CH 31

Gu Jiaoxiu pretending to be indifferent, diverted his gaze from the blue-tailed mermaid. He was nudged by the person beside him, and a teasing voice sounded, “Does Colonel Gu have a preference for that type?”

“You’re overthinking.” Gu Jiaoxiu maintained a cold expression. Just then, he caught sight of the blue-tailed mermaid getting up. He didn’t call for assistance; instead, he lifted his tail and slid toward the mermaid vehicle.

Observing this, Gu Jiaoxiu was surprised. The mermaid climbed without being carried; was he a natural-born species? But that was impossible.

Not only was Gu Jiaoxiu astonished, but almost everyone witnessing this scene had wide eyes.

Artificially bred mermaids were usually delicate. Even standing on land, not to mention using their tails to stand up, was a challenging feat.

Only natural-born species, surviving through numerous hunts and standing at the top of the deep-sea food chain, possessed robust bodies capable of freely navigating on land.

Now, living natural-born species were already extremely rare. Was this mermaid truly an exceptionally rare natural-born species?

Under the gazes of the crowd – some amazed, others dubious – Jun Ye continued sliding his tail towards the mermaid vehicle without any expression on his face. In the eyes of the onlookers, he looked stunning, surprising, and questionable all at once.

With every person holding their breath, Jun Ye reached a certain distance, but he slightly furrowed his brows. There was a momentary glimpse of panic on his face.

“Damn, those folds on the skirt are pressed by the tail.”

By now, he had already tilted forward. The next move would either be an intimate encounter with the ground, or he could exert more force to continue sliding forward, resulting in the garment being rendered useless.

“…”

Alright, an intimate encounter it is.

Jun Ye gave up struggling, and as he relaxed his tail, the entire mermaid tilted forward and fell.

Contrary to the expected scenario of an intimate encounter with the ground, Jun Ye’s outstretched hands hadn’t even touched the anti-skid tiles. Instead, several arms caught him.

The mermaid aquarium was not only filled with staff, but also many young officers here for the matchmaking event. Each one of them had an extraordinary understanding of human balance, and they immediately noticed Jun Ye’s awkward posture.

A delicate mermaid about to fall was too good of an opportunity to show off to pass up.

“Curses, those bastards beat me to it.” The brown-haired officer muttered, reluctantly retracting his left leg that had just stepped forward. He noticed that Gu Jiaoxiu had also subtly moved forward, teasingly remarking, “Didn’t you just say you don’t like that kind?”

Gu Jiaoxiu’s expression was very displeased. He didn’t know what possessed him, but seeing the mermaid about to fall, he impulsively wanted to rush up.

If someone hadn’t already taken action and forcibly stopped him, he might have become one of the people crowding around the mermaid.

“I do indeed not like it,” Gu Jiaoxiu glanced away, “Such delicate mermaids would probably cry with just a light touch.”

“Oh~” The brown-haired officer raised an eyebrow, laughing, “I didn’t expect Colonel Gu to like the wild ones. But that mermaid’s tail was indeed exceptionally long. If it were entwined around the body… hehe, don’t even mention how enchanting that would be.”

“If you like it, go pursue it yourself.” Gu Jiaoxiu quickened his pace, heading towards the other side of the mermaid aquarium’s open space. He chose to ignore the commotion over who would get to carry the delicate little mermaid to the mermaid vehicle.

“Make way, everyone! I have steady hands, and I’ve even studied carrying mermaids systematically. Why would you let these clumsy fools handle it? Don’t let the little mermaid get hurt!” one officer in military uniform declared arrogantly.

“Hey? Don’t you think you should let those who came first have a chance? I was the one who caught this lord first,” another officer, feeling dissatisfied, retorted.

“Who gets to carry him should depend on the preferences of the mermaid.” A third officer suggested in a low voice.

“What’s all this yelling about? In the military, we settle things with fists! Let’s use our fists!” A muscular officer cracked his knuckles.

Jun Ye: “…”

A group of burly men were vying to carry him in a princess hold. Jun Ye’s emotions couldn’t be described as anything other than bizarre, especially when these men were “assisting” him in the middle.

He looked over at the white-uniformed staff members waiting at a distance.

—Do you let visitors get so close to rare animals like this in the aquarium?

The staff members, all in white uniforms, kept their attention on the scene, and the one responsible for Jun Ye in this area gave him a polite smile but showed no intention of approaching.

Jun Ye then remembered that his attendant had mentioned military officers coming to take care of him after a month. Did this mean the aquarium intended to hand him over to be sold to these officers?

Perhaps this wasn’t an aquarium at all but a large pet store that had leased the marine area. Jun Ye thought to himself with a deadpan expression.

Meanwhile, the officers’ provocations had escalated to physical confrontation, with each of them refusing to let go of the mermaid they had in their grasp.

As punches and kicks clashed in front of him, Jun Ye grew increasingly irritated. He skillfully deflected several flying punches but became even more annoyed when they wouldn’t release their grip on him.

