41

It was the 28th month of the year's lunar calendar- the Festival of Sacrifice to the Sea God.

The seawater drenched the bottom of the white altar, and two solemn stone statues of sea beasts were placed on both sides. The complicated patterns on the edge of the altar base were looming as the sea waves rose and faded.

Everything was like last year, but somehow different.

As on the side of the altar, there was a circle of torches that have not been lit. The distance between each torch was extremely small, not showing their significance.

The people underneath were whispering, and the environment was noisy.

Shen Fengyue was standing underneath with a basket in his arms, he lowered his head and reached out to caress the two jars of honey he had bought, thinking of how excited Siren would look seeing that he bought him his favorite honey, lost in his thoughts a slight smile appeared on his face.

The priest walked to the altar and knocked the wooden scepter in his hand to the ground, and with a light cough, made the audience instantly return to silence.

The sound evoked Shen Fengyue's thoughts. He looked up and saw that the priest was still the same, with snow-white hair and beard, wearing a black robe, and a mysterious pattern outlined by blue paint on his face.

The priest saw the people calm down and said, "Dear folks, after a year of hard work, we all have become self-sufficient with our own hands. However, we will never forget who gave us this grace! It's our great Lord Poseidon!"

Then the priest began an eloquent long speech, talking glibly, using rhetoric and exaggerated words, with only one focal point.

——Patronizing Poseidon's great deeds heartily.

Shen Fengyue has gone through this similar routine for over 20 years, listening to the headmaster's speech during his school days, to his boss's speeches in his workplace, so he's just standing there blankly, wondering what's really going on.

After talking for more than half an hour, as the thunderous applause rang from below, Shen Fengyue instantly retracted his thoughts, as his hands reflexively applauded.

The priest looked around, and after enjoying the applause, he spoke, "This year is different from all previous years. This time we have a big harvest!"

The audience burst out, all speculating about the big harvest the priest was talking about.

"We actually caught a legendary merman!"

The words thundered into the open space, causing a commotion.

Shen Fengyue's eyelids twitched, and then his right eyelids began to jump wildly. He held down his right eye with his hand and used the remaining left eye to look at the situation on the stage, but his heart was inexplicably beating as fast as a drumbeat.

"Dear Folks, let me open your eyes today! See this legendary beast of the sea." At the command of the priest, four strong men carried a humanoid creature to the altar.

The humanoid creature's limbs were buckled with an iron chain as thick as a baby's arm, locking him firmly. Even so, he still struggled to a great extent. The foreheads of the four burly men holding him were covered with dense sweat, thinking it had reached its limit.

The four-strong men threw him heavily into the center of the altar and then fastened the two iron chains with the buckles on the altar before leaving. After that, someone took the sparks to light the peripheral circle of torches.

All the torches were ignited, and the raging fire was burning. As a result, the surrounding temperature rose by several degrees, and the air was filled with the smell of smoke.

"Dear folks, behold the sight."

The moment the torch was lit, the struggling movement of the humanoid creature stopped, and then he let out a heart-piercing roar. The pitch was so high that it was not a sound that normal people could make. Everyone present immediately covered their ears and waited for this sound wave to pass.

Shen Fengyue's hands drooped, the basket fell to the ground, and with a snap of time, he was directly facing the painful sight of Siren in the middle of the flames.

The black eye sockets disappeared and became normal at the moment he saw him. He closed his wide-open mouth and his sharp teeth were hidden again.

His mouth opened and closed, repeating two words silently

——An Dong…

The hood on his head had already slipped off, and the black hair was scattered, revealing the two ear fins in the mess.

People were relieved from the sound waves, and when they saw Siren's face, the obvious sign of being a merman, the scene suddenly fell into chaos.

"It's really a merman!"

"Look at those two ear fins!"

"There are gills on both sides of his neck? It's the first that I've seen something like this, so merman's gills grow there. It looks like a wound cut by six swords. What do you think would be inside if one happens to put their hand in?"

"Isn't it said that the mermen are very good-looking?"

"Oh my god, he's so ugly!"

"Mom, is merman really scary? But he doesn't seem to be powerful at all. On the contrary, he is looking very pitiful."

"Stupid boy, this is an evil creature, an ominous thing. Stay away from him. Be careful of getting contaminated."

Shen Fengyue turned his head to look, just to see a woman holding her baby back a few steps. She also noticed Shen Fengyue looking at her so she asked, "This gentleman, is there anything?"

Shaking his head, his eyes moved back to the altar.

Siren on the altar had his head lowered slightly, as he heard people loudly talking about him, he looked up quickly before dropping his head down again.

The action was fast, but Shen Fengyue still caught it, a feeling of helplessness and panic in his eyes.

The people in the small town criticized his appearance, marveled at his existence, and disliked him as an ominous evil.

People discussed and argued, as those words and sentences all turned into sharp arrows to shoot at the innocent siren on the stage, who had his body pierced as he bled from the wound and the blood flowed down, staining the altar red.

Shen Fengyue's hands were clenched unconsciously, and the nails were deeply embedded in the flesh, causing a tingling sensation. He was surprisingly angry, angry at what these spectators said and did.

