Chapter 73: The Center of the Fish Pond (8)
According to Suhui’s plan, a human’s frail body, falling from such a high cruise ship, should have lost consciousness. She could then take the unconscious prey back to her territory.
By the time Su Mingxiu woke up, there would be no escape.
But… this human was stronger than she had imagined.
Although her plan went slightly awry, Suhui wasn’t worried. After entering the water, the pink shirt provided by the program team for the S-rank members had been discarded in the vast ocean.
Now, her seaweed-like silver hair floated around her chest, and below her waist was an incredibly beautiful, long silver-blue tail. Her translucent fins, thin as cicada wings, spread out gracefully.
She waited patiently for Su Mingxiu to run out of breath and be forced to surface for air. Then, she would still have ways to tease this fickle human.
Thinking of this, her silver-blue tail swayed gently in the water, a picture of leisure and contentment.
Su Mingxiu watched her, seeing that she only stayed in front of her without taking any further action. She wasn’t worried either. Feeling the air in her lungs dwindling, just as it was about to run out, she pressed the mermaid pearl around her neck between her lips.
Surprise flickered in the silver-haired mermaid’s eyes.
She hadn’t expected this human to know that mermaid pearls could repel water.
This way, she wouldn’t be able to wait for Su Mingxiu to drown. Thinking of this, Suhui quickly swam closer. Her soft yet powerful waist leaned forward, and she cupped the woman’s face with her hands, her lips pressing against Su Mingxiu’s.
Su Mingxiu accepted her initiative, but as the mermaid’s tongue darted into her mouth, she captured the cool pearl along with it between her teeth.
The water-repelling membrane extending from the pearl kept the salty seawater out. And the air they exchanged formed tiny bubbles, rising towards the surface.
Suhui hadn’t gained control, nor had she retrieved the pearl or seen this human in a state of distress. Unconsciously, all her attention was focused on regaining control. Her silver-blue tail swayed in the water, the currents carrying them further and further away.
Until Su Mingxiu ended the kiss.
The mermaid’s usually pale lips were now stained with a vibrant color. Held in Su Mingxiu’s embrace, her melancholic blue eyes flickered with confusion, then quickly lit up with excitement as she realized they were far away from the program’s cruise ship.
Her voice, unimpeded by the water, reached Su Mingxiu’s ears. It lacked the ethereal quality it had on land, but it was still pleasant to hear.
“Do you want to go back?”
According to Suhui’s plan, Su Mingxiu would have fallen unconscious after being pushed off the ship. Then, she could have taken Su Mingxiu away without anyone knowing. When Su Mingxiu woke up, she would tell her that she didn’t know who pushed her, that she had anxiously revealed her true form to save her—
Humans loved the “repaying a life-saving debt with one’s body” trope. Even if Su Mingxiu was unwilling, she wouldn’t be able to escape the fate of bearing her eggs.
…Now, only the beginning of her plan had succeeded. To regain control, she had to find another way.
If Su Mingxiu begged her to return to the cruise ship, she could force her to lay eggs before leaving…
Although this wasn’t the best plan, it didn’t matter. For merfolk, the means didn’t matter as long as they achieved their goals.
Su Mingxiu saw a flicker of cunning in her beautiful eyes, a glint of mischief.
“What if I do? What if I don’t?”
Her voice also reached the mermaid’s ears.
Suhui was stunned.
But she quickly made up her mind. She wrapped her arms around Su Mingxiu’s waist, and her beautiful tail swayed powerfully in the water, churning the calm currents—
Su Mingxiu was instantly pulled down into the deeper depths.
Where even light couldn’t penetrate.
Apart from the tight grip around her waist and the occasional flash of silver in the water, she could barely see anything around her. She didn’t know what creatures were swimming nearby, nor did she know which way was up or down, left or right.
She pursed her lips and, under the pressure of the deep sea, tightened her embrace around the mermaid.
