Transmigrated to the Interstellar Era to Raise Mermaids GL - Chapter 1
It was almost dusk. He Jia walked barefoot from the resort hotel to the outdoor barbecue area on the beach. She first placed her tortoise on a large rock with a puddle beside her to bask its back, then took out the skewered vegetables and meat she had prepared beforehand from the insulated box and started to busy herself at the grill.
In front of He Jia, the vast coastline and the distant horizon met a brilliant blue. Clear, transparent waves gently lapped at the snow-white, fine sand. In the distance, one could vaguely see towering trees forming a dense forest on a remote island, creating a picturesque, serene, and refreshing view.
This planet, named Hithrael, has an ocean coverage of up to ninety-five percent. Its wide, boundless waters are home to diverse species of gentle and harmless aquatic life. Combined with a comprehensive security defense and weather control system, it was no wonder that this ultra-small planet, located at the edge of the Mus Galaxy, had become the most popular resort destination in the entire universe.
However, last month, due to the sudden detection of declining marine water quality, the Mus Galaxy Administration urgently evacuated all tourists and staff on the planet, enforcing a one-year lockdown and rest period for Hithrael.
The once bustling and crowded beach was now left with only He Jia, the lone administrator, who had the entire luxurious and magnificent resort area behind her all to herself.
The hotel area was equipped with butler-type smart robots. They faithfully followed their preset instructions, diligently cleaning the spacious hotel and beach to a spotless state every day. The kitchen cabinets were also piled high with countless abundant ingredients, enough to keep He Jia well-fed and clothed.
Although the robots could also cook for her, He Jia still preferred to make her own meals.
Firstly, she had plenty of spare time. Secondly, the food prepared by the robots was monotonous, while the taste of her own cooking was different every time, which seemed to add a little flavor variety to her unchanging life.
In recent days, He Jia had become obsessed with outdoor barbecuing. Enjoying skewers while facing such beautiful scenery, then taking her little tortoise for a leisurely sunset stroll after eating her fill—it was simply a life of divine enjoyment!
He Jia stood by the grill, humming a song while constantly flipping the skewers in her hands. As the clearly textured pork belly slowly grilled out its fat, the tempting aroma, enveloped in cumin and pepper, gradually spread, drifting into the distance with the breeze.
She placed the grilled skewers onto a plate. Turning her head, she saw the little tortoise, who was usually lazily basking in the sun in the puddle, struggling to paddle its short limbs and had already crawled to the edge of the large rock.
“Oh dear, be careful not to fall down!”
He Jia quickly ran over and placed it on the palm of one hand, gently stroking its dark green shell. However, the little fellow was still restless, scrambling and struggling incessantly in her hand, trying to crawl towards the ocean.
“Little Jade, do you feel too hot?”
He Jia felt a bit strange. She had checked the weather system in the control room before going out, and the current sunlight and temperature were the most suitable for a tortoise to be active outdoors!
She tested the temperature of the puddle with her finger, put Little Jade back into the water, and then moved a beach umbrella next to the rock to shield it from the sun.
The density of new-era materials was far greater than in the twenty-first century. Merely moving a sun umbrella that looked like it was made of plastic a short distance left He Jia with fine beads of sweat on her forehead.
Yet, Little Jade showed no appreciation for her hard work. It relentlessly crawled out of the puddle again, slowly and firmly raising its head, staring at He Jia with its two tiny bead-like eyes.
“Be good, wait for me to finish eating, and then I’ll take you for a walk, okay?” He Jia negotiated with it gently.
Seeing the little tortoise immediately stick out its claws and try to crawl outward, He Jia resignedly picked it up and walked towards the beach.
She bent down and placed Little Jade on the moist, shallow beach about a meter away from the waves. Directly in front of them was a small cluster of rocks slightly taller than a person, which could block the incoming waves.
He Jia did not want to get too close to the sea surface without protection.
She had originally been a university student in the 21st century. A few days ago, she had gone to the seaside with her classmates to celebrate graduation. While wading in the sea on the beach, she was knocked unconscious by a sudden giant wave. When she opened her eyes again, she had arrived in the Interstellar Era, thousands of years later.
As an “ancient” human with no identity or property, He Jia didn’t have time to understand how many world-shattering changes had occurred; her most urgent problem was finding food.
He Jia’s major was Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, but in this era of close interaction with aliens, Earth people had long abolished national borders. Most humans had even forgotten their ancient mother tongues, and everyone spoke a new language called “Interstellar Common Language.”
Her professional skills were useless, and her physical fitness was so poor that she couldn’t even compare to current children. He Jia lined up at the job agency for three days but couldn’t find any work. It was thanks to the aid of a kind old lady at the agency who spoke a little Chinese that she avoided the tragic fate of rummaging through garbage cans for food.
When the old lady introduced her to this administrator job, even though it required her to live alone on this strange planet with even the network shut down for a year, He Jia agreed without a second thought.
She arrived at this beach with the translator provided by the Interstellar Administration, accompanied by a pet tortoise that had been abandoned at the hotel, and has now spent almost a month living in isolation.
The tides on Planet Hithrael were simulated by the weather system, so there would be no sudden strong winds or huge waves, but He Jia was still extra careful.
She didn’t want to pass out in the ocean again. If she were sucked into a time-space tunnel and traveled another few thousand years, there might not even be a language option she could understand in the translator.
