Chapter 57 : Chapter 57
Chapter 57
With the help of an item from the Popularity Value Shop, Ji Qing teleported into the limestone cavern.
A faint crunching sound came from beneath his feet.
Ji Qing lowered his head and discovered that the ground was covered with eggshells left behind after fish fry had hatched. Once the fry were gone, the shells had gradually calcified. They had lost their former softness and transparency, becoming brittle and white.
He shifted slightly, and another crisp crack sounded beneath his feet.
So, with some regret, he gave up on the idea of remaining hidden and stopped concealing himself.
Ji Qing openly looked around. The floor of the cavern was piled high with mountains of eggshells, while the rock walls were covered with clusters of fish eggs that had yet to hatch. Most of the fry were already dead, while a few remained dormant.
The air was damp and stifling.
As he walked, the brittle shells kept breaking beneath his feet.
The surviving fry attached to the rock wall began struggling because of the noise. Some tried to break free from their shells, while others fell to the ground and died in pain.
Ji Qing saw glowing coral clusters, along with heaps of mammal carcasses.
These creatures from the land had become food for this breeding ground from the sea. They had obeyed the seduction of a Lord from another race and walked toward death in ignorant fearlessness.
Ji Qing sighed softly at the sight.
He continued deeper into the cave. The coral clusters and piles of corpses appeared more and more frequently, and there were even newly born little fish swimming among the coral, nibbling as they moved.
They had no pectoral fins, no wings, yet they floated freely through the airless, waterless environment.
Ji Qing’s gaze could not help being drawn to them.
The rotting carcasses of land animals nourished the growth of the coral, and the coral in turn provided food for the fish fry. But if they had no wings, why could they fly?
Just as Ji Qing was puzzling over this, an elderly woman’s voice rose inside his heart:
[Long time no see, Qing.]
Ji Qing froze slightly at the sound and looked up toward its source. He saw a red fish appear before him out of nowhere. Its tail fin was much broader than those of the fry in the cave, and its form was also far more mature.
Yet an inexplicable thought arose in Ji Qing’s mind: this was not the real “her.”
“Long time no see,” Ji Qing replied with a cold nod.
Although Ji Qing had no idea why the other party knew him, that did not stop him from following along with her words. Helplessly, he thought:
So... he had a third alter ego after all.
Ji Qing had suspected this before, but he had not expected it to become reality so quickly. Back when he first learned that Personas earned Popularity Value more easily than his main body, he had indeed considered creating a few more.
He had never expected that his pre-amnesia self had already opened three at once.
Ji Qing: ...Heh.
Never in his life had he imagined that he would cut off his own path so thoroughly. Feeling utterly troubled, Ji Qing thought: So what is my identity now? An Aberrant or an Infected?
Which one is my real self, exactly???
[You still like staying with humans as much as ever.] The elderly woman’s voice carried a smile. [You land-dwellers all seem to like humans. Their flesh is quite delicious.]
Ji Qing neither agreed nor disagreed. In a cold tone, he asked, “Why are you here?”
[To clean up the trouble my youngest daughter caused.]
The red fish circled around Ji Qing once and slowly swam deeper into the cave. From the leisurely pace of her movements, Ji Qing could easily tell that she wanted him to follow.
He silently did so.
Again, the faint crackling of crushed eggshells sounded beneath the ground.
[It has been a long time since we last met.] The red fish paused, sounding deeply emotional. [I truly never imagined we would meet again under these circumstances. I was just worrying over how to deal with the current situation.]
Ji Qing said flatly, “Your youngest daughter is certainly good at causing trouble.”
[I do not deny that.] The red fish replied unhurriedly. [But the situation is still manageable. I have already sent attendants to infiltrate the humans. They did not come here specifically to exterminate us.]
[I imagine this encounter between both sides was an accident on both ends.]
Ji Qing nodded in agreement.
That much was indeed true. The school still believed this was only a routine island sweep, while the Aberrants on this side had not expected so many people to come and explore the island.
[To eliminate hidden dangers, my daughter proposed raising a tsunami to sink this island.] The red fish turned toward him in apology. [I am very sorry, Qing. It seems you will not be able to continue using this identity.]
“That isn’t anything important,” Ji Qing said, lifting a hand to cut her off. But then his tone shifted, and he calmly pointed out, “But I think... you’re still hesitating, aren’t you?”
For some reason, Ji Qing found that his mood was strangely calm.
Even though getting along with his classmates in Class S had been pleasant, and his high school life had been comfortable and enjoyable, the moment he stood here and thought from the standpoint of an Aberrant—
He found that he simply did not care.
Is this what immersive acting feels like? Ji Qing struggled to pull his thoughts back to reality. Looking up at the red fish, he got straight to the point. “You want to end this matter in a safer way.”
[As expected, nothing escapes your eyes.] The red fish smiled.
[The meteorite, along with the other important items, has already been moved back to the seabed by my attendants.] The red fish spoke calmly. [Humans will not obtain our treasures, but...]
[I do not want my people to repeat this failure the next time they come ashore.]
