CH 31.1

[Ding! Welcome to the personal copy of [Deep Sea Mermaid]. Because the scene of this copy is the deep sea area, the race will be temporarily converted to a “merfolk” species in order to make players adapt to the deep sea environment.]

[A beautiful and lovely merfolk group lives in a beautiful coral cluster.]

[Copy clearance task: Task 1: Survive in the copy for 5 days and 5 nights (current progress 0 days and 0 nights/5 days and 5 nights);

Task 2: Hunting (current progress 0.) Lower limit 1000 points, upper limit 4000 points.]

[Friendly reminder: The deep sea area cannot capture the sun’s rays, and 24 hours is a day and a night.]

[Friendly reminder: Hunting is a killing mission. You need to capture deep sea monsters. Monster levels vary from low to high and are divided from F to S level. The higher the level, the more points you get after killing.]

[Friendly reminder: The upper limit points are also performance points, and 40,000 is the upper limit of copy points. Players need to reach a minimum of 1000 kill points to clear the task.]

[Ding! Copy connection established.]

Even though S419M had been tied up with the game system, it still dutifully emitted prompts in its usual cold tone, and as soon as its words fell, Bai Lixin felt his body change.

The trousers disappeared, and his legs gradually merged into a long, dark blue fishtail, which reflected a sparkling blue and silver color with a slight movement.

Bai Lixin made a visual inspection and found that the tail was about two meters long, and on each side of the tail was a fan-shaped ventral fin.

He tried to flap the ventral fins, and the two beautiful translucent fans immediately twitched rapidly, like two butterflies fluttering in a flower garden.

The changes to his body did not end there; after his legs became a mermaid’s tail, his skin also began to change.

Translucent webbing appeared between his fingers, and the tips of his fingers became long and sharp.

To adapt to the resistance and pressure of the deep sea, a mermaid’s whole body is covered with scales as hard as steel.

But the scales on his body were different, and they were also different from those on his tail. They were tiny, blending in perfectly with his skin and, at first glance, appeared indistinguishable from it. They reflected a faint scaly blue light where the light hit them.

Bai Lixin tried his arm.

The touch felt like skin, but much harder.

[Ding! Race transformation successful.]

[Ding! Sub-transportation was successful. I wish the players a happy game.]

A white light flashed, and Bai Lixin slowly opened his eyes.

He was surrounded by a dark red coral cluster with swaying sea grass, seaweed, and anemone plants dotting the landscape.

The sea was a deep indigo blue. It was clear and devoid of any marine debris pollutants, but visibility was not great. With Bai Lixin’s current eyesight, he could only see about 5 meters.

He looked up, and he couldn’t see the surface of the sea from this deep, bottomless area of it. There was some light around him, but the further up he went, the darker it felt.

Coming here was like walking into a fog with no direction.

Even though it was his first time in such deep waters, the merman’s body structure allowed him to quickly adapt to the pressure of the deep sea area.

He did not breathe through his nose anymore, but used his gills.

The gills, however, were not on his neck and were hidden in his ventral fins.

His nose now served only as a sense of smell.

Bai Lixin opened the task bar and saw task 2.

Task Points = performance points.

The maximum was 4000 points.

In other words, he could get both 4000 points, and they would also be added to his performance points here.

By that amount, this was a really good copy.

But hunting monsters, what monsters exactly?

It couldn’t possibly be some small fish monster or shrimp monster, right?

Bai Lixin looked at the task bar in a trance. He didn’t think that the copy could be so kind as to let him get such a high number of points easily.

Since he was hunting, he couldn’t use his bare hands. This was a deep sea area, and the force of his punches would be affected by the three-way pressure of resistance, buoyancy, and pressure.

It would be better to get some defense tools first.

While Bai Lixin was still thinking, he saw the grass in front of him sway unreasonably. He narrowed his eyes and stared vigilantly ahead.

A green hand suddenly reached out from the dense seaweed, followed by another green hand of a different color, pulling away the water weed.

The next second, two creatures emerged from the grass.

The two creatures didn’t seem hostile, and they stood three meters away, surveying Bai Lixin.

As they sized up Bai Lixin , Bai Lixin was sizing them up as well.

Messy sparse hair, a slightly large, bulky round head, two eyes, a nose, and a lamprey like mouth.

A green humanoid body, arms, and a long, fish-scaled tail.

Bai Lixin: “……”

These couldn’t be the “beautiful and lovely” merfolk the system was talking about, could they?

Where’s the beauty? Where’s the loveliness?

Or was it because they grew up deep in the sea and couldn’t see each other anyway?

The two merfolk looked at Bai Lixin for a few seconds and then swam over. The two merfolk circled around Bai Lixin from a distance that wasn’t too far nor too close, and then they came close to each other and whispered.

They kept pointing towards Bai Lixin as they talked.

These two merfolk were enormous. Bai Lixin’s upper body was about 0.75 meters, and with the 2.5 meter long tail, he was now 3.3 meters at any rate.

But compared to the two merfolk in front of him, he was like a child.

Bai Lixin stood next to them, looking like an eight-year-old standing next to an adult.

