"seabed……"
"The ugliest..."
"Mermaid?"
Su Jing led everyone to find the mermaid who had been hiding in the dark and refused to show up because of her "ugliness".
After seeing the appearance of the little mermaid, the players all showed amazed expressions.
It is no exaggeration to say that he satisfies all human fantasies about mermaids.
It has a human body with a fish tail, long hair like seaweed, shimmering scales, blue eyes as bright as gemstones, and a pair of elf ears.
His beauty is almost comparable to Su Jing who just became the leader of the circle.
You know, the leader of the circle, Su Jing, can kill people with her beauty.
Even though he was prepared to sacrifice five million players, when they were about to die, they still marveled at his beautiful face.
Later, Su Qiong gave up being the leader of the circle, and his appearance changed subtly. He was still good-looking, but his cuteness increased dramatically.
Even with a human body, companions occasionally hallucinate Marshmallow.
The mermaid who can compete with Su Jing in appearance has become the ugliest mermaid in the sea?
There is an urgent need to inquire into the aesthetic standards of the inhabitants of the seabed.
"Hello." Su Qiong walked into the coral cave where the mermaid lived and took the initiative to greet him, "My name is Su Qiong."
The mermaid timidly retreated into her nest and answered hesitantly, "Hello, I don't have a name."
"Why no name?"
"Because I was born ugly, I was abandoned by my biological parents, so they didn't give me a name."
"What's so ugly about you?" Shi Yuntian said bluntly, "All the mermaids I've seen along the way are uglier than you."
"How could that be?" the little mermaid said sadly, rubbing her face. "Everyone thinks I am the ugliest mermaid in the whole sea."
"PUA right?"
"PUA."
Because there is only one real mermaid on the seabed, most residents forcibly label him as ugly in pursuit of spiritual victory.
"You're not ugly, not at all." Su Qi took his hand and comforted him like an angel, "You are the most beautiful fish I have ever seen."
"Really?" the little mermaid was skeptical.
"Really!" Su Qi nodded vigorously, pointing at his face and asked, "Do you think I'm ugly?"
The mermaid looked at Su Jing carefully with her ocean-blue eyes.
Su Jing was actually a little nervous when he was stared at.
After observing for a while, the mermaid finally concluded, "It looks good."
Mermaids live on the seabed all year round. They have never seen humans and are even unaware of human aesthetic standards.
But staring at Su Jing's face made him feel happy. For the first time, Yu Sheng understood the meaning of "pleasing to the eyes" and "beautiful to the eyes".
"Yes, yes, I am very satisfied with my body."
Although the system was stingy and refused to prepare fancy clothes for Su Qiong, this face was absolutely impeccable. Whenever Su Qiong encountered a reflective object, he would stop to admire it.
"You're as good-looking as I am." Su Qiong said sincerely, "So that's why you're not ugly, right?"
"Yes." Everyone agreed.
The little mermaid frowned, looking as sad as Lin Daiyu.
"But they say I'm ugly. There's no other mermaid like me in the whole ocean."
Fish Seven Seconds: "Actually, before we came to the bottom of the sea, we thought all mermaids should be like you."
"Yeah!" Shi Yuntian complained, "What kind of monster is that half-human, half-fish thing that's split upright in the middle?"
Moi added weakly, "There's also a mermaid with fins, a fish head, and a body covered in strange scales."
A simple and crude summary: "Monster."
Lu Shufan began to ask the mermaid, "You are both mermaids, why is there such a big difference between you?"
ERROR also found it strange.
When he designed IF, he didn't give the system the code to tamper with species.
"Because this is a cursed fairytale ocean. I heard from the elders of the mermaid tribe that as early as five hundred years ago, the cursed mermaids split into different forms."
"All the fish believed that mermaids should be like them. No one could convince anyone, so they each reproduced and worked hard to expand their own species."
"The mermaid tribe holds a celebration every ten years. Each branch... the Fish Head Tribe, the Fin Tribe, the Vertical Branch Tribe, the Scale Tribe, and the Fragmented Group will send the most beautiful mermaid in the family to participate in the election."
