Chapter 10 Chapter 10
Not far from Wen Ming, several nobles showed off their mermaids:
"Did you see the mermaid by the waterweed? There are special patterns on its tail. I heard it can bring good luck. I spent a lot of money to buy it."
"You've been fooled. The pure-colored mermaids I raise are the noble species. There is not a single mixed-color scale on the entire tail. It is particularly beautiful."
"Looking at the appearance of mermaids is too superficial. The high-level mermaid I raise at home can rank in the top ten in the world in terms of grooming ability!"
The mermaid competition is an activity to compete with mermaids, and it is also an occasion for nobles to compete with each other.
Several nobles couldn't figure it out, exchanged glances, and tacitly shifted their targets -
they walked to the side of Wen Ming.
"Admiral Wen, are you also bringing mermaids to participate in the competition?"
Wen Ming looked at them indifferently: "Hmm."
A monosyllabic response was enough to show that he had no intention of talking. This attitude was intolerable to the arrogant nobles.
Several nobles squeezed out a smile and continued to talk:
"I heard that Wen's new flavor of fish food has been revived and ushered in a turnaround. It's really an amazing improvement..."
Wen Ming's company made all the nobles jealous.
Whoever could negotiate a big cooperation with Wen's would move up a level.
But Wen Ming was like an ice cube. If you get close to him, not only can you not find a breakthrough point, but even your enthusiasm will be sucked away.
"Admiral, to be honest, my company has a very promising project recently... I wonder if you are interested..."
"Sorry." Wen Ming no longer looked at them, "It's not working hours."
"...I, we won't disturb you."
The nobles left with heavy steps, and whispered:
"I thought he raised a mermaid, so we could find some common topics to talk about. With that attitude, there would be no common topics to talk about even if there were ten thousand!"
"Alas, people who don't know the truth may think that the admiral is isolated, but in fact he has isolated the entire universe..."
One of them asked puzzledly: "Don't you think it's strange?"
"What's strange?"
"The admiral is not like a human at all!" The man spread his hands, "I don't believe there is anyone who doesn't need emotional value!"
"Yes, if any of the admiral's achievements were attributed to Qi Xuan, Qi Xuan would have boasted about it eight hundred times."
"The admiral has never been involved in any scandals, has very few friends, and is said to have little contact with his family, living in loneliness.
Where does his emotional value come from?"
"Wow - look!"
The crowd suddenly became agitated, pointing at a mermaid and exclaiming.
It floated in front of the glass, and its gradient-colored tail was well-cared for, swaying with a unique brilliance in the water.
It was the blue mermaid that had just performed tumbling and spinning.
It stayed at a height slightly higher than a human's height, and now it lowered its head to look at someone in the crowd.
"Puff, pop!"
It blew a bubble in everyone's sight.
The bubble broke the moment it hit the glass, and it didn't stop, but spit out another string, letting the bubbles collide and burst.
"What is it doing?"
"It seems... calling someone?"
Everyone looked in the direction where the mermaid was spitting bubbles -
it was Wen Ming.
Xiao Jun's daughter shook his arm: "Dad, what's wrong with Mu Mu?"
"It's calling Wen Ming."
"Uncle Wen Ming's mermaid is so nice." Xiao Yue said with longing, "Hua Hua just swam by here, and it seemed like she didn't know us, but Mu Mu could recognize Uncle Wen Ming among so many people."
Xiao Jun thought of his experience at Wen Ming's house and laughed heartily:
"It's a magical mermaid who treats Wen Ming differently from others!"
"Bo Bo Bo!"
The bubbles that Mu Mu spits out seem to have a kind of magic.
After the glass of the aquarium exploded, the bubbles floated into the air in an invisible state.
The "vacuum zone" around Wen Ming was easily broken by the bubbles.
The loneliness that surrounded Wen Ming all the time, along with the bubbles, disappeared with a "pop" sound.
Wen Ming walked towards the little mermaid who called him.
Several nobles who had just failed to talk to her looked at each other:
"The admiral's expression now is different from when he looked at us..."
"Although I can't tell where it's different, it's a world of difference."
"Is his mermaid hungry? She actually took the initiative to look for her master."
As Wen Ming approached the glass, Mu Mu also swam down and stopped at the same level as Wen Ming.
"Woo-woo-woo!"
Master, someone said something bad about you, just wait, after I win 100,000 star coins, no one will dare to isolate you!
Mu Mu complained without caring whether anyone outside could hear it or not.
In fact, Wen Ming could only see a string of bubbles rushing towards his face, but he always tilted his head slightly and listened attentively.
"Hmph!" Mu Mu finally let it out, and his heart was finally relieved. He
also finally realized that behind Wen Ming, there were still a bunch of human eyes.
Mu Mu pursed his lips and curled up his tail.
It seemed that he could hide himself in this posture.
Across the glass, Wen Ming put one hand in a stroking shape and placed it opposite Mu Mu.
His palm was broad, and when his sleeves slid down, a section of his arm was exposed, with clear veins and strength.
That hand brought Mu Mu a strong sense of security.
It stretched its body, pressed the side of its face against the glass, and rubbed it against Wen Ming's hand.
Warm, dry, and numbing sensations on the rough fingertips...
no way.
"Ouch..." This piece of stinky glass is cold and slippery, not comfortable at all.
Mu Mu started a new round of complaints.
If humans knew what it was complaining about, they would think it was picky and coquettish.
However, from people's perspective, the blue mermaid was acting coquettishly to Wen Ming through the glass.
