Picking Up Special Marine Creatures While Going to the Sea [Apocalypse] - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – The Mermaid Leaves Su Ran Flustered

However, when the image of the devastated village and zombies running rampant flashed through his mind, the fear quickly faded away.

It is easy for people to develop a “broken jar” mentality in such an environment. When things get bad to a certain extent, you will not be afraid of them getting worse.

Su Ran calmed down and quickly realized a problem.

…Have humans and the inner earth people evolved?

No, according to Xing Lin, the current situation is called a mutation.

Su Ran agreed with this point. The current evidence was not enough to prove that the series of changes that happened to them would definitely help them survive. Perhaps in the future, there may also be bad changes. Perhaps somebody might have already faced problems, but the network was disconnected and communication between people was blocked, so no one knew about it.

“How many people from your clan escaped?”

Xing Lin’s tone was still very casual.

“I don’t know. When we escaped, everyone was only concerned about themselves and didn’t care about others. I lost consciousness after swimming in the sea for a short time. When I woke up, I was already on the beach. Yes, that was the night I met you.”

Su Ran’s head was in a knot.

“So what do you mean by acclimated to the sea? You’ve been floating in the ocean for a long time, right? Does that mean you can breathe underwater like marine life?”

“Before the mutation, we were able to breathe water. Half of our body systems are the same as those of marine life. It’s the composition of your seawater that will kill us.”

“…So after the mutation, our seawater is no longer toxic to you?”

“Well, neither the sea water nor the air can poison us anymore, but it takes time for our bodies to adapt to the change in environment. It’s more comfortable on land than in the sea.”

Su Ran was digesting the huge amount of information and always felt that he had many questions to ask, but he couldn’t think clearly for a while.

“By the way, what are zombies?” Xing Lin suddenly asked.

“?” Su Ran, “Your kind knows that many disasters have happened here, but you don’t know about zombies?”

Xing Lin raised an eyebrow: “I haven’t heard of such a thing in the news.”

“…You guys are still openly broadcasting our news?… Our zombie outbreak happened on February 13th. When was yours destroyed?”

“Oh, it’s also February 13th.”

“…………”

It happened on the same day, no wonder.

So this guy was unconscious in the ocean for over a month?

Su Ran stepped onto the second floor and tried to explain, “Zombies are monsters transformed from humans. They have no sense of reason and go around biting people and spreading viruses. They were originally infected by a zombie virus. This virus is everywhere in the air. On February 13th alone, many people were infected. So far… I can’t say what the situation is like outside, but I’m the only one left in our village. You may not have noticed when you came back just now, but there are only zombies in the courtyards along the way, no people.”

Xing Lin tilted his head.

Su Ran’s voice softened. “I don’t know what the situation is outside the village right now, but it’s probably not very optimistic, otherwise someone would have come to rescue us long ago.”

However, the whole island was so quiet that it seemed as if there was no living thing.

From this, they could infer that on the other side of the sea, in the inland cities, and on the entire planet, the situation must be very bad at the moment.

It is unknown how many survivors like him are struggling to survive surrounded by zombies.

Xing Lin looked at him and asked, “Then why haven’t you gone out to take a look?”

Su Ran was stunned.

“If humans organize a rescue force, these teams will only be formed in large cities with sufficient military equipment and manpower, not on a small island.”

Xing Lin walked up slowly.

He was very tall. When Su Ran looked at him straight in the eye, he could only see his high nose bridge and thin lips.

“And aren’t your family members out there too?” the man tilted his head and asked probingly, “Aren’t you worried about them? Don’t you want to go out and look for them?”

“…”

The young man in front of him had his soft black hair blocking his eyes.

The young man has a face that is too delicate and pretty for a boy, with a pointed chin and a hint of baby fat on his face. He has a contradictory temperament that is between a teenager and an adult man, a mixture of maturity and immaturity.

That cheek seemed to blush easily, and those bright eyes easily showed panic, and when shocked, they would open wide, like a small animal…

Xing Lin stared at the face.

The next second, Su Ran raised his chin, and his beautiful black eyes appeared from under his black hair, but they were very calm.

Xing Lin paused.

“How could I not want to go find them? But they told me they were safe and told me to wait for them at home. If I disobeyed and ran out now, wouldn’t that just cause them trouble?”

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the bathroom.

“…” Xing Lin followed suit, still curious, “They asked you to wait, so you are really waiting?”

“What else?” Su Ran walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. “Currently, signal towers around the world are all out of service. I can’t keep in touch with them all the time. I only know where they left from, but not which route they’ll take back. If I accidentally miss them after I go out, wouldn’t that be chaos?”

Seeing Xing Lin follow in, he pointed to the items on the sink and said, “Don’t touch the skincare products and makeup. My sister and mom will be furious if they find out they’ve been moved. I’ll get you a new set of towels, toothbrushes, and wash cups.”

He squatted down, opened the cabinet under the sink and started searching: “Do you want to go outside?”

He heard Xing Lin’s voice coming lazily from behind.

“Well, I’m going to go outside after I recover.”

“Are you still feeling unwell?”

“It will take me some time to fully adapt to the land air.”

