Transmigrated to the Interstellar Era to Raise Mermaids GL - Chapter 2
The mermaid lightly swayed her tail, swimming towards the ocean depths like a nimble feathered arrow.
Her eyes possessed night vision, allowing her to agilely navigate the pitch black deep sea, skillfully avoiding large patches of seaweed and coral reefs. Schools of fish swimming ahead received the sound waves she emitted and actively separated to the left and right, respectfully clearing a path for her to pass through.
The mermaid quickly returned to her dwelling, a giant clamshell standing upright on the seabed.
The bottom of the shell was covered with a soft, thick mattress, where she had awakened a few days ago.
When she first woke up, her physical strength was weak, and she would feel tired if she swam even a short distance away.
Gradually, the mermaid noticed that her time awake began to lengthen. These past two days, she could even swim to the edge of the ocean, and it was on that beach that she discovered a peculiar creature.
This land creature was covered in a shell that offered no resistance, and its movements and form were completely different from the creatures in the ocean. Its soft, marshmallow-like aura made her feel both strange and familiar.
Meeting the creature face-to-face today, the shock flashing in its eyes made her feel even more familiar.
It was as if she had seen similar expressions on many faces before…
Who was she? And who was the creature on the beach?
The mermaid lay half-reclined on the mattress, supporting her forehead with her hand, concentrating her spirit to try and awaken her still-slumbering memory.
The giant clamshell sensed her growing fatigue and immediately closed its lid to isolate all external disturbances, emitting a faint, sleep-inducing aroma from within its body.
It only regretted that it hadn’t grown any limbs to comb the hair of the mermaid, who quickly fell asleep, or to cover her with a warm blanket.
Upon waking up from her sleep, the mermaid opened her eyes again, her pupils, clear and bright like the freshly washed sky, appearing even more vibrant.
The meditation last night helped her recall her name; she was called Orsa.
Orsa got up and swam to the edge of the clamshell, knocking twice to signal it to open its lid, and then went to the nearby clusters of seaweed.
She picked a strand of the freshest, most emerald green seaweed to clean her mouth, casually teasing the small fish living among the seaweed, letting the rice-grain-sized fish swim around her fingers.
Suddenly, a huge shadow quickly loomed over her, silently swimming up behind Orsa.
The fish saw a dark brown octopus, dozens of meters tall and covered in thick, long tentacles all around its body, menacingly approaching, and were so frightened that they scattered and hid deep within the seaweed.
Orsa’s amusement was interrupted. She turned around to look at it with an expressionless face.
The octopus’s brandished tentacles instantly drooped down, with only one remaining suspended in mid-air, unsure whether it should reach out in front of her.
Orsa glanced at the live fish and shrimp piled on the suckers of that tentacle and waved her hand towards it.
The octopus immediately brightened, excitedly waving its tentacles and using sound waves to introduce them to her: this one was a fish full of roe, that one was a blue-bl00d crab it caught by swimming a long way, and these were sea grasses it specifically plucked near a warm ocean current…
A balanced meal of meat and vegetables, rich in nutrition, it would surely provide all the energy her body needed!
Orsa listened without much interest, not even bothering to lift her eyelids.
Ever since she smelled the aroma of the roasted meat made by that land creature, her taste buds seemed to have been activated. She knew that kind of fire-cooked food must be even more delicious, a taste she had once been very familiar with and loved.
But she still had basic common sense; it was already quite a feat for the octopus to kill, debone, and cut up live fish into chunks. Asking it to start a fire and cook would truly be too difficult for a marine creature.
Orsa casually selected and ate a few pieces of fish meat with the most standard and pleasing shapes, and used sound waves to tell the eagerly waiting octopus that it could leave.
Seeing Orsa only eat a few bites, the octopus immediately deflated like a burst ball, loosening its suckers and allowing the fresh shrimp and crabs it had diligently captured all morning to quickly scatter and escape.
It had to go further away to search for even rarer delicacies!
The octopus was about to swim away when it suddenly received an instruction from Orsa: “I want peeled and deveined shrimp meat.”
