The Fallen Merman

Even then, the scientists didn’t give up so easily. Although for the sake of safety, they stopped trying to drive the boat to Rimbaud’s side. Instead, they had divers wearing oxygen tanks and carrying cameras enter the water from a distance and discreetly swim toward the reef. These divers often interacted with oceanic life so it wasn’t a particularly difficult endeavor. Even if they encountered a shark, the professional divers wouldn’t be too bothered.

Two divers put on self-preservational chain mail, brought along video cameras facing up as they entered the water and approached stealthily. 

The algae bloom within this patch of the sea was worse than they had imagined due to the floating sea grasses that entirely covered the upper layer. The sea water beneath received no sunlight, oxygen supply was scarce and the vast majority of the corals had turned white and died while the corpses of marine life were visible everywhere.

The divers groped ahead slowly through the filthy, stinking sea water while the scientists aboard the boat gathered in front of the observation screen to take notes intently only to see that the screen was entirely obscured by the murky water and only revealed a pitch black void where nothing was perceivable.

But a beam of light suddenly shone through the filth, and the sea was separated into two halves by an invisible barrier. The outside remained disgusting and putrid while inside the boundary, the water was so clear it was hard to see even a trace of impurity.

The diver knew they had entered the blue merman’s purification area as the sea water was extremely clean. They were still three meters from the reef, but already could clearly observe even the sharp point of the merman’s tail fins drooping in the water.

With the blue merman as the center, an area with a three meter radius had been purified entirely, from the surface all the way to the sea floor. The shape of the area was cylindrical. The area where the reef grew was about twelve meters deep; the entire twelve meters high cylindrical area was as clear as a piece of blue-green glass.

The scientists watched the screen raptly, every so often discussing, amazed: “This is too unbelievable, his tail has been emitting light this entire time, and the air bubbles from it disturbing the water transform into living, moving jellyfish.”

The sky became a little darker again. The last bit of light threading beyond the cloud cover was also engulfed and nightfall began.

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The scientists surrounding the observation screen once again burst into astonished clamor, “Heavens, there are so many glowing blue jellyfish just below the surface of the water around him, and the reef he’s on is like an island awash with light. Once he swims freely through the sea, surely it’ll resemble a twinkling milky way.” 

A scientist turned back to face a reporter’s camera and said, “The first time my senior observed him, they referred to him as the abysmal sun (the sun within the depths of the sea), today it seems that he is really worthy of such a reputation.”

The water’s surface was extremely clear, to the point where the creatures above and below could easily perceive each other. When the divers tried to approach the merman, they suddenly discovered that he was attentively watching them.

Rimbaud sat on the reef listlessly until he noticed two puny humans cautiously drawing closer, so, to alleviate his boredom, he watched them toss about in the water.

Gazing into those soul-piercingly blue eyes, the divers became dazed for a few seconds. They couldn’t determine if the merman was really watching them. 

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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“We don’t dare to hastily save him without careful consideration, but hopefully our divers can bring back a piece of the bandages as a sample for us to study.” 

Before taking out the required tools, the divers first carefully drew closer to Rimbaud, wanting to remove a small section of the bandage on his torso for research and observation.

At the same time, Bai Chunian sprang up from his seated position in front of the television watching the live broadcast, “??? I got the bandages from the Medical Association by swiping my own card, how can they blatantly steal clothing! Foreigner men are getting more and more outrageous.”

Rimbaud raised his tail lightly and a stronger wave burst forth from the tips of his fins. He spoke, voice low and soulless, “Goon, bigi. (Go away, humans)”

The divers were slapped into the water by the oncoming surge of water. Their cameras shook violently, the images rapidly becoming unclear. But, they stubbornly did not leave, because they had witnessed a scene that even a lifetime’s fantasizing couldn’t come up with. 

Another merman alpha with a gorgeous fiery red tail approached from the deep sea in the distance, barging into the area of clean water. As he came, the water he swam past also became slightly clearer, but his purification ability couldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as the blue merman on the shore.

Closely following were countless merfolks in a rainbow of hues. They all came from the depths of the sea, and the putrid water steadily became pristine because of their arrival. Hundreds and thousands of merfolks gathered before the blue merman ashore, yet hesitated just beyond the border of the clearwater area, gazing at their king on the shore, appearing almost like a crowd of pitiful pilgrims.

The red tailed alpha merman broke through the surface of the water. His beautiful naked torso floated above the water, but it was covered in deep red claw marks that had been soaked a deathly whitedue to the sea water. The wounds entangled together to form a twisted ghoul’s face.

A scientist ashore who had done extensive research on merfolks explained: “This is the symbol used to discern someone who has been banished from the merfolks clan. When a merperson incurs the wrath of the majority, they will suffer their clansmen’s violent retribution; mer claws and pheromones will leave permanent scars on the banished mer’s body, who can only leave the clan to live and die on their own. Most of the exiled merfolks will die sooner or later.” 

Driven forward by the hundreds and thousands merfolks at his back, the red tailed merman crawled onto the reef with great difficulty. His body clung to the surface as he lay on his belly and, extremely fearfully, went to kiss the very tip of Rimbaud’s tail.

“Siren, boliea kelak noliya niy. (Regarding the events of the past, I am truly very sorry).”

