A week later.
The ice cracked open, and the whales cheered as a massive icebreaker ship, heralded by its horn, emerged from the blue and white glaciers, with several seabirds circling above it.
The Yelmark was Bei’en’s first heavy icebreaker.
It had been in service for many years, its hull painted in overlapping shades of red and black, bearing the marks of numerous recoatings. In its early years, it had carved paths through the endless white wilderness for the alliance, pioneering the icy seas and bringing the most advanced technology to the depths of the ocean and to every island.
The people of Bei’en were fond of it—every evening at eight, as all the seabirds began their flight to the southern islands and the cold winds blew from the Evernight Lands, the Yelmark would return to port on schedule, its horn resounding melodiously.
Thus, even as technology advanced, the Yelmark was not abandoned. Most of its parts and structure had been replaced and meticulously maintained, and with a crew of the most seasoned sailors, it remained a leading icebreaker.
The icebreaker slowly entered the harbor.
Long Shiyu looked up to see the alliance’s flag at the top of the ship. Standing beside it, one could even feel the chill emanating from the entire vessel.
The temperature at the port was particularly low at night. After Long Shiyu’s declaration that he was a fire dragon that was immune to cold failed, Shen Zhaomu had bundled him up into a “bread dragon”. Clad in a thick down jacket with a scarf around his neck, he could only shuffle around slowly.
Yang Zhiming said, “Based on the trials over the past few days, the ‘Titan’ core is functioning without any issues.”
“How confident are we about reaching the World Waterfall?” asked Shen Zhaomu.
“Eighty percent,” Yang Zhiming replied. “Though the genius designed the core perfectly, making it adaptable to different ships even now, the short time given to me for tuning the core means I can only promise eighty percent certainty. Let’s hope we don’t actually need to take the risk.”
Uther, still in his fluffy pajamas as if he’d just gotten out of bed, asked, “What happens if we fail?”
“We’d fall straight down the waterfall,” answered Yang Zhiming. “None of the current rescue devices for lifting ships, like emergency ascent balloons, can handle a fully manned heavy icebreaker. With you and little Shen here, there likely won’t be any fatalities, but the ship would mostly be scrapped.”
Shen Zhaomu added, “There won’t be fatalities, but we can’t guarantee that there won’t be paralysis or injury.”
Uther remarked, “Oh damn, mate, you’re right.”
“The biggest concern now,” Shen Zhaomu said, “is the same as fifty-seven years ago. Prior to the appearance of the suspected siren exotic creature, there was a frenzied flood of skeletal merfolk appearances. Their lair has never been destroyed, so they might still exist. And we still don’t understand who arranged the corpses in the pattern of musical notes and why.”
Fifty-seven years ago, the Evernight Lands were inhabited, with tourist stations, lookout towers, sightseeing hot air balloons, and even a small hunter’s outpost, working in conjunction with whaling ships to chase dragon whales.
Then one day, the skeletal merfolk emerged en masse amid the stormy waves, destroying everything.
Everyone retreated to live in the waters near the main island, and since then, the Evernight Lands began to fall into desolation.
“So you guys need to rest well, there’s plenty of work ahead for you,” Yang Zhiming waved the wrench in hand. “It’s getting late, and you’ve been busy all day. Head back soon. Leave this to the professionals.”
Long Shiyu followed Shen Zhaomu away from the port, and on their way back to the outpost, they saw street food vendors selling late-night snacks.
Due to recent issues with exotic creatures and corpses, a curfew had been imposed on the sea at night. Star police and hunters patrolled the nearby waters in turns, and most people were hesitant to set sail.
Seafood prices had surged here, but that didn’t affect the enticing aroma of the grilled food. Dozens of oysters, fat and large, roasted with garlic until fragrant, immediately caught Long Shiyu’s attention, drawing him involuntarily towards them—
Only to be yanked back by the tail of his scarf by Shen Zhaomu.
Long Shiyu turned around: “I’m hungry…”
“We’ll eat back at the outpost,” Shen Zhaomu said. “Li Jianchun cooked today, and she’s a great cook.”
“Alright then…”
Despite saying so, the temptation of food was overwhelming.
