Chapter 94 – The Siren’s Identity
Lin Jiu’s first instinct was to call out to the mermaid, but before he could speak, she rushed toward the wounded anglerfish, skillfully climbing onto its massive head and pointing at the flying vehicle while letting out a sharp screech.
The now-enraged anglerfish whipped its tail and charged straight at the vehicle.
Lin Jiu: “…”
Damn!
He had thought Si Xu had rescued the mermaid from the sea monster, but it turned out the mermaid and the anglerfish were on the same side!
If that massive creature hit them, the flying vehicle would probably need some serious repairs.
Si Xu reacted quickly, expertly maneuvering the vehicle to dodge.
The anglerfish was so huge that every tail swipe created currents that slowed down the vehicle.
With no other option, Si Xu started to ascend.
The mermaid, unwilling to let them escape, called out again, and the anglerfish, seemingly understanding her, gave a powerful flick of its tail and pursued the vehicle.
Lin Jiu grew anxious. “Let me out. We’re the same species; I can try talking to her.”
Si Xu: “There are too many giant sea monsters here. She has the anglerfish for protection. If you go out, you might be attacked by the others.”
Lin Jiu glanced back at the anglerfish chasing them. “She’s hiding down here alone, and she looks strange. She might be connected to the Haijia race. I need to go see.”
Si Xu: “Don’t rush. I’ll lure the anglerfish to a spot with fewer monsters.”
Lin Jiu feared the anglerfish might suddenly stop chasing them or turn away, but that didn’t happen.
Neither the mermaid nor the anglerfish intended to let them off, clearly wanting them dead.
The anglerfish opened its massive jaws, ready to swallow the vehicle whole, but Si Xu sped up, causing the anglerfish to snap its jaws on empty water.
After several missed attempts, the mermaid seemed to realize that the vehicle was trying to lead them away. Wary of a trap, she patted the anglerfish’s head, and the relentless pursuit stopped.
Lin Jiu: “…”
Oh no! Why did they stop chasing?
The mermaid and the anglerfish hovered in place, watching the vehicle.
Lin Jiu: “I need to get out.”
Since they were underwater, the vehicle couldn’t be opened just like that—they’d need to surface first.
Lin Jiu, worried the mermaid might leave, asked the system to keep an eye on her.
The vehicle surfaced, and Lin Jiu hurriedly stripped off his clothes and shoes, leaving everything in the vehicle. In the heat of the moment, he forgot all about being shy, stripping down to nothing and diving headfirst into the water.
Si Xu stood on the surface, retracted the vehicle, and followed Lin Jiu into the water.
By the time Si Xu entered the sea, Lin Jiu’s transformation into his mermaid form hadn’t fully taken place. Lin Jiu twisted in the water, seemingly in pain as his bones shifted and transformed in the brief process.
“When Lin Jiu’s siren form appeared, he paused for a few seconds before flicking his tail and swimming toward the seabed.
The giant anglerfish was still there, with the female siren still sitting on its head. As she saw a perfect siren swimming toward her, the female siren was stunned, staring in shock at the unfamiliar siren approaching.
No, not unfamiliar… The female siren couldn’t quite describe the feeling. It was as if her heart was being tightly gripped.
Lin Jiu felt the same. When he had faced Lottie and Hailey before, he felt a desire to be close to them, but in front of this female siren, he truly understood what it meant to feel a familial connection.
As Lin Jiu looked at the female siren, his eyes reddened instantly. Twenty years of drifting without a place to call home had turned into a well of grievance, and he felt like crying.
In the aircraft, when he had looked at the female siren, he hadn’t felt much. But the moment he transformed into a siren and entered the sea, everything became so clear.
The seawater was their medium, making him acutely aware of the female siren’s identity.
Lin Jiu stopped in front of the giant anglerfish, not approaching further, only gazing at the female siren from afar.
Si Xu caught up from behind and stopped beside Lin Jiu, immediately sensing that something was off with Lin Jiu’s emotions.
The female siren’s bloodline wasn’t as pure as Lin Jiu’s, and it was the first time she’d felt something like this. She hadn’t yet realized what it meant.
She just stared at them in shock. There was not only a perfect siren but also a human who could stay in the water for a long time. Who on earth were they?!
Lin Jiu noticed that the female siren didn’t seem to recognize him. He quickly took off his mask and handed it to Si Xu, who put it in his pocket.
The female siren’s shock deepened, her eyes glued to Lin Jiu’s face, filled with disbelief.
Lin Jiu bore a striking resemblance to his grandmother, Veena Elton, and coupled with the strange feeling in her heart, the female siren immediately realized something.
Her eyes widened as she looked at Lin Jiu, her eyes red but without tears.
The female siren left the giant anglerfish’s head, instinctively swimming closer to get a better look at the young man.
Lin Jiu’s eyes were equally red. He spoke in the water, “Are you Lady Vera?”