In the viewing area, a lot of "admiring" sounds can be heard:
"What a clingy mermaid!"
The emotional value of keeping a pet is maxed out.
The nobles were silent for a moment, and finally someone spoke up:
"Where did the admiral buy the mermaids from... I'm not jealous, I just want to know."
"Come on, you're so jealous that your eyes are red."
"If I could raise a mermaid like the one in the admiral's house, I wouldn't be interested in socializing."
"Is it against interstellar law to steal mermaids?"
"If you can get past Admiral Wen, you can give it a try."
"...Then forget it."
*
On top of the aquarium, staff were preparing supplies for the next step.
"Did the activity go well?"
The gentle man approached, his eyes vaguely scanning the container containing the live fish.
"Professor Yin?"
The general manager of the Mermaid Center came to supervise the work in person?
The staff member was stunned for a moment and reported: "It went very smoothly."
Professor Yin walked to the container of live fish and tightened the hem of his white coat to avoid getting the corners
of his clothes wet: "Has the number of live fish put into the aquarium changed?"
The staff member was confused, but still counted: "The same number as put in."
Professor Yin's eyes moved slightly, but his emotions were hidden perfectly.
He took out a blade from his white coat, leaned over, and cut through it.
There was a fish swimming violently in the container, and the blood trailing from the wound melted into the water...
From beginning to end, he had a gentle smile on his face.
The "gentleness" that made the staff's hair stand on end.
Professor Yin looked at the mermaid toys held by the staff: "Next, are you going to put those toys in?"
"...Yes."
A strange voice floated by: "Add some ingredients to it."
The staff rubbed his earlobe: "What?"
Professor Yin returned to normal volume: "Put the remaining live fish in together."
"Yes."
*
In the aquarium, Mu Mu seemed to have sensed something, raised his head, and his nose kept twitching:
"?"
It seemed to have a familiar smell...
The voice of the announcer sounded again: "The first stage ends here. After discussion by the judges, the mermaid who won the additional points for the first stage is-
Mu Mu with a blue fish tail!"
Applause broke out in the viewing area.
Mu Mu turned around, facing away from them, hiding his smug smile.
Not a single somersault was in vain!
Broadcast: "Now let's introduce the rules of the second round.
A mermaid toy will be placed in the aquarium, and the judges will give them scores based on the mermaids' interactions with the toys, which is the score for this stage."
At the same time, transparent spherical toys floated down from the mermaids' heads.
Mu Mu caught one of them and squeezed it. The surface of the water ball was soft and the mermaids liked the touch.
"Is this a toy? How do we interact..."
"Blah!"
Mu Mu's muttering stopped abruptly as another thing entered the water.
The fish changed their environment and scattered in panic. The aquarium truly became a beautiful underwater world...
"Wow--" Xiao Yue exclaimed, pointing at a fish swimming in front of her, "Dad, will the fish be eaten by the mermaid?"
"No." Xiao Jun said without hesitation, "Mermaids don't prey on living things by nature. Instincts don't lie."
Instincts don't lie...
With just the smell of a drop of blood, predators in the ocean can track prey several kilometers away.
And the injured fish became a target point in the 3D image in Mu Mu's mind, and the coordinate changes of each movement were mastered.
"Ho, ho..."
The gills of a "merman" twitched eagerly.
Mermaid food, dried fish, jelly shrimps...
Its nature tells it: forget those inferior foods and hunt for what you should eat!
Claws, teeth, and scales are all clamoring and boiling.
The hunting form is about to appear...
'Child, don't expose your abilities and pretend to be an ordinary merman to survive...'
Mu Mu's reason and instinct are fighting each other. His body is stiff, and he turns his neck a little like a puppet.
The humans are talking and laughing, and several of them are using their computers to record their own mermen's performance in the competition.
If Mu Mu changes his form now, all humans in the universe will be shocked by the "mermaids"...
"Dongdu."
Wen Ming knocked on the glass twice with his knuckles, and the faint vibration brought Mu Mu back to his senses.
The film was almost covering the front of his eyes. Mu Mu couldn't focus correctly and vaguely saw Wen Ming's index finger pointing upwards.
He could guess what his gentle master was going to say:
If you are hungry, swim to the entrance of the aquarium and I will give you snacks.
If you don't want to play, let's go home. You
can't eat anything you want, do you hear me?
The injured fish just swam past Mu Mu, and the strong smell of blood broke the last bit of Mu Mu's willpower.
The sharp nails suddenly extended, and the water ball in Mu Mu's hand was punctured and fell down...
I'm sorry, Master, I don't want to eat anything carelessly.
*
Outside the window, a terrible white lightning split the sky in half.
The light of the lightning illuminated the laboratory, and Dai Rong's face turned pale.
"Lightning will disrupt the energy field and induce chaos in the spiritual sea..." She said to herself. After
a long period of continuous work, her hair fell down a few strands.
Dai Rong re-tied her hair, and the laboratory machine issued a prompt sound indicating that the work was completed.
After sampling Mu Mu's drainage energy, she decomposed the energy properties and input them into the machine for matching with the mermaid library samples.
As long as a high-level mermaid with similar energy properties to Mu Mu appears, Wen Ming's spiritual sea will be saved!
She opened the result hopefully-
'No successful match record. '
"..."
In the entire interstellar mermaid library, there is no similar ability to guide?
Dai Rong was stunned for a while at this result: "What on earth is that mermaid..."