Chapter 73



The medicine tastes very similar to juice. Maybe the other party mixed the medicine into the juice and gave it to him.

The effects of the medicine in his body had not completely subsided, and Su Su didn't know what effect taking other medicines would have on his body.

But Su Su still chose to take the risk and take the medicine. It was not because he trusted 06 in front of him, but because he was sure that he would not fall here.

Mo Lin didn't dare to do that, and neither did the people from Dark Flow. Since Dark Flow wanted to frame him for colluding with them, they would at least let him live until they left. They might even have some good intentions, and try to persuade him to rebel, or use him as a bargaining chip to continue to take over Qi Hanyi.

Moreover, if I die here, Yan Bai, as a senior leader of Undercurrent, will definitely become alienated from the people behind him, which I think the other party would not want to see.

In short, killing myself now would be a complete loss with no benefit.

As for refusing to take medicine, Su Su had never considered this option from the beginning. If he was afraid of the risk, he would not have come in the first place.

Refusing to take the medicine means completely giving up accepting Yan Bai's secret rescue and refusing to step into the undercurrent and use Yan Bai's rescue to set up a trap for himself. Then his action would be completely in vain.

Besides, could he really refuse? Su Su didn't think that if he refused this time, Mo Lin would give up. If he didn't drink the juice now, the food and water he took in the future might be mixed with drugs.

So even though he knew there were some potential risks in taking the medicine, there was no turning back.

The drug took effect quickly, and Su Su felt a surge of sleepiness. This feeling was somewhat familiar, similar to every time he took the mermaid drug. When he woke up again, he was not in the studio, but in a pure white room. He was in a place similar to a bathtub, and the area below the waist had changed into the shape of a fish tail.

Su Su sat up, propping up his upper body. He was still wearing the black robe, but underneath was only a bare fish tail. He didn't feel any discomfort in his body, which made him secretly relieved.

Su Su was actually the most unfamiliar with his mermaid form. In addition, the bathtub was too small, so he could not move freely. He swung his tail somewhat uncomfortably.

"How long have I slept?"

"Two hours." The person guarding him was 06. She was sitting at the table, operating the instrument in her hand. Noticing Su Su's movements, she comforted him, "Don't worry, the medicine is working normally. Yan Bai told me that the mermaid medicine you took is a little special. This medicine was specially prepared for you. It will keep you in the mermaid form and will not conflict with the medicine you took before."

Su Su nodded nonchalantly and asked directly, "How are you going to send me away?"

06 He pressed the button beside him, and the wall at the edge rose up. It turned out to be a simple operating room next door. At this moment, a mermaid was lying on the operating bed, her face was pale, and she was no longer breathing.

Su Su took a look at the mermaid. It was not the one he had seen yesterday, so he asked, "Who is she?"

"This is the mermaid who lives on the sixth floor." 06 looked at the mermaid lying on the bed with a pitying look in his eyes. "Last night, we received a guest who played really crazy. This morning, she was dying. We tried to save her but she didn't make it. A body transporter will be sending her away from here soon."

The sixth floor? Su Su had already been to the lobby on the first floor, the classrooms on the third floor, the dormitories on the fourth floor, the training room on the fifth floor, and the studio on the seventh floor. He didn't know that there were mermaids living on the sixth floor.

"The mermen who were alone?"

"Yes, we are on the sixth floor now." 06 stood up and began to take off the girl's clothes, and signaled Su Su: "Get ready, we don't have much time."

"Did you arrange for the mermaid who died this morning last night?" Su Su looked at 06 suspiciously.

"Yes, I knew last night that this mermaid is in poor health, and that guest is famous for torturing people. When she entered that room, it was basically like stepping into the gates of hell. Even if she was still alive, I had no intention of saving her. Why bother? Instead of letting her live here and continue to suffer torture, it is better to just let her go." 06 untied the white robe on the girl and threw it to Su Su: "This dress is not dirty. I changed her after confirming her death."

Su Su took the white robe, changed his own black robe, and handed it to 06: "You don't have to explain to me. It's not clean to choose clothes when you are running for your life."

Perhaps this made 06 feel good about it, and her expression softened a little: "It's best if you think so."

"It's not time yet. Tell me more about the mermaids on the sixth floor. And you, you are a human, how did you join the Undercurrent organization?" Su Su acted as if he was chatting casually.

