Chapter 9
The participating mermaids had almost all arrived, and the aquarium was quite lively with them gathered together.
After entering the water, MuMu didn’t immediately join them but swam to the glass, searching for Wen Ming.
For humans, the aquarium was four or five stories high.
After releasing the mermaids from the entrance at the top of the aquarium, one had to go down to the viewing area to observe them through the glass.
MuMu swam straight down, faster than Wen Ming.
It paced back and forth in front of the glass, spotting a few familiar faces—
Qi Xuan with his constantly flashing optical brain lights, and Wen Ming’s friend, Xiao Jun.
Xiao Jun was holding a four or five-year-old girl, presumably his daughter. Her small canine teeth, revealed when she smiled, were the spitting image of Xiao Jun’s.
MuMu swam directly to the little girl, then suddenly opened its mouth wide, turning to press its face against the glass, pretending to eat the child.
The little girl’s mouth was still open, but her smile had turned into a cry…
“Don’t cry, Xiao Yue!”
Xiao Jun hugged Xiao Yue and patted her back: “This is your Uncle Wen Ming’s mermaid. It likes to scare people. It scared me last time too.”
Tears welled up in Xiao Yue’s eyes: “Really? It won’t bite me?”
“Really, it’s actually very friendly. Its name is MuMu. Say hello!”
Xiao Yue mustered her courage and pressed her small hand against the glass: “MuMu?”
MuMu pressed its palm against hers, as if conveying:
I’m sorry I scared you, don’t be afraid, I don’t eat children, I eat small fish.
Xiao Yue smiled again, her canine teeth particularly cute.
“How amusing!”
Qi Xuan approached, his shoulders shaking with laughter: “How can a child be so timid, afraid of even a mermaid? What a scaredy-cat.”
He had paid a hefty price for illegally using his mental seascape and causing the aquarium to break, and the rest of his savings had gone into a new custom-made optical brain.
Qi Xuan guarded his new optical brain like the apple of his eye, wearing it behind his ear with an added protective case.
It made one side of his head look larger than the other.
“Are you an idiot!?” Xiao Jun shielded his daughter and cursed. “Deformed head, deformed brain?”
Qi Xuan leaned against the glass and said with disdain:
“Commoner language is so vulgar. That’s why I didn’t agree with nobles and commoners participating in the Mermaid Competition together in the first place…”
The commoners around him, subjected to his indiscriminate insults, dared not speak up, swallowing their anger.
No matter how much the Qi family disregarded him, he still had the Qi Corporation backing him.
The Qi Corporation had grown to be second only to the Wen Corporation. It wasn’t worth offending Qi Xuan for a momentary retort.
Even Xiao Jun suppressed his temper…
“Splash—”
A current surged in the aquarium.
A blue tail flicked rapidly, creating a wave that shot straight towards Qi Xuan’s face…
The plexiglass had been specially treated to prevent fingerprints and stains, ensuring the best viewing experience for humans.
It also ensured Qi Xuan’s “being slapped” viewing experience.
Qi Xuan didn’t feel any sense of security from the glass as the tail drew closer, about to hit him squarely.
In that instant, Qi Xuan recalled the terror of being dominated by a fishtail slap.
Facial pain, ringing ears, a shattered optical brain…
“Gasp!” Qi Xuan’s throat tightened in fear, his sharp intake of breath like the pull of an old bellows.
He clutched his optical brain and scrambled away.
When he looked up, still shaken, the blue mermaid was floating peacefully in the water, harmless…
“Hilarious, absolutely hilarious!”
Xiao Jun clapped loudly: “How can a scaredy-cat be frightened out of their wits by a mermaid?”
“You don’t understand, I just have a psychological trauma!”
Ignoring Qi Xuan’s explanation, laughter erupted around him.
Mortified, Qi Xuan’s body temperature and heart rate rose, triggering his optical brain’s automatic alarm, changing its flashing colorful light to flashing red.
He clutched his prized external optical brain and fled from the crowd’s gaze…
Xiao Jun let out a relieved breath. His daughter tugged at his clothes:
“Daddy, you were right, MuMu likes to scare people… but I like it.”
Xiao Jun smiled. From the corner of his eye, a colorful mermaid swam past.
“Hey? Hua Hua!”
Xiao Yue also recognized their family’s mermaid, excitedly pointing at Hua Hua and MuMu: “They’re friends!”
MuMu didn’t consider the other mermaid a friend.
The unfamiliar mermaid with a multicolored tail swam over with a stern expression and pushed MuMu away from the glass:
“Don’t you dare bully my little brother!”
