Chapter 78.1
Editor: SimoB
Daddy?
Even Shi Qing was flabbergasted, but soon the little mermaid wriggled his tail and cried out quite happily in his tender and sweet voice.
“Daddy! Daddy, daddy!”
System: [……]
System: […Host, what are you doing?]
Shi Qing: [Can’t you tell? I’m calling for my daddy.]
System: [……]
…If it had a heart right now it would definitely get a heart attack.
It cautiously reminded its Host: [You two…aren’t blood related, right?]
Shi Qing: [Yeah, so what? Look how happy he is when I call him daddy.]
Shi Qing: [I’m happy to call him daddy too. Everyone benefits this way.]
System: [……]
It was unable to outreason Shi Qing, but there was still something bothering the System about this situation…
Shi Qing had already swam up to the golden dragon and started playing with his whiskers.
When the jubilant new father heard Shi Qing call for him, he became even more pleased.
This was the first time in tens of thousands of years that a creature had spoken to him.
And it was the little one he had hatched himself.
Although he had been doing nothing but eating and sleeping, the golden dragon vaguely understood that all the sea creatures seemed to be mute now because he had never heard one begging for mercy.
That, and the copious amounts of screaming whenever a party of dragons ventured out for some fun thousands of years ago in his inherited memories.
So he was glad to see that his little one wasn’t mute. As expected, like father, like son.
The golden dragon carefully controlled his whiskers to catch the frolicking little mermaid in the water. His huge claws carefully hovered beneath.
The ‘father and son’ duo didn’t feel awkward at all. They played happily despite meeting moments earlier.
If any creature capable of night vision dared to approach this place in the deep sea, they would see a long dragon coiled up with a little mermaid a fraction of his size playing with his whiskers.
The golden dragon was truly majestic. Every part of his body radiated an aura that could send chills down the spine of any creature.
His sharp claws could slice through stone with the slightest touch, his hard scales could withstand even the most powerful of attacks, and there was no need to talk about the ma.s.sive fangs in his mouth.
As long as he bit down, no creature could escape the fate of becoming prey.
And yet, the behemoth who could so easily cause destruction willingly laid still like a statue so the little mermaid could play freely.
He even slowed down his breathing so as to not accidentally suck the little mermaid into his mouth.
The giant creature showed such caution and care to the little mermaid lying in his hands.
The golden dragon stiffened even more as his freshly hatched little one headed straight for his claws.
Although he’s done nothing but grab his pearl with them all his life, the golden dragon’s inherited memories told him how sharp his nails were.
What if the little mermaid accidentally landed on his claws?
The golden dragon didn’t dare to dodge either, afraid that the motion would create whirlpools nearby. He could only try his best to retract his nails so they didn’t hurt the little mermaid.
Fortunately, the little mermaid gently landed in the center of his hand without touching his claws.
The golden dragon breathed out a sigh of relief, his whiskers fluttering happily again.
As expected of the little one he hatched.
The dragon’s tail started wagging again because he was happy, bringing doom and destruction unto the denizens of the sea.
Fortunately, the creatures living there had already fled during the previous catastrophe. Otherwise the second wave would’ve left no survivors.
Shi Qing was also quite happy.
Despite the golden dragon’s ma.s.sive size, his little inspection beforehand told him that every one of his scales were smooth, shiny and clean.
Lying on the dragon’s claw, he curiously touched the surface with a tender and white hand. Shi Qing discovered that the claw was soft like the pads on a cat’s paw.
Well, a cat paw that was bigger than his entire body, that is.
The little mermaid flipped over to have a closer look of what he was lying on. The dragon’s skin was definitely thick enough to shrug off bullets, but it was still soft to the touch, like a water bed.
Shi Qing was very comfortable here. He looked up at the golden dragon who was carefully watching him.
“I’m hungry…”
After a second’s pause, he added, “Daddy!”
The term of endearment nearly melted the golden dragon’s big dragon heart.
The silly father immediately promised, “Daddy will take you to eat delicious food right away!”
Previously, as a shut in and an orphan, the golden dragon was never picky when it came to food.
He didn’t care what he ate as long as it was filling.
Just by opening his mouth and sucking as he swam along, various things were sucked into his stomach. As for inedible things like stones, shipwrecks and glaciers…
He’s got an iron stomach, okay?
But while he could eat whatever, this wasn’t true for his little one.
The golden dragon carefully cradled his little one on his cheekbone under his eyelid, afraid of accidentally hurting Shi Qing somehow.
Yes, under his actual eyelid.
Who let him have such big eyes?
Look at how tiny his little one was.
Look at his little mouth, little arms… Even his pretty little fishtail was tiny!
A child this small needed special care.
It only took a second for the dragon who had been a shut in for tens of thousands of years to decide to go out.
He tentatively asked his child, “Daddy is going to take you to eat little fishies, okay?”
Shi Qing sweetly replied from his comfortable and safe perch in the dragon’s claws, “Okay daddy.”
The golden dragon’s heart swelled again.
Ah, this was really his little one.
What a good and obedient child.
None of the younglings in his inherited memories were as obedient as him.
They were all dragons that could catch their own prey as soon as they were born, and some would even steal from their parents when they returned to the pack.
Dragons hated it when others stole their prey, but it was not in their nature to harm their fellow dragons. Therefore, all they could do was swim around threateningly with their tails wagging in displeasure.
Maybe that’s why dragons didn’t raise their young.
After all, a young dragon was almost invincible from birth. No one could harm them except for adult dragons. They were also especially rude and liked to steal food with impunity from the adults who wouldn’t strike back.
As a result, dragons didn’t have a high opinion of younglings.