[They are still too young. Contact with humans can broaden their understanding. The same is true of my daughter.] At this point, the red fish suddenly let out a long sigh. [Qing, I am already very old.]
[By the next time we meet, the deep sea will have raised up a new king.]
“You’re going to die?” Ji Qing immediately understood the situation.
A ripple of agitation rose in his heart at once, but he quickly suppressed it. Inwardly exasperated, Ji Qing thought: The clues to his memories were right in front of him, yet they were about to slip away in an instant.
Without fully grasping the current situation, he could not even ask the questions he wanted to ask.
[Yes.] The red fish’s voice was gentle. [This will be our last meeting. Next time, my youngest daughter will take my place and become the new sovereign of the deep sea.]
“I’m worried about that,” Ji Qing sighed softly.
Based on what he currently understood of the situation, he felt that the marine Aberrants had exposed far too much. You Xingluo’s deductions had already almost laid the entire truth bare before humanity.
Ji Qing even had a premonition—
If he mentioned You Xingluo here even once, then when he returned, he would see You Xingluo’s corpse.
What an awful situation.
From the perspective of the Aberrants, every human who had landed on the island had to be eradicated. From the perspective of the humans, they had to race against time to discover the Lord’s origins and stop the possible Black Tide.
And as someone who could come into contact with both sides, Ji Qing found the whole thing nothing but troublesome.
Suddenly, Ji Qing asked, “When do you plan to come ashore next?”
[I do not know.] The red fish shook her head. [But it is time for me to make room to teach my child. She is not a qualified ruler, though fortunately the deep sea has always been closed off...]
[We do not intend to take part in the conflicts of the land.]
Ji Qing’s heart immediately settled a great deal.
He already understood the hidden meaning behind her words. The red fish would not do anything like reveal his whereabouts to other beings, nor would she tell him the whereabouts of other beings.
The oceanic race had chosen to remain outside the conflict.
Although Ji Qing still had not figured out what exactly “the conflicts of the land” referred to, he understood that these words were precisely why he and the other party had remained on friendly terms. The red fish was a wise sovereign of the deep sea.
Ji Qing suddenly sighed softly.
So there really was no way to get useful information from her. He had thought this meeting would bring a hard, fierce conflict, or at least a tense exchange of testing words. Instead, he had met a monarch.
So Ji Qing raised his eyes and asked, “What are you going to do now?”
[This place must be destroyed.] The red fish pointed it out without hesitation. But then she quickly circled around Ji Qing once, sounding troubled. [As for anything beyond that... because I do not understand the structure of human society, it is not convenient for me to decide.]
[Perhaps you could give me some advice.]
A faint curve touched Ji Qing’s lips, then quickly faded back into his usual coldness.
He suddenly found the situation rather funny, yet he could not laugh. To laugh would be disrespectful to an elder. But once he thought of the “setback” from the prophecy...
Yes, this really was only a setback.
Even though the premise looked extremely bad, neither side actually wanted a conflict to occur. So Ji Qing said helplessly, “Then let me explain the human situation to you first.”
After briefly explaining the circumstances as he understood them, Ji Qing proposed, “My suggestion is to sink two-thirds of the island into the deep sea and completely erase the traces of species evolution.”
The remaining one-third would be enough for Xicheng’s fishermen to establish a transfer port, and at that point there would be no need to care about the consequences anymore. Xicheng’s degree of development on the island had never reached even one-third to begin with. The remaining two-thirds were excessive.
“Once the evidence is gone, its credibility disappears with it,” Ji Qing said coldly. “This matter will become a completely unsolved case. Humans currently lack deployable strength, but there is still another problem...”
“They’ve already deduced the existence of a Lord.”
Ji Qing paused, then said icily, “A Lord has to appear. Otherwise, all this will do is heighten humanity’s vigilance toward the sea, and that will greatly increase the risk of your future landings.”
The red fish listened quietly.
But after a moment, she closed her eyes and sighed. [It seems my people really have been too closed off.]
“Perhaps,” Ji Qing replied.
His gaze could not help settling on the ignorant, fearless fry behind the red fish, and then he turned away calmly. “But I don’t think that’s going to last much longer.”
Although Ji Qing had never seen the young sovereign of the deep sea, he could already glimpse the future through her actions.
As humanity moved toward upheaval, the Aberrants themselves were also undergoing upheaval.
Conflict between the two races was unavoidable, and Ji Qing knew very well that he had to recover his memories before war broke out. Inwardly, he was bewildered:
How did a perfectly normal hot-blooded shonen manga end up becoming about racial conflict?
But this meeting had also given Ji Qing a much clearer understanding of the wasteland’s overall situation. Once he left the island, he should be able to sort out his own circumstances.
“I have to go,” Ji Qing said seriously. “If I stay too long, humans will only grow suspicious of me. But... I’m glad I was able to see you again before your death.”
Ordinary people, ability users, the Infected, Aberrants...
The full outline of every force in the wasteland had finally unfolded before Ji Qing’s eyes. It would be crucial for his later control over the situation, and he did not even need to worry about exposing his own movements.
That counted as a good thing too, Ji Qing thought.