Chapter 5: Crisis Descends
Thinking for a moment, Gu Yunsheng sneered internally. Love? Who talks about love these days? Saying it out loud is nothing more than possessiveness at work.
He lowered his eyes and spoke with feigned fragility and helplessness, “Ling Xi… right? I… I’m a little scared…”
Sure enough, Ling Xi slowed his movements. He frowned slightly, seemingly displeased with Gu Yunsheng’s resistance, but his tone remained dominant. “Be good, don’t be afraid. I will protect you and won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“But… it’s so dark in the sea…” Gu Yunsheng shrank back, allowing a perfectly timed look of fear to slide across his eyes. He pointed upwards and said pitifully, “I want to go to the shore and look, is that okay? I heard that mermen often surface to sunbathe on the reefs and play with dolphins…”
Ling Xi followed Gu Yunsheng’s fingertip upwards. Above was the sparkling surface of the sea, sunlight refracting through the water to form dancing beams of light. He narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly considering something.
“You want to go to the shore?” A moment later, he looked down at Gu Yunsheng in his arms, the corners of his mouth curling into a playful smile. “I remember you said you like listening to the sound of waves hitting the reef, and watching seabirds return to their nests at sunset…”
Gu Yunshengâs heart skipped a beat. He cursed the original owner of this body for being a romance-brain, saying such unrealistic romantic nonsense.
Damn it, now I have to clean up the mess.
“Mmh…” He lowered his eyes to hide the calculation within them. He leaned his head gently against Ling Xi’s chest, feeling the vibrations of his chest cavity, and nodded with feigned shyness. “Although I ate the Mermaid Pearl and can breathe in the sea, but…”
He paused, a trace of imperceptible trembling in his voice, and reached out to touch his exposed arm. “My skin… after soaking in the seawater for so long, it seems to be getting paler, and strange patterns are growing… I, I’m a little scared…”
Because he had transmigrated into an Omega, his skin had become more delicate than before. Long exposure to seawater made him look like a piece of fine mutton-fat jade, emitting a lustrous glow.
However, beneath this jade-like layer, there was an abnormal pallor and some irregular dark patterns, looking like some unknown lesionâquite shocking to the eye.
Seeing Gu Yunsheng like this, a trace of imperceptible pity flashed in Ling Xi’s eyes.
He reached out and gently stroked Gu Yunsheng’s cheek. The warm touch under his fingertips gave rise to an inexplicable sense of satisfaction in his heart.
“Of course, I will protect you.” Ling Xi’s voice was so gentle it could almost drip water. “You are mine; naturally, I will protect you well.”
Hearing this, Gu Yunsheng sneered in his heart, but his face remained impassive.
He reached out and wrapped his arms around Ling Xi’s waist, bringing their heartbeats closer together. His tone carried a hint of coquetry. “Then let’s go up now, okay? I want to see the sunset on the sea, please?”
Ling Xi looked at Gu Yunsheng’s exquisite face, so close at hand, and a dark gleam flashed in his eyes. He lowered his head and whispered in Gu Yunsheng’s ear, “You can go up whenever you want. Whatever you want, I will satisfy you.”
“Really?” Gu Yunsheng’s eyes lit up. Like a child who had received candy, a look of joy appeared on his face, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Of course it’s true,” Ling Xi said, sweeping Gu Yunsheng up into his arms and swimming toward the surface…
As the depth of the water decreased, the sunlight became more blinding. Gu Yunsheng squinted, adapting to the change in light. When he opened his eyes again, Ling Xi had already brought him to the surface.
“Wow…” Gu Yunsheng looked at the magnificent sea before him and the vaguely visible islands in the distance, unable to hold back a sigh of admiration.
Ling Xi placed Gu Yunsheng on a reef, then transformed into human form and sat beside him.
Gu Yunsheng looked at the extraordinarily handsome Ling Xi beside him and sighed inwardly. This merman race really was blessed by nature. But beneath this skin, what kind of heart was hidden?
“What are you thinking about?” Ling Xi noticed Gu Yunsheng’s distraction and asked.
“Nothing, I just feel like all of this is too unreal.” Gu Yunsheng shook his head, suppressing the doubts in his heart.
