"Then where do they get their human organs?" Su Cheng explained, while reaching for the Smart Bag.
The system task completion notification hadn't sounded yet, which meant something was still missing. She needed to hurry, since being attacked by a group of enemies in the mermaid's nest would be very difficult.
A note from the author:
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Chapter 98
Su Cheng arrived at the foot of the mermaid statue, knocked on it, and channeled a wisp of White Qi into the statue, which was not absorbed by it.
It seems that without a sacrificial ceremony, this mermaid statue would just be an ordinary stone statue.
Ordinary stone statues are even easier to deal with; two small bombs would be enough to shatter them.
Having come up with an idea, Su Cheng went into the water and dragged the other two wooden containers that were still floating on the water to the edge of the altar.
Inside the container Eck and Rio were still unconscious, but their complexions had worsened, and they would occasionally tremble.
Su Cheng had originally planned to let them remain unconscious, but judging from their current condition, it seemed they couldn't wait much longer.
She channeled her Qi into their heads, dispelling the white mist that enveloped their consciousness.
After the Qi circulated several times, it finally awakened the two from their dazed state.
"Su?... My head hurts so much..."
"Ugh... I feel so dizzy..."
The first thing they did upon opening their eyes was to clutch their heads in pain, gagging several times before finally recovering slightly.
"Where is this? Aren't we on a ship?" Eck's eyes were bloodshot as he shook his head, trying to recall what had happened.
"This is the mermaid's lair. You were brought here as sacrifices after being drugged by the song." Su Cheng pointed to the altar and briefly explained the mermaid's sacrificial ritual.
The two were shocked and frightened. They had never imagined that the merfolk would have such an unbelievable sacrificial ritual, let alone that the human body could be used as an incubator for eggs.
After examining the male corpse with its abdomen exposed on the altar plate, Rio was filled with both anger and fear, and took a few steps back, nearly falling into the water.
His voice trembled. "They actually did this to human bodies! They are the most terrifying beasts!"
As he spoke, he approached and began to crush the three yellow fish eggs.
Su Cheng raised her hand to stop him. If he really crushed the fish eggs, it would be as if they had made a blood feud with the mermaids, and they would have no chance of getting through this sea area later.
"The fish eggs are very important to mermaids, otherwise they wouldn't specifically seek out this kind of sacrificial ritual. If you destroy these three fish eggs, they will definitely chase after you relentlessly."
Rio understood what she meant, but he was still somewhat unwilling. He opened his mouth to say something, but Su Cheng interrupted him, "Didn't you come here to catch them too?"
Eck and Rio were both taken aback.
That's right, they were ordered to come here to capture and trade mermaids as commodities.
The nobles and wealthy merchants who paid exorbitant prices weren't just there to see mermaids; they might have cooked or studied them out of curiosity...
To humans, mermaids are strange aliens, not much different from other animals.
In the eyes of the mermaids, aren't humans the same?
As an outsider to this world, Su Cheng sees things more clearly and is less likely to let emotions cloud her reason.
Su Cheng didn't give them time to hesitate or struggle. She told them to find two container lids on the water's surface and then lie back down.
"Once you pass through this membrane, the entire area is a seawater channel. The only way out is to repeat the same method you used to get in."
"And what about you?" Eck asked.
"I have my own way. I'll push you out, and once you're far away from the merfolk, you can come out and swim back to the Blue Count Ship."
"... Okay, thank you." Eck and Rio complicated expressions. If it weren't for Su Cheng, they might have already died and wouldn't have had the chance to express their gratitude.
Su Cheng nodded. "I'm only responsible for getting you out of here. After that, you'll have to swim back to the ship on your own. You don't need to worry about me afterwards."
She had a feeling that after leaving the mermaid's nest, she might receive a mission completion notification, at which point she might be able to leave the instance directly in the sea.
After giving the instructions to the two, Su Cheng put on gloves, took out a plastic bag, and put the two fish eggs inside.
Then she took out a rope and tied the two sealed containers together, putting the end of the rope in her hand.
Mu Ling, who had been following the mermaid, alerted them: They're coming.
Su Cheng responded and pulled the two containers toward the water membrane. As soon as she pushed the two containers out of the water membrane, she could feel the pull of the seawater outside the cave.
She turned around, took out two small bombs, and threw them accurately at the mermaid statue.
Leave the cave before the bomb lands.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Two loud bangs shook the entire rocky cave, and tiny bubbles rose from the seawater.
Wearing the Heart of the Ocean, Su Cheng, though not as fast as a mermaid, could move freely in and out of the seabed without worrying about suffocating from lack of oxygen.
"They're all coming towards you!" Mu Ling shouted.
Su Cheng vaguely sensed something approaching from all directions. After having Mu Ling delay for a while, she quickly chose the fork in the road from her memory.
