Picking Up Special Marine Creatures While Going to the Sea [Apocalypse] - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Su Ran Takes in the Mermaid

Is it an act?

The corner of Su Ran’s mouth twitched, and he wanted to turn around and leave in an instant.

However, his right foot had already turned sixty degrees when he stopped.

After two or three seconds, he turned around and took a step forward.

•|•

The sea water came up and slowly flowed over his cheeks.

The mermaid opened his eyes and saw a familiar figure coming in front of him. He put down the shovel, held… a chicken, and squatted down.

The little hen tilted her head left and right, stretched her neck, and seemed to want to peck him.

“Humans are indeed evil.”

The mermaid spoke quietly.

When Su Ran heard this opening remark, the corner of his mouth twitched again.

“Then I’ll leave now?” Having said that, he didn’t stand up again. Instead, he asked in confusion, “Why did you fall again?”

Looking closely, the mermaid’s shoulders and back had marks of sunburn, which were extremely conspicuous against his cold white skin.

“Damaged by the sun?” Su Ran murmured.

He stretched out his right hand and noticed the long and short blood marks on his palm that had just been cut by the broken glass. He paused, retracted it, and used his left hand to scoop up a handful of sea water and pour it on the mermaid.

The mermaid glanced at his right hand, closed his eyes, and his expression became a little relaxed, as if he felt much more comfortable with the instant coolness.

Su Ran muttered, “How come you can’t stand the sun even more than me? It’s only March and you’re already like this. And if you can’t stand the sun any more, just go in the water for a while. Why do you have to stand here… By the way, how did you faint last time?”

It was night and there was no sun.

The mermaid opened his eyes again and said calmly, “The oxygen content in the air on land is still a little too high.”

Su Ran: “…………?”

‘What’s the meaning?’

‘Ah, you mean last time it was oxygen intoxication?’

Such a delicate and fragile mermaid, even the slightest movement can bring him down…

The mermaid didn’t know whether he heard his complaints or not. His deep blue eyes turned, his heroic brows drooped, and she asked in a tone of confusion: “You would rather raise a chicken than me?”

Su Ran: “…”

What kind of nice person would ask such a question?

He said angrily: “Chickens won’t attack me, but you will; chickens won’t consume too much of my food, but you will; chickens won’t choke me to death, but you will!”

The little hen wagged her tail: “Cluck, cluck, cluck!”

“Chickens have no value, but I do.”

Su Ran’s eyes blurred, and when he came to his senses, the mermaid took out something from somewhere and handed it to him – it was actually a scallop!

The red shells reflected a bright luster in the sunlight, opening and closing with a click, and the thick scallop meat inside was clearly visible.

Su Ran’s heart skipped a beat.

‘Scallops are not that easy to pick up. You are lucky enough to pick one up occasionally!’

He reached out to take it excitedly.

Yes, although mermaids are ferocious, they are freer in the sea than humans. If they could dive into the seabed to hunt, they would have a lot of delicious food every day…

“These are our children.”

The mermaid affirmed.

Su Ran took the hand and slapped it instead.

The mermaid was slapped face down into the mud and water, his deep blue eyes looking at Su Ran faintly through his wet hair.

Su Ran quickly withdrew his hand, hugged the hen tightly, shrank his neck, and said vigilantly and guiltily: “…This is how it is in our family! Children who talk nonsense will be slapped!”

The mermaid frowned, raised his hand to touch the back of his head, then put his hand in front of his and looked at it in confusion, as if he couldn’t believe that the iron bull’s strength that had just hit his head was exerted by a human hand.

Su Ran felt even more guilty and started talking incessantly.

“You, why do you always say weird things… Do you mermaids watch melodramatic TV shows? But we humans stopped doing dramas where a mother’s status depends on her son’s status eight hundred years ago. Don’t learn from the good and pick up the bad instead, always thinking of taking shortcuts…”

The mermaid looked up at him. “But the elders say that melodrama is timeless and remains a classic no matter how long it passes.”

