TYMIMA CHAPTER 97

Capital City Restricted Zone, Qian Yun twenty-third floor.

 

Three elders sat behind a round table, with an intricately patterned red carpet extending to the door before them.

 

The smell of paraffin in the air grew increasingly dense, but it still seemed unable to completely mask a barely perceptible stench of decay mixed within the wax scent.

 

The golden-eyed elder and red-eyed elder lowered their eyes, rigid eyeballs staring at the complex patterns on the carpet. Only the black-eyed elder conveyed the will of all three.

 

“How is Si Hongche?”

 

The person standing before them first performed that strange hand salute, then said: “His actions are highly effective. The fish is about to take the bait.”

 

The black-eyed elder closed his eyes and slowly nodded.

 

That person couldn’t help but say more: “Learning that plant-type omega is in the Black Lantern Society’s hands, Si Hongche will spare no effort no matter what. He’s been frequently visiting the back mountain cemetery lately to see that weak pine branch. I didn’t expect he would have obsessions even for an unborn biological child.”

 

“Ben Bu.” The black-eyed elder interrupted his subordinate’s words with slight displeasure.

 

Only then did Ben Bu realize he had just revealed his own emotions before the elder—not calm enough, not cold-blooded enough.

 

He quickly bowed to apologize: “I misspoke.”

 

Who would have thought the black-eyed elder would continue his words: “An embryo or a lump of newly born flesh doesn’t matter. What he’s obsessed with is still the person he loved.”

 

Light filtered through cloud layers passed through curtain gaps, falling into the black-eyed elder’s pitch-black pupils, only to be completely swallowed by that dark, profound color.

 

Ben Bu rarely heard an elder speak such a long passage. From these words, he sensed that the elder didn’t seem to have lost all human emotions.

 

“Yes.” Ben Bu dared not comment.

 

“When will Selarl act?” the black-eyed elder asked again.

 

Ben Bu hesitated for a moment before responding: “Selarl requested to borrow tools for capturing the Golden Parasite Human-Faced Owl. I’ve already sent people to deliver the Thornfish Cutting Net to the Tasman Pirate Nation. With divine miracle enhancement, I believe he can soon eliminate the hidden danger.”

 

The Thornfish Cutting Net was the most expensive and destructive weapon in Blue Pivot’s underground arsenal.

 

Restricted Zone scientists used nanotechnology to make rare lead ore into an almost transparent fishing net. This net underwent extremely intricate folding and was stored in a launcher.

 

Years ago, when the Federation government first discovered the S+ mutant beast Golden Parasite Human-Faced Owl in an underground city, Blue Pivot’s inspection team suffered heavy casualties, and all S-level powerhouses were helpless against it.

 

So several Blue Pivot district directors sought help from the Council of Elders, and the three elders commissioned experts to design the Thornfish Cutting Net.

 

Ben Bu also knew that weapons alone weren’t enough—the black-eyed elder had personally secluded himself for three days, requesting divine miracles to descend and provide enhancement.

 

Thus was created this divine weapon capable of eliminating S+ mutant beasts.

 

It was said that when it shot from the launcher, the net automatically opened and covered the Golden Parasite Human-Faced Owl at high speed.

 

The Golden Parasite Human-Faced Owl, not understanding what was happening, tried to bite forward, but was instantly cut into fragments by the giant net, with eyeballs from its wings rolling all over the ground.

 

The Federation government collected its fragments, pinned them as specimens, and stored them in the museum beneath Hong Suo Research Institute, where they had remained for about twenty years.

 

However, this weapon’s greatest flaw was its extremely high material requirements, causing massive waste during manufacturing, and it could only be used once after completion.

 

So after all these years, there was only this one piece in Blue Pivot’s arsenal.

 

The black-eyed elder’s eyeballs trembled slightly, seeming somewhat angry, but considering the bigger picture, he closed his eyes and calmed his emotions.

 

“This is his personal desire.”

