Chapter 1 Spitting Water

The little mermaid playfully squirted Hao Ren in the face with water – boiling water.

Hao Ren yelped on the spot and jumped up, but fortunately, his face was now reinforced to be relatively sturdy. Apart from a scare and a slight burn, the boiling water didn't disfigure him. He held the pot lid and stared blankly at the little mermaid swimming around in the pot, feeling his brain wasn't working properly. It took him a few seconds to realize that the egg had hatched: it had hatched after letting Lily cook it for so long!

Life forms in other worlds were indeed different from those on Earth.

Lily curiously came over for a look, and her eyes went straight. After thinking for a long time with husky logic, she came to a conclusion: "Oh, it looks like we can't eat it…"

The little mermaid didn't understand what Lily and Hao Ren were saying, but she looked curiously at the world outside the pot (which was currently just a ceiling and two big faces to her). She was a pink and pretty little thing with a striking, light-red tail and light-brown hair. Her eyes were particularly big, full of cleverness and curiosity. Whether all merfolk were like this or not, this little one was born looking almost like an adult, only with her size proportionally reduced to half a foot. Shrinking Nangong Wuyue in her mermaid form to this size would probably give a similar feeling as this little mermaid. The little thing floated belly-up in the water. After a while, she probably felt bored and used her strength to jump out of the pot… right towards the gas stove!

Hao Ren was startled. Fortunately, he reacted in time and caught the little thing with the pot lid. So the little mermaid lay on the pot lid, staring wide-eyed at Hao Ren. After a few seconds, this strange little thing began to make a chaotic sound, as if various gurgling sounds were mixed together, and she vigorously slapped the pot lid under her with her tail. Hao Ren reached out and poked the little thing's tail curiously. She immediately quieted down, as if the previous commotion was just to see if she could attract Hao Ren's attention.

"What is this exactly?" Lily wagged her tail and leaned over to smell, then licked the little thing's tail. "It seems not fully cooked even though it was boiled for a while… Landlord, where did you find it?"

"Stop it," Hao Ren slapped Lily away. "This is our new guest here, brought back from eight hundred light-years away – but it was just an egg when I brought it back. I didn't expect it to hatch after you cooked it. This world is truly amazing."

Lily was dumbfounded: "Wow—"

"I think…" Hao Ren thought for a long time, trying to figure out what he could do at the moment. Finally, he realized that the little thing wasn't wearing any clothes (but there wasn't much to see on this half-foot-long thing anyway). "Shall we get her some clothes first?"

Lily and Hao Ren stared at each other for a while, and they both realized one thing: where would they find clothes that small!

At this time, the little mermaid began to bounce again. After jumping out of the pot, she seemed to have discovered that the outside world was more vast and interesting, so she became curious about everything in the kitchen, including the lit gas stove and the knife rack not far away. Looking at the little thing's eager expression, wanting to test her jumping ability, Hao Ren felt a cold sweat break out. He quickly asked Lily to find a basin and fill it with some water, then carefully transferred the little thing into the basin. Before putting her in, he was worried that this little mermaid, who hatched in boiling water, might not be used to cold water, but the latter's environmental adaptability was amazing. She could swim around comfortably in cold water, so Hao Ren boldly carried the basin of water to the living room and asked Lily to call Nangong Wuyue down from the second floor: the siren girl had slept for half a day, and it was time for her to get up.

Nangong Wuyue came to the living room and was stunned to see the little mermaid swimming in circles in the basin.

"This… was really cooked?" The siren girl looked incredulous. "She's still swimming in boiling water?"

"It's said that there are deep-sea creatures on Earth that can survive in environments of two or three hundred degrees, and there are microorganisms in the hot springs near volcanoes," Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "But it's still quite surprising that Lily boiled her into hatching. By the way, Wuyue, do you have any way to get her some clothes? Although this little thing is small… it's always a bit strange to look at her naked."

Nangong Wuyue was also not good at needlework, but she had an open mind. Hearing this, she immediately ran back to her room and brought down a roll of plumber's tape: "Let's wrap her up with this first…"

Hao Ren: "Will this work?"

