The Talks

Chen Miemie couldn’t even be bothered to comment.

Morwen had previously wondered aloud why “that giant whale keeps returning to the [Jellyfish Society’s] territory.” Wasn’t the reason obvious? This was where a whale had fallen after death, and the place held an attraction that made it treat the area as its home.

Chen Miemie said exactly what he was thinking. “I probably can’t take it with me. It’s made this place its home.”

Nuan Yang looked at the mischievous little whale wriggling in the main seat and sighed.

“Although it eats a lot and can be rather naughty at times, with proper guidance, it could serve as one of our trump cards. It isn’t purely a burden.

“However, Lord Third Seat stated explicitly that this is a gift reserved for his own child, so please do everything you can to tame it.”

Chen Miemie cautiously asked the key question. “How much does it eat in one meal, and how often does it need to eat?”

Nuan Yang laughed, her red hair trembling with her hearty laughter.

“Don’t let its current size fool you. Its appetite is the same as that of a fully grown whale.”

Chen Miemie’s heart sank.

Never mind whether he could take it with him. If the whale followed him, he would at least have to feed it. Where was he supposed to find enough food every day to fill the belly of a colossal whale?

Fortunately, Nuan Yang continued, “Its diet is quite varied, and it isn’t picky. Meat, fruits and vegetables, algae, and pure energy can all serve as food.”

Chen Miemie approached the little whale.

It wasn’t afraid of people and simply stared at Chen Miemie with its enormous eyes.

Chen Miemie raised a hand and fired a shot of highly concentrated, energy-rich Evermoon light straight into its mouth.

At first, the little fellow had no idea what it was eating. But as soon as the light entered its mouth, its eyes began to blink rapidly, and it looked delighted, like a bear that had just found a jar of honey.

Under the Evermoon night, the specially modified, high-energy version of Evermoon light Chen Miemie released was not something just anyone could consume.

The little whale’s water-formed body was slowly filled with light and began to glow faintly.

Chen Miemie kept up the output while Nuan Yang watched in silence. The little whale happily continued eating.

Ten quiet minutes passed.

The little whale grew brighter and brighter, Evermoon light shining from within and without. It looked like a massive whale-shaped piece of glowing yellow amber.

After opening and closing its mouth several times, it finally shut it. Then it patted its belly with both fins, signaling, “I’m full.”

Chen Miemie turned to Nuan Yang. “How hungry was it when we started?”

By then, the witch was already staring in shock.

Her mind was filled with disbelief. Chen Miemie was not normal—absolutely not normal. That was the enormous amount of energy a whale needed, and he had simply produced light out of thin air and fed it to the creature?

If that light struck a demon, wouldn’t it blow a bloody hole straight through them with a single finger?

She shook her head and did her best to regain her composure.

“That counts as one complete meal. It wasn’t especially hungry to begin with; otherwise, it wouldn’t have come here looking for one of the Society’s administrators. It seems to like the energy you feed it very much. I’ve never seen it look this happy even when eating seafood.

“How long one meal lasts depends on how active it is. If it sleeps and barely moves, it should last for several months.

“With normal activity, about a month.

“If it fights intensely or swims long distances, it will probably last only a week.”

Chen Miemie was delighted. He only needed to feed the whale twice a week. That solved the biggest problem.

It was merely a minor interlude.

After finishing its meal, the whale did not cling to him. It called out twice to Chen Miemie in its deep whale-song, then vanished without a trace.

Nuan Yang and Chen Miemie began discussing the real matter at hand.

“Chen Miemie, [Mussel Ruins] was attacked by [Wavefoam Harbor] this time, and there are many different voices within the city. The situation is rather complicated.” Nuan Yang went straight to the point.

“I expected as much. I came here mainly to get a sense of your situation. Only after I have a comprehensive understanding of the true state of both cities can I offer any useful advice. Why don’t you start by telling me about things here?”

“All right. People see different things from different perspectives, so I’ll first explain the situation as we understand it from the viewpoint of [Mussel Ruins]’s native residents. You can make your own judgments afterward.

“Demonkind is more savage than humanity. They all believe in survival of the fittest, and are therefore more aggressive toward outsiders.

“[Mussel Ruins] is an exception. Of all the demon cities, it is the least warlike.”

This was the first time Chen Miemie had heard such a claim. “Why? Are sea demons different in temperament from those on land?”

“No. Demonkind’s nature is more or less the same everywhere. But [Mussel Ruins] has a very unusual geographical position. Put simply, there are three main reasons.

“First, its location determines that [Mussel Ruins] can’t afford to be too aggressive.

“Unlike [Wavefoam Harbor], which lies on the frontier of human territory, [Mussel Ruins] is an isolated enclave of demon territory. There’s no support behind it, and it’s effectively a lone city. If other species couldn’t survive on the seafloor, humans would have taken it long ago. Under such circumstances, of course we have to keep our heads down.

“It’s like this time. It was the humans who attacked us, not the other way around. In fact, setting aside the reinforcements [Wavefoam Harbor] brought in, [Mussel Ruins] itself is roughly equal in strength to [Wavefoam Harbor].”