 

Ben Bu was stunned: “Then—”

 

“The last time.” The black-eyed elder said coldly.

 

“……Yes.”

 

Sandro left the palace, passed through a district, with light growing dimmer. The kelp tree bubble swayed gently in the dark currents, but he didn’t slow his pace.

 

He leaped down steps, his body slowly sinking. Deep-sea fish hidden in darkness swayed their tail fins and hid deep in rock walls.

 

Soon, he reached the private dock.

 

It was a vast underwater platform covered by a huge kelp tree bubble. Through the bubble, one could see hundreds of deep-sea speedboats parked inside.

 

These boats had narrow, pointed fronts with streamlined bulges and tapered rears, resembling spindles.

 

The hulls used materials resistant to seawater corrosion, with power sources being crystal ore from underground cities.

 

These boats traveled very fast underwater, about twenty-five nautical miles per hour.

 

Sandro chose a speedboat marked with a Jellyfish logo. Without waiting for the guards behind him to voice objections, he pulled up the door, turned on the boat lights, and drove out of the dock.

 

This was Sandro’s private dock, containing speedboats he had collected over the past hundred years. Others had no authority to use them.

 

So the guards urgently reported, calling patrol teams to bring speedboats to protect the king’s safety.

 

Several of Selarl’s spies even directly transformed into fish and chased after Sandro’s boat.

 

Sandro skillfully piloted the speedboat straight toward Wonderland Trench.

 

He glanced indifferently at the detection mirror, seeing several relentlessly pursuing figures.

 

After about an hour of travel, Sandro reached the depths of the trench, entering complete darkness.

 

He stopped the speedboat by a rock wall and stepped out.

 

Ugly, hideous large fish with bulging bellies slowly passed in front of the boat lights.

 

It swept the light with protruding eyeballs, opened its mouth to bite, only getting a mouthful of seawater, so it disappointedly left.

 

Sandro walked toward the iron door standing at the bottom of the trench.

 

The iron door was covered with rusty, mottled text, with strange, sticky algae hanging from the letters.

 

There is wind even on the seabed.

 

Sandro clearly felt the cool air blowing against the kelp tree bubble, as if it would tear the fragile bubble apart at any moment.

 

He raised the crystal ore on his wrist and was about to approach the iron door when he heard the pursuing guards shouting loudly: “Your Majesty must not! Although the mutant beast has been controlled, it’s still extremely dangerous. If you go in alone, you might get hurt!”

 

All marine life form Awakened ones had evolved special sonar systems. They could transmit sound underwater just like sound waves traveling through air.

 

Sandro sternly rebuked: “I’m fine. Don’t follow!”

 

The guards pressed forward: “Your Majesty! We swear to protect your safety with our lives!”

 

The two spies from Selarl naturally wouldn’t obey Sandro’s words. They shouted righteous slogans and chased after Sandro.

 

Sandro knew this wasn’t a good time to turn against Selarl, or even to touch Selarl’s sensitive nerves.

 

But he really couldn’t control himself—he wanted to see Ryan.

 

That was the name he had given it. It learned quickly and even carved both their names on the stone wall.

 

Sandro and Ryan.

 

The crystal ore on his wrist emitted red light. The iron door responded and slowly opened. Sandro walked in without hesitation.

 

It seemed every underground city had a long corridor—damp, muddy, filled with the fishy smell of seawater.

 

But walking further led to another world.

 

It was a vast mangrove forest. The roots of white bone soil and tung flower trees were planted in shallow waters, submerged by seawater. Aerial roots protruded straight from the water surface like a chaotic web drawn by spiders.

 

The sea surface wasn’t calm and boundless. The seawater here was green, rich in algae, with many strange mutant beasts.

 

At this moment, the sea surface was like boiling water in a pot, spitting out huge bubbles—the work of countless kelp trees.

 

Ryan wasn’t in the corridor, so Sandro stepped onto the mangrove forest.

