"Secret weapon? How come I don't know? Aren't our weapons guns and slingshot nets...? Wait, did Victor give you something secretly?" Eck's expression changed slightly.
Modeya turned her head. "Don't ask. You'll know when you see the mermaid!"
"Do you know that Victor isn't a good person? He's a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce..."
At this point, Eck suddenly fell silent, swallowing back what he was about to say, and emphasized again. "The Chamber of Commerce is far more despicable and terrifying than we imagined!"
"I know the Chamber of Commerce is annoying, but that has nothing to do with our trip!" Modeya waved his hand impatiently.
Rio watched as the captain and first mate argued and weakly tried to intervene, "Now there are only three of us left, you shouldn't be fighting..."
"..."
Seeing that they had stopped arguing, Su Cheng continued, "Can a campfire attract mermaids?"
Eck: "That's right, legend has it that if two campfires are lit at night, the burning flames are like glowing eyes that can attract the attention of mermaids."
"Approximately where are we in the Tranquil Blue Sea?"
" The Blue Count Ship is traveling very fast; we may have already reached the middle of the Tranquil Blue Sea..." Eck turned to look into the distance; through his telescope, there was no movement on the sea surface.
Mermaids are active at night, which makes him always feel that there is danger lurking beneath the surface of the sea.
Su Cheng nodded, walked to the railing, and observed the deep blue sea.
Tonight, the sky is devoid of stars, but a full moon is partially obscured by clouds.
The moonlight was dim, making the sea appear exceptionally dark as well.
The main quest is called " The Mermaid's Secret." Since it's a secret, the mermaid naturally wouldn't tell this human of any other race.
The four men on deck were all lost in thought, no one spoke, only the faint sound of the campfire crackling could be heard.
Modeya got up and walked to the edge of the deck, breaking the tense atmosphere with her voice. "Why is everyone so tense? It's a pity my wine fell into the sea, otherwise we would have had a drink by now... Cheer up, we saw a live mermaid, how amazing!"
"Shh." Su Cheng made a shushing gesture.
She stared at the horizon where the sea met the sky, noticing something unusual in the undulating lines: a sharp little corner peeking out from the flat surface—something was coming this way...
"What's wrong?" Eck hurried to Su Cheng's side, picked up the binoculars to examine her, and after a while whispered, "What's that...?"
Eck immediately made a decision. "Keep the foremast up, lower the other two sails to reduce speed."
After responding to the crew, Modeya strode toward the mast.
As the sharp points rapidly approached, Su Cheng recognized what they were, and the answer in her heart overlapped with Eck's voice, "A swarm of sharks..."
The sharks appeared from all sides of the ship, their fins slicing through the water, and charged toward Blue Count with tremendous force!
But there was no blood to attract attention under the boat, so why did the sharks suddenly attack...?
The fan-shaped fishtail flashed by in the blink of an eye, but Su Cheng was certain she wasn't seeing things.
They also understood why the shark swarm appeared: they were being manipulated, the vanguard charging ahead.
"You three go to the deck over there, I'll guard this side," Su Cheng said clearly, bending down to pick up a harpoon that was only three meters long from the ground.
"Okay." Eck didn't question it and immediately called to Modeya, who had already furled the sails, and the two of them picked up their weapons and went to the other end of the deck.
The Blue Count cruised slowly across the sea. With a loud thud, a shark rammed into the hull, but the sturdy ship only rocked slightly.
"Whoosh--"
Su Cheng seized the opportunity, gripped the harpoon with both hands, and thrust the sharp tip straight into the shark's eye, piercing through its head.
The fish thrashed wildly, splashing bright red water!
"Pfft pfft"
She pulled out the fork and then plunged it into two more sharks that had been drawn in by the movement, the fork tip piercing through both inside and out, aiming to kill them with a single blow!
The spreading blood attracted the sharks that were still pounding against the hull. The blood excited them, and some continued to attack Su Cheng, even trying to leap up and bite, while others tore at their companions to satisfy their appetites.
Although Su Cheng had little fishing experience, her keen senses and strength were not to be underestimated. Her harpoons were deadly with every shot, staining half the seawater on the hull of the boat red...
After the most ferocious and aggressive sharks have sunk, those that have eaten their fill are no longer willing to take risks.
Blood is both a stimulant and a warning sign of a powerful enemy.
The shark began to retreat, and the mermaid, who had been observing from the shadows, could no longer wait and poked her head out from the bottom of the water.
"Ugh..."
A low, hoarse sob rang out, then the tone shifted to a chant. "Eee-ah... ee-ah-woo..."
The ethereal sound wasn't loud, but it contained a strange power that silenced all the noise at sea.
The remaining sharks all sank to the bottom of the sea, listening silently without moving.
The three of Eck sluggishly threw down their weapons, stared at the sea, their eyes rolled back, and they swayed unsteadily.
From the moment the song began, Su Cheng sensed an aura invading her consciousness, but it was dispersed by the White Qi.
