Chapter 169: Jinjiang First Launch

Xia Mang burst out laughing: "You are kidding, right? Just now a savage left, and now a mermaid has appeared. There are not so many strange things in this world. In my opinion, you, the mermaid, are probably a human in disguise!"

The younger sister looked confused: "I don't know either. I haven't seen this mermaid in person. Only my brother has seen it. It's a long story. Let me tell you from the beginning."

"My name is Jiang Xiaoping, and my brother is Jiang Qingyun. We are biological siblings. We grew up together in the countryside. A few years ago, our parents died unexpectedly, and I was adopted by a distant relative. My brother was already an adult at the time, so no one adopted him, and he went out to work."

"There is a big age gap between my brother and me. We have no common language. In addition, I was adopted by someone else. We rarely see each other. We only say hello to each other during festivals."

"The family that adopted me treated me very well and treated me like their own daughter. I grew up under their care until I was 18 years old and was admitted to university. I just received the acceptance letter recently."

"In my senior year of high school, my adoptive parents strictly prohibited me from using my mobile phone in order to urge me to study, so I didn't get my own mobile phone until after the college entrance examination. As soon as I turned on my phone, I saw my brother's unread message."

Jiang Xiaoping showed her cell phone to everyone, and saw the following words written on it:

[Sister, I'm going abroad to catch mermaids. I may be gone for a long time. Please don't worry about me.]

"He sent me this message in December last year, more than half a year ago. He only said this one sentence, nothing else. I was terrified after receiving the message and immediately went back to the village to look for him."

"The doors of the houses in the village were locked tightly, and there was no sign of my brother. The villagers said they hadn't seen him for more than half a year, but someone saw him with Wang Erlai from the village during the last period before he disappeared."

"Wang Erlai is the same age as my brother. He used to be a lazy guy, but later he got rich for some reason. He built a house in the village, bought a luxury car, and became very lavish with his money. People called him Boss Wang when they met him."

"After I got the news, I ran to Wang Erlai's house to question him. Wang Erlai was not panicked at all. He showed me his WeChat chat records with my brother. I took screenshots of them one by one. Look." Jiang Xiaoping showed the phone to everyone again.

Jiang Qingyun: [Brother, I went home and thought about it. I plan to join the mermaid thing you mentioned. I am already in my thirties. If I don’t go find the mermaid, my life will be hopeless.]

Wang Erlai: [Smart, just trust me. We are all from the same village. I won’t cheat you. This time, if you dare to go out to sea, I promise to bring you a mermaid!]

Jiang Qingyun: [Hey, brother, you are so good to me. No wonder you can make a fortune. It turns out you are in this industry.]

Wang Erlai: [Shh, shut up! I told you this because I trust you, you are not allowed to tell anyone else!]

Jiang Qingyun: [I promise, if I tell anyone, I am the grandson! ]

Wang Erlai: [Okay, let’s stop talking about this. Come to my house tonight and I’ll tell you the detailed arrangements for going out to sea.]

Jiang Qingyun: [No problem, brother, can you show me a picture of the mermaid? ]

Jiang Xiaoping's finger slid down. Wang Erlai sent Jiang Qingyun several photos of beautiful women. Although these beauties looked delicate, they exuded a sense of weirdness. Xia Mang enlarged the photos and took a closer look. He immediately said:

“Hey, isn’t this AI generated?”

Jiang Xiaoping nodded awkwardly: "I noticed that, but my brother didn't go to school much, so he didn't know how to distinguish these things. I guess he was deceived."

"And then?"

Bai Mian slid down the screen, and the conversation between the two of them only stayed here. These were the chat records from last year.

Jiang Xiaoping said: "Wang Erlai said that the reason he was able to make a fortune in recent years was because he went overseas to find some unnatural creatures and then resold them to wealthy people in China. Many wealthy people were interested in this. Because he was afraid of customs inspections, he could only secretly sail overseas. He had a small boat."

"I was actually skeptical about what he said, but there was nothing I could do. He was the only one who knew the clues to my brother's disappearance, so I had to listen patiently."

"When he has nothing to do, he would drive his boat overseas to inquire about where there are unnatural creatures. You know, he goes abroad secretly, does not need a visa, and can come and go freely."

"He had no success last year until December, when he heard a piece of news - someone had found a mermaid in the sea."

"This is a mermaid! If we can catch one and bring it back to China, we won't have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of our lives! Wang Erlai was very interested and he immediately decided to set off for this sea area."

"The sea is vast and prone to rainstorms and heavy fog. Many ships have explored it, but none of them have returned. The disappearance of these ships has added a bit of mystery to the story."

"Legend has it that mermaids only appear in thick fog. So far, no one has ever seen her true appearance. Whenever a mermaid appears, a mysterious song will sound in the fog. If you follow the song, you will find the mermaid's residence."

"But some people say that the mermaid's song can make people forget their past and stay in the sea forever, so it is not easy to catch a mermaid."

Hearing this, Xia Mang interrupted her and said, "Wait, isn't this from ancient Greek mythology? Is he plagiarizing?"

Jiang Xiaoping smiled bitterly: "Of course I won't believe him. Wang Erlai is idle and talks nonsense all the time. Few of his words are true. I just want to know where my brother went before he disappeared."

"Wang Erlai said that the journey was full of difficulties and he did not dare to go alone, so he wanted to form his own team. He found my brother and several strong men from other villages."

"In the end, he found seven people in total. He promised them a high reward if they could come back alive. Most of these people were hard laborers who were used to a hard life and wanted a chance to turn their lives around, so they were willing to follow him and gamble their lives."

