Dijia was merman No.1, the first one captured.
He was also Dr. Olay’s favorite merfolk.
First, there’s some sentiment behind this number.
Before capturing other merfolk, all experiments were conducted on Dijia. This red-tailed mermaid was numbered 21. If she had this many needle marks, how many did Dijia have?
Bai Lixin observed the red-tailed mermaid for a while before letting her go.
The mermaid also wore a bracelet on her wrist. He noticed while cleaning that all merfolk wore similar bracelets.
There were no digital markings on the bracelet. Logically, everything scientists put on the experimental subject wasn’t useless. These bracelets weren’t just decorations; they likely served as experimental instruments.
Were they used for detection?
Or were they used to limit power?
If for detection, Dr. Olay wouldn’t bother manually collecting data.
So, this device likely controlled power.
Bai Lixin squinted and naturally placed his hand on the bracelet.
As he slightly exerted force, preparing to open the bracelet, the red-tailed mermaid suddenly screamed in pain.
She convulsed uncontrollably, her tail thrashing without reason.
Bai Lixin quickly released the bracelet, “…”
After a short while, the mermaid eased from the pain.
She looked at Bai Lixin fearfully, and swiftly swum to the deepest part of the pool, arms hugging her shoulders and staring at Bai Lixin vigilantly.
Bai Lixin retracted his hand, saying a sincere “Sorry,” before turning to leave.
It seemed forcibly removing the bracelet wasn’t an option. When he tried earlier, he found that the bracelet wasn’t simply worn on the wrist; part of it was embedded in the flesh.
Perhaps something in that part stimulated the mermaid, and pulling it out would trigger harm.
If the red-tailed mermaid was like this, Dijia’s bracelet was probably the same.
It seemed these bracelets had to be removed before saving them. Otherwise, the bracelets would limit their power, like shortening the wings of a flying bird.
Even if they were released into the sea, they wouldn’t have the ability to hunt.
Bai Lixin’s cleaning speed increased afterward. By 4 p.m., only three merfolk’s rooms were left.
Just as Bai Lixin was about to clean the third-to-last room, a system prompt rang out in his mind.
[Ding! The locator has started moving. Please open the recording promptly.]
Hearing this prompt, Bai Lixin quickly straightened up and opened the system to start recording the locator’s movement.
In his mind appeared a translucent, azure-colored three-dimensional experimental building. Inside the building, a red dot was slowly moving.
It quickly went from the first floor to the basement and continued moving downward. As the red dot descended, its speed increased.
Just as it was about to reach sea level, the red dot suddenly disappeared.
Bai Lixin: “…”
What happened?
[What’s going on?] Bai Lixin asked.
Escape System: [The locator was damaged.]
Bai Lixin: [Do you know what damaged it?]
Escape System: [I’m sorry, Master Bai Lixin, I can’t detect it.]
Bai Lixin: [Alright, I understand. Thank you.]
It seems both parts of the plan weren’t going smoothly.
————————————–
Night fell, and Xia Chi silently followed at the end of the team, arriving at the boat below the cliff.
This is the research institute’s dedicated exploration ship. Before boarding, the identity had to be verified. The process was quite lengthy. They verify one after another to ensure it’s the same person before allowing them on board.
The process is lengthy and rigorous, and carried a certain sense of majesty.
When it was Xia Chi’s turn, he was the last.
“Xia Chi, work number 32, verification complete, you can go in.”
With the last verification completed, the ship slowly started.
This exploration has high privacy. Until they reach the destination, no one was allowed on the deck.
Each person had an assigned room. Shortly after Xia Chi entered his room, he heard a knocking sound.
Xia Chi was suddenly startled, and his eyes were filled with fear.
Because the knocking sound wasn’t coming from outside but from… inside the room.
‘Could there be ghosts?!’
As this thought crossed Xia Chi’s mind, his face turned green.
He hugged the blanket in terror, tremblingly pulling out a small mahogany sword from his backpack and pointing it towards the door, stammering, “Who! I-I don’t believe in ghosts or spirits, I’m not afraid of you. Go away quickly.”
