“Where did you get this newspaper?” Li Shu frowned. He glanced at the date— it was today’s issue.
“I heard people in the base discussing it, so I went to get a copy.” Li Shu hadn’t hidden his search for other merfolk from the few team members working with him. As soon as Gu Li got the news, she came to report it.
The three of them had been in contact with the merman frequently and could somewhat sense the unusual atmosphere between the merman and their professor. Gu Li was perceptive. She had a vague guess about their relationship but didn’t dare to verify it. Such a guess was too incredible. If she said it out loud, people would surely laugh at her wild imagination.
No one knew better than the three of them that the merman treated the professor differently. Spending every day together, even the slightest behavior could reveal clues, not to mention that the merman never intended to hide anything.
Li Shu took the newspaper and quickly scanned through it. The more he read, the more he frowned. If the existence of merfolk was exposed in advance, all his plans would need to be redone. Moreover, he was uncertain if this would affect the base.
The base was built in a remote area and had never been publicly announced. From the time the scientific expedition discovered the merman to bringing him to the base, everything was done in secrecy. There were few participants and even fewer who knew what they were transporting.
But Li Shu still couldn’t feel at ease. There was a sense of unease gnawing at him, like something was about to happen. It was a mysterious feeling, but this feeling was always very accurate. He couldn’t ignore it even if he tried.
The merman could hear everything well they were talking. From the moment Gu Li spoke her first word, the air pressure around him started to drop, and it was now low enough to attract everyone’s attention.
Li Shu closed the newspaper and placed it face down on the table. “I understand. Keep an eye on the base and report any movements to me.”
“Yes, Professor.”
Interrupted by the sudden incident, Li Shu lost the motivation for what he originally intended to do. He told the two girls to attend to their tasks while he stayed in the lab, lost in thought.
He might have overlooked something.
The young man stood with his back to the merman. His body was straight and slender in his white coat. Lu Xi watched him through the glass of the petri dish, his eyes swirling with unreadable emotions.
He was very angry, not because their existence had been discovered by humans. In recent years, humans have increased their exploration into previously untouched areas. The confrontation between the two species was bound to happen eventually. He had no particular feelings about such a future. Humans occupied the land, and sirens lived in the sea, not interfering with each other’s interests. Whether they were discovered by humans or not didn’t concern him much; such frail humans couldn’t affect them.
But he still couldn’t control the emotions surging within him, nor did he want to control them. He pondered where these feelings came from. Since it wasn’t because of his species, what else could it be? Ah, it was because of the human standing with his back to him.
He covered his face and felt like laughing, unsure whether to laugh at himself or at this newly discovered fact. Strangely, he didn’t resent this discovery, and he didn’t feel any aversion to tying his emotions to a male human.
He swished his tail and easily got out of the petri dish. Perhaps the young man was used to his proximity, he didn’t notice him until he stood half an arm’s length away, still immersed in his own thoughts.
Was he worrying about my species?
Lu Xi suddenly thought of the hesitant question the young man had asked him that day. He approached and hugged Li Shu from behind. Li Shu’s waist was slender and flexible, but not lacking in strength. Embedding the human in his arms, the merman exhaled contentedly.
“Lu Xi?” Li Shu was startled by the merman’s sudden closeness.
Lu Xi really liked hearing the young man call his name. No matter how many honors the name represented, it couldn’t compare to hearing it from this person. He nuzzled Li Shu’s cheek. Humans’ body temperature was higher than merfolk’s, and Lu Xi loved the warmth emanating from Li Shu.
It was very warm.
Just like the feeling this person gave him.
Without any command, his tail had already wrapped around the man’s leg. Feeling the familiar sensation around his leg, Li Shu didn’t need to look down to know that Lu Xi had wrapped his tail around him again.
When encountering something they liked, sirens would wrap it with their tails, and the intensity of the wrap reflected how much the tail’s owner liked it. Lu Xi knew humans were fragile, so whenever he wrapped his tail around Li Shu’s leg, he controlled his strength to avoid hurting him. After all, a siren’s tail was a powerful weapon, and using too much force would undoubtedly injure Li Shu, something Lu Xi didn’t want to see.
“You don’t need to worry. It’s only a matter of time before humans discover us.” His affectionate words were whispered into Li Shu’s ear, the slightly cold breath spraying onto his skin.
Despite going through this every so often, Li Shu still felt a little uncomfortable. He turned his head slightly. “Lu Xi, you underestimate humans.”
Humans’ strength was indeed negligible compared to merfolk, but humans had invented various powerful weapons. Once they found that merfolk had valuable traits, they would stop at nothing to capture them.
He could already imagine the uproar outside.
As he expected, the report caused a huge stir. As soon as this report went out, people went crazy. After all, That was a merfolk that only existed in legends and was completely in line with human aesthetics. How could it not be tempting?
