Translator: ThatLazyPotato
Translation Checker: 7qqy
Editor: yuki_shuichi
Eight months after Rimbaud led the sea clan away from the Research Institute, 60% of the sea had been solidified and sealed off. The maritime transportation was forced to stop, the international trade had a total collapse, and a lot of workers had lost their jobs. Related companies had closed down, the stock market had gone green, while ordinary citizens held placards and marched in the bustling commercial center every day. The angry civilians directed their grievances at the government, but little did they know that the government was helpless.
Almost all icebreakers were lowered into the sea to remove the solidified sealing layer on the sea surface, but it was only a drop in the bucket; the removal speed was far less than the solidification speed.
The limited groundwater and freshwater in rivers and lakes were rapidly consumed by the huge population. Due to the lack of ocean regulation, only unused fresh water and used sewage were added to the cycle. Rainfall no longer occurred around the world, and even the small amounts that did fall were acidic deposits.
The first to wither was the food growing area, followed closely by the green plants in every corner of the land. As could be seen from the satellite map, the rainforest area was visibly shrinking in size every day. An unprecedented large-scale drought swept across the world, and sandstorms came ashore, looting every exposed building.
Although the country was working hard to regulate the water prices, there were still people who maliciously hoarded water and sold it at high prices. Ordinary mineral water priced at 300 yuan a bottle was sold out as soon as it was put on the shelves. The price was quickly raised to 600 and 800 yuan, yet there were still people buying it.
Much later, prices stopped rising because the money was no longer worth anything.
The severe water shortage did promote human solidarity for a short period, in which people shared food and fresh water with each other. However, this good atmosphere of mutual help only lasted for a month. People went from being generous to crazy, storming neighborhoods and homes to take stocks of mineral water and compressed food.
The conflict on the border was even more intense—oil was no longer precious in people’s eyes; rather, countries with freshwater lakes were frequently invaded.
The temperature was rising faster, and the radioactive material in the air had also eerily increased to near-critical levels.
It was only April, but the average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere had soared to 42 degrees Celsius. The city residents could only maintain a normal life by turning on the air conditioner all day long. Conflicts over electricity use led to trips and burned-out circuits, and then the entire building was swallowed up by hot, dry air.
Due to the extremely hot and dry weather, wildfires broke out in various areas, and the rampant flames quickly devoured the remaining oasis.
These days, the PBB has been out on the streets to maintain order and calm people’s emotions. Under the scorching sun, He Suowei wiped away his sweat and crouched under the shadow of the armored vehicle to rest.
Civilian riots occurred frequently; therefore, soldiers had to wear thick body armor and combat uniforms to protect themselves. More than a dozen team members had already fallen into a coma due to heatstroke and were taken away by people from the Medical Association.
He Wenxiao secretly brought a bottle of water, looked around like a thief, then unscrewed the lid and gave it to He Suowei to drink. “Captain, hurry and drink some.”
“Where did you get this?” He Suowei licked his dry and flaky lips. His burning throat became much more comfortable after a little moistening. He pushed the water bottle back to him. “You drink it, I won’t drink it. Share it with Wenyi.”
“He has one already. The IOA training soldiers gave them to us.” He Wenxiao smoothed the braid on his head, wiped away the hot sweat on his face, and sat on the ground, fanning himself with the helmet.
Not far away, on a semi-trailer with the IOA logo printed on it, doctors from the Medical Association were distributing medicine. Among them stood two children with the Greenfly Island trainee logo on their backs. Tan Qing and Tan Yang, who possessed hydrogen and oxygen glands, were busy making water to provide to the common people. People lined up anxiously with tools to fetch water.
Under the scorching sun, the temperature inside the trailer was astonishing. Tan Yang had used so much energy that his knees buckled and he fell to the ground.
“Xiao Yang? Doctor! Dr. Han! My sister fainted!” Tan Qing knelt in a hurry, held Tan Yang in his arms, and released soothing pheromones to restore her strength.
Citizens waiting for water behind the queue didn’t know what was happening; they just felt that the team suddenly stopped moving, and there was a commotion and swearing.
Some people rushed directly into the semi-trailer and snatched the water used by the doctors to clean their instruments. Han Xingqian could only protect his interns behind him. During the dispute, his arm was accidentally scratched by a civilian holding a knife. The blood stain on the white uniform grew bigger and bigger, and a mother carrying a child rushed forward, frantically pressing the infant child onto Han Xingqian’s wrist and licking his blood.
