Translator: ThatLazyPotato
Translation Checker: 7qqy
Editor: yuki_shuichi
Bai Chunian held onto the transparent outer wall of the square cultivation pod, pressed his face against the cold metal surface, and scrutinized the small merman trapped inside.
Before, he had never found the chance to get a good look at Pearl, although it was just a gray, undead summon, Pearl’s soul.
His slightly round baby face hadn’t grown yet, but it could still be seen that he was a beautiful, boned little boy. His long, curly eyelashes drooped as he slept obediently.
“Ai Ai.” Bai Chunian quietly said his name. He had looked through a lot of books before deciding to give him this name because white dwarf stars had a lifespan of a billion years and were eternally immortal. He hoped that Pearl would be the same as Rimbaud, living as long as the ocean.
“Randi, you really love him.”
Rimbaud went beside Bai Chunian. His hand wrapped around the alpha’s neck, he hung on his back, and rubbed his ear and temple in comfort.
“If he had been born alive, I would have scrapped off his scale over and over again and let him develop his protective scales alone in the sea, just like what my mother and father did to me. He would bleed, cry, and try to run off but would be caught back by me. When you see the scene, you’ll hate me for it.”
Bai Chunian shook his head.
“He also has the siren scale. I don’t want my child to have the siren scale on him.” Rimbaud raised his fingers, stroking the little merman inside through the outer wall of the transparent cultivation pod. The little merfolk also had a special scale on the side of its tail. Although it was gray, Rimbaud could still recognize it.
Rimbaud’s stroke was very gentle, but the feelings in his eyes were a little complicated.
Rimbaud didn’t want to sink into a deep ocean trench and spend the next millions of years in the company of darkness just yet—he wanted to accompany Xiao Bai; he wanted to honor his own promise to place his bones on his throne after Xiao Bai had reached the end of his lifespan, so he didn’t want to be abdicated.
A fierce battle would always break out when the throne of the Sea Clan changed. The old king had two choices, voluntarily give up the throne to the new king and then hide in the deep sea with his partner, never to be seen again, or choose to fight with the descendants, making the winner the king. And once defeated, the new siren would take his place and inherit the old king’s clan and his queen.
The last siren voluntarily gave up the throne to Rimbaud; there wasn’t even an ounce of resistance. This was because he had a beloved queen. He didn’t dare risk fighting with the powerful Rimbaud because he wasn’t 100 percent confident in keeping the throne, much less giving up on his lover.
Rimbaud had always kept these worries deep in his heart and never expressed them to Xiao Bai before. Before, Xiao Bai had asked him why he was so indifferent toward Pearl, but he couldn’t answer. This was the cruel and strong habit inherent in the merfolk bloodline, and no one could change it.
“Do you not love him?” Bai Chunian saw Rimbaud was lost in thought, so he shook his shoulders and called him.
Rimbaud looked at the sleeping merman with pity. “I’m destined not to be able to give him much. Raising him and defeating him, this is the only love I can give him.”
The two cultivation pods on the side were shifting closer to the middle, the space became narrower, and Rimbaud’s tail turned to a warning red.
“We must hurry and leave.” Bai Chunian reluctantly separated his fingers from the surface of the cultivation pod. “I’m afraid Aileen wants to destroy the evidence and bury us together in the experimental subject base.”
Bai Chunian turned around, then turned back to get one last look at Pearl, who was sleeping in the cultivation pod.
Unexpectedly, his eyes suddenly met with wide-open gray eyes. Pearl stared blankly and silently at him as he laid on his back against the transparent cultivation bulkhead.
Bai Chunian retreated in shock. The door of the cultivation suddenly lit up with a green light, indicating that it was open.
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.
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Pearl suddenly raised his head, rushed toward the door lit green, and slammed into it.
A terrifying and powerful force came from the hatch and quickly passed through the metal door to the left half of Bai Chunian’s body that was holding up the hatch. Bai Chunian first felt numb in half of his body and then was knocked away by a strong force; his body was pushed backward.
Rimbaud was startled. He immediately stretched out his hands to catch him but lost his grip. Bai Chunian’s back harshly hit the cultivation pod, making a dent in the heavy and solid metal door.