At this moment, the sea surface was as calm as a large blue prism. He Jia observed the gentle waves through the cluster of rocks for a while, then lowered her head and said to the little tortoise crawling around her feet and having a blast, “Alright, I’ll have dinner here today, so you can play to your heart’s content.”
She walked back to the grill to find the waterproof picnic mat, picked up a warm, fragrant skewer of meat, and was about to taste it when she noticed in her peripheral vision that Little Jade was not digging in the sand but was desperately making its way toward the rocks.
She didn’t know how a tortoise could move so fast, but it was about to crawl to the other side of the rocks!
Once it crawled past the cluster of rocks, the surging waves could easily sweep this palm-sized tortoise into the vast ocean, and it might never return!
“Little Jade, stop now!”
He Jia didn’t even have time to put down the skewer in her hand and hurriedly sprinted towards it. However, the little tortoise crawled faster in response to her anxious shouting, moving its heavy shell with maximum potential effort.
It had to bring this human to the other side of the rocks!
The instant she was about to catch up, Little Jade exerted all its strength to rush to the back of the rocks. He Jia followed its sharp turn and stepped into the waves, immediately splashing water forward.
Through the glistening splash, a figure about half a person’s height flashed before He Jia’s eyes, and the jet of water suddenly changed direction, crashing heavily against the rocks to her left.
“Ah!…” He Jia covered her mouth, unable to hold back a gasp.
On the back side of the rocks, only about three meters away from her, someone was sitting!
The person was leaning against a smooth, flat stone wall. A head of long, silky, thick golden hair, like a waterfall, hung down in front, obscuring their shiny, wet body. The taut, delicate waist down was submerged in the water, and the silver-white scales and fan-shaped fish tail shimmered with the movement of the waves…
He Jia sucked in a breath of cold air, covering her mouth even harder.
Oh my god, this was a mermaid! No wonder she wasn’t wearing anything!
“Calm down, calm down! This is an alien planet. Seeing an alien… mermaid is completely normal! I can’t shout and scare her!”
He Jia built up her mental strength while lifting her eyes, quickly skipping over the graceful curves faintly visible beneath the golden hair, and looking upwards.
Judging solely by her face, this was an extremely beautiful young woman.
The mermaid was kneeling with a dignified posture on her tail, her arms, long and slender like scallions, crossed in front of her. She was also scrutinizing He Jia with slightly furrowed, pale golden eyebrows.
Their eyes met. Those spirit-like, clear blue eyes seemed to possess a soul-capturing magic that instantly left He Jia’s mind blank.
Little Jade was exhausted and limp. It lay spread-eagled on the water between the two of them, and during their silent staring contest, it rolled its eyes in dissatisfaction.
It had taken its life force to make He Jia find this mermaid hiding behind the rocks!
So why wasn’t this human, who was so lonely that she talked to it all day, saying anything now?
Before its nail-sized brain could figure it out, its entire body suddenly flipped into the air and was swept away by a slightly stronger wave.
“Little Jade!” He Jia immediately snapped back to reality and saw the mermaid’s tail, hidden under the water, give a slight forward flick, instantly changing the direction of the wave and pushing the little tortoise back toward the shore.
He Jia quickly bent down and scooped it into her palm: “You really scared me just now! Don’t run around recklessly again!”
Little Jade lay limply, unwilling to move. Startled, it felt physically and mentally exhausted and just wanted to retreat into its shell and rest properly.
He Jia turned her head and said gratefully to the mermaid, “Thank you!”
The mermaid tightly pressed her beautiful, thin lips together and did not reply.
Her clear, sapphire blue eyes naturally carried a coolness and distance, and she was still scrutinizing He Jia with a wary expression.
As expected, communication in Earth languages is impossible! It’s a pity I didn’t expect to meet someone on the beach and left my translator in the hotel.
He Jia smiled, half regretful and half embarrassed, unsure where to put her hands and feet under the mermaid’s defensive gaze.
She tried to reach up and smooth the wet hair on her forehead, only to realize that one hand was cradling Little Jade, and the other was still holding a meat skewer sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Feeling the mermaid’s gaze pause on the skewer, He Jia quickly walked forward a few steps and offered the fragrant skewer to the mermaid, saying, “Thank you for saving my little tortoise…”
She switched to the Interstellar Common Language, which she had been self-studying for a short time, and stammered, “This… is for you to eat!”
The mermaid looked at He Jia, who was eagerly holding out the skewer, and her eyebrows knitted together tighter and tighter.
Suddenly, her fish tail moved, like a fluttering silver ribbon, and she vanished into the vast ocean along with the receding tide.
“Huh…”
He Jia rubbed her eyes forcefully, staring at the sea surface that had instantly returned to peace, feeling as if the scene just now had been a dream.
“Little Jade, did we really see a mermaid just now?”
She lifted the tortoise in her hands, watching it poke its small head out of its shell to affirm her question, then asked, “Why did she suddenly run away? Did I scare her? Oh, how silly of me, I always do something foolish when I get excited. Who feeds a fish barbecue anyway?”
Little Jade tilted its head in confusion, staring blankly at He Jia.
The sound waves the mermaid emitted clearly indicated she wanted to eat the skewer, and He Jia had even actively offered it to her, so why did she run away?