Suddenly, laughter echoed in the air.
Hearing the laughter, Xia Chi stiffened and tentatively called out, “Brother?”
At the originally empty doorway, a figure slowly appeared.
Bai Lixin said a casual “Hey.”
Xia Chi was dumbfounded.
He stood still for two seconds, then came back to his senses and looked at Bai Lixin in shock: “Brother, how did you get here?!”
Bai Lixin: “I followed you in.”
Xia Chi didn’t quite understand, “Followed me?”
Bai Lixin picked up a towel from the washbasin and wiped his slightly damp hair, “Did you forget? I have an invisibility card. I’ve been with you for awhile. But one card only lasts for 5 minutes. Luckily, I have many cards, so I could remain invisible for a long time.”
Xia Chi was so shocked that he could fit a watermelon in his mouth.
‘So you were always by my side? !
Is this something a normal person can do?
Oh, no, my brother is not a human, but a god.’
Xia Chi quickly calmed down, “Brother, don’t you trust me?”
Bai Lixin: “No, I was just idle, so I thought I’d come out and see the world with you.”
Xia Chi: “?”
‘Do you need to see the world?
What world haven’t you seen?
Admit it, you just don’t trust me!’
Bai Lixin glanced around Xia Chi’s room, focusing on the diving equipment hanging in the room. He pointed at it, “Is there only one set?”
Xia Chi nodded, “By the way, Brother, I was just about to come find you. I’ve been busy all day and didn’t have time to talk to you.”
“I’m not fixed in one lab but rotate between multiple labs, so do the other players. In the data room, I found clues about the merfolk’s faith.”
Bai Lixin raised his head, and Xia Chi continued, “The clues are as follows.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Your tone is a bit too overwhelming.’
Xia Chi: “It turns out our task isn’t just to find the merfolk’ faith, these scientists are also searching for it.”
“I saw a report in the data room. It was first discovered that merfolk have a faith from their gestures. At the same time each day, they bow in the same direction.”
Xia Chi awkwardly replicated a gesture, saying, “It’s this gesture, that’s how it’s drawn in the report.”
Bai Lixin’s gaze focused on Xia Chi’s hands that were forming a prayer-like gesture, resembling a worship stance.
“Then what?”
Xia Chi: “Then they began studying the merfolk’ calls, analyzing them through the sounds and movements to understand their significance.”
“After a prolonged analysis, they concluded that the merfolk were worshiping their faith.”
“Scientists believe that merfolk possess human-like intelligence. They can’t understand our speech, much like how we can’t understand theirs.”
“Many structures and habits of merfolk are remarkably similar to humans, such as eating three meals a day, the number of teeth, facial features, hair, and more.”
“So, the institute speculates that perhaps, in ancient times, humans and merfolk shared common ancestors. It’s just that they diverged—one part evolving towards the ocean, developing features like fish tails, gills, and fins, while the other developed towards land. Exploring merfolks’ faith may unveil the truth behind their evolution.”
Bai Lixin: “Have they found it?”
Xia Chi: “So far, they’ve only discovered the concept of faith and nothing further.”
“To explore the merfolk’s faith, they need to find the merfolk’s home in the ocean. The sounds released yesterday was the merfolk’s mating call.”
“If they want merfolk to come to the shore, they release the mating call. However, that particular merfolk was clever and didn’t fall for it, it just left.”
“Tonight, they brought a merfolk on board.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
As they spoke, a bell rang outside. Xia Chi glanced at the door, “Brother, the experimental staff is starting to gather. How many invisibility cards do you have left?”
Bai Lixin shrugged, “There aren’t many left, only two. The other cards are still in cool down.”
Xia Chi: “Then you…”
Bai Lixin: “But when the ten-minute duration is up, the cool down on the other cards will be over.”
Xia Chi: “…”
‘It’s like I’m riding a roller coaster.’
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘I learned from you.’
