The Mermaid and Her Keeper (GL) - Chapter 13

The moonlight was bright at night. Zhao Shuqing judged from the reflective signs on the road that this was likely a remote provincial road. Around her, there was nothing but dense forest and rice fields, with no buildings or lights in sight across the vast fields.

Zhao Shuqing waited for a while, hoping someone might pass by, but after two hours, no vehicles appeared.

With no other choice, Zhao Shuqing decided to rest where she was and wait until morning to look for help.

At that moment, Lin Feng was drowsy, napping beside her. She rested her head on her own tail, lying on a rock, and was half-asleep. When she heard footsteps, she lifted her head, groggily gazing at Zhao Shuqing with a dazed expression.

Zhao Shuqing walked over and sat beside her, saying helplessly, “No cars. Looks like we’ll have to rest here another night.”

Lin Feng seemed to understand, lowering her head again and resting it on her tail. After a moment, she shifted closer to Zhao Shuqing.

When the mermaid leaned in, there was a faint smell of sea salt, and Lin Feng’s fish scales were cool to the touch. Being so close felt like having a natural ice block next to her, which was incredibly refreshing.

Zhao Shuqing couldn’t help but smile. She turned her head and looked at Lin Feng, who was lying beside her. She whispered, “You’ve suffered with me. Who would have thought that a national treasure like you would be out here in the wilderness with me, surviving on nothing.”

Lin Feng didn’t understand, but she knew Zhao Shuqing was talking to her. She murmured, “Zhao Shuqing… aquarium…”

Zhao Shuqing paused for a moment, then gently patted her head, saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll find the aquarium.”

As soon as daylight broke, Zhao Shuqing woke up.

After two days of rough travel and sleeping on the ground, her body was sore and aching. As someone used to working in an office or lab, this was a tough adjustment for her. She felt as if she had been flattened by some giant monster.

Stretching her stiff neck, Zhao Shuqing looked around and realized Lin Feng was gone.

Zhao Shuqing: “…”

She wasn’t really surprised anymore.

She sat there for a while, feeling a bit dazed, then looked down at her stomach.

She hadn’t eaten dinner the previous night, and after walking all day, her head was spinning from hunger. Her limbs felt like limp noodles, lacking any strength.

It seemed like she was about to experience a bl00d sugar crash—if she didn’t get some food soon, she might not last much longer.

Just as Zhao Shuqing was about to get up and search for Lin Feng, she heard rustling in the forest across the road. A large group of birds suddenly took flight, squawking and scattering. She could also hear a sharp, strangled cry, as if something had its throat caught.

Zhao Shuqing’s heart skipped a beat. Fearing that something had happened to Lin Feng, she hurriedly ran into the forest. After just two minutes of running, she started feeling lightheaded and had to brace herself against a tree, calling out anxiously, “Lin Feng!”

Soon, a figure emerged from the dense forest. Lin Feng walked out, bl00d covering her body. The morning mist made the bl00d on her face look even more chilling.

“…Lin Feng?” Zhao Shuqing stared at her in shock, noticing that she was holding… a pig?

The pig had black bristles, a large head, and a small rear, with distinctive stripes covering its body. It was clearly a wild boar, and it was very much dead.

Lin Feng wiped the bl00d off her face with the back of her hand, then casually tossed the pig at Zhao Shuqing, making a loud ‘duang’ sound as it hit the ground in front of her, shaking the ground and making Zhao Shuqing tremble.

Zhao Shuqing swallowed nervously. She crouched down to examine the boar and saw that it was beyond saving. There was a deep, sharp gash on its neck, exposing its pink muscle and white bones.

As expected from the ocean’s apex predator.

Capable of everything, even taking down a wild boar.

Zhao Shuqing sighed and stood up. She kicked the boar and said, “Let’s have roasted wild boar for breakfast.”

The wild boar was a challenge to clean, and after struggling for a while, Zhao Shuqing had no idea where to start. In the end, Lin Feng took over. Under Zhao Shuqing’s guidance, she removed the boar’s hind legs, cleaned them by the river, and began roasting them over a fire.

“It smells pretty good,” Zhao Shuqing said, sniffing the golden-brown roasted meat. It had no strong gamey smell, just a pleasant aroma.

Lin Feng sat on the other side, mimicking Zhao Shuqing’s actions, roasting another leg. Her clean and beautiful appearance had returned, and her eyes sparkled as she stared at the meat in her hands, clearly starving.

“Lin Feng, did you know, in the past, pigs had to be castrated, or else they’d have a very strong, unpleasant odor that made them impossible to eat?” Zhao Shuqing rotated her piece of meat, chatting casually. “A few hundred years ago, a virus spread across the Earth. It was harmless, even invisible, but it reduced the reproductive abilities of living beings, especially males. In fact, it basically rendered most male animals infertile.”

Lin Feng looked up at Zhao Shuqing.

Zhao Shuqing continued, “Because of that, human males gradually became less useful, especially those who couldn’t reproduce. The same thing happened to animals—male pigs, for instance, would naturally be eliminated by the environment, and the only use left for them was to be eaten.”

Zhao Shuqing wasn’t sure why she was telling Lin Feng all this, but she was curious. If this was the case for humans and animals, what about in the mermaid world? Could it be that male mermaids were also infertile?

Lin Feng didn’t seem to understand Zhao Shuqing’s words. She lowered her head again, staring at the roasted pig leg, her eyes dimming.

Zhao Shuqing sighed. “Forget it. You don’t understand anyway. Just consider it me talking to myself.”

She handed Lin Feng the piece of meat she had been roasting, then took the one she had been working on. They spent over an hour eating, finishing their breakfast, and then carefully wrapped up the remaining meat.

“Alright, time to choose a direction,” Zhao Shuqing said, standing in the middle of the road. “Left or right, you decide.”

Lin Feng blinked, looking at the two paths ahead, then pointed forward, signaling to keep going in that direction.

“Okay, we’ll go straight,” Zhao Shuqing said with a smile. She crouched down and said to Lin Feng, “Hop on. The road’s rough, and I don’t want you to hurt your tail again.”

Since she was well-fed after breakfast, carrying Lin Feng didn’t seem too difficult.

Lin Feng hesitated for a moment, then, as if resigning herself to it, climbed onto Zhao Shuqing’s back.

The two of them walked along the provincial road for the whole morning. After covering what must have been several kilometers, they finally spotted a building in the distance.

By the time they reached the building, Zhao Shuqing was exhausted and drenched in sweat, but she could clearly make out what it was: an old, rundown convenience store.