绝代双骄 林志颖

Ge Xiu inexplicably felt he couldn’t breathe, and the water flowed quickly in his throat with every breath, but it didn’t relieve this strange feeling of suffocation and oppression at all.

This feeling was strange and familiar… as if it happened before at some point, but he couldn’t remember it at all.

The pain he had experienced not long ago hit once again, like a burning hot steel needle, stabbing viciously in the depths of his mind.

Ge Xiu’s eyes were a little unfocused, he barely managed to maintain his sanity, searching for related symptoms in his mind.

Was it claustrophobia?

His memory before he went to prison was blank, and he didn’t actually understand himself.

However, claustrophobia was a fear and anxiety related to closed spaces. If he really had this symptom, he should have felt it already in the narrow cell. Why would it delayed until now…?

In the next second, the needle-like pain struck again, overwhelming him, the torture that was affecting only his mind was even more terrifying than the pain in the last world.

The wall was slowly approaching.

Ge Xiu’s eyes widened, and he felt his own sanity quickly disappear.

His body struggled subconsciously in the narrow coffin-like space. The sharp nails made an unbearable harsh sound on the glass, which was amplified by the water and transmitted back to his ears, making him feel as if a blade was cutting his nerves.

The voice of a few people outside seemed to be coming from hundreds of kilometres away:

“…what’s happening?”

“Wasn’t it unconscious?”

“It’s probably the ship shaking, don’t worry about it.”

Through the frantically rising bubbles, Ge Xiu saw that the scratches on the place he just scratched unconsciously formed a crooked character–

“P”.

What happened in the past? What does it mean? Why does his body never forgets this letter?

Countless questions filled Ge Xiu’s mind. This confusion and bewilderment was replaced by suppressed anger. He seemed to lose control in an instant, clenched his fists subconsciously, and exhausting all his strength hit hard on the place with crooked scratches–

“Crack”.

“Crack”.

Spiderweb-like delicate lines spread from the place where it had been hit heavily, making a sound of friction as if something was overloaded. Then, in the next second, heavy water pressure broke through the thin glass layer, and the entire glass wall shattered from the impact and the water rushed out, bring along Ge Xiu’s body.

Suddenly, bright light swayed above his head, and the soaked wet long hair wrapped like a seaweed around his neck and on his cheeks, countless chaotic and noisy human voices came from all directions━━

“God, what’s the matter with this mermaid?”

“It’s so strong, I have never seen a mermaid before so–“

“Quickly, quickly! Get the anaesthetic injection!”

Countless words rushed into my mind, and the huge amount of information was washed away before it was even processed.

The only advantage was that at the moment of leaving the water tank, the depressing suffocation finally disappeared.

Ge Xiu took a breath and was about to stand up, but he fell back to the original place heavily the next second because there was nothing to support him.

He raised his head in astonishment, and looked at his lower body in hindsight.

The place where there were originally legs was now replaced by a long, purple-blue fishtail. The hard and smooth scales were shining with colours under the light, and even more downwards was a pearly white tail fin, spreading out in a fan shape. As thoughts were running through his head, it flapped in the puddles on the ground.

This… Was this…?

Before Ge Xiu could do anything, he felt the hard needle pierce the skin on the back of his neck. Accompanied by slight pain, the cold liquid quickly flowed into his body, and the feeling of dizziness hit him instantly.

Everything around him seemed to be shaking, and the fuzzy outlines were fading into the glaring lights, and were divided into two or three vague silhouettes.

Ge Xiu heard voices coming from depths of his memory.

He couldn’t tell the specific content, but he keenly captured three or two of the keywords–

“Pandora Project.”

-“P”.

Immediately afterwards, everything sank into the endless darkness.

He didn’t know how much time has passed.

Ge Xiu raised his eyelids and woke up from the comatose state with difficulty ━━ his sight didn’t seem to recover, and the surroundings were still blurred, but he could already see the light blue waves underwater.

This was no longer the narrow and dark shipping box from before.

Ge Xiu quickly made a judgment.

He closed his eyes again and waited for the residual effect of the drug to pass before he began to look around the environment he placed in now.

It was a huge and luxurious fishtank.

The water plants and pebbles were paved into beautiful shapes, with traces of artificial interference everywhere, and the upper surface of the water was covered by a layer of special glass, so that the viewer could see everything in the water clearly from the top of the fish tank.

“He’s awake!”

Excited voice sounded from above his head. Ge Xiu raised his head. Through the swaying water, he saw a young man’s face facing him upright, and his handsome face was slightly distorted from excitement. Then, a pair of gray-blue eyes looked over him feverishly, clinging to the skin like a cold snake, the sight that seemed to be like one of examining one’s belongings made people feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

A short, fat man stood aside, laughing flatteringly:

“Grand Duke, look, I said he will wake up. It may just be that the dose of anaesthetic was not…”

The Grand Duke ignored him, and continued to watch the mermaid in the fishtank with fascination, his eyes were filled with an almost pathological excitement, he murmured: “So beautiful…”

It was true.