Before, when she was lying in the container being pushed by the mermaid, she felt that everything was going smoothly. But when it was her turn to walk through the current on her own, she realized that there were so many holes in the reef.
I accidentally went the wrong way.
There is certainly more than one way to leave the nest, but searching and exploring carefully would take too much time.
She can only take the path she remembers coming in through; otherwise, she'll easily get lost in the lair, unable to get out, or she'll just be delivered to her doorstep.
"Whoosh--"
Su Cheng turned her body to the side, and a Yezi -shaped stone, sharpened to a point, passed by her and struck the container board heavily.
She turned her head and met a pair of fierce eyes from a distance.
She is a priestess of the merfolk.
It bared its sharp teeth, and its short hissing sound turned into bubbles in the seawater.
Su Cheng touched the translator disc in her throat; it was still there. She opened her mouth, and with each bubble, her voice was transformed into a gurgling sound, "Let us leave."
The Mermaid Sacrifice initially widened her eyes slightly in disbelief, falling into a state of doubt.
After examining Su Cheng more closely, especially focusing on the area behind her legs, it became clear that she had no racial relation to the mermaid.
Why do you know our language?!
Su Cheng didn't answer the question. Instead, she took out a plastic bag containing fish eggs and continued, "You used human bodies as incubation containers, so I destroyed your altar and statues. But the fish eggs are still here."
Amid the Mermaid Sacrifice's astonishment at finding what she had lost, she took out the glass bottle wrapped in a sealed bag.
Some green algae leaked from the bottle opening and settled at the bottom of the sealed bag.
"This is a virus from the human world. It can make not only humans sick, but also merfolk sick. The man on the ship who wasn't taken away by you was infected with this virus."
Several more mermaids slipped through the gap and stopped behind the Mermaid Sacrifice. The situation of many against one made the priest's arrogance even deeper.
It stared at the fish eggs, which were only half an arm's length away from the sealed bag, its face grim. "What do you mean?"
"I already said, let us go." Seeing that it still didn't agree, Su Cheng Cheng's White Qi glowed faintly.
She took out a boning knife, chanted Fire-Attracting Art, and a blue ghostly flame flashed across the sea, causing all the mermaids to tense up.
This all shows that she is not without the ability to fight, but simply does not want to waste unnecessary time and energy.
The mermaid who had previously witnessed Su Cheng stab a member of her race approached the priest and whispered, "This human pierced Li's scales with a knife, and at first she wasn't affected by the hymns..."
As she spoke, the mermaid's expression became somewhat confused. Humans could speak mermaid language and breathe underwater... even though the humans she had encountered before were all stupid and weak.
They had initially thought Su Cheng was merely putting up a last-ditch effort while on the ship, but now it seemed that wasn't the case; this human's abnormal behavior had overturned their understanding.
After a long deliberation, the priest narrowed his eyes and extended his hand. "Give us back the fish eggs, and we'll take the 'virus' too. You may leave."
"Yes, but only when I leave this cave."
The Mermaid Sacrifice remained silent, which was a tacit agreement.
Su Cheng continued swimming outwards, pulling the two containers, and called back Mu Ling. A short distance behind them was a group of mermaids, led by a black-haired mermaid.
They couldn't gauge her strength, but they could sense the aura of a powerful being emanating from her—an aura they had previously felt from the Queen.
Upon reaching the cave entrance, Su Cheng pushed the two containers out of the water plants.
Turning around, she tossed a plastic bag containing fish eggs and algae into the water, and the mermaid beside the priest stepped forward to catch it.
As it was receiving the food, Su Cheng passed through the thick seaweed and left the mermaid's nest.
"Priest, shall we give chase?" asked the silver merman, its fighting spirit surging, yet it dared not act rashly.
Priest: "You can't defeat her. If you die like this, you'll be even more worthless than Bly."
Lai was the first mermaid discovered by humans.
After learning that the priestly ritual could bring forth a queen, it was something they had anticipated: exiling the corpse of the dead mermaid into an underwater whirlpool to attract the humans.
Under the priest's sharp gaze, Li lost all its strength and lowered its head in defeat. The newly healed scars on its scales told it that the priest was right.
But it simply couldn't accept that it couldn't defeat the weak and incompetent alien race.
"But she destroyed our altar and took away two other offerings! This is a provocation against the merfolk!" Li said indignantly.
"Wherever there are offerings, it becomes an altar... Humans are a greedy species, especially after learning of the existence of the merfolk." The priest smiled meaningfully.
It handed the soon-to-be-born fish eggs to the fish beside it, then picked up the sealed bag and examined it closely. "It really is the Algae of the Curse. I didn't expect the humans to actually find it."
The other mermaids' expressions changed drastically upon hearing the name, and they only relaxed slightly after confirming that no green algae had overflowed.
They had long heard the story of the Algae of the Curse, which, once infected, would clog the mermaid's gills, causing it to lose the ability to breathe underwater.