 

Green seawater soaked his gauze clothing. The wind hurt his pupils. He saw that figure lying on the reef, covered in wounds.

 

Its tail dragged powerlessly in the water, with thornfish spikes still piercing through its tail fin.

 

The fin that was once sharp as a blade now curled around hideous, pale wounds. Threads of fresh blood flowed from the wounds, seeping into the seawater.

 

Wounds caused by thornfish wouldn’t heal easily.

 

Besides that, the tail wrapped in purple ink-colored hard scales was also covered with knife and axe marks. They had tried to pry open and tear off its scales, destroying its strongest defense, but unfortunately the body strength of an S+ mutant beast far exceeded their imagination.

 

So they attacked where its scales were missing. Barbed hooks pulled out bright red flesh, exposing stark white tail bones beneath.

 

Its upper body was wrapped in heavy rare lead ore chains. The enormous weight pressed it down so it could barely straighten up.

 

It closed its eyes, its arms with transparent fins hanging down from the reef. The light blue webbing between its five fingers had clearly been forcibly torn apart.

 

During the days he wasn’t here, Selarl had indeed brought people to torture Ryan again.

 

Ryan’s eyes couldn’t see, and Selarl’s first-tier ability happened to be 【Voice Print Simulation】. As long as Selarl imitated his voice in the crowd or made demands in his voice, Ryan wouldn’t resist.

 

The guards caught up and quickly pulled out rare lead ore guns aimed at the monster on the reef.

 

“Your Majesty, be careful. Although Prince Selarl said these chains are enough to bind it, it’s still an S+ mutant beast. We can’t guarantee it won’t fight back.”

 

Sandro said nothing.

 

The guards sneered: “Sooner or later, Prince Selarl will find a way to kill it and use its scales to make you an exquisite cloak.”

 

Sandro instantly turned back, cold killing intent shooting from his double pupils. Several transparent tentacles drilled out from the water surface, suddenly coiling toward the guards’ throats.

 

However, these two guards weren’t servants who would tremble in fear. They were both A-level Awakened ones, eyes that Selarl had specifically placed beside Sandro.

 

Sensing the approaching crisis from behind, both guards quickly activated their abilities to dodge Sandro’s attack range.

 

“Your Majesty, what do you mean by this!”

 

Sandro ignored them and continued driving his tentacles to attack. The seawater stirred up several splashes, and many F-level mutant beasts were knocked over, floating dead on the sea surface.

 

The two were greatly alarmed but didn’t dare harm Sandro, only dodging inch by inch: “Your Majesty’s sudden rage must be due to our negligence. When we return, we’ll report everything to Prince Selarl and accept punishment!”

 

The fighting sounds caught Ryan’s attention. It opened its eyes covered with pale yellow membranes and looked toward where the sounds came from.

 

It had learned not to rashly call Sandro’s name, because not everyone who visited was its lover. Although it could always hear its lover’s voice, that voice was always distant, never approaching.

 

It could think that someone was using Sandro to hurt it, but it still didn’t attack because it couldn’t be sure if Sandro was in the crowd. It couldn’t accidentally hurt its fragile little jellyfish.

 

“Ryan! Kill them!” Sandro suddenly shouted sternly.

 

The two guards’ expressions changed drastically. They immediately loaded their guns and gritted their teeth: “Your Majesty, do you know what you’re saying!”

 

“Sandro……”

 

The monster lying on the reef slowly straightened up, looking coldly toward the two guards.

 

“Is it you?” It supported itself on the reef with its palms. The torn webbing still bore dried bloodstains. It already possessed intelligence nearly equal to humans—it had to know that no one was impersonating its little jellyfish to command it.

 

Sandro’s voice trembled slightly as he struggled to control his emotions, speaking a secret no one else knew: “Three inches above the tail fin is where your first scale grew!”

 

That day he couldn’t help himself and kissed Ryan’s slightly cool lips.

