saw another tentacle slithering toward them, he grabbed Winsor and swam frantically toward the coral bones.
Winsor didn't react. In fact, he didn't even seem to notice the danger.
His body was stiff, lying against the coral bones like driftwood, his eyes vacant and unfocused.
Lansi tugged him without much resistance.
Too preoccupied with escaping, Lansi didn't stop to notice Winsor's odd behavior. He pulled him into the cover of a sea anemone.
Once they were hidden, Winsor seemed to stir back to life. His eyes blinked open, the expression in them gradually regaining clarity. He looked at Lansi—and Lansi looked back at him.
After a brief pause, Lansi asked, "That jellyfish… is it going to get eaten?"
Winsor: "…"
Lansi took the silence as confirmation, and his expression shifted to horror.
"Sea monsters eat other sea monsters? Oh god, jellyfish are practically all water, just a membrane. It still ate it?!"
Winsor sighed. "Why is that where your mind goes first?"
Lansi rolled his eyes.
The answer was simple. He wasn't actually a mermaid—he was human. And humans thought differently.
They stayed nestled in the anemone for a while. Lansi kept his ears alert, straining to hear any sounds from outside.
When everything seemed quiet, he cautiously poked his head out to scout. There was no sign of the tentacle within the coral bones.
Maybe it's still dealing with the jellyfish?
Taking a chance, Lansi swam upward slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. He reached the upper edge of the coral formation and peeked out.
And locked eyes with a tentacle.
Lansi: "…"
The tentacle shoved him back inside without mercy.
Then, it circled around and threw a school of small blue flame fish over the opening, effectively sealing off the exit.
Lansi watched dejectedly as the fish blocked the path again. He swam back down and found Winsor waiting for him.
Winsor raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. He crossed his arms and asked, "Still want to go out?"
Lansi sighed in defeat, summing up his failed escape attempt. "I was wrong. I shouldn't have tried a direct breakthrough. I need another route. The harder the task, the higher the price."
Winsor gave him a strange look. These reflections of his… they were oddly profound.
After being knocked back several times, Lansi didn't lose heart. In fact, he seemed even more determined. He turned to Winsor with renewed energy. "I'll dig my way out!"
Winsor massaged his temples. "You can't dig through the outer coral bones."
Lansi blinked at him. "Then I'll find another way."
Winsor: "???"
Lansi swam up to him shyly, like a student begging for help. "Winsor, can you teach me how to communicate with sea monsters?"
He thought back to his encounter with the jellyfish and rubbed his throat curiously. "Can mermaids make sound waves? I think I made some earlier—it scared the jellyfish."
Winsor sighed again. Since meeting Lansi, the frequency of his sighs had increased dramatically.
He pulled Lansi close, gently pressing two fingers to his Adam's apple.
"I'll teach you how to use this."
The weight of Winsor's touch on his throat made Lansi swallow reflexively. He was a little nervous—it was a sensitive area, after all.
But along with the fear came an odd excitement. His tail flicked, and his gaze drifted to Winsor's lips.
Winsor let out a soft laugh, then turned and opened his mouth toward the school of fish above them.
"Zii—!"
A low, resonant sound rippled from Winsor's mouth.
Lansi watched in awe as the sea around them began to tremble. The calm water suddenly resonated with the tone, releasing a deep gurgle. A pulse of energy burst forth, piercing through the school of fish in an instant. Shattered bits of flesh floated slowly downward.
Lansi: "…"
Holy crap. That's way too powerful.
If Winsor had used that against the jellyfish, it would've exploded on the spot.
Winsor turned back to see Lansi's stunned expression and couldn't help chuckling. He reached out, hooked a finger under Lansi's chin, and gently closed his mouth.
"Got it now?" he asked.
Lansi snapped out of it, practically vibrating with excitement. "That was amazing! Seriously amazing!"
He wanted to shower Winsor with praise, but came up short on vocabulary, eventually resorting to blowing a stream of bubbles in admiration.
Winsor seemed to enjoy the attention. His eyes were full of laughter.
