AMBTMS Chapter 135

Lu Xi was right. The siren who unexpectedly appeared on camera had indeed find his target before revealing himself in the human world. At the same time, the appearance of this siren seemed to have triggered a switch, as news of the discovery of merfolk began to emerge one after another.

Li Shu also received messages from the Li family, and naturally, the people at the base also got news from the outside world. Although the base was closed off, it only restricted people from leaving and prevented information from leaking out, but the trends of the outside world could still reach the base.

Li Shu had considered temporarily blocking news from the outside world but ultimately gave up. The emergence of numerous merfolk reduced some of the issues he originally worried about.

The emergence of a new species and its interaction with the existing species would determine their mode of coexistence after a period of adjustment. The message from the Li family was that if merfolk did not harm humans for no reason, the authorities would focus on peaceful interactions. The key now was the attitude of the merfolk.

Indeed, some people were driven by profit, but more people had a favorable impression of these aesthetically pleasing merfolk. After all, merfolk fit human aesthetics perfectly.

People generally tend to be more tolerant of beautiful things.

Li Shu looked at the email from his elder brother and the corners of his mouth twitched. He couldn’t help but feel that the development of this world was too different from what he had imagined.

It felt less like a racial conflict and more like children playing house.

With a light sigh, Li Shu leaned back, relaxing in his chair. Lu Xi said that merfolk appeared to find breeding partners, and since merfolk fit human aesthetics, he had no doubt that once people knew the merfolk’s purpose, many would willingly interact with them.

That is, without knowing the extent of the merfolk’ ferocity.

He couldn’t quite understand it. The future, which should have been about racial war, had turned out like this.

This brings up the structure of this world. It was similar to his original world, even the international situation was almost the same, except that this world was more technologically advanced and had more magical creatures.

For instance, the ones in this base.

The original owner lived in Huaxia, which was the same as his original world’s nationality, and the customs and habits were roughly the same. Their attitude toward outsiders was similar to his original world’s country. Huaxia’s people were warm and hospitable, preferring peace before conflict.

This could be seen from the email his elder brother sent. They weren’t very hostile towards merfolk now. They remained vigilant, but they would not show hostility unless the merfolk showed aggression first.

As he had guessed, upon discovering the merfolk, the high-level officials immediately held a meeting. After the meeting, this newspaper that was spread nationwide was published. Initially, the photo was posted by a rich second-generation who loved traveling. At first, no one believed the photo was of a real merfolk. It was only after the authorities confirmed it that people gradually accepted it.

Li Shu skimmed through the original owner’s memories and found that the rich second-generation in the photo was someone he knew.

There was still one problem: could sirens in this world transform their tails into legs? In all the stories Li Shu had heard about merfolk, merfolk could turn their tails into legs, so this world probably allowed that too.

Although the system’s information did not mention this, Li Shu still believed that sirens could transform their tails, they just needed the opportunity.

Li Shu tidied up his desk and went to Lab No. 2.

Lab No. 2 was newly set up. Besides a huge swimming pool, it only had some testing equipment. The water in the pool was seawater suitable for merfolk. Not many people came to this pool, so Li Shu simply appropriated it as Lu Xi’s new activity area.

Compared to the relatively cramped petri dish, Lu Xi clearly preferred this place because it was spacious and convenient for activities.

With new progress in the research, Yi Ziqi had immersed himself in the lab and hadn’t come out. Qin Le’an and Gu Li helped while learning. When Li Shu arrived, all three were busy.

The two girls were holding notebooks and recording data, while the merfolk swam, flicking his tail. He was now familiar with the three people Li Shu brought, and no longer tried to attack them like before.

Lu Xi was the first to notice Li Shu’s arrival. He emerged from the water, creating a large splash.

Li Shu walked straight to the poolside and voiced his question to Lu Xi.

Lu Xi looked at his own magnificent tail, and a rare hint of confusion flickered in his eyes.

He really didn’t know whether the fishtail could be transformed into legs. Before him, merfolk always lived in the deep sea. In the sea, the tail’s usefulness far surpassed that of legs. Whether it was hunting or courting, the more magnificent and powerful the tail, the stronger the individual. To them, the existence of legs was superfluous.

Just like how humans were shocked when they first saw merfolk, merfolk were equally astonished when they first saw humans.

“For us, the tail is essential.” Lu Xi swam to Li Shu’s legs.

Li Shu sat at the edge of the pool, and Lu Xi straightened his body in the water to meet his gaze. His eyes lingered on Li Shu’s legs. The legs wrapped in white pants were slender and strong. Lu Xi had wrapped his tail around these legs countless times. He liked these legs, which were considered useless to their race.