Scallops mixed with vermicelli! Long Shiyu tried to approach the stall.
He was pulled back by the scarf.
Crispy fried fish, tender and delicious! Long Shiyu tried to approach the stall.
He was pulled back again.
Charcoal-grilled shrimp displayed an inviting red hue…
Shen Zhaomu firmly grabbed the scarf.
Long Shiyu: “…”
“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” Shen Zhaomu skillfully interrupted his attempt to plead again, “We’ll eat once we get back to the outpost.” He simply wrapped the tail of the scarf around his hand a couple of times, holding it tight, “Why do you run off so easily? I let go for a second and you’re gone.”
“I just want food,” the bread dragon, now restrained by the scarf, reluctantly moved through the bustling market.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Back at the outpost, Li Jianchun had indeed prepared their meal.
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Lu Shanhuai had sat down early. “Wow, this is lavish, your cooking is as good as ever.” He picked up a piece of salted egg yolk tofu, “Sitting here like this, it’s like when we first joined the association.”
Back when they had just joined the association, Li Jianchun would occasionally cook. Later, as they took up their posts, scattered to the corners of the sea of stars, gatherings like this became rare.
This rare meal together was therefore all the more precious.
Shen Zhaomu said to Long Shiyu beside him, “Don’t be shy, help yourself…”
Long Shiyu had already finished a bowl of rice.
Shen Zhaomu: “…”
Fang Qing was gobbling down his food, while Li Jianchun ate much more gracefully, still sitting quietly at the table, eating silently as usual.
Since it was a time of crisis and everyone was busy, they couldn’t drink and only chatted briefly before dispersing. The meal didn’t last long.
Back in his room, Long Shiyu finally took off his thick down jacket.
Shen Zhaomu, sticking to old habits, placed the table against the door to work, preventing Long Shiyu from disappearing.
This time, he didn’t lock the window, intending to air out the room. After Long Shiyu lost all his beans in Fight the Landlord, he leaned on the windowsill, looking outside.
The tide had risen, and stardust sank into the deep sea, sparkling. The dark tide from the Evernight Lands surged down, forming a dazzling river in the sea, illuminating the cold, dark port, and lighting up the silent Yelmark.
He lingered at the window for a long time.
Shen Zhaomu had been reviewing documents about Bei’en—ranging from the origins, history, and geography of the Evernight Lands, to the arcane study of ancient languages, from the era of the Bei’en dynasty to testimonies of witnesses from fifty-seven years ago. Unbeknownst to him, the night had deepened. Only after organizing the documents did he notice Long Shiyu sitting by the window, still gazing out at the scenery.
The stars in the sea shone brilliantly, the waves sparkled, and the world seemed vast and beautiful.
Seabirds flew freely, their wings spread wide.
A sudden feeling of guilt seized Shen Zhaomu.
Revealing Long Shiyu’s identity to his friends wasn’t all he had intended to do.
He had also wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Long Shiyu.
Shen Zhaomu never hesitated to admit his mistakes. Since his initial thoughts about Long Shiyu were somewhat unfair, regardless of whether Long Shiyu cared, he owed him a sincere apology.
Besides, everyone loves freedom. Even though he was eager to find Akasamo, he shouldn’t keep Long Shiyu by his side against his will.
Yet, for some reason, he found it hard to utter that apology.
After all, saying it out loud would mean that Long Shiyu would leave—
Shen Zhaomu couldn’t pinpoint exactly what he was afraid of.
Long Shiyu must have loved the outside world, to be able to sit quietly and gaze out for so long.
So, with this guilt, Shen Zhaomu approached Long Shiyu: “You…”
He stopped mid sentence.
Before him lay a silly dragon, sound asleep.
Long Shiyu wasn’t gazing out; he had fallen asleep right on the windowsill.
Three seconds later, Long Shiyu was shaken awake by his dragon horns: “Ah, don’t shake me; I didn’t wander off this time.”
Shen Zhaomu withdrew his hand: “…I just felt like it. There’s no reason.” He felt his concern and emotional turmoil had been wasted.
Long Shiyu glared at him, irritably flicking his tail.
