Winner Takes All

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Chapter 106 – Sea Monster (Extra 8, Chapter 6) 

Title: 谁把谁当真 (Winner Takes All)

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Author：水千丞 (ShuiQianCheng)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists ：黎朔 (Li Shuo), 赵锦辛 (Zhao Jinxin)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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After the black-tailed merman left, Li Shuo and Jinxin looked at each other. The atmosphere turned a little awkward.

Jinxin silently jumped out of the water and put Li Shuo back on the boat. His tail moved in the water back and forth, showing his inner anxiety. He looked at Li Shuo helplessly and whispered, “That man… His name is Qun. He is my elder brother, the heir to the Siren Kingdom.”

Li Shuo lowered his head and glanced at Jinxin’s burned scales from the corner of his eye. It was like a flaw in a perfect oil painting. It was such a pity. But he resisted himself from caring. He instead asked, “Why did you lie to me?”

Jinxin pursed his lips before answering: “At first, I did it because I thought it was fun. But then, I no longer dared to tell you the truth.”

Li Shuo plucked up his courage and looked straight into Jinxin’s eyes. They used to be his favourite gemstones. But now, they seemed to be out of his reach: “My warship encountered a sea storm, did it…-“

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“-No!” Jinxin categorically denied the accusation, “None of the sea monsters is powerful enough to control the weather. I just happened to be in that water area. And I just happened to see you.” He will never forget the image of what he saw in the sea at the time. That handsome and brave black-haired young man who was not afraid of the storm. He vigorously and tenaciously fought against the evil power that fell from the sky. It made Jinxin become unwilling to watch him just die in the dark sea.

Li Shuo breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the elders always reminded him that sea monsters love to play around with humans, and even though Jinxin had lied to him, he still felt in him that the shipwreck had nothing to do with Jinxin. If the sea monsters really had such powerful magic, they would not have been hidden underwater for thousands of years without being known by humans.

Jinxin moved a little closer and fixed his eyes on Li Shuo’s face. He asked expectantly, “Li Shuo, come with me. I want to take you to my home.”

Li Shuo was stunned.

“As long as you are willing to come with me, I have a method for you to breathe underwater.” Jinxin’s eyes were bright. They look like the noon sun shining on the blue sea water. They were so clear and beautiful. They exuded an innocence that hasn’t been discovered by the world.

Li Shuo lowered his eyes and said softly, “Jinxin, the days that I spent with you were like a dream. But now that I’m awake, I realise that we come from different worlds. In the end, we have to go back to our own places.”

Jinxin looked at Li Shuo blankly.

“I… want to go back to my own home.” Li Shuo looked at Jinxin sadly, “I am a human being. And you are a siren. I want to go to land. But you would want to go back to the sea.”

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“If we are really from different worlds, why did we meet each other?” Jinxin shook his head, “We look up at the same sun. We swim in the same seven seas. We can touch each other, kiss each other, and hug each other. So why can’t we live together?”

Li Shuo recalled how Jinxin had killed people in the cave that night. He still couldn’t believe that the monster which frightened him was the same person as the affectionate and beautiful merman in front of him. But he had to believe that his dream was completely shattered at that moment. He returned to reality by then. He felt ashamed and blamed himself for his own absurdity.

Jinxin slowly approached him. His eyes were wet with tears: “Is it because of those human beings? They were obviously trying to kill me.” He took Li Shuo’s hand and placed it on his burned skin. He then said aggrievedly, “I was in pain too.”

Li Shuo felt his palm on the scalded skin. Although the touch was cold, it was no longer smooth. It was covered with rough scalded scars, which made his heart ache: “…Does it still hurt? Will it get better?”

“It will take a long time to recover. The sea monster is most afraid of the devil’s red flower, which is the fire that warms the food in your mouth…” Jinxin slowly buried his face in Li Shuo’s chest, “They burned me with fire. But you blamed me for not being kind enough.”

Li Shuo said awkwardly, “They have already paid the price for their recklessness. But you don’t have to…You don’t have to kill them all.”

Jinxin wrapped his arms around Li Shuo’s waist, greedily absorbing the warm and pleasant smell from Li Shuo’s skin. He didn’t know of the warmth of human beings before. No. Only this human being is special to him. Only he is warm.

Li Shuo held himself back from wanting to hug Jinxin as well. He felt that he had made a big mistake. He had fallen into a relationship that he shouldn’t have started.

“Are you afraid of me?” Jinxin asked quietly.

Li Shuo was silent.

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Jinxin raised his head and kissed Li Shuo’s lips softly. He expected to get a warm and firm response. But Li Shuo only slightly trembled and didn’t move further. Jinxin then said sadly, “Don’t be afraid of me.”

