“Colonel Gu, this batch is all newly delivered merfolk from the breeding center, each one a masterpiece. This year’s banquet…”
Jun Ye also felt himself lying on something cool, his consciousness hazy. It felt like staying up late playing games, unable to open his eyes the next day while he was stuck in the foreign language teacher’s class.
He could vaguely hear the “foreign language teacher” saying something in a very unfamiliar accent, yet he instinctively understood the meaning of those sentences.
While still pondering, he heard another deliberately lowered, cold voice say, “This merman seems to be sleeping not very peacefully.”
“For the sake of not frightening the merfolk, the staff at the breeding center injected them with a sleeping agent before transportation. This little merman might be dreaming of something.”
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“His fish tail… is quite long.”
“Yes, this is a new species – the Sea Dancer, with a long, blue-scaled tail, resembling a fish fin like a dress.”
In this conversation, Jun Yegradually recalled the “system” and the task, furrowing his brows involuntarily.
Merfolk? Where had he ended up? An aquarium?
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At that moment, Jun Ye felt a vague awareness of one of the two people approaching him from a distance. The footsteps sounded somewhat casual, as if strolling and suddenly spotting a particularly nice flower, walking over with genuine interest.
Very close now.
“Indeed, quite handsome,” still the cold voice, but now with a barely perceptible disdain, “Unfortunately, all show, no substance…”
Jun Ye also felt a hand covering his leg, gentle and soft, as if caressing a flower.
But Jun Ye didn’t care about the gentleness of the touch. His instinctive reaction was to lift his leg in a sweeping motion.
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Slap—
Crack, crack…
“Hiss…”
Even Jun Ye, who struck the object, was surprised. He clearly lifted his leg for a sweep, so why did the sound seem more like slapping someone? It sounded like something was also slapped to the ground.
Then his legs… seemed to be stuck together by something…
“Colonel Gu, are you…”
“It’s fine… please help me pick up my glasses.”
“…Broken, shattered.”
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Having been in a daze for a while, Jun Ye finally regained full consciousness, able to open his eyes. He found himself in a large domed room, where the corners were deliberately rounded, and the walls were a faint watery blue, adorned with small, delicate marine decorations.
The humidity in the air was remarkably high, cool like standing beside a waterfall.
Jun Ye slowly shifted his gaze, and beneath him was a light blue water bed, seemingly in the shape of a seashell.
In this room, there were several large seashells of different styles, each holding a… mermaid!
Jun Ye suddenly woke up, the dream-like conversation from his memory resurfacing. He lowered his head to look at his legs— a blue fish tail.
Artwork.
Whether it was the gem-like scales meticulously cut on the fish tail or the layers of fins resembling a veil, it all could only be described with one word.
If mermaids truly existed in the deep sea, how could they grow into such… showy but impractical appearances?
Is it fake?
Jun Ye reached out and poked the scales on the blue fish tail and tugged at the blue and white gradient gauzy fins. The sensation of being touched and pulled transmitted clearly to him.
Jun Ye was stunned for a moment but soon felt relieved.
He wasn’t in the deep sea now, after all.
With such obvious artificial traces, these merfolk should be creations of some mad bioscientist, right?
The room had no windows, and the only door was tightly closed. The other mermaids showed no signs of waking up, so Jun Ye sat alone on the water bed, getting used to this body of a human with a fish tail.
Bored, he swayed his tail, but his mind couldn’t help but recall that trashy system, memories of the young master and the days with the Zerg race, and finally, the mysterious lightning that directly sent him to the Zeg race’s main planet.
Lightning, Zerg race, completed novice mission…
As he pondered, Jun Ye heard a change in the breathing rhythm of the mermaid on the adjacent water bed and turned to look.
That was a pink-tailed… female mermaid. Having spent too long in the Zerg race, where he hadn’t seen a distinctly normal female for centuries, Jun Ye stared at the prominent chest under the mermaid’s sleeping robe for a while before confirming they were of different genders.
“Mmm…” The pink-tailed mermaid made a soft sound, slowly waking up. Without opening her eyes or getting up, she swayed her tail, rubbing and stretching her body on the water bed.
Having been a female Zerg for centuries, Jun Ye still felt a bit awkward watching a mermaid who looked like a young girl rolling around on the bed. He silently averted his eyes.