On the third ring of the bell, Xia Chi sluggishly walked out of the room.
Everyone was already on the deck. When Xia Chi stepped onto the deck, all eyes were fixed on him.
Different from daytime, these NPCs seemed much more eerie at night.
Under the ship’s searchlights, half of their faces were concealed in shadow, and half was revealed in the light.
The light outlined their jawlines, and the NPCs’ contours seemed to have a strange curvature.
There was another player besides Xia Chi. Their eyes briefly met, and Xia Chi quickly ran over.
“Oops, sorry, I fell asleep just now.”
He subconsciously glanced behind him, but found nothing.
His Brother was invisible when he left, and now he didn’t know where he was standing.
The person leading them this time was a scientist similar in age to Dr. Olay. His eyes hidden in the shadows slowly scanned over. After a brief pause in mid-air, they landed on Xia Chi.
Xia Chi suddenly shivered and silently gulped.
‘Why pause in mid-air? Could it be that he’s discovered Brother’s presence?
Impossible!
It must be my own imagination.’
Whether it was his misconception or not, the skin of these NPCs seemed much paler than during the day.
The leading scientist was called Camila, a scientist with short blond hair.
While the blond-haired scientist observed him, Xia Chi tried his best to look back at him confidently.
In a trance, when the blond-haired doctor blinked, he seemed to see a fleeting white light in their eyes.
There was a bound merfolk lying on the ground. Dr. Camila stepped over the merfolk’s tail and approached.
As Dr. Camila walked towards him, Xia Chi grew more nervous. “Dr. Camila, what’s wrong?”
Dr. Camila reached him, and slowly lowered his head, his somewhat pale face almost touching Xia Chi’s.
Dr. Camila blinked, and during that blink, Xia Chi finally understood what he had seen earlier.
When he blinked, his eyeballs rolled upwards, revealing the entire whites of his eyes before the eyelids came down.
This blinking motion was truly inhuman!
Xia Chi’s heart stopped for a second.
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻, is this still a human?
Dr. Camila looked at Xia Chi, then slowly shifted his gaze to the side of Xia Chi. He stared there without blinking, as if there was a person standing there.
Xia Chi suddenly became nervous again.
Could it be that he noticed his brother’s presence?
A drop of cold sweat dripped from Xia Chi’s forehead. He nervously swallowed some saliva.
Dr. Camila raised his head, seemingly sniffing the air with his nose.
After sniffing for a while, just when Xia Chi thought he had really discovered his brother, Dr. Camila suddenly turned around, crossed over the merfolk’s tail again, and returned to his original position.
The other player quietly moved next to Xia Chi. The two made eye contact, both seeing fear in each other’s eyes.
So, why did they voluntarily follow along?
Their brains were truly kicked by a donkey.
In this vast ocean where they had nowhere to go, if any of these NPCs got upset and threw them overboard, they would bid farewell to this world.
“Alright,” Dr. Camila looked up at the distant stars, suddenly speaking, “hang it at the bow.”
The merfolk struggled desperately on the deck, showing sharp fangs and emitting angry roars, but it was all in vain.
Several NPCs skillfully brought the merfolk to the bow. With the ropes already tied around the merfolk, the NPCs used hooks to latch onto the ropes, slowly hanging the merfolk at the bow.
The merfolk could only move its tail, desperately thrashing it, looking helpless and pathetic.
“Let’s go.”
After hanging the merfolk at the bow, Dr. Camila said another sentence, then turned and walked down towards the deck.
Unsure of what they were up to, Xia Chi and the other player exchanged glances and quickly followed.
They went all the way down until they reached the very bottom of the ship.
Only then did Xia Chi realize that inside this giant ship’s belly, there were several small submarines stored.
Each submarine seemed to accommodate five or six people. Since there were ten people this time, they split into two submarines.
Dr. Camila pointed in the crowd, “You, you, you, and you, come with me on one submarine. The other five on the other.”
Among those “you”s, there were Xia Chi and the other player.
