LSDWTWHA chapter 28

Chapter 27

Qi Hanyi and Su Su added each other as friends.

There was no need to queue at the registration point; every hour on the hour, registration forms would be released. However, they couldn’t just take one; a selection test was necessary, which was much more difficult than a job interview.

When Su Su and Qi Hanyi arrived, there were still ten minutes left until the hour, and the registration area was already crowded with people wanting to sign up.

After waiting at the entrance for a while, Su Su suddenly received a friend online notification from the system.

Shortly after, another message came in.

[Bai]: Your starship has been modified; come to the guild to pick it up.

Su Su was immediately excited; he wished he could run to the guild right away to find Yan Bai, but the hour was almost upon them.

Su Su thought for a moment and decided that it would be better to sign up first since he was already here.

[White-scaled Shark]: Can I be a bit late? At the registration point.

Yan Bai quickly replied. [Bai]: Are you signing up for the starship driving competition?

Before Su Su could reply, two more messages popped up.

[Bai]: Don’t register yet.

[Bai]: I have something very important to tell you.

Su Su stared at his dialogue box, puzzled. Why did he ask him not to register first? Was he afraid that participating in the competition would reveal his identity?

That made sense, after all, his account was fake.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing that Su Su hadn’t moved for a long time, Qi Hanyi asked. He couldn’t see Su Su’s dialogue box, but he could see the tips of his fingers lightly tapping the air.

Su Su closed the dialogue box, “My friend has an urgent matter to discuss.”

“That friend who was playing the game with you?” Qi Hanyi asked.

“Yeah,” Su Su waved his short shark plushie arm. “I have to go over now.”

“So urgent?” Qi Hanyi glanced at the time; there was still less than three minutes until registration.

“Uh-huh.” Su Su didn’t want to elaborate and just confirmed, following Qi Hanyi’s lead, “A bit urgent.”

Qi Hanyi didn’t pry too much into Su Su’s personal affairs, after all, they weren’t very familiar yet. The registration time was three days in total, so there would be plenty of opportunities tomorrow and the day after.

“Then see you next time.”

“Okay.”

The guild hall in the afternoon was much livelier than at night, with many players chatting in small groups.

Some were discussing the starship competition while others were talking about a video that had gone viral last night.

Among them, Su Su spotted a familiar face, one of the guild members he had seen last night, who was currently excitedly telling someone else, “You don’t believe me? That [Shark Naming is So Hard Ahhh] is the new member [White-scaled Shark] who just joined our guild last night! I witnessed him change his name!”

Feeling Su Su’s gaze, that member turned to look his way, a spark in his eyes as he spotted Su Su’s name overhead, “Hey! He’s right there! He’s the one who defeated [Star Pirate Leader] in that video last night! I mean, dude, you were so low-profile; I didn’t notice at all! I just said our guild leader would never recruit a newcomer like you!”

He spoke loudly, drawing the attention of many players around them, which made Su Su feel a bit dazed.

“I didn’t, I’m not…” Su Su waved his hands repeatedly. He did kill [Star Pirate Leader], but he wasn’t any big shot, nor was he pretending to be a newcomer.

“He isn’t the one who reversed-killed [Star Pirate Leader] last night,” Yan Bai appeared in the guild hall and directly denied it for Su Su.

“Huh?” But he clearly is!

Su Su became even more confused. However, before he figured out what Yan Bai was up to, he didn’t recklessly expose it.

“But I saw it with my own eyes!” The player who had just spoken was unconvinced. “Guild leader, you saw it too!”

“Alright, there should be a limit even to joking. If you keep talking, people will take it seriously,” Yan Bai pulled Su Su over to his side and sent a private message to the talking player.

[Bai]: Just pretend you didn’t see yesterday’s incident and don’t tell anyone.

With a transfer of one hundred thousand star coins.

That converted to a thousand in real-world currency. The substantial sum made that guild player obediently change their tune, “I just wanted to see if anyone would actually believe it. After all, they both have ‘shark’ in their names; that’s quite a coincidence. Hahaha, I didn’t expect to really fool a bunch of people.”

Su Su felt even more puzzled. He guessed that Yan Bai must have said something to that player in private, but he didn’t understand why Yan Bai wanted to do this. He looked at Yan Bai blankly, only to be pulled into a private lounge.

The lounge was decorated in a modern style, and Yan Bai sat down on the sofa, patting the spot next to him, “Sit.”

Su Su sat down next to Yan Bai.

“Sorry, I just took the liberty to conceal your name change. After all, that video of yours was way too high-profile; if someone takes notice, it could cause trouble,” Yan Bai leaned back against the sofa and said, “I just sent a group message to the players who were in the know yesterday, notifying them to keep it confidential. As long as you don’t reveal it, no one will know you were the one in the video.”

The more Su Su listened, the more confused he became. He had indeed fought against a player called [Star Pirate Leader], but…

“What video?”

“Oh, I forgot you can’t access human networks,” Yan Bai slapped his forehead, “It’s the video of your battle with [Star Pirate Leader]. The opponent is a streamer who was live at the time, and the audience recorded the whole thing and posted it online. After that, you became famous, and now everyone is discussing the player named [Shark Naming is So Hard Ahhh].”

Yan Bai couldn’t help but be surprised himself that others thought Su Su was some seasoned starship pilot dominating players. He knew Su Su was actually a complete newbie who had only opened the game for an afternoon but still pulled off such terrifying moves.