Su Ran complained: “You are so casual as to deceive me like this… The young man wants to marry into the family. The Phoenix fish is quite classic. It’s a pity, I’m not gay.”

The mermaid looked surprised: “You are not gay?”

“?” Su Ran, “Do I look like a gay?”

The mermaid’s eyes swept over his body and below, and Su Ran felt as if he was being scanned by a laser, and a burst of electricity ran through his body.

His heart began to beat fast and his cheeks began to heat up. He was so anxious that he almost said something else. The mermaid said, “We are a small tribe with a narrow social circle. We don’t have many choices, so we don’t care about gender.”

‘So I instinctively assumed you were too.’

Su Ran understood the subtext, and his panicked heart immediately calmed down a bit.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and cleared his throat: “Well, then you guys are quite messy.”

The mermaid nodded seriously. “Indeed, it’s a frightening mess. So please take me in and protect me. There are too many people coveting me over there.”

Su Ran: “…………”

Why is this fish trying to find an opportunity to be taken in?

But when he looked, he saw the mermaid lying weakly in the water, his black hair wet and sticky to his body, his deep blue eyes, and an evil aura emanating from his whole body.

…It’s indeed a look that would make people covet it.

But he is not feminine. His figure and features would not remind people of a woman. Su Ran could not find any male stars with a similar style among the many male stars in the entertainment industry.

‘What fool would dare to covet such a tall and strong fish? Oh, I almost forgot, this is a weak fish that can’t take care of itself.’

Su Ran’s mind was full of chaotic thoughts.

‘——Can’t take this guy home.’

This was clearly what he thought, and it was the right thing to do. In the past two days, he had never doubted his decision.

But when the aurora flickered in the sky last night, when the zombies roared in the streets, when the little hen flew into his arms, when it gazed at the sea and let out that happy cry… Su Ran had to admit that some corners of his heart were loosening.

He pursed his lips and lowered his eyes.

The mermaid looked at him thoughtfully without interrupting him.

After a moment, Su Ran raised her eyes and said, “There are five people in my family. Besides me, my parents, I also have a brother and a sister—but they are not at home now.”

“So now I’m actually the only one at home. Besides me, I have a dog named Xue Tuan, and this new member.”

He held the hen in his arms.

“If you come, you will be the fourth member of our family.”

The mermaid’s eyes dimmed.

This human is giving his confession.

He told him clearly, and also told himself: once he brought him home, if he wanted to kill him, he could do it at any time, it would be a very simple thing.

This can even be done without anyone noticing.

Su Ran changed the subject: “–But I don’t keep idle people. When you come, you have to share the housework. You have to farm with me, clean the house with me, and find ways to solve problems together when we encounter danger…”

He began to list them, counting on his fingers.

The mermaid narrowed his eyes.

After the naked confession, this human actually skipped the topic and started discussing all sorts of random things.

Does that mean leaving life and death to him?

Or, had he completely given up on thinking about complex issues of human nature and left everything to fate?

Su Ran listed a bunch of household chores as examples, and then began to talk about their family’s rules. Seeing that the mermaid seemed to be slacking off, he waved his hand in dissatisfaction: “Did you hear that? Can you accept it? If not, forget it. I won’t raise a young master—”

“I do.”

The mermaid grabbed his wrist tightly and uttered four words between her lips.

“I can do it.”

Su Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He struggled, lowered his head and reached into his trouser pocket to feel around.

Quickly, he took out a small pair of nail clippers and handed them to the mermaid: “Here.”

The mermaid: “?”

Su Ran coughed twice. He had somehow put the nail clippers into his trouser pocket before going out, and he didn’t have time to think about his thoughts at that time.

“Didn’t I just tell you that once you enter our house, you have to abide by our rules? One of our house rules is – you’re not allowed to have such ugly nails.”

Mermaid: “…”

“You can’t accept that?” Su Ran pretended to put away the nail clippers, “Then I think we should just accept it—”

The mermaid snatched the nail clippers, pursed his lips and looked at them, then lay on the ground, frowned, and pointed the thing at her nails.