It was Lin Jiu’s first time speaking underwater. As a human, he’d always believed he couldn’t speak in the sea, but in fact, he could. It was just a mental block, as if opening his mouth would cause water to flood into his nose and mouth.
Just like his first time entering the sea, when he’d held his breath in fear, not daring to inhale. When he finally couldn’t hold it anymore and took a breath, he didn’t choke on water. He could breathe freely in the sea.
The female siren’s lips trembled as she nodded, vigorously nodding.
Si Xu was astonished. He had seen photos of Vera, but this female siren, with her face and skin covered in small scales, was unrecognizable. Even with Si Xu’s ability to recognize people, he hadn’t identified her. How could Lin Jiu have recognized her?
Si Xu didn’t need to think to know—it must have been their bloodline connection that had allowed Lin Jiu to identify her.
The female siren flicked her tail and swam up to Lin Jiu, carefully studying his face. She reached out with a hand covered in tiny scales and gently caressed Lin Jiu’s face, her eyes filled with sorrow and tenderness.
Lin Jiu knew that the female siren was likely crying, but he couldn’t see the tears. They had all flowed into the seawater.
The female siren made a sound, “What’s your name?”
“My name is Lin Jiu.”
The female siren was stunned, her voice trembling, “You… you don’t have the surname Liao? Why don’t you have the surname Liao? Aren’t you my child?”
Lin Jiu took her hand, “I am Vera’s child, but I don’t carry the Liao surname.”
The female siren clutched him tightly. “Why? What happened?”
It was a long story. Lin Jiu pointed to the surface; they needed to go up to talk. Si Xu wasn’t part of the sea clan and couldn’t stay in the sea for too long.
Lin Jiu expressed his desire to head to the surface, but there was no reef nearby. If they wanted to go up, Si Xu would have to expend energy to create a surface for them.
The female siren swam back, making a low sound and pointing upward. The giant anglerfish seemed to understand her meaning and began to ascend.
Lin Jiu grabbed Si Xu and swam upward as well.
The giant anglerfish exposed its back and head above the water. The female siren, Lin Jiu, and Si Xu climbed onto it, sitting on its large head, fully exposed to the sunlight.
The female siren warily looked around, then patted the giant anglerfish’s head, signaling it to sink slightly into the water.
Lin Jiu then explained why he carried the surname Lin instead of Liao. Vera wept uncontrollably. She hated the Liao family while feeling deep sorrow for her only child, hugging Lin Jiu again and again, never feeling it was enough.
Lin Jiu wiped away her tears. “I’m doing well now.”
But Vera continued crying, thinking about how much her child had suffered. Her heart felt shattered.
The only thing that had kept her alive all this time was the hope of seeing her child again. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made it.
After much comforting from Lin Jiu, she finally stopped crying.
Lin Jiu’s biggest concern was Vera’s ordeal. He asked her why she was here and why she looked like this.
Vira didn’t care about herself. She was more worried about Lin Jiu. “Why do you have the form of a siren? Were you captured by the Haijia clan too?”
Lin Jiu shook his head. “No, I became a siren on my own. No one else was involved.”
Vera let out a huge sigh of relief. “That’s good. That’s good.”
She then told the story of how she had come to be like this.
Vera had always known she was a descendant of the siren clan. Her mother, Veena, had never hidden the truth from her, including why they were constantly on the run. Venna had told her everything. In Venna’s heart, both the siren clan and the Haijia clan were responsible for the death of her lover, Vera’s father—they were all enemies.
In order to ensure Vera’s survival, Venna had cruelly altered her appearance, forged a new identity for her, and sent her to live in Country Z, while Venna herself stayed abroad to divert the attention of the Elton and Cecil families.
After giving birth to Lin Jiu, Vera knew her days were numbered. If she had been alone, she could have accepted her fate, but she had a child—a small child she couldn’t bear to leave. She wanted to find a way to survive at sea.
??When she was at sea, she encountered a foreign girl who was floating on the surface with a large barrel. Out of kindness, Vera saved the girl and brought her aboard. The girl warned Vera that there were pirates in the area and advised her to leave immediately.
Vera had gone to sea seeking a way to survive, but she didn’t want to die at the hands of pirates. She immediately turned the boat around, but before she could get far, they were attacked. Both she and the girl were shot and fell into the sea. When Vera regained consciousness, she found herself on a strange large ship.
Later, Vera learned that they weren’t pirates but members of the Cecil family, and the girl she saved was also a descendant of the mermaid clan.
Vera continued, “We were taken to a research facility where the Cecil family was conducting experiments. They were trying to develop a drug that would allow mermaids and sirens to revert to their original forms… and they succeeded.”
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have survived until now. What should have been a certain death was prolonged thanks to the Cecil family’s experiments.
Vera didn’t say much about what happened at the research facility—it was a lifelong nightmare for her.
“Recently, an ancient clan’s palace was discovered in international waters, and the Cecil family sent all the mermaids and sirens who could transform into their original forms to investigate. We had been lying in wait at the bottom of the sea, waiting for the right moment to act.”