“Back off! Let go of the doctor!” He Suowei fired in the air twice. The deafening gunfire sound finally drove the irrational people back.
From the day Rimbaud left the land with hatred and sadness, everything became out of control, as if the brakes of a car had malfunctioned.
Outside the IOA building, the security guards were stopping another bunch of armed civilians from protesting.
Yan Yi sat at his desk; a remote multi-person conference was still open on the computer, but he was extremely tired and kept rubbing his dry eyes and sore temples.
Some organizational leaders asked Yan Yi for his opinion. Yan Yi pulled himself together and answered with a sigh. “I already said it half a year ago; only by handing Aileen to him can the matter be discussed. This is our only chance and I stand by my opinion.”
The leaders who had sternly accused him of being irresponsible a few months ago all fell silent.
They didn’t have much sympathy for Aileen, it was just hard to accept that the powerful weapons and wealth they were proud of had shown their fragility and vulnerability against the ocean. This was an insult to human pride and self-esteem.
“Can you guarantee that Siren will unblock the sea area once he gets Aileen?”
“Siren has shown his extreme dislike for us a long time ago but has never taken any action. I’m sure he has built up hatred to this point, and he must be really angry now that his bottom line has been touched.” Yan Yi responded, “I have dealt with Siren before; his actions are completely controlled by emotions, and his revenge mentality is far greater than his reasoning. If we don’t fulfill his demands, then he will seal the sea forever, not showing any mercy.”
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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There was a long silence among them, and finally, someone nodded. As a result, leaders of other organizations were forced to agree, agreeing to take people to negotiate with Rimbaud.
Yan Yi closed the computer and rubbed his face with force, then laid sleepily on the table.
A big hand was placed on his back. The person picked him up from the office chair and placed him on the sofa bed.
“Rest for a bit. You haven’t been sleeping well during this period.”
Yan Yi suddenly put his arms around Lu Shangjin’s neck. Lu Shangjin straightened up in no hurry and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Aileen is being locked in the International Prison, and the final trial is still far away. She kept claiming she was innocent, pretending to be a fool and unwilling to cooperate with the investigation. It’s obvious she still has another way out. Once the forces secretly supporting her protect her for the time being, it’s not impossible that she will be released without charge many years later.”
Yan Yi raised his eyes, and a trace of happiness flashed in his tired eyes. “Don’t worry, as long as she falls in Rimbaud’s hands, no one can save her.”
¤¤¤
Although the outside world had been in dire straits, the isolated Greenfly Island was unaffected. The solidified sealing layer had never sealed the Greenfly Island Special Training Base; rather, the weather was still sunny.
The doctors removed small pieces of the solidified sea surface for observation and testing and found that these seals were actually impurities and garbage mixed in seawater. The impurities floated up and condensed to form a sealing layer, so it could be inferred that seawater impurities in the area wouldn’t solidify when they were below a certain value.
Bai Chunian once left a rule at the training base. Every day, two trainees take turns to clean the coastline and nearby waters. This habit had been accumulated over the years and had saved the lives of the children on the island.
Not many students were left. There were only some students whose assessment scores had not yet reached the requirements for leaving the island, experimental subjects who were housed here, as well as the IOA agents who were seriously injured during the cleanup operation at the institute and were ordered to recuperate here.
Lu Yan and Xiao Xun’s injuries had long since healed, but due to the solidification of a large area of seawater, the ferry couldn’t come. Even though they were anxious, they couldn’t fly back to the city across the sea.
Lu Yan could only run along the coastline and wait for the figure of the ferry.
Today, he bumped into Yu Xiaochong by accident. Ever since they arrived, the clownfish had been shutting himself in his dorm room, and Lu Yan had never seen him.
Lu Yan cautiously sat next to Yu Xiaochong, then scooted closer to him bit by bit. He held his knee and tilted his head to look at him.
Yu Xiaochong held a stack of photos, lost in thought. The top photo was a group picture with the instructors and students, followed by the photo of him and Bai Chunian that he finally got, as well as a funny selfie photo of him with Hucks. A hole had been dug out under his feet.
Lu Yan whispered, “If you bury them here, they’ll be quickly washed away by the waves.
“Then wash me away along with.” Yu Xiaochong threw down the stack of photos and leaned against Lu Yan’s shoulder.
Lu Yan raised his rabbit ears and covered them over Yu Xiaoching’s face. His mood also went down.
Someone behind walked over. Lu Yan turned around and saw Golden Silk Spider and the mummy holding two piles of miscellaneous items.