 

Ryan seemed to realize this was an intimate gesture. Its eyelashes fluttered in the sea waves, its large webbed hand caressing Sandro’s smooth back, cooperating with the kiss in a naive yet indulgent way.

 

When the kiss ended, Ryan coiled up its long tail and forcibly tore off the most magnificent, hard scale three inches above the tail fin, then looked at Sandro tenderly as it handed him the scale.

 

The area without scales exposed spots of flesh and blood. The tail fin trembled slightly from pain, but it didn’t care. It embraced the fragile, delicate little jellyfish and murmured: “The first one, the most beautiful.”

 

The moment Sandro finished speaking, the originally dying monster leaped into the sea.

 

“Not good! It still has attack power!” the guards screamed.

 

Bang bang bang!

 

Several rare lead ore bullets shot toward the huge shadow in the water, but the heavily wounded figure dragging heavy chains dodged precisely and nimbly.

 

The two guards’ scalps immediately went numb.

 

A mutant beast bound all over with rare lead ore could still have such fast reaction ability.

 

“Run! Go notify His Highness!”

 

Seeing the bad situation, they quickly transformed into fish forms and fled toward the corridor at their A-level wave-breaking speed limit.

 

However, the terrifying shadow behind them kept getting closer.

 

“No… no no!” Their adrenaline spiked to the extreme, blood rushing to their cerebral cortex. Ability pheromones instantly filled several meters of ocean around them.

 

But before long, with two muffled breaking sounds, waves of red blood flowers surged in the green seawater. The two guards’ corpses were quickly dragged down by small mutant beasts.

 

Even burdened with injuries, an S+ mutant beast could still instantly kill A-level Awakened ones.

 

Sandro stood on the roots of tung flower trees, exposing his upper body above water. After the fierce battle, his long shirt was completely soaked, clinging tightly to his sexy, well-proportioned bronze skin.

 

The crystal ore hanging on his left chest was exposed to sunlight, brilliant red like a blood drop about to fall.

 

Ryan dragged its heavy chains and swam back. Due to moving its tail fin during the chase, the wounds on its body had torn open again. Blood flowed unrestrained into the seawater, making the pierced areas look tragic.

 

It surfaced, its transparent, pointed ears perking up, straining to listen to Sandro’s voice.

 

It could only hear choked breathing. It was afraid the fragile little jellyfish would cry itself dry, so it scooped up seawater, wanting to splash it on Sandro.

 

However, the seawater all flowed out through the gaps in its torn webbing.

 

“Sandro……” it called to him deeply, its voice ethereal and gentle.

 

Sandro stepped into the water and walked over. He cupped Ryan’s face and asked: “Why won’t you listen?”

 

Ryan gazed at him quietly.

 

Sandro gritted his teeth as tears fell from his double pupils like scattered pearls.

 

He had lived for over a hundred years. He had experienced too many partings and losses. He clearly shouldn’t cry easily anymore.

 

“Humans and mutant beasts are natural enemies. Mutant beasts invade the human world, humans plunder mutant beast resources. From ancient times to now, there are no exceptions, and I am no exception.”

 

Ryan listened seriously.

 

“I am the leader of some humans, you are an extraterrestrial being existing in underground cities. I will eventually leave you, eventually be coerced by humans into harming you.”

 

“Look at the scars they left on your body. They are all my subjects, the same kind of people as me.”

 

“You should hate humans, take revenge on humans, break free from your bonds, return to your former unrestrained, unmatched self, be the free and unrestrained overlord of underground cities. Even if you hear my voice again, you cannot hesitate, because I come to kill you.”

 

“Do you remember? Next time you hear my voice, show no mercy.” Sandro steeled his heart, speaking word by word.

 

It was just farewell—farewell to family, farewell to friends, farewell to lovers.

 

The long years had worn him down into a completely rational ruler. He never feared farewells.

 

He clearly knew they hadn’t done anything wrong. It was just that this era was still too early—humans couldn’t yet understand emotions between humans and mutant beasts, and humans couldn’t abandon the endless resources from underground cities.

