บท 17: meeting acquaintances

"Are you about to give birth?", I ask the giant mermaid.

"I do ", an ethereal voice came out from her mouth

"do you need something? do we call a doctor? will it hurt?", a chuckle cut through my speech,

" haha, you are funny, how can a fish feel pain when laying eggs ?!"

"hmph", I snort and turn my face to my right

"hahaha, ok I won't tease you anymore, I'm about to lay eggs as for their hatching; each one hatching depends on oneself, it might hatch tomorrow or hatch thousand years later or maybe never hatch. after laying eggs I like to take a long slumber and so I leave my kids at your hands, your highness."

"rest assured", you don't have to tell me though, they are essential to building my kingdom.

" Leo, you go call Mango, let her have the task to protect the egg and the giant mermaid ...I'll call her Lulu from now on"

"as you wish, your highness"

Finally, now I have time to play with Li Xiang, I directly swam towards his whereabout, I reach the shore, my tail turns into a pair of legs, I wear the clothes I got from that world even though Li Xiang told me no too, I know he means me well, but I not only can't handle them because of their stench and fabric but also because of its style; so ugly.

I turn my head left and right looking for him, obviously, he wasn't there but I already guessed that he's inside of the 4 villas nearby.

"la...la...la ..I'm coming for you ..La La", I sing doing jump walks

right after he left a black shadow came out from behind the tree then stares in the direction Erha disappeared at.

"li Xiang!!! where are you?", I yell but I only intended to yell once, afraid of attracting unwanted attention.

I waited 30 minutes still no one showed up, 'he's not here?? where did he go? let's wait a little bit longer he might return soon, I get inside a villa by slipping through a gap in the garage, I sit by the window then wait.

Li Xiang P.O.V:

'even the kitten has responsibilities ', I sigh

I look to the north then frown," I can feel the catastrophes progress is speeding up, especially from the north, what's going on there? if I remember correctly the second catastrophe appeared the fifth year after the end days and it happened in Fuzhang city. I'll go check it "

i turn to the sea," I'll make sure to come back before lunchtime"

a bolt of lightning seems to pass through the city, and Li Xiang's place was empty, he's not 2 cities away from the starting point. while he was passing the third city he hears a loud roar and gunfight.

"a battle?is it a camp?", he directly goes check it out

the noises came out from the middle of a museum, there were 2 people, one is injured and the other is shooting the monster, technically speaking it is called gorgon because it has two snake tails like legs, serpent teeth, and scales just that half of them is rotten, this monster has high speed and instinct, making it a tricky opponent, what confuses me is this monster won't attack anyone unless you disturb it, invade its territory or steal from it. I pass my sight toward the two-man to get choked.

"These two aren't they Xu Kong and Su Mei !!!", how can he not know them !! Xu kong was his childhood friend who died in the first outbreak of the apocalypse, I saw him with his own eyes die, and Su Mei was the leader of a big shelter, I can go as far as to say that he was a strong monster.

"what's happening ?! Why is everything different?"

....

"xu kong!! hang on there, I'll find a way out", yells Su Mei without shifting his sight from the gorgon

"Senior Su, you just go, leave I don't wanna be your burden anymore!!!", cries Xu Kong as tears fall down.

"useless", Su clicks his tongue throws the empty rifle, he takes the two daggers out from his boots, make a fighting pose with the daggers in front, at first he was about to dash upfront of him but his eyes caught from the corner slashing tail so he dodges to his right, rolling in the ground, ignoring the aftereffect of falling on pointy rocks, his legs started bleeding affecting his actions, he now could only dodge most of it hits, the other hits will nearly land on him leaving skin injuries .

his stamina was running out, he already knew that he can't escape, it's not that he can't he just refused to leave xu kong here , "AHHHH" he let out a shout as he dashes towards the monster, I rather die with the man I like but I also rather take you with us .

the gorgon face with a big mouth taking half of its face was 2 inches away from him, then a BOOM was heard and the monster disappeared from in front of me, I look to my left to see the same monster has exploded in the wall, only leaving few not complete organs.

"huh? am I dreaming?"

'pop', footsteps landing to ground barely making a sound, the owner of the footsteps was wearing a black trench coat, he had tall and good posture, the man didn't say anything he just walked in front of Xu Kong.

"What are you trying to do?!!", Su Mei was now angered, since the last days he already knew that there's no such thing as a free meal or bodhisattva heart, everyone has a purpose and this man seems to have unknown attention toward Xu Kong.

"Li Xiang ? is that you?", says Xu Kong

Li Xiang nods

Xu Kong didn't mind his lack of response rather he was happy," thank goodness you're alive, your mother was worried about you"

this sentence really choked Li Xiang, 'mom is still alive?' he was really curious but that's not important now

"you need to help up"

Xu Kong just shakes his head," it's no use, all my ribs are broken even my legs are useless, you'll just be wasting medicine."

Li Xiang knew and he still wanted to try anyway, it might be of little use but it can sustain his life, for the time being, suddenly he remembered Erha's pearls.