Chapter 1: The Awakening
In the Star Calendar year 3010, Earth had long since been destroyed. The rulers of the universe were no longer humans, but creatures that used to exist only in fairy tales—mermaids.
The mermaids lived on Ocean Planet, a planet completely shrouded by seawater, possessing no dry land whatsoever.
In a particular bar within the imperial capital of Ocean Planet.
A monumental figure had arrived today. The mermaids performing on stage had exerted ten times their usual effort, and the guests below frequently stole glances toward a certain private booth.
Inside the booth, Lux set down his glass. His caudal fin swayed with impatience, showing an absolute lack of interest in the singing and dancing on stage.
Sitting directly across from him, his close friend noticed nothing, his gaze firmly locked onto his light-brain.
“You told me to come to a bar just to watch you play on your light-brain?” Lux shot him a cold, indifferent look.
His friend, Vincent, didn’t even raise his head: “You don’t understand the absolute joy of ‘huffing humans.’ Once I board the battleship, I won’t have time to indulge like this. I need to get my fix while I can.”
Lux remained noncommittal: “Deploying for a campaign isn’t sending you to prison.”
Vincent sighed: “It’s different. Once I’m on the battleship, I’ll only have time to look at them at night.”
He finished watching the latest human-petting video and put away his light-brain: “The streamer I follow updates daily vlogs of his human. It’s a gold-haired, green-eyed human! Ugh, my absolute ideal type. So incredibly cute.”
With that, Vincent lamented further: “If our mother planet possesses a soul, I would gladly trade ten years of your bachelorhood for a human like that.”
Lux: “…Pathetic.”
Vincent rested his chin on his hand, observing him for a moment before asking, “Speaking of which, what exactly is your ideal type?”
As the strongest and most noble mermaid in the entirety of Ocean Planet, his friend didn’t even have a human of his own, which was truly mind-boggling.
When the question landed, Lux lowered his lashes, a faint, exquisite curve brushing his lips: “My ideal type?”
“Yeah. Don’t tell me you don’t have one, because I won’t believe it. No mermaid alive doesn’t want a human.”
“I actually do have one,” Lux leaned back against his chair lazily. “He must have hair and eyes as dark as the night.”
“An Asian human?” Vincent frowned. “Not long ago, the South Sea Human Breeding Center successfully awakened one. Why didn’t you go try your luck?”
“That one was Japanese, and not even purebred. His father was European; he didn’t smell right.”
“…” Vincent choked slightly. “These days, Asian humans are harder to find than source stones, and you’re actually nitpicking over whether they’re purebred? If I could own an Asian human, I would carry him down the street every single day just to enjoy the envious stares of every other mermaid.”
“Didn’t you just say you like gold hair and green eyes?”
“That’s completely different! Gold hair and green eyes are my ‘white moonlight,’ but an Asian human! That’s something only a chosen fish could ever possess.”
Unwilling to look at his theatrical expressions, Lux tilted his head away. The pale gold scales on the side of his face caught the stage lights, flashing with fragmented brilliance.
Vincent dazed for a split second, thinking to himself that the title of “Ocean Planet’s Most Beautiful Fish” really wasn’t an exaggeration.
But knowing Lux despised it when others brought up his appearance, Vincent smoothly shifted the topic: “Don’t dodge the question. What are the rest of your requirements? A purebred Asian human? Though rare, I recall there have been some in the past. Did you seriously fail to match with any?”
Lux took a sip of his wine, speaking casually, “I want a purebred Chinese human.”
Vincent: “?!!”
“Are you insane?” He nearly jumped straight out of his seashell chair. “A purebred Chinese human… Fine, I admit, just hearing the name gets me excited. That truly is the ultimate dream of every single mermaid.”
“But that is way too unrealistic.”
He wasn’t making things up; the last time a purebred Chinese human appeared was during their parents’ generation. It was rumored that that particular human fetched a staggering nine hundred million Blue Star Coins—an amount of wealth he couldn’t earn in more than half his lifetime!
If it were to happen today, selling him off wouldn’t even cover the price.
