Transmigrated to the Interstellar Era to Raise Mermaids GL - Chapter 7

Two weeks later.

Seeing the clock on the wall nearing the center, He Jia poured the chicken soup that had been simmering overnight into an earthenware pot and placed it on the portable small stove on the beach dining table to continue slow simmering.

Then, she happily hummed a tune and began to busy herself at the cooking counter. First, she blanched the raw meat for a braised pork and potato dish, then chopped up all the ingredients for the stir-fry and set them aside, waiting for the mermaid to arrive before putting them in the wok.

During this period, the mermaid appeared on the beach every day at noon to eat with her.

In the beginning, He Jia ate a continuous feast of seafood with the mermaid for several days.

Until one day, she looked at the table full of fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish and was so disgusted she couldn’t bring herself to use her chopsticks. She immediately made a stir-fried beef dish and served it.

The mermaid sniffed the fragrant, spicy aroma, then looked at the sincere expression on He Jia’s face. She hesitantly picked up a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth, thereby opening a door to a new world. From then on, she no longer refused other dishes He Jia prepared.

However, she still insisted on performing a magical “seafood from heaven” show for He Jia every day, and her skill in throwing objects over distance became increasingly proficient and accurate, with no fish or shrimp ever landing outside the cooler.

Thanks to the mermaid, He Jia had frozen the uneaten seafood, which had completely filled one storage cabinet.

She planned to ask the Interstellar Administration personnel if these ingredients could be exchanged for some money when they came.

Oh, right, she also needed to bring an empty cooler over to hold the seafood the mermaid would bring today.

He Jia finished her preparations, carried the cooler to the mermaid’s usual landing spot, and sat on the beach, waiting for her.

She stared blankly at the vast, blue ocean, recalling a book she had recently read which stated that, under certain circumstances, a minority of alien races with very strong psychic powers could control others with their minds. They thus became leaders of various star systems, such as the Holy Eagle Papacy, which ruled the Tart Star, and the La Se Ya family, which governed the Mus Star System, and so on.

She hadn’t expected the scenarios in the sci-fi movies of her era to become reality. Maybe the mermaid controlled those marine creatures with her mind, manipulating them to fall into the net themselves!

He Jia’s imagination ran wild, picturing the mermaid commanding wind and rain with a wave of her hand in the deep ocean. Her mysterious and elegant demeanor, her cold and noble face, and her nimble, lustrous fish tail perfectly matched this image.

If she could also dress the mermaid in a pure white gauze dress, and adorn her beautiful golden hair with a few accessories, she would be exactly the image of the Western mythical sea goddess in her mind…

A foul burning smell suddenly dragged the engrossed He Jia back to reality. She sniffed hard and hurriedly turned her head, “Oh no, my braised pork and potatoes are still cooking in the pot!”

She ran back to the stove, turned off the heat, and sadly looked at a pot of black mush where the water had evaporated. She belatedly realized: Wait, what time is it now?

He Jia went to the hotel lobby and checked the time: one o’clock.

Usually, the mermaid would appear around twelve. Why was she so late today?

Maybe she overslept. There was no alarm clock in the sea. She just had to wait a little longer.

He Jia dealt with the burnt bottom of the pot and paced back and forth on the beach, circling over and over. She circled back to the hotel and checked the time again: two o’clock.

Lunchtime was already over… Is the mermaid not coming today?

He Jia walked back to the dining table and sat down, looking at the chicken soup bubbling gently in front of her. Her heart was also anxious, and her mind was filled with thoughts about the mermaid’s behavior when she came for dinner yesterday.

Her eating was always as quiet and elegant as ever. When listening to her speak, her expression was concentrated and focused, and her clear eyes sparkled with the dazzling light of stars…

Just like the day before yesterday, the day before that, and the day before that—there were no unusual signs!

Unable to figure out what was wrong, He Jia irritably scratched her hair a few times.

Sigh, I can’t wait for her anymore, I should eat first, otherwise the chicken soup will boil dry!

He Jia served a bowl of soup and drank two sips.

The long-simmered soup was fresh and rich, but she had no appetite. She put down the bowl and looked at the empty seat in front of her, her mind buzzing with questions: “I learn new tricks from the cookbook every day, is she still tired of it? …But her personality is so gentle, and she treats me so well, why would she suddenly stop coming?”

“Could it be that she encountered some danger and couldn’t come? Right, she was caught by a giant octopus on Coconut Island before!”

This terrifying thought immediately took root in He Jia’s mind, startling her into abruptly standing up.

Yes, even if the mermaid could control small fish and shrimp, she would surely have no chance of winning when facing a formidable behemoth like the giant octopus!

Images of the mermaid being caught by a giant octopus, strangled by a large python, and pinched by a large crab flashed before He Jia’s eyes like a kaleidoscope.

She suddenly felt restless, even the seagulls flying in the sky made her nervous. She went back to the hotel lobby to check the time: three o’clock!

The mermaid probably wouldn’t come today, but just guessing blindly was no solution. She might as well go out to sea and look for her!