Bai Chunian kneeled to the ground, propping the ground with one hand, and blood seeped out of his mouth and nose. The move just now had shocked his organs to bleed; he felt numb for a while before he felt the severe pain in his limbs.
He slowly raised his head, his vision blurred by the dizziness from the impact, and he vaguely saw Pearl pushing his way out of the cultivation pod. His noble, contemptuous, and arrogant attitude resembled Rimbaud very much.
“He’s very strong… How come…” Bai Chunian coughed out a mouthful of blood. He held the side of the pod to prop up his body.
Rimbaud went in front of Bai Chunian to cover him, his blood-red tail filled with flame-like electricity. “The undead summon inherits 70% of the strength of the original body. It’s original body…not corpse. This one is much stronger than the one out there who relies on the Undead Cloak to generate consciousness. He possesses the power of the siren, and also…”
“He’s in the deterioration stage.” Bai Chunian saw the control panel outside of the cultivation pod where Pearl was from afar, showing Pearl’s growth state and his heart dropped. “Aileen injected him with the Ac accelerator…this crazy woman.”
Bai Chunian tremblingly stretched out his hand, held Rimbaud’s hand and pulled him behind him. “You want a head-on confrontation? Since we came here, we spent too much energy.”
Pearl coldly strode forward. Black smoke gathered in his palm; the black smoke condensed into the Dead Sea heart rock and then into a slender Tang sword. He gripped it tightly in his hand.
The area of space enclosed by the cultivation pod was no less than thirty square meters. There was no bunker and no possibility to avoid battle.
Pearl was getting closer. Bai Chunian kept calm, hooking his fingers onto the collar around his neck.
But before he loosened the collar, his hand was pressed down by Rimbaud.
“Don’t take it off.” Rimbaud gave him a deep look, his eyes full of reluctance and retention.
Bai Chunian’s hand dropped down to his side hesitantly.
He knew that the Dead Sea heart rock collar was a shackle of self-deception. After being injected with the synthesis booster, his and Rimbaud’s dominant relationship became closer, so much so that the Dead Sea heart rock could completely control him in the deterioration stage. As long as he didn’t take off the collar, his deterioration could be maintained indefinitely.
This collar embodied all of Rimbaud’s hope; once it came off, it was time to bid farewell.
Pearl rushed over, his body as flexible as electricity, and he jumped on the side wall. He had both legs and the power of a fully mimetic experimental subject in the deterioration stage. How could he be at a disadvantage when dealing with Rimbaud, who had been away from water and stayed too long on land?
Rimbaud took off a piece of the collar, forged it into a dagger, and gripped it in his hand. He didn’t dare forge larger weapons, for fear that the Dead Sea heart rock would obtain too much and cause the collar to shatter.
Pearl was already in front of him. Rimbaud suddenly flipped over, the dagger creating a sharp blue arc in the air. Pearl’s reaction was extremely fast; he stepped on the wall when the blade touched his throat and turned the corner.
Rimbaud crawled up the wall, seizing the opportunity. When Pearl was pressed against the wall as a buffer, the dagger penetrated downward fiercely. Pearl narrowly avoided it and struck with his backhand. Rimbaud retreated to dodge it, but his fin was accidentally cut off by the long blade, and the thin fin fell to the ground.
Both parties possessed the Dead Sea heart rock. Bai Chunian couldn’t recklessly intervene in this life-and-death fight. He could only trace Pearl’s movements intently, categorizing and analyzing them in his mind.
“The fighting style is more like jiu-jitsu, and his strength and speed have been enhanced. He’s using a second-generation combat chip.” Bai Chunian said, “Second-generation chips have a bug; they strengthened the dominant hand but caused the lower body to be unstable and unable to keep up with the attack speed. I’m not sure if they fixed this bug or not already. Rimbaud, try attacking his left leg.”
After hearing this, Rimbaud’s body was covered by blue lightning, and he moved along the wall like the wind. Pearl chased after him, then stabbed Rimbaud in the back of the heart with his long knife. Rimbaud was well prepared and deviated from the direction to dodge the blow; his fish tail wrapped around Pearl’s left leg and he lifted it hard.