"What won't work? It's just a temporary fix. When Vivian comes back, she should have a way. I've never seen a vampire more skilled at housework than her," Nangong Wuyue gestured with the plumber's tape in front of the little mermaid. The little thing was immediately startled and scurried to the other side of the basin, curling up her tail and shrinking into a ball. She kept dodging, seeming to dislike the strange white strip. Nangong Wuyue pouted. "Landlord, help me catch her."

Hao Ren tried to reach out to the little mermaid, and the latter trusted him more. She immediately held onto Hao Ren's thumb and didn't let go. Nangong Wuyue smiled when she saw this: "Looks like the first thing she saw after she was born was you. She thinks you're her mom."

Hao Ren: "…" He never thought that such a ridiculous thing would happen to him one day!

Under Hao Ren's comfort, the little mermaid seemed to have finally dispelled her hostility towards the plumber's tape. She pouted and let Nangong Wuyue wrap it around her twice, and that was considered putting on clothes. However, she seemed to have become a little tired of the previous basin. After returning to the water, she jumped onto the coffee table with a thud and began to wander around: she didn't have legs, so she could only hop forward. Moreover, she couldn't stand upright when she hopped, so she was actually crawling forward while sliding. Occasionally, she would use her hands and tail together to dart forward. This clumsy but bold behavior looked very interesting. The little thing's curiosity seemed particularly strong. When she first moved from the kitchen to the living room, she was indeed scared for a while, but now she had completely adapted to the new environment and began to boldly explore her surroundings.

However, it could be seen that this little thing still possessed all the common traits of cubs: she cared about the position of her "parents". Every time she crawled for a while, she would turn her head to see if Hao Ren was sitting nearby. After crawling around the coffee table, she was satisfied and simply jumped into Hao Ren's arms and didn't move: she wanted to rest.

The three people watched from the side, clicking their tongues in wonder. Lily stared wide-eyed for a long time: "Although we can't eat her, she seems quite fun!"

Nangong Wuyue also curiously reached out her finger to tease the little mermaid's chin: "So mermaids are like this when they're young… I wonder if other sirens are like this when they're young too? My mother said that normal sirens are also oviparous. When they hatch, they're small, probably like this?"

There were many similar bizarre topics in this big house every day. Hao Ren had gotten used to hearing them after so long. He just awkwardly maintained a strange posture, holding the little mermaid to prevent her from falling out, while asking Nangong Wuyue for help: "Can you let her stay in the basin? I can't hold her all day."

Hao Ren was worried for a reason: he had just moved his body slightly, and as soon as he had a slight intention of throwing the little mermaid back into the basin, the latter immediately floundered. The little thing slapped Hao Ren's arm with her tail while making those chaotic gurgling sounds, as if saying that if you dared to throw me back, I would annoy you to death – she had obviously become attached to someone.

"Speaking of which, it seems there's no way to communicate." Nangong Wuyue was quite worried. The sounds made by the little mermaid were very strange. Even the universal translator in everyone's brain couldn't decipher them. These sounds were probably just a child's babbling, completely meaningless. Even everyone wasn't sure how intelligent this little mermaid was: although she showed a strong curiosity and ability to act, these actions were basically instinctive. Merfolk cubs didn't seem to be much smarter than human babies, at most, they just had stronger mobility when they were born.

While the three were at a loss with this little mermaid, the sound of the door opening suddenly came from the direction of the entrance: Vivian was back.

The vampire girl was carrying a net bag full of wild vegetables. As soon as she entered the door, she saw the three sitting around the coffee table, wondering what they were studying. So she curiously leaned over to take a look. Just then, the little mermaid curiously burrowed the upper half of her body into Hao Ren's clothes, and Vivian saw a fish tail wagging outside. So she made a surprising statement: "Are we eating this tonight? Let's braise it in soy sauce, I'm good at it!"

Hao Ren & Nangong Wuyue & Lily: "…"

The days ahead… seemed to be getting even livelier.