“So you still feel dizzy now?” Su Ran turned around cautiously, “Let me make it clear first, you have to do housework even if you’re drunk on oxygen. You can’t shirk it!”

The mermaid was leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded, a playful smile on his face.

“…………Who told you to put down the shovel?!”

“There’s no one else here.”

“Am I protecting other people’s eyes by asking you to block it with a shovel?!”

The mermaid looked at him, picked up the shovel he had just put down to block the attack, and then looked at him again, as if to say, “I’ve done as you said.”

Su Ran blushed and glared at him fiercely.

He was very depressed, upset about why he blushed so easily. He turned his head away and found a new set of toiletries. He stood up and put them on the counter. He said sullenly, “…Don’t use too much water. We don’t have enough water at home right now. I’ll have to find a way to bring more back from the beach later. You can just… forget it this time. I’ll take it for you. Just make do with it today. Use a wet towel to wipe yourself, and don’t wash your hair yet. I don’t think it’s too dirty.”

Xing Lin turned his head and looked at the wet hair draped over his shoulders.

Su Ran blushed.

Well, “not very dirty” is a bit of a lie. After all, it’s been soaked in sea water, so it’s always a bit uncomfortable. But at least it’s not covered with sand, so after drying it should last for two days…

He moved the basin to the sink to collect water. After struggling, he finally collected more water, causing the water level to rise to the middle of the basin.

He hadn’t used so much water in one go in the past month… The only ones in the house who have the privilege of using water now are the small vegetables in the fields and the nursery shed.

Reluctantly putting the basin of water down, the mermaid studied his expression and asked sincerely, “How about you use it first, and I’ll use it later?”

Su Ran almost kicked him.

“… Wash up quickly, I’ll get you some clothes!”

Through the door, Su Ran heard a low “thank you”.

•|•

Su Ran ran to his brother’s room and opened the wardrobe to look for something.

Fortunately, he quickly found a few brand new oversized suits. After thinking carefully, he remembered that these were bought by his mother and sister for his brother in the past.

He still remembered that his mother always complained that his brother’s dressing style was too formal. His closet was full of business suits and shirts. He looked boring and old-fashioned like an old man.

Su Yixin strongly disagreed with this view. She believed that the abstinent and domineering style was still very popular, and that it would be more appropriate if her brother wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

The mother and daughter, who have always had the same aesthetic taste, had a fierce argument over this. The mother said that the old brother was hopeless, and Su Yixin pondered over how he could be hopeless when he was so handsome and could be saved. In the end, the mother and daughter decided to have a clothes-changing competition for the brother. They went online to buy clothes separately, and let his older brother wear them after the clothes arrived. Then they asked Su Ran and his father to be judges and give scores to see who had better aesthetic taste.

…This inexplicable competition ended in vain because his brother went on a business trip abroad for a month. When he came back, these clothes had been completely forgotten by his family and were gathering dust in the corner of the closet.

Su Ran decided to now allow them to see the light again.

Obviously, the aesthetic tastes of the mother and daughter are very consistent after all. No matter whether it is a trendy casual style or a fashionable suit style, they finally buy oversized sizes. The main idea is that a 1.85-meter-tall person wearing clothes that are 1.9 meters tall looks lazy and relaxed.

…………Who would have thought that there would actually be a 1.9-meter-tall man in this family?

Su Ran was pondering among several sets of clothes.

There are no proper winter clothes here, but fortunately, the current temperature allows him to wear spring clothes, so he changes into several sets of sweatshirts every day.

The mermaid is weak and he wondered if he would feel cold.

…But he was naked the whole time, and he never saw Xing Lin tremble.

It’s a fragile but fiery fish.

Su Ran bent down and found a pack of brand new underwear from his brother’s drawer. He opened it, took out a pair, and carried it to the bathroom along with the clothes. He opened the door and left it to him.

——There are no extra-large sizes of underwear, and no one in the family has underwear that fits that guy’s size. He can’t do anything but the mermaid could figure it out himself!

After doing these things, Su Ran returned to the first floor. The little hen was pacing around the vegetable garden.

It would stretch its neck from time to time and peck at the ground. If one looked closely, one would see that it is holding earthworms that crawled out of the soil, not vegetable leaves.

Xue Tuan anxiously circled back and forth behind the hen, looking shy as if he really wanted to talk but didn’t know how to start because of the language barrier.

Su Ran couldn’t help laughing. He walked over and picked a vegetable from the ground. He squatted down, broke open the leaves and threw them on the ground.

The little hen was very smart. She knew it was time for dinner, so she immediately waddled over to eat the leaves.

She eats quietly.

After returning from the beach, the little hen never made any sound again, just like the Xue Tuan.

“Actually, it’s okay to scream quietly,” Su Ran whispered, “You don’t have to be so cautious.”

However, small animals do not know what “cautious” means; they only have the instinct for survival.

So the dumb chicken ate happily, and the dumb dog kept company with eager eyes, and they were quite happy and comfortable.

After a while, Su Ran heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and was stunned when he saw what was happening.

The man walked over wearing a trendy black printed sweatshirt, loose ripped jeans, and a pair of black leather slippers.