Ling Xi smiled faintly and didn’t speak, simply reaching out to pull Gu Yunsheng into his arms.
Gu Yunsheng’s body stiffened for a moment, but he didn’t resist.
He rested his head gently on Ling Xi’s chest, feeling the other’s warm body temperature, but his heart was cold.
He looked into the distance. Several fishing boats bobbed up and down with the waves, and a few seabirds circled overhead, calling outâcompletely out of place with this deep sea.
“It’s so nice…” He heard himself say in a near-whisper, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible envy. “Free and unfettered, without a care…”
“You like it?” Ling Xi’s low voice came from beside his ear, carrying a hint of hidden danger.
Gu Yunsheng’s heart tightened. He cursed his carelessness; how could he speak his inner thoughts aloud?
He quickly adjusted his expression and turned to look at Ling Xi, a placating smile on his face. “I just think it’s nice that they can live so freely. Unlike me, who can only…”
He deliberately paused, speaking hesitantly.
“Can only what?” Ling Xi pressed, his deep blue eyes staring intently at Gu Yunsheng, as if to see right through him.
Gu Yunsheng lowered his head in feigned sorrow, a trace of self-mockery in his voice. “Nothing, I just feel that I might never be as free as them again…”
As he spoke, he stroked the strange patterns on his arm, his eyes revealing a hint of fear and helplessness.
Watching Gu Yunsheng like this, Ling Xi felt an inexplicable irritation. He grabbed Gu Yunsheng’s hand, his tone domineering and unquestionable. “I said, I will protect you and keep you by my side forever.”
Gu Yunsheng’s body trembled slightly. He looked up, meeting Ling Xi’s bottomless blue eyes, and a sudden sense of powerlessness rose in his heart. He knew that no matter what he said now, he couldn’t change anything.
“Ling Xi…” He softly called the other’s name, a trace of pleading in his voice. “Can you… let me leave this place?”
“Leave?” Ling Xi sounded as if he had heard a hilarious joke. He suddenly laughed aloud, his laughter echoing over the empty sea, sounding particularly eerie. “You want to leave me? To go where? Back to the people who abandoned you?”
Gu Yunsheng’s heart sank. How could he forget? The original owner of this body had betrayed his family for a merman, eventually becoming a wanted bounty hunter.
And now, he had to pay for the original owner’s stupidity!
“I didn’t…” He wanted to explain, but Ling Xi rudely interrupted him.
“You didn’t? Then tell me, why do you want to leave me?” Ling Xi’s tone suddenly turned cold. Within his deep blue eyes, a terrifying anger roiled. “Are you like the others? Do you think I’m a monster? Do you think I’m disgusting?”
“No, I don’t…” Gu Yunsheng hurriedly shook his head to deny it. Looking at this man who was losing control out of anger, a sliver of unbearableness rose in his heart.
Perhaps he really loved the original owner miserably, which was why he cared so much, why he was so afraid of being abandoned…
“Then why do you want to leave me?” Ling Xi’s emotions stabilized slightly, but his tone still carried a trace of grievance and insecurity, like a puppy abandoned by its master.
Gu Yunsheng looked at the extraordinarily handsome man before him with mixed feelings. Suddenly, he didn’t know what to say to reassure this paranoid man, to make him believe that he didn’t intend to leave.
He could only pray silently in his heart, over and over, for a miracle to appear, for a way to find a path back soon, to escape this deep sea, and escape the merman’s bindings.
“I just…” He opened his mouth to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Just then, the sound of a siren came from not far away, breaking the strange silence between them.
Gu Yunsheng and Ling Xi turned to look simultaneously. A fishing boat was heading toward them. Figures seemed to be moving on the deck, and vague shouting could be heard.
Ling Xi’s face instantly turned dark. He pulled Gu Yunsheng behind him, staring vigilantly at the approaching boat, a flash of killing intent in his deep blue eyes.
“Don’t be afraid, I will protect you.” He whispered to Gu Yunsheng behind him. His tone was as gentle as a lover’s whisper, but his eyes were filled with icy coldness.
Gu Yunsheng’s heart dropped. He knew a storm of blood was about to unfold before his eyes…
Recommended Reads
![[ABO] After Accidental Marking, I Became Everyone’s Darling](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ABO-225x300.jpeg)