But the main issue was… that breed was far too scarce.
He even doubted whether such a human still existed anywhere in the universe.
“I know,” Lux swayed his caudal fin, rising from his seat. “That’s why I’ve remained single until now. Let’s go, time to head back. We have a mobilization meeting at the military district tomorrow morning.”
Vincent gritted his teeth: “Then you might as well stay single for the rest of your life!”
A purebred Chinese human!
They possessed the most beautiful, pure black hair and black eyes in the entire universe. They were petite in stature, gentle in temperament, and were rumored to carry a natural body fragrance that was intoxicating to take in. Crucially, their vocalizations were soft, sweet, and melodious—an absolute premium specimen that no other breed of human could ever compare to, the literal dream lover of countless mermaids.
Vincent looked at the striking, powerful form of Lux before him and curled his lips.
Keep dreaming!
You won’t get one even in your next lifetime.
The seventh subterranean floor of the West Sea Human Breeding Center.
A young mermaid researcher wore a look of profound sorrow. Holding a youth in his arms, he slowly swam toward the absolute end of the corridor.
To encounter an event like this on his very first day on the job was truly tragic.
The researcher let out another heavy sigh.
He came to a halt, wishing to touch the youth’s face with deep reluctance, yet fearing the sharp fins on his hands would slice him open. Ultimately, he could only abandon the thought.
“Aig, have you reached the cemetery yet?” A colleague’s voice drifted through his earpiece.
The researcher named Aig paused: “No. I’m too heartbroken. I really… do we truly have to bury him?”
His colleague fell silent for a brief moment: “I don’t want to either.”
After a pause, the colleague added, “Don’t be too sad. Ninety percent of humans who have been frozen for too long fail the awakening process and pass away. You have to learn to adapt, otherwise you won’t be able to handle this job.”
Aig gritted his teeth: “I know… but, but this is an Asian human!”
The youth in his arms possessed exquisite features. After days and nights of emergency resuscitation, he no longer appeared entirely deathly pale like he did when he was first hauled out of the cryogenic pod.
Right now, his eyes were closed, and his long lashes fluttered slightly against the shifting currents of the water, making him look exactly as if he were merely asleep, liable to wake up at any given moment.
The moment Aig thought about the fact that this human before him was already dead, his heart practically shattered to pieces.
The cemetery gates slowly slid open. Aig closed his eyes, steadying his emotions.
He carefully settled the youth into an empty coffin.
Poor little thing. May your soul rest in peace.
Casting one final glance at him, the mermaid pressed the close button on the coffin, swaying his caudal fin as he prepared to leave.
Right at that exact instant, the youth who had been lying flat suddenly snapped his eyes wide open—
“Mph-mmph!!”
He sat bolt upright. Seemingly blindsided by the fact that he was underwater, he opened his mouth, exhaling a massive bubble.
Aig caught the commotion and spun around.
He was utterly paralyzed with shock.
“Mph-mmph-mmph—!”
Holy shit, help! Why the fuck am I underwater? I’m going to suffocate to death! Help, help, help!
The youth’s eyes went perfectly round, his hands flailing wildly in all directions.
“A respirator! A respirator! Emergency assistance, bring a respirator down to the seventh subterranean floor, hurry!!” Aig lunged forward, gathering the youth into his arms, screaming frantically into his earpiece.
A dozen seconds later.
Ruan Chen finally had an oxygen mask jammed over his face right before he choked to death. His hands clamped onto this literal lifeline like a vice, breathing in oxygen in a mad frenzy.
Fuck. I’m alive.
Ruan Chen narrowed his eyes.
Having just awakened, his vision was heavily blurred, making it impossible to see the things before him clearly.
What the hell happened?
Was he caught in a dream he hadn’t woken up from yet?
Why did it… feel like someone was holding him?
Ruan Chen raised his head.
“Mph?” He let out a confused syllable, a stray bubble leaking past the edges of the respirator.
“He’s looking at you, Aig! He’s looking at you!” A nearby mermaid cupped his face, letting out a sharp squeal.