It was clearly the clothes that Su Ran had personally delivered, but at this moment his brain was a little confused when he saw them.

This is a very hip-hop outfit, which makes the mermaid look tall and strong, without any sense of disharmony or absurdity. Perhaps because his facial features are too handsome, he looks like a top idol who is about to go on a show.

The most important thing is that this guy tied up his long hair.

His black hair was tied into a ponytail, revealing his elegant face. Only a few strands of hair hung down from his forehead, adding a touch of casualness to this overly dazzling face.

Xing Lin came out, touching the back of his neck. When he met Su Ran’s gaze, he paused and subconsciously said, “You said the hair tie can be used.”

Just as Su Ran dropped his clothes, he heard the mermaid behind the door ask if he could use the hairband on the rack in front of the mirror. Su Ran affirmed.

Of course, the headband can be used, but Su Ran didn’t expect that after this guy tied his hair up, he would look so…

“Are you stunned?” the mermaid raised his eyebrows and asked in a cheeky tone.

Su Ran: “…………You’re talking nonsense!!”

Xing Lin smiled indifferently, walked over and stood behind Su Ran, put his hands in his pockets, and bent down to watch the hen pecking at the leaves.

“Why did you take it to the beach today?”

A large shadow fell over, and Su Ran turned around abruptly, his movements of peeling vegetable leaves becoming a little messy.

“I went to rescue it first and then went to the beach. If the maggots hadn’t caught up with me, I might not have even gone to the beach… I might have gone straight home!”

Xing Lin’s deep blue eyes turned and glanced at the young man’s flustered hands.

“Oh…” This sound was drawn out with some meaning, “Do you always carry nail clippers with you?”

Su Ran’s heart skipped a beat and he almost pinched his own finger.

“…Y-yeah, is that not possible?”

“Okay,” the mermaid said, half-smiled, then suddenly said, “My underwear is a bit tight.”

“!” Su Ran was about to bite his tongue this time.

“… Well, there’s nothing I can do about it. My brother’s underwear is the biggest in the family. If you feel it’s tight, just try to stretch it out yourself.”

“How do you do that?”

“…………Use your hands to do it. How else?”

What are they doing and talking about?

Xing Lin put his finger to his lips and glanced calmly at the young man’s ears, which were red as if they were about to bleed.

“What do you mean by being chased by maggots?”

Su Ran tried hard to regain his sanity and logic, and raised his chin towards the hen. “It was originally raised by Sister Zhao. All the other chickens in their family were bitten to death. Their bodies decomposed and maggots grew. When I went to save it, the maggots had mutated and chased me. But fortunately, they died when I ran to the beach…”

Xing Lin’s gaze moved from the tip of Su Ran’s ear to the hen.

He pondered for a moment and then said, “There was a strange phenomenon in the night sky last night. Theoretically, that kind of phenomenon shouldn’t occur at this latitude, right?”

Su Ran’s mind finally calmed down.

“Yes, we call that light an Aurora for now. It’s appeared a few times before, and every time it does, the zombies become very agitated, and the animals and plants also behave strangely. What about you? Did you feel unwell yesterday?”

Xing Lin squatted down beside him, picked up a leaf from the ground with his slender fingers, and shook it to attract the hen over.

“If you’re talking about feeling uncomfortable, my body hasn’t felt comfortable since I left the inner world. Even if there were other changes in the meantime, I couldn’t feel them. Last night I only heard some very strange noises. Were they made by the zombies?”

“Right.”

Su Ran hesitated and asked, “Your technology in the inner earth world is so much more advanced than ours. Do you have a way to deal with the zombie virus?”

“If the government and the scientific research people were still alive, maybe there would be. But——”

The man paused and chuckled, “Didn’t they even fail to predict the appearance of magma?”

Su Ran keenly noticed that this guy always had an extremely alienated attitude towards his hometown and compatriots, and he seemed to not care at all whether the latter two survived or perished.

Xing Lin raised his eyelashes and looked straight at him.

“What do you mean by ‘we’?”

Su Ran simply couldn’t keep up with his train of thought.

Xing Lin raised his hand and poked his arm with the vegetable leaves that failed to attract the hen.

“You said that you would temporarily call that light the Aurora.”

“Ah, yes,” Su Ran’s thoughts became more confused. “When the zombie virus first broke out, there were still some people alive in the village, so we discussed these things together.”

Although he rarely went out during that period, the brother next door would pass on messages to him.

“Later, some people left here, and the rest died one after another…”

Xing Lin looked at him thoughtfully.

Su Ran didn’t want to discuss these things anymore. After gathering his thoughts, he patted his trouser legs and stood up and said, “Are you hungry? It’s almost time for lunch. You don’t have any dietary restrictions, right?”

“No.”

“Then I—”

Su Ran’s right hand was suddenly grabbed.

The man held his hand and slowly pried open his fingers one by one, gently stroking his palm with his cold fingertips.

“Why haven’t you treated the wound yet?”

Su Ran was stunned.

The mermaid squatting on the ground raised his eyelashes. “Doesn’t it hurt?”

“…”

Boom.

There was a clear thud in the chest.

Su Ran could almost be said to have fled in panic.