Pearl was suddenly turned over—Rimbaud had wrapped around his body, his fishtail constricted quickly, and his left arm clamped Pearl’s throat. He tightly held the dagger in his right hand and slashed Pearl’s throat.
Pearl could sense that his life was being seriously threatened, so he rolled into a ball and used Rupert’s Tears to withstand Rimbaud’s fatal blow. Following that was a strong scent of tea millet flower being released, and he violently struggled.
Rimbaud’s tail was tightened, his scales came off and fell to the ground, and the tender red flesh was exposed where the scales once were, with blood oozing out.
Rimbaud returned to Bai Chunian’s side, encircling Bai Chunian within the space as if guarding his nest. His tail turned a fiery red, the tip of it raised high and he shook in annoyance. His scales rubbed together to make threatening sounds, and he showed his razor-sharp teeth to the other party in demonstration.
Pearl gasped for breath. He opened his mouth, full of sharp teeth and growled at Rimbaud.
Right now, the two merman leaders were like wild beasts competing for the power of the clan; the situation was intense.
To be able to maintain a stalemate with an experimental subject in the deterioration stage, Rimbaud’s combat effectiveness had truly reached the peak of the military-type experimental subject. Even if he fought his provocative descendants in the ocean, no one could take the throne away from him. As long as he was willing, he would rule over the sea forever.
After exchanging blows a few times, Pearl understood that the other party wasn’t easy to deal with and couldn’t be defeated just like that. The Tang sword melted in his palm and recast to a pistol.
Pearl’s M2 ability was Hydrated Steel. Since Hydrated Steel appeared as an M2 differentiation ability, it would be much stronger than Rimbaud’s Hydrated Steel, which was just an associated ability. He could forge thermal weapons from the Dead Sea heart rock, which Rimbaud couldn’t.
He pointed the muzzle of the gun at Rimbaud and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Bullets from the Dead Sea heart rock shot through the air. Rimbaud quickly gathered into a blue lightning and left his spot. He climbed quickly along the wall, and Pearl’s gun muzzle followed suit. As he moved, he pulled the trigger one after another, each bullet following Rimbaud’s tail.
Rimbaud was forced to crawl to avoid, but doing so would inadvertently expose Xiao Bai standing behind him. Pearl suddenly turned the muzzle of the gun and fired a shot at Bai Chunian.
The cultivation pod on either side had moved inward by one meter. Right now, the space they were currently situated in was anomalously narrow. There was only a one-meter wide passage in the middle, and even stretching out his arms was difficult. Although Bai Chunian had great speed, he had nowhere to hide.
Two bullets came flying toward him, and he immediately squatted down to avoid the one aimed at his chest, but he couldn’t dodge the one coming below. Just when he put his hand on his collar and was about to take off the restraint, his body was hugged tightly.
Rimbaud hugged him tightly, his body trembling violently. Bai Chunian touched the bullet hole on his back; the Dead Sea heart rock was absorbing Rimbaud’s vitality.
“Xiao Bai…even if there’s the slightest chance, don’t take off your collar, okay? I can…still get back up…I will save you.” Rimbaud shrilly shouted. He dug out the bullet from the wound on his back with his fingernails. As if he couldn’t feel pain, he hugged Bai Chunian tightly in fear.
He rarely uttered such a plea. It turned out that the poised and arrogant king could also yield.
Bai Chunian hugged him and squatted down on the ground, his chin placed on his shoulder. He couldn’t suppress his voice and choked out a sob. “Don’t be like this; don’t beg me.”
Pearl came over step by step. He raised the reloaded pistol and aimed it toward Rimbaud’s nape.
Bai Chunian’s pupils suddenly shrank. He wanted to push Rimbaud out of the way, but Rimbaud held him stubbornly, not willing to evade.
“I will never let you be destroyed in front of me.”
Because the cultivation pods on both sides had already drawn too close to each other, it could only accommodate two people standing front and back, which meant that one of them would be in front of the gun out of the two of them.