Suhui’s movements were stopped by a sharp pain in her waist. As she paused, a faint light ahead made Su Mingxiu open her eyes. She looked towards a magnificent underwater city in the distance.
Eight giant statues stood outside the city, their imposing presence amplified by the dim light refracting through the water.
And the city itself radiated a brilliant rainbow glow, making it hard to imagine how rainbows could be captured in such deep waters. It was like a scene from a fairy tale, full of fantasy.
As Su Mingxiu looked at the underwater city, Suhui was looking at her waist, where it connected with her tail. More precisely, she was looking at the finger marks on her side.
A look of shock flashed through her ocean-blue eyes.
Merfolk were incredibly strong. In the sea, even whales and sharks were part of their diet. As apex predators of the ocean, they rarely got injured, unless it was from fights with their own kind.
… This human could actually make her feel pain?
Remembering how Su Mingxiu had handled the seafood in the program’s kitchen earlier, her knife swift and decisive, Suhui, who was half-fish, suddenly felt a chill.
Su Mingxiu looked away and saw Suhui thoughtfully caressing her waist. She also saw the marks on Suhui’s side and instinctively apologized: “Sorry, did I hurt you?”
But perhaps because of the mermaid’s mischievous nature, or perhaps because she still had the pearl in her mouth, her apology lacked sincerity, sounding like a casual dismissal.
As she spoke, she was also wondering how she could possess such strength. Could it be that…
Su Mingxiu’s expression changed slightly.
She asked the system: “Are mermaids… considered food?”
The system knew what she was thinking, but it couldn’t possibly tell her that it was because she had successfully completed missions in several worlds, and her soul, now stronger, could affect her physical body.
So it vaguely recited a passage from an ancient text about the properties of mermaid flesh.
Now, Su Mingxiu’s gaze towards Suhui became even more peculiar.
Suhui: “…”
So strange.
Why did she feel so cold, even in her familiar ocean?
Su Mingxiu was eventually brought to the merfolk’s underwater kingdom by Suhui.
As they swam closer, the other merfolk they encountered stopped and bowed slightly—
“Are you of high status here?”
She asked.
Suhui raised her chin slightly. Although her expression didn’t show much pride, her arrogance was evident.
Then, she replied: “My mother is the previous clan leader of the merfolk.”
Oh.
Su Mingxiu raised an eyebrow, thinking, This is a bit tricky. If she taught this bad fish a lesson and then escaped, wouldn’t she be hunted down by the entire merfolk clan after returning to land?
She looked at the beautiful mermaid with regret, her disappointment obvious.
Suhui couldn’t help but stop and ask her: “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Couldn’t she admire a dish she couldn’t eat?
Su Mingxiu calmly looked away, her gaze sweeping over the swaying seaweed and the beautiful red corals. She didn’t answer Suhui’s question, instead asking: “Why did you bring me here?”
“Don’t you humans value ambiance when dining?” Suhui no longer hid her identity, clearly distinguishing between their races.
“Dining?” Su Mingxiu repeated the word slowly, her tone deliberate.
Her initially indifferent gaze suddenly brightened. “So you’re planning to eat me?”
Since falling into the sea, Suhui hadn’t seen a single trace of fear in her eyes. Therefore, the words that had seemed so certain earlier now came out with a hint of hesitation: “Not eat.”
It’s mating.
Under Su Mingxiu’s amused and probing gaze, the originally imposing silver-haired mermaid suddenly sounded a bit defensive: “It’s… to have you bear my eggs!”
“Oh?” Su Mingxiu, hearing such an absurd statement, wasn’t angry at all. Instead, she asked good-naturedly: “How?”
Suhui, not realizing that the rhythm of the conversation had shifted back into Su Mingxiu’s hands, obediently answered: “As long as I differentiate into a male merman, you can—”
“I suggest you don’t,” Su Mingxiu interrupted her with a smile, her fingertip touching Suhui’s delicate cheek. “You’re so beautiful, if you become a male, I won’t be so gentle.”