Perhaps he felt the situation was set, so 06 started talking: "Actually, I became a doctor here first, and then I joined the undercurrent."

"I did well in my medical studies, and after graduation, I came here on the recommendation of my teacher."

"The salary here is very high, and the entry requirements are simple. All you need is the ability to perform simple surgeries and first aid. I thought I had hit the jackpot, but after I got here, I realized this is hell."

"The mermaids downstairs feel pitiful, but the real tragedy is the mermaids living on the sixth floor. They were either abandoned by their partners and sold here, or they were unable to differentiate in time, or they could not give birth to satisfactory heirs, or they were abandoned after their partners died, and some of them ran away from their marriages."

"But in any case, without the protection of a noble partner, they will completely lose all their rights and be trapped here. They cannot return to the sea. They are trained into various types as slaves to satisfy the fetishes of some special guests. Injury, illness, and death are all normal things."

"I saw all kinds of injuries on their bodies from abuse when they were brought in. Some of them begged me to save them and help them escape."

"But I don't dare. The forces behind the people here can easily destroy me and my family. I don't dare to take the risk. Those who tried to tell others about the situation here died quietly."

"I was trapped in deep self-blame. I couldn't sleep all night because of nightmares. I once developed mental illness and severe hallucinations. Until the people from Undercurrent contacted me and told us that they were an organization affiliated with the mermaids. They would save the mermaids and change everything here. And I could be saved as long as I listened to them."

"I agreed without hesitation. I felt like a drowning person who had to hold on to something to keep from going crazy."

"For the past three years, I have been secretly passing information to them, and I also worked with them to send several seriously injured mermaids out of here by pretending they were dead. I know there is not much I can do now, but it is better than doing nothing and enduring the condemnation of my conscience."

06 pointed to his left eye again and said, "Here, I installed a camera on my eye. Every day I spend here and everything I see are recorded and saved by it. I believe that one day, these truths will be published on the Internet, and that will be the real salvation for the mermaids here."

06 spoke passionately, but Su Su felt a little uninterested. He did not deny that 06's ideas and actions were well-intentioned, but he thought that could not change the outcome of the matter.

The people who came to pick him up had already arrived. Su Su was put into a bag for corpses, laid on a stretcher, and took the elevator to the first floor. Then he was pushed onto a suspended vehicle for transporting corpses. 06 also followed.

As with every other time, no one suspected anything unusual. 06 was already a veteran here, and no one suspected that she would betray this place.

The floating vehicle soon landed at a port, and Su Su was sent to a warehouse of Yan's Shipping. After crawling out of the bag containing the body, Su Su saw Yan Bai, who was dressed in a low-key manner. Although they had only not seen each other for half a year, he looked much more mature and haggard.

Yan Bai looked at Su Su and found that he had not changed much from before, with delicate features and a fearless look. It was as if he didn't care about anything, and didn't take anything to heart. However, he didn't make people feel cold, but seemed particularly lively.

Yan Bai hurriedly arranged for everyone to get on board. "It's good that everyone is here. The secret agent at the training center just sent a message that Mo Lin has discovered that Su Su has been replaced. He is now mobilizing the Mo family's forces to search nearby. They haven't noticed the pier yet. Let's get on the boat and set off for Freedom Island immediately."

Noticing 06's worried expression, Yan Bai patted him on the shoulder and said, "You did a great job this time. Don't worry. I have sent someone to pick up your family this morning. They have already set off on the Yan's Shipping ship. I will make them a new identity and place them in a company under Yan's Shipping. You don't have to worry."

"Are you leaving now?" Su Su sat up from the stretcher and looked at Yan Bai.

"Well, Su Su, I know you may have a lot of questions to ask now, but why don't we talk about it after we get on the boat? The Mo family will find this place soon, and we can't delay too long."

But Su Su pushed away Yan Bai's hand that was about to carry him to the wheelchair: "Yan Bai, you know, I didn't have to attend this banquet. If I stayed at Qi Hanyi's residence, even if Mo Lin got the approval of the parliament, he would never be able to take me from Qi Hanyi's residence to their mermaid training center."

Yan Bai paused slightly.

"I'm attending the banquet," Su Su looked at him and said word by word, "You told me there's a place called the Mermaid Training Center and you wanted me to go take a look."

Yan Bai's eyelashes trembled, and her expression suddenly showed a bit of panic: "Cousin..."