The other player nervously pushed up his glasses. He seemed quite frightened as well. After all, the first three days and one day were perfectly fine. Wasn’t it just a Mermaid Laboratory? NPCs were normal, merfolk were a bit aggressive, but they still had plenty of tasks. They thought that was all to the copy.
They were still too young.
Why did the painting style suddenly change from a scientific copy to a supernatural one in the middle of the night in the vast ocean?
They didn’t even have time to prepare mentally.
The other NPCs quickly boarded the submarines. Despite the fear, the mission had to continue.
Perhaps the strange appearance of these NPCs was a clue to completing the mission.
Xia Chi and the player with glasses reluctantly climbed into the submarine.
The other NPCs were already seated, with the NPC responsible for piloting and Dr. Camila at the forefront.
There was an empty seat in the middle and two empty seats in the third row.
The two exchanged glances and, without hesitation, directly sat in the third row.
Xia Chi bent his legs and when his buttocks were almost touching the seat, he suddenly bounced back up.
He glanced at the empty seat with a pitiful expression, then silently walked to the side of the NPC, sitting down with a heavy heart.
“Aren’t you sitting next to me?” Glasses looked a bit surprised, lowering his voice and slowly leaning towards Xia Chi.
The NPC in the second row heard the sound and turned to look at them. He blinked, and Glasses immediately gave up on asking, obediently sitting back.
Xia Chi glanced at the empty seat behind him with a hint of sorrow in his eyes.
‘Brother, doesn’t your conscience hurt?’
Although sitting at the front gives a more thrilling visual effect, it also means seeing more things.
When he looked forward, he noticed a moderately sized screen in front of Dr. Camila.
The screen displayed the merfolk at the bow of the ship. The merfolk thrashed its tail for a while before ceasing its movements.
However, the merfolk didn’t give up. It suddenly realized that its mouth was not tied and quickly used its tail to bounce itself to the ropes. It bit the hemp rope with its teeth, and after a moment, the thick hemp rope had a large gap bitten into it.
Upon seeing this, Dr. Camilla emitted a creepy laughter and commented, “Indeed, these merfolk, who share the same ancestors as us, possess intelligence far beyond other creatures. They can think of a way to escape so quickly; they truly are exquisite creations of the Creator.”
“Of course they are smart,” an NPC beside him added. “Creatures in the ocean rely on instinct to attack. They not only know how to make harpoons but also crossbows. However, their evolution seems slow. Our technology has reached its current level, while theirs still revolves around tool-making.”
“What do you know?” Dr. Camila retorted. “It’s not that they evolve slowly; it’s that our evolution is too fast. Our human evolution is abnormal. Look at this world; which creature behaves as strangely as humans?”
“For this world, we are the anomalies.”
“In this world, the ocean covers 70%. However, we can’t breathe underwater, yet merfolk can breathe on land.”
“They are the perfectly evolved ones.”
“Look at this merfolk, how perfect it is, growing in every aspect as they should.”
“Strong arms, a massive tail, a beautiful face. If we can grasp the characteristics of their genes and apply them to human genes, we can live in the unreachable 70% ocean.”
Xia Chi quietly listened to Dr. Camila’s dialogue, and felt that they were simply scientific lunatics.
‘Is human evolution a mistake?
Hey, aren’t you shitting where you eat?
If they all became like this, aren’t they becoming merfolk?
You want to become merfolk because you envy them?
How sick.
A group of lunatics!’
With a “plop” sound in the video, the merfolk finally broke free from the ropes and fell into the water.
The camera instantly switched to the deep and dark sea.
Xia Chi speculated that the camera was probably some simulated small fish because the footage kept shaking, but the merfolk didn’t find it strange at all.
In the video, the merfolk struggled with the bindings for a moment, then freed itself from the ropes. With a flick of its tail, it swam towards the depths of the sea without any reluctance.
The camera quickly followed the merfolk’s silhouette. Until the merfolk swam far away, Dr. Camila spoke, “Let’s go, follow it. Hopefully, this merfolk can lead us to where we want to go.”
