“Lu Xi…” Li Shu couldn’t help but repeat the name.
“Yes, remember my name.” The merman’s deep voice appeared directly in his mind. The name “Lu Xi” seemed to be enchanted, and was imprinted deeply in his soul.
Li Shu was in a trance for a moment. He felt that something unknown had happened. The moment he said the name, he seemed to hear the sound of wheels turning.
Merfolk only reveal their name to those they acknowledge. Lu Xi had been at the base for several months and had seen many people, but he never paid any attention to them. Only Li Shu made him willingly submit and set aside his natural pride.
Li Shu was different. How was he different? Why was he different? Lu Xi couldn’t explain it. But he was willing to suppress his inherent violence for him. He could give up his freedom for Li Shu and live in this small world.
Telling Li Shu his name was a form of recognition.
Even when lying in bed, Li Shu couldn’t shake off that mysterious feeling.
He felt like he was ignoring something important. What was it? Li Shu lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. The light above was bright, refracting into colorful beams, as if he had fallen into a vivid dream.
“Lu Xi… Lu Xi…” Li Shu unconsciously murmured the name. Something important flashed past in his mind, but he couldn’t grasp it.
His consciousness sank into chaos. Countless hands pulled at him, trying to drag him into a deeper dream where he would be dominated by them and become their prey.
Danger loomed closer, and his subconscious screamed of danger. He struggled to break free from the chaos, but his limbs felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. He couldn’t break free and escape.
“Whoosh—”
The sound of water came from the front. In the silent chaos, the sound of water was so distinct. Li Shu widened his eyes, staring hard in the direction of the sound. As expected, the thick grayness gradually faded, like ink washed away by water, revealing a stark whiteness underneath. A light appeared ahead, growing larger and brighter. At first, it was bearable to look at but soon, he had to avert his gaze.
As the light reached its peak, it began to fade. Li Shu saw the sea, an endless expanse of ocean. All around was the empty sea surface. The sound he had heard earlier was the sound of waves. Without the fog, the sound of the waves grew louder, pounding directly on his eardrums. Besides the sound of waves, Li Shu couldn’t hear anything else.
Above, a full moon emitted a gentle light, the moonlight being the only source of illumination. The moonlight was like silk, and under the cool glow, the sea, which was filled with danger, restrained its ferocious nature and presented a gentle and harmless side to Li Shu.
A flock of white seabirds flew over and circled around Li Shu. They were curious about the unknown creature that suddenly appeared on the sea surface. At first, they approached cautiously, but after discovering there was no danger, they became bolder, their soft feathers almost brushing against Li Shu.
Singing came from the sea. Following the song, Li Shu saw a startling scene: a figure suddenly appeared on a reef. His back was to him, and long, dark blue hair covered the back. Where legs should have been, there was a fishtail. Under the moonlight, the scales that were wet with water droplets reflected a bluish glow. Countless sea creatures danced to the merman’s song, and sacred white birds hovered in the air. The moonlight, the sea scene, and the singing merman… everything was so beautiful.
The night sky was black, the moon was white, the seawater was blue. When the merman turned around, his pupils were red, his tail shimmering with a bluish light, and a low voice came to Li Shu’s ear, “Do you like it?”
Lu Xi…
The merman gave Li Shu a unique dream in his own way.
Consciousness fell into darkness, the moon disappeared, the sea disappeared, the merman also disappeared.
When Li Shu opened his eyes, it was already daylight.
Hugging the quilt while sitting at the head of the bed, Li Shu closed his eyes slightly, hiding the tumultuous emotions.
[Host, did something happen last night?] 1314 suddenly came online.
[What happened last night?] Li Shu’s tone was unclear.
[Yesterday, I obtained new world data and found I couldn’t contact the host.] The punishment world and the normal mission world were different. In the punishment world, the amount of information the tasker could obtain depended on the system’s ability. So, after entering this world, 1314 had been trying to get more accurate information and wasn’t always with the host.
Many systems didn’t dare to leave the host for long, especially in the punishment world, because such worlds were too dangerous. No one knew where the crisis might be lurking. The system might leave for a short while, and upon return, find the host had disappeared.
A true literal disappearance, the kind where one could not be found. The mortality rate in punishment worlds was always high and irregular, making taskers fear punishment worlds. Systems feared the host disappearing so much they didn’t dare leave to find real information. Without real information, there was no way to analyze how to complete the mission, creating a vicious cycle.
For Li Shu, the constraints of the punishment world were not so severe. Li Shu’s strength allowed 1314 the opportunity to freely search for information. With accurate information, the chances of leaving increased. The logic was simple: unless you were incredibly lucky, who could complete the real mission by sheer coincidence with all the wrong information?