Bai Mian frowned slightly: "So, your brother and Wang Erlai are in an employment relationship, then why did your brother ask to see the mermaid's photo? Since it is an employment relationship, then just talk about money. Besides, those photos are fake. Isn't Wang Erlai afraid of being discovered?"

Jiang Xiaoping sighed: "I've said before, few of Wang Erlai's words are true. I can only pick out some useful information from his nonsense."

"On the appointed day, they set out to sea. Before they reached the mysterious sea, they encountered a thunderstorm. The boat was too small, and although they tried their best, it still capsized. The other seven people died in the sea. Only Wang Erlai was lucky enough to find a large ship that took him back to shore."

"That's the whole story he told me. He said my brother was definitely dead. It was impossible for him to survive such a severe storm. I didn't need to go to the trouble of looking for him. He would give me 20,000 or 30,000 yuan for funeral expenses and let me build a grave for my brother on the mountain in the village."

Xia Mang stood up for her, "On what basis? You can conclude that a person is dead just by looking at his mouth, even if he is really dead, it would be too easy to just compensate him with 20,000 or 30,000 yuan. He was the one who organized the voyage, so he should compensate you a large sum of money!"

Jiang Xiaoping: "I thought so at the time, but I didn't say it out loud. First, they didn't sign a contract, so there was no evidence to prove that my brother and Wang Erlai were in an employment relationship. Second, I was weak and didn't dare to confront Wang Erlai head-on, so I chose to use the soft approach. I cried in Wang Erlai's house and begged him to tell me the truth, but it was no use. Wang Erlai impatiently sent me away."

Xia Mang snorted: "Oh, it's useless to plead with this kind of scoundrel. When facing this kind of person, you should use force. Give him a few punches and beat him into submission. See if he will talk or not!"

Bai Mian held down Xia Mang's fist, turned to Jiang Xiaoping and asked, "Do you have any other clues?"

Jiang Xiaoping's eyes lit up: "Of course there is, and he is more trustworthy than Wang Erlai."

"That day, after I walked out of Wang Erlai's house, I heard footsteps behind me. I was afraid it was a bad guy, so I turned around and found that it was a little boy hiding in the bushes. When he saw that I had found him, he trotted and led me to a secluded corner. He stood in the shade of the trees waiting for me, and seemed to have something to say to me."

"I walked over and the little boy waved to me in a friendly way. He said his name was Wang Leilei, he was Wang Erlai's son and he was six years old."

"When I heard that he was Wang Erlai's son, I immediately had no good impression of him. I wanted to shake him off and leave, but this little boy stopped me with one sentence - he said he knew the whereabouts of my brother."

"I turned back and squatted down. The little boy didn't say anything and just said -"

Jiang Xiaoping raised her voice and imitated the little boy's voice and said:

"Sister, actually my father lied to you. Your brother is not dead yet. He is still alive."

"He did not sink to the bottom of the sea, but entered the kingdom of mermaids. Those mermaids were not beautiful women. They had sharp teeth and fangs, and held various weapons in their hands. Each one was more ferocious than the other. Your brother and the others were imprisoned by them as soon as they got off the boat."

"Those mermaids are very hungry. They can only grow by eating human flesh. Your brother and others are regarded as their food. They will not eat the prey immediately, but will play with it for a long time. They like to abuse humans and like to see humans scream. They will not eat them until they die completely."

"Mermaids don't eat people whole. They slowly hollow out their entrails and eat them. They eat a piece of entrails this month, and another piece of entrails next month. In this way, everyone gradually becomes weak and powerless, and no one dares to resist them."

"The others have been eaten. Now it's your brother's turn. If your brother doesn't leave the mermaid kingdom, he will also become a mermaid's meal!"

This story shocked everyone. Xia Mang was a little puzzled and said, "This child is only six years old. How can he know all this?"

"Children nowadays surf the Internet every day and mature early, and I didn't have time to think about that," Jiang Xiaoping said. "I was so anxious that I asked him how to get to the kingdom of mermaids. He said that as long as you take his father's boat, you can go to the kingdom of mermaids. The kingdom is on a piece of land. It's not difficult to get in, but it's difficult to get out. No one has ever gotten out alive."

"I felt very strange after hearing this, and immediately asked him how his father got out. He said that his father didn't need to worry about these things, because his father had already signed a contract with the mermaids and became their slave. The so-called mermaid-catching operation was also a huge scam made up by his father, the purpose of which was to trick humans into entering the mermaids' kingdom and becoming their food."

"The reason why his family suddenly became rich was because the mermaid gave his father a generous reward."

Xia Mang stuck out her tongue and said, "That sounds ridiculous, like a dream. Could it be that the little boy dreamed it himself?"

Jiang Xiaoping shook her head hastily: "No, he said he secretly played with his father's phone, and he saw all these things on video. He also stole a photo for me, which is this one——"

As she spoke, she picked up the photo that she had shown when she first entered the room.

"This is definitely a recent photo of my brother. He looks a lot older and thinner than before. If what the little boy said was not true, how could he produce this photo?"

"With this photo, it means that your brother's disappearance must be related to Wang Erlai. Why didn't you call the police?" Bai Mian asked.

Jiang Xiaoping said hesitantly, "The child said not to call the police. If we did, the police would take his father away, and his father would never tell us the entrance to the mermaid kingdom. Then my brother would be dead."

"So according to what they said, the only way for you to save your brother is..." Xia Mang's tone became serious.

Jiang Xiaoping continued her words: "Secretly board Wang Erlai's boat and follow him to the Mermaid Kingdom."