Li Shuo gently stroked Jinxin’s blond hair: “Jinxin, I want to go home. My family and my people are waiting for me.”

“So, you are going to leave me.” Jinxin looked at him deeply.

Li Shuo smiled wryly: “You grew up in the sea and cannot live without water. I grew up on land and cannot live without soil. You said that you want me to go to the bottom of the sea with you. But can you…can you go to the land with me?”

Jinxin bit his lips lightly. A sea of sadness was hidden in his blue dreamy eyes.

Li Shuo felt a dull pain in his heart. But he forced himself to continue: “I like you, Jinxin. They said you confused me. But I know that it’s not like that. I know that I just like you. No matter whether you played tricks on me or lied to me, I will never forget you. But I have to accept the reality that we are destined…not to be together.”

Jinxin held Li Shuo’s face and said seriously: “I like you too. I have seen countless treasures in the sea. But I found my greatest treasure only after meeting you.”

Li Shuo’s eye circles were red. Sadness rushed over like a wave in an instant.

“Come with me, Li Shuo. Come with me. If you are willing to go to the bottom of the sea with me, I swear that I will protect you forever and love you forever. You will have an immortal life and retain your youth. You will surpass all human beings. So come with me.”

Li Shuo’s tears fell silently. He grabbed Jinxin’s hand as he choked up and said, “Jinxin, I’m sorry. I can’t go with you. I want to go home.”

Jinxin looked at Li Shuo resolutely. His eyes were moistened with sadness. Crystal clear tears rolled down his cheeks, instantly turning into pearls.

Li Shuo opened his palm and caught those pale pink pearls shining with magnificent colour. They seemed to weigh like gold and they seemed to be able to burn his palm. But he still held them firmly.

With tears in his eyes, Jinxin solemnly pressed a kiss on Li Shuo’s forehead: “You are mine. Wait for me.” After speaking, he forced himself to turn his face away. He turned around and jumped into the sea.

The gorgeous colourful fishtail disappeared into the water in an instant. But it was firmly engraved onto Li Shuo’s heart.

Holding the pearl in his hand, Li Shuo looked at the calm water sadly at a loss.

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Maybe he should worry about how he will survive. But his mind is full of Jinxin’s eyes filled with pain. Will they meet again? Can he roam the sea with that beautiful merman again? Will he have to suffer in regret and longing for the rest of his life?

Li Shuo’s heart ached like it was being twisted. The merpeople’s tears which had turned into pearls became his last memorial of his love.

Suddenly, he felt the boat under him shake. He nervously grasped the wooden edge of the bottom of the boat but the hull of the boat was suddenly pushed up from beneath the sea. He looked down in surprise. It turned out to be the big whale that carried them before!

The big whale guided the upside down boat and swam towards the south at high speed.

Li Shuo couldn’t help shouting towards the boundless sea: “Jinxin—”

The sea was looking empty and lonely. There would no longer be a stunning merman surfacing from the water and showing him a smile that could melt the whole world.

Jinxin…

It took the big whale less than a day to send Li Shuo back to the Kingdom of Lambert. It turned out that Jinxin already knew where Lambert was. His return was a miracle that shocked the whole country. Everyone thought that he had died in the sea with the warship. But he was the only one who came back alive.

Li Shuo was forced to recuperate for a period of time. Although his body was fine, his depression and absent-mindedness made the people around him very worried about him.

He asked the high priest to find all the records about merpeople or the sirens or the sea monsters in the National Library. But most of them are only fictional legends. There is only one ancient document that records some habits of the sea sirens. But it is far from what he understands of them. Could it be that in the past tens of thousands of years, no human beings have ever really coexisted with the sirens?

He didn’t know what he wanted to find. Perhaps, he just wanted to see those pictures of the merpeople. Even though they couldn’t express a ten-thousandth of Jinxin’s beauty.

The last words Jinxin said to him were ‘wait for me’. So, will they still meet in the future? So what if they meet each other again? As he himself had said…one of them belongs to the land and the other belongs to the sea.

He should just treat his encounter with Jinxin as a fairy tale. After all, if humans and sirens can really cohabitate, he shouldn’t be the person who knows about sirens best in human history.

Li Shuo sat on the head of his bed. He was still holding on to those few pearls in his hand, staring at the sea out of the window absentmindedly. He was picturing the graceful and beautiful merman surfacing from the water. The bright blond hair shining under the sun and the gorgeous scales reflecting the light like a rainbow. He will never forget such a beautiful sight in his life.

This memory is enough.

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Fanart from Weibo

Next update: 2023.08.11

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