Outside the boathouse lay a world of ice and snow, a vast expanse of shimmering white. Under the brilliance of the sun, the sea’s surface was crystal clear, looking like polished quartz. Those amphibious, pink-and-white creatures were leaping onto the ice one by one. With the three small bubbles on their foreheads, their chubby fins, and their round, rolling bodies, they looked exactly like the "clumsily cute" sketches Feng Zhixi had doodled on his terminal. These spherical beings frolicked and chased one another, shoving and tumbling until they were covered in snow.
Staring at the swarm of soft, squishy pink-and-white creatures outside the window, Feng Zhixi blinked in a daze. For a moment, he thought he was still dreaming. How had all the marine life turned into the silly, adorable things he had drawn the moment he woke up?
He glanced back at Ji Yeran, his eyes filled with confusion. "Just how long was I out?" *Did I sleep myself into a stupor?*
Seeing that Feng Zhixi was finally fully conscious, Ji Yeran’s expression visibly relaxed. He glanced at the time on his personal terminal and replied, "Three days."
"Three days?" Feng Zhixi was stunned. He felt as though he had only had a single dream, yet three days had already passed?
Something wasn't right. Feng Zhixi frowned and turned back to the frozen world outside, watching the pink-and-white "snowballs" rolling around. This was clearly the final destination of the marine migration.
The journey following the ocean currents was supposed to take at least a month. How had they reached the end of the migration in just three days? And what was with this crowd of rolling pink-and-white blobs? Where were the sleek, powerful marine creatures he had seen before he fell asleep?
Sensing the Omega’s confusion and smelling the scent of strong liquor—his pheromones finally stabilizing—Ji Yeran still felt a lingering trace of fear. He began to recount the events of that night...
***
Late at night.
Under the moonlight, ripples disturbed the calm sea. The silvery light seemed to awaken something; countless marine creatures surfaced, opening their mouths to call out to one another in a frequency beyond human hearing.
The moonlight spilled through the boathouse’s glass windows, quietly illuminating a corner of the room. Ji Yeran had been jolted awake by an overwhelming, suffocating scent of heady spirits.
Not long after he woke, the Omega in his arms began to run a scorching fever. The concentration of the liquor-scented pheromones in the air began to skyrocket—doubling, tripling... ten times... twenty times...
The intoxicating aroma was everywhere, growing denser by the second. Yet, due to the effects of the permanent mark, it remained tightly entwined with a thread of green plum scent. Despite the violent fluctuations, the concentration never quite managed to break past its peak.
With his eyes closed, the Omega seemed to have been pulled into some unknown world. His congenitally damaged gland was releasing pheromones with such intensity that it felt as if he were standing on a precipice, liable to plunge into the abyss at any moment.
This sudden mutation shocked Ji Yeran. He tried numerous ways to wake Feng Zhixi, but it was futile. The Omega in his arms was like a Sleeping Beauty from a fairy tale, submerged in a dream from which he could not emerge.
With no other choice, the Alpha could only release his own pheromones without reservation. The scent of green plums wrapped around the Omega in layers, blending with the violently fluctuating liquor scent to hold him steady...
***
Listening to Ji Yeran’s narration, Feng Zhixi blinked. He leaned in close to Ji Yeran’s ear and sniffed. The plum scent mixed with his own liquor was quite pleasant. No wonder the entire room was saturated with the Alpha’s scent when he woke up—it was sweet and tart, so potent he had thought the Alpha had entered his rut.
Seeing the Alpha’s ears turn slightly red, Feng Zhixi flashed a smile, signaling that if Ji Yeran ever did enter his rut, he should let him know. He promised his bites didn't hurt much.
Seeing that the "little patient" who had nearly scared him to death now had the energy to tease him, Ji Yeran felt both exasperated and amused. At the same time, he felt immensely grateful for the decision he had made.
***
That night, when Ji Yeran realized Feng Zhixi’s pheromone fluctuations were becoming increasingly violent, he couldn't wait any longer. He prepared to activate the boathouse’s return system immediately. Just as the vessel was about to leave the water’s surface, the pink-and-white creatures in the sea seemed to sense their companion’s intent to depart. The leader of the pod—the one with three small bubbles on its forehead—swam over.
Outside the boathouse, the creature stared fixedly at Ji Yeran with its large, round eyes. Even though they were separated by the one-way hull of the vessel, the Alpha’s intuition told him that the creature could see him.
The creature had gentle, large eyes. When it gazed at the human, it seemed full of goodwill. This "Navigator" locked eyes with Ji Yeran and opened its mouth, the three bubbles on its forehead fluttering slightly. Ji Yeran froze; he seemed to hear a sound—faint, fragmented, and difficult to discern.