 

That heavy iron door eternally separated them. He couldn’t love Ryan while watching human Awakened ones challenge and hunt his lover.

 

If Ryan continued to love him, he couldn’t protect himself. This was the choice he had to make.

 

“Sandro, you are crying.”

 

Ryan didn’t know if he had taken Sandro’s words to heart. He opened his arms, offering Sandro an embrace.

 

Sandro’s body stiffened.

 

Ryan’s cool webbed hands encircled Sandro’s spine, pulling him into his embrace.

 

The huge fish tail slowly coiled up, supporting Sandro’s calves. The sharp tail fin carefully avoided Sandro’s skin.

 

Its body carried an eerie fragrance that didn’t belong to this dimension. Its skin was cool and smooth. It pressed close to Sandro’s violently heaving chest, its webbed palms gently patting Sandro’s waist and back.

 

It coaxed the small, stressed creature in its arms as it once had, saying tenderly: “Paipai… you can kill me.”

 

As it spoke, it used its mouth to pull out the purple ink-colored scale Sandro had hidden in his chest, bringing it before Sandro’s eyes.

 

Through that pale yellow membrane, one could vaguely see its original eyes were golden. It gently kissed away the slightly salty tears at Sandro’s eye corners: “With my scales, I have already handed over my weakness to you.”

 

Sandro couldn’t kill it with the scale. He once again reluctantly kissed that scale, then moved the kiss to the powerful, handsome mutant beast before him.

 

He caressed Ryan’s hair, light as pale blue seaweed, his fingers slowly sliding toward the heavy, intersecting chains on its back.

 

He endured the discomfort the rare lead ore caused him, trembling as he inserted the secretly copied key into the lock.

 

With a clear sound, the chains broke link by link. Sandro slid down powerlessly along with the chains.

 

The high-purity rare lead ore manufactured by the Federation was quite harmful even to A-level Sandro.

 

“Sandro!”

 

Ryan looked at his lover, weak and curled up in his embrace, and angrily flung the rare lead ore chains far away.

 

The heavy burden on its body disappeared. The energy that had been suppressed and drained was rapidly recovering. Its originally torn and damaged webbing gradually healed, and the knife wounds and burn marks on its pale skin also faded at a visible speed.

 

The only difficult thing was the thornfish spikes in its tail fin.

 

The thornfish carried rare lead ore fibers, deeply embedded in flesh and countless in number, very difficult to eradicate.

 

Sandro struggled to get up, transforming into a transparent little jellyfish and sliding along Ryan’s fish tail.

 

He used his tentacles to coil around water grass at the edge of the mangrove forest, wrapping them around one end of the spikes and forcefully pulling the thornfish out.

 

Ryan tensed the tip of its tail in pain but endured without moving an inch.

 

The transformed Sandro was too delicate—it worried that turbulent water currents might hurt him.

 

Sandro swam over, extending several small tentacles into the tail fin’s wounds.

 

 

The tentacles quickly searched for rare lead ore fibers in the tail fin, removing them one by one.

 

This was a huge project. Some fibers accidentally pierced into tentacles. Sandro had no time to treat them, so he could only tear off that tentacle and probe with a new one.

 

Fortunately, his tentacles were regenerative.

 

After about an hour, the fibers were barely cleaned out.

 

The pale, festering flesh on the tail fin was roughly torn off by Ryan, and the wound there finally began to heal.

 

Sandro returned to human form, his lips already somewhat pale. He lay disheveled on his lover’s tail, bending down to kiss the lower abdomen covered by soft scales.

 

“Alright, I lied. Don’t leave me. Love me forever, stay with me forever.”

 

“I will, my little jellyfish.” Ryan promised in a low voice.

 

It arched its back, its webbed hands caressing Sandro’s fine bronze skin over and over. It used its chest to shield the blazing sunlight, casting its strong, tall shadow in the green waves.

 

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 (advanced chapters available on kofi)