Dijia was merman No.1, the first one captured.
He was also Dr. Olay’s favorite merfolk.
First, there’s some sentiment behind this number.
Before capturing other merfolk, all experiments were conducted on Dijia. This red-tailed mermaid was numbered 21. If she had this many needle marks, how many did Dijia have?
Bai Lixin observed the red-tailed mermaid for a while before letting her go.
The mermaid also wore a bracelet on her wrist. He noticed while cleaning that all merfolk wore similar bracelets.
There were no digital markings on the bracelet. Logically, everything scientists put on the experimental subject wasn’t useless. These bracelets weren’t just decorations; they likely served as experimental instruments.
Were they used for detection?
Or were they used to limit power?
If for detection, Dr. Olay wouldn’t bother manually collecting data.
So, this device likely controlled power.
Bai Lixin squinted and naturally placed his hand on the bracelet.
As he slightly exerted force, preparing to open the bracelet, the red-tailed mermaid suddenly screamed in pain.
She convulsed uncontrollably, her tail thrashing without reason.
Bai Lixin quickly released the bracelet, “…”
After a short while, the mermaid eased from the pain.
She looked at Bai Lixin fearfully, and swiftly swum to the deepest part of the pool, arms hugging her shoulders and staring at Bai Lixin vigilantly.
Bai Lixin retracted his hand, saying a sincere “Sorry,” before turning to leave.
It seemed forcibly removing the bracelet wasn’t an option. When he tried earlier, he found that the bracelet wasn’t simply worn on the wrist; part of it was embedded in the flesh.
Perhaps something in that part stimulated the mermaid, and pulling it out would trigger harm.
If the red-tailed mermaid was like this, Dijia’s bracelet was probably the same.
It seemed these bracelets had to be removed before saving them. Otherwise, the bracelets would limit their power, like shortening the wings of a flying bird.
Even if they were released into the sea, they wouldn’t have the ability to hunt.
Bai Lixin’s cleaning speed increased afterward. By 4 p.m., only three merfolk’s rooms were left.
Just as Bai Lixin was about to clean the third-to-last room, a system prompt rang out in his mind.
[Ding! The locator has started moving. Please open the recording promptly.]
Hearing this prompt, Bai Lixin quickly straightened up and opened the system to start recording the locator’s movement.
In his mind appeared a translucent, azure-colored three-dimensional experimental building. Inside the building, a red dot was slowly moving.
It quickly went from the first floor to the basement and continued moving downward. As the red dot descended, its speed increased.
Just as it was about to reach sea level, the red dot suddenly disappeared.
Bai Lixin: “…”
What happened?
[What’s going on?] Bai Lixin asked.
Escape System: [The locator was damaged.]
Bai Lixin: [Do you know what damaged it?]
Escape System: [I’m sorry, Master Bai Lixin, I can’t detect it.]
Bai Lixin: [Alright, I understand. Thank you.]
It seems both parts of the plan weren’t going smoothly.
————————————–
Night fell, and Xia Chi silently followed at the end of the team, arriving at the boat below the cliff.
This is the research institute’s dedicated exploration ship. Before boarding, the identity had to be verified. The process was quite lengthy. They verify one after another to ensure it’s the same person before allowing them on board.
The process is lengthy and rigorous, and carried a certain sense of majesty.
When it was Xia Chi’s turn, he was the last.
“Xia Chi, work number 32, verification complete, you can go in.”
With the last verification completed, the ship slowly started.
This exploration has high privacy. Until they reach the destination, no one was allowed on the deck.
Each person had an assigned room. Shortly after Xia Chi entered his room, he heard a knocking sound.
Xia Chi was suddenly startled, and his eyes were filled with fear.
Because the knocking sound wasn’t coming from outside but from… inside the room.
‘Could there be ghosts?!’
As this thought crossed Xia Chi’s mind, his face turned green.
He hugged the blanket in terror, tremblingly pulling out a small mahogany sword from his backpack and pointing it towards the door, stammering, “Who! I-I don’t believe in ghosts or spirits, I’m not afraid of you. Go away quickly.”