Siren's sight wandered, but most of his gazes came in the direction of Shen Fengyue.

Shen Fengyue noticed

——He is asking for help, asking him for help.

This feeling of being fully trusted was like a boulder pressing down on his chest, heavy and with a sense of mission that must be done.

After getting along for so long, Siren has melted into his life, entwining with it like silk threads.

"Dear Folks, it is said that by killing the mermen on the altar by the sea, we will be blessed by the sea god in the coming year."

"Kill him!" a person in the crowd yelled, and then the others followed in response to the blind shout.

"Kill him!"

"Kill him!"

"Kill the merman!"

The words that threatened to kill the merman came one after another and finally turned into neat slogans. Hundreds of people shouted in unison, their voices shook the sky, as if the sky was also hovering around these words.

Shen Fengyue's heart was tense, and he called out anxiously, "System!"

The system replied in seconds, "Roger." Speed is increased.

As soon as the system came into play, Shen Fengyue swiftly sprinted from the crowd, breaking through the crowd, and in the blink of an eye, he reached the altar.

He lifted his foot and kicked off the two torches in front of him, jumped over the fallen torch, ran up to the siren, and faced the two iron cables.

"An Dong…" Siren saw Shen Fengyue coming, his eyes lit up, as he dejectedly said, "It's so hot."

"Good boy, it will be fine soon." Shen Fengyue gave him a soothing look, picked up the iron chain, and flipped it left and right.

"System, can you let me split the cable?"

The system decisively refused, "Although I am an assistant and nanny, I can't drive you to the level of a Hulk."

"Who is that! How did you get to the merman!" Following that person's question, the sight of the people in the town instantly surrounded Shen Fengyue and Siren.

"An Dong! Come back quickly. What are you doing there?" Smith Arbor emptied his eyes and found that it was Shen Fengyue. Stomping his feet, he said, "That's a dangerous creature, boy."

Seeing Shen Fengyue holding the chain in his hand, the priest frowned, and said solemnly, "I'm afraid this poor child has been deceived by the merman. Please bring him out quickly!"

Then two strong men ran towards Shen Fengyue. Both of the strong men were nearly 5'2 and had strong muscles. They came up, grabbed his arms from the left and the right, and lifted him up effortlessly as if lifting a chicken.

Shen Fengyue was taken aback and reacted quickly, struggling to get rid of them. When Siren saw someone coming to catch Shen Fengyue, he was so angry that he struggled again, and the iron cable made a loud rattling noise because of his movements.

Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter. He tried to rush forward again and again, but was pulled back by two cables, and fell to the ground feebly. Even so, he still didn't give up and threw forward decisively.

"Dear Folks, let us complete this pious sacrifice to Lord Poseidon in the wailing of this fierce beast." The priest glanced at Shen Fengyue with a compassionate expression, "This poor child who was bewitched and lost by the beast can also find his way home. "

People watched nervously at everything on the stage, their adrenaline soaring, all looking forward to the moment when the beast would be killed and wail.

Someone picked up a bow and arrow, the arrow was ignited with burning red flames. As he stretched the bow to the fullest like a half-moon and aimed it at Siren's heart.

Shen Fengyue had just kicked the brawny man with insidious tricks to clear the way and saw the burning arrow swiftly approaching. His brain stopped working, and he subconsciously reached out to stop it.

The huge pain coming from his hand made Shen Fengyue smile with satisfaction as he did it.

His body swayed and fell forward.

The sharp arrow pierced his palm and firmly anchored on the ground not far away. A bloody hole appeared in the middle of his palm, and there were burn marks around the wound.

Injuries added to the injuries, making it look very tragic.

The atmosphere suddenly became stagnant, Siren's desperate struggle stopped, and the people underneath also stood still, shocked by all this.

They don't know who made a gasp, breaking the eerie atmosphere.

The sound of the chains dragging on the ground sounded as Siren stared at the bleeding hole in Shen Fengyue's hand, and the red stung his eyes.

He stood up and looked at the people underneath, his eyes squinting, and all his gills around his neck were closed tightly. Suddenly, he screamed at the bottom of the stage with a terrifying expression. There seemed to be blue veins protruding from the corners of his eyes, and his six gills suddenly opened, jittering heavily.

The powerful sound wave hit the people in the audience, shaking their knees and making them kneel. They all covered their ears with painful expressions, but they still couldn't stop the invasion of the sound waves, straight into the depth of the nerves.

Lines of blood flowed down their fingers.

The sound wave broke most of the iron chains, and Siren broke free with a slight movement. He hurried to Shen Fengyue's side, picked him up by his waist, and walked through the line of fire.

Siren's skin showed signs of scorching as soon as he approached the fire. There were patches of black spots on his face. The black spots were filled with burning red, which gave off a faint red light.

He didn't care about all this. Holding Shen Fengyue, he leaped into the sea.

The sound wave disappeared, people put their hands down in a daze, only a buzzing sound echoed in their ears.

They only heard a vague sound of something falling into the water, as a figure leaped into the water without a trace.

When their vision became clear, only the boundless blue sea remained in sight.