CH 7

TL: Hua

Before Ji Mingjiang could react to the last rare tenderness of the system, an iron box pulled by a rope above his head, which he had never seen before, slowly fell in front of him.

He circled around the box.

The lower part of the box is silver-gray, and the upper part is transparent glass. If you look through the glass, you can see that the inside of the box is basically equipped with anti-collision materials, as if some fragile creature capture box was temporarily used on him.

Ji Mingjiang wasn’t in a hurry to drill in. He followed the rope upstream to the bottom of the ship.

A mermaid’s head popped out of the originally calm water.

Silver-white hair was spread on the water’s surface, and the mermaid’s clear black pupils looked vigilantly at the people in white coats on board, his ear fins fluttering slightly.

“It’s really a mermaid!”

“This mermaid looks different from the little guys in the center. Is he a wild mermaid?”

“I don’t know; let’s find a way to bring him back first. I don’t know how he got here by himself. It’s too dangerous…”

“Is he afraid of us? Should we stay away from him?”

Ji Mingjiang automatically filtered out the chattering voices, which he couldn’t understand anyway. He looked up and down at the huge ship in front of him and was a little surprised.

It’s unknown whether it’s because the level of technological development in the interstellar world is too high or for other reasons, but it’s more appropriate to say that the big guy in front of him wasn’t so much a giant ship as an aircraft carrier.

The huge and spacious deck is estimated to accommodate several aircraft.

“Hey! Can the little guy hear us?” Wu Yuan and the others discussed it for a long time, only to find that the mermaid was still in place, watching them quietly.

This calm gesture made Wu Yuan reflect on his blatant behavior just now, and he was a little surprised.

If it was the mermaids in their center, after seeing so many strangers and this giant made of steel, they would probably have started to look for their own keepers with tears in their eyes, and if they couldn’t find them, they would start to go into shock-like stress. How can he be this calm?

Seeing that the mermaid in front of him didn’t leave after hearing his call but raised his head slightly and beckoned at him, Wu Yuan was stunned for a moment.

Mermaids, by definition, don’t understand human language; after a long time of nurturing care, most mermaids can only interpret the behavior of those close to them and then give a response.

This mermaid is really different…

Thinking of this, Wu Yuan prevented his companions from going directly into the water to carry the mermaid onto the ship.

He reached out and tugged at the rope connected to the capture box, pointed to the sea, and tentatively said to the mermaid, “Can you go in? We won’t hurt you; we just want to take you to a safer place.”

After repeating it several times, someone beside him said impatiently: “Okay, Wu Yuan, what are you smoking again? You even started talking to this mermaid you just met. Bring him up quickly, lest we all be held responsible for any accidents later.”

Before his voice faded away, Shawn heard Wu Yuan exclaim suddenly.

His heart tightened, thinking that the mermaid had run away during this time. He was just about to scold Wu Yuan when he saw that the mermaid pointed to the water, as if he understood Wu Yuan’s words. Then he jumped up suddenly, head and tail switched directions in the air, and then swam towards the capture box.

When the mermaid leaped out of the water, he brought along a string of water where sunlight shone through it on the fish’s tail, radiant and dazzling.

“Shawn, what did you just say?” After recovering from this shocking scene, Wu Yuan, who was so focused on the mermaid just now, asked suspiciously.

“…I didn’t say anything.” Shawn said aggrievedly.

Also standing on the deck, Carrie, who had a panoramic view of the one-sided conflict between the two just now, chuckled and took the initiative to change the subject. “This mermaid looks healthy, so maybe he’ll meet a suitable match soon.”

“Indeed, have you noticed his body shape when he jumped up just now? He feels stronger than most mermaids.”

“And the appearance is also very superior! I really like his smooth white hair!”

“Say, what do you guys think the odds are …… of His Majesty becoming his match?”

“…”

The deck suddenly fell silent.

The topic that just started ended hastily with the appearance of this sentence.

The conversations of the people above reached Ji Mingjiang’s ears along the water’s waves. As he dove, he set aside his attention to catch those strange notes.

After realizing that these people had no ill intentions towards him, Ji Mingjiang decided to integrate into human society through them.

Since he chose to return to human society rather than go to other sea areas to continue his marine life, learning the common language of the current society has become the first priority, and the rest can be ranked back.

The capture box was not far from the water’s surface. After diving a few hundred meters, Ji Mingjiang saw the silver-gray iron box.

As soon as his fingers touched the top cover of the box, he didn’t know whether it was someone operating it or the design of the box itself. The glass top quickly disappeared before his eyes, and the sea water soon filled the entire space.

“?”

Ji Mingjiang reached out his hand in confusion and touched the four walls of the box. It was very thin, and it didn’t look like a glass plate that could hold anything.

Not to mention that the glass plate disappeared suddenly, not sliding around.

So this material is not glass?

“As expected of the interstellar society, such a high-tech thing can be used as a capture box.” Muttering in surprise, Ji Mingjiang stuffed himself into the box.

The reason he uses the word stuffed is because the box is a bit too narrow for him. After curling himself into a ball, the seawater in the box is almost squeezed out.

A few days ago, he was still wantonly slapping the shark on the bottom of the sea. How can he bear this anger? His tail fin, which can only move freely in the corner, is itching to whip the box in spite of his brain telling him to stop. If it wasn’t for the limited space and the small range of activities, he would have smashed the box.

