Sweet Hunting Ground [GB] - Chapter 2.2

Lin gave no response. Thirty seconds later, he let out a hoarse chuckle.

“I can’t get any useful information from you,” Ani said as she wiped her soaked notebook dry. “You refuse to cooperate. I’ll have to find a new subject at Blue Ocean University.”

Lin sneered, wanting to fire back with a sharp retort. But then, a fragmented memory flashed before his eyes—the shattered trophy, the words “Top Student” engraved on its base. He hesitated. “You got accepted…?”

“Yeah.” Ani stared at the water-blurred ink on her notebook, then pulled out a new pen to continue her notes.

Blue Ocean University only offered fifty or sixty spots for humans.

“A slum rat like you? No way…” The words left Lin’s mouth before he could stop them. His throat ached as he spoke, and, embarrassingly, a merfolk choking on water had to turn away and cough violently.

“That place is full of merfolk. I should say, it’s entirely filled with merfolk, right?” Ani said. “I can’t take you with me. So I have to kill you.”

Images flooded Lin’s mind of young merfolks, captured, subjected to experiments, suffering at the hands of this creature. He covered his face with his hands, feeling anguished just by thinking of those images.

Ani finished her notes, strapped her StarNet watch back on, and browsed the anonymous black-market listings for the latest prices on merfolk body parts. As she scrolled, Lin’s voice drifted over.

“…You’re not lying to me, are you?”

Ani tilted her head and looked at him innocently, as if to say, “Take a guess.”

Lin clenched his teeth. “With the Breeding Lock in place, it doesn’t matter how many merfolk you capture, you’ll never get what you want.” He had no idea if this creature wanted anything else besides reproduction, but he forced himself to keep talking. “Humans don’t have this mechanism. You can look it up. The younger a merfolk is, the harder it is to unlock… I can cooperate with you.”

Saying those words left a bitter taste in his mouth. He shut up immediately and refused to look at her.

Ani studied him for a moment. She knew nothing about merfolks. Lin was her only sample. Tapping her fingers against the screen, she seemed to reconsider her approach.

She peered through the glass at the blue-haired merfolk. “Alright. I can implant a microchip in your brain, one that explodes if you say anything you shouldn’t.” She snapped her fingers, her pink eyes twinkling with amusement. “Boom. Instant sushi.”

“…”

“But can you even get into Blue Ocean University?” Ani asked. “I heard they have requirements for merfolk too…”

Lin stared at her for a moment. Then, in a voice filled with resigned exhaustion, he muttered, “I’m a professor there.”

Ani blinked. She forgot to feign emotion, her voice coming out flat but clear: “Wow. Oh.”

“…What’s so hard to believe?!” His growled irritatedly. “If I hadn’t been invited to teach half a month ago, I wouldn’t have run into a freak like you! You think people just randomly wander into District Three and fall out of the sky—”

Ani pressed a finger to her lips. “Shhh. If my old man finds out, he’ll chop you into pieces and sell your every last hair.”

Lin swallowed his anger and fell silent.

—

On the third day after the chip was implanted in his head, Ani packed her things and left without a word, dragging Lin along with her.

“Passengers, please refrain from murder, robbery, and organ trafficking on this train—”

“Passengers, do not carry goods that violate interstellar law—”

“Your fare has been automatically deducted. Wishing you a pleasant journey.”

She had boarded the airship bound for District Eight ahead of time, spending the last of her savings on the expensive tickets. As she scrolled through her StarNet ID balance, she calculated exactly how much more she needed to afford tuition.

Suddenly, the blue-haired head resting against her shoulder shifted slightly.

Lin’s eyes cracked open, his voice barely audible. “You broke?”

“Mhm.” Ani nodded, adjusting his scarf.

Lin had been weak ever since the starship accident. He only had strength in the water, where he could somewhat cooperate with her research. His injuries had never fully healed—if anything, he kept accumulating new ones. Now, forced to maintain his land form just to follow her, every day was sheer exhaustion for him.

He didn’t know how much longer he would live, but for now, he was still alive. He would still feel weak sometimes So whenever he had a chance to rest, he shut his eyes and leaned against the little monster beside him.

These low-cost airships rarely checked identification. Ani had used her own StarNet account to buy two tickets. Lin’s appearance was far too conspicuous. Humans were worthless, but merfolk were highly valuable. She pulled out a scarf and hat to cover him, making sure his long blue hair concealed his true identity.

Lin exhaled softly, his cold breath brushing against Ani’s cheek. “I have money.”

Ani rummaged through her bag and pulled out everything she had confiscated from him, including his StarNet watch, some kind of certification, various cards, and a stack of merfolk-language documents she couldn’t read.

Lin tapped a thin card with his finger.

Ani stared at his slender fingers and sharp nails, making a mental note to cut them and buy him gloves. She refocused and retrieved the card, pressing it against her StarNet watch. “Huh… Iris verification. If I scan it, it won’t trigger an alert, will it? Like, won’t your family find out you were kidnapped and then come after me—”

“Would you kill me if it did alert the police?”

“Of course.” Her fingers brushed against his hairline, feeling for the small scar hidden behind his hair where the micro-explosive had been implanted.

Lin let out a low chuckle and leaned forward for the scan.

The funds transferred instantly into Ani’s account.

He closed his eyes again, his forehead resting against her white hair. Weak and full of disdain, he muttered, “Next time, buy better tickets. I hate the air in here.”

“Grade Two oxygen. Most people on Blue Ocean Star use it.”

Ani’s indifference didn’t deter him. The dark blue mass on her shoulder shifted slightly. He seemed to waste what little strength he had left just to express his dissatisfaction, and suddenly sank his teeth into her neck.

Ani inhaled sharply, hissing in pain. It had been half a month, and she and Lin’s relationship was only getting worse and worse. As she dwelled upon whether a human was supposed to get mad at this, something unusual entered her line of sight.

Through the airship’s window, another vessel loomed into view.

Amidst the gray sprawl of the lower city, a battered airship was veering off-course. Flames and smoke trailed behind it, sparks crackling as it hurtled forward, rolling wildly like an uncontrollable sea dragon, plunging straight toward them.