Li Shu knew this. Unlike humans, merfolk lived in the deep sea. Due to natural selection, they had strong tails, organs to breathe underwater, and tough skin to withstand water pressure…

These were things that humans living on land could not do and did not need, just as sirens did not need legs.

But at the same time, merfolk could breathe on the surface and live normally on land, which Lu Xi had personally verified.

“Professor,” Yi Ziqi set down his experiment and walked over, “Professor, I’ve recently made some new discoveries related to S.”

Except for Li Shu, everyone at the base called Lu Xi “S” or “merman”.

Li Shu turned his head. “New discoveries?”

“Yes,” Yi Ziqi could block out any interference from the outside world perfectly when talking about his field of expertise, “I got curious and compared S’s DNA with humans and found some similarities…”

Once he started talking, Yi Ziqi couldn’t help sharing his discoveries passionately, not realizing how a sudden thought could lead to such astonishing findings.

Lu Xi couldn’t understand their professional jargon and played with Li Shu’s left hand that was hanging by the side.

Yi Ziqi caught this scene out of the corner of his eye and felt a shiver down his spine.

No one knew better than him, who had just obtained the test data, how sharp S’s nails were. Yi Ziqi really admired the professor, he could expose himself to such sharp nails without any wariness.

Yi Ziqi’s discovery confirmed from a genetic perspective that sirens and humans had a certain connection.

Gu Li and Qin Le’an also gathered around. At Li Shu’s request, Gu Li had been paying close attention to external news about merfolk, while Qin Le’an focused on the researchers at the base, especially Director Jiang’s group.

“Professor, the outside world already knows about merfolk, so what about S…” The issue of merfolk was intensifying, and S’s existence had become a ticking time bomb. If the authorities decided to engage with merfolk peacefully, once S’s existence was exposed, as the main person responsible for merfolk research, Li Shu’s fate could be imagined.

Li Shu was well aware of this. Not only him, but everyone in the base, including the entire Li family, would not have a good ending.

In this world, conducting human experiments privately was illegal and trampled on the moral bottom line of humanity. Once people knew that merfolk were intelligent beings like humans, at this critical moment of establishing diplomatic relations between the two races, if the authorities discovered someone had privately captured merfolk for research and concealed their existence, they would not tolerate it.

Li Shu’s elder brother probably hadn’t anticipated this development either. A few months after they sent the merfolk to the lab, the merfolk voluntarily appeared in the human world, catching them off guard.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”

Although he said it lightly, he knew that if this issue wasn’t handled properly, the entire Li family would be buried with it. The Li family had made countless enemies and blocked many people’s paths. The taller the tree, the more wind it attracts. The higher they stood, the more people wanted to pull them down.

Li Shu believed that even a slight leak of this news would make the Li family the sinners hindering the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two races, regardless of whether merfolk and humans would stand on opposite sides or interact peacefully.

He had to take the initiative. Before others could exploit this issue, he had to reach a consensus with the authorities.

He had to leave the base, return to the Li family, and use the Li family’s connections to meet with the authorities. If… Li Shu glanced at Lu Xi beside him. If he could bring Lu Xi along, it would be much more effective.

But before resolving this issue, no information about Lu Xi could be leaked from the base.

Taking Lu Xi out would attract too much attention, and he couldn’t let the people in the base notice. Although the lab appeared quiet, there were undoubtedly many eyes watching.

Li Shu contacted his elder brother and expressed his thoughts. His elder brother was surprised. In the minds of the Li family, apart from research-related matters, their youngest child was indifferent to other affairs. For him to proactively talk about these matters was indeed surprising.

[Big brother will handle these things. Don’t worry.]

They would deal with these plots and calculations. The youngest brother just had to stay in his preferred field.

Li Shu looked at the email from his elder brother and pursed his lips.

[Brother, send someone to pick me up. I’ll bring S along. Don’t worry, I’m 100% confident.]

Li Shu’s elder brother wanted to persuade him further, but Li Shu had made up his mind. Helpless, he could only agree and send someone absolutely trustworthy to pick them up. At the same time, he arranged a private meeting with the upper echelons he had connections with.

With the development and scale of the Li family, they indeed had some connections at the top, so arranging a private meeting wasn’t too difficult.

All of this was done in private, and no information leaked. Li Shu instructed Yi Ziqi and the other two, then left the base with Lu Xi late at night.

Lu Xi was placed in a completely sealed box, just like when he was brought to the base. Nothing inside could be seen from the outside.

The person entering through the special passage changed into a white lab coat and silently pushed the large box down the quiet corridor. No one noticed that in the darkness, there was a pair of eyes seeing everything.