Chen Miemie thought for a moment. “So it’s not that [Mussel Ruins] doesn’t want to call in reinforcements. It’s that demon reinforcements can’t get here?”

“Not exactly. There are ways to get them here, but the front line is too far away, and they could easily be ambushed along the way. Land and sky demons might barely make it here, but once they have to fight underwater, they can’t bring out their full strength.”

Chen Miemie took a sip of tea. It was a special algae tea, stored in a sealed container and drunk through a straw.

“That’s an objective limitation. Please, continue.”

“The second reason is that the seafloor is rich in resources. Even if [Mussel Ruins] and [Wavefoam Harbor] were combined, we still couldn’t exhaust them. There’s no need to fight over resources. Without major conflicts of interest, many disputes never arise in the first place.”

Chen Miemie found this argument very convincing. In fact, he felt this second point carried even more weight than the first.

“The third reason is that after living for so long in the cold seawater, most sea demons aren’t particularly hot-tempered. They don’t fly off the handle at the slightest provocation, and many of them are quite rational. As a result, sudden conflicts can often be reduced to minor incidents instead of escalating into something serious.”

Chen Miemie wasn’t entirely convinced by that last point. Sitting so close to Nuan Yang, he felt hot enough already; the seawater certainly didn’t seem cold to him.

“I’m guessing the [Jellyfish Society] is more hot-blooded?”

“Oh? How did you know? We are, in fact, the hardline faction within [Mussel Ruins].”

Chen Miemie was speechless. Did he even need to guess? Spending half an hour with this witch was enough to make anyone feel irritable.

He made an effort not to let the conversation go off track. “Tell me about your position, then.”

Nuan Yang answered without the slightest hesitation. “I’m in favor of war. [Wavefoam Harbor] has attacked our doorstep. We should just crush them.”

“Is that the position of all the witches in [Mussel Ruins]?”

“No. But I’d say they make up about half. The other half dislike fighting and have been citing the Fourth Seat’s recommendation, arguing that we should stay out of it.”

“Understood. One more question: Do you want to destroy the [Seamount Rift] and flood [Wavefoam Harbor]?”

“No.” Nuan Yang still didn’t hesitate for even a moment.

“Why?”

“Because we’ve investigated the area as well, and the Sea Ridge is destined to collapse. It’s unavoidable. Even if we wanted to seize [Langmo Port], we could simply let the ocean do it for us. If we intervened and caused the people there to evacuate too late, it would result in rivers of blood and create a blood feud. That karma would be pinned on [Clam Ruins], and humanity’s forces are no weaklings. The consequences would be endless.”

“Does everyone in [Clam Ruins] think that way?”

“As far as I know, yes. Everyone understands the stakes. Whether it’s the besiegers outside the city or the Sea Ridge, all we need to do is wait. As long as we drag things out, we’ll definitely be the ultimate victors.”

“Your words contradict each other. You just said you’re a hawk, but now you’re saying we can win simply by waiting. Isn’t that inconsistent?”

“Chen Miemie, you may have misunderstood the nature of this war.

“The humans outside never intended to wipe [Clam Ruins] off the map. This is the ocean’s territory, and we aren’t completely cut off from the outside world, so this isn’t a fight to the death where both sides will bleed themselves dry.

“Humanity’s main goal is to keep us occupied, preventing us from destroying the fissures in the Sea Ridge.

“But as I just said, we never intended to do that in the first place. So no one is charging into the heavily defended front line near the Sea Ridge.

“As long as we don’t attack the defenses there, we can leave through other exits. If we happen to run into each other outside, neither side will necessarily fight to the death.

“So when I talk about fighting, I mean trading blows with the powerful figures outside the city from time to time, so people don’t start thinking we’re easy prey.”

Chen Miemie was left with a head full of question marks. “What’s the point of that kind of competition?”

“Of course there’s a point.” Nuanyang bristled. “If someone takes the first shot at you and you don’t react at all, they’ll only grow bolder and push you around even more. [Clam Ruins] is a mighty underwater city. How could we let others look down on us?”

Chen Miemie finally understood. If someone as concerned with saving face as Nuanyang counted as one of the hawks in [Clam Ruins], then the city probably wasn’t all that eager to fight after all.

He asked his final question:

“Your entire stance is based on the assumption that [Clam Ruins] has confirmed the Sea Ridge’s collapse to be unavoidable and intends to win by waiting for the enemy to exhaust themselves. But what if humanity finds a way to repair it?”

Nuanyang fell silent. After a long while, he finally spoke.

“If a miracle can happen, then let it happen.”

Chen Miemie did not remain in [Clam Ruins] for long. Their meeting had been brief, and he did not ask anyone to see him off. He simply teleported away.

After Chen Miemie left, Morwen entered the hall.

“He’s gone?”

“Mm.”

“You didn’t tell him about that matter?”

Nuanyang gazed at the place where Chen Miemie had vanished and shook his head.

“He’s human, yet he also represents the anomalous beings. His position is unclear. It was our first meeting, and I can’t fully trust him yet.”