Many were already secretly organizing teams to go to that sea area. If they could bring back a merfolk… it was too enticing. No one wouldn’t want to possess such a perfect creature.
Of course, they didn’t know that merfolk were nothing like they imagined. They weren’t soft and docile playthings. The overlords of the ocean weren’t easy to digest.
Without their various weapons, humans stood no chance against merfolk.
At this point, humans knew nothing of merfolk’s ferocity. They saw merfolk as perfect ornaments, unaware that in the eyes of merfolk, they weren’t even worthy opponents. They also didn’t know that merfolk’s ferocity wasn’t limited to their physical power.
Perhaps only when the first person attempting to violate a merfolk becomes a human breeding vessel would humanity truly grasp the terror of merfolk.
Lu Xi held the young man he had chosen, a flash of red passing through his eyes. Nature was always fair. While sirens were strong, their birth rate was astonishingly low. Having one child in a lifetime was considered fortunate.
He glanced at the newspaper. Rather than being accidentally discovered by humans, it was more likely that his clansmate had intentionally revealed himself.
The reason? The number of females in the clan was dwindling, and sirens, with their high aesthetic standards, found the odd sea creatures unappealing. It was natural for them to turn their eyes to humans.
After all, humans and sirens had similar appearances.
“Don’t worry,” Lu Xi reached out to smooth the frown on Li Shu’s face, “it’s not us who should be concerned now, but humans.”
Li Shu turned his head, “What do you mean by that?”
Lu Xi: “Do you think that with the sensitivity of a siren, he could be so easily exposed to humans without any defense?”
Li Shu: “You mean, he did it on purpose?”
“Do you know,” Lu Xi nuzzled Li Shu’s cheek and whispered, “sirens can make humans pregnant, regardless of gender.”
Li Shu: “!!!”
“Actually, it’s not limited to humans, it’s just that sirens have high standards when choosing a mate, and humans happen to…”
Lu Xi didn’t finish his sentence, but Li Shu understood what the rest meant without him saying anything. Compared to the bizarre sea creatures, humans’ looks were indeed up to par.
“You mean, that siren appeared so that humans could discover him and then find a mate?” Li Shu was still shocked by the fact that sirens could make any creature pregnant.
Lu Xi nodded, “Since he showed up, he must have found one.”
Li Shu found this world increasingly incomprehensible. The exposure of sirens had already disrupted his original plans, and what Lu Xi told him shattered his remaining plans.
“Can you tell me about your life?” Having gone through so much trouble, Li Shu now felt a bit deflated. If he had known the world’s settings about sirens were so magical, he would have asked Lu Xi directly.
He now needed to know the number of sirens, their attitude towards humans, and their level of civilization. His current identity was human, and if things end just like in the original plot, the mission will definitely fail. Moreover, the male protagonist is a Siren and the female protagonist is a human. To avoid the original world ending, he must find out what caused the original world ending.
“If you’re curious, I can take you to see for yourself.” Taking Li Shu to the ocean had been his plan all along.
“Huh? Can humans live in the sea?” Li Shu was quite interested. He wondered what the ocean was like with the merfolk
“Of course there is, otherwise they wouldn’t have the idea to target humans.” Since some sirens left their living sea areas to seek humans to reproduce, it meant they had found a way for humans to live in the ocean.
If there was a way… Lu Xi’s eyes darkened. He must take Li Shu back to his lair. It seemed he had to return to his territory first, or perhaps go directly to find the siren who had most likely already come ashore.
He didn’t plan to tell Li Shu his intentions. Feeling the warmth in his arms, he asked, “Do you want to go to the sea with me?”
After spending time in the human world, the merman had learned to keep some things to himself. Just like now, he concealed his true thoughts. If he spoke them directly, Li Shu might be scared.
He had finally managed to get Li Shu to let down his guard against him, and he didn’t want to fail halfway.
Li Shu was indeed moved. The splendid underwater world and the mysterious sirens had a great allure for someone who grew up on land. He had glimpsed a corner of the sea in his dreams, and even that was so breathtaking. What if he could see the full view?
What kind of scene would it be? Crystal blue water, vibrant coral, and all sorts of strange fish… These were scenes Li Shu had never seen. Moreover, he wanted to know why, in the original plot, the sirens used the power of the sea to flood the land.
“I want to go,” Li Shu looked up into Lu Xi’s crimson eyes, his own eyes shining. “I want to see where you live.”
Li Shu saw the light in Lu Xi’s eyes brighten and the extreme joy radiating from him, and he smiled too. Maybe Lu Xi’s intentions weren’t as simple as he said, and maybe this trip to the underwater world would bring unexpected dangers. But so what? He was never one to back down because of possible danger.
Lu Xi buried his head in Li Shu’s neck, showing a satisfied smile.
That person hadn’t lied to him. He indeed found his belonging on land—Li Shu.