After hearing this, the players couldn't help but complain that the naming method of the mermaids was so simple and crude that it was clear at a glance.
"The mermaid who receives the most recognition will become the clan leader for the next ten years. His branch will become the mainstream aesthetic of the entire mermaid clan, enjoying glory and more resources."
"Ah, this."
"Very capital." Yu Qimiao commented.
Su Jing summarized the little mermaid's words and showed a thoughtful expression.
"In other words, as long as you become the tribe leader, the mermaid tribe's aesthetic standards will be based on you for at least the next ten years?"
ERROR agrees: "It should be."
“Impossible.” The little mermaid lowered her head in inferiority and whispered, “They hate me. There is no way they would approve of me.”
"You don't need to consider the possibility." Yu Qimiao took on the attitude of a superior and asked, "What is the way to gain recognition?"
Overwhelmed by his aura, the little mermaid answered truthfully, "Scales. When the celebration begins, each mermaid will bring their most beautiful scales and give them to the mermaid they think is the prettiest. The one who receives the most scales will become the next leader."
"Just let them give you the scales? This task is very simple." Yu Qimiao took out his black heart... no, level trading bag.
"Yuyu, calm down!" Lu Shufan tried to dissuade him. "There are thousands and tens of thousands of fish on the seabed. Do you want to trade with them one by one?"
Yu Qi Miao: "Generally speaking, if you only trade 50.1% of the market, you can have absolute control over the market."
50.1%...
This is indeed the thinking of a capitalist.
Everyone can be sure that if the base number is large enough, Yu Qi Miao will definitely add countless zeros in front of 1, not even a single one more.
"Even if it's 50.1%, that's still thousands of fish. We don't have that much time."
Su Qiong: "Even if your deal is successful, they still don't really recognize the little mermaid. In another ten years, everything will be back to square one."
After hearing Su Qi's words, Yu Qi took seven seconds to put away his props and asked, "What do you think?"
"According to the nature of the system, there must be a way to make them accept mermaids." Su Qiong re-sorted the clues, tracing back to the source, and suddenly asked, "You said the mermaids are cursed. What curse is it?"
“I don’t know,” the little mermaid shook her head. “It was too long ago. I wasn’t even born then, and the ancestors who knew about the curse have died one after another. Now, only the elders who are still alive know about it.”
"He has lived from the beginning of the curse to now, at least five hundred years?"
The little mermaid nodded. "Yes."
"What an old fish," Lu Shufan joked, "It takes seven seconds to fish. You should learn from them."
Yu Qimiao glanced at him sideways, "My ID is Yu, but I'm not a real fish."
"If you were a fish, we would complete this task in minutes."
He elected Yu Qi Miao as the new leader of the mermaid tribe. With his ability, the mermaid tribe would be completely under his control, not to mention the next ten years, even for a hundred or a thousand years.
"Why aren't you a fish?" Shi Yuntian felt truly regretful.
Fish Seven Seconds: ...
I shouldn't have called it this ID.
Su Qi turned around and looked at ERROR and A, and immediately understood what they meant.
"Let's split up. A few of us will go find the Great Elder. He's lived for five hundred years, so he must be extraordinary. The rest of you go gather information and find out what the criteria are for obtaining scales, and whether there are other ways to become the clan leader."
"Moi, you stay with the little mermaid. It's secluded and safer here."
Previously, A scanned the levels of the mermaids and found that except for the little mermaid, the levels of other mermaids were not low.
Not only are they of high level, they also live in groups, making them particularly dangerous when they fight.
"Okay." Moi nodded obediently, "I will protect the little mermaid."
After she said this, everyone realized that Moi probably misunderstood what the adults meant.
"Moi, I know you're not afraid of death."
"But you don't have to die while we're here."
"We are grown men, but we can't even protect a little girl. We won't be able to explain to Qi Yi later, and we won't be able to explain to ourselves either."
"You just need to stay here and wait for us to come back."
"...Okay." Moi entered the dungeon separately from Qi Yi for the first time, and at this moment, he felt a huge touch.
When she separated from Qi Yi, she was ready to be used as bait and fight to the death to get clues.