“Kimo goon moya boliea glarbo. (Your departure made us suffer bitterly)”

“Ief non kimo buligi, boliea chang milayer. (If we don’t have your nourishment, we have no way to live on (direct translation as: we will forever be infants)” 

“Cabean Se mu ansi. (The Caribbean Sea is already completely and totally ruined)”

“Boliea nowa abanda kimo. (We should never have banished you)”

“Fanlib kimo, boliea youyi. (Betraying you, I have sinned)”

The scientists aboard the boat were shocked silly. Even though there were no merlanguage experts among them, they still could understand a good portion of their dialogue. 

An English scientist exclaimed: “He is waiting for his subjects to receive him, what a noble king.”

Rimbaud examined his nail indifferently, and asked, his voice calm, “Athie? (What did they say)”

The merfolks below the water heard their king’s question and swam towards the shallow sea one after another, surrounding the reef Rimbaud reclined on. Each mer emitted a different shade of twinkling light, and they gathered in front of Rimbaud, reverently kissing the tip of his tail.

“Siren,” they respectfully called out to him, “boliea fanloth. (We were deceived)” 

Among these merfolks was an omega carrying an infant, the child was tightly swaddled in bundles of seaweed, which had decorative shells attached using jellyfish tentacles, which looked like lace edges.

The infant’s eyes were a bright and lively brown and they flashed again and again as it blinked. Shaking a short, thick and gray fishtail, it extended its little hands towards Rimbaud, wanting to be held.

Rimbaud raised a hand, and gently covered the child’s eyes with the center of his palm.

Simultaneously, his fishtail tightly curled around the repentant red tailed mer’s neck, mercilessly tightening the electric charged tail tips. The red tailed mer grabbed the fishtail around his neck and struggled with all his might, yet didn’t even manage to make a single sound. 

Rimbaud raised his powerful tail and cruelly dangled the merman in midair, whose tail thrashed around wildly, giving rise to large sprays of water.

Rimbaud brought him in front of himself. Suddenly, claws extended from his fingertips and the razor-sharp claws tore open a crimson wound in the other mer’s chest. Bone and flesh were eviscerated together.

Yet he didn’t die. Rimbaud hadn’t damaged his vital point.

On his next blow, Rimbaud severed half of his fish tail. 

The sea around the reef was dyed blood red. The red tailed merman’s corpse was torn into fragments and tossed into the water, where it unhurriedly sank to the seabed.

The bandages wrapped around Rimbaud’s torso turned red too, while fresh blood mixed with sea water as it flowed along his nails and dripped into the crevices of the reef from his fingertips. The merfolks nearby could only lower their heads in silence.

Rimbaud moved the hand that obscured the child’s eyes aside.

When he moved his palm aside, the child opened its eyes once more, the only difference being that they’d become a bright, rich orange. Its pupils seemed to be full of shooting stars, its little tail grew about a chi compared to before and its scales changed from an ordinary gray to gold, while its drooping fins resembled a haze of delicate gold gauze. 

“Goon. (Go)” Rimbaud said calmly.

Take me to meet your current king, let me see how exactly he has managed the kingdom upto this point.

He leapt up, carving an arc of blue light midair and gracefully slipped into the water, the crowd of merfolks following after.

Even the naked eye could perceive how all of the areas Rimbaud swam by became clear, the weeds disappearing, the floating corpses sinking to the seabed. 

His fishtail rapidly stirred the water, causing air bubbles to appear as he swam, and thousands upon tens of thousands of blue jellyfish came into being. When they brushed against the followers’ bodies, the affected merperson’s dulled luster and coloring gradually became vibrant and beautiful beyond compare, while the areas they swam past also became purified to the same extent.

The divers grew still, forgetting they were still in the water, while the scientists aboard the boat all forgot what they were supposed to be doing.

One elderly scientist dazedly dropped onto the floor and sat, tears flowing freely. He removed his glasses and cried: “In the entirety of my life I’ve never seen such a magnificent sight.”

The news’s live broadcast ended here. Sitting in front of the television, Bai Chunian couldn’t extract himself from the scene for a long, long time. 

“Siren.” Bai Chunian reached out his finger and traced it on the ground, “this was his former name.”

By this time, Han Xingqian had also reaped a considerable harvest. Closing his journal and capping his fountain pen, he said a few of his conclusions: “So it seems not every merperson has powerful purification capabilities. It’s very likely that this power was bestowed upon them by Rimbaud.”

“Speculating about their leader selection process, either there are merfolks who are born with extraordinary bestowable abilities that are chosen as leaders, or they receive the ability to bestow after they are chosen as a leader.”

“He must be so tired.” Bai Chunian sat on the floor, hand resting on his knee, saying faintly, “When we’re together, he doesn’t look like this.” 

“Alright. You don’t need to emphasize on this again.” Han Xingqian raised an eyebrow. “You dressing like this is definitely not for the sake of showing a mark, I know.”

“I’ve applied for a mission outside of the country with the President. Look, if there’s anything I can do, South America is fine, North America too. I don’t want the wages, I’ll work overtime for free.” Bai Chunian began to compile his applications.

Suddenly, Bai Chunian received a communications alert.

The detection station had sent an alert, reporting that an unknown helicopter was discovered thirty kilometers out from Greenfly Island. 

Bai Chunian went on the alert, raising his communicator and ordered: “Level three alert, ready the anti-aircraft missiles, security personnel assume your positions, I will be there shortly.”

“Received.”

Bai Chunian promptly hurried to the detection station, where the personnel showed him the real time anti-aircraft defense screens.

A white helicopter appeared in the cloudless expanse of the sky. It was painted with a cute rabbit’s head, its two ears were the propellers, and the entire chopper looked like a rabbit waving its merry foot as it flew over. 

Bai Chunian: “?”