Ji Mingjiang quickly stretched out his hand to hold down his ready-to-move tail. The top of the box closed again at some point, but it didn’t give him the feeling of being airtight.

He patted the wall of the box, indicating that the people on the ship could pull him up.

“There’s movement! There’s movement! Let’s see if he really went in.” Feeling the vibration of the rope in his hand, Wu Yuan hurriedly chimed.

Seeing that there was no mermaid in the clear water and that there was weight in the box below, Wu Yuan activated the machinery, and the heavy silver box was slowly pulled up to the deck.

“Phew—” Wu Yuan pulled the box to the middle and heaved a sigh of relief. Why did he feel that the box was so heavy this time?

“Sister Carrie, have you notified the nursing center? Remember to ask them to bring a translator.”

Despite the language barrier, mermaids are very important creatures to them. The Empire Research Institute has collaborated with the nursing center to launch a mermaid-specific translation tool, which is still in the trial promotion stage.

Other creatures don’t have this kind of trouble. After all, the empire already had a universal tool for translating animal languages.

Although affected by the characteristics of the mermaid’s voice, most of the words cannot be translated, but some basic words such as “don’t be afraid”, “I’ll help you”, and “eat” are still fine. This tool is of great help when taking care of the mermaid’s daily life.

“Notified at the first sign of discovery, the director is on his way.”

Carrie glanced at the latest news sent by the director: “They’re almost here.”

She squatted down to look at the mermaid in the box and said softly, “I’ll take you to a safe place soon; don’t be afraid. Bear with it for a while.”

The mermaid looked at her and blinked. Carrie could see that his muscles seemed to relax a bit, and he showed curiosity about the surrounding environment.

“No stress; that’s great. He’s a very strong mermaid.” Carrie breathed a sigh of relief and turned to her colleagues with a smile.

*

Ji Mingjiang’s tail fin had gradually calmed down, so he withdrew his hand, adjusted a state that made him as comfortable as possible, and observed the outside world through the transparent, unknown material.

A woman in a white coat walked by the box and said something to him. Ji Mingjiang couldn’t understand, but he didn’t feel any negative emotions and let her go.

When he looked around, Ji Mingjiang realized that he was actually still offshore, probably just a few nautical miles from shore, and he could even clearly see the buildings on land.

It feels no different from the era he was in, high-rise buildings with reinforced concrete…

Wait a minute! What the hell is flying in his direction?

Pupil Earthquake.jpg

Ji Mingjiang’s eyes were fixed on the thing floating in mid-air.

Is this a hovercar or a starship? Ji Mingjiang recalled the interstellar setting of the novels he had read before and found two terms in his mind that could barely match this thing in front of him.

The strange aircraft was getting closer and closer to them, and then it landed on the spacious deck under Ji Mingjiang’s watchful eyes.

The door was pushed open from the inside, and a little old man with a somewhat short and fat figure jumped right out, followed by several guards who were tall but unable to catch up with him.

“Where is the mermaid?” The wind on the sea was a bit strong. Oddo wrapped his white coat tightly and came to Ji Mingjiang in a hurry.

After carefully looking at Ji Mingjiang, who was quietly staying in the box, he heaved a sigh of relief.

“The hair, tail, and skin are in good condition, and there are no obvious injuries on the body. He looks like a healthy child so far. Let’s open the top of the box first.”

After feeling the obstruction above his head disappear, Ji Mingjiang saw this little old man cautiously approaching him and taking out something like an earbud for him to put on.

After he stretched his ears cooperatively, the little old man’s eyes obviously lit up.

While debugging the machine, Oddo didn’t forget to look at the group of people standing on the deck with scrutiny, and the always gentle man asked seriously, “You didn’t intimidate him, did you?”

Don’t blame him for thinking too much. He has lived for so long and has personally taken care of more than a dozen mermaids. He has never seen such an obedient and humane mermaid. It’s hard not to wonder if this mermaid suppressed his nature after being intimidated.

Wu Yuan and the others immediately shook their heads like rattles. If they dare do anything to the mermaid, they don’t even have to wait for the prosecution; the fans and potential matches of the mermaids will tear them apart.

“Everyone will submit a report when we get back.” With a glance back, Oddo put the debugged translator on his ear.

After patiently waiting for the sizzle in his ears to disappear, Ji Mingjiang finally heard the first human words in sixteen days.

The few simple questions and answers soon ended. Oddo mostly made Ji Mingjiang nod and shake his head. After all, the mermaid race isn’t very fond of talking.

He finally asked: “Would you like to live in another place with us? There will be many of your kind there, and they all have good life.”

Hearing this, Ji Mingjiang’s eyes lit up. If there are other mermaids, can he continue to practice his skills? Living a good life means that there are many sparring partners, right?

Such a good thing!

Ji Mingjiang nodded quickly. When he saw Oddo about to take off the earbuds, he remembered the stuffy feeling just now and asked tentatively, “Can you not close the lid anymore? It’s stuffy.”

He also wanted to know what the mermaid’s status here was. Although he didn’t perceive any negative emotions, most people in his previous life also didn’t have any negative emotions towards pets like cats and dogs.

A request that might put them in danger but was also manageable was perfect for testing out the mermaid’s position in society.

After waiting for a few seconds, Ji Mingjiang wondered if the earbuds were broken. When he looked up, he only saw Oddo’s expression, which was so shocked that he lost his voice.