Chapter 28 - Littered with corpses

Kui dunked his head in once again, but he still couldn't find those small cute yellow fishes. "Kui here," Chao gestured to come close. "Where are all the fishes?"

"Hmm, I bet they are all down below." Chao helped adjust the hip rope again. "I'll teach you how to dive in now, just follow me okay?"

"Okay…" Chao slowly showed him how his body should move to dive deeper in. "You dive in and raise your hips. When you start to kick your legs, you will start to move downwards. Give it a try."

"Okay, that's easy," stretching his muscles, he started to mimic Chao's movements. "Hips raised and dive in…" Kui dove in, but his butt ended up floating out, making it impossible for him to swim down.

Since his head was completely immersed, his gills started to form. It was not a painless process. Every single time he felt his lungs burn like it was on fire before the gills and the membrane between his fingers appeared.

He felt someone slap his butt. Grunting, he bobbed up. "I tried," he whispered. But weirdly his voice came out in a muffled manner. Eyes wide open, he touched his throat. "What's up with my voice?"

"Your vocal cord is altered when you transform underwater. That's why you are able to talk down there. But when it's up here it sounds wonky." Chuckling, Chao patted his back. "Come on, try diving in again."

Nodding, Kui did it again. This time he started to kick his legs as soon as he started to dive in. Slowly he felt his body descend. "Good, you're doing good," Chao swam close to him. "Now I want you to hold your hands up above your head, palms cupped. Slowly push both your palms away."

This move carried a moving force pushing him down a bit more. At first, his swimming technique was quite wonky, but soon his body started to adjust to the water, and slowly he was able to get a hang of it. He was able to swim down to the reef area by himself! "I did it!" he happily waved at Chao.

But the young man seemed quite distracted, looking towards the underwater cliff. His anxious eyes seemed to be waiting for someone. Kui smirked. "Anxious to meet a certain mermaid?"

Chao suddenly coughed up bubbles. "W-what are you talking about huh? I'm just looking out for the shark. The last time you almost got eaten alive!" Blushing, the young man ran to hunt the stone fishes. "Hey! You better teach me how to swim up, ah!"

"Going up is quite easy. Just push yourself upwards and follow the same hand and leg motion. You'll be able to float up in no time." Chao said from a distance. The young man seemed to be hiding a ferocious blush by hiding behind a coral reef.

Chuckling, Kui started to swim up. He was able to easily move after he kicked himself up. His hand and leg movements turned smooth as he hit the surface. He once again dove in and swam down as practiced. It was much easier than he had expected. Kui happily swam around.

Suddenly, as he was getting close to the cliff, he noticed a fair hand clutching the rocky edge. "Looks like Chao's little girl crush is here," he happily swam close. "Hey little girl. Sorry I was rude to you yesterday. Look, I'm not interested in you... but you can meet my friend. He is such a sweet and kind person."

Truth be told, without Chao around to teach him the ropes, he would have been a lost babe in the ocean. The other men seemed too eager to fish to make an income for their families. Only Chao was quite jovial about hunting these fishes, so he had extra time to teach him tips and tricks. He appreciated that Chao was kind enough to teach him everything patiently.

The hand clutching the rocky edge remained still. "Little mermaid? Do you need help getting up?" It looked like she was just hanging from the side. The whole body was hiding in the darkness. "Wait I'll give you a hand."

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. Suddenly, the waters in front of him turned red. Gasping, Kui fell to the rocky reef. What hovered in front of him was not a mermaid… but a half-chewed corpse of a merman. The head was missing and parts of his tail were chewed off.

"Go! We have to go!" someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him up. Still stuck in shock, he watched the corpse. "Th-that person... what… what happened?"

"I don't know. I don't know Kui... we just need to go," Chao hurriedly tossed him onto the boat like a wet sack of potatoes. When his voice got adjusted, he started to whistle for the others. "This has never happened... Mers don't just let their dead float around. Something is going on underneath… where are the others!" he anxiously watched the cold waters.

Kui, on the other hand, was only looking at the rocky cliff. On the familiar rocks were a few washed-up Mer corpses. "T-there are more," he pointed it out to him. Chao frustratingly combed through his matted hair. "We… we are doomed."