He Jia ordered another hotel’s housekeeper robot to patrol the beach and boarded the patrol boat with Sharon.

After the boat started, the control panel asked, “Hello, what is the destination?”

He Jia looked at the vast ocean on the display screen and paused, remembering the direction the mermaid had pointed. She said, “Head east, reduce the boat speed to the slowest! Sharon, go to the deck and watch the sea surface. Notify me immediately if you spot any large marine creatures!”

Sharon immediately complied with the order. It walked to the very front of the deck and crouched down, observing the sea surface by rapidly swinging its neck 180 degrees left and right, and transmitting the sight to the display screen in the captain’s cabin in real time.

He Jia watched the footage on the display screen.

Countless schools of fish, jellyfish, seahorses, shrimp, and crabs… as well as many creatures she couldn’t name, moved back and forth before her eyes, making her feel that this quiet, unfamiliar underwater world was so deep and strange. The pitch-black depths of the seawater seemed full of hidden dangers, as if something terrifying would emerge from them at any second.

As the boat gradually sailed into the deep sea, the visibility of Sharon’s electronic eyes decreased, and the screen footage became increasingly dark and terrifying. He Jia looked up and saw that the clock had passed four o’clock, and the robot guarding the beach hadn’t sent any news. She felt increasingly anxious.

Five o’clock was the time the sun would set today. Sharon would no longer be able to clearly see the underwater world, and she hadn’t completed the afternoon routine inspection yet. She had to return when it got dark.

He Jia watched the second hand on the clock move forward little by little. She had never felt the captain’s cabin to be so small and stuffy. She impatiently shifted her gaze and suddenly saw a loudspeaker hanging on the side wall.

…I’m truly looking for a needle in a haystack anyway. I might as well try everything, even if it’s a desperate measure!

He Jia grabbed the loudspeaker and quickly walked onto the deck. The sight of the turbulent sea beneath her feet instantly made her dizzy. Her thalassophobia had flared up.

Ahhh, she just realized that she had been so anxious to board the boat that she didn’t have her protective suit on, nor did she bring a single lifebuoy!

“Sh-sh-sh… Sharon!” He Jia shivered and leaned closely against Sharon, tightly clinging to one of its arms, saying, “Hold onto me! If I fall down, you absolutely must remember to pull me out!”

Sharon thoughtfully demonstrated its retractable electronic arm to He Jia and said, “Understood.”

He Jia felt slightly relieved. She raised the loudspeaker to her mouth with her other hand, “Ahem, well…”

She suddenly faltered again. The mermaid didn’t have a name yet, what should she call her? And the loudspeaker didn’t have a translator installed!

He Jia lowered her head in thought, but her heart panicked whenever she looked at the sea surface. She decided to throw caution to the wind, took a deep breath, and shouted into the loudspeaker, “Little Pearl, Little Pearl! I’m He Jia, I’ve come to find you, where are you?”

…

Orsa woke up from her deep meditation. Just like a perpetually exhausted person who finally had a long, peaceful sleep, she felt completely refreshed, and her eyes were clearer and brighter.

She happily swam out of the large shell and saw the giant octopus nearby, still enthusiastically using several tentacles to scare the clownfish hiding in the seaweed. She swam behind it and said, “Sam.”

The giant octopus suddenly froze. It forgot to lower the tentacles it was holding mid-air. It turned around and said with extreme surprise, “Master, you…”

“Quiet!” Orsa’s ear twitched. She raised her hand to stop the octopus from speaking. She suddenly caught a trace of a familiar voice.

She looked up, through the dark, layered water, and vaguely saw a white boat bottom crossing the surface. She immediately flicked her tail and swam upward.

“What happened?” The octopus, which hadn’t heard anything, followed Orsa to the surface, looking bewildered.

Perhaps it was because her hearing was becoming sharper as her physical strength gradually recovered, or maybe the Earthling’s voice, like her appearance, was soft and gentle. Even when shouting loudly, it carried a touch of charming simplicity, making it incredibly easy to distinguish.

Sure enough, He Jia’s voice became increasingly clear from the sea surface.

Hearing her hurried tone and the content of her shouts, Orsa immediately understood: He Jia had come to find her because she had missed lunch.

She hadn’t anticipated that even when she didn’t actively concentrate, once the energy in her body accumulated to a certain level, she would automatically enter a state of meditation during sleep.

It must be sunset now…

Orsa extended her arms and accelerated, like a silver arrow, swimming out of the sea. She emerged half her head on the aft side of the patrol boat and immediately saw He Jia sitting right at the front of the deck, holding a loudspeaker and shouting loudly.

“Little Pearl, Little Pearl, where exactly are you?”

The patrol boat was about to round to the other side of the planet. He Jia looked at the sun slowly descending below the horizon and wiped her tears: “Nothing bad has happened to you, has it? You haven’t been caught by that big octopus again, have you? Wuwuwu, if that’s the case, I must find it, ram its big belly, and maybe I can rescue you…”

Her pitiful yet wild self-talk was faithfully amplified by the loudspeaker. Orsa glanced at the octopus following behind her, which was innocently getting blamed, and couldn’t help but chuckle.

