From the Soul Motion Machine onwards, the Mechanized Douluo

Chapter 646 Long time no see, Kelly!

"Look! This is it! I told the other kids, and they all said I was lying to them!"

After diving to a depth of about two hundred meters inside the Black Whale Reef, in the pitch-black water, the mermaid Kevin disappeared into a small cave in the blink of an eye. Kelly, who was behind him, first nervously looked around at the dark water. After confirming that there were no man-eating giant octopuses or starfish in the darkness, Kelly swam into the small room in the darkness.

"After you've read this, you have to come out with me obediently! No lying! I don't like children who lie, and I won't play with you anymore." Kelly declared to Kevin beforehand. Although she often tricked Kevin, she wasn't a child anymore, hmph!

"Alright, alright, sister, come look! Look, there's a colorful black bead here, it's so beautiful, but the other friends insist they can't see it, and they say I'm lying to them! I would never lie to them, I would lie to them that they're sea lions! But they just won't believe me!"

In the pitch-black sea, within this cabin-like space, the mermaid Kevin saw a beautiful black bead reflected in his eyes, faintly glowing in the dark water. He had initially noticed the light here and swam over out of curiosity, only to discover that a very beautiful black bead was floating in this dark sea space!

He exclaimed to his friends to come and see, but miraculously, it seemed that no one else could see the bead that was emitting a faint, gentle glow in the black water.

"Unfortunately, I was thinking of taking it back, but for some reason, I just couldn't touch it." In the darkness, Kevin reached out and grabbed the black bead that was emitting a gentle light in his eyes, and then his palm passed directly through the black bead. But this was all within Kevin's expectations. He was more concerned about whether Kelly behind him could see it.

"I believe in you, sister."

Before Kevin could even turn around, he heard a familiar voice behind him. He was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed and excited!

"Really? Really? Sister, you can see it too? Hahaha! I knew it! They all said I was crazy, that I had some kind of delusional disorder! How could that be! How could I have a disease that only humans can get!" Kevin's face lit up with ecstasy, and then he immediately turned to look at the door. He found that Kelly was actually frozen in place, staring intently at the faintly glowing black bead in the dark seawater.

"Sister, you really can't lie to me this time!" Kevin excitedly swam to Kelly's side, grabbed Kelly's hand, and said excitedly.

"..." Faced with Kevin, who was within reach, Kelly did not grab him as usual this time. Instead, she stared blankly at the black bead that was faintly glowing in the darkness. She realized that Kevin was right; he had indeed found a treasure.

"I'm not lying to you, isn't that bead you saw right there?" Kelly grabbed Kevin's hand with a serious expression, worried that they might encounter danger, and pointed to a spot. That was the location of the black bead.

"You just saw me there, you're definitely trying to lie to me, aren't you?" To everyone's surprise, Kevin started to doubt him and began to try to break free from his grasp.

"I really saw it." Kelly suddenly felt very tired. Indeed, trust, once it collapses, is very difficult to rebuild. Kevin had clearly been rejected by too many people, causing him to begin to doubt himself. That's why Kevin even brought his sister, who often lied to him, to verify it—it had a bit of a desperate, grasping-at-the-worst feel to it.

To reassure Kevin beside her, Kelly swam a few times, then placed two fingers on either side of the black bead, holding it between her fingers to confirm that she truly saw it: "See, isn't this it? I really saw it, I'm not lying to you this time. No, I won't lie to you anymore."

Kelly had just seen Kevin's palm pass through the phantom-like black bead, so she knew that this thing seemed to be harmless. In order to convince Kevin, she gestured a more precise location for him.

"Huh? You can really see it?" This time it was Kevin's turn to be shocked. He had asked so many people to look, and in the end, it turned out that only the dumbest Kelly could see it? Could it be that only the dumbest people can see this thing? That won't do! Doesn't that mean he's just as dumb as Kelly?

Kevin swam to the black bead and demonstrated to Kelly how to repeatedly pass his hand through it. Finally, he asked Kelly curiously, "Since you can see it too, does that mean that everyone in our Tiss lineage can see it? And look, sister, this thing is like some kind of phantom. No matter how I shake it, I can't touch it. It's like it doesn't exist... doesn't exist in this world."

"When we get back, we'll tell Mom about this and let her see it too. That way, we can verify if only our Tiss clan can see this thing. Given your past record, sister, I feel like I'm dreaming. No, I still don't want to believe you can see it. You must be... Ah??? Where's the bead?"

Kevin kept muttering something to himself, then suddenly he realized that the 'light' in his eyes had disappeared. Upon closer inspection, the black bead that had been glowing in its place was gone!

He had looked at it so many times before, and it was always in the same spot, never changing. How could it suddenly disappear?!

"Am I the one who's sick? Actually, there was never a black bead in this world. It was all just my imagination." The sudden disappearance of the black bead caused Kevin's brain to overload, leaving him stunned and starting to doubt himself.

Meanwhile, Kelly, standing beside him, stared blankly at the black bead that she had casually grabbed. She was beginning to wonder if Kevin was acting.

"Huh??? What?! I'm not crazy! The bead is in your hand! No!! I'm even crazier!!!" Before Kelly could even react, Kevin, following the faint light, saw the black bead in Kelly's hand. His fish brain went blank again. Wasn't that something he couldn't catch??

Kelly was about to say something when her pupils dilated instantly, her mind went blank, and her consciousness seemed to be drawn away and merge into the black bead in her hand.

When Kelly opened her eyes again, she was astonished to find herself on land! She was in a pond within a human courtyard!

Looking at the fishpond, pavilion, rockery, and mermaid Kelly, who was both unfamiliar and familiar, suddenly froze.

She remembered this place. This was once a magnificent city! Soto!

That was her residence after she was captured by humans and bought in Soto City! Here, she spent a period of time called 'learning'! She exchanged her knowledge of the ocean for the soul-guided knowledge about the human world held by that human!

"Why is this happening to me all of a sudden?" The mermaid princess, Tess Kelly, stared blankly at the empty courtyard, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

"My little fish, you've woken up. Um, sorry, my thoughts are wandering. This sounds like a line from another world." Suddenly, a familiar yet strangely unfamiliar, calm voice slowly came from behind Kelly.

Huh?! Kelly stiffened slightly, then turned around stiffly with a look of astonishment. Suddenly, her pupils contracted sharply!

Inside the once empty pavilion, a black figure was reflected in Kelly's pure, light blue eyes! The figure lay lazily on the edge of the pavilion's railing, its posture incredibly relaxed, as if it had returned to its own home.

Of course, this was originally his home.

"Hey," the dark figure stood up, stretched, and then turned to reveal a face that made Kelly's pupils dilate in shock, smiling as he spoke:

"It feels like I've just taken a nap. I never expected that the first person I'd see when I woke up would be you. It's been so long, Kelly."

(End of this chapter)