LSDWTWHA chapter 12

Chapter 12

Qi Hanyi did not recognize Su Su as the shark he had thrown into the sea on the cruise ship earlier; after all, to humans, sharks all looked quite similar.

However, he did have a natural fondness for sharks, and this fondness somewhat diluted his disgust for mermaid heritage.

After a brief moment of shock, Qi Hanyi quickly collected his thoughts, analyzing the situation before him, and swiftly concluded: “Mermaid Hybrid.”

Mermaid hybrids are quite rare on land; they are descendants of mermaids and marine creatures, and if nothing unexpected happens, they will live in the ocean in the form of marine animals for their entire lives.

Of course, some choose to take mermaid medicine for various reasons and transform into mermaid forms. Some even become pets in wealthy households, as hybrids cannot undergo differentiation again, forcing them to remain in fishbowl-like environments where they cannot be seen outside.

Su Su responded, having long since shed the innocent ignorance from before. He understood that humans usually introduced themselves upon meeting. Thus, he said in his fragmented human language: “My name is Su Su.”

“Su Su?” Given that this shark had previously used reduplications while speaking, Qi Hanyi instinctively thought his name was also a reduplication.

“Su,” Su Su corrected, articulating clearly as if he had practiced it many times in his mind. “It means going upstream.”

So it turns out sharks can speak without using reduplications.

Qi Hanyi couldn’t help but chuckle at his own thoughts, finding them a bit amusing.

He pushed away this irrelevant idea and looked at the pool with a scrutinizing gaze, silently observing the shark in front of him from a distance separated by glass: “Why are you here?”

That would be a long story, and speaking was the least of Su Su’s strengths right now.

Su Su fumbled and stammered for a while, unable to articulate it clearly.

“Can you type?” Qi Hanyi asked.

Su Su quickly nodded, dove to the bottom of the water, and retrieved the terminal Xiao You had given him. He tossed it in front of Qi Hanyi, which still displayed a message: face recognition failed, unable to log in.

Qi Hanyi tapped the shark’s chip with a finger that had a terminal ring.

The long-dormant chip of Su Su flickered a few times: [Guardian authority detected, logging in.]

Su Su looked at Qi Hanyi in amazement, wanting nothing more than to applaud him like a seal. He had struggled to log in for a long time, but the other party managed it with a single tap! That guardian authority is truly impressive.

Excited like a young internet addict being reconnected, Su Su waved his fins and began hammering away at the input interface’s projection.

A half-true, half-false story unfolded beneath his fingers.

[We met half a month ago on a cruise ship; you saved me.]

Su Su’s first sentence astonished Qi Hanyi.

The shark in front of him was indeed the one he had caught on the cruise ship that day.

What a coincidence?

Having spent years in war and grown accustomed to deception and plots, Qi Hanyi was suspicious of coincidences.

He kept a poker face and waited for Su Su to continue.

Su Su continued typing: [But you abandoned me.]

Abandoned? Qi Hanyi raised an eyebrow. That was utter nonsense.

[You tossed me back into the ocean; you didn’t take care of me, nor did you let anyone else do so!!!] Su Su continued to type, intentionally adding extra exclamation marks to emphasize his unexpressed grief and anger from that moment.

Qi Hanyi recalled how he had thrown the shark back into the ocean by its tail and corrected him: “That was call a release.”

[I didn’t want to be released!!!]

Su Su typed on: [I carry mermaid blood, I’m not as big as other sharks, I can barely eat enough every day, I’m almost starving!!! After finally getting a chance to be taken in by a human, you threw me back!!!]

Whether it was the many exclamation marks that stirred his feelings of guilt, Qi Hanyi, for the first time in a long while, offered an apology: “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were a mermaid hybrid back then.”

However, his apology came out cold and impersonal.

But Su Su was very receptive to it. Hearing Qi Hanyi apologize, the remnants of his earlier resentment deflated like a punctured balloon with a “pfft.”

[Then I forgive you.] He said generously.

Seeing the little shark speaking gravely about forgiveness, Qi Hanyi found it amusing and couldn’t help but entertain a strange thought.

He’s quite cute.

Now that Su Su was no longer angry, he continued to narrate. Intentionally omitting details about meeting Yi Qing, he simply mentioned: [But I still really wanted to come to the human world, so I went to the Mermaid Kingdom to seek the High Priest and ask for mermaid medicine.]

[But that mermaid medicine only works for a few days; it’s already starting to wear off, and I’m turning back into a shark. Although I can still talk, your robot doesn’t recognize me, and it hasn’t fed me these past two days. If you don’t come back soon, I’ll starve to death again.]

“Get to the point.” Qi Hanyi wasn’t keen on hearing about the Mermaid Kingdom, as it brought back many unpleasant memories, but he needed to understand this shark’s backstory and persisted in learning more.

Recalling the last complaint from Su Su, Qi Hanyi quietly instructed the robot Xiao You: “Have the kitchen prepare some fresh live fish to send over.”

At first, Su Su felt a bit upset for being interrupted, but upon hearing there would be food, any annoyance was instantly forgotten, and his typing sped up.

[That day, after I took the mermaid medicine and was leaving, I ran into two humans in diving suits who seemed to be plotting something harmful against the princess who was about to marry. I sensed something was off, so I hurried to inform Princess Yi Qing about it. After a discussion, the princess decided to let me disguise myself as her to test these people’s intentions. She said she would pick me up halfway.]

[Who knew those two despicable guys actually drugged me during the farewell feast? They tried to undress me on the way; I struggled fiercely and managed to drive them off. Then the drug took effect, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was here. Something must have happened to the princess that prevented her from picking me up in time. I’m quite worried about her now.]

