Chapter 885: Stories of the Deep Blue Sea

Chapter 885: Chapter 885: Stories of the Deep Blue Sea

Down at the cool, clear river, the sun sparkled brightly on the water’s surface.

Manis, along with the three lively little cubs...Xiao Er the tiger cub, Mao Mao the little lion cub, and Ciao Ciao the nine-tailed fox cub were all splashing around happily in the water, hunting for big fishes to bring home for dinner.

Ciao Ciao, who had nine fluffy white tails floating like little clouds in the water, swam up closer to Manis. He tilted his small head and asked curiously, "Uncle Manis, you come from the big sea, right? Is the sea really that big?"

Manis puffed out his chest, smiling proudly as he swam around in the cool water.

"Of course! The sea is infinitely big! Even if you swim and swim until your legs get tired, and look as far as your eyes can see, there is no land at all, only endless blue water!"

To demonstrate, Manis suddenly dived deep into the river!

SPLASH!

His powerful movement sent a huge wave of water spraying right into Ciao Ciao’s cute little face!

Ciao Ciao shook his wet head, blinking the water from his eyes. Instead of getting mad, his eyes widened in absolute awe as he watched Manis’s massive, magnificent fish tail swish gracefully through the water.

The scales shimmered with a blinding, iridescent light under the sun.

"Uncle Manis!" Ciao Ciao gasped, his nine fluffy tails wagging frantically in excitement. "Are there many mermaids and mermen like you in the sea?"

"Of course there are!" Manis laughed happily. He flicked his tail, smoothly scooping up a fat, juicy fish from the riverbed and tossing it straight onto the grassy shore!

Ciao Ciao cheered, but his bright eyes were completely glued to Manis’s shimmering tail. It was so long, so sleek, and so amazingly pretty!

Seeing that they had caught enough fish, Manis swam toward a large, flat rock on the bank, preparing to transform his tail back into human legs.

Seeing this, Ciao Ciao immediately panicked and shouted, "Uncle Manis, don’t transform yet! Don’t transform! I want to touch your tail!"

Manis was more than happy to show off his beautiful tail! He sat down comfortably on the flat rock, letting his long, shimmering fish tail rest half-in and half-out of the water.

Ciao Ciao pounced forward like a happy little fox, jumping onto the smooth tail. He leaned down, sniffing the shiny scales, his big eyes twinkling. "Wow... it smells so good and looks so shiny! I can even see my own face in it!"

Suddenly, Ciao Ciao looked up, pointing a tiny paw at one of the smooth, glowing scales near the end of the tail. "Uncle Manis, why don’t you give one of these scales to me?"

Manis, being an overly soft-hearted and generous uncle, didn’t think twice! He immediately reached down with his hands, preparing to pluck off one of his own scales to give to his adorable nephew.

Before he could pull it out, Xiao Er rushed forward and smacked Manis’s hand away!

PAK!

Xiao Er glared at his little fox brother, puffing out his small tiger chest like a strict elder brother. "Ciao Ciao! What are you doing?! Pulling off a scale will hurt Uncle Manis so much! Why are you asking him for that?!"

Xiao Er poked Ciao Ciao’s furry forehead reprimandingly. "If someone randomly pinched and yanked out your fur, wouldn’t it hurt you to tears?!"

Ciao Ciao froze. He blinked his large, round eyes, suddenly realizing how painful it would be to have his fur yanked out.

Feeling deeply guilty, Ciao Ciao immediately bowed his small head, ears drooping softly. "I’m sorry, Uncle Manis... I didn’t know it would hurt..."

Manis’s heart melted into a puddle of sweetness! He giggled softly, gently patting Ciao Ciao’s cute head.

"Such a good, thoughtful cub! Don’t worry, little Ciao Ciao. If the scale falls by itself, I will definitely collect the prettiest one and give it to you!"

Ciao Ciao’s droopy ears instantly perked right back up! "Yay! Thank you, Uncle Manis!"

Turning his head, Ciao Ciao looked at Xiao Er with pure admiration. "Brother Xiao Er, you know so much about the sea! Have you ever been to the sea before?"

Xiao Er stood tall, puffing out his small chest with an intensely proud, arrogant grin. "Of course I have! Me, Xiao San, and Xiao Yi were all raised near the sea!"

Xiao Er began boasting loudly, waving his little tiger paws around enthusiastically.

"The sea is so wild and gigantic! And all the merman and mermaid uncles and aunts there are super nice to us! They always give us so many delicious fish treats! There are endless piles of tasty dried fish over there!"

Nearby, Mao Mao the lion cub was busily munching on a small piece of cooked meat he had brought along as a snack. Hearing the words ’endless piles of dried fish,’ he instantly froze mid-chew!

Mao Mao’s mouth dropped wide open, a thick stream of drool instantly running down his chin as he stared at Xiao Er with wide, starry eyes!

So many dried fishes?! Mao Mao wondered in sheer disbelief. A sea so big that it has endless food?!

Xiao Er saw his brothers hanging on his every word and boasted even harder!

"Of course! There are so many types of fish in the sea that you could eat until your belly bursts, but there would still be many fish left!"

Xiao Er grinned widely, extending his little arms as far as they could reach. "And we even ate a giant crab that Mommy cooked for us! It was THIS big! Bigger than my whole body!"

Ciao Ciao and Mao Mao both stared at Xiao Er’s stretched-out arms, their mouths watering uncontrollably!

They looked down at the river water in front of them...the crabs in this river were small and disappointing, barely the size of an adult’s palm!

Compared to the legendary giant crabs of the sea, these river crabs were like tiny bugs!

"A giant crab..." Mao Mao whimpered, wiping his drool with his furry lion paw. "I want to eat a giant crab too!"

"Me too! I want to go to the sea! I want dried fish and giant crabs!" Ciao Ciao squealed, scrambling onto Manis’s lap along with Mao Mao and clinging to his arms like little clingy burrs.

"Uncle Manis! Take us to the sea! Take us right now!"

Seeing the three little cubs completely envious of Xiao Er’s ocean tales, Manis burst into a warm, cheerful laugh.

He gathered all three cubs into his arms, patting their fluffy heads one by one. "Okay, okay! Be good little cubs! When you grow up just a little bit bigger, Uncle Manis will personally take all of you to the sea to eat as many giant crabs and dried fishes as your little bellies can hold!"

"YAY!" the cubs cheered in unison, their hearts filled with pure joy and anticipation as they tumbled together into the warm river water!