Chapter 6

Maya took a deep breath and walked to the life support tank. She bent down slightly and tried to keep her voice calm. "Finn, can you help me extract mineral salt? I won't let you work for nothing. I'll give you blood drops to break the bio-neural contract too."

Finn's eyes swept over her face. He stayed silent for a long time. His tail just moved a bit more, splashing small drops of water.

Maya started wondering if something was wrong. Since they got here, Finn hadn't spoken once. Did his vocal organs get damaged?

When Finn still didn't respond, she figured there was no point pushing. She turned to leave.

"Are you telling the truth?"

A voice suddenly spoke behind her. It sounded pure and clean like crystal-clear water from an ion purifier. It carried a slight ethereal tremor. Even though it was a question, the voice felt soft like silk brushing against her heart.

It was said that aquatic gene-modified beings could affect neural networks with their sound waves. Even their normal speech sounded this enchanting. The faint resonance in his tone felt more refreshing than the purest oxygen.

"Of course it's true." She turned around and nodded earnestly, worried he wouldn't believe her. "As soon as you extract the salt, I'll give you blood right away. I'm not lying."

Finn's eyelashes fluttered. The ice in his purple eyes seemed to melt just a little. He stared at Maya for a moment, then raised his hand and pointed to a dusty large storage tank in the corner of the ruins.

"Over there... there's a raw seawater sample. Salt extraction needs unprocessed seawater."

Maya looked where Finn pointed. Sure enough, there was a chest-high alloy tank in the corner. Its opening was covered with a damaged protective membrane and a thin layer of dirt. It looked like it had been sitting unused for a long time.

She turned to Jasper. "Move that storage tank over here for Finn to use."

Jasper immediately put on his charming smile and asked, "If I help you move it, do I get extra credit? Like... giving me a blood drop in advance?"

Maya felt speechless and said irritably, "You want benefits for moving one tank?"

She waved her barely-healed fingertip. Her tone showed clear annoyance. "You think drawing blood doesn't hurt me?"

Seeing that she was actually getting angry, Jasper wisely dropped the smile. He hadn't really expected to get blood for such a small favor anyway. He just wanted to probe Maya while she seemed different today, to see if he could find any loopholes.

Jasper said nothing more and walked to the corner. He activated the tank's transport mode. The seawater inside made soft gurgling sounds. He moved the storage tank next to the life support unit in just a few steps.

Finn stared at the storage tank now close to him. A tiny light flashed in his eyes. He gently swished his tail in the water and slid from the life support tank into the storage tank next to it.

The seawater just covered his waist and torso, creating ripples that glowed with bio-luminescence.

Maya stood close by. The water he splashed when moving his tail hit her full in the face. She instinctively wiped her face and leaned forward. Her eyes lit up as she watched what was happening in the tank.

She was really curious about how Finn performed molecular separation.

Jasper nearby narrowed his eyes slightly. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Before, if Maya got splashed with water like this, she would have started punishment protocols immediately. She'd either torture them with sound waves for hours or grab an energy whip and start hitting. She wouldn't just wipe her face like nothing happened, the way she did now.

Today's Maya seemed like she'd been completely reprogrammed.

Finn slowly swam two circles in the storage tank. His tail movements created gentle energy ripples. The half-full seawater receded at a visible rate. The water level dropped bit by bit.

In just a few moments, the seawater in the tank was almost gone.

Finn stopped moving and tilted his head back slightly. His throat worked. Then he opened his mouth and expelled something fist-sized from his internal bio-processing glands.

The object was snow-white all over and had a crystalline molecular structure that gleamed. It was clearly a block of high-purity salt crystal.

Maya's eyes went wide. So this was aquatic gene-modified beings' molecular restructuring technique?

But... this salt came from his internal processing glands. Could it still be eaten?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she remembered the tasteless synthetic food from earlier. Her stomach honestly growled.Who cared where it came from? Having seasoning was better than having none.

Maya immediately reached out her hand. "Give me the salt crystal."

But Finn didn't move. He just looked down at her. His purple eyes showed no emotion.

His voice sounded clear but carried undeniable determination. "Give me blood first, then I'll give it to you."

Maya knew he wouldn't believe easily. She bit her lip and took off her necklace again. She reopened the barely-healed wound to give him blood.

The blood drop fell on the scorpion bio-mark on Finn's chest. The tip of the scorpion tail immediately disappeared.

Finn's eyelashes trembled violently. His purple eyes seemed to have lightning thrown into them, instantly exploding into tiny scattered lights.

He stared at the faded purple mark on his chest. His fingertips unconsciously lifted halfway up, but then suddenly stopped, as if he didn't dare touch this impossible reality.

Maya had really given him blood. Just nine more drops and he could completely escape the bio-neural contract's control...

Suddenly, Finn's eyes became fervent. Strong mental energy waves spread from his body. Under his molecular control ability, the seawater rapidly underwent elemental separation.

"Wait!" Maya saw something was wrong with him.

One salt crystal was enough already, but Finn seemed intent on larger-scale molecular restructuring.

Soon, a second and third salt block emerged from Finn's internal bio-processing glands. But his face became visibly pale at the same time.

"Stop! What are you doing?" Maya urgently tried to stop him with her voice.

Finn raised his head. His purple crystal-like eyes flashed with almost manic light. "Making salt crystals... the more salt crystals I make... the more blood you'll give me... the sooner I can completely escape the contract system..."

His voice became hoarse from overusing mental energy, but he stubbornly continued the molecular transformation process.

"Enough!" Maya stopped him without hesitation. "Using mental energy like this will cause permanent damage to your neural cortex!"

Finn was shocked by her sudden concern. The mania in his purple eyes gradually faded, replaced by deep doubt and hatred.

"This is your new mind game, isn't it? First give me a little false hope of contract release, make me think I have a chance at freedom, then crush it brutally... Maya Cross, what more twisted psychological torture have you devised?"

Maya saw the hatred and wariness reignite in his eyes.

Her heart felt like something was squeezing it hard.

"I have no hidden agenda," Maya tried to keep her voice calm. "I just don't want to see you die from energy overuse. Dead contract partners have no strategic value for my survival plan."

She deliberately used cold military-style language, hoping this would make Finn's guard drop.

Finn stared at her for a long time, then lowered his head. A dangerous light flashed in his purple eyes.