Sweet Hunting Ground [GB] - Chapter 6.2

The end of this road led to the data entry station at Blue Ocean University.

Although the school term hadn’t started yet, students could begin entering their personal information into the system. Once they arrived, the concentration of mermen in the area increased dramatically. After stepping off the transport, Ani finally saw real female mermen for the first time.

They were about the same height as Lin, around 180 centimeters, and looked very similar to Ani’s current transformed appearance, most had light-colored eyes and long, curly hair.

While Ani was observing them closely, a few young mermen who had just finished registering suddenly turned to look her way. Their gazes met, and their expressions twisted into a mix of curiosity and haughty disdain, as if they were staring at something filthy.

That kind of arrogant, cutting attitude was all too familiar. Ani could guess that this species wasn’t particularly fond of humans. But she had been admitted under a human identity—and that was the only official identity she had in the interstellar network.

Ani stepped forward to register her information, linking her account to the school’s terminal.

As she walked past the young mermen, she caught snippets of intentionally vague insults in the common language, mixed into their rapid merman-speak—phrases like “a species born lowly” and “disgusting creature” stood out clearly.

Ani didn’t react. After all, she wasn’t human.

She focused on entering her information, filling out the required fields in the pop-up forms. But this complete lack of reaction or offense seemed to irritate the young mermen even more.

Here, humans were the rare species. Ani’s presence attracted other passing mermen, who stopped to watch silently, eavesdropping, their gazes full of subtle malice, as if quietly supporting this scene of racial bullying. The stares grew in number, and the murmured insults became more brazen and harsh.

Ani just found the noise annoying. She was racking her brain over a form, it needed to be filled out in merman language, which she hadn’t mastered yet.

She reached into her student bag to find her notes. But to Lin, who had been silently watching from the side, this motion made his eyelid twitch instinctively. He stepped forward and pressed down on her hand.

“Don’t pull out a gun.”

Ani looked up at him, puzzled.

Lin said to her, “If you commit murder here, you won’t even have a complete corpse left.” He paused, remembering the moment Ani had been pierced by a photon beam yet recovered rapidly. “The security here is tight, it’s not like District Three. You…”

“Teacher, are you afraid I’ll hurt them?” Ani said.

Lin froze.

She raised her hand and pointed to the young merfolk nearby. They were clearly students too, all still quite young.

Ani looked at him and said, “You’re afraid I’ll kill them. Just like how you suddenly agreed to cooperate with me. Lin, your fear of your kin being trapped and slaughtered outweighs your fear of death. You don’t care about your own life at all—so much so that it borders on self-loathing. But when it comes to others, oh, I mean other fish, you feel such pity and sympathy that you’d rather sacrifice yourself. What made you so twisted? Is it just because you’re a teacher?”

His deep blue pupils flickered with an emotion he tried to hide, but even that attempt was laid bare.

Lin couldn’t grasp Ani’s thoughts and dared not let go of her hand. “…I’ll make them leave.”

“Make them leave?” Ani still didn’t quite understand what he meant. She was very smart, but sometimes she felt there was a communication barrier when talking to males. She pressed further, “You think they were harassing me? Then,now that I’ve heard all their so-called harassment, just when I was about to strike back, you suddenly grab me and say, ‘Let’s reconcile. I’ll help you drive them away.’”

Ani smiled. “A reconciliation means both sides step back, teacher.”

Lin was at a total loss. “I apologize on their behalf. Don’t be angry, Ani.”

“That’s the first time you’ve called me by name,” Ani said. “Now I know how to threaten you. That’s not good news for you, is it? Also, if you’re going to apologize, show some sincerity. You should bow your head.”

This was a troublesome creature—she was by no means some human girl who could be easily bullied.

Lin exhaled lightly and bowed his head. His deep blue hair, like seawater, slid down with the motion, reflecting glimmers under the sunlight—

Ani reached out and let her hand pass through his hair.

