Chapter 143: The Mermaid Princess (13)

Mhm.
This falls under the category of being kept.
Explanation complete.
"Then what is going on with this ship?" Tang Mu pointed to the vessel snapped into two halves, with scorched marks still lingering along the edges. "Judging by the severity of the fracture, human strength could hardly achieve this."
"I am not too sure either," Xi Hongwei said. "At that time, my partner and I were heavily engaged in a fierce battle, um... so I didn't pay much attention to the situation outside."
...
It seemed no further useful clues could be extracted from Xi Hongwei's mouth.
Tang Mu prepared to get acquainted with the others, hoping to glean some alternative clues from someone else.
For instance, the Yin Yue mentioned by Xi Hongwei would be an excellent subject for questioning.
"Your name is Yin Yue, right? I am Tang Mu. How did you end up on this ship?"
Unlike Xi Hongwei, Yin Yue could either be a player or an NPC. Therefore, Tang Mu phrased the inquiry quite craftily, which would help determine Yin Yue's identity.
Yin Yue replied, "I came here by playing a game. During the transmission, some people were sent to the deck, while others were sent into the cabins. The rest of us and I ended up in the cabin. The fighting upstairs was extremely fierce at the time, and we were too frightened to go to the deck. But there was one man among us who was very bold. He volunteered to go to the deck."
"It's fortunate we didn't follow him. Otherwise, we wouldn't have survived until now."
The person Yin Yue was referring to must be Zi Yushu.
Tang Mu's face remained completely expressionless when Yin Yue brought up Zi Yushu, as if she were listening to news about a total stranger of no consequence to her.
"By the way, how did you turn into a mermaid?" Yin Yue looked at Tang Mu suspiciously. "When the Mermaid tribe distributed the Shark Pearls to us, you weren't even at the scene."
Yin Yue's suspicion was not unwarranted.
Humans who had already been mutated into mermaids could no longer be accurately considered human. They would harbor partiality toward the mermaids, viewing the mermaids' interests as their own.
This was precisely why the Mermaid tribe felt secure enough to leave the human-turned-mermaids here.
"I ran away. But halfway through, I was caught back by a mermaid," Tang Mu lied without even blinking.
"Then how long are we going to practice swimming here? And when will the Mermaid tribe return?"
"No idea." Yin Yue fiddled with her fish tail, spinning around in the seawater to perform a 360-degree backflip. "Probably by the afternoon, right? After all, the Mermaid tribe said they were going to the deep-sea area. The round trip must take a long time."
Just as Yin Yue had predicted.
It was indeed afternoon by the time the Mermaid tribe returned to the cabin.
Before that, however, Tang Mu had already searched the interior and exterior of the cabin from top to bottom. Perhaps because this ship was merely a prop vessel, aside from the necessary furnishings, there was not a single extra appliance to be found inside—no suitcases belonging to men or women, nor cigarette butts, cosmetics, paper napkins, or even toothpaste and toothbrushes that passengers ought to have left behind.

Bizarrely clean, it hardly resembled a tourist ship at all.
The food inside the cabin had also been completely destroyed.
The vegetables had long since been soaked to a mush by the seawater.
As for canned fish or canned luncheon meat, forget it. They had been thoroughly destroyed long ago. Moreover, this destruction did not look man-made; it rather resembled certain timed props that automatically vanished once the time was up.
"The Mermaid tribe is back! We finally have food to eat!"
A celebration suddenly broke out outside the cabin.
Following the sound, hundreds of densely packed mermaids were indeed returning from the distant, deep-sea region to the site of the accident.
Their scales emitted a faint halo of light, capable of attracting prey in the deep ocean.
Yet to human eyes, this peculiar halo lent their entire bodies an aura of sacredness.
As the Mermaid tribe swam closer, everyone was able to observe them more clearly.
Mermaids in their complete mermaid form were actually not particularly beautiful.
They possessed sharp teeth and tough, elongated claws, with athletic and powerful physiques. When darting and swimming, they could instantly propel themselves hundreds of meters away, displaying terrifying martial prowess.
Compared to Tang Mu and the others,
Tang Mu and her group resembled newborn infants, incapable of posing the slightest threat to them.
The mermaids swam above the half-mermaids. Twirling around, much like someone feeding and raising small pets, they killed the prey they had hunted and tossed the fish carcasses onto the seabed.
The half-mermaids then swiftly scrambled for the food, swallowing the raw fish slices into their bodies.
Seeing how far the half-mermaids had mutated,
Tang Mu still found herself utterly unable to swallow any raw fish slices.
After all, the scene was far too bizarre and grotesque.
...
...
Sanza stared intently at the half-mermaids' feeding behavior below.
When the half-mermaids actively ate their food, Sanza would wear a satisfied expression. But when he saw some half-mermaids failing to properly eat the food they had hunted, Sanza would become extremely angry.

Among the Mermaid tribe, food was sacred, and wasting food was shameful.
To feed these half-mermaids, they were even enduring hunger themselves, letting the half-mermaids eat first.
Only after the half-mermaids were full would they eat.
Yet now, someone was telling him that the half-mermaids were trampling on the fruits of their hard work and wasting food?
This was naturally intolerable!
"Hey, what is your name?" Sanza swam closer to Tang Mu and only then learned that Tang Mu was Sang Wu's partner, and that they had already mated. As for most of the other half-mermaids, a large portion of them had never mated. However, compared to the upcoming Holy Bath Festival, finding a partner and mating was not all that important after all.
Anyway, once the Holy Bath Festival passed, they would also hold a grand mating ceremony.
At that time, everyone would revel to their hearts' content.
"Why aren't you eating your food? Do you have any idea how many hardships and obstacles our Mermaid tribe has to face when hunting in the deep sea? Food must never be wasted!"
"I can't swallow it." Faced with absolute might, even Tang Mu had to play dead. "I haven't even been a mermaid for half a day, how can I possibly eat uncooked things?"
...
Sanza fell silent for a moment.
Then he said, "Where is your partner? As the partner of a half-mermaid, Sang Wu should have taken good care of you."
Although Sang Wu was the fiercest and most handsome mermaid in their tribe, and also their chieftain,
taking good care of one's partner was a duty that belonged exclusively to Sang Wu. Outsider mermaids could not easily interfere.
For a moment, Sanza found himself in a difficult spot.
He was unsure whether he should overstep Sang Wu's jurisdiction to take Tang Mu to the shore to make a fire and eat roasted, cooked fish.
Moreover, Sang Wu was not here right now.
He was also afraid that if Sang Wu found out he had overstepped his authority, Sang Wu would attack him.
After all, in the Mermaid tribe, taking over the care of another mermaid's partner was an act of provocation.
It would trigger a battle.
"He went to chase after a human," Tang Mu blinked her eyes. "That human is very cunning. Sang Wu will probably be chasing him for a long time."