Mermaid Care Diary - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Mermaid was dying.

It had been three months since it was discovered and captured by humans.

In that time, the Mermaid had already passed through the hands of seven researchers.

They had sliced it open to study how the Mermaid’s internal organs differed from those of a human.

Other researchers had tested drugs and toxins on it, monitoring the Mermaid’s reactions to the substances.

Now that the Mermaid was on its last breath and seemingly beyond saving, it was finally handed over to me – a bottom-tier researcher.

The staff member handling the transfer gave me a knowing wink.

“Try not to leave any external injuries while you’re ‘playing’ with it.”

“This is the first Mermaid ever discovered. Once the research results are published, it has to be turned into a specimen for public exhibition.”

I recoiled at his use of the word “play” when referring to a precious experimental subject.

My expression darkened.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

The staffer signaled his men to carry the freezer into my lab.

“You’ll understand once you see it for yourself. This Mermaid has such a beautiful face it nearly bewitched Researcher Li.”

“To test how Mermaids reproduce, Researcher Li added a little ‘something’ to its food. A frenzied Mermaid is no joke; it attacked Researcher Li the moment he entered its territory.”

“If Researcher Li hadn’t been holding the remote for the electric restraint strap, he would have died right then and there.”

After setting down the freezer, the staffer didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he lingered by the door, peering into my lab.

A Long-beaked Pelican suddenly poked its head out from behind some tall grass, opening its massive beak to see if it could swallow the man whole.

The staffer scrambled to break free, only for his foot to grow heavy as a chunky capybara plopped itself down on his shoe.

“Can’t… can’t you control them?”

“What kind of researcher runs a lab like this?!”

In the laboratory the institute had assigned to me, I had taken in many animals discarded by other researchers.

A guinea pig with only one leg, a giant Pelican with a beak twice the size of a normal one, a Turkey that could actually breathe fire…

Others suspected I was spending all the funding the institute gave me on raising pigs.

“That’s enough. If you don’t provoke them, they won’t bother you.”