“What?” Suhui didn’t understand what she meant.
The woman, her long black hair swaying like seaweed, raised her eyebrows slightly, a sharp glint appearing in her alluring eyes: “Do you know what happens to those ugly, inedible fish when they fall into human hands?”
“Hmm?”
“They are sent to the chef’s chopping board, to be studied and prepared into delicious dishes.”
As she spoke, Su Mingxiu’s gaze swept down Suhui’s body. Suhui finally understood where the chill she had been feeling came from. This woman was thinking about how to eat her!
Thinking about all the seafood she had handled in the past, Suhui couldn’t help but gulp, instinctively retorting: “Even if I become a male, I’ll still be beautiful.”
These words sounded weak, like begging the chef before her not to put her on the menu.
Su Mingxiu didn’t comment.
At the same time, Suhui held onto a sliver of hope: after differentiating into a male, her strength would greatly increase. Once she tricked this human into her room, it would be her turn to call the shots.
So they continued swimming forward, each with their own thoughts.
Until they stopped in front of a coral nest.
Calling it a nest was an insult. This large, naturally formed red coral, carved and polished, looked like an exquisite work of art, a stunning architectural masterpiece worthy of an award in the human world.
The passage was too narrow and long, clearly not designed for humans. So Su Mingxiu let Suhui wrap her tail around her waist and carry her inside.
But as soon as they entered, the water pressure decreased significantly, revealing that this was indeed a… maze specifically designed for humans.
In this place where humans could breathe freely, the mermaid, skilled in manipulating water, enveloped herself in a water sphere.
After entering the magnificent room, filled with jewels and treasures, Suhui sat down on the bed, dispelled the water sphere, and swayed her tail as she said: “Once inside, without a merman’s help, humans can’t escape.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Su Mingxiu walked up to her, her lips pressing against Suhui’s again, concealing her amusement: “Do you really have to do this?”
Suhui had missed her last chance. She heard Su Mingxiu’s firm reply: “Yes, you’re not getting away.”
… Alright then.
Su Mingxiu thought.
Ten minutes later—
The silver-blue tailed mermaid was pinned down on the soft, narrow bed designed specifically for humans to lay eggs.
And the person holding her down traced the skin of her waist and abdomen with their fingertips, as if conducting a serious study.
But those warm human fingertips made her tremble uncontrollably.
Suhui couldn’t help but thrash her tail, the bed creaking under the strain. But the human on top of her wasn’t affected at all. She even said unhurriedly: “Don’t move.”
As she spoke, Su Mingxiu’s fingertips touched the scales on Suhui’s tail. Each beautiful silver-blue scale was hard and sharp, even emitting a translucent glow under the light of some unknown jewels in the room.
“So beautiful,” she praised sincerely.
But the mermaid, hearing her compliment, wasn’t filled with her usual pride. Instead, there was a hint of fear in her blue eyes. She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t break free from this person’s grip.
Just then—
That burning sensation on her lower back, tracing the patterns of her scales, touched a certain spot, making her tail thrash again.
The bed collapsed, and they both fell. But this didn’t help Suhui escape Su Mingxiu’s control.
“Eh?”
The person on top of her poked that particular scale with her fingertip, seemingly oblivious to Suhui’s violent trembling. She asked curiously: “What’s this?”
Suhui bit her lip and glared at Su Mingxiu, her blue eyes filled with the surprise of being at a disadvantage, the frustration of being subdued by a human, and the panic of her plan backfiring.
She didn’t answer. Su Mingxiu continued to ask on her own: “Could this be… where you female merfolk lay eggs?”
Suhui’s face flushed slightly, probably from anger.
But this anger only made her beautiful blue eyes even more alluring, sparkling with tears.
Su Mingxiu’s right fingertip moved from the scale to Suhui’s eye, wiping away a tear. As she leaned closer, her breath completely enveloped the mermaid beneath her: “Don’t cry yet—”
She said: “I haven’t even started bullying you.”
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