Her companions knew she had skills, but were still willing to protect her.
Moi hid in a secluded place, covered his chest, and communicated with Qi Yi with his heart.
"Qiyi, we met some great people."
The players left the little mermaid's home and split into two groups.
Lu Shufan uses his twisted talents to try to socialize across species and extract clues from the mermaid.
Su Jing is responsible for guiding A and ERROR to find the mermaid elder in the vast underwater world.
Before meeting the elder, they chatted casually and guessed whether the elder belonged to the Fish Head Clan or the Vertical Clan.
Su Jing's idea was very naive. He tended to think that since it was born before the curse, it might still retain the appearance of a mermaid.
Facts have proved that Su Jing was indeed too naive.
The elder is more like a fish fossil than a mermaid.
It had lived for so long that there was almost no flesh on its body, only shriveled skin covering its bony bones.
Because it had no legs, it could not stand up and could only lie flat on the ground. The seabed was all soft white sand, and there were marks of its bones on the beach.
People who don’t know the truth thought that the archaeological team had made another major discovery.
"Are you... the Great Elder?" Su Jing circled around the fish fossil that was not far from the weathering fossil, turned it clockwise twice and counterclockwise twice, doubting whether it was alive.
Just as this thought came to my mind, the next second, I heard an extremely old voice.
"How rude! Of course I'm still alive." The elder moved his fish mouth, looking like a dried salted fish that had suddenly come back to life.
Su Qi subconsciously took a half step back, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
"Hmph." The elder stood up dryly, leaning towards them, revealing one of his shrunken eyes. "You aren't creatures from the fairytale ocean. What do you want from me?"
ERROR: "I want to know about the curse of the mermaids."
"If you want to know, I have to tell you? You think..." The elder was halfway through being stubborn, but when he sensed the aura coming from ERROR that was enough to destroy it, he quickly changed his words, "Of course I'm willing to tell you."
Having lived for five hundred years, the elder has already learned the truth that one must be timid when necessary.
"Actually," the elder said slowly, "regarding the curse, I've said it many times. The mermaids don't have any curse at all."
"No curse?" Su Qi was shocked, "Then why did they become like that..."
Ugly look.
"The reason they became like that is because of their own sins." The elder sneered and lit a cigarette tremblingly.
Su Jing thought inappropriately: If salted fish smokes cigarettes, it will probably turn into smoked salted fish.
"Originally, all kinds of fish lived in the fairytale ocean. They lived in peace and harmony."
"Until one day, a legend suddenly appeared in the ocean, saying that children born from fish and humans would become powerful mermaids."
"Suddenly, all the fish in the ocean seemed to go crazy at the same time. They found ways to get ashore, kidnap young girls, drag them to the depths of the ocean, and force them to give birth to mermaids for the fish tribe."
"That's too much." Su Jing's strong empathy ability once again made him feel unacceptable.
"The so-called curse is nothing more than their greed, selfishness, and ignorance." The elder sighed. "The fish tribe only wanted to give birth to powerful mermen, but overlooked an important premise."
A: "What premise?"
"In the fairytale ocean, only when humans and fish truly love each other can a beautiful mermaid be born. The more love between humans and fish, the more perfect the mermaid will be. A union without love will only create a weird monster."
"Ah." Su Jing instantly realized why there was only one mermaid in such a vast ocean.
And why, the other "mermen" accused him of being ugly and unsightly, and united to isolate the little mermaid.
Ultimately, it's nothing more than jealousy and fear.
The appearance of the little mermaid proves that humans and fish can really give birth to mermaids, and they are just the product of their ancestors' evil deeds and are ugly monsters.
Those mermaids with strange looks are worried that their dirty history will be exposed, so they naturally try their best to suppress the mermaid and deny his existence.
"Since you know so much, why don't you tell them?"
"You're human, so you should know better than me." The elder blew out a puff of smoke and said with a vicissitudes of life, "You can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep. I can't tell them the truth they don't want to accept."
The elder looked into the depths of the ocean and said slowly, "The main reason I've lived until now is to see how this group of tragic products will end."
