CH 35.1

“The South Sea area is ahead.”

In addition to the Green Hair’s earlier group of five, Scar also added four more mermen to this team.

Thus, a mighty squad of ten mermen left the Middle Sea area to head for the South Sea area.

To get to the South Sea area, they needed to pass through the East Sea area.

Although they set off from the Middle Sea area, it did not have direct access to the South Sea area as one needed to transition through the East Sea area.

There were no boundaries in the sea, and they swam all the way through.

On the way, Bai Lixin saw many remains on the bottom of the East Sea area.

According to the mermen, some of these were the remains of sea monsters in the South Sea area.

From this, it was evident that the East Sea area was already occupied.

The seas were connected, and the sea monsters had already invaded the East Sea area, which was not so far from the Middle Sea area where the merfolk inhabited.

They needed to catch the electric eels as soon as possible and create powerful weapons.

While Bai Lixin rested, the old mermen had already made a dozen bows and used the few remaining fish tendons of the lantern beast to make springs.

These Mermen soldiers were assigned a bow or crossbow and a dozen polished arrows each, which was all the logistics the old mermen could do for them.

Bai Lixin took the split turtle with him as well. He tied a fish tendon to the mouth of the sharkskin bag and carried it behind him like a balloon.

In addition to the bag, he also brought a harpoon and a special net.

Green Hair was still upset about yesterday’s failed confession. He hid far away from Bai Lixin, and his tail was flipping up and down.

S419M: [He seems to be upset, Lord Host].

Bai Lixin: [Sorry.]

S419M was stunned: [Ah? I didn’t ask you to apologize, Lord host.]

Bai Lixin: [It was my fault for not understanding the habits of the merfolk in the first place.]

S419M: [Do you want to send him something to apologize?]

Bai Lixin’s ventral fin paused for a second: [No, it’s best if I don’t say anything at a time like this.]

S419M: [Yes, Lord host.]

Bai Lixin, accompanied by other mermen, swam carefully across the East Sea. On the way, a slightly fat-looking merman swam over. He seemed to be the second leader among these mermen, and he said, “The electric eel monsters are deep in the South Sea area. They like to lie in the sand to hide and wait for an opportunity to hunt. To lure them out, we’re going to catch some bait first.”

Bai Lixin, “What kind of bait?”

Fat Merman, “It’s a food that electric eel monsters are very fond of, called angel fish. But they live at the edge of the West and the South Sea area. That area has fast currents, so it’s hard for the electric eel monsters to get in. They want to eat but can’t, so if we can catch this angel fish, we can trick the eels into the net.”

“By the way,” the fat merman’s tone suddenly turned serious, “don’t just go near the electric eel monster. Once it attacks, it will carry a current within a five-meter range. The voltage can electrocute even an adult lantern beast, so we can only rely on this kind of distant attack.”

“But you don’t have to worry too much. Although its electricity is strong, it has very little patience. When it runs out of power, you can easily capture it. An electric eel monster is about 50 meters long, and one can make quite a few bows or crossbows from it. So, how many electric eels do you need?”

Bai Lixin threw the question back at the fat merman, “One meter can provide a spring for one crossbow. How many crossbows do you need?”

The fat merman was stunned, then he smiled. Suddenly, his words were much more respectful.

“It is indeed us who need them. We adult mermen are fine with harpoons. The elderly, children, and females need security. The more, of course, the better, so it would be best to have a hundred on hand.”

Bai Lixin, “Then can you catch at least two of them?”

Fat merman, “We can try.”

While talking, they crossed the Eastern Sea area and entered the South Sea area.

The water temperature increased by almost ten degrees all of a sudden.

“The South Sea area is a warm water area, which is not very friendly to merfolk.”

The five seas, although gathered together into the same ocean, had a different configuration.

The Middle Sea area has the clearest water, the Eastern Sea area is moderate, the South Sea area has the warmest water, while the Northern Sea area is the most mysterious and dark area.

Of the five seas, Bai Lixin had not seen the Western Sea area yet.

It was also because of the different nature of each sea that distinguished the five seas and the marine life within them.

Once the higher areas are disrupted, they would squeeze the resources of the lower areas, and the sea creatures of the lower areas that could not obtain food would simply continue to extend to the lower areas.

This becomes a vicious circle, and all ecosystems are completely disrupted.

They did not enter the depths of the South Sea, as the creatures there are too dangerous for the mermen. For safety reasons, they kept to the safer edges as they swam.

Suddenly, the fat merman abruptly stopped his tail and made a wary gesture, “Dive! Stay close to the sand and take cover! Don’t make a sound no matter what you see!”