“?” MuMu sniffed the scent on it and said knowingly, “Are you Xiao Jun’s mermaid?”
“Xiao Jun? Who’s that?” Human language, translated into mermaid language, was gibberish to mermaids.
Hua Hua pointed at Xiao Jun and Xiao Yue outside the glass: “These two legged ones are my little brothers. They pay me fish food protection money on time every day.”
It put its hands on its hips and questioned MuMu: “I saw you trying to bite my little brother!”
“…” MuMu patiently explained, “You misunderstood, I was chasing away the bad guy for them.”
Hua Hua looked confused: “What does ‘bad guy’ mean?”
Mermaids are not considered intelligent species.
They can only understand the simplest logic and vocabulary. A mermaid like Hua Hua, who mistook Xiao Jun’s feeding for protection money, was already considered quick-witted.
“A bad guy is…” MuMu stammered, translating, “The legged one who wanted to bite your little brother.”
Hua Hua suddenly understood, grabbed MuMu’s arm, and said gratefully:
“So you’re a good fish. Next time I get my protection money, I’ll share some with you!”
MuMu gave a perfunctory smile. With a mermaid’s memory, it definitely wouldn’t get the fish food Hua Hua promised…
“What protection money?” A bright red mermaid swam past. “That’s the legged ones feeding us.”
MuMu’s ears perked up: An intelligent mermaid!?
The red mermaid swished its tail ostentatiously: “The legged ones are so stupid. I do a little spin according to their hand gestures, and they offer me more food. It’s hilarious how easily fooled they are!”
Another mermaid joined them: “My legged one is so weird, muttering a bunch of nonsense before giving me food. Scary!”
The mermaids gathered around, chattering about their masters.
“What about you?” Hua Hua patted MuMu. “What’s your legged one like?”
Everyone looked at MuMu curiously.
“Uh, my master…” MuMu scratched its head, thinking for a moment. “He’s very frugal.”
“What does ‘frugal’ mean?”
“He’s thrifty, never skips work, and wears the same clothes every day.”
MuMu tugged at its scales, its heart aching: “He changes his clothes less often than we shed our scales!”
Outside the aquarium, the elevator in the viewing area dinged open.
Wen Ming, fashionably late, stepped out.
His expression was cool and aloof, and the crowd quickly parted for him, murmuring:
“Whoa, why is Admiral Wen attending this kind of event? Everyone’s too scared to speak loudly…”
“That casual suit looks so good on him, eye candy!”
“Must be custom-made…”
In the interstellar era, with its highly developed industries, machines were the main productive force.
The value of clothing wasn’t determined by brand or material, but by how much handwork went into it.
“I heard his wardrobe is full of handmade clothes.”
“More than that, I know an embroidery master who said the Admiral commissioned a batch of small blankets…”
“What’s embroidered on the blankets?”
“Seashells, and the name of the mermaid he’s raising.”
Someone gasped: “Hand-embroidered even for a mermaid? This is what it means to be rich…”
Wen Ming rarely appeared at non-business events, and his aloof aura intimidated many.
Including Xiao Jun’s daughter.
Children are more sensitive to mental seascapes. When Xiao Jun waved at Wen Ming, Xiao Yue timidly hid behind him.
Wen Ming’s mental seascape was filled with the desolation of war, and with every step he took closer, Xiao Yue’s face paled further.
Seeing this, Wen Ming nodded at Xiao Jun and changed direction, finding a quiet spot.
An empty “vacuum zone” formed around him…
“Master!”
MuMu spotted Wen Ming and rushed to the glass, wagging its tail.
Wen Ming saw it and tapped his fingers against his mouth.
MuMu instantly understood this secret signal, which even humans would struggle to decipher:
“Awoo, awoo!” I didn’t eat anything I wasn’t supposed to here!
Realizing that the humans outside couldn’t hear its underwater calls, MuMu opened its mouth wide, showing Wen Ming its mouth from all angles:
“Ahh—”
See, there’s nothing in my mouth.
Am I not the most obedient mermaid!
“Wow, what’s that blue one doing?”
“It looks like it’s trying to eat the glass, haha, another perplexing mermaid behavior.”
MuMu snorted. It believed Wen Ming could definitely understand its message.
“Ding dong, all participating mermaids are in place. The Mermaid Competition will now begin!”
There were also broadcasting devices inside the aquarium, and MuMu heard it clearly.
“This competition uses a point system. Points are accumulated in each round, and the mermaid with the highest total score wins.
