The Mermaid's Return - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I forced myself to stay calm, silently aiming the camera at him.

It was a male merman.

Identical to the drawing in Father’s diary.

His silver hair spread out like seaweed, revealing sharp features. Silver pupils stared at me with burning intensity.

His outer ears had mutated into gill-like shapes, and webbing stretched between his fingers.

His upper body was like a human’s-pale and smooth from aquatic life, with sleek, powerful muscles.

His lower body was a long, black-and-gold fish tail, over two meters in length.

Beneath his groin, something stirred.

Unfortunately, this was a merman in heat.

According to the research data, mermen experience one to two mating cycles per year.

I could no longer stay calm. I turned and swam upward with all my might.

He didn’t chase me but swam off again.

Was this a hallucination?

I fixed Yaoyao’s oxygen mask and dragged her upward.

Gradually, the sunlight piercing the surface came into view.

And our boat, still anchored steadily.

The others around me regained consciousness and swam up together.

Wen Mo leaned anxiously from the bow, hauling us aboard one by one.

“What happened? You lost contact five minutes after diving.”

“The detector picked up high-frequency sound waves nearby-up to 20,000 megahertz. The instruments malfunctioned.”

The team members removed their masks, chattering over each other. They’d all experienced hallucinations, each seeing their worst fears.

Their diving suits had become a hindrance, so everyone tried to remove the gear.

But thankfully, everyone made it out.

I, who rarely showed emotion, clutched the miniature camera strapped to me and laughed excitedly. “I filmed a merman!”

This would be a monumental breakthrough in the history of merfolk research.

At that, they laughed with me.

Even Yaoyao, leaning against me, was laughing.

Their laughter lasted three full minutes, refusing to stop.

I wiped the smile from my face. An icy chill crept over me, making my hair stand on end.

No, this was the hallucination.

The camera in my hand suddenly transformed into a large palm, webbed and with sharp nails, freezing cold.

The blinding sun was an illusion. In truth, it was an endless, fathomless sea.

All I could see was blackness, deep and unfathomable.

My diving suit was still on, but my oxygen mask was gone.

My eardrums throbbed in agony, and my skin trembled from the cold.

My body convulsed violently from the lack of oxygen.

With the last of my will, I struggled to swim upward, but the merman’s arm barred my chest, easily dragging me down.

The sunlight on the surface shrank to a dot, smaller and smaller, until exhaustion forced my eyes shut.