“Absolutely not!” After saying that, the captain quickly contradicted himself, “She won’t die. She is a mermaid, how can a mermaid die in the sea? Besides, she doesn’t like the altered version of herself, so she must have quietly left, not wanting to be involved in the plot!”
“That must be it!”
“These mermaids who look like her must be related to her. Just follow the mermaids, and we will find her!”
His voice trembled lightly, as if he was trying to convince himself that this was the right path.
Clearly, even deceiving himself was difficult for him.
“…That’s how it is. What do you all think?”
Rong Yi returned to the deck and recounted the captain’s story to them, seeking the opinions of the team members.
“His mermaid is very likely still alive.” Raymond, who looked dazed when he sobered up, spoke first. “Let’s go help him find her.”
“Not to mention searching for a bland mermaid in the vast sea. Even if we find her, will he really help us?” The old man, wiping his fishing rod, with a stooped figure, sounded doubtful. “After all, he is an NPC from the opposing faction. Even if your skills can communicate with him, it doesn’t guarantee he won’t deceive us.”
“What could he deceive us into?” Zhang Haiyang shrugged. “He didn’t use his power to make Rong lose her sanity but chose to confide his own experiences. I think that’s a sign of surrender.”
“Furthermore, even if we ignore his request and successfully find the cockpit, then what? Do you think I, a marine biologist, can read sea charts and navigate this massive cruise ship?”
The old man persisted, “According to the captain, players have succeeded before, so we can succeed!”
Zhang Haiyang said, “He only mentioned that a player subdued him and gained control of the cruise ship. Whether that player successfully landed or died at sea, he did not say.”
“The elderly man, you also survived the last round. Were the other players from the last round disappeared only after successfully completing the game?”
The old man fell silent.
Ice was deeply moved by the story, wiping away tears, sniffling. “Since we can’t go back now, let’s help him!”
Luo Huayue tapped on the ship railing. “I have been following Rong since my first time entering the game. I know best about her skill’s restraint on bosses.”
“I’m inclined to give it a try. Because I believe in Rong, no matter what happens, she can handle it.”
“And we have Zhang Haiyang, our advantage in searching for marine life.”
Zhang Haiyang stood proudly.
Seeing others logically wanting to help the captain in a roundabout way, the old man sighed, “Fine, let’s help.”
He cast out his fishing line, lowering his tattered straw hat to shield the sun. “It’s great to have like-minded companions… Thank you for giving this old bone a boost of energy with your lives, so I can hold on for another three to five months.”
He had already concluded that they would fail before even starting.
Rong Yi didn’t mind. She knew that the old man, who had persisted from entering this instance until now, must have experienced many disappointments, deaths of companions, naturally pre-determining many things with a sense of “failure.”
To be honest, the fact that he was still trying to survive was already optimistic.
Furthermore, a team cannot consist solely of those who charge forward with single-minded determination; there also needs to be people like the old man who occasionally step on the brakes and pour cold water, to prevent too much of a setback in case of failure, affecting future plans.
“Now, apart from the appearance of the mermaids, we know nothing.” Just as Rong Yi finished speaking, Ice volunteered enthusiastically, “I-I’ll go catch one to study!”
Rong Yi said, “It’s best if it’s alive. Can you do it?”
“I’ll do it.” Raymond lay on the deck, one arm covering his eyes. “Tonight, let’s catch a live mermaid.”
Rong Yi couldn’t help but feel that Raymond had been heavy-hearted since he woke up, and he hadn’t started live streaming again.
I see that she was accustomed to his flamboyant appearance. Raymond, who was so quiet and reserved, really made her feel uncomfortable.
That night, the old man and Zhang Haiyang, who was seasick, stayed behind, while the rest of the people squatted in the guest cabin waiting for the opportunity.
“Hey, what if we wake them up one by one now, how about that?” Ice looked at the players sleeping soundly in the simple compartments and asked Rong Yi.
Rong Yi frowned. She had considered this plan, but quickly dismissed it: “Waking them up is not difficult, the challenge is to keep them alert afterwards.”