Su Ran smiled secretly, looking at his posture, and asked tentatively: “You’ve never had your nails cut before?”

“My family has always followed the natural development of the body. My nails have never grown long, they are just pointed.”

Having said that, the mermaid aimed at the nails and pressed down her tail with a decisive move.

With a snap, a nail fell off.

Su Ran glanced at the long hair behind the mermaid.

No wonder his hair is so long.

The mermaid lay there cutting his nails very seriously, the sound of snapping continued and his nails kept falling on the sand.

At a certain moment——

He frowned and released the clamp.

A trace of blood appeared on the fingertip, and bright red blood quickly seeped out from under the skin.

The mermaid stared at the blood beads that were rapidly condensing. He raised his eyes and was about to speak when he found that the young man’s figure had moved several meters away.

The hen was put aside by him and was walking on the sand.

The young man was shoveling sand with his shovel. After shoveling out a pile, he leaned over and reached into the hole, not caring that the mud and water would stain his sleeves. After a while, he pulled out something, held it high in excitement, turned around and shouted to him, “It’s clams! There are clams here!”

In his hands, the thick king clam shone brightly in the sunlight.

“Ah, don’t cut it yet. Leave one hand. This hand is perfect for digging clams!”

Mermaid: “…………”

Humans are such fickle.

•|•

Discovering razor clams was a pleasant surprise.

Su Ran walked around the beach and found many figure-eight breathing holes. Unfortunately, he didn’t bring any salt with him today, so he could only dig with his bare hands.

The mermaid quickly and shakily stood up, still looking very weak, but much better than the night they first met.

Su Ran waved at him without turning back, asking him to come over quickly.

When the huge shadow fell over his head, the mermaid squatted beside him. Su Ran turned around and was about to teach him how to dig razor clams, but his eyes were involuntarily attracted by the mermaid’s lower body. Uh…

He was stunned for two or three seconds, his face suddenly flushed, and he turned his head away, feeling like smoke was about to come out of his head.

‘How can it touch the ground? It’s too exaggerated…’

The mermaid was completely unaware and looked at him in confusion: “What’s wrong?”

Su Ran still tilted his head: “Can you find something to cover it…”

The mermaid reacted, lowered his eyes and glanced at his lower body, raised an eyebrow, without any sense of shame about being naked. When he raised her eyes again, his tone was even a hint of a smile: “Not gay?”

“…………No, it’s just not! Do straight men have to face that thing of yours?!”

“Cover with what?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the mermaid lazily grab a handful of sand and throw it there. It was obvious that it wouldn’t cover it up and would only make the thing more noticeable and more frightening. Su Ran hurriedly threw the shovel over.

The mermaid took the shovel and let out a deep laugh in his throat.

Su Ran’s face became even hotter.

…He’s not gay, why is he blushing?

“Now, stop blushing,” the mermaid chuckled, “and turn around.”

Su Ran paused and turned back cautiously.

…The mermaid had already loosely grasped the shovel, and the shiny shovel surface just blocked that position.

Su Ran’s mind was still buzzing. Whose clothes in his family could possibly fit this guy? He looked almost 5’9″ tall, and his brother was only 5’8″ tall, and not as muscular as him. Surely his clothes wouldn’t fit him…

Su Ran was teaching the mermaid the secret of digging razor clams while daydreaming.

It must be said that the mermaid looked like a young master and seemed unable to take care of himself, but he had a strong learning ability and soon succeeded in digging one out.

They each occupied a territory on the beach, sticking their butts out, digging from here to there, and from there to here.

When the sun rose to the zenith, Su Ran wiped the sweat from his head. There was already a pile of bamboo clams on the beach in front of him, at least thirty of them.

The mermaid had his back to him, and his exposed shoulders were obviously redder.

He dug out a razor clam, put it down, scratched his shoulder, and just as he spotted the next breathing hole to continue, Su Ran opened his mouth and shouted, “Alright, that’s enough!”

“That’s it, let’s go home!”