A mermaid was lying among the rippling blue water waves, the long blue-purple hair flowed like seaweed, swaying gently with the movement of the water, covering the moving silhouette from the shoulder to the collarbone. His upper body was human-shaped, his cold white skin seemed to glow in the water, and the huge fish tail on his lower body was quietly nestled among the rocks, as bright and smooth as crystals.

That face was like a mythological creature’s, so magnificent that it has even blurred the barriers between genders. His eyes are the same colour as his hair. Through the sparkling water, there was a thrilling and terrifying beauty, and he looked around at the surrounding environment with an almost innocent look.

Although all the mermaids were beautiful in appearance, even he has never seen any who was so beautiful.

The Grand Duke breathing sped up uncontrollably, his eyes greedily swept over every inch of the mermaid’s skin.

That’s right! Only such beautiful creatures were worthy of becoming his own llection!

He turned his head to look at the pudgy merchant waiting behind him, and commented in a good mood: “Well, you didn’t lie, this is indeed the most beautiful mermaid I have ever seen.”

The merchant nodded hurriedly, with the same excited expression: “Of course! I wouldn’t dare to deceive you even if I had ten times the guts! This is the first time I have seen such a top-quality merman in so many years even since I started working at the sea. It’s more beautiful than all the mermaids I’ve caught before! There are hardy any flaws! And he’s very vigorous, he’s the first one to wake up and break through the fishtank during transportation…”

However, before the merchant could end his boasting, the Grand Duke interrupted him impatiently:

“Okay…I just want to know, how his singing sounds?”

The merchant’s words got stuck instantly, and he fumbled for a long time before letting out a few meaningless syllables: “This…this…”

“What’s the matter?” The Grand Duke raised his brows, his expression a little gloomy.

The merchant considered his words and said carefully, “That…actually, when I caught him, I was too excited and didn’t have time to listen to his voice…”

“What??” The Grand Duke’s eyes cooled down: “The value of mermaid lies in their singing. You should know that better than me, right?”

He became anxious: “I am holding a banquet in three days time, and even the emperor will come! I’ve been showing off in front of other nobles for a long time. He has to sing that day, or I will lose my face!”

The merchant hurriedly explained,

“Don’t worry! Although I didn’t have time to test his singing, but I assure you, on my reputation! His vocal cords are completely free of any problems! And, look, how can this kind of merman sound unpleasant!”

The Grand Duke looked into the fishtank in the direction of the merchant’s fingers, and when his eyes landed on the face of the mermaid, he still couldn’t help being dazzled by his beauty.

He reluctantly accepted the merchant’s words and nodded: “Well, I will let my trainer try his voice, but if it doesn’t sound good…”

“Yes, yes, yes…” The businessman nodded and bowed: “I will be responsible!”

Both people turned back and walked away from the fishtank, and the noise of conversation gradually faded away.

Ge Xiu waited quietly at the bottom of the pool, his mind circling quickly, digesting the information he had received so far.

First of all, the technological level of this world is obviously much higher than that of the previous world. Whether it was the anaesthetic injection at the beginning or the camera running above the fish tank, it all can prove this. However, according to the conversation between the two people just now and the titles that have appeared, “Grand Duke” and “Emperor”, showed that the world was a hierarchical monarchy.

As for his identity…

Ge Xiu moved his gaze to his lower body, sighed, and a string of transparent bubbles came out of his mouth, bubbling and rushing towards the surface of the water.

Undoubtedly, it seemed to be a merman.

Moreover, it was inferred from their conversation just now that the mermaid might be of low status, and their looks and singing voices are playthings to show off among the nobles. Although precious and rare, they are nothing more than accessories and pets in the final analysis.

However, he had to say… the feeling of swimming in the water was still quite novel.

Ge Xiu was waving his tail clumsily, and a little awkwardly learning for the way to swim in the water. The surrounding seaweed was swaying with the current, and the water bubbles spit out from his mouth swam upwards from the depths of the fish tank along with the waves.

When he finally mastered the knack for moving in the water, a string of heavy footsteps came from a distance, walking towards the fish tank from far and near.

Ge Xiu swam back a bit, subconsciously hiding most of his figure behind the rock, and then looked up.

A tall, sturdy, ordinary-looking man squatted down by the pool sized fishtank. His face was blurred by the rippling water surface, but his emotionless eyes, as if looking at a dead object, went straight through the water and fell on Ge Xiu’s body.

He also seemed to be stunned by the face of the merman in front of him, but he soon calmed down again. He took out a strangely shaped tool from his back. It was dark and slender whip-like device with thorns and small spikes attached to it, and a bright red button on the handle.

The man slowly wrapped the whip-shaped thing around his hand, and said:

“Can you understand me? Merman?”

——————————————–

Little Theatre:

Ge Xiu: Getting sold again? Are they running out of ideas?

Bamboo has something to say:

I am so generous, gave a chapter earlier. I’m gonna lose the rights to ”lazy” in my bio anytime now O_O