Suddenly, laughter echoed in the air.
Hearing the laughter, Xia Chi stiffened and tentatively called out, “Brother?”
At the originally empty doorway, a figure slowly appeared.
Bai Lixin said a casual “Hey.”
Xia Chi was dumbfounded.
He stood still for two seconds, then came back to his senses and looked at Bai Lixin in shock: “Brother, how did you get here?!”
Bai Lixin: “I followed you in.”
Xia Chi didn’t quite understand, “Followed me?”
Bai Lixin picked up a towel from the washbasin and wiped his slightly damp hair, “Did you forget? I have an invisibility card. I’ve been with you for awhile. But one card only lasts for 5 minutes. Luckily, I have many cards, so I could remain invisible for a long time.”
Xia Chi was so shocked that he could fit a watermelon in his mouth.
‘So you were always by my side? !
Is this something a normal person can do?
Oh, no, my brother is not a human, but a god.’
Xia Chi quickly calmed down, “Brother, don’t you trust me?”
Bai Lixin: “No, I was just idle, so I thought I’d come out and see the world with you.”
Xia Chi: “?”
‘Do you need to see the world?
What world haven’t you seen?
Admit it, you just don’t trust me!’
Bai Lixin glanced around Xia Chi’s room, focusing on the diving equipment hanging in the room. He pointed at it, “Is there only one set?”
Xia Chi nodded, “By the way, Brother, I was just about to come find you. I’ve been busy all day and didn’t have time to talk to you.”
“I’m not fixed in one lab but rotate between multiple labs, so do the other players. In the data room, I found clues about the merfolk’s faith.”
Bai Lixin raised his head, and Xia Chi continued, “The clues are as follows.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Your tone is a bit too overwhelming.’
Xia Chi: “It turns out our task isn’t just to find the merfolk’ faith, these scientists are also searching for it.”
“I saw a report in the data room. It was first discovered that merfolk have a faith from their gestures. At the same time each day, they bow in the same direction.”
Xia Chi awkwardly replicated a gesture, saying, “It’s this gesture, that’s how it’s drawn in the report.”
Bai Lixin’s gaze focused on Xia Chi’s hands that were forming a prayer-like gesture, resembling a worship stance.
“Then what?”
Xia Chi: “Then they began studying the merfolk’ calls, analyzing them through the sounds and movements to understand their significance.”
“After a prolonged analysis, they concluded that the merfolk were worshiping their faith.”
“Scientists believe that merfolk possess human-like intelligence. They can’t understand our speech, much like how we can’t understand theirs.”
“Many structures and habits of merfolk are remarkably similar to humans, such as eating three meals a day, the number of teeth, facial features, hair, and more.”
“So, the institute speculates that perhaps, in ancient times, humans and merfolk shared common ancestors. It’s just that they diverged—one part evolving towards the ocean, developing features like fish tails, gills, and fins, while the other developed towards land. Exploring merfolks’ faith may unveil the truth behind their evolution.”
Bai Lixin: “Have they found it?”
Xia Chi: “So far, they’ve only discovered the concept of faith and nothing further.”
“To explore the merfolk’s faith, they need to find the merfolk’s home in the ocean. The sounds released yesterday was the merfolk’s mating call.”
“If they want merfolk to come to the shore, they release the mating call. However, that particular merfolk was clever and didn’t fall for it, it just left.”
“Tonight, they brought a merfolk on board.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
As they spoke, a bell rang outside. Xia Chi glanced at the door, “Brother, the experimental staff is starting to gather. How many invisibility cards do you have left?”
Bai Lixin shrugged, “There aren’t many left, only two. The other cards are still in cool down.”
Xia Chi: “Then you…”
Bai Lixin: “But when the ten-minute duration is up, the cool down on the other cards will be over.”
Xia Chi: “…”
‘It’s like I’m riding a roller coaster.’
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘I learned from you.’
