Chapter 52

The scales growing straight from his flesh were impossible to fake.

Lu Yan’s face was also remarkably convincing.

Xu Guanyue’s eyes instantly filled with sympathy. "You’ve had it worse than me, then."

"For years, the Boss has wanted a real mermaid. One born of evolution."

"The mermaids at the Mermaid Club now… they’re actually fish-men injected with mermaid genes," Xu Guanyue explained. "I don’t know what you saw on the brochure. Real mermaids don’t have reproductive cavities. They have a complete fish tail. As pollutants, they don’t need to excrete waste—their cloaca has even degraded. Those ‘cavities’ that look like a mermaid’s? All man-made."

The Boss was a pervert. He liked to summon handsome, strong mermaids just to pluck their scales.

Xu Guanyue had worked at the Mermaid Club for over thirty years. The scales on his body had grown and been damaged, damaged and regrown. He’d witnessed many secrets.

"The reason they select good-looking humans as mermaid candidates is that the Boss believes a perfect vessel is closer to ‘god.’ Probably also makes it easier to become a real mermaid."

"He believes real mermaids are immortal. Possess great power." Xu Guanyue spoke slowly. "According to the Boss’s own story, he was once shipwrecked. A golden mermaid saved him. Later, he used his entire fortune to found the Mermaid Club, building it to what it is today. He says he’s waiting for that golden mermaid to swim back."

Of course, most people thought it was just a story the Boss made up to scam money.

"Now, the chosen mermaids are all human. They secretly add mermaid genes to the daily water supply. By the fifteenth day, the mermaid genes completely take over. The twenty candidates are locked in aquariums and auctioned off based on the color of their grown scales. The Boss himself attends the auctions… and the candidates ultimately degenerate into real mermaids."

"These mermaids, though pollutants, often fetch astronomical prices because of their extreme beauty."

Just a bunch of failed aberrations, the system sneered. A perfect evolution isn’t so easily obtained.

There were no cameras in the sea.

Xu Guanyue said he still had to go feed the mermaids.

At night, when the Boss slept, the control over the mermaids weakened. They became prone to attacking humans. After several feeders died, the daily feeding duty fell to him and the other traitorous fish-men.

The mermaid feed came from the slaughterhouse—minced human flesh mixed with other things.

The slaughterhouse processed countless ‘meat pigs’ daily. No one knew where they found so much raw material.

"The Boss himself is just a Celestial Awakener with a spiritual power threshold around 3000," Xu Guanyue said. "That’s why he rarely leaves the seventh floor."

"Why do these mermaid pollutants obey the Boss?" Lu Yan couldn’t help asking.

Xu Guanyue shook his head. "I don’t know."

The system chuckled. I know. Because the mermaid genes were extracted from the Boss himself.

According to the system, Mermaid Island was a relatively closed space. People inside couldn’t leave; people outside likely couldn’t enter.

No phone signal. Cameras everywhere. The Boss stayed on the seventh floor, guarded by a squad of Celestial Awakener security, plus a pool of obedient mermaids.

They needed a plan to take out the Boss and his guards.

Lu Yan got a little lost in the sea. He followed Xu Guanyue to the cove where the mermaids rested. Dozens of them slept on the surface like sea otters, floating on their backs.

Catching the scent of blood on the wind, the mermaids opened their eyes. They let out howls utterly unlike their daytime sounds—bestial, savage.

No matter how beautiful, they were just low-level pollutants without reason.

"Be careful. Don’t get too close," Xu Guanyue warned Lu Yan. After a moment, still uneasy, he had Lu Yan hide behind a reef.

He scattered the feed into the sea. The mermaids opened their mouths, feeding greedily.

Threads of blood squeezed from the feed seeped between their slender, pale fingers.

For pollutants, eating humans is instinct, the system said. As normal as humans eating a meal.

"Humans die if they don’t eat. Do pollutants?" Lu Yan asked. "High-level pollutants can retain human reason. If Tang Xian’an’s pollution index exceeded 100, would he consciously eat people?"

I think he would. Not eating won’t kill a pollutant, but it weakens them. And hunger… isn’t so easy to endure.

But why are you suddenly asking this?

Before Lu Yan could formulate an answer, a sudden beam of flashlight light put him on alert.

He submerged.

Two security guards passed by, flashlights swinging casually, completely unaware of his presence.

"New guy, pent up all day, huh? Big brother’ll take you to have some fun with a couple of mermaids."

"Bro, these are pollutants…"

"What’s to fear? These pollutants are, at most, four or five hundred on the pollution index. You’re a guy with over a thousand spiritual power! Were you really rejected by the Special Operations Department for causing trouble? Where’s your backbone?"

"I… I was convicted of molestation. Got a record." The guard spat. "Damn, the one who blocked my entry review was probably some bitch. It wasn’t even rape. Just a couple of rubs on the subway."

Lu Yan followed them underwater.

The two guards saw Xu Guanyue but showed no fear. They greeted him cheerfully and selected a blue-tailed female mermaid.