It instantly perked up again, waving its tentacles to chase after the clawed shrimp it had just let go.
Orsa watched its colossal, brown-black figure, like a reef, suddenly reminding her of the small, fair-skinned creature on the beach.
She had recalled that this type of creature was called a human.
That person had suddenly appeared before her, with wet, black bangs and eyes, a slightly reddened face, offering the string of warm, fragrant roasted meat to her.
It looked truly exquisite.
Orsa furrowed her brow and lightly bit her fingernail.
Even though she didn’t remember anything after waking up, her body’s instincts had taught her many things.
Just like she knew how to swim, how to emit sound waves, and seeing the giant octopus guarding the clamshell, she knew it was her servant.
Yet, no matter how hard she searched in her mind, she couldn’t find the slightest trace of that human.
That person couldn’t receive her sound waves, and she had no impression of the sounds they made.
Even though that human looked as translucent as shrimp peeled by the octopus, she couldn’t easily make a judgment.
She was still very weak and had to be cautious of all potential threats.
Orsa casually ate a few more bites of food and floated up to the surface.
The sun had already set towards the west again, suggesting that meditation consumed a significant amount of her energy.
She drifted aimlessly on the sea, abruptly realizing that she was getting closer and closer to that beach.
Should she go to the beach again?
But that human had already discovered her. What if they knew that she really wanted to eat the skewers…
Even if the food offered to her was safe, she couldn’t possibly accept charity from a stranger!
An alarm bell rang in Orsa’s mind, and she immediately flipped her tail and swam towards the opposite side of the ocean.
The next afternoon, at the same time, Hejia came to the beach again and set up her grill.
She cooked while paying attention to the changes in the waves near the reef, but after a long time, she didn’t spot any sign of the mermaid.
Hejia turned to the turtle lazily basking in the tide pool and said, “Little Jade, if that mermaid comes, remember to crawl out and tell me!”
Little Jade curled its tail and shook it impatiently twice, indicating that this was the fifth time she had repeated that sentence today.
Hejia looked at the half-burnt skewer in her hand and had no choice but to turn off the stove. She used chopsticks to pick out the edible parts and bolted down her dinner.
She looked up at the beach again.
Seagulls circled beneath the expanse of fiery clouds, and fish frolicked in the rippling water.
Every day was the same weather and scenery. Finally, she saw a fresh and rare creature, but the other party was quickly scared away by her.
After encountering this mermaid, whose form was similar to hers, Hejia kept wondering: was the mermaid an animal or a human? Could it not speak, or did it just not understand Earth language?
Hejia knew her pronunciation of the interstellar common language yesterday was very inaccurate, so she specifically brought a translator with her today.
She also dug out the highest-grade sashimi salmon pieces from the hotel’s freezer and defrosted them in advance, ready to feed the mermaid.
But until the sun completely set, there was still no change on the sea surface. Hejia had no choice but to get up and pack her things.
Before leaving the beach, she looked at the reef cluster one last time, recalling the mermaid’s exquisitely sculpted features and figure, her light and elegant noble posture, and the silver-white fish body shimmering with water ripples in the sunlight, all imbued with a hazy quality, as if shrouded in a thin mist.
Could a person really be this beautiful?
Was it possible that she had been lonely for too long and was experiencing a hallucination?
Hejia was startled by her own thought and hurried into the control room.
The central control room was filled with densely packed machines and monitors. In addition to the equipment for adjusting various systems, there was also a communication tool that could connect with the Galactic Administration Bureau.
By pressing the large red button, she could contact the Mûsinians to confirm whether mermaids really existed on this planet or if she was suffering from delusions.
Hejia placed her hand on the button, then suddenly recalled the day the Administration Bureau personnel brought her to the Cêzar Planet.
The person always wore a mask, his gaze was cold as ice, and he didn’t say anything beyond explaining her work precautions, as if conversing with Hejia was a very unpleasant experience.