At this moment, the other mermaids in the room also woke up one by one, each swaying their various tails.
Jun Ye thought, “I might be a fake mermaid; I can’t understand the joy of tail-swishing. What am I going to do?”
Ding—
A crisp sound echoed from the extremely wide arched doorway, followed by a melodious tune. The door slid open horizontally, and a dozen attendants in white uniforms walked in, lining up in front of each seashell water bed.
The attendant who stopped by Jun Ye’s bed was a young man with black hair and eyes. He wore a single-eye monocle over his left eye and a wave-shaped metal piece on his right chest, with “L17” written on it. He looked like a high-ranking butler.
Attendant L17 bowed to Jun Ye, saying, “Hello, Lord Luo Sha, I’m Ai Li, your exclusive administrator for the next month.”
Jun Ye thought, “Luo Sha? Such a feminine name. Are they calling me that?” Moreover, an administrator – were these merfolk like rare animals on Earth? Being addressed as “Lord” was reminiscent of the way male Zergs were called “Lord” in the Zerg race. Today, he unexpectedly received such a respectful title.
What a… miraculous experience.
With these thoughts, Jun Ye nodded to his administrator Ai Li. At least, the caretakers here were friendly and even respectful to them as rare creatures.
But he wondered what tasks awaited him in this world after becoming a rare creature.
As this curiosity arose, Jun Ye noticed something similar to a game mini-map appearing in the upper left corner of his field of vision. It displayed an overhead view of the room, scattered with dozens of yellow dots and two slightly larger blue and green dots.
Jun Ye was slightly surprised and tried turning his head. However, the mini-map remained still, firmly positioned in the upper left corner of his vision, as if it were attached to his eyes.
This inexplicable thing, without any explanation, perfectly matched the style of that lacking system.
“Lord Luo Sha, I’m about to take you to your new residence. Please sit tight.”
“???”
Huh? Sit? Sit on what? The water bed?
Jun Ye observed his caretaker press a few times on the bracelet on his left wrist, and then… the water bed beneath him began to slide slowly.
Not only his, but all the seashell water beds where the other mermaids were also started moving at the speed of an old-fashioned carriage.
Upon closer inspection, Jun Ye noticed that there was a gap of several centimeters between the bottom of each seashell bed and the floor. Was there something like wheels or caterpillar tracks installed underneath? No wonder the room door was designed so wide.
As they exited, a myriad of blue shimmering lights enveloped them, and Jun Ye took a sharp breath.
Opposite the room, on the other side of the spacious corridor, was a massive curved glass curtain wall, and beyond the glass was… the ocean.
From the vibrant fish swimming nearby to the distant sand, rocks, aquatic plants, coral, and the indistinct deep blue, Jun Ye’s only thought at this moment was — what a huge aquarium.
Moving along on the water bed, Jun Ye saw many schools of fish and shrimp, as well as some peculiar marine creatures. He even spotted humans in diving suits swimming by.
However, he didn’t see any mermaids swimming in the sea.
Was it because it wasn’t time for the mermaid performance yet?
However, he also didn’t see any visitors. To be precise, he didn’t even know what time it was since he had just woken up. Given the early hour, it should be morning.
After about five minutes of traveling at the speed of an old-fashioned carriage, they were transported to their respective new residences.
Still, it was a curved room in a light blue tone, but now with many pieces of furniture, and there was even a pool in the middle of the room.
Being treated like a rare creature had its perks.
Jun Ye was just about to get off the bed to explore when the caretaker Ai Li controlled a smaller version of the seashell water bed to come in front of him.
Ai Li bowed, saying, “Mealtime is approaching. I’ll take you, Lord Luo Sha, to the mermaid restaurant.”
Alright, Jun Ye temporarily gave up on the idea of exploring his residence and instead pondered how to use his tail to move onto the smaller seashell bed.
Seeing Ai Li approach and even stoop down, extending his hands, Jun Ye hesitated for a moment. He then understood the intention and promptly swung his tail to create a barrier between them.
What a joke! Having lived for hundreds of years, and not physically impaired, was he going to let someone carry him? Did he have no sense of dignity?
Special news for today! As it’s this humble translator’s birthday in two days and i won’t be around much, I’m releasing some extra chapters for all my projects to celebrate with you all