Vera had spent many years in the research facility and had attempted to escape countless times. The mission in international waters finally gave her hope. She pretended to carry out her orders, but she was really preparing to flee.
When the mermaids and sirens began their mission, she deliberately lagged behind. So when the palace exploded underwater, she was farthest from the blast and received the least damage, though she was still badly injured. She was thrown into a crevice in the seabed and passed out.
When she woke up, she found a large anglerfish beside her, guarding her.
Vera was gravely injured, trapped in the crevice, and starving. She tried to catch passing fish, but her movements were too slow due to her injuries, and she couldn’t catch anything.
It was as if the anglerfish knew she was hungry. It swam away for a while and then returned, spitting out several small fish for Vera to eat.
Vera was incredibly weak, and if she wanted to survive, she had no choice but to eat the fish.
Seeing that Vera had eaten, the anglerfish wagged its tail happily and went off to catch more small fish to feed her.
In this way, during her recovery, the anglerfish took care of Vera. Whenever larger fish came to attack Vera, the anglerfish would protect her, fighting off the predators as if defending its own offspring.
The anglerfish grew larger and larger. After driving off an enemy one time, it smashed the rocks that trapped Vera with its head, freeing her. Then, it opened its mouth wide.
At first, Vera didn’t understand. The anglerfish gently approached her with its mouth open, carefully cradling her inside. It seemed worried that Vera might be frightened and kept its mouth open while she rested inside.
Eventually, Vera got used to it, and whenever she needed to rest, she would hide inside the giant anglerfish’s mouth. Each time, the anglerfish would close its jagged teeth and swim around with her, as if lulling her to sleep.
In the months that followed, Vera survived only thanks to the care of the anglerfish. So when the anglerfish was attacked, Vera was furious and rushed out to fight, never expecting to reunite with her beloved child under such circumstances.
Lin Jiu was equally surprised. He had come here looking for magic crystal marrow to purify his bloodline, strengthen his powers, and rescue Vera, but it turned out Vera had her own plan and had already escaped.
It was only now that Lin Jiu and Si Xu understood why the sirens had targeted the Liao family. The news that Lin Jiu was Vera’s child had spread like wildfire. The Cecil family must have gotten wind of it and attempted to have Lin Jiu immigrate overseas through the Liao family.
The Cecil family likely believed Vera was dead and had falsely told Lin Jiu that his mother was still alive and in their hands, hoping to lure him in and capture him.
But they never anticipated that Vera would still be alive, hiding at the bottom of the sea, and that Lin Jiu would find her.
They also never expected that Lin Jiu would be so determined as to venture into the most irradiated, monster-infested part of the sea in search of magic crystal marrow. Anyone in their right mind would avoid such a place, knowing it was certain death, but Lin Jiu went anyway.
There was one thing Lin Jiu couldn’t understand. Months had passed since the palace explosion in international waters—enough time for Vera to recover. Why hadn’t she come to Z Country to find him?
When he asked, Vera’s eyes reddened again.
She spoke with deep guilt, “It’s my fault, darling. I wanted to come back for you, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t show myself in this form. And I was afraid the Cecil family would notice you. I couldn’t risk putting you in danger…”
Lin Jiu was confused. “What do you mean?”
Vera looked down at her arm and her damaged tail. “In this form, I can’t transform back on my own. I need a drug to activate my mermaid form and another to return to my human form when I go back to land.”
The mermaids and sirens sent on the mission had almost all died. If Vera hadn’t intentionally lagged behind, waiting for the right moment to escape, she wouldn’t have survived either.
Lin Jiu frowned deeply.
Lin Jiu: System, check my mother. Does this drug cause any harm to her body?
The system quickly gave its answer.
[It causes severe damage. The drug destroys genetic tissue, and with each activation, a portion of the mermaid genes is wiped out. After three uses, almost all the mermaid genes will be gone, and the remaining genes will be severely damaged. As far as I know, there’s no way to cure genetic diseases in this world.]
Lin Jiu clenched his fists, his teeth grinding in anger.
He shared the hunter system’s findings with Si Xu, who was equally shocked by the result. Si Xu patted Lin Jiu’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.
Si Xu asked, “How many times have you transformed into your mermaid form?”
Vera turned to look at him, realizing she hadn’t properly acknowledged the young man.
Si Xu introduced himself, “Hello, my name is Si Xu. I’m…”
But then he paused, glancing over at Lin Jiu.
Lin Jiu held Si Xu’s hand. “Mom, he’s my boyfriend.”
Vera was stunned for a moment, then slowly nodded. After everything she had been through, she didn’t mind her child’s sexual orientation. As long as her child could be happy, she would not oppose it.
Lin Jiu asked again, “Mom, how many times have you transformed into your mermaid form?”
Vera replied, “I transformed once in the research facility. This is the second time. Why?”
Both Lin Jiu and Si Xu let out a sigh of relief.