Su Su crafted a story that was seven parts true and three parts false; some of the circumstances did align with the information Qi Hanyi had on hand.

When Qi Hanyi arrived home, he had already learned from the butler that there had been an incident during the marriage proposal: the mermaid princess arrived in a coma, and traces of the drug had been detected in her blood. There were clear signs of a struggle on the shuttle boat, while the two people sent by the family to escort her had vanished without a trace. Three days later, their bodies were recovered several dozen kilometers away, bearing signs of abuse.

Therefore, it seemed credible to Qi Hanyi that the two men impersonating the wedding escort were trying to do something untoward during the engagement, and he had already sent people to investigate. Unfortunately, the other party had done a thorough job, and the Qi family’s delayed investigation left little in the way of leads.

But aside from that, many parts of the story remained suspicious. Qi Hanyi was confident that Su Su was lying.

He began to dissect the truth of the event: “Mermaid hybrids can’t freely enter the Mermaid Kingdom; someone needs to introduce them, and the High Priest’s mermaid medicine isn’t available to just anyone. The person who introduced you to see the High Priest was Princess Yi Qing. You already knew her and even had a good relationship, which made you willing to take such a big risk and act as her substitute.”

“You probably intended to run away halfway but didn’t expect the appearance of the other group to disrupt your plan. Their drug caused you to miss your chance to escape, and when you woke up, you found yourself here.”

He spoke with conviction, as if he had gathered ample evidence.

Su Su stared blankly, his mouth gaping, missing the best moment to deny the accusations.

From Su Su’s reaction, Qi Hanyi confirmed his suspicion and continued: “You deliberately concealed this matter to prevent me from knowing that you and Yi Qing are acquainted, making it easier for you to distance her from the entire situation later.”

As the soon-to-be-married mermaid princess, if she were to do something that she feared he would discover, coupled with the current circumstances, the answer became clear:

“You’re afraid I would find out she ran away from the marriage. Afraid the Qi family would pursue the implications with the Mermaid Kingdom.”

In the empty room, a person and a shark silently faced each other through the glass fish tank.

Qi Hanyi stood tall in front of the fish tank, his head slightly raised and his eyelids arched.

Su Su floated in the water, his body slightly higher than Qi Hanyi’s, looking down at him.

Clearly possessing the advantage of terrain, Su Su nevertheless felt completely subdued by the other’s aura.

For the first time, Su Su felt a sense of threat from Qi Hanyi’s unfeeling eyes, as perilous as those of a top predator. He could see through everything; his indifference seemed to tear apart all illusions.

He realized that this seemingly cute human was not as harmless as he appeared; in fact, he was dangerous. More dangerous than the strongest sharks in his pack, even more so than that orca named Pang Pang!

With all his deceptions laid bare, Su Su instinctively buried his head underwater, releasing a flurry of bubbles to obscure their line of sight as he tried to act dumb:

I don’t know anything, I’m just a little shark who doesn’t understand human language.

Just when Su Su was in a panic, not knowing what to do, he heard Qi Hanyi say: “I can pretend not to know about this matter, refrain from pursuing the Mermaid Kingdom’s responsibility, and find a way to send you away, as long as you follow my arrangements from now on.”

The situation took a turn, and Su Su’s hearing returned at lightning speed. He rushed to Qi Hanyi’s side, leaping halfway out of the water, splashing him with a spray of water, urgently exclaiming in a sweet voice: “I will listen, I will listen!”

“Mhm.” Qi Hanyi was very pleased with the little shark’s cooperation. However, he needed to think more about the specific plan, as it required considerable effort to keep this from his grandfather.

Suddenly, a gentle knock on the door interrupted them, and Xiao You pushed in a full basket of fresh live fish.

Su Su’s eyes lit up instantly; he opened his mouth wide, gazing longingly at the live fish, then turning to Qi Hanyi with a silent plea.

It seemed he was truly starving.

Qi Hanyi gestured to the robot, and Xiao You poured all the live fish into the pool: “You can eat now. You will be living here for the time being; there won’t be any shortage of food. If you have other requests, feel free to mention them.”

“Hubby is so nice.” Su Su happily flopped about, biting the biggest yellow fish, genuinely saying.

Being called “hubby” by a shark made Qi Hanyi feel quite awkward.

“Don’t call me that; we are not in a husband-and-wife relationship. And…” Qi Hanyi’s gaze coldly swept over the area close to Su Su’s tail, where there were two obvious mating protrusions: “You’re a male shark, aren’t you?”

“Uh.” Su Su followed Qi Hanyi’s gaze to look at his abdomen; however, his awareness of gender was very weak, and his textbooks did not provide education on this matter.

So he completely missed the point of Qi Hanyi’s words.

[Is it necessary to have a husband-and-wife relationship to be called ‘hubby’?] Su Su typed in confusion: [Can’t it just be because I look cute?]

After all, he had seen many mermaids on forums addressing good-looking humans and mermaids as “hubby.”

Qi Hanyi believed he had nothing to do with the term “cute,” likely because humans cannot comprehend a shark’s aesthetic.

“No.”

[Then what should I call you?] Su Su asked.

“Qi Hanyi.”

“Qi and An Hanyi.” Su Su repeated in his fragmented human language, then whimsically flicked his tail, typing: [It’s just easier to say “hubby.”]

“That would cause misunderstandings.” Qi Hanyi said firmly, his tone cold as if he were assigning work to a subordinate, though a hint of unusual pink crept into his ears.

[Alright.] Su Su compromised: [Then I’ll call you hubby when we’re alone and your name when others are around.]

Qi Hanyi pursed his thin lips: …

It felt like things had become even more peculiar.