Rescue

Chen Miemie looked at his new friend.

The dolphin looked back at him and cheerfully greeted him with a “Kwee-ee~.”

“So this really is just an ordinary dolphin. Where’s the ‘lady’?”

After the dolphin appeared, Mute put away her writing tablet. Somehow, her speech became much more fluent.

“‘Lady’ is just a... form of address, like how people call me the ‘City Lord.’”

“Mute, you can speak this fluently?”

“Y-yes. When I’m with Ms. Dolphin, I feel more... relaxed, so I can speak better.”

Chen Miemie’s eyes lit up. “That’s great news! It means you’re capable of speaking at this level.”

Mute nodded, but soon her expression fell. “I’ve tried... for a long time. But the moment I step up to a microphone, or face a crowd, I can’t do it anymore.”

Seeing that the two of them were ignoring her, the dolphin mischievously shot two streams of water into the air, drenching them slightly. It then proudly spun circles on the surface.

“Hey, Ms. Dolphin, that’s mean!”

Mute immediately leaped into the water.

Once again, Chen Miemie witnessed Mute’s incredible ability.

The water rippled without a breeze, forming a rising and falling musical staff. The droplets of foam became the notes, firmly supporting Mute’s every step.

“Is this what they mean by walking on waves?” Chen Miemie asked, filled with envy.

The technique wasn’t particularly fast, but it was so flashy that it was practically unbeatable.

Mute didn’t walk across the water for long. She arrived above the dolphin, and the sea seemed to become her soft bed. Without the slightest hesitation, she fell forward into the water and wrapped her arms around the dolphin.

“Kwee-ee~!”

The dolphin happily rubbed against her in return. Human and dolphin played together in the water.

Chen Miemie watched enviously as Mute rode on the dolphin’s back, transforming into a dolphin knight.

“Haha, Ms. Dolphin is... my ship! Set sail!”

Mute pointed toward the distant sea.

Chen Miemie wanted to play in the water too, but he had one small concern. “Mute, don’t people usually need to change into special diving suits before going into the water? Won’t you be completely soaked when you come ashore?”

“Look at my... clothes. They aren’t clinging to my body, are they?”

“No, they aren’t. How do you do that?”

“That’s another one of my abilities: the Garment of Waves and Notes. It always maintains its... optimal condition.”

Sitting on the Jade Rabbit, Chen Miemie watched as Mute and the dolphin happily played in the water. Sometimes they dove beneath the surface, and sometimes they leaped out of it. As he watched, an idea began to form.

“I’ve got it!” He clapped his hands. “You have a dolphin, and I have a water dolphin!”

Chen Miemie jumped into the sea. A “water dolphin” formed beside him, shaped entirely from water.

He climbed onto its back and rode alongside Mute.

Mute and her dolphin companion were both stunned.

Ms. Dolphin immediately let out a surprised “Kwee-ee!” and swam over to rub against the water dolphin.

And so, the two dolphin knights began racing joyfully through the sea.

Dolphins were incredibly fast. Before they knew it, they were already far from [Foamwake Harbor].

The ships scattered across the surrounding waters had grown sparse, but Mute and Chen Miemie’s group had become livelier than ever.

Along the way, other dolphins spotted them and joined in the fun. The group had now grown into a grand procession of more than a dozen dolphins.

They cut through the waves as laughter and cheerful cries filled the air.

But when the dolphin procession entered a new stretch of sea, the joyful atmosphere changed.

Unlike the clear skies in the previous area, the sky here was dark and overcast. Strong winds whipped across the surface, and the waves surged violently. The sea seemed to be brooding, as though it were about to lose its temper.

Mute glanced at the sky. “The area ahead is being hit by a storm. There are enormous waves, and it’ll be dangerous. We can’t go any farther.”

Chen Miemie had no objections. In the vast ocean, he had long since lost all sense of direction. As far as he was concerned, anywhere was as good as anywhere else.

Sure enough, while they were still speaking, they advanced a short distance. When they surfaced again, rain and towering waves came crashing toward them with terrifying force.

Even as high-ranking mystics surrounded by all kinds of strange abilities, they still felt insignificant between the sea and the sky.

Chen Miemie gained a direct understanding of the ocean’s gentle and beautiful side—and of its violent, merciless side.

Just as the two of them were preparing to turn back—

“Yoo-oo~”

A distant, ethereal voice drifted over.