Of course, younglings had no respect for the adults either. But they too would experience the displeasure of being stolen from and not being able to retaliate once they matured.
To put it bluntly, no one’s happy to be robbed.
But the golden dragon, the last of his kind, was different. An aberration.
He was happy to carefully hold his little one in his claws as he swam at a very high speed for the first time. His heart was bursting with joy.
He didn’t feel like an aberration.
Other dragons didn’t care about their younglings because they could live on their own.
But his little one was different.
Look at his little arms and his little tail!
How pitiful…
His little arms aren’t even long enough to circle around a single tooth of the weakest fish in his inherited memories.
His beautiful but small and weak little fishtail seemed inefficient. Swimming so slowly in the deep sea was like a death sentence.
The golden dragon couldn’t bear to leave such a weak and pitiful youngling on his own.
He would starve to death.
No doubt about it.
The golden dragon felt more and more guilty as he thought about how his little pearl would’ve been bullied if he hadn’t woken up.
The silly father lightly brushed his whiskers against the little mermaid’s beautiful silvery-white tail.
It was all his fault for not being able to hatch a big and strong youngling.
Since his little one was so weak, he would have to follow him and be protected by him for the rest of his life.
At that point, the guilt in the golden dragon’s heart was overshadowed by joy.
Isn’t it better this way?
He would raise his little one with care, giving him the best of everything and not letting him be wronged.
Shi Qing looked up at the golden dragon who swam forward majestically with a single-minded focus.
He looked very cool and regal.
But when he flicked his fish tail and looked back, he could see the golden dragon’s long body wriggling joyfully.
Whipping up a countless number of whirlpools and tsunamis.
He asked the golden dragon, “Where are we going?”
Sirens had a natural ability to charm others. Because they relied on their voice to lure in prey, Shi Qing’s voice was also very pleasing to the ear.
However, the sea creatures from 10000 years ago didn’t yet have the ability to appreciate good music. They would beat up sirens viciously after hearing them sing. Apparently, the golden dragon was different.
First, he thought, “What a beautiful voice my little one has.”
Then he remembered the ear grating voices of the sirens from his inherited memories.
Instead of realizing that his musical tastes were different from the average dragon, the golden dragon instead thought, “As expected of my hatchling. Even his voice is so much better than all the other sirens.”
Enchanted for a second, the golden dragon eventually answered the question posed by its youngling.
“I remember the fishies in the area up ahead tasted good. I’ll take you to eat there.”
Although he didn’t remember what he ate, the golden dragon remembered that he cleared that area out 1000 years ago before going home on a full stomach.
The golden dragon didn’t know about what overfishing was, but he knew that there was merit in letting populations recover.
Since a thousand years have pa.s.sed, that area should be filled with tasty food again.
The area the golden dragon was talking about would take about an hour to reach, even at the extremely high speeds he was travelling.
Moreover, he was also swimming towards the surface.
From his perch in the dragon’s claws, Shi Qing noticed that this part of the sea seemed familiar.
Wasn’t this near the island where the protagonist lived?
The golden dragon didn’t know what a protagonist was. But adult dragons had very good eyesight, so he could clearly see the small school of fish in front of him.
This number of fishes wasn’t even a mouthful for him so it would take a long time to feel full. But it should be enough for his little one, right? Time to eat.
With that thought, the golden dragon rushed over ever faster.
On the island, Zeng Nan was preparing to go out to sea with a cigarette in her mouth. One of her subordinates carefully approached. “Boss, maybe we shouldn’t go out. What if you meet that mermaid again?”
Zeng Nan exhaled a mouthful of smoke. The scar on the right side of her face was faintly visible under the sunlight. Her hair was shaved and her skin was the colour of healthy wheat. Her features weren’t bad, but they were marred by the scar. She narrowed her eyes at the sea as she considered her subordinate’s words.
“If we don’t go out to sea, where will we get food? We’ll starve to death at this rate.” she said, taking in another puff of smoke. “There’s all kinds of messed up things in the world now. Mermaids aren’t the worst creatures we can run into. I don’t know why he pretended to be a weakling, but at least he didn’t try to kill us outright. Who knows what horrors are hidden in the depths of the ocean?”
Her subordinate looked bitter.”A mermaid is bad enough. I don’t think there’s anything else.”
“Maybe. If there really is something else, it’s probably the size of the mermaid at most. Otherwise scientists would’ve discovered it by now.”
Finished speaking, Zeng Nan stubbed out her cigarette and turned around. “Okay, let’s get ready to head out.”
She was greeted with the shocked faces of her subordinates staring at something behind her.
Zeng Nan: “?”
“What are you guys doing standing around?!”
Her subordinate “B-Boss, look behind you…”
Zeng Nan frowned as she brought the cigarette to her mouth. Biting impatiently, she turned around. “Don’t act like country b.u.mpkins all the time. What is it this time–”
The cigarette b.u.t.t fell out of her mouth.
In the distance, a gigantic golden body rose from the sea before diving back in.
Zeng Nan: “……”
Everyone knew that objects in the distance were larger up close.
She’s been leading her subordinates in this part of the sea for almost three years, so she knew this place pretty well. The place where that huge golden body appeared was already the farthest point that could be seen from where they were standing.
If it was that big when it was so far away, how much bigger it would be if it was closer?
From their position, they could only see parts of a huge golden body appearing in the sea from time to time. It even glittered under the sunlight.
It was clearly part of a living creature because its direction kept changing.
If that was just one part of the thing’s body…
Zeng Nan’s hand was still frozen in the position of holding the cigarette.
“I suddenly feel like that mermaid really is quite harmless.”
At least, he was willing to pretend to be harmless.
This behemoth was so big that no one would believe it even if it tried.