“Wenchi? What are you holding?”
Golden Silk Spider was also surprised to see them. He hurried over, squatted in front of them, and put the things in his arms on the sand.
They were just some spider silk bags and crafts.
“Need to send them to Rimbaud.” Golden Silk Spider sat down and picked up one of the carefully woven silk bags. “Chu-ge has turned into a marble, and it’s easy for him to get lost, so this can be placed in the pocket or tied to the body.”
“This one is Xiaochong’s written letter; this one is made by Firefly, and this bag is the sour candy Rimbaud likes.” Golden Silk Spider put everything together. “My silk is water-proof. I’ll just have the underwater drones bring it over. There will be underwater base stations along the way to charge it.”
“Ohhhh, me too. I also have something.” Lu Yan took out his own phone and put it in the spider silk bag without much thought. “I have a backup phone. This way, Rimbaud can call us.”
Yu Xiaochong hesitantly stretched out the photos. “Then this…give this to him, too.”
“Okay.” Golden Silk Spider used the silk to pack everything and squeeze the air out of it. The mummy crouched beside the waters and placed the underwater drone down. The spider silk package was hung at the end of the drone and slowly submerged into the sea.
“How long does it take to arrive?”
“Probably one or two months before it arrives in the Caribbean Sea.”
“Oh…so long.”
¤¤¤
The agreed date for negotiations was mid-August, the location of the negotiations was set on the island in the center of the sea, where the International Prison was located.
Warden Li Wang stood in front of the front mirror and casually adjusted his collar. Aileen was locked in the heavy-duty prison he managed. Today, Yan Yi was coming over to pick up someone, so he had to come to accompany him.
“Zhou, come in and help me tie my necktie.” Li Wang opened the drawer and casually picked out a dark blue necktie and put it around his neck.
It was only a few minutes later before someone pushed open the door. Black Panther looked cold and irritable. He grabbed the necktie hanging on Li Wang’s chest and tied it.
“Mhm… Last time, that old rabbit said I was sloppy; a tie this time would make him happy. You surprised me with your obedience today.”
Black Panther didn’t say anything. After he finished doing the tie, he retreated to the nearby sofa, wearing a bodyguard uniform and equipped with a gun holster.
“Stop working so hard. I don’t plan on taking you with me.” Satisfied, Li Wang loosened the neckline a little. “Rimbaud is coming, and he’ll definitely bring his precious marble with him. There will be too many people and too many eyes during the negotiations and someone will inevitably try to break the marble. If you save it too obviously, then the fire may be drawn to me.”
Black Panther paused his fingertips, and he was stunned for a moment.
Li Wang put his hands in his pockets and walked behind Black Panther. “I’ve been letting you go. I have never restricted you wherever you want to go, and I always leave my door open for you, so be aware of that. It’s been so long, I only ordered you to protect Cursemaker from death, but you went and created conflict between Divine Envoy and Cursemaker. You sneak into the submarine laboratory alone to help Divine Envoy escape. And if I hadn’t held you back at the raid of the Research Institute, delaying you, I’m afraid you could have saved the Divine Envoy. What benefits can you gain by going against me?”
“Seeing you pleased makes me unhappy,” Black Panther stated casually.
Li Wang held an umbrella with both hands; the tip of the umbrella was on the ground. He turned around, his back facing Black Panther. “It doesn’t matter, you can just relieve your anger. However, you aren’t allowed to interfere this time, stay obediently in this room.”
The tip of the umbrella lightly tapped the carpet, and a ring of black smoke spread out and wrapped around Black Panther’s ankles. The smoke dissipated and the black ring disappeared.
Black Panther was forcibly imprisoned, unable to get off the sofa despite struggling left and right. Two black panther ears stuck out from his black hair, activating his mimicry.
Even so, he could only obey the orders of his dominator and sit motionlessly on the sofa.
The black umbrella was the controller, *“Devil’s Shade.”* The order issued by Li Wang was conveyed by the black umbrella to the Devil Envoy Black Panther, leaving him with no choice but to obey.
“Wait for me to come back.” Li Wang wanted to rub Black Panther’s ears, but he drooped his ears and retracted them. A hand broke through the restraints and pushed Li Wang’s face forward.
“Today is August 14th. I slightly revealed the date of the negotiation to the eavesdropping doll, hoping that Eris won’t disappoint me.” Li Wang straightened up, carefully adjusted his tie, and walked out of the room leisurely.