As the refreshing sea breeze blew in, Shen Zhaomu took a seat by the window: “I might have to go to the Evernight Lands later; you shouldn’t follow. It’s very dangerous there.”
Long Shiyu immediately wrapped his tail around him: “Sob.”
“You really can’t this time.”
“Sob.”
“No.”
“Is it because I eat too much? I’ll eat less next time, and I definitely won’t ever burn down your house again.” QAQ
“How did you come up with such a strange idea… It’s not about eating; it’s really too dangerous there. The skeletal merfolk originated from there a long time ago, and they might still be living under the ice.”
“Sob.”
“Long Shiyu, I’m serious this time.”
A few seconds later, Shen Zhaomu was hit by a dragon charge.
He had to support himself with one hand to maintain balance, and with the other hand, he tried to pull Long Shiyu by his dragon horns to peel him off himself. But Long Shiyu was unusually strong, clinging to his waist and refusing to let go, sobbing cutely and loudly in his arms.
Shen Zhaomu had never been subjected to such an intense barrage; his head started to spin. As they struggled, he couldn’t think of a way to quickly comfort Long Shiyu before the next round of sobs came.
This was a sob barrage. A sob barrage attack.
So, in a moment of weakness, his mouth moved on its own: “Alright, alright, I’ll take you with me.”
Long Shiyu immediately brightened up, lifting his head from Shen Zhaomu’s embrace and happily wrapping his tail around his ankle.
Shen Zhaomu: “…”
Shen Zhaomu: “…………”
It was only now that he realized what he had agreed to.
He hadn’t been rational earlier; his mind had been a blank slate, involuntarily agreeing to Long Shiyu’s request. It was utterly beyond his control.
This was undoubtedly the most terrifying attack by an exotic creature he had ever encountered, capable of altering a person’s mind directly!
With Long Shiyu content, Shen Zhaomu began to question his life decisions.
Dragons had vanished, and Akasamo was nowhere to be found. His dragon-slaying career hadn’t even started. He originally thought that meeting Long Shiyu was a well-laid plan, a cunning strategy; by the time he realized it was big problem, it was already too late.
But he was still wrong; this was a complete and utter catastrophe.
Long Shiyu cheerfully said, “Can I have a bedtime story tonight?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Long Shiyu sounded a bit disappointed.
Shen Zhaomu, still reeling from the sob attacks, got to his feet: “…Just go to sleep.”
But Long Shiyu, tilting his head, looked outside and said, “But I think I hear singing.”
“Singing?” Shen Zhaomu said, “Might be someone outside.”
“No. I’ve heard this kind of singing before.” Long Shiyu said, “It’s a merfolk song.”
Less than half a minute later, Shen Zhaomu felt a wave of psychic turbulence.
He had never encountered such fluctuations before. Psychic power surged from all directions like a tsunami, a vast shadow looming over the main island, about to press down.
Within that vast, ethereal psychic power, he heard the singing.
Ethereal and enchanting, as if emanating from a fairyland.
The song evoked images of the ocean shimmering under moonlight, beautiful shells, gentle reefs and lighthouses, and the glittering scales of merfolk.
Shen Zhaomu immediately climbed out the window and, after landing steadily, ran to the seaside port.
The sea’s waves were gently rolling. Everything seemed normal, except the stars seemed to twinkle a bit faster.
A hunter standing guard nearby saw him and asked nervously, “Mr. Shen, did something happen?”
Others, lacking strong psychic powers, couldn’t sense the tidal waves or the singing. Shen Zhaomu didn’t have time to answer; his eagle-like gaze swiftly scanned the sea—
Nothing, no anomalies. Even the psychic power had no intent of attack.
Long Shiyu joined him by his side.
The singing, along with the psychic power, climbed higher, a song only the two of them could hear.
It was indescribably beautiful.
The song grew louder.
It seemingly spun a story. On a moonlit shore, a girl took you by hand and led you forward, her golden hair glinting like sunlight. Barefoot, she hummed as she stepped through the water and soft sand. The sea breeze was cool, and as another wave approached, she hopped in an attempt to leap over it, her blue necklace glittering in mid-air.