Seeing the ongoing scuffle, Jun Ye had had enough. He flipped his wrist, neutralizing the force of incoming fists. Simultaneously, he untangled the “supportive” hands around him, leaped backward, and plunged into the water.

A splash resounded, and the group of officers onshore stared at each other, dumbfounded. It took them a while to comprehend what had just happened. A delicate mermaid had actually resolved their conflict? And then, without a care, he swam away.

The initial thoughts that were dismissed when Jun Ye fell down returned to them. Was he a natural-born species? Was it possible? In a place where officers below the rank of commanders were participating in a matchmaking event?

It was common knowledge that the offspring of natural-born mermaids were born with top-tier water-based abilities. They were highly sought after, and even the partners of marshals and councilors were only considered special variants. Currently, the only places with natural-born mermaids were the major mermaid research centers, and those specimens were discovered as corpses in the Ice Sea Ruins.

So, was this just a variant, in terms of heightened senses or enhanced physical attributes?

Hmm, it must be like that.

Sometimes people tend to rationalize and find evidence to support peculiar things presented to them. However, those were not the concerns of Jun Ye. He swam away from the commotion, roaming around 20 meters below the water’s surface.

He needed to think about the future. In the short term, it was certain that the aquarium would sell him as a pet within a month. This meant he had to cozy up to someone who could buy him as a pet within this time frame. The difficulty of this task shouldn’t be high, considering the scene where the officers were fighting over who got to carry the mermaid. It was clear he had a market.

Looking at the long term, he knew there was a task he needed to complete in this world. However, the trashy system hadn’t mentioned what the task was, what happened if it failed, or the rewards for success. Jun Ye decided to set aside this so-called task for now.

For him, finding a caretaker was more important than this unspecified task. After all, he had lived his life free of charge. Even if he turned into a pet mermaid, it would be a different life experience.

After making these considerations, Jun Ye felt much better. He found the shoals of small colorful fish pleasing to the eye and even tasted a few by catching them on the way.

After swimming for a few hours and having almost eaten every species he deemed edible, Jun Ye floated back to the water’s surface. He wondered if eating such a variety of random things would upset his stomach. Who cared? He felt fine, anyway.

This was the first time he discovered his appetite was so large. After eating for over an hour, he didn’t feel full. Moreover, he felt more agile when swimming.

Upon surfacing, Jun Ye noticed that the activity area had become less crowded. Scanning the area, he only saw a few military and white-uniformed personnel. Most of the mermaids had left, and those people followed suit.

In this activity area, there were only four mermaids left, including him. Jun Ye wasn’t sure if the other mermaids were resting or had already been sold. He looked at the three mermaids gathered together in the distance and decided to swim over to inquire about the situation.

Those mermaids were lying on top of an inflatable jellyfish, and a few muscular human males were swimming nearby. Two of them were the military officers who had fought over the princess carry earlier.

As Jun Ye, with only his shoulders above the water, approached, one of the mermaids noticed him, screamed, and quickly swam to the pool’s edge. The humans, including the two officers, hurriedly followed.

The other two mermaids looked at Jun Ye with suspicion. As they recognized him, they made the same shocked reaction as the previous mermaid.

However, everyone quickly left, chasing after the three mermaids. The remaining humans didn’t understand what had happened and looked at Jun Ye, but they chose to go after the mermaids who had spent some time with them.

Jun Ye: “…”

Everyone left… Do I look that fierce?

Jun Ye surveyed the activity area, and with the departure of those three mermaids, he was the only mermaid left. The military officer without a mermaid companion was sitting alone on the edge of the pool, several hundred meters away.

Jun Ye had excellent vision, and he could clearly see the officer with brown hair and a single eye patch.

Even though the aquarium’s caretaker mentioned a one-month timeframe, if the other mermaids had already marketed themselves on the first day, being the only unsold item, Jun Ye had no idea how he might be handled.

Jun Ye wanted to continue living a carefree life, experiencing fish life. Naturally, having some control over his destiny was essential.

With these thoughts in mind, Jun Ye glanced at the lone military officer and then looked at the inflatable jellyfish floating on the water’s surface.

On the other side, Gu Jiaoxiu sat cross-legged at the edge of the pool farthest from the entrance, attentively reading the information displayed on the device in his hand.

His attire was neat, not even taking off his military boots. In contrast to the eager officers who had already revealed their bodies in the water, he exuded an aura of restrained sensibility.

Mermaids bred in the center were generally shy and wouldn’t actively seek out humans. Gu Jiaoxiu enjoyed the tranquility of sitting here.

However, at this moment, in the now quiet mermaid aquarium, he heard the sound of something approaching in the water. Subconsciously looking up, he was momentarily stunned.

The mermaid that left a deep impression on his body and mind was swimming towards him, pushing a massive white inflatable jellyfish.

Looking up at Gu Jiaoxiu from the poolside, Jun Ye smiled and asked, “Want to play together?”

And that’s all for the extra updates of this special day