ERROR listened to his closing remarks before asking, "Are you a mermaid, or the ancestor of a mermaid?"
"Huh?" Su Jing looked at ERROR.
There is no trace of "human" on the elder, why would ERROR make such a guess.
When the elder heard ERROR's question, he was silent for a while before he reluctantly responded.
"I've committed sins myself, so I'm not qualified to judge them," the elder sighed. "Faced with the temptation of huge profits, no fish can keep a clear head."
"Then you know..." ERROR looked directly at it and asked again, "There is a real mermaid at the bottom of the sea."
"Impossible!" the elder immediately denied. "Hundreds of years ago, we tried every possible method to make humans like fish, but we couldn't get them to like fish. After the scandal of the mermaid world spread, even though humans fell in love with mermaids, they refused to come to the waters where the mermaids lived."
The elder said firmly, "It is absolutely impossible for a human and a fish to give birth to a mermaid."
"It seems that you haven't seen the real mermaid yet." ERROR smiled. "How sad."
Su Qiong softly reminded, "There really is a mermaid, he's so beautiful."
"Actually..." The elder's shriveled pupils suddenly trembled.
"If you want to correct your mistakes and make them understand the truth about mermaids, now may be your only chance."
ERROR narrowed his eyes, "So, what will you choose?"
**
"Yu Yu! I found out!" Lu Shufan collected useful information and couldn't wait to run towards Yu Qi Miao.
The only fish in the ocean who was feeling lucky stopped and asked, "What did you find out?"
"I've found out the little mermaid's origins." Lu Shufan ran over to him and said excitedly, "Even though no fish know the details, the reason the little mermaid was ostracized... guess what it is?"
Yu Qimiao was helpless, "Don't keep me in suspense."
"It's a rare opportunity for me to be useful, so please cooperate with me." Lu Shufan complained.
"I can't guess." Yu Qimiao agreed expressionlessly, "Tell me quickly."
Even though he wasn't cooperating wholeheartedly, Lu Shufan was quite satisfied and said smugly, "The reason the little mermaid was ostracized by the other mermaids is because his mother is human. The mermaid tribe believes that mermaids born from the union of fish and humans are impure mermaids."
Yu Qimiao began to think, "Then why do all the mermaids on the phone look like him?"
"I don't know about that either." Lu Shufan spread his hands and continued, "Also, the little mermaid wasn't abandoned by her parents. It's said that her father fell in love with her mother and left the ocean to find her. To do so, he even made a deal with the most evil witch in the fairy tale world in exchange for the ability to live on land."
"Unfortunately, he arrived too late. The mermaid's mother, wanting to live with her child and her beloved fish, also made a deal with the witch in exchange for the opportunity to live under the sea."
"The witches did not tell each other about this and collect their respective rewards."
"As a result, one went into the sea and the other came ashore, and they missed each other forever. The mermaid's mother was so sad that she died of depression at the bottom of the sea shortly after giving birth to the little mermaid, without love or other kind. When the mermaid's father heard the news, he immediately followed his wife, and the little mermaid became a lonely fish."
Fish Seven Seconds: "What a sad story."
"Right. After hearing his story, I almost wanted to get him into the Orphan Alliance."
"Mermaids aren't players, and the ocean is their true home." Yu Qi Miao looked around. "We need to find a way to make this a truly suitable sea area for mermaids."
"Okay. Xiaodianxin, go find the elder. He should be able to come up with a solution." Lu Shufan looked around. "Speaking of which, Xiaodianxin is really slow."
Yu Qimiao: "We've collected almost all the clues. Let's go find Su Qiong and meet up."
"Wow, you really do care about snacks."
Yu didn't say anything for seven seconds, and asked coldly with his eyes: Is it wrong for me to care about him?
Lu Shufan shrugged and had nothing to say.
You can't mess with the cub control freak.
Yu Qimiao made an appointment with A in advance and communicated through the bracelet to find their location.
After several people met, they exchanged the information they had obtained.
ERROR pushed the elder out, "It promised to help us as atonement."
"I haven't agreed yet!" The elder said stubbornly, "I want to confirm whether the one you are talking about is a real mermaid."
