Ye Meng tossed him aside, then flashed away from a water arrow. The enormous crab tried to retreat into a crack in the rocks, but Ye Luo and the others had already surrounded it.
The crab that had ambushed them wasn't very strong—only about a third-level fighter. After Ye Meng, in his Zergling form, dragged it out of the crevice, it immediately panicked. Seeing Ye Luo and the others, it let out a string of "blub blub blub" bubbles...
As one of the universe's ultimate civilizations, the Zerg had a special system for translating languages. Language was like a recording etched onto a disc: once you deciphered the patterns, you could understand what they meant and imitate their pronunciation. Of course, ordinary Zerg—even Zerg heroes—couldn't do this. But the Zerg Hive, which embodied the Zerg's technology, could! The Zerg Hive deciphered and translated the crab's language, then transmitted it to Ye Luo and the others.
"What rotten luck, what rotten luck! I hate those little eyes! I hate little eyes! These guys clearly look like Demon Beasts that resemble humans. How could I mistake them for humans? How could humans turn into Demon Beasts and move freely in the ocean? Rotten luck! Ah, damn those little eyes! They've surrounded me. What are they going to do with me? Oh no, they're not going to steam me, are they? No! That guy looks so sturdy, he must like strong flavors. Are they going to make me into curry crab or salt-baked crab? Oh, no—maybe the most miserable kind of all: spicy dry-pot crab..."
"Blub blub blub..." Bubbles poured from the mouth of the crab, which was as large as Tang Sanzang, like rounds from a six-barreled Gatling gun. Ye Luo and the others were dumbfounded...
"Gulp..." At the sound of all those delicious crab dishes, the four of them swallowed at the same time. Ye Meng's gulp was by far the loudest...
"Oh no! They all swallowed! They haven't even cooked me, and they're already drooling. Could it be... could it be that they like eating things raw? Oh no, I'm going to die! Mom, I was wrong! I shouldn't have snuck out of the house without listening to you..."
"Enough. Shut up!" Ye Luo moved his mouth, and a string of bubbles came out too...
The crab's two little eyes instantly bulged wide.
All was quiet around them except for the current. The crab cautiously asked, "You... can understand me?"
"Little thing, why did you ambush us?" Ye Luo proved that the crab's suspicion was correct.
The little crab stared at the four of them in amazement. "I... I thought you were humans. You don't know how bad our eyesight is! You have two hands and two feet, and you swim like a dog. I thought you were humans..."
Ye Luo looked at the little fellow with amusement. "Oh, I see. Too bad we aren't human, and you've angered us. Tell me, how are you going to make it up to us?"
"Make it up to you? I'm not even ten years old yet. I'm still an underage crab, and I don't own anything!" Now that the little fellow had discovered the four could speak the language of the sea, its curiosity about them had completely overtaken its fear.
Ye Luo put on a stern expression. "You really don't own anything? What a shame. I hear crab roe is delicious. If you're truly no use to us, then we'll just have to eat you raw. Heh heh heh..." For some reason, Ye Luo suddenly felt like a creepy uncle trying to scare a little girl.
The little crab immediately hugged its head with its pincers. "No! Don't eat me! My mother is the leader of the Stone Crab Clan. If you eat me, she'll bring the Stone Crab army to avenge me!"
Ye Luo's eyes lit up. "The Stone Crab Clan? Are there many of you?"
The little crab proudly raised its pincers. "Of course! There are over ten thousand of us in the Stone Crab Clan, and my mother is a fifth-level sea folk! If you're willing to let me go, I'll ask her to give you the patch of sea you liked just now as your territory!"
"You're that generous?" Ye Luo looked at him skeptically.
The little crab extended both pincers with pride. "What's a small patch of sea like this? It's not even one percent of our territory!"
Ye Luo felt much more at ease. It was true: the ocean was a hundred, even a thousand times larger than the land. So even a small crab clan ruled an ocean region larger than the combined area of Morton and Caernarfon, two provinces of the Keren Kingdom!
"Then do you know how many other sea beasts are in these waters?"
"What sea beasts? That sounds awful. We're sea folk, sea folk!" The little crab waved its pincers in protest. "The Endless Sea is so vast, there are more sea folk than you could ever count. As far as I know, there's the Tuna Sea Clan to the west and the Iron-Claw Green-Spine Shrimp Clan to the east. Their territories are even bigger than ours. Hmph, though they really are stronger than us. My mother says their leaders are all sixth-level sea folk... Ah, I wonder when I'll grow strong enough to become sixth-level sea folk..."
"Alfred! Alfred, what are you doing here? And who are these people? Get away from my son!" Suddenly, two calves-sized crabs sprang out of the sand in the distance and glared at Ye Luo and the others!
"Dad! Mom!" Alfred, the little crab, happily swam toward the two crabs. Ye Luo and the others didn't stop him.
With their child back at their side, the two big crabs finally relaxed a little. "You are..."
"We're sea folk who've been stranded outside our home. Humans slaughtered many of our people, and we can no longer survive on land, so we want to return to the sea..." Ye Luo's mind raced, and he spun a vivid tale of his people's tragic fate.
"But this area belongs to the Stone Crab Clan. How many of your people are there? If there are too many, it'll be difficult for us to accommodate you!" Unexpectedly, the big crab was so kind that Ye Luo could hardly believe it.
Ye Luo quickly replied, "There are only a little over two thousand of us, and all we need is a place to build a home. My people don't usually like to wander around. They just like eating metal ores, so that area will be enough!"
The big crab looked where Ye Luo was pointing, then regarded him with suspicion. "You're sure you only want that stretch of sea? It's very small. You won't even have enough room to swim freely..."
Ye Luo smiled and shook his head. "We don't need to swim freely. We only need food. Once we've eaten our fill, what we like best is sleeping..."
"Very well. In my capacity as the leader of the Kandal Stone Crab Clan, I hereby decree that the waters within a twenty-mile radius of that metal-rich area belong to you..."
"The Huaxia Imperial Sea Clan!" Ye Luo immediately supplied.
"...belong to your Huaxia Imperial Sea Clan!" the big crab said with extraordinary generosity. Ye Luo couldn't help but marvel: there were far too few kind souls like this in the world!
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