The mermaid's song was as beautiful as described in the story, somewhat like the sound waves emitted by dolphins but even more gentle.
Su Cheng listened quietly, unaffected by it.
She waited patiently for it to approach, and in the moonlight, she saw its upper body.
As Su Cheng had predicted, the mermaid was more real and relatable than those described in various stories.
Its hair is sparse, wet, and clings to its scalp. Its head is only about half the size of a human's and protrudes slightly forward. Below its eyes, which are the size of soybeans, is a mouth that takes up half of its face. Through its slightly parted lips, you can see sharp teeth. Its cheeks are similar to its nose.
Its exposed skin is covered with dense scales. Its upper body is similar to that of a human, its arms are covered with thin muscles, its toes are webbed, and below its waist is a long tail like that of a sea serpent. Its tail fin is shaped like a ginkgo leaf, very hard and sharp, and it is exceptionally flexible and powerful when it swings.
Seemingly sensing Su Cheng's gaze, it abruptly turned its head to meet her eyes, and its singing stopped abruptly.
Hiss!
It opened its mouth, its long tail twitched slightly, and hissed at her threateningly.
Although the singing stopped, all three—Shark, Eck, and the others—remained static and had not regained consciousness.
"Splash!"
Ripples spread across the sea, and mermaids emerged from the water, their appearances largely the same, differing only in the shades of their scales.
They stared intently at Su Cheng, this "outlier," their mouths slightly open, hands clasped to their chests, and chanted the same song in unison...
"Ah..."
The tranquil sea echoed with a clear, soul-stirring song, like the gentlest whisper, drawing the listener in and allowing them to drift away, to draw closer...
Su Cheng had already seen this move before, and was prepared by circulating her White Qi to maintain a stable state of mind.
At the same time, he turned around and swung the rope, pulling back Eck and the other two who were about to jump into the sea.
She channeled a wisp of energy into Modeya's ear, and after his unfocused pupils focused, she crouched down and asked, "What is this the Mermaid's Secret?"
"Secret weapon..." Modeya repeated unconsciously, her mind still foggy.
Seeing his expression, Su Cheng stood up and decided that she shouldn't have too high expectations.
The mermaids first sent a swarm of sharks to attack, specifically targeting the ship and biting the humans. Now, almost half of their species has personally joined the fray... If it were just a simple matter of driving out humans, would such a grand spectacle be necessary?
This was clearly an indication that they absolutely could not let any of them escape.
This instance is called " Mermaid Sacrifice." Who is being sacrificed? What is being used as a sacrifice—humans or mermaids?
While Su Cheng pondered for a while, the mermaid realized that the chanting mental attack was ineffective against her and was approaching the ship step by step, attempting to launch a physical attack.
Su Cheng twitched her fingertips slightly, and her backpack transformed into a pocket shape, retracting the boning knife she had just taken out.
To uncover the Mermaid's Secret, the simplest way is to get involved yourself.
No sooner had she made up her mind than Modeya, standing behind her, suddenly sat up and shouted excitedly, "Secret weapon!"
Su Cheng turned her head and saw him take a glass bottle out of his inner pocket.
The glass bottle contained dense green algae submerged in murky water. Unlike the withered algae in the storage compartment, these algae were full of life.
Su Cheng instantly understood the significance of this secret weapon:
Green algae contain Kro Fungus, Kro Fungus can infect not only humans but also mermaids.
Victor, or rather the merchant guild behind him, is not only looking for mermaids, but also plotting to use the Kro Fungus to wipe out the entire group.
Modeya was unaware of the connection between the green algae and the Kro Fungus; he was a pawn to be used to capture mermaids and test whether the Kro Fungus were effective against them.
Don't throw it away!
Su Cheng tried to stop her, but Modeya had already thrown the glass bottle into the sea.
A transparent glass bottle spun in mid-air, with green algae and murky water stratifying and densely gathering at the bottle's opening, waiting for the gate to open and for it to find a host to parasitize...
A note from the author:
none
Chapter 97
Su Cheng leaped into the air, slipped the palm-sized glass bottle into the sealed bag in her hand, closed it, and stored it in her Smart Bag.
As a result of this movement, she landed on the edge of the ship, but managed to stand on the deck railing with excellent balance.
The mermaid closest to her suddenly leaped up, opening her sharp teeth to pounce, when a boning knife suddenly appeared.
A flash of cold light, and the mermaid narrowly dodged backward, falling back into the sea, but her chest was still slashed open by the blade's energy, the blood spreading.
Su Cheng glanced at them, and all the mermaids who met her gaze retreated, creating a safe distance that allowed them to advance or retreat as needed.
She jumped off the railing and returned to the deck.
Modeya fell back into a coma, her eyes rolled back, and her body even twitched slightly, as if she had just experienced a brief moment of lucidity before a breakdown due to stress.
"This human is very strong." The injured merman made a gurgling sound from his throat.