All the mermen understood immediately, and they all pressed their bodies to the bottom, almost burying themselves in the sand.

Bai Lixin did the same.

He followed the fat merman’s demonstration and held his breath, using his body to sense.

The fluctuations in the small water currents grew more intense, and the source was coming from behind him. It was not long before a dark shadow appeared above them.

All the mermen held their breath, wishing to merge themselves into the sand and rock.

Bai Lixin placed his head on its side as the sloshing of water came from it.

The next second, an upside-down head suddenly appeared in front of him.

It must have been a merman’s head. It had dried up and withered somewhat, with withered grass-like hair hanging sparsely upside down. It swayed from side to side with the direction of the current.

The tongue of the merman was hanging upside down from his lamprey mouth. It had lost its vivid color and turned pale because of death. With each movement, the tongue swayed rhythmically.

Bai Lixin’s eyes trailed upwards to find a long, thin spike stuck in the merman’s head, which was flung upside down in the water like a trophy.

In addition to this one head, there were more than thirty other heads floating around him, all of them mermen’s.

Because the creature was so large, Bai Lixin could only see these without being able to move his head, and there was no telling what the creature looked like.

He brought his eyes back and suddenly felt a sharp gaze come over him.

His nerves tensed, but he made his body more relaxed.

A long, dark and thin thing slid by, a bit like a black water pipe.

The head of the water pipe was only a huge eyeball, and the eyeball slowly came to Bai Lixin’s face.

Bai Lixin kept his eyes open and remained motionless, as if he was dead.

The eyeball was puzzled for a moment. It swam in front of Bai Lixin for a moment before slowly retreating.

Just when it was about to exit Bai Lixin’s field of vision, the eyeball suddenly lashed out and once again rushed to Bai Lixin’s face. As it did so, it even opened its eyes wide, no less frightening than *Sadako suddenly crawled out of the television set.

Bai Lixin remained indifferent, his eyes not even blinking.

The eye retracts in disappointment.

The dark shadow continued moving, and only when its presence in the current became less did the fat merman yell, “Okay, it’s safe.”

All the mermen immediately breathed a long sigh of relief, their expressions all looking as if they had survived an ordeal.

The fat merman looked at Bai Lixin, “I was scared to death just now. Thankfully, you didn’t move a muscle. We rarely go near the South Sea area because there is this monster called the Hundred Eyes Monster. Its body is a hundred meters long and its body is full of tentacles with eyes like the one earlier.”

“It can be said to be the overlord of this South Sea area, and what it likes most is to prey on living merfolk. After it’s done hunting, it sticks the head into the spikes on it’s body as trophies and bait to lure other fish. You saw those mermen’s heads? They’d have been living out their days in peace a long time ago if they were still alive.”

“However, it’s only interested in living creatures. Once its prey is dead, it gives up the hunt.”

The Hundred-Eyed Monster.

When the hundred-eyed monster swam over, he felt that loneliness in his heart again.

The group took a short break, gauging that the Hundred-Eyed Monster had gone far away before continuing on their way.

And as they moved deeper into the South Sea area, it became apparent to Bai Lixin that there were more creatures in the sea. Almost every hundred meters they moved, they had to dodge creatures coming at them. The Lantern beast felt huge, but could only be considered as miniature compared to these South Sea Area creatures.

The creatures in the South Sea area were crowded and big, probably because of the temperature of the sea water.

From what the fat-merman said, the South Sea area has the most creatures of the five seas.

They went deeper without encountering any danger, and the temperature around them began to gradually increase.

After passing through the high-temperature area, the temperature around them began to slowly drop.

Fat merman, “The South Sea area is like this. The difference in temperature is huge. We’ve passed the very center of the area, where the temperature is the highest. We’ll be approaching the Western Sea Area if we go any further. The West also has the coldest temperatures of the four seas.”

He paused, “Now you know why it’s divided into four areas. Some creatures prefer the very cold area, some the warm area, and some the freshwater area. If you take us as an example, we like the safe area in the middle, and although it lacks food, our security is ensured.

“Merfolk are slightly more fragile beings among sea creatures, but merfolk are also the most intelligent among sea creatures. We have evolved into language and can also rely on tools to strengthen ourselves and make up for our lack of strength.”

Green Hair couldn’t resist swimming over to interject, “The gods of the sea did not give us strong enough bodies, but they did give us the wisdom to think, which is a godsend.”

When Green Hair said this, his eyes shone brightly, and he sounded very proud.

Bai Lixin was somewhat touched.

When he first entered the sea world, he had preconceived ideas about these merfolk because of their appearance and had classified them as fierce.

But in reality, these mermen were very spiritual.