"I'm not blaming you." Su Su said, "I already know that you are a member of the Dark Current Organization. You once wanted to replace Yi Qing's identity to get close to Qi Hanyi, but I disrupted your plan. Then you came to get close to me again."

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. You even wanted to save me, and you wanted me to get out of this unscathed, even if it meant going against the instructions above."

"I just have a question that I must clarify. I want you to tell me what kind of organization is Undercurrent and what kind of things are you doing?"

Su Su did not blame him, which made Yan Bai feel relieved. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "I can't be too specific, but I can tell you with certainty that everything Anliu did was for the mermaids to have a better tomorrow."

Su Su nodded and raised his eyebrows: "So you don't have to worry about it today?"

"What?" Yan Bai was a little confused by Su Su's question. What? The mermaid's today? How to manage it?

"You let me go to the Mermaid Training Center to see what kind of life the mermaids there lead. I saw some things, and heard some of what I didn't see. They are indeed a group of miserable mermaids. Even a compassionate human being would feel sympathy for them and even feel guilty for his or her own powerlessness." Su Su said, glancing in the direction of 06.

The young female doctor no longer had the cold and defensive look she had in the training center. Instead, she looked a little embarrassed, perhaps because she felt that she had just said too much to Su Su.

Yan Bai didn't quite understand what Su Su meant, but in his opinion, it was a good thing that Su Su could empathize with the mermaids and feel sad or angry about their suffering. It meant that he was getting closer to him. Maybe before long, he would be willing to join the Undercurrent, and he would be able to convince Yan San to accept him.

Yan Bai: "Yes, their lives are not easy, so we must speed up our pace. When the plan succeeds, there will be no more places like this."

Su Su shook his head: "But I don't understand. Since Undercurrent had already grasped the situation of this place three years ago, or even earlier, with your power, why didn't you rescue them? Why didn't you just destroy this training center and rescue the mermaids inside? Why do you have to wait? How long do you have to wait? What if the mermaids died in the middle and couldn't wait any longer? What should you do?"

"Yan Bai, you said that Dark Current is an organization that exists for mermaids, but you just let your own people suffer. You clearly have the ability to do so, but you don't save them. Why?"

Yan Bai argued, "We didn't let it go. We have been working hard to rescue it. The video is ready. Once I buy a boat and leave the shore, it will spread quickly on various websites, and everyone will know what happened to the mermaid here."

"And then?" Su Su raised his lips sarcastically. He wanted to complain when he heard what 06 said just now: "Is exposure really useful? Didn't anyone try to expose this matter before knowing it?"

"Let me tell you what happens next. It's nothing more than everyone quarreling for months, rescuing the mermaids in a big way, and their partners will make hypocritical apologies, saying they had no idea what happened in there. They have nowhere to go, and they will be sent back to their partners. The ownerless mermaids will be sent to other similar rescue organizations. This is what you call rescue."

"The Mo family has deep roots and will not be affected at all. They can even manipulate public opinion to distance themselves from this matter and push a few cannon fodder out to block the knife. The nobles involved will protect each other. After a period of time, everything will be calm. Except for the dead mermaid, no one will pay for these crimes."

"After that, the Mo family can just move the Mermaid Training Center to another location, change its name, and reopen it. Nothing will change. They will still exist. As long as there is enough interest to support them, they will never disappear."

After saying this, Yan Bai didn't react much, but 06 seemed a little upset: "You mean what we are doing now is completely meaningless?"

Yan Bai sighed lightly. He was still doing Su Su's work and didn't want 06 to come out and cause trouble again.

"All of you go out." Yan Bai signaled everyone in the room to leave: "Su Su and I need to talk alone."

Everyone in the room left one by one, and the subordinate next to Yan Bai whispered, "Young Master, you have to hurry up. If you are any later, you might be discovered."

"I know. I know what's going on." Yan Bai waved his hand.

He believed that Su Su was thinking about the mermaids, but he had just faced a cruel reality and was stimulated. He was still too naive and too radical, just like himself in the past: "I know this may not be effective enough. I know you hate the training center and you can't wait to rush in and destroy this place. I am the same. But for the sake of the overall situation, we can't act rashly. There are more mermaids suffering in this world than just the training center. If we expose the Undercurrent Organization in order to rescue them and affect our final plan, it will be a loss."

Su Su stared into Yan Bai's eyes: "The final plan you mentioned, do you mean hijacking the Bai Ze and turning the guns towards our planet? Do you intend to threaten the Empire, or do you intend to directly bomb the continent and destroy humanity?"