She landed with a splash. Eventually, the sea, carrying fine sand, caressed her calves, a cool sensation. After the wave receded, two small crabs left on the sand scurried in panic.
In the distance lay a late-returning fishing boat, a drifting iceberg, a solitary lighthouse. When she turned, her eyes curving in a smile—
I’ve thrown away all my pretty shoes, crossing through the deep sea tunnels to find you.
So, the moonlight is truly beautiful tonight, isn’t it?
What a splendid illusion it was.
“…It’s the musical score left by those corpses,” Shen Zhaomu intuited. “Otherwise, there couldn’t be such a powerful psychic power enveloping the entire main island without my noticing.”
Even though they had already retrieved the corpses from the seabed and disrupted the score, it was to no avail.
So, could it be a siren?
Long Shiyu said, “I can’t tell where it’s coming from. It seems like it’s everywhere.”
The song continued, and Shen Zhaomu’s psychic power stretched as far as it could along the edge of the main island, morphing into blades that pierced through the tsunami-like rise of psychic power.
Beyond the invisible curtain of water was an expansive sea.
Vast, dreamlike.
Schools of fish leaped, their scales reflecting the submerged stars. The starlight grew brighter, as if whispering a story. Distant reefs stood with their jagged outlines, islands loomed with dark silhouettes, and seabirds flew low over the island’s mountains, their wings outlining the land and sky.
As the last fish fell back into the embrace of the sea, a droplet gently splashed—
A moment of clarity ensued.
“It’s the sea,” Shen Zhaomu said. “It’s this sea.”
All the winds, all the reefs, all the ships, all the waves.
The silent islands and the stars beneath the sea.
They were all singing.
Seconds later, an urgent notification came from the outpost: A massive uprising of exotic creatures had occurred in the Evernight Lands, confirmed to be a frenzied flood of skeletal merfolk.
The scene from fifty-seven years ago was repeating itself; the song had ultimately attracted its audience.
…
Twenty minutes later, the Yelmark set sail from the port.
A group of seasoned sailors bustled on deck, their skin weathered and dry from sun and wind. Hunters were organizing their gear, polishing the sea hunting weapons—the whaling spears and incandescent light blades.
Based on past experiences, the skeletal merfolk would need some time to gather before descending along the World Waterfall. The last assembly took about three to five days.
Bei’en’s unique geographical features made stardust lethal to many flying machines. This time was not enough for the alliance to relocate all its people. Thus, they had to resolve the issue before it reached the densely populated main island, or it would result in a horrific massacre.
But no one could guarantee success.
More than fifty years ago, they had managed to force the skeletal merfolk back into eternal slumber in the darkness. But what about this time? Would the siren appear alongside them?
Shen Zhaomu leaned against the ship’s hull, lighting a cigarette. The orange ash scattered in the wind. Beside him, the bread dragon shuffled along slowly.
The icebreaker plowed through the sea, the Yelmark heading straight for the Evernight Lands, skimming past the Damocles Bridge. Five hours later, after shattering vast expanses of ice, it finally approached the region.
The stars beneath the sea were so bright they illuminated the ocean floor, in hues of dusky blue, dark mauve, and apricot… The stars had fallen, and the sea and sky were indistinguishable.
Soon, a distant rumbling sound approached.
A gigantic waterfall bisected the vast sea like a wall, a curtain soaring into the clouds with no visible top, inspiring fear even from afar. In its presence, all ships seemed insignificant; millions of tons of water fell from the heights, eternal and unyielding.
The World Waterfall.
The author has something to say:
One cutesy sob a day: ∞/1
Our hero has been completely defeated
Bei’en sounds like a great place, visually speaking. Majestic, ancient and dark yet filled with light, evoking the same fascination as space and stars.
Thank you for the chapter~
Such lovely world building
Thank you for the chapter! ❤
Thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter
Long Shiyu used sob barrage
+2000 emotional damage
Hmm wonder if our dragon can sing
Wow, what a gorgeous chapter. Thanks so much!
What’s stopping you from making shiyu your real boyfriend shen zhaomu 🤭 however could he withstand shiyu’s cuteness for so long is beyond me XD