Bai Lixin: [……S419M, do you know what they are saying?]

S419M: [Uh, are you sure you want to know, Lord Host.]

Bai Lixin: [You speak.]

S419M: [Ahem. Look at this mermaid, it’s so ugly.]

[How come the skin has no color at all, like it’s skinned fish.]

[Yes, the head is so small, why is the face so long? And that mouth… is it deformed? Why is this mouth closed? And it’s so small, how can it eat? He looks like a little monster.]

[He’s so small, he’s probably still a juvenile. The parents of this merman threw him here because they couldn’t keep him alive due to his deformity, right?]

[Poor thing, give him the food from today’s hunt so he doesn’t starve to death.]

Bai Lixin: [……]

So ugly? Little monster? Deformed?

Sorry, can you say that again?

The two merfolk were carrying a leather pouch behind them, and as soon as S419M finished translating, one of them removed the pouch and pulled something out of it.

A dark shadow fell before him, and a water snake that was still slithering and twisting appeared before Bai Lixin.

The corners of Bai Lixin’s mouth twitched: [……]

Eat? He’s supposed to eat this thing?

I don’t care that the snake is alive, but it was so brightly colored, wasn’t it poisonous?

The two merfolk started chattering again when they saw Bai Lixin staring blankly at the water snake in front of him.

S419M had very good ears.

[Look, the little monster is so frightened of us that it won’t even eat the food.]

[Does he want to starve himself to death? Why don’t I ask him?]

The mermaid made a point of coming up to Bai Lixin and didn’t stop until it was only five centimeters away.

Seeing the suddenly enlarged lamprey-like mouth, Bai Lixin felt his chest start to hurt.

The mermaid’s mouth moved, and it looked like it was smiling at Bai Lixin.

Mermaid: “Chatter chatter?”

S419M: [What’s your name, little one?]

Bai Lixin met those little beady eyes with his most bewildered gaze and slowly shook his head.

Mermaid: “Chatter?”

S419M: [You can’t talk?]

Bai Lixin continued to shake his head in bewilderment.

The mermaid in the distance swam to the side, “Chatter chatter chatter.”

S419M: [He seems to be an idiot who can’t speak or understand what we’re saying.]

Bai Lixin: [……]

In this situation now, playing dumb was just as upsetting as not playing dumb.

[Or maybe we should teach him how to eat by hand.]

The mermaid took another water snake out of the pouch. Afraid that Bai Lixin wouldn’t be able to see clearly, *he proceeded to eat it in front of Bai Lixin at a slow pace.

*the “he” here is used when gender isn’t specified or unimportant.

The tail of the twisting water snake was sent into the mouth of the seven-gill eel, and two circles of dense teeth closed quickly.

With a “click”, the water snake was snapped off at the waist.

Probably because he was really worried that Bai Lixin was a retard, the mermaid opened his mouth after the bite and showed him the tail still wriggling in his mouth, then started to eat the water snake.

The sound of bones and flesh being chewed clearly reached his ears.

Bai Lixin’s breathing stopped: [……]

What kind of torture was this?! Help, how about a different copy?

He was completely certain that if it wasn’t for the purpose of showing him how to eat, the mermaid in front of him could have taken the water snake into his mouth in one bite.

After chewing and swallowing the tail, the mermaid did the same thing again, swallowing the water snake in three swallows, then looked at Bai Lixin with burning beady eyes.

He didn’t forget to use his tail fin to kick the water snake in front of him.

Bai Lixin: [……]

This was a way for him to learn not only to eat but also to hunt.

Bai Lixin looked down at the swimming water snake. Did the system consider this water snake a hunting target?

With this thought, he bent down and stretched out his sharp nails, piercing the snake’s heart with quickness and precision.

The water snake struggled on the ground for a few moments and then stopped moving.

[Ding! Congratulations to the player. The hunting of the patterned snake was successful. The snake is unranked, but as a reward for the player’s first hunt, the system gives 1 point.]

Bai Lixin: [……]

Shit, trash game!

The two merfolk babbled excitedly.

[He hunted! It looks like this child can still be saved!]

[Next up is eating, little monster, eat quickly.]

Bai Lixin picked up the water snake with a stiff upper lip. He looked at the two pairs of eyes that were full of expectation, then, with a fling of his arm, he threw the water snake directly into the mouth of the mermaid in front of him before he could react.

It’s dead. There’s no need to waste it; it’s better for you to eat it.

The lamprey’s mouth was always open when it was not eating, so when Bai Lixin threw it, the water snake fell into the mermaid’s mouth, and the mermaid subconsciously closed its mouth.

The mermaid: “Kiriki?”

S419M: [This little monster is stupid but still quite filial, why don’t we throw him another one?]

[Okay, I have many more here].

Bai Lixin: [?!]

There are many more?

With a flick of his beautiful blue tail, Bai Lixin rushed to the seaweed not far away. He quickly found a piece of turquoise kelp from the pile of seaweed before the mermaid could pull out a new water snake, and took a bite right in front of the two merfolk.