Oh, and before leaving, he specifically instructed, “Do not contact the Administration Bureau casually unless there is an emergency, or you will bear the consequences.”
Discovering a timid, beautiful, and completely non-aggressive mermaid could hardly be considered an emergency… The Administration Bureau might only think she was making a fuss.
Hejia quietly took her hand away. She definitely didn’t want to anger the people from the Administration Bureau.
Until she saved up enough money, even having delusions due to loneliness was better than returning to Earth to rummage through trash cans for a living!
Hejia left the control room and walked into the nearby reading room.
Over the past month, she frequently came to read books to pass the time and had gained a basic understanding of this intergalactic era.
Presumably, as the resources of the solar system gradually depleted and Earthlings had no advantage in spirit and physique compared to intelligent alien races, Earth became a backward and remote planet.
Not only Earth, but people of all races in the world now aspired to relocate and live on the Mûsin Planet, the center of the universe. After the Mûsin language was designated as the official common language, other planets abandoned their own languages and vigorously promoted and learned the interstellar common language.
The Mûsin Planet was a very young galaxy, still even practicing an ancient monarchical system. But as the richest and most powerful planet in the universe, the Mûsinians were extremely proud and dismissive of the older, more brilliant civilizations of other galaxies.
Hejia was about to pull out the book written in Earth language, From the Common Era to the Interstellar: The Decline of the Solar System, to continue reading, when she suddenly noticed a particularly thick book placed on the bottom shelf of the bookcase.
She squatted down, took out the translator, which was the size of a reading pen, and shone it on the title page. The screen of the translator displayed, “Universal Species Encyclopedia.”
Perhaps she could find information about mermaids in this book?
Hejia controlled the robot in the reading room to move the book, which was thicker than a city wall, to the desk. She wiped off the dust from the cover and began searching through the vast index entries.
She peered down the catalog, entry by entry, watching the translator’s screen constantly show countless new names she had never seen, such as “Kewdou Dwarf Star People,” “Hillman Volcanic Beast,” and “Dark Gomru.”
Finally, just as Hejia was getting dizzy and starting to yawn, the screen displayed “White-Tailed Merfolk.”
It really existed!
Moreover, this entry belonged to the chapter on intelligent species!
Hejia’s eyes lit up, and she immediately cheered up, following the catalog to turn to the page describing merfolk.
“White-Tailed Merfolk: An intelligent species born in the Galen Galaxy. Their intelligence and upper body are no different from ordinary humans. Their lower body has a fish tail, entirely silver-white, with a frail constitution. They can breathe underwater. After the destruction of the Galen Galaxy, the entire race became intergalactic exiles, scattered across the universe. Because the majority of the race are female, with beautiful appearances and gentle temperaments, and without government protection, they are often forcibly kept and trafficked, leading to a habit of preferring to live in the deep sea and keeping minimal contact with people. They express friendliness by touching each other’s fish tails.”
“The image on the right is a White-Tailed Merfolk recently rescued by the Universal Human Rights Protection Organization from a black market merchant.”
Next to the brief lines of text was a photo of a young female merfolk, dressed in rags, with messy dark brown hair, looking at the camera with her arms crossed over her chest.
Although her appearance was not as radiant as the mermaid Hejia had seen, the color of the scales on her fish body was identical.
Hejia closed the book, unable to bear looking at the timid eyes of the merfolk in the photo any longer.
She hadn’t expected women to face such tragic circumstances even in this era!
She then recalled the mermaid she had seen and instantly understood the coldness in the other party’s eyes and the aloof aura surrounding her.
Perhaps this mermaid was unwilling to submit to fate, had been brought to the Cêzar Planet by a buyer, and had secretly escaped into the ocean, coincidentally also evading the pursuit of the Interstellar Administration Bureau.
Thinking of her hiding alone in the deep sea, starving and without proper clothing, and even only daring to peek from behind the reef, a million and twenty thousand portions of sympathy surged in Hejia’s heart.
If she encountered her again, she absolutely must not scare the mermaid away; at the very least, she had to give the mermaid a good, full meal!