Then, the Navigator gave a graceful flick of its tail and swam forward a short distance. Realizing the "companion" it was beckoning hadn't followed, it turned back once more to look at the boathouse.
"*******" Another fragmented sound reached his ears. Ji Yeran looked into the distance, meeting the gaze of the creature with the gentle eyes.
Sensing that it finally had Ji Yeran’s attention, the Navigator shook its head, the bubble-pores on its forehead opening slightly. It slapped the seawater with its tail in short, rapid bursts, as if urging Ji Yeran to hurry up and follow.
"*******" Yet another unintelligible sound. This time, Ji Yeran was certain: this creature outside the boathouse could actually see him and was even trying to communicate through sound.
Because of the intermittent magnetic storms in the deep seas of Planet M88, the materials used for the boathouse were extraordinary, matching the performance of standard starship hulls. Yet this creature could see through it with the naked eye?
Seeing that its companion remained motionless, the Navigator’s tail-slapping became more urgent. The anxious creature flicked its tail and nimbly swam back, pressing close to the boathouse. Its gentle eyes were wide; Ji Yeran could even see the reflection of himself and the Omega in them.
The creature with the three bubbles opened its mouth, transmitting a formless sound through the water.
"*******"
"*******"
"*******"
From the moment Ji Yeran began to hear the sounds, the muffled noises became clearer. Although the Alpha still couldn't understand the words, he could read the creature’s intent in its eyes.
*Follow it?*
The Navigator, slapping its tail urgently in the deep sea, was anxiously calling out to its strange-looking companion, telling it to keep up.
*Should he trust it?* Looking down at the Omega in his arms, Ji Yeran’s gaze darkened. The permanent mark allowed him to clearly perceive how dire Feng Zhixi’s condition was. It felt as though the internal scales of the Omega’s body had been shattered; a tiny variable from an unknown source had broken the delicate balance, tipping everything toward an irreversible disaster.
For some unknown reason, Feng Zhixi’s health was suddenly deteriorating at an accelerated rate.
Should he head back immediately, or choose to trust this mysterious marine creature?
Staring silently into the creature’s eyes, Ji Yeran lowered his gaze and chose to trust his intuition.
Seeing its companion follow, the Navigator shook its head and dove downward, swimming toward the deeper, darker reaches of the ocean.
Operating the boathouse, Ji Yeran followed the stray Navigator into the depths. As they moved further from the surface, the Navigator swam faster and faster, eventually reaching a speed that forced Ji Yeran to push the boathouse to its maximum velocity just to keep up.
As they descended, the color of the water grew darker. Light vanished bit by bit, replaced by a profound, abyssal black. The deep sea was silent, devoid of all sound. In the darkness, the boathouse followed the Navigator deeper and deeper.
After an unknown amount of time, a halo of light suddenly appeared on the pitch-black seabed. A deep blue glow suspended quietly in the deep sea, looking exceptionally mysterious, as if it contained a miraculous power.
Upon seeing this blue halo, the Navigator stopped. It turned back to look at Ji Yeran one last time, its large eyes reflecting the two of them. It opened its mouth, then turned around and swam into the halo without hesitation.
As the blue glow swallowed the pink-and-white creature, Ji Yeran clearly saw a flash of silvery-white light ripple across the surface of the deep blue halo. The shimmering white light consumed the creature, looking remarkably like a legendary technology.
The Navigator vanished into the light. The deep blue halo remained suspended in the deep sea. By now, Ji Yeran had a faint inkling of what this blue glow represented.
This was one of the legendary cultural relics left behind by the Xi Tribe—a directional space-time wormhole. So, behind this blue halo lay the ruins of the Xi Tribe?
As the boathouse approached the blue halo, Ji Yeran was surprised to find that the fluctuating pheromones of the Omega in his arms began to stabilize. The blue halo seemed to possess some miraculous healing property; Feng Zhixi’s temperature began to drop.
This time, Ji Yeran did not hesitate. He steered the boathouse directly through the halo...
From deep blue to a brilliance that defied description, time seemed to lose all meaning. When Ji Yeran woke from the white light, he saw a world of ice and snow. And the Omega in his arms twitched a finger and opened his eyes.
Seeing his Sleeping Beauty finally awake, Ji Yeran smiled.
***
After hearing the story, Feng Zhixi blinked. He looked out of the boathouse with curiosity. In the frozen world, pink-and-white blobs were everywhere, rolling around and playing.
Feng Zhixi thought uncertainly, *This... this is the cultural heritage site of the Xi Tribe? Doesn't it look more like a breeding farm for round pets?*