Last night, 1314 couldn’t contact Li Shu and it was almost in tears. It dared to leave the host only because the host was strong enough. If the host got into trouble because of it, 1314 would never forgive itself.
[Host, why couldn’t I contact you last night? I was really, really worried. It’s so good that you’re alright.]
Li Shu found it strange. By scientific explanation, 1314 should be artificial intelligence. How could it have such rich emotions? Li Shu could clearly feel 1314’s emotional fluctuations. He knew it was fearful and regretful, and at the same time, blaming itself. Li Shu seemed to see a small, aggrieved light ball trembling constantly.
[Maybe the signal was bad. See, I’m fine now, right?] Li Shu wasn’t good at comforting people, so he changed the topic, [What did you want to tell me yesterday?]
Speaking of business, 1314 quickly put aside its emotions and said seriously, [The original plot does have issues. The new information shows this world will soon face a great war between merfolk and humans, and the result is the extinction of humans. The war was initiated by merfolk, no, in this world, the creatures with human bodies and fish tails are called Sirens. They are embodiments of demons, obsessed with slaughter. They started the war for no reason.]
Li Shu straightened up, [So this world is about to face the end of humanity. What about the main protagonist of the world?]
1314: [The protagonist is called Daniel. He is one of the few Sirens who dislikes killing. He fell in love with a human girl, but…]
[Wait,] Li Shu interrupted, [You said the male protagonist is called Daniel?]
But the Siren in his lab just told him yesterday that his name was Lu Xi. He didn’t think Lu Xi would lie to him. If the Siren in his lab wasn’t the male protagonist, then where was the real male protagonist?
[Yes, he fell in love with an assistant researcher who was researching him. He was captured because he liked being close to humans.] 1314 remembered clearly.
Li Shu pondered. Some things matched up, but the male protagonist’s name didn’t. If Lu Xi wasn’t lying, then he wasn’t the male protagonist of this world. This meant there might be another Siren in the hands of humans besides Lu Xi.
[What’s the female protagonist’s name?] Li Shu asked.
[Qin Le’an.]
The female protagonist matched. Now the problem lies with the male protagonist. After thinking for a while, Li Shu asked, [Is the mission in the punishment world related to the system’s attributes?]
1314 answered, [Yes. As a matchmaker system, even in the punishment world, our mission is to match the male and female protagonists… uh, improve their happiness value. The evaluation criteria are different from normal worlds. Now that both protagonists are in this experimental base, it’s very advantageous for the host to complete the mission.]
Feeling 1314’s excited emotions, Li Shu didn’t want to dampen its enthusiasm. After five minutes, he said solemnly, [If you’re sure the male protagonist is named Daniel, I have unfortunate news for you. The Siren I’m researching is called Lu Xi, not the Daniel you mentioned.]
1314 fell silent. This news was too big a blow. It had thought success was just within reach, only to find out it wasn’t even at the starting point. It felt it needed to take a break. 1314 huddled in a corner and grew mushrooms. The gap was so big it subconsciously ignored the extraordinary nale “Lu Xi”.
With Lu Xi’s cooperation, the research progressed smoothly. After overcoming his initial fear, Yi Ziqi followed Li Shu around with stars in his eyes, and he was no longer afraid of Lu Xi’s cold gaze. His admiration for Li Shu grew by the day, to the point of near-blind devotion. Of course, who else could get a merman to willingly cooperate in experiments like their professor?
In Yi Ziqi’s eyes, Li Shu was omnipotent. There was no problem Li Shu couldn’t solve. Yes, he was that confident in Li Shu.
With Lu Xi’s consent, Li Shu’s research got on track, but he hadn’t found an opportunity to ask Lu Xi about Daniel. Whenever he wanted to ask, his subconscious stopped him. For some reason, he always felt that asking would lead to consequences he didn’t want to see.
This strong premonition made him give up directly asking Lu Xi. Since no news of any merman had surfaced, Li Shu could only send a message to his older brother to keep an eye out. Finding the male protagonist without involving Lu Xi would be the best outcome. However, in such a big human world, it was not easy to find a merman who was deliberately hidden. Days passed without any good news.
Li Shu took a syringe and skillfully inserted it into the vein in the merman’s arm. Bright red blood slowly flowed into the vessel.
“Are you worried about something? Why are you so distracted?”
Lu Xi’s lazy voice came, and Li Shu snapped back to reality and realized he should have removed the syringe already. His hands moved without pause, “Nothing.”
“I don’t like children who lie. What were you thinking about just now?” The merman’s voice was emotionless.
Li Shu handed the drawn blood to the person waiting beside him, hesitating whether to ask or not.
So the author alternates between the term “sirens” and “merfolk”. I’m just going to use whatever term was used.