Noon was approaching, and the blazing sunlight was shining directly on the hot ground through the thin atmosphere. The cloudless sky suddenly darkened, and some water vapor evaporated and gathered, forming a dark cloud that covered the sky within dozens of seconds.
A gust of cold wind blew, brushing away the heat on the ground. The prison guard standing outside the International Prison raised his head and wiped the sweat from his face, unable to contain his joy. “Is it going to rain?”
The prison door slowly opened, bodyguards in uniforms and equipment lined up in an orderly manner, and the leaders of the organizations involved in the negotiations came out surrounded by the bodyguards. The military’s anomaly radar vehicle followed slowly to prevent dangerous experimental subjects from appearing around them at any time to interfere with the negotiations.
Yan Yi was walking in the front, with Li Wang accompanying him.
A prison guard escorted Aileen, who was wearing a pure black hood, to Yan Yi’s side. Yan Yi turned around and lifted the hood, put his fingertip on the edge of her cheek to check if she was wearing a mask, and confirmed the identity of the hostage in public without any concealment.
In just a year, it looked as if Aileen had aged ten years. She raised her slack eyelids and sneered. “I thought you were some kind of honorable man, yet you used your position to avenge a personal grudge.”
“Personal grudge?” Yan Yi covered her with the hood. He stood with his hands behind his back and waited. “For who? For the IOA agents and students who were seriously injured and died heroically defending the city?”
Near noon, the sky changed, and the solidified sea surface gradually cracked. The cracks expanded, covering the sealed sea surface.
Suddenly, a torrent broke through the sea surface and formed a towering sea tornado. Electric light circulated in the dark clouds, blue lightning continued to climb down from the sky and split the sea surface, the waves surged, and a throne was gradually made from hydrated steel.
A huge manta ray with a blue body and transparent bones rushed out of the water, spreading its fins nearly ten meters wide and cutting a shocking blue light from the air.
The transparent manta ray transformed into a human form sat on the throne, propped their head, and looked down at all living beings.
A mother-of-pearl oyster jumped out of the water and landed on the hydrated steel coral armrest. It opened its mouth and revealed a disc-size round pearl inside. Then, it suddenly closed and locked itself tightly, protecting the pearl inside.
Despite being thickly wrapped in nacre, the brilliance of the siren scale was still unobstructed, and the faint outline revealed the blue light from inside the pearl.
Rimbaud was worried that someone would harm Xiao Bai after he left the Carribeans, so he could only feel at ease bringing him along. However, the pearl had grown to a size where it could no longer be held in the hand, and could only be stored in the mother-of-pearl.
“I’ve arrived. Did you bring the person I want?” Rimbaud’s voice was deep and powerful, with a slight hint of a whale echo.
Yan Yi came forward, signaling that Aileen was next to him, but didn’t immediately push her over. “Please unblock all sea areas.”
Rimbaud curled his blond hair with his long index finger. “With what confidence do you have to negotiate terms with me?”
Rimbaud slightly raised his eyes, his fishtail turned into a pair of slender legs, and he walked down the throne step by step on the hydrated steel steps.
He parted the raging waves, and with every step he took, a layer of hydrated steel with blue currents spread out beneath his feet.
Rimbaud passed by Yan Yi, walked up to Aileen, lifted her hood, and lifted her chin with his claws covered with cold scales to look at her, displaying his prey in front of all negotiators. His sharp black nails scratched a bloody mark on Aileen’s face, and he lowered his head to sniff the scent of her blood.
“I won’t immediately kill you.” Rimbaud caressed Aileen’s ear, then he snatched her away and pushed her into the sea. The hydrated steel cage closed Aileen in a completely enclosed transparent rectangular block filled with air and slowly submerged into the deep sea.
The fear of being swallowed up by the endless abyss made Aileen instinctively pound on the wall for help, but it was to no avail, and soon the trail disappeared completely.
“We have already handed the person over; please fulfill your promise to unblock the sea areas.”
“What if I don’t?” Rimbaud raised a brow and smiled slightly. “Seeing your sorry state makes me happy from the bottom of my heart.”
“But we aren’t the only ones suffering from the separation of land and sea. If a war between land and sea really does break out, a lose-lose situation for both sides won’t be what you want. Humans are not the only ones living on land; do you want to kill them all? As someone sitting on the throne, won’t it be a neglect of your duty?”
Rimbaud slowly walked back to the sea; the cold water reached his calves.
“Sorry,” Yan Yi said sincerely. “It was our fault that things have developed to the current situation, and we will try our best to rectify it.”
