After cutting off the head of the beast leader and handing it to the shark man of before, Bai Zemin watched as the creature knelt at the edge of the bridge and respectfully handed it to the mermaid princess.
"Damn, this kind of scene really should be recorded for posterity to see." Bai Zemin muttered under his breath.
The corner of Shangguan Bing Xue's mouth twitched a couple of times as she said without looking at him to the face, "I'm afraid posterity might see more amazing things than a bipedal shark walking on a bridge with an ape head in its hands and handing it to a mermaid with eyes full of adoration."
Xian Mei'er seemed oblivious to the conversation Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue were having. She waved her magic staff and said a few words in a language that no human could understand.
Swooooosh!
A new giant wave rose from the sea under the mermaid princess's control, slowly approaching closer to the wave she was using as a surfing table.
Under the dumbfounded gaze of Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue, Xian Mei'er picked up the approximately 40 cm long small animal on top of the wave and patted it a couple of times while she looked at it with loving eyes.
"Damn, this kind of scene really-"
"Yeah, whatever."
Shangguan Bing Xue cut off Bai Zemin's words on the fly as she stared at the little animal in the arms of the mermaid princess.
The little animal was actually a beautiful dolphin. However, unlike the normal dolphins that everyone knew before the world changed, this dolphin was light warm pink in color and its eyes were the same pink as its body but in a slightly deeper shade.
Every time the mermaid princess stroked its little head, the little creature let out cute sounds and looked like it was smiling tenderly by the way it moved its mouth.
"This little one's name is Xiao Xiao and she's a Second Order Spirit Dolphin." Xian Mei'er said as she continued stroking the little dolphin.
Her words almost caused Bai Zemin to choke to death as he stared at the harmless-looking little beast.
That little dolphin less than half a meter long was a Second Order beast? Somehow it looked so weak that a normal dog could bite it to death!
"Looks can really fool you." Bai Zemin sighed and shook his head as if a new world had opened up in front of his eyes.
Shangguan Bing Xue gave him a sidelong glance and said in a flat voice, "Look who's talking."
Xian Mei'er looked at Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue steadily, pausing her caresses on the little dolphin for a moment. Then, she said somewhat puzzled, "I understand that you two are partners but could you please listen carefully to what I'm saying?"
"…"
"…"
This time it was Shangguan Bing Xue and Bai Zemin's turn to stare at Xian Mei'er. The two stood silently with their eyes fixed on the mermaid princess as if they had been hypnotized by some kind of black magic.
Then, as if by prior agreement, he and she stared into each other's eyes for a couple of seconds before turning their faces and saying as if they had practiced it several thousand times:
""Partners?""
"Isn't it?" Xian Mei'er tilted her head and even the little dolphin in her embrace inclined her head as she looked with her cute eyes at the two humans, looking really confused.
"How odd… I can smell her scent on you and his scent on you." Xian Mei'er muttered as her eyes darted back and forth between the two.
At first, Bai Zemin and Shangguan Bing Xue didn't quite understand the meaning behind the mermaid princess' words, however, when they both thought of a certain event that happened a little over three days ago, their expressions froze.
While Bai Zemin seemed to feel somewhat guilty, Shangguan Bing Xue looked extremely embarrassed; her usually indifferent face devoid of visible emotions suddenly changed to an expression filled with panic and her perfect white skin suddenly acquired a slight blush that seemed to slowly grow deeper.
If any member of the Transcendent faction were to see the expression on the current Shangguan Bing Xue's face, their mouths would probably fall open and their eyes would explode out of their sockets as it would be extremely difficult for them to associate the feminine expression on her face with the deathly cold expression she always carried.
Even her closest friends would probably not be able to believe that THAT Shanggguan Bing Xue could put on this kind of expression.
Seeing the expression on Shangguan Bing Xue's face, Xian Mei'er realized that something must have happened between the two of them. However, since for some reason they both seemed to feel awkward about it, she decided not to mention anything about it.
"Oh well, I guess whatever happened between you two is none of my business." She said before returning to the main topic. "As I was saying earlier, this little girl here is a Second Order Spirit Dolphin. However, she is not a specifically combat-oriented creature despite not being weak at all. Her main ability is communication."
"Communication?" Bai Zemin looked at the little dolphin doubtfully.
He didn't linger too much on the matter from before, after all, he believed Shangguan Bing Xue understood the reason why he had no choice but to put his lips on hers back then during the invasion of Oblon World. As for the matter of their tongues going a little crazy in the process…. Bai Zemin blamed the lag.
On the other hand, Shangguan Bing Xue looked lost as she gently bit her lower lip. She had barely heard whatever the mermaid princess had said.
Regardless of what thoughts Shangguan Bing Xue had or how crazy the emotions running in her heart were, the mermaid princess continued to explain.
"Right. This little girl can communicate with anyone she considers an ally regardless of distance by sending out a spiritual wavelength." Xian Mei'er put the little pink dolphin on the wave that carried her before and after saying something to her the little creature nodded prettily towards the princess.
Then, Xian Mei'er waved her staff and under her practically perfect control the wave soared over the bridge and stopped just a meter away from Bai Zemin.
Bai Zemin's black eyes met the pink eyes of the little dolphin and the two stared at each other for more than ten seconds amidst blinking.
Then, the little dolphin let out a small low sound as she wiggled.
"What are you doing? Get her." Xian Mei'er said with a frown.
"…" Bai Zemin for some reason could not feel malice towards the little animal.
Perhaps, it was because he didn't sense any threat coming from the little pink dolphin's body, but not caring about the fact that he was allowing a Second Order existence to come so close to his body, he stretched both arms forward as if to grab a baby.
The little dolphin by the name of Xiao Xiao squirmed a couple of times in Bai Zemin's embrace until she finally found a comfortable position and lay still. Not even five seconds passed when the little creature closed her eyes in a comfortable way as if she was going to fall asleep.
"Oh?" Xian Mei'er looked surprised to see the little pink dolphin's behavior. She looked Bai Zemin up and down for a couple of seconds before saying quietly, "That's weird. Usually, Xiao Xiao doesn't feel comfortable in the arms of someone else other than me…. Even though I already thought it was weird that she didn't complain when I told her she'd go with you for a few days, seeing her feel comfortable enough to sleep in your arms is really something else."
Bai Zemin was dumbfounded. He seemed to ignore everything the mermaid princess said and instead focused on one thing.
"What? What do you mean she'll have to come with me for a few days?" He said with wide eyes.
Xian Mei'er rolled her eyes and said as if it was obvious, "If we don't have some method of contacting each other how am I supposed to know when I need to show up to hold up my end of the deal? You couldn't be expecting me to stay here until your side finishes setting up to cross this bridge, could you? I have too much work to do to stay in this area idling."
Bai Zemin's eyes lit up as realization hit him.
"When the time is right, just tell Xiao Xiao and she will relay the message to me." Xian Mei'er pointed to the little pink dolphin in Bai Zemin's arms and calmly explained, "Remember to do that a day before to give me enough time to prepare myself."
"All right." Bai Zemin nodded as he unconsciously cuddled the little beast in his embrace, thus causing the pink dolphin to shrink a little before relaxing even more than before.
"Then, I'll take my leave here." Xian Mei'er nodded with a smile, "I'm really glad to have met nice people like you two."
"Same here." Bai Zemin said with a faint smile, "I hope we can cooperate in the future again."
"We surely can." Xian Mei'er replied politely before turning and beginning to hum some tune.
The sound of her humming was extremely beautiful and the melody born from it was soft enough to put a baby to sleep in a matter of seconds.
The sea creatures responded immediately and like an army that had undergone countless years of fierce training jumped into the sea, raising waves of varying sizes and disappearing into the deep water not long after.
"See you soon, Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue!" Xian Mei'er waved goodbye once her people disappeared.
She herself jumped from the wave she controlled and created a beautiful rainbow-shaped curve. The sun's rays shone over the blue scales of her tail, reflecting extremely beautiful sapphire-colored sparkles. Her hair danced in the wind softly and like a work of art, she crashed on the surface of the sea creating soft ripples.
A moment later, the sea regained its calm.
With the disappearance of the sea race and the annihilation of the zombie-beast alliance, there were only two living beings remaining in the area now so silent that only the sound of the wind could be heard even though 6 hours ago it was a roaring hell where death lurked in every corner.
The bridge had lost several parts, however, with the magic of Xian Mei'er, it was no longer in danger of collapsing. She had activated some skill that had raised the sea level around the bridge a little less than 200 meters; the waters had stopped just below the bridge, holding it tight and not letting it sink.
The blood, corpses, fragments of broken bones, and shattered organs that had previously covered the surface of the bridge, had disappeared without a trace. No one would think that a few hours earlier this very place had been hell to the eyes.
Bai Zemin sighed and turned to look at the woman beside him.
"Bing Xue, let's-"
His words got stuck in his throat and he unconsciously took a step back as he looked at Shangguan Bing Xue.
"W- What's wrong?" Bai Zemin asked somewhat apprehensively.
Shangguan Bing Xue had the glowing eyes of a predator as she looked in his direction. She truly looked like a wild beast as she took a step forward and for a moment Bai Zemin even went so far as to think that she was so enraged by the words of Xian Mei'er that she would finally vent the anger she had been holding back over what had happened on him.
However, nothing could be further from the truth.
"Hand her over." She said suddenly.
"What?"
"That pink dolphin. Hand her over." Shangguan Bing Xue stretched her arms forward as she said in a deep voice. She looked into Bai Zemin's eyes and said earnestly, "I will take care of her for you."
* * * * * * *
A/N: Sorry for the delay of the chapters. Personal problems in real life that I didn't expect happened and kept me busy all day.
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