It seems this Earthling has misunderstood from the beginning. So, was she worried about her safety, which is why she came to find her?

Listening to her voice, which was weak and filled with deep fatigue, she must have been shouting for a long time!

The octopus, Sam, who was completely out of the loop, saw Orsa’s gentle expression and curved lips. Following her gaze towards He Jia, he asked curiously, “Master, what is that aggressive woman saying? Can you understand her?”

“Mostly.”

She only needed to remember what He Jia had said and the language converted by the translator at the time, and constantly compare them. She could quickly figure out the rules of the Earth language, just like playing a decoding game, which had become her recent bedtime entertainment.

Moreover, because He Jia talked a lot, after half a month, Orsa could already understand seventy to eighty percent of the meaning without the aid of a translator.

Orsa swam a few meters forward, preparing to appear in front of He Jia, when she saw the tears shimmering in her eyes. She suddenly had a new idea.

…

Sitting on the boat, He Jia tearfully put down the loudspeaker, feeling very sad.

That mermaid was so smart and kind, she would definitely show up if she heard her voice!

But she hadn’t found any trace of her along the way. Did this mean she had really encountered danger, perhaps being taken to another place, just like when the octopus caught her last time…

A sudden “splash” sounded in her ears. A huge tentacle reached out of the water from the port side of the boat, wrapped around He Jia’s waist, and, with lightning speed, pulled her away from Sharon and lifted her high into the air.

“Eh! What happened…”

Suddenly finding her feet getting further and further from the ground, He Jia hadn’t even had time to scream when the tentacle wrapped around her suddenly flicked, throwing her with a loud plop into the sea on the other side of the boat.

“Ahhhhhhh, help!”

The moment it detected He Jia falling into the water, Sharon immediately stood up to execute the command, rapidly extending its electronic arm to grab her.

The octopus would never let it pull He Jia out. Several tentacles swiftly shot out of the water and wrapped around Sharon’s infinitely extending arm. Before it could touch He Jia, the tentacles forcefully pulled its arm in a different direction.

Sharon was neither surprised nor angry, nor was it dizzy from spinning. Its mind was only focused on the command. After breaking free from the tentacles’ restraint, it immediately turned towards He Jia again, making the octopus frantic. The tentacles on this side hadn’t had a chance to rest before it had to extend several other tentacles to continue spinning Sharon around on the deck.

He Jia watched despairingly as Sharon and the octopus spun around and around, hand-in-hand. Her hands instinctively thrashed in the water, struggling, but her body continued to sink.

The seawater mercilessly submerged her shoulders. He Jia held her breath and closed her eyes.

Was she about to drown? They say the feeling of suffocating is very painful. She would rather go through the spacetime tunnel again…

He Jia didn’t experience the choking sensation she had expected. Instead, she suddenly felt a pair of arms securely supporting her from behind, bringing her upper body back out of the water.

She hurriedly opened her eyes, turned her head to look, and met the mermaid’s glistening, azure eyes.

“Wuwuwuwu!”

He Jia hugged her tightly without reservation, bursting into loud sobs: “Why did I suddenly fall into the water? It was so scary! I really thought I was going to drown just now!”

The mermaid was suddenly embraced fully by He Jia. She felt a little awkward and tried to break free, but He Jia clung to her like an octopus, even wrapping her feet around her slippery fish body, trembling all over while crying.

…She had originally intended to create a surprising encounter for He Jia, but she hadn’t expected this Earthling not only to be afraid of octopuses and pythons but also to be afraid of water!

It turns out that she not only looks like a rabbit, but her habits are exactly the same!

Looking at her, she clearly can’t swim, yet she gave me this suit that can make one float in the water…

The surprise had completely turned into shock. Orsa looked at He Jia, who was trembling in her arms, and felt so guilty that she couldn’t bear to push her away anymore.

She could only try hard to ignore the warm sensation of their soft bodies pressing together. She hesitantly extended her palm and gently patted her back, mimicking He Jia’s posture when comforting the little turtle.

“Wuwuwu…”

Noticing that her upper body was floating steadily on the sea surface, He Jia calmed down slightly.

She sobbed and looked up at the uninjured appearance of the mermaid, then couldn’t help but hug her again, continuing to cry: “That’s wonderful, it’s good that you’re fine! I looked for you for a long time and couldn’t find any trace. I thought you had encountered some danger again, and I hadn’t even had time to give you a nice name…”

“Orsa.”

A clear, icy voice suddenly rang in He Jia’s ear.

“Hmm?”

She stopped crying, her eyes blurry with tears, and looked around. What was that sound just now?

The mermaid helplessly reached out and patted her shoulder, making He Jia look directly at her, and repeated, “Orsa.”

He Jia blinked, feeling the mermaid’s warm breath softly fanning her nose, and only then realized how close they were!