"How did you do that?" Lansi asked eagerly.
"You can do it too," Winsor said, ruffling his hair. "You've already sent one out before, right? Try to remember that sensation."
Lansi nodded.
"Focus on the vibrating bone and try to amplify the vibration," Winsor instructed.
Lansi blinked, confused. "What bone?"
Winsor narrowed his eyes slightly. He touched Lansi's lips and said, "Open your mouth."
Lansi hesitated, then obediently opened his mouth.
Winsor looked at him for a moment. The defenseless posture, the quiet trust—it made his heart feel soft.
Without warning, he leaned down and kissed him.
Lansi froze. The soft pressure on his lips stunned him. Like a clam forced open, he was completely caught off guard and didn't resist.
Winsor's tongue slid in, warm and smooth, tracing a slow, deliberate path. It even teased his Adam's apple lightly.
This is chaos.
This—this crossed the line for Lansi, who still considered himself straight. He instinctively wanted to bite down, but then realized that the movement of Winsor's tongue wasn't random—it was patterned.
Wait… was this part of the lesson?
He furrowed his brow and gave up resisting, matching Winsor's rhythm as best he could.
The scene felt more like two lovers in a deep French kiss than any kind of training.
But under Winsor's guidance, Lansi quickly got the hang of the motion. Just as he was about to share his success, Winsor interrupted:
"Next, I'll teach you how to emit infrasound."
Before Lansi could respond, Winsor kissed him again.
"Mmph."
Lansi could only tell himself: He's not taking advantage of me. He's teaching… seriously…
Still, the urge to bite down remained strong.
Winsor, pleased with Lansi's cooperation, wrapped his arms around the smaller mermaid's waist and deepened the kiss.
Lansi's tail twitched. Something definitely felt off here.
Time passed—Lansi didn't know how long. Eventually, his lungs burned, and his vision swam. He pushed Winsor away weakly, clutching his mouth and gasping.
"Cough… cough…"
Winsor blinked innocently. "Are you okay?"
Lansi waved his tail to keep him back. He took a moment to catch his breath, still dazed.
He stared up at Winsor, who wore a very righteous expression.
"You can't just kiss me like that!" Lansi blurted out, his face flushed red.
The white mermaid's entire body was tinged with pink. Winsor felt his heart itch just watching him. But he didn't dare go further—Lansi was too unpredictable. Who knew what he'd do next?
So he simply replied, "Okay."
Lansi swam to the pearl pile and muttered, "We're separating for today… I need to calm down."
Winsor twitched. "Aren't you still trying to dig your way out? That won't work."
Lansi waved a hand lazily. "Nope. My nails haven't grown back yet. I'll just practice with the infrasound—see if I can get the sea monsters to listen. No digging for now."
Winsor let out a quiet sigh of relief.
His little fish had finally shifted focus.
Meanwhile, aboard the Yisou Experimental Vessel, near the Nate Trench—
Researchers bustled inside the lab, monitoring oceanic data through various instruments.
Suddenly, the cabin door slid open, and a tall young man in black stepped inside.
"Have you heard it?" he asked coldly.
The researchers looked up in confusion, momentarily pausing their work.
The lead scientist stepped forward. "Colonel Wen Yu, heard what?"
Wen Yu's pale skin gave him an almost sickly look. His black eyes were deep, almost unnaturally so. He regarded the lead scientist with quiet disdain.
"Don't tell me your fancy equipment picked up nothing."
The scientist looked uncomfortable. "We did detect a slight increase in infrasound activity… but there's not much to analyze yet."
Wen Yu massaged his temples, eyes closed in frustration. "Focus your efforts on the infrasound. See if there's anything to decipher."
The lead scientist hesitated. "At most, we might be able to isolate frequency patterns—to identify which species they come from…"
Wen Yu opened his eyes again. There was a faint redness in his pupils.
"Don't pretend I don't know what this lab has done. You're capable of a lot more than you admit."
The man's expression darkened, but he finally nodded. "Alright. We'll try. But no promises."
"Make it fast," Wen Yu said coldly.