Rimbaud fell silent and didn’t answer. At this moment, the pupils of his eyes suddenly lit up with golden lines. His associated ability, Koi Blessing, sensed the opportunity and automatically activated it. A cloth bag floating on the water from out of nowhere hit Rimbaud’s leg.
Rimbaud showed a look of contempt and mockery, but he smelled a familiar scent wrapped in the spider silk.
He froze for a moment, then squatted down to open the bag. Inside was full of little gifts with labels on them—a spider silk bag, handmade nougat, a few packets of sour candy, a stack of photos taken on Greenfly Island, and a cell phone with a muscle bunny case. It seemed that because it had wandered for too long, the phone ran out of battery and shut off.
Rimbaud touched Xiao Bai, who was standing next to him in one of the photos, the rim of his eyes slowly turning red.
He was on the verge of accepting the fact that Xiao Bai had turned into a marble and was staying beside him, but when he saw Xiao Bai’s lively appearance in the photo, he clearly felt the fine pain still lingering in his chest for a long time, never letting go.
When he was lost in thought, the anomaly radar on the armored vehicle suddenly sounded, and the warning sound played repeatedly. “An experimental subject in deterioration is approaching!”
All the bodyguards raised their guns in precaution. They held their breath, not daring to act rashly. Suddenly, a cursed golden thread wrapped around the mother-of-pearl, forced open the shell and coiled around the big pearl in its mouth.
At some point, an experimental subject quietly appeared on the highest spire of the prison—Eris was sitting on the edge of the platform and swinging his legs; the corner of his lips was raised and he made a face.
Yan Yi and Rimbaud sensed an abnormal aura at the same time and rushed toward the mother-of-pearl.
Rimbaud jumped into the water, his legs turned back into a fishtail, and he shuttled through the waves. Yan Yi jumped up and teleported several times in the air. He got close enough to the white marble inside the mother-of-pearl.
“Don’t break it—!”
But the Bad Luck is Coming aura suddenly enveloped him, and the pearl slipped from Yan Yi’s fingertips and fell. Rimbaud desperately took it into his arms, but his back hit the sea surface hard. When falling from a high altitude, the sea water was as hard as the ground. The huge impact made Rimbaud’s eyesight go dark.
Although the pearl was caught, cracks appeared on the surface. The cracks grew more and more and suddenly broke into pieces.
Rimbaud laid on the hydrated steel ice floe. He ignored the excruciating pain of his bones breaking and struggled to get up and gather the scattered pearl fragments into his arms.
The siren scale exploded from the inside of the marble. After losing its carrier, the glowing blue scale automatically returned to Rimbaud’s body.
Rimbaud frantically tried to piece the fragments back together but found that it simply couldn’t be done.
“I don’t want, I don’t want to forget. Randi, don’t let me forget you.” Rimbaud held the fragments tightly; blood oozed from the palms of his hands, and he let the pain force him to not forget Xiao Bai.
Tears fell into the sea like broken threads. Rimbaud sat with his tail bent on the floating, hydrated steel ice, looking up and crying. The majestic kong aura he had been carrying completely collapsed at this moment; the joy of revenge was nothing compared to the great sorrow.
“Rimbaud, don’t cry.” Yan Yi said beside him.
When Rimbaud was on the verge of losing his rationality, he suddenly felt something warm and small on the back of his hand.
He lowered his head with eyes full of tears and saw a little white plush paw resting on the back of his hand. It was small—very small.
Yan Yi couldn’t help but bend his eyes and squatted on one knee on the hydrated steel ice. He touched the head of the little lion cub, which had a pink tinge in the white velvet, with his fingertips.
“Xiao Bai?”
The lion cub had just opened its eyes and could only cry.
¤¤¤
Eris, who was hiding on the top of the prison platform and deliberately stirred up disputes, was also stunned and stood up suddenly. “What? Is that my da-ge? I’m going to trample it to death.”
Puppet Master saw that Rimbaud showed no signs of forgetting everything, so he covered Eris’ mouth and led him to jump off the platform. “Don’t make a sound. Withdraw.”
Thank You for the new chapter (๑˙❥˙๑)
I’m so sad for Clownfish. I hope someone could heal his broken heart. He lost XiaoBai whom he admires and Huck whom he was helping to enter human society.
And for Black panther, it seems he is bound with that selfish and bastard warden. I didn’t expect him to be the mastermind but I hope he would be taken down by YanYi. Black leopard would be free.
And Eris, please go die already !