The owner of the first-place mermaid will receive a prize of 100,000 star coins, the second-place…”
The mermaids, understanding nothing, swam around indifferently.
Only MuMu was as excited as a bull seeing a red cloth, its eyes seeing nothing but 100,000 star coins.
“The first round is the mermaid agility competition.
Food will be randomly thrown into the aquarium. Each successful grab earns one point.
After the first round, the mermaid judges will select a mermaid with the best overall performance and award it five bonus points.”
MuMu’s face radiated confidence as it stretched its tail:
Time for a foodie’s moment to shine!
“Are you okay?” Hua Hua swam over. “Is your tail cramping?”
MuMu gave a mysterious smile: “Next, we’re rivals…”
“What?”
Before Hua Hua could react, the blue mermaid had vanished.
The first piece of freeze-dried food was thrown into the tank. Just as the other mermaids started twitching their noses, MuMu seized the opportunity and grabbed the food…
The announcer became an enthusiastic commentator: “Incredible reaction speed!
Like a blue lightning bolt, it grabbed the food before we could even see what it was. Let’s congratulate this blue mermaid on earning a po…
Wait, it grabbed the food but isn’t eating it?”
Under the puzzled gazes of the crowd, the blue mermaid avoided the other mermaids sniffing at it, protectively holding the freeze-dried food, refusing to eat…
In the entire viewing area, only one person’s gaze met the mermaid’s.
“You can eat it.” Wen Ming nodded slightly, mouthing the words.
“It finally ate it!” The announcer commentated in real time. “This mermaid, named ‘MuMu,’ has earned the first point of the competition!”
MuMu chewed the freeze-dried food contentedly, flexing its hands.
When the next splash sounded, it was once again the fastest to react, grabbing the object thrown in and preparing to stuff it into its mouth.
The gentle ripples in the water told it that the other mermaids hadn’t moved quickly.
It wasn’t the fastest, but the only one to react…
MuMu’s excitement abruptly cooled, and it pulled the object away from its mouth—
It was a struggling fish…
Common interstellar knowledge: Mermaids don’t eat fish, nor do they catch fish.
The other mermaids, except for MuMu, looked disinterested.
The humans outside the glass gasped in surprise, many turning on their optical brains to record the spectacle of a “mermaid catching a fish.”
MuMu swallowed dryly, pretending to lose its grip, releasing the fish, and swimming away from it.
People closed their optical brains one after another:
“I thought we’d see something exciting…”
“Guess it was just a fluke.”
MuMu clutched its chest, its heart pounding wildly:
That was close…
Both freeze-dried food and “fish” were within its predatory instincts, but it absolutely couldn’t reveal those instincts.
In the following rounds of grabbing food, MuMu became hesitant.
It had to confirm what was being thrown in before deciding whether to pursue it.
This hesitation allowed the other mermaids to easily rack up points…
The 100,000 star coin grand prize sprouted wings and gradually flew away from MuMu.
“I can’t go on like this!”
MuMu frowned, recalling the rules of the competition:
‘After the first round, the mermaid judges will select a mermaid with the best overall performance and award it five bonus points.’
There was still a chance to turn things around.
Since the theme was agility, it could just show off how flexible it was… right?
MuMu pulled out its best trick.
Forward rolls, backward rolls, sideways rolls, rolls with its tail curled, rolls with its tail bent, rolls with its tail straight…
There was no roll it couldn’t do.
It turned the mermaid competition into its own personal performance stage.
The announcer: “Uh, this mermaid is, perhaps, trying to grab food in its own unique way…
Except it’s not eating much, and it’s burning more calories than it’s gaining.”
“?” MuMu couldn’t tell if the announcer was praising or mocking it.
It paused its performance, pressing against the glass to listen carefully to the humans outside:
“Hilarious, it’s something only a low-intelligence species would do!”
“Do mermaids get ADHD too?”
“So flamboyant~”
MuMu clenched its fists in anger: Tasteless humans!
“Whose mermaid is that?”
The person who answered lowered their voice significantly, pointing towards the “vacuum zone”: “That one’s…”
The questioner’s expression immediately changed:
“Someone with a damaged mental seascape can probably only afford low-grade soothing. It’s understandable that their mermaid’s intelligence is a bit low…”
MuMu’s fins flared, its anger rising.
Its gentle, kind, hardworking, and frugal master was only referred to as “someone with a damaged mental seascape.”
Standing so far away from its master, they were isolating him!
Tasteless humans!!!
MuMu swiftly swam towards Wen Ming…