"Okay, I'll take you to see the little mermaid now." Yu Qi Miao was too lazy to talk nonsense and decided to let him see it with his own eyes.
After they left for a while, the genius Cloud Slayer finally arrived and was dumbfounded at the deserted sea.
"Where are the people? Aren't they supposed to have a meeting?"
Shi Yuntian scratched his head, seemingly unaware that it was okay to not have him in the meeting.
"I was planning to come over and ask them," Shi Yuntian spread out his hands, with a few bloody scales on his palms, "how to use this thing."
"Moi, you've been staying here the whole time. Did anything happen?"
Returning to the little mermaid's coral cave, they first confirmed the condition of Moi's sister.
"No." Moi emerged from the coral cave. "Only a few mermaids passed by, but they didn't notice us."
"That's good. Where's the little mermaid?"
Moi: "Inside, we've become friends."
The little mermaid's mental age is almost the same as Moi's. She has been living in a coral cave and has no family or playmates.
Moi told him about the outside world, the orphanage, and her sister, and the two soon became good friends who could confide in each other.
The little mermaid also promised that if he became the clan leader, he would find a way to help Qi Yi the next time she entered the dungeon.
According to the rules of "IF", copies are not exactly the same and will change due to player behavior.
If they complete the task of making the little mermaid the leader today, the little mermaid will be the leader of the mermaid tribe for at least ten years.
"Little Mermaid." Moi waved towards the coral cave and called the little mermaid out.
"It's so, so perfect!" When the elder saw the mermaid, his dry eyes suddenly became bright.
The other mermaids were too young and thought that mermaids were supposed to look like them.
The elder had experienced the most terrifying period in the ocean and knew how many methods the fish tribes at that time had used to obtain the perfect mermaid.
At that time, even the birth of a creature with a human body and a fish tail would cause a sensation among the mermaids.
What’s more, a mermaid like the Little Mermaid is so perfect.
"It turns out that humans and fish can finally give birth to mermaids. The rumors are not wrong, it's us who are wrong." The elder approached the mermaid, scaring the little mermaid so much that she shrank back, fear showing in her eyes again.
"Indeed, you are the key to correcting this mistake. This farce that has lasted for five hundred years must finally end." The elder sighed, his dry fish body turning half a circle. "I promised to help you. But my ability is limited. The seabed is now completely controlled by the mermaid monsters. They heard the history of the mermaids from me, but they didn't take it seriously. My ability is limited, and I can't do anything to them."
"As long as you're willing to cooperate, that's enough." ERROR said with a half-smile, "You're the elder of the fish tribe, so your words are more credible. If those fish still don't want to believe..."
A took over and said calmly, "Why bother?"
He believes that this copy is similar to the hospital copy.
To become the leader of the tribe, one must obtain the scales of the majority of mermaids. Therefore, if the mermaid kills all the fish that do not give scales to the little mermaid, she will surely be elected.
"Ah," Su Qiong kindly reminded, "You were locked up in the novice area for four days."
A: …
Speechless.
"When does the celebration start?"
"In the evening," the elder replied, "according to the tradition of the mermaid tribe, before the celebration begins, the current tribe leader must shave his scales as a sign of respect."
"What's the point of scraping the scales?"
The elder said: "This is a tradition passed down by their ancestors. Scraping off the scales will make them more human-like and pretend to be real humans."
"Oh, a moral victory," Lu Shufan grumbled, "it turns out fish can also be mentally retarded."
Speaking of mental retardation, everyone finally realized——
Wait, where is Shi Yuntian?
They contacted Shi Yuntian through the bracelet and found out that Shi Yuntian was still at the meeting place.
"We agreed to get together to discuss this, why haven't you come yet?"
"Ah, that..." Lu Shufan explained awkwardly, "Boss Shi, the meeting place has changed temporarily. Please come to Coral Cave."
Yu Qimiao said calmly, "Without you, the meeting cannot continue."
"Of course, I have something important in my hand." Shi Yuntian didn't realize anything was wrong and felt very good about himself.
Su Qiong's gaze lingered between the two of them, and he said quietly, "You deceived your companions."