On the third ring of the bell, Xia Chi sluggishly walked out of the room.
Everyone was already on the deck. When Xia Chi stepped onto the deck, all eyes were fixed on him.
Different from daytime, these NPCs seemed much more eerie at night.
Under the ship’s searchlights, half of their faces were concealed in shadow, and half was revealed in the light.
The light outlined their jawlines, and the NPCs’ contours seemed to have a strange curvature.
There was another player besides Xia Chi. Their eyes briefly met, and Xia Chi quickly ran over.
“Oops, sorry, I fell asleep just now.”
He subconsciously glanced behind him, but found nothing.
His Brother was invisible when he left, and now he didn’t know where he was standing.
The person leading them this time was a scientist similar in age to Dr. Olay. His eyes hidden in the shadows slowly scanned over. After a brief pause in mid-air, they landed on Xia Chi.
Xia Chi suddenly shivered and silently gulped.
‘Why pause in mid-air? Could it be that he’s discovered Brother’s presence?
Impossible!
It must be my own imagination.’
Whether it was his misconception or not, the skin of these NPCs seemed much paler than during the day.
The leading scientist was called Camila, a scientist with short blond hair.
While the blond-haired scientist observed him, Xia Chi tried his best to look back at him confidently.
In a trance, when the blond-haired doctor blinked, he seemed to see a fleeting white light in their eyes.
There was a bound merfolk lying on the ground. Dr. Camila stepped over the merfolk’s tail and approached.
As Dr. Camila walked towards him, Xia Chi grew more nervous. “Dr. Camila, what’s wrong?”
Dr. Camila reached him, and slowly lowered his head, his somewhat pale face almost touching Xia Chi’s.
Dr. Camila blinked, and during that blink, Xia Chi finally understood what he had seen earlier.
When he blinked, his eyeballs rolled upwards, revealing the entire whites of his eyes before the eyelids came down.
This blinking motion was truly inhuman!
Xia Chi’s heart stopped for a second.
(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻, is this still a human?
Dr. Camila looked at Xia Chi, then slowly shifted his gaze to the side of Xia Chi. He stared there without blinking, as if there was a person standing there.
Xia Chi suddenly became nervous again.
Could it be that he noticed his brother’s presence?
A drop of cold sweat dripped from Xia Chi’s forehead. He nervously swallowed some saliva.
Dr. Camila raised his head, seemingly sniffing the air with his nose.
After sniffing for a while, just when Xia Chi thought he had really discovered his brother, Dr. Camila suddenly turned around, crossed over the merfolk’s tail again, and returned to his original position.
The other player quietly moved next to Xia Chi. The two made eye contact, both seeing fear in each other’s eyes.
So, why did they voluntarily follow along?
Their brains were truly kicked by a donkey.
In this vast ocean where they had nowhere to go, if any of these NPCs got upset and threw them overboard, they would bid farewell to this world.
“Alright,” Dr. Camila looked up at the distant stars, suddenly speaking, “hang it at the bow.”
The merfolk struggled desperately on the deck, showing sharp fangs and emitting angry roars, but it was all in vain.
Several NPCs skillfully brought the merfolk to the bow. With the ropes already tied around the merfolk, the NPCs used hooks to latch onto the ropes, slowly hanging the merfolk at the bow.
The merfolk could only move its tail, desperately thrashing it, looking helpless and pathetic.
“Let’s go.”
After hanging the merfolk at the bow, Dr. Camila said another sentence, then turned and walked down towards the deck.
Unsure of what they were up to, Xia Chi and the other player exchanged glances and quickly followed.
They went all the way down until they reached the very bottom of the ship.
Only then did Xia Chi realize that inside this giant ship’s belly, there were several small submarines stored.
Each submarine seemed to accommodate five or six people. Since there were ten people this time, they split into two submarines.
Dr. Camila pointed in the crowd, “You, you, you, and you, come with me on one submarine. The other five on the other.”
Among those “you”s, there were Xia Chi and the other player.