“Lady Sea Siren!” Mute and Chen Miemie exclaimed at the same time.

“Chen Miemie, when Lady Sea Siren’s song appears, it means that someone nearby has encountered a disaster at sea and needs help. Let’s go take a look.”

“All right. Let’s go.”

“Dolphins, go! Find anyone who needs help!”

At Mute’s command, the dolphin procession immediately scattered.

Chen Miemie was secretly astonished. Mute could actually command all the dolphins.

Mute herself didn’t remain idle. She stepped onto a wave and rose high into the air with it, searching for ships in need of rescue.

Chen Miemie wasn’t a professional, nor did he have any experience with rescue operations. All he needed to do was keep himself safe.

He decided to conduct a small experiment. He had heard that deep in the ocean, especially in extreme conditions, the communication function on his watch could be affected. So he tried sending Dentist a spam message.

He tapped Send, and a prompt quickly appeared on the screen:

“Message failed to send.”

Chen Miemie sighed softly. If he couldn’t send a message, then in the event of a maritime disaster, a distress signal would be unable to reach anyone. The victims could only sink helplessly into the depths.

“Yoo-oo~”

Lady Sea Siren’s voice came and went amid the howling wind and enormous waves, making it impossible to tell where it was coming from.

After searching for more than ten minutes, one of the dolphins returned to Mute.

It slapped her with its fin and cried out twice before turning and swimming away.

Mute understood what it meant. She immediately called Ms. Dolphin and followed after it.

“Chen Miemie, don’t go wandering off. I’ll come back for you later.”

She shouted this before leaving.

“Don’t worry. I understand.”

Out on the open sea, no matter how powerful or skilled a person was in the water, facing the might of nature was still incredibly dangerous. Mute was taking a risk by going to the rescue. No one knew how fierce or sudden the dangers ahead might be.

Riding his water dolphin through the sea, Chen Miemie was knocked this way and that by the chaotic, unending waves until his head was buzzing.

He decided to spread the wings on his back, leave the water, and float into the sky.

To avoid being struck by waves thirty or forty meters high, he flew very high.

From the sky, looking down with his exceptional eyesight, he saw an entirely different scene.

Across the surrounding waters, roughly five or six ships had been caught in the sudden storm and towering waves.

Each ship had one or two dolphins swimming ahead of it, guiding it along the shortest and safest route out of the storm zone.

He also saw Mute.

The small ship near her had already capsized. Working together with several dolphins, Mute was turning it upright and bringing the people who had fallen into the water back aboard one by one.

Chen Miemie had only been in the air for a short while when the storm seemed to notice the tiny speck that was him.

A thunderous explosion rang out from within the thick clouds.

A bolt of lightning shot toward the living target floating in the sky.

By the time Chen Miemie heard it, it was already too late. The lightning struck him head-on.

Chen Miemie plunged into the sea and choked on two mouthfuls of water.

This sudden strike didn’t injure Chen Miemie. Qinghua reacted with lightning speed, instantly turning his entire body to porcelain and sealing off the electrical damage behind the ceramic barrier.

Although he wasn’t hurt, Chen Miemie knew he couldn’t keep flying. Otherwise, he would only be struck by lightning again.

Just as he was drifting with the current, enveloped in pure water, a dolphin found him. It gently nudged his arm with its snout and let out a series of urgent cries.

Even though Chen Miemie didn’t understand dolphin language, he could tell what was happening. The dolphin had found someone in need of help and was calling on him for assistance.

He followed the dolphin.

This time, the one awaiting rescue wasn’t a ship on the surface, but a deep-sea diver below.

The dolphin led Chen Miemie to a reef on the ocean floor, then began circling anxiously in front of a narrow gap that was too small for it to enter.

There was light beneath the sea, but it was nothing compared to the light on land.

Chen Miemie pointed with one finger, and a bright moonlight shone from its tip.

The moonlight pierced the cracks between the rocks, allowing Chen Miemie to see what lay inside.

There was the figure of someone unconscious, seemingly swept in by an undercurrent. Because of the angle, Chen Miemie couldn’t make out their face. However, in a conspicuous place on their clothing was an embroidered jellyfish.

Chen Miemie’s gaze sharpened slightly.

He recognized that symbol.

The Witch organization of [Clam Ruins], the [Mosheng Jellyfish Society].