Chapter 1 A Glimpse of the Merfolk

Merfolk—in the eyes of all supernatural creatures on Earth, and even in human myths and legends, they were an extremely mysterious race. They were spirits of the deep waters, hermits of the dark ocean abyss, the most unfathomable children of the water in the ever-changing and turbulent ocean. Like water itself, their form was undefined and unpredictable. Old sailors firmly believed that every wave in the ocean concealed the enchanting songs of the merfolk, while ancient alien gods believed that even Poseidon could not control these hidden dwellers of the sea.

These shapeless, unseen water spirits were shrouded in such a mysterious veil—but now, Hao Ren could confidently tell those storytellers that it was all because distance creates beauty. Everyone portrayed the merfolk as so mystical and ethereal simply because they had never been in close contact with these homebody girls…

Those unfortunates who were imprisoned in the City of Merfolk for over a hundred years didn't count.

It was true that the water spirits were gentle and serene, but just as the ocean had a thousand faces, so did the merfolk. They also had lively and playful moments, a fact that Hao Ren should have realized when he saw their mantis shrimp forms. Led by Shaqira, the group entered Nasaton. The scenes they encountered along the way could be summed up in four words: a riot of demons. The merfolk gleefully transformed themselves into everything that could be found in the sea; it seemed they were interested in trying anything that had been soaked in water. Hao Ren even saw two tires rolling around in front of him, wondering which unlucky car had accidentally fallen into the sea, its tires being taken off by the merfolk to serve as reference models.

Shaqira pointed at the two tires and explained to Hao Ren, "Only the one in the back is a merfolk, the one in the front is a real tire."

Hao Ren: "..."

"You guys... have a pretty rich extracurricular life," Lily said, her mouth agape as she followed behind. The chaotic scene in Nasaton today was completely different from what she had seen the last time she came here. Last time, the City of Merfolk was a city of madness shrouded in a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere, making people shudder like a nest of evil gods in the deep sea. But now... well, the scene was still quite frightening, but the atmosphere was different.

"It's not always like this," Shaqira said with a smile as she led the way. Little Doudou jumped excitedly behind the mermaid sister's tail, keeping up with the rhythm. The little mermaid thought she had returned to her hometown, and was happily frolicking all the way. "Since the last incident, Nasaton has spent a long time rebuilding. It was not easy to repair those ancient devices and heal the psychological trauma of our sisters. Our city was once shrouded in lingering shadows. But Hao Ren brought us news of Aioi, and we learned about the origin and history of the merfolk race, so we felt that we couldn't just sink like this. The queen decided to make some changes."

As Shaqira spoke, she gently swayed her tail to avoid a charging tuna. The tuna was more than a person long. After rushing past, "it" gracefully turned around and transformed into a glamorous sea serpent girl with a golden-red tail, blowing a series of bubbles in apology. Hao Ren vaguely remembered this merfolk; after thinking for a moment, he remembered that she was one of the guards in the underground passage near the queen's palace, who had been casually rolled into a snake ball by Izhaks...

Shaqira continued, "Actually, we have always sent observers to the surface to understand the changes in the land world, but after our people were corrupted by evil spirits a hundred years ago, we stopped paying attention to this knowledge. So after the city's functions were restored, the queen ordered us to sort out all the information we had missed in the past hundred years. We even contacted a few alien families on the land—we sent messengers to them back then, proclaiming the 'Day of Return,' so we accidentally established channels of communication with surface races. Through these efforts, we once again caught up with the changes in the world, and learned how humans had developed this planet into its current state in just a hundred years."

"Interestingly, the powerful alien races are still stuck in their ways, completely declining in the past hundred years, while humans have fought two world wars in such a short time, and even sent earthlings to the moon. The queen showed us all the modern human technologies, especially those related to aerospace, and our sisters finally understood what it meant that 'Nasaton is a spaceship.'"

"We have been living in seclusion in the deep sea for too long, and our worldview is a bit skewed, so after learning about the efforts our ancestors made to explore space, we had to re-establish our understanding of the 'outside world.' And the queen believes that humans on Earth are the best teachers in this regard."