They dragged the mermaid into a small grove nearby. One pinned her down; the other unbuckled his pants.

Lu Yan hadn’t brought his knife.

Fortunately, after several evolutions, his physical strength far exceeded that of a Celestial Awakener of his level. Not to mention the hand-to-hand combat techniques he’d learned at the headquarters training center—ways to kill without a blade.

The two guards didn’t even have time to make much noise before Lu Yan snapped their necks.

Freed, the blue-tailed mermaid didn’t attack the only living human present.

Her aquamarine eyes fixed on Lu Yan, quickly welling with tears. They fell to the ground, turning into pearls.

As if venting, she let out a mournful cry and threw herself onto the guards’ corpses, tearing into them with furious bites.

Their faces were soon a mangled, bloody mess.

Lu Yan felt no fear. He even thought the mermaid’s blood-smeared face was rather beautiful.

Dragging the two corpses, the mermaid returned to the cove. From start to finish, she never attacked Lu Yan.

Sometimes, Lu Yan said to the system, I think humans are more terrifying than pollutants.

*

Westlin Sea. A frigate cut through the vast expanse of ocean.

The sea wind was particularly brisk today, the sun fiercely bright.

Bai Qiushi squinted, watching drones fly to and from the frigate overhead.

"Still can’t locate the island?" he asked.

Behind him, the Logistics Director of S City’s Pollution Control Center was sweating profusely.

"Previously, Mr. Lu reported he was traveling to Mermaid Island. According to his positioning data, he disappeared near the border of the Aonan Archipelago and international waters."

"We’ve pulled satellite imagery and expanded the search radius," the Director continued. "We’ve sent helicopters to search nearby islands. No trace of Mr. Lu has been found so far."

Bai Qiushi’s brow furrowed with displeasure.

His household registration was in S City. After graduating from the headquarters training center, he naturally joined S City’s Special Operations Department, assigned to Region 2. Years of work had made him Team Leader of Special Operations Group 2.

Bai Qiushi usually handled pollution incidents in regions numbered ‘2,’ but was occasionally requisitioned by headquarters to tackle difficult Pollution Disease cases elsewhere.

Like the parasitic fish contamination in K City—that had been Bai Qiushi’s assignment.

"What about the data on the Mermaid Club?"

The Director produced a file. "Compiled. The Mermaid Club was founded by a foreign businessman, registered in Aonan, and recruits tourists from the mainland. It’s located on a private island."

"Membership fee is one million. In business circles, membership seems highly coveted… many bosses use it as a favor."

Bai Qiushi’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. "So, you’re telling me. A problematic club, connected to Pollution Disease, has been operating in Westlin Sea for forty-seven years. It departs monthly from S City’s port, right under our noses. And we knew nothing about it? Didn’t even have concrete information?"

The Director’s head bowed lower.

Bai Qiushi patted the Director’s shoulder, still smiling. "Forget it. How could this be your fault? The pollutants are just too strong. Besides, this Mermaid Club is clearly isolated. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have failed to find it for days."

"I heard you’ve been investing in stocks, Director. Made a killing recently. Even bought a luxury penthouse in S City worth over a hundred million. Truly enviable. Wasn’t it just a few years ago your son lost a finger over gambling debts in Aonan?"

"No, it was my negligence…" For some reason, the Director’s cold sweat intensified.

On the morning of the 15th, when Lu Yan sent that message saying he was going to the Mermaid Club, Bai Qiushi had already known something was wrong.

The problem was, Lu Yan had already boarded the cruise ship bound for Mermaid Island.

The director had done his best to suppress the news, praying every day that Lu Yan would return safely after the fifteen days were up.

The Boss had guaranteed it. Returning tourists, under the Sirens' song, would have their memories blurred, remembering only a pleasant holiday on the island. After years of observation, the director had seen this was true, and had finally let his guard down.

What he hadn't expected was for Bai Qiushi to show up at the Pollution Control Center the very day after Lu Yan went missing. He'd taken control of everyone, starting his interrogation with the man in charge.

"I understand perfectly," Bai Qiushi said, his voice deceptively soft. Four silver pupils darted erratically within his eyes, giving him an unnerving, otherworldly gaze. "As a logistics director, you cling to hope. You don't truly grasp what you're dealing with. A high-end club, after all… using a few pollutants for entertainment, that's to be expected. But when the first body turned up, you knew there was no turning back."

He smiled, the expression not touching those chaotic eyes. "To be honest, if my colleagues from City A hadn't asked me why Mr. Lu wasn't returning their calls, I might never have known he'd even left S City."

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "You'd better pray Lu Yan is unharmed. Otherwise, I'd be very worried for your family. Or did you think sending your wife and son abroad would let you sleep soundly?"

"I won't lay a hand on you. You're an ordinary person. I possess power far beyond yours. I will control my emotions. I won't let my strength trample the law." He wasn't very tall, so he rose slightly onto his toes to pat the director's head. "But if you became a pollutant… well, that would be a different matter, wouldn't it?"

The director's knees gave way, buckling beneath him on the ship's deck.