Merfolk: “Kiriki rikiki ti..”

S419M: [Huh, he’s eating kelp, he doesn’t eat meat?]

[I wondered why he was so scrawny; plants are not enough for our nutrition.]

[The mermaid who threw him here probably wanted us to save him. Forget it, let’s take him back to the colony.]

[This little monster, alas. Let’s find someone to teach him how to hunt when we get back.

Bai Lixin: [……]

I tell you, I’m not a little monster! Are you bullying me for not speaking mermaid words?

[That… Lord Host, do you want to go back with them?] S419M finished translating and asked cautiously.

Bai Lixin: [I’ll go. They treat me as one of their kind and have no hostility towards me. I know nothing about this deep sea area now, so it is not wise to move around alone. I’ll follow them and learn how to hunt.]

The merfolk waved at Bai Lixin who immediately waved his tail and followed.

The mermaid’s swimming speed was very fast. The two merfolk in front of him were worried that the little mermaid behind them would not be able to keep up, so they deliberately slowed down.

But when they turned around, they found that the little mermaid was following behind them easily.

The two merfolk looked at each other and began to slowly increase their speed. To their amazement, no matter how much they increased their speed, the little mermaid could always manage to keep the same distance behind them without slowing down.

Mermaid: “Kiriki, hulula.”

S419M: [This little guy looks like a weakling, but he moves quite fast.]

Bai Lixin: [……]

Darn it. Now my strength is severely underestimated.

The three merfolk weaved through the deep sea so fast that the current around them was cut into three winding ripples.

Ten minutes later, the two merfolk in front of Bai Lixin slowed down and entered a dark, rocky undersea tunnel.

After another minute or so of swimming through the tunnel, some bright light gradually appeared in front of them.

The light grew brighter and brighter, slowly enlarging from a small blue dot to an eerie blue circle of light.

Bai Lixin followed a leap and came to a U-shaped cave that was covered in colorful coral.

It was more like a deep underwater canyon, surrounded by rocky outcrops with no end in sight; if no creature could enter from above, the tunnel from earlier was the only way in.

The undersea canyon was surrounded and underlain by coral and green water plants, and where there was no coral, there was a thick layer of sea sand and rock. The sand was finely packed on the ground and it looked so soft.

The rocky walls around them were like briquettes, with hole after hole cut into them. These must be the cave dwellings of the merfolk.

When they entered, there were some merfolk huddled in their holes, resting on their backs.

Upon noticing Bai Lixin’s sudden presence, countless merfolk gathered around them.

The gibberish was rising and falling, with no intention of stopping.

S419M cleared its throat.

Bai Lixin hurriedly interrupted it: [Pick up the key point.]

S419M: [Well, the point is. The two merfolk who picked you up wanted the younger ones to take you hunting, but the younger ones all disliked you for being ugly, skinny, and small, so no mermaid wanted to take you. Now there is a fight over who is going to take you. Tsk, tsk, Lord Host, as expected of you, your style has not diminished in the least. Even if you turn into an ugly monster, you can still be a point of contradiction for everyone’s quarrel.]

[If only Lord God was here. Wouldn’t he die of jealousy if he found out?]

Bai Lixin: [This style suits you, do you want it?]

As the merfolk looked for a conclusion, Bai Lixin decided to work on other things.

[How much of this world’s truth have you deciphered?]

S419M: [I analyzed it overnight last night but didn’t get any useful clues. This world is defined by the system as a game world, and the name of the game is called “Immersive Thriller Game”. There is a main brain in this game, and that is the center that controls the running of this game.]

[The systems that reside in the players, including the one in your mind, are only secondary systems that the main brain has branched out from. These systems do not have high authority and can only access some simple information.]

[But I found a diagram in a hidden folder of this system.]

A huge 3D drawing appeared out of thin air in Bai Lixin’s mind.

At the center of the diagram was a blue point of light, from which tens of thousands of blue threads were branching out in all directions.

The threads were densely spread throughout this three-dimensional virtual diagram, yet it was not clear where the other end was connected to.

Among these countless threads, Bai Lixin noticed that two of them had darkened and turned into shapeless black threads.

Bai Lixin: [Is this the display map of this game along with the copies?]

S419M: [Yes, Lord Host. Two of them have been disconnected, which should be the two permanently closed copies you participated in before.]

Bai Lixin: [Can you trace the other end to these threads?]

S419M: [Sorry, Lord Host, I can’t trace it for now, but I’ll try. I intend to use the secondary system to reverse invade the main brain, but not now. I’ll wait until I have completely assimilated the secondary system within you.]

Bai Lixin: [I had speculated before that these copies are not simply virtual existences of the game but worlds that actually exist.]

[The world I am talking about is not a large dimension like the one in our present world, but a small square world made up of energy bodies.]

[The two copies I participated in earlier were closed because I decimated the energy that supported the small world. As far as I can tell, these energies are full of malice, killing, brutality, and bloodshed.]

[The game summons players to enter these worlds again and again, which nourishes the malice that feeds them. I don’t know exactly what it is trying to do, but it certainly won’t be a good thing.]