“Oh my god, what breed is this? His voice is so soft… Ah, my heart is melting.”
“Ugh, I want to touch his hair so badly.”
Aig held the human in his arms. The very arms that could effortlessly tear a shark to shreds were currently trembling slightly, terrified that a single lapse in control would break this delicate, fragile human.
He lowered his head, his gaze colliding directly with the human’s large, striking eyes, which were as pure as black obsidian.
Aig’s pointed, scale-covered ears slowly flushed crimson.
Ahhhhhh!!! What kind of peerless little cutie is this!! Help!
His inner self was roaring in a frenzy, yet he still had to maintain a front of absolute composure on the surface.
“I saved his life. He must be incredibly grateful to me,” Aig declared proudly.
Throughout this, Ruan Chen remained utterly lost.
What kind of bizarre language was this person speaking?
It sounded just like singing; he couldn’t comprehend a single word.
Clutching the respirator with one hand, he raised his other hand to rub his eyes.
Before he could clearly discern exactly what was going on, Ruan Chen felt his body grow light. Immediately following that, he was delivered into a warm, cozy space, the moisture on his skin rapidly drying away.
Ruan Chen raised his arms.
It seemed… he was no longer underwater.
He experimentally patted around his surroundings.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached over, stripping the oxygen mask off his face.
The ground beneath his backside chose this exact moment to shift.
The field of vision before his eyes finally broke wide open.
Ruan Chen propped his hands against the floor, slowly pushing himself up to stand.
The moment he took in the scene before him, his mouth fell wide open.
Fuck. What the literal fuck is this?!
Where was his bedroom?
Before him was a colossal glass enclosure. He took a couple of steps forward, his foot kicking and overturning something.
Ruan Chen looked down, discovering it was an apparatus that looked suspiciously like a “food bowl.”
Before he could even process his confusion, he raised his head, and the sight a short distance away nearly caused his heart to suffer a total arrest—
The outside of the glass was tightly packed with mermaids!
The way they were staring at him made it look as though their eyes were literally flashing with green light.
Ruan Chen’s legs went completely weak, his backside slamming back down onto the floor in absolute disbelief.
“Holy shit… h-help…”
He had merely taken a nap. How the hell did things turn out like this???
Outside the glass enclosure.
The mermaids were squeezed together, their gazes uniformly locked onto the interior of the breeding chamber with extraordinary synchronicity.
The black-haired human inside appeared to have lost his footing, tumbling to the floor.
Before the mermaids could even grow anxious on his behalf, they watched as the human manifested an exceptionally adorable expression, his dark eyes—the very ones they were infatuated with—opening wide and round.
What astonished them even further was the sound the human emitted.
“Meow, meow, meow-wuuu…”
A thoroughly soft, sweet, tiny baby-milky voice.
“Whoa!” a mermaid gasped in wonder. “I recognize that vocalization! This is a Chinese human!”
The moment the words landed, the entire room fell dead silent for a few seconds.
Immediately following that, every single mermaid erupted into earth-shattering cheers.
“A purebred Chinese human—!!”
“Ahhhhh, I beg of him to make another sound! I am willing to sit here all day without eating just to listen to him cry, oh my god…”
“Mom! I saw a purebred Chinese human, ahhhhh! I can die with no regrets now!”
“Ah, my heart is spent.”
“He was resuscitated by me! I even held him! Do you have any idea how soft his body is, or how sweet he smells?!”
Ruan Chen’s face was a mask of sheer horror.
The mermaids outside the glass looked as though they had suddenly been injected with chicken blood, launching into a wild, demonic frenzy. Their song-like vocalizations pierced through the glass, echoing across the entire room.
It was so fucking terrifying.
He quietly curled himself into the tightest corner of the room, distancing himself from this pack of mermaids who looked entirely high out of their minds.
Ruan Chen stealthily pinched himself hard.
“Sss…”
It hurts.
It’s over. I’m not dreaming.
He might… have truly crossed over into some bizarre alien world by mistake, turning into emergency rations for mermaids?