“And besides, this is an A-level instance, where any player is as skilled as Raymond. You expect them to follow our plans? It’s too difficult.”
It’s like the difficulty of surviving and building a society in the wilderness before the instance changed, now layered on top of the challenges of the post-change psychedelic cruise ship.
Adding difficulty upon difficulty.
“‘Do not go gentle into that good night,'” Luo Huayue suddenly recited the poem softly: “They are going gently now, walking into that good night without resistance…”
“We won’t awaken them, but we won’t watch them walk into that good night either.” Rong Yi comforted by patting her on the shoulder: “This isn’t a case of strength in numbers. For now, not waking them up is our best choice.”
The old man had said that many players would suddenly disappear in the morning. That must be when the mermaids came on board to harvest lives every night.
I wonder if Ai Yuesheng has managed to kill off all the mermaids.
In the closest compartment to them, a man rolled over, mumbling in his sleep: “…I won… I won again… hehe… I want to stay here forever… this is paradise… paradise…”
As soon as he finished speaking, a familiar sticky sound of a body dragging on the floor was heard outside the compartment.
The little octopus on Rong Yi’s head contracted its tentacles, whispering softly, “They’re here.”
Indeed, a beautiful head emerged from the man’s porthole, with seaweed-like long hair framing a small face, lips extending into a long tongue like a snake.
“Based on yesterday’s experience, the number of mermaids is increasing. While there’s only one now, let’s coordinate our attack.” Rong Yi quickly and quietly deployed her plan: (Continued in the next message)
“Why do you rush out without discussing with me first? It’s so dangerous, are you hurt?”
Rong Yi placed the chattering little octopus back on her head, poked him to keep quiet, and stopped Raymond from throwing away the digestion net. “Keep it, we’ll study it with Zhang Haiyang.”
Just as they finished tidying up the mermaid on the deck to carry her back to the engine room, they heard rustling noises from the side of the ship.
They exchanged glances, and Luo Huayue raised her hand: “It’s my turn this time.”
Ice pulled her hand down: “You’re still a young girl, not in love yet, don’t copy your sister Rong Yi. I’ll go.”
Raymond watched as the mermaid climbed onto the deck and said solemnly, “It’s too late.” With that, he rushed up and began binding her fiercely!
But the mermaid, not hindered by the digestion net, was strong in combat. With sharp teeth, she gnawed through the vines, quickly breaking free and sliding towards him!
This was Rong Yi’s first time seeing Raymond in close combat – in previous battles, his vines never allowed him a chance for close combat with the enemy.
His close combat skills were not weak, but the mermaid’s body was too strong. When he punched, the mermaid only slid back half a meter without showing any signs of injury or pain.
“Rong Rong, run!” The little octopus on top suddenly spoke, and Rong Yi realized that a mermaid had silently approached her. She sprinted with the mermaid on the spacious deck like flying a kite.
On the other side, the third mermaid was entangled in a fight with Ice and Luo Huayue.
Luo Huayue’s harpoon was almost the only way to harm the mermaid on the scene. She aimed to shoot the mermaid’s eyes as usual, but the mermaid, agile without spraying the digestion net, caused Luo Huayue’s harpoon to miss and hit her cheek, causing her to scream in pain and attack more fiercely!
Ice had prior experience in knocking down mermaids, so he forcefully kicked the mermaid’s neck. However, the mermaid evaded skillfully, grabbing his ankle and throwing him two meters away!
“Thud!”
Ice rolled on the ground, the hard deck making his whole body ache.
The mermaid pursued Rong Yi persistently. She led it to the pool and made a sudden turn near the edge!
Caught off guard, the mermaid slipped and fell into the pool, unable to brake at such fast speeds!
“Splash!”
She plunged into the pool, but as she could climb out, Rong Yi blocked her at the edge, ready to kick her if she tried to climb up.
This thing may not hurt or kill, but kicking it was still effective.
She shouted to the others, who quickly understood her strategy and ran with the mermaids towards the pool.
These mermaids were indeed, as the captain had said, with beautiful shells and strong combat abilities but devoid of souls – practically brainless in battle.
Even though their companions were already in trouble, they didn’t learn from the past, careening uncontrollably and landing themselves into the pool.