“It won’t happen, I promise.” Bai Chunian blocked Rimbaud’s nape with both hands, covering the vital part. He coldly stared at Pearl, who was approaching step by step, racking his brain for a way to kill him.
The moment Pearl pulled the trigger, Bai Chunian jumped up. He crossed over Rimbaud and to the space above him, kicked Pearl’s wrist, and let off the shot, which flew to the ceiling and made a hole in the ceiling.
The bullet still rubbed past Bai Chunian’s chest; the Dead Sea heart rock easily ripped his combat uniform and reopened the age-old scar on his chest, leaving the wound bleeding.
Bai Chunian held the wound on his chest and landed head-first on the ground. The wound created by the Dead Sea heart rock made it unable to heal; the blood flowed profusely and very soon soaked the uniform.
Pearl became angry and withdrew the Dead Sea heart rock. It gathered in his hand, grew more and more, and then gradually molded into a hand-held heavy machine gun with the muzzle facing them.
The heavy machine gun firing range was much larger compared to a pistol, and in such a narrow space, even Bai Chunian couldn’t think of a way to escape from the muzzle.
Rimbaud eventually acknowledged that this was a deadlock; he grabbed Bai Chunian, using his tail to wrap him into his embrace. His back faced Pearl, pressing close to the bloody Bai Chunian and gazing at him with lingering infatuation. He lightly kissed the corner of his lips. “I will keep my promise and take you back to my home.”
“Wait until I come back in my next life and take you to bed.” Bai Chunian ruthlessly bit Rimbaud’s lips, and his fingers harshly tugged off the collar.
The moment before he took off the collar, Pearl suddenly stiffened.
Bai Chunian saw with his own eyes that Pearl, as if suddenly at the mercy of an invisible hand, was forced to kneel on the ground and dazedly put down the heavy machine gun.
Rimbaud was rich in combat experience; the slightest gap would be seized by him for a counter-killing opportunity. He instantly turned his face which turned ruthless and sinister. With the dagger in his mouth, he picked up the pistol on the ground and went toward the kneeling Pearl.
Pearl kneeled on the ground in a converting posture and touched the scale on the side of his leg. The special scale suddenly turned into black smoke and disappeared. Pearl dropped to the ground and raised his head reverently at Rimbaud.
Bai Chunian suddenly noticed something; he shouted very loudly, almost breaking his voice, “Rimbaud! Stop! He’s admitting defeat! Don’t attack him! Don’t attack him!!!”
However, Rimbaud’s eyes were already full of murderous intent. The compassion and sanctity that should have been in his eyes were replaced by despair and madness. He aimed the muzzle of the gun at Pearl’s left chest and pulled the trigger.
A bullet penetrated Pearl’s chest.
The atmosphere turned quiet, and as if it had also turned extremely cold, the sounds froze, and even the sound of their breathing had disappeared.
Pearl’s undead summon was still kneeling peacefully with his hands together—it was Rimbaud who slowly fell over.
Rimbaud’s eyes were blank. He laid on the ground, panting.
A huge hole appeared on his chest; the black ore heart could be seen beating, but it was covered with cracks.
Rimbaud didn’t have the energy to turn around. He looked at the side of Pearl’s leg and discovered the scale that proved the siren bloodline had disappeared; only a wound caused by removing the scale remained.
“Rimbaud—” Bai Chunian rushed over and hugged him. But Rimbaud’s complexion turned visibly ashen.
He struggled to reach out his hand; his trembling fingertip touched Pearl’s piously bowed head.
“Child, are you professing to me? So when I kill you, I’ll receive the backlash by tenfolds.” Rimbaud’s voice was hoarse, and he choked up. “It was I who wronged you.”
Rimbaud finally let go of the pistol, and it fell from his tail with a clatter.
His gaze fell onto the pistol, which melted into a pool of flowing black water.
“This is humankind’s craziest invention. It turned out I was wrong the moment I picked it up.” Rimbaud half-closed his eyes tiredly. “It’s my mistake.”
I’m atoning for my unbridled selfishness and fallen divinity.
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ )