Dolphin

Chen Miemie returned to the Firefly Inn with a brand-new boat, and he was in such a good mood that even his footsteps seemed to carry a breeze.

A-Lin at the front desk looked a little nervous.

The reason was that when Chen Miemie came in, a rabbit was following behind him. Its bright red eyes were fixed on him.

Chen Miemie proceeded to make the introductions.

“A-Lin, this is my Jade Rabbit. I promised it a life of unlimited carrots. From now on, whenever it comes here, it can take as many carrots as the kitchen has. Put the cost on my tab.”

At those words, the Jade Rabbit’s large eyes narrowed into slits. It stared at A-Lin for quite a while, clearly committing the face of its future long-term meal ticket to memory.

A-Lin wasn’t stupid. The moment he saw the Jade Rabbit, he knew it was a new-species anomaly that had started following Chen Miemie.

To most people, new-species anomalies were still anomalies. Even if they were passively controllable, they were still frightening.

“Of course. I’ll stock up on a batch of carrots in the kitchen and do my best to make sure we have some every day.”

Chen Miemie had another request. “Also, prepare a permanent berth for me. I have a boat now.”

For an inn, that was a perfectly normal request from a guest. There weren’t many guests at the moment, so A-Lin naturally assigned him the best spot available.

Humming a little tune no one could understand, Chen Miemie headed upstairs.

The Jade Rabbit did not follow.

It lingered at the front desk instead. “Carrots. I want carrots right now.”

A-Lin didn’t dare neglect it. “I remember there are still some in the kitchen. I’ll take you there.”

“Okay, okay!”

The Firefly Inn primarily provided lodging and didn’t even have a dedicated chef. It didn’t really offer food services, aside from a few simple emergency meals for guests, so the kitchen was small and its stock of ingredients was limited.

Even so, the Jade Rabbit was overjoyed when it entered the little food-storage area.

It might have been content to eat simple shipbuilding materials at the shipyard, but it actually had a hard time finding vegetables. It didn’t want to go into crowded places and risk hurting anyone, and it had no way to pay. Every now and then, it could only find a couple of carrots near a garbage heap.

“Wow! There’s a whole basket of carrots here! And spinach, lettuce, bell peppers, apples! Oh, what’s this? Chicory? Wonderful! I want it all!”

The Jade Rabbit rolled all over the kitchen floor in front of the food shelves.

Although Chen Miemie had only promised it unlimited carrots and hadn’t mentioned any other fruits or vegetables, A-Lin was quick to adapt. He showed no intention of stopping it.

The Jade Rabbit greedily stuffed all kinds of delicious food into the pouch on its belly. Before long, it had stuffed itself into a fat little rabbit.

Seeing that it was already full but still struggling to cram in more, A-Lin cautiously reminded it, “You can leave the food here, you know. I’ll clear out a whole shelf just for you. No one will touch it.”

The Jade Rabbit was delighted. “A-Lin, right? You’re a good person. I’ll give you a chance to become my little bro.”

“Sure. Just tell me what you want to eat ahead of time, and I’ll buy it for you when I get groceries.”

The Jade Rabbit bounced happily upstairs.

Inside the room, the anomalies gathered around it.

Bobo sounded unfriendly. “You stinky rabbit! You only eat vegetables? You’re so picky. This is going to make things difficult for me.”

The Jade Rabbit lowered its head to look at Bobo, then gently patted its pineapple head. “I can eat a little pineapple.”

Bobo instantly changed its attitude. “That’s great! Jade Rabbit, you can join my circle of friends.”

And so, another noisy day came to an end.

Over the next three days, Dentist took Chen Miemie all around the city for two of them. On the remaining day, No Tomorrow, everything was shut tight, so Chen Miemie didn’t go out.

A new week began.

Dentist had gradually figured out Chen Miemie’s daily routine and now didn’t come to pick him up until eleven each morning.

According to their travel plans, they would begin leaving the city and heading out to sea that week.

Unexpectedly, on the very first day, Dentist received a message from Chen Miemie asking her to take the day off. He was going to visit a friend on his own.

Chen Miemie really did have an appointment with a friend.

He brought the Jade Rabbit to the area around the Tide Palace.

In a corner of the main square, he found Mute.

“Well, Mute, how did you get dark circles under your eyes? Didn’t you sleep well?”

Mute immediately pulled out her writing tablet.

〖Every three days, I have to go to the front lines and sing battle songs for the soldiers, but I perform terribly every time.〗

“What? The front lines? Has the war already started? How come I haven’t noticed anything?”

〖This war is one we’re waging against the Clam Ruins. We’re not under siege. The city’s residents are carrying on with their lives as usual.〗

“How’s the battle going?”

〖Not very well. The underwater city has an overwhelming home-field advantage. By the time we dive all the way down there, we’ve already exhausted a great deal of our strength before the fighting even begins.

They’re not afraid of us at all. Right now, they’re taking advantage of their superior position and dragging things out into a war of attrition.

They’ve deployed an underwater defensive barrier around the city, and we haven’t managed to break through it yet. For now, both sides are only losing supplies. There haven’t been many casualties.〗

“All right. I still feel like this war doesn’t mean much. The main issue is solving the cracks in the Sea Ridge.”

〖The other cities have sent not only mystics to help, but also relevant researchers. Unfortunately, based on what we’ve learned so far, the more we study it, the more certain we become that the collapse of the Sea Ridge is inevitable.〗

Chen Miemie was silent for a while before speaking again.

“If there really is nothing we can do, is there a plan to evacuate the citizens to other cities in advance?”

〖A proposal like that has been raised before. The Tide Palace is currently divided into two factions, and they’ve been arguing fiercely.〗

“Which faction are you on?”

〖I haven’t taken a position yet. In my heart, though, I feel that it isn’t time to evacuate the citizens. This is our home.〗

Chen Miemie understood. Mute was currently against evacuation.

“All right, let’s put the city’s major affairs aside for now. As promised, you, the City Lord, are going to spend the day having fun with me to keep this representative of a new species happy. Put your work aside for now.”

“Okay... okay.”

It was only two words, but Mute’s voice trembled as she spoke them.

The two of them left the city gates and arrived at the mouth of the sea.

〖Do we really not need to bring a boat? Are we going to swim all the way out?〗

Chen Miemie slapped his forehead. “I’m so forgetful. I forgot to introduce you to my friend. This is the Jade Rabbit. It’s our boat for today.”

The Jade Rabbit waved at Mute, then jumped into the water and transformed into a small boat.

“Beautiful... adorable... little boat.”

“Right? The Jade Rabbit’s Medicine-Pounding Boat really is beautiful. That’s what you call lunar aesthetics.”

〖Once we’re out at sea, I’ll introduce you to another good friend of mine.〗

Half an hour later, on a deserted island, Mute hummed a tune through her nose.

Before long, a head surfaced from the surrounding water.

Mute insisted on making the introduction aloud. “This is... my very best... friend, Ms. Dolphin.”