The four stood by the pool, playing a game like Whac-A-Mole, knocking one down as soon as it surfaced. It had a rhythmic feel.
Luo Huayue kicked another mermaid into the pool and asked breathlessly, “Rong Yi, are we going to keep kicking all night?”
Rong Yi, with minor cuts and a fractured arm, already tired, her mind sluggish, was caught off guard and had her ankle grabbed by a mermaid!
Startled, Rong Yi instinctively activated [See Parents].
She had chatted with the captain for nearly 50 minutes today, leaving only 10 minutes!
But the mermaid seemed unaffected by her skill. Amid the octopus’s cry of “Rong Rong,” the mermaid flung her out, and as she landed, the mermaid came ashore. As soon as one reached the shore, the situation changed immediately. They had to divert attention to deal with the attacked mermaid ashore, making it challenging to control the others in the pool effectively!
Rong Yi flew in the air, her mind was blank for a moment – what to do? She couldn’t turn in the air like a cat, and as she watched her fractured left arm land, she was almost ready to pass out from the pain of her injuries – and suddenly a balloon of orange-red puffed up in front of her eyes.
Suddenly, a balloon of orange puffed up in front of her eyes…
It was Ai Yuesheng.
He let out a stoic, agonized sound, and forced himself from the size of a palm to the size of a lifeboat, hooked onto Yung Yi, and wrapped her in the octopus’s soft, cold embrace with his eight tentacles.
The sound of the landing was like accidentally squeezing through a bag of water: “Pfft.”
Even with such thorough protection, Rong Yi was still a bit blinded by the fall, and she felt the soft octopus padded underneath her body getting smaller and smaller, and thinner and thinner…….
She struggled to get up and realized that he had shrunk to the size of a palm again.
It was just soft and lifeless.
“Em?”
Over there, Raymond reacted quickly by flinging out two vines to hold the mermaid’s movement, trying to drag it into the pool again. But at the same time, the two mermaids in the pool were also struggling to climb upwards, Luo Yuanyue and ice were fighting the other one whether it was far away or not, and he was already stretched to the limit—
A weak male voice suddenly sounded behind him, “Get out of the way.”
Zhang Hai Yang leaned against the entrance of the engine room, still looking like he was dying of seasickness.
He opened his hand and there was a faint vapor in his hand, “My skills are cumulative after evolution. Before catching fish probably used up 10 …… but recuperated 5, now probably still have 95, quite sufficient.”
“Three, 30, that should be enough right …… ” Zhang Ocean took a deep breath:
“Start, [big water rushed the dragon king temple]!”
The water waves in the pool surged and violently tampered with a water column with a diameter of more than ten meters, charging straight into the sky!
The water column directly involved the two mermaids in the pool, and they struggled helplessly in the air, their howls drowned out by the sound of the water that shook the sky.
Zhang Hai Yang’s forehead was sweating profusely, as his trembling hands swung violently to the other side, the thick column of water rushed towards the mermaids on the shore like a giant dragon!
“Wow…”
The three mermaids were all wrapped up in the water, and were immediately thrown by the water column onto the hard deck, like a fishmonger would throw a fish unconscious before killing it.
Once, twice, three times.
The three mermaids seemed to have been knocked unconscious, swaying from side to side with the water column, like dead fish.
Zhang Hai Yang’s face was as white as paper, and he sat on the ground, supporting his trembling arm and waving it out to the side of the boat.
“Wow!” The water column wrapped around the three mermaids and was thrown to the surface of the sea more than ten meters away.
Zhang Hai Yang’s eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted.
It was the same as the three belly-flopping mermaids on the sea surface in the distance.
He was awakened by the smell of fish.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was lying on a sunny deck, surrounded by the familiar joyful clamor.
The crowd was gathered around his face with neat smiles:
“You’re awake?”
Zhang Hai Yang was startled awake by this scene, which seemed like a reappearance of an emoticon, and climbed to his feet with his head still a little dizzy.
“Here, eat.” Luo Yuanyue handed over a skewer of grilled fish with a tantalizing aroma.