Shaqira spoke as she swam, and she seemed very happy to see Hao Ren and his friends again. After listening, Nangong Wuyue nodded in understanding: "So you guys are learning to celebrate human festivals, too?"

"Well, that's one of the reasons," Shaqira said while correcting Doudou's tail-wagging posture while swimming. "The main reason is that the pressure accumulated during the reconstruction of the city was too great, and we needed a celebration to relax. So the queen decided to celebrate human festivals in the deep sea, too..."

"Then there's only one question," Vivian raised her hand. "Do you know what day it is on the surface?"

Shaqira's tail stiffened: "Huh?"

"Halloween was two months ago," Hao Ren said, his head aching as he looked at the chaotic Nasaton. "How much does your deep-sea calendar differ from the surface calendar?"

"Is that so?!" Shaqira looked surprised, as if she realized this problem for the first time. Then she flicked her tail. "Oh, well, it doesn't matter, it's the same whenever we celebrate, as long as we're happy. Tell the queen later, and we'll just rename this festival City Reconstruction Day."

Lily was dumbfounded: "...Are you usually this casual?"

Shaqira immediately looked serious: "We're not casual, we're very serious—we need the queen's permission to change the name."

Lily: "..."

"Okay, I won't pursue your cultural issues," Hao Ren said with a wry smile, then curiously looked at the strange merfolk around him—the term "strange" was really used correctly here. "Speaking of which, is your way of celebrating festivals to transform into all sorts of strange things?"

"That's our favorite pastime!" Shaqira said happily. "We transform into all sorts of new and interesting forms, and then let our friends guess who's who. The merfolk who transforms the most successfully and disguises the most thoroughly wins! So when we heard that humans have a Halloween where everyone dresses up in all sorts of strange costumes and runs around, we immediately decided to hold such a festival too! In addition to everyone transforming together, there are many other activities in the city. There are many small trinkets collected from the shallow waters for sale on Yongquan Longjie—all dropped into the sea by humans! It's so much fun!"

What else could Hao Ren say? He could only feel that his eyes had been opened. He didn't expect that these silent deep-sea creatures would live so lively, and that their entertainment and celebrations were truly rich and colorful. Nangong Sanba smiled and said, "Look at those alien families on the land, all looking bitter and resentful, and then look at these merfolk... there's really no comparison."

"It's normal," Vivian said without surprise. "They are the only alien race that has maintained a complete social structure and can remain undisturbed for many years. It's not surprising that such a race has social activities as rich as those of humans."

As they spoke, the group had passed through the bustling city streets. Shaqira led Hao Ren and his friends to a huge transparent pipe. She opened a small door on the side of the pipe and let everyone swim in: "It's still a long way from here to the palace area, let's take this."

This type of pipe was the most common "bus line" in the City of Merfolk, relying on water flow and pressure to carry out high-speed, comfortable, and safe city transit. It was one of the few ancient technologies that the merfolk race had maintained to this day. Hao Ren and his friends climbed into the pipe. As Shaqira entered the destination into the controller on the side, Doudou suddenly discovered that there seemed to be a layer of nearly transparent, soft, gelatinous substance attached to the inner wall of the pipe. The little mermaid immediately swam over excitedly and slammed her body against the gelatinous substance: "Papa, Papa, there's something here!"

Shaqira finally noticed the adhesive on the pipe wall at this time. She curiously poked it twice: "What is this? The station should be cleaned every day... Wow!"

The gelatinous substance suddenly wriggled, and then pieces of the same translucent gel peeled off from the pipe walls in all directions. These strange things gathered together and instantly condensed into a petite mermaid: "Wow!"

"You still 'wow'!" Shaqira put her hands on her hips and glared at the young merfolk. "You're not allowed to transform and lurk near traffic lines and public mechanical facilities, have you forgotten the rules!"

The young merfolk thought for a moment and continued to exclaim: "Wow!"

Hao Ren slapped his forehead: "I suddenly feel like we came at the wrong time... Nasaton at this time is simply unbelievable."