Older mermen will lend a hand to a merman they don’t know and even teach him how to eat.

Within the community, each merfolk has a role to play, and they all support each other.

If the marine world is compared to the human world, these mermen are similar to primitive humans, and the other creatures are more like those creatures in the primitive world.

As Green Hair said earlier, wisdom and the ability to think are gifts from heaven.

With wisdom, humans and mermen could even overcome creatures ten, or even a hundred, times more powerful than themselves.

In the near future, these mermen might be like primitive humans, who would eventually create their own civilization.

Bai Lixin’s thoughts suddenly drifted away.

If the creatures evolve over time, would the merfolk’s form also change, turning into those merfolk from the fairy tales?

The temperature around him was getting colder and colder, and the color of the water around him had changed from a warm bright green to a deep blue laced with white.

Bai Lixin looked carefully and saw that those whites were actually pieces of ice crystals.

Fat merman, “There is a huge iceberg area in the middle of the Western Sea Area. It is the coldest place in the five seas in terms of temperature and the place for the fattest creatures.”

“To keep out the cold, the creatures that live there grow thick layers of skinned fat.” Green Hair spat in disgust, “The creatures here are not very tasty. One bite is a mouthful of oil.”

Fat merman, “I don’t like it either. I like the food from the Eastern Sea area best, but the lantern beast from the other day tasted good too.”

There was a sudden, abrupt “gulu” in the stillness of the sea.

All the mermen looked at each other and waved their hands innocently.

Bai Lixin smiled awkwardly and silently pointed at himself, “It’s me, I’m hungry.”

The mermen: “……”

Fat merman, “Eh, bear with it?”

Another “gulu” and Bai Lixin nodded calmly, “okay.”

Green Hair: “……”

Hey, don’t act so calm! If you’re hungry, then say it!

Having already reached the border of the South Sea and West Sea areas, the fat merman instructed the group to split up.

“Angel fish are timid but fast. They are one of the few vegetarian creatures in the South Sea area, so we can only split up if we want to find them. Whoever finds an angelfish, notifies each other with sound waves in time.”

When Bai Lixin heard the word “sound waves”, he approached the fat merman curiously, “Sound waves? How do you make them?”

He remembered that he had once encountered merfolk in a previous world. That mermaid’s attack method was a sonic attack, and that attack was a ranged attack that could shatter trees a dozen meters away without the need to make a move.

The fat merman and Green Hair looked at each other, and the fat merman asked, “You don’t know sonic?”

Bai Lixin, “No, teach me.”

The fat merman pointed to his stomach, “The main parts that produce sound waves are the abdominal cavity and the throat.”

“Using the abdominal cavity to generate power and send out ultra-high frequency sound via high-speed vibration at the throat. That is the sound wave that only we merfolk can hear.”

Bai Lixin, “Then why did you use sound waves when we encountered the Hundred-Eyed Monster just now?”

Green Hair: “The hundred-eyed monster is our natural enemy. It has even learned our sound waves in order to be able to hunt us. If we had used sound waves, it would have spotted us immediately. So I warn you, don’t use your sound waves when you come across the Hundred-Eyed Monster. And don’t run, play dead to avoid its attacks.”

Bai Lixin took Green Hair’s warning to heart. He then drew a breath into his mouth as the fat merman had just demonstrated, sending it outwards while making the throat vibrate.

A strange and melodious sound reached Bai Lixin’s ears.

The sound was extraordinarily long and clear in the vast sea.

The fat merman couldn’t help but applaud, “How impressive, you learned it in a flash. Sound waves aren’t like words; they can’t convey very detailed textual content, but the meaning of different sound waves is already imprinted in our instincts.”

“But it’s understandable that you don’t know. After all, you are a messenger sent down from the heavens. I’ll tell you more about the use of sound waves when we get back.” The fat merman was very talkative, and after a pause, he continued, “I will now hand over a few commonly used sonic waves.”

The fat merman demonstrated to Bai Lixin a few sonic tones for warning, spotting prey, etc.

Bai Lixin practiced for ten minutes and soon mastered the technique.

Just when he was about to move away from them, the fat merman called out to him, “Wait, the elders told us to protect you well, so we can’t let you go on your own. Do you want me or do you want to follow Kaya to protect you?”

Kaya was the name of the green-haired merman.

Bai Lixin looked at the fat merman and then at the green one, but before he could say anything, Kaya was the first to speak, “I’ll follow him. He saved my life twice; this is what I should give back to him.”

“Okay.” Bai Lixin didn’t have a problem with it. It was all the same no matter who followed him. If they ran into something, it was not certain who would protect whom.

The allocation was happily decided, and the fat merman quickly swam off into the distance.