Yan Bai's pupils shrank instantly, and Su Su knew that his guess was correct.

"You really just tell everything to others." Yan Bai seemed to be at a loss as to what to do.

"I guessed right." Su Su said affirmatively: "Your target is the Bai Ze, and this is all you can do."

Yan Bai sat down next to Su Su: "Yes, I don't deny it. You have seen the plight of the mermaids. If you don't have absolute power, you can't force humans to change. If you don't let them suffer the same pain, they won't be able to realize their mistakes. I don't ask you to help the mermaids now, you just need to understand and quit obediently."

"As long as you quit, you can live on Freedom Island or in the sea in the future. I can ensure that you have no worries about food and clothing. It doesn't matter if you want to go online or play games. I can help you get a new identity and a new account. As long as you quit, don't get involved with Qi Hanyi anymore. Qi Hanyi's mental breakdown has not been cured, and he won't live for many days. If you continue to stay, you will really die."

Su Su was unmoved: "There are many ways to improve the lives of mermaids, such as destroying those organizations that harm mermaids, or uniting those forces that are willing to help mermaids and letting them fight for the rights of mermaids on the human side, just like what Qi Hanyi is doing now, fighting for equal access to the Internet for mermaids, allowing them to drive starships, improving the value and status of mermaids, and giving them more autonomy. He is also researching drugs that can replace mermaids to heal human mental breakdown."

"Even earlier, Qi Hanyi's father, Qi Wu, wanted to abolish the forced marriage between mermaids and humans, change the unequal status of mermaids in marriage, and establish a special protection and monitoring agency."

"It was Undercurrent who killed him. You are still targeting Qi Hanyi. You have destroyed the possibility of a better life for the mermaids."

Yan Bai was a little anxious because of what Su Su said. He didn't know how to defend himself for a moment, so he could only bring out the words that his adoptive father usually used to persuade him: "These originally belonged to us. Why should we ask humans to fight for them for us? We don't need them to put on a hypocritical, benefactor's attitude. We don't need humans' condescending help. We can take back what we have lost by ourselves!"

Su Su's lips curled up with a hint of sarcasm and disdain: "So the undercurrent is trying to defend its own ridiculous self-esteem and refuse to allow its own people to be rescued?"

Yan Bai was choked: "Of course not, but if we don't take revenge on humans, then what about the mermaids in the past? Who will pay for their deaths and sufferings?"

"Revenge? That's a more plausible reason." Su Su nodded. "So you are preparing to take revenge on humans under the pretext of revenge for the suffering of the mermaids in the past, but you turn a blind eye to the experiences of the mermaids themselves? It's not that you can't save your people, you just think that dignity and revenge are more important than their lives?"

This time, without waiting for Yan Bai to speak, Su Su pointed in the direction they came from: "This mountain is called Lanshan. There is a U-shaped tower inside. Right now, the mermaids inside are being electrocuted, drugged, beaten, and sexually assaulted. You said you know, you are angry, you sympathize, but you want revenge first, so you let them wait a little longer?"

"Then what do you want me to see? To see the suffering of the mermaids, to see the excuses that you, the Undercurrent, have used to justify your actions. You can use their hatred and pain to gather your own strength. But what you really want to do is probably to pull humans down from the top of power and replace them."

Su Su stopped pretending to be angry: "Do you think I care about those mermaids? Do you think I am complaining about their plight? Yan Bai. I grew up in a much wilder place than here. To be honest, I didn't feel angry in that tower, but now when I hear you say that, when you use the name of doing it for them to make excuses for what you did, I feel a little disappointed. Because I consider you a friend, I thought you would at least be brave enough to take responsibility for your actions."

"I don't know." Yan Bai was a little shaken by Su Su's words: "I, I'm sorry, but we have to do it. At least, when the mermaids rule this world, the living mermaids can get the fairness they want."

"Mermaids rule the world?" Su Su laughed: "Can you really do it? How many mermaids know how to manage, use and repair starships and mechas? Do mermaids know how to fight the Zerg? Yes, you can learn, but will the Zerg wait?"

"When the Zerg invade, what will you use to fight them off? When those monsters use the energy of the entire planet as nourishment for the queen, not only will humans and mermaids perish, but all life on the planet will also be destroyed. Is destroying everything the revenge you want?"


Recommendation