Seeing Zhang Hai Yang’s puzzled face, she pointed to the simple picnic stove on the side: “Don’t worry, I didn’t use the ship’s utensils to bake it. At eleven o’clock last night, I saw no danger, so I pinched the time to use up my skills once, and turned into a barbecue. We will be able to eat cooked fish from now on!”
Although Zhang Hai Yang was tortured by the seasickness and almost wanted to fly up, but last night’s great consumption had given him a sense of hunger. As he held the fish and devoured it, he listened to the others praise him as the hero of last night.
He was so happy to be praised that he suddenly felt something was wrong.
“Huh?” He looked around and found Rong Yi sitting alone in the corner of the deck, fishing while staring blankly, “What’s wrong with Sister Rong?” Why didn’t she come to compliment me?
Everyone suddenly fell silent.
Rong Yi noticed the commotion and handed the fishing rod to the old man as she walked over, patting Zhang Haiyang on the shoulder. “Comrade Haiyang, not seeing you for a day is like being separated for three autumns. Your skills at controlling the field and group attacks are awesome! Thank you for saving my life.” She said this, but her tone was a bit low.
Zhang Haiyang couldn’t bask in his pride as he carefully observed her and finally realized something was amiss. “Rong Yi, where is your boyfriend?”
Ice hurriedly nudged him with her elbow.
Rong Yi didn’t mind much, just took out a small cloth bag from behind and carefully opened it. “Take a look at this—”
In the bag, a small orange-red creature lay limp with its tentacles hanging weakly.
Watching her trying to hide her anxious expression, Zhang Haiyang handled the baby octopus more gently. He didn’t tell Rong Yi, but biologically speaking, this little octopus was already dead.
But this was a game instance, NPCs could respawn, so her boyfriend should also respawn.
So he reassured her, “Just wait, he will wake up.”
“Really?” Rong Yi didn’t know how to see if an octopus was breathing, but since Zhang Haiyang said he would wake up, she perked up and smiled, “That’s great.”
“Oh, by the way.” Rong Yi pulled aside a tattered cloth in the shadows. “She died when exposed to sunlight. Will this affect the research?”
Under the cloth, the mermaid captured last night had a grayish complexion, showing signs of decay.
Zhang Haiyang picked up a sticky white mesh-like substance beside her. “What’s this?”
Rong Yi explained, “…So I guess this is her digestive organ, probably something like a stomach.”
Zhang Haiyang borrowed a sharp metal piece from the old man, dissected the mermaid, and performed an autopsy.
“Huh?” he exclaimed strangely. “I thought the mermaid’s structure would be more human-like.”
Rong Yi asked, “She doesn’t look human?”
“Rather than saying human…” Zhang Haiyang searched inside the mermaid’s body and became more certain, “It’s more like a… starfish.”
“A starfish?”
“Yes.” Zhang Haiyang used terms like “hollow arms,” “tube feet,” “internal skeleton is made of calcite plates,” “stomach can be inverted,” and concluded: “This is a starfish shaped like a mermaid.”
Luo Huayue suddenly realized, “No wonder when Rong Yi used her skill, she didn’t react at all. Starfish don’t have the concept of family, do they?”
“If it’s a starfish…” Zhang Haiyang suddenly looked fearful and uneasy, “I might know why all the mermaids look the same.”
“How is this related to starfish?” Raymond was puzzled. “Isn’t the game instance just duplicating the appearance data of that original mermaid?”
Zhang Haiyang looked blankly at him. “If that’s the case, it’s not too bad.”
“But starfish have a special skill: regenerating limbs.”
“Some species have strong vitality; not only can they regrow limbs, but even the severed limb can grow into a new starfish.”
“The regenerated starfish is genetically identical to the original starfish. It’s like—”
Rong Yi understood and murmured, “…cloning.”
Author’s message: The “mermaid” in this instance is a combination of a proboscis worm and a starfish. A starfish would evert its stomach to wrap around prey and secrete digestive enzymes. The proboscis worm would squirt out its white, sticky mesh-like proboscis when in danger. I combined the characteristics of these two animals into the “mermaid.”