The other player nervously pushed up his glasses. He seemed quite frightened as well. After all, the first three days and one day were perfectly fine. Wasn’t it just a Mermaid Laboratory? NPCs were normal, merfolk were a bit aggressive, but they still had plenty of tasks. They thought that was all to the copy.
They were still too young.
Why did the painting style suddenly change from a scientific copy to a supernatural one in the middle of the night in the vast ocean?
They didn’t even have time to prepare mentally.
The other NPCs quickly boarded the submarines. Despite the fear, the mission had to continue.
Perhaps the strange appearance of these NPCs was a clue to completing the mission.
Xia Chi and the player with glasses reluctantly climbed into the submarine.
The other NPCs were already seated, with the NPC responsible for piloting and Dr. Camila at the forefront.
There was an empty seat in the middle and two empty seats in the third row.
The two exchanged glances and, without hesitation, directly sat in the third row.
Xia Chi bent his legs and when his buttocks were almost touching the seat, he suddenly bounced back up.
He glanced at the empty seat with a pitiful expression, then silently walked to the side of the NPC, sitting down with a heavy heart.
“Aren’t you sitting next to me?” Glasses looked a bit surprised, lowering his voice and slowly leaning towards Xia Chi.
The NPC in the second row heard the sound and turned to look at them. He blinked, and Glasses immediately gave up on asking, obediently sitting back.
Xia Chi glanced at the empty seat behind him with a hint of sorrow in his eyes.
‘Brother, doesn’t your conscience hurt?’
Although sitting at the front gives a more thrilling visual effect, it also means seeing more things.
When he looked forward, he noticed a moderately sized screen in front of Dr. Camila.
The screen displayed the merfolk at the bow of the ship. The merfolk thrashed its tail for a while before ceasing its movements.
However, the merfolk didn’t give up. It suddenly realized that its mouth was not tied and quickly used its tail to bounce itself to the ropes. It bit the hemp rope with its teeth, and after a moment, the thick hemp rope had a large gap bitten into it.
Upon seeing this, Dr. Camilla emitted a creepy laughter and commented, “Indeed, these merfolk, who share the same ancestors as us, possess intelligence far beyond other creatures. They can think of a way to escape so quickly; they truly are exquisite creations of the Creator.”
“Of course they are smart,” an NPC beside him added. “Creatures in the ocean rely on instinct to attack. They not only know how to make harpoons but also crossbows. However, their evolution seems slow. Our technology has reached its current level, while theirs still revolves around tool-making.”
“What do you know?” Dr. Camila retorted. “It’s not that they evolve slowly; it’s that our evolution is too fast. Our human evolution is abnormal. Look at this world; which creature behaves as strangely as humans?”
“For this world, we are the anomalies.”
“In this world, the ocean covers 70%. However, we can’t breathe underwater, yet merfolk can breathe on land.”
“They are the perfectly evolved ones.”
“Look at this merfolk, how perfect it is, growing in every aspect as they should.”
“Strong arms, a massive tail, a beautiful face. If we can grasp the characteristics of their genes and apply them to human genes, we can live in the unreachable 70% ocean.”
Xia Chi quietly listened to Dr. Camila’s dialogue, and felt that they were simply scientific lunatics.
‘Is human evolution a mistake?
Hey, aren’t you shitting where you eat?
If they all became like this, aren’t they becoming merfolk?
You want to become merfolk because you envy them?
How sick.
A group of lunatics!’
With a “plop” sound in the video, the merfolk finally broke free from the ropes and fell into the water.
The camera instantly switched to the deep and dark sea.
Xia Chi speculated that the camera was probably some simulated small fish because the footage kept shaking, but the merfolk didn’t find it strange at all.
In the video, the merfolk struggled with the bindings for a moment, then freed itself from the ropes. With a flick of its tail, it swam towards the depths of the sea without any reluctance.
The camera quickly followed the merfolk’s silhouette. Until the merfolk swam far away, Dr. Camila spoke, “Let’s go, follow it. Hopefully, this merfolk can lead us to where we want to go.”
