Chapter 15: The First Exchange

Lin Qiu needed to deliver this message to humanity, and Xu Bing was currently the best choice.

“Yaa!”

Lin Qiu spoke, uttering a sound that made him feel utterly humiliated. He slapped his tail, swimming back and forth in front of the yacht.

“Are you greeting me?” Xu Bing's face lit up with delight.

This little dolphin was simply too adorable.

Yet there was also a trace of confusion in her eyes. She had heard dolphin sounds before.

When did a dolphin's call become “yaa”?

The sound might not have been quite right, but it was clear and pleasant, which made her even more delighted. She felt this little dolphin was quite special.

Lin Qiu nodded his little head, eliciting another burst of excitement from Xu Bing: “You really understand what I’m saying?”

Lin Qiu nodded again.

“Wow!”

Xu Bing was overjoyed, bending down to touch Lin Qiu’s head.

“They say dolphins are the smartest creatures in the ocean—it’s all true.”

“No, you’re the dolphin—your whole family are dolphins,” Lin Qiu thought, deeply frustrated. If only he could speak human words, would he have to humiliate himself like this?

Annoyed as he was, he knew only this woman could get his message out.

For the sake of humanity, for the future of Water Blue Star, he had to sacrifice a little of himself.

“What are you doing?” Xu Bing was puzzled, watching the little dolphin with curiosity.

She saw the little dolphin start to move across the surface, parting the waves and leaving ripples behind.

“This woman really is dense—can’t she see I’m writing on the water’s surface?” Lin Qiu cursed inwardly.

Again and again, he traced his path, forming the shapes of words.

If deciphered, they would read: “Ocean mutation!”

To Xu Bing, however, this little dolphin—prancing and showing off—only became more and more endearing, making her eyes sparkle.

But as time passed, Xu Bing gradually noticed something odd.

She realized this little dolphin kept repeating the same trajectory.

Unconsciously, her hand began to mimic the pattern on the deck.

Suddenly, her eyes widened in shock, as if she’d seen a ghost.

She blurted out, her voice several pitches higher: “Are you communicating with me?!”

“She finally gets it!” Lin Qiu rejoiced inwardly, nodding enthusiastically.

Xu Bing saw him nod, her eyes growing even wider, hands clamped tightly over her mouth. She stared at Lin Qiu in shock, even more astonished than when she’d seen the enormous seahorse.

Because she had deciphered it.

This little dolphin could write, and what’s more, was clearly sentient. It was uncanny.

Human beings naturally fear and reject the unknown.

At this moment, Xu Bing was no exception.

Moments ago, she had found this little dolphin quite cute, but now her gaze was filled only with fear and anxiety.

She quickly retreated, stammering, unable to utter a single complete sentence.

“Don’t be afraid!”

Lin Qiu traced another message, moving a little faster this time.

Xu Bing deciphered it quickly, watching as he changed his path again: “I mean no harm.”

“What are you? How do you know human writing? Are you a dolphin with a human soul inside?”

“Clever!” Lin Qiu praised silently, but gave no answer.

Reincarnation was too far-fetched a tale—even he barely believed it. How could he expect someone else to?

If he told this woman he was actually human, it wouldn't be long before he was exposed and hunted across the globe.

He had no desire to end up dissected in a laboratory.

“Just now, you said the ocean is mutating?”

By now, Xu Bing’s fear was slowly ebbing away.

Lin Qiu nodded eagerly.

But just as he was about to explain, a ship’s horn sounded in the distance.

“Someone’s coming!”

Xu Bing turned quickly and saw a cruise ship approaching.

“We’re saved—finally saved!” Xu Bing cheered with joy.

All her boat’s electronic equipment had failed; it was nothing but a hunk of scrap iron drifting on the waves.

The yacht she was now using was just a small speedboat—crossing the ocean in it would be sheer lunacy.

Seeing another ship approach, she was so overjoyed she forgot about the little dolphin, steering the speedboat away and leaving a straight, white wake behind her.

“This woman…” Lin Qiu was dumbfounded.

The only person he could communicate with, someone with connections, had abandoned him at his moment of greatest need.

“Women really are unreliable!” Lin Qiu gnashed his teeth and gave chase.

But the speedboat soon stopped again.

“Little dolphin! Little dolphin!”

Xu Bing hurried away from the controls, ran to the deck, and called out over the sea.

Just now, she’d been carried away by joy and had instinctively sped off.

Now, coming to her senses, she remembered the mysterious little dolphin.

There was a soft “pop,” a small splash on the surface, and a smooth, adorable little head appeared in her sight—who else could it be but the little dolphin?

Xu Bing saw the little dolphin reappear, her eyes tinged with suspicion.

Because the dolphin had followed her.

“Does it really want to give me some message? But what does ‘ocean mutation’ mean?”

Xu Bing was baffled, but as she caught sight of the giant seahorse floating on the sea, her heart skipped a beat.

“When you said the ocean is mutating, did you mean creatures like this seahorse?”

She asked, uncertain.

It was too fantastical.

But what other explanation could there be for the seahorse?

After all, seahorses of the Syngnathidae family ranged from five centimeters at the smallest, and never exceeded thirty centimeters at the largest.

But the one before her was measured in meters—over a hundred of them.

The next moment, her pupils contracted sharply.

The little dolphin nodded repeatedly, then darted across the water’s surface.

“Ocean is dangerous. Leave quickly. Go back and warn others—not to hunt in the ocean.

The mutated sea is terrifying. Many cells from creatures predating the Triassic have begun to awaken…”

Lin Qiu wrote swiftly, making Xu Bing dizzy.

Yet she stared at the patterns, translating as quickly as she could.

At last, Lin Qiu swam a few more circles, glanced at the approaching cruise ship, and dove out of sight.

Xu Bing, still on the speedboat, never even noticed when the dolphin left.

Her mind was filled only with the dolphin’s movements.

When she finally translated the last sentence, she felt as if she were in a dream.

Because the last message read: “These mutations are the work of aliens. Treat this with utmost caution.”