He also thought that there should be absolute trust between teammates.
"I was forced to do this by the situation."
Yu Qimiao didn't know how to explain it to Su Qiong.
He usually lies without blinking, but he is very restrained in front of Su Jing, for fear of corrupting the child.
To be honest, Shi Yuntian would definitely be furious in this situation.
"Shh." ERROR raised a finger and lightly pressed it on his lips, "Do you know what a white lie is? Keep it a secret." "Okay." Su Jing nodded and understood humans a little better.
Five minutes later, Shi Yuntian hurried back to the coral cave and took out the scales he had forcibly obtained.
"With these scales, the little mermaid will definitely have a better chance of becoming the clan leader."
The elder looked at it and shook his head in disappointment. "No. The scales used in the celebration aren't just any scales. They're scales that are swept down by the tides that occur only every ten years. Generally, they're kept in the most secret place in the mermaid's lair."
"What? It's useless?!" Shi Yuntian widened his eyes and doubted his life.
"Boss Shi, were you just grabbing the fish and peeling off its scales?"
"Yes!" Shi Yuntian looked righteous and said, "Is there any problem?"
"without."
"Good."
The meeting without him turned out to be fine.
Yu Qimiao briefly explained the current situation to Shi Yuntian, only for him to listen with his eyes wide open again.
Perhaps it was the ears that heard it, but the brain refused to receive the information.
The same thing had happened so many times that Yu Qi Miao was too lazy to waste energy explaining it and simply said, "Next, we have to attend the celebration."
"Alright," Shi Yuntian returned to normal, "Are you going to cause trouble at the celebration?"
Su Jing wanted to say something but stopped himself.
Although the guiding NPC should not dislike the players, he still hopes that Shi Yuntian can use his brain next time.
Yu Qimiao explained as usual, "We must not cause any trouble, and we must ensure the smooth running of the celebration."
"Why?"
ERROR: "Look at the mission again. The patriarch will be born during the celebration."
"Oh." Shi Yuntian had an expression as if he had thought about it and suddenly realized something.
play!
You keep acting!
Human celebrations are often associated with noise, joy, and laughter.
But the fish tribe's celebration completely subverted their imagination and was eerie in every aspect.
They sneaked into the celebration site and saw a large pile of fish scales from a distance, surrounding the area of the celebration.
The scales were covered in blood, probably having been plucked out forcefully.
The current patriarch, whose scales had been plucked, stood among the fish, spreading his fins and arms to show his "holy" body.
The current clan leader belongs to the vertically split clan, and his appearance is that he is split vertically in the middle, half human and half fish.
The fish had all its scales ripped out, revealing hollow wounds. Blood oozed from the wounds, and it was painful to look at.
The patriarch seemed to have no sense of pain, and just stood there, allowing the fish of his tribe to come forward one after another and insert their scales into the patriarch's wound.
"… transplanting fish scales?"
Players have been confused by the mermaid's confusing behavior.
"Have they considered the possibility of organ rejection?"
"Fish scales shouldn't be considered organs." Su Qiong said confusedly, "But I don't understand why they do this."
The act of plucking out one's own fish scales and then letting others put their scales back in is also quite confusing in the world of "IF".
"I'm afraid they themselves don't understand the reason," the elder explained. "Originally, this behavior was the Fish Tribe's way of atonement for their own foolish behavior, proving that forced unions have no good consequences."
"Gradually, it evolved into a ceremony to share the glory of the clan leader. Alas." The elder sighed, deeply regretting the stupid things he had done back then.
Looking at and thinking about these mermaids, their ancestors who took great pains to give birth to them must have been furious.
"Besides that, this ceremony has no meaning?"
"Indeed," the elder continued, "the scales represent each mermaid, transferring a portion of their power to the leader, allowing the celebration to proceed smoothly. However, mermaids are inherently flawed, and losing so many scales and bearing so much power that doesn't belong to them takes a heavy toll. After each celebration, the previous leader dies suddenly."
"What did you say?!"
"If the little mermaid becomes the clan leader, then wouldn't he suddenly die after ten years of stupid celebrations?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