•|•

He went out alone, and came back happily with a partner, a chicken, and a handful of clams.

Xue Tuan stood on the steps in front of the door in shock for two seconds, then hurried forward, sniffed Su Ran anxiously, stood up and sniffed the hen in his arms, then pounced on the mermaid curiously.

The mermaid held the clam in his right hand and the shovel in his left hand to block his parts. Seeing the snowball rushing straight towards between his legs, he took two steps back with a wooden face.

“Okay, don’t be like this. This is a guest. He will be staying at our house starting today.” Su Ran suddenly remembered something and turned around to ask, “What’s your name? My name is Su Ran.”

He had forgotten such a crucial question until now.

“Xing Lin.”

“Which one is which one?”

“In human language, the words ‘star’ and ‘approach’ are used.”

“…How come you are so familiar with our language?” Su Ran didn’t realize this until this time.

To be precise, what they are communicating at this moment is not just “human language”, but “Chinese language”.

The Earth achieved a Grand Union two thousand years ago. Today, there is only one federal government, but people everywhere still use their ancestral languages.

When Xing Lin heard his question, he shifted his gaze from Xue Tuan to him and gave him an unfathomable smile.

“Because we have to learn your language and culture since childhood, so that we can communicate smoothly when we meet you one day.”

Su Ran paused.

“Can you tell me a little bit about you guys?”

They walked across the yard together, Xing Lin looking around.

Su Ran put the hen on the ground and told it, “I’ll give you food later. Don’t peck at the vegetables in the field. Even if you want to, just peck at one.” He also told the extremely excited Xue Tuan, “Don’t bite it. You are its brother now. You have to take care of it.” Then he and Xing Lin walked into the house.

Su Ran had to let this guy take a shower first before he could put on clean clothes, so he led the person upstairs.

He heard a man’s voice coming from behind.

“We live in the inner world. To be precise, it’s not the center of the Earth, but a hollow space attached to the surface of the Earth. Your government knows of our existence.”

Su Ran almost tripped over the stairs.

‘The inner world?!’

‘Do legendary creatures like the Inner Earth People really exist?’

“They made contact about five years ago?” Xing Lin said nonchalantly. “Five years ago, disasters began to erupt on your surface world, and our government provided you with a lot of technical support.”

“At that time, there were many high-tech products on the market!” Su Ran was stunned.

The ultra-small water filter they are using now, and the three-second rapid treatment spray and super-effective anti-inflammatory drugs stored in their medicine cabinet are all products that suddenly appeared on the market five years ago.

People are amazed at the explosive progress of science and technology. With the help of technology, they have overcome the difficulties brought by natural disasters and have never doubted that those things may not be created by humans at all.

Su Ran was shocked. He didn’t expect to suddenly learn such a truth.

“Yes, our technology is far ahead of yours, but we can’t survive on the surface like you do. Our world has no sun, no moon. Turning on the lights means day, and turning them off means dark.”

“There’s no wind, no rain. It only takes six hours to drive from one end of the territory to the other.”

Xing Lin’s tone was flat.

“Five one-way valves have been in our ‘sky’ since ancient times. They can prevent seawater from pouring in. Get on an amphibious vehicle, open the valves, and go out to the ocean that belongs to you.”

Su Ran couldn’t help but turn around.

They had just reached the corner of the stairs when Xing Lin, who was looking at the scenery outside the window, sensed his gaze and turned back.

“Of course, we can leave the submarine and take off our protective suits, but both the seawater and the air on the surface will kill us in a short time.”

Su Ran murmured: “So what are you doing now…?”

Xing Lin suddenly laughed.

“Because our bodies have evolved. No, it shouldn’t be called evolution, it’s mutation.”

“When the disaster invaded the Earth’s core from the surface and magma poured in, we escaped to your world through a one-way valve and discovered that our bodies were able to adapt.”

They were able to adapt to sea water and air.

Although there will still be some discomfort, it takes time to get used to.

But they can finally step onto land freely.

For a moment, Su Ran felt horrified.