In the next moment, as the strands brushed her palm, Ani suddenly grabbed him by the neck, yanking the blue-haired merfolk close, and lifted her head to seal his lips.

The surroundings fell silent in an instant.

All the noise, chatter, and gossip were punched back into the bellies of those around the moment she kissed a noble-blooded blue-haired merman. Lin’s eyes widened in shock, but the next second, he realized exactly what kind of “sincerity” Ani was demanding.

What she wanted was “cooperative sincerity”.

She wanted an excellent research specimen,one she could use to unlock the reproduction lock, contaminate the merfolk bloodline, and trample over this proud, endogamous race.

Lin instinctively began to struggle.

Ani seemed to be waiting for his resistance. Her other hand quickly seized his wrist. As their lips pressed together and she pried open his teeth, Ani, who had now truly seen a female merfolk with her own eyes, revealed something new: a forked tongue unlike any human’s, slipping into his mouth.

This was a form of foreplay unique to merfolk. The forked tongue was slightly longer, slipping deep into his oral cavity, as if trying to swim right down his throat. The intense sense of invasion made Lin recoil in disgust. He couldn’t breathe; his crystal-clear blue eyes were fogged with tears. In the end—he nearly bit her.

Just before Lin could hit his breaking point, Ani let go. Her tongue returned to its normal shape.

She turned around and continued inputting data, casually tossing a question over her shoulder about the merfolk language.

Lin responded hoarsely and quickly. Then, he turned away and covered his mouth. Even though Ani didn’t look at him, she knew his expression must be something else. Barely thirty seconds had passed before he couldn’t hold it in anymore, he crouched down and started dry heaving.

A psychological nausea and retching sensation took over his body.

He couldn’t throw up anything, but he was dry heaving so hard that he couldn’t even stand. At the same time, the murmurs floating in the air shifted into things like: “How could a noble behave so shamelessly,” “Kissing a human? By the sea god…,” and “Slut.”

Clearly, in the minds of these young merfolk, there was no way such an ordinary and frail human girl could have forced a merman. He must have done it willingly.

After Ani finished inputting her information, the screen finally lit up with the words: “Welcome, Miss Ani.”

She walked back. The whispers by her ear had already turned into insults directed at Lin. The scene they’d just witnessed had shattered their entire worldview, but perhaps out of fear of Lin’s status, no one had dared to confront him directly.

Ani pulled a bottle of water from her bag, took a sip, then stood lazily behind him and said, “I caught a few of the insults. How do they know you’re a noble? Don’t tell me it’s your hair, could that be the symbol of the Blue Star Dragon family?”

Lin didn’t answer. His voice was hoarse as he asked, “When did you find out…”

“My tongue?” Ani guessed what he meant. “They were laughing so wildly while insulting me. I noticed it then. So it turns out I wasn’t imitating it correctly before. No wonder you had no reaction last time.”

“Don’t say it.”

Ani glanced out toward the beautiful sea in the distance. She handed him the bottle of water and, recalling what she’d just seen in the admission instructions, asked, “By the way, what’s the F Department they showed just now? Were my entrance scores that bad?”

The F Department was the lowest-ranking department in Blue Ocean University.

“In District Three, you’re a once-in-a-lifetime genius,” Lin said after drinking some water, though his voice remained a little raspy. “But here, you’re barely qualified to be their classmate, hanging on at the bottom. Whether in technique, academics, combat, or physical ability, your entry scores were all…”

She had already drunk from that bottle, but as long as no one reminded Lin of it, he wouldn’t throw up again from psychological revulsion. Ani curled her lips slightly, finding it all rather amusing.

Just then, a mechanical voice rang out beside them.

“Detection complete—beep—missing person identified.” A flying camera drone hovered next to Lin. “Retrieving identity—verifying—verification complete.”

“Instructor ID 2513, StarNet account XXX… Esteemed Mr. Lin, the good news of your presence in District Eight will be relayed to the individuals authorized to track your movements, and the update of your timely arrival will also be synced to the principal’s inbox…”