Yan Bai hadn’t actually seen the video until after he had finished dealing with his work until his adoptive father, Yan San, personally came to ask about Su Su. When he finally saw the video, Yan Bai couldn’t believe that those amazing moves had all been performed by Su Su.

What shocked him even more was that after Su Su released that video last night, this afternoon, the official announcement for the starship driving competition came out, with prizes that were obviously endorsed by the military.

This made Yan Bai worry; Su Su might have already attracted the military’s attention.

It would undoubtedly increase the risk of exposure if Su Su participated in the competition, so the first thing Yan Bai did was log in and prevent Su Su from registering.

However, he wanted to cultivate a better relationship with Su Su, so he didn’t want to approach it too stiffly. He preferred to subtly pull Su Su into his camp.

“Let’s not talk about that. Weren’t you eager to open a new starship yesterday? It’s ready now; I’ll take you to see it.”

Yan Bai brought Su Su to the bottom level of the guild, where through a glass wall, Su Su saw a much larger silver starship compared to the one he had piloted before.

Its streamlined body resembled a mythical silver wyvern. Compared to ordinary starships, it had two retractable side wings, allowing it to move gracefully like a fish, yet also to soar majestically like a dragon. In terms of agility, it was definitely the top tier in “Star Wars.”

In addition to that, its appearance was stunning. The starship was entirely silver-white, with smooth lines that emanated a sense of power. The surface material was made of a luminous alloy, and although it appeared smooth, it was actually layered with scale-like armor that glimmered sharply in the pitch-black universe, overshadowing the starlight behind it.

“It’s so beautiful!” Su Su exclaimed, his excitement causing his face to almost press against the glass wall, squishing his shark plushie’s face flat. His stubby little hands pressed against the glass surface, looking eager to break through the window and embrace his starship.

“It’s called Silver Dragon. It’s the predecessor of the current main starship, White Zao. It was severely damaged during a battle thirty years ago and was retired from space. Earlier this year, it was fully replicated in the game, making it the most popular starship,” Yan Bai introduced to Su Su.

“Is it the predecessor of White Zao?” A glint flashed in Su Su’s eyes.

Is this the very ship he had admired since childhood, the White Zao that had always been in the night sky with him? This realization made Su Su feel inexplicably excited and made the starship feel familiar.

But Yan Bai misunderstood his excitement and replied curtly, “Yes, it’s the predecessor of the White Zao starship that Qi Hanyi pilots.”

“Ah!” Su Su only then realized that White Zao was piloted by Qi Hanyi, the human he liked the most was driving his favorite starship. Su Su felt confused about whom to envy.

“Speaking of which,” Yan Bai changed the subject, “Did you test Qi Hanyi after I mentioned it to you last time?”

“Yeah, I did.” When recalling this, Su Su’s excitement cooled down, his expression revealing a hint of dejection, “He disagrees with my playing the game.”

Yan Bai was not surprised by this outcome, “Oh, what did he say?”

“He said humans never treat mermaids as equals, and humans marry mermaids just to have children.” Su Su recalled Qi Hanyi’s words, “He also said that mermaids can’t log into human networks, and being discovered is a death sentence.”

“He’s quite straightforward,” Yan Bai didn’t expect Qi Hanyi to express such things so bluntly. In Yan Bai’s view, humans generally liked to dress up their actions hypocritically, deceiving and utilizing mermaids under the guise of equality, cooperation, and coexistence.

However, since the other party was candid, it saved him the effort of explaining.

“How do you feel about it now? Do you want to leave the Qi family?” Yan Bai asked Su Su.

But Su Su shook his head, “Why would I leave?”

He had food and shelter here, and games to play. Although he felt uncomfortable hearing Qi Hanyi’s words, it didn’t really affect his life. Besides, he had promised Qi Hanyi to cooperate with him in ensuring that the responsibility of the mermaid kingdom would not be pursued.

“Qi Hanyi obviously doesn’t treat you as an equal life form. Don’t you resent him? He doesn’t respect your personality, restricts your freedom, keeps you like a pet—like a cat or dog—calling you when he needs you, disregarding you otherwise. Aren’t you angry?”

Su Su thought for a moment and said, “I feel a little uncomfortable.”

In reality, Su Su didn’t care much about how others viewed him; words like respect, equality, personality, and freedom felt too abstract to him. Just over a month ago, he was just a little shark thinking only about what to eat next.

But Qi Hanyi was different from others; after all, he was someone Su Su liked. Everyone hoped that their feelings would be reciprocated. Yet Qi Hanyi hated mermaids, and he himself was a mermaid, so Qi Hanyi must also hate him.

Yan Bai then said, “You know, actually, mermaids and humans have the same ancestors. In fact, just a few hundred years ago, mermaids were the rulers of this land.”

“Really?” Su Su exclaimed in surprise, his mouth agape. This was indeed something he had never heard before. It was not mentioned in human history textbooks.

Yan Bai took the opportunity to tell Su Su about the history of mermaids and humans.

A long time ago, humans built highly civilized cities here, but a sudden tsunami swallowed the land. During the disaster, some humans escaped onto pre-prepared spaceships, leaving this land behind, while many more were abandoned, drowned by the tsunami, and fell silent into the ocean along with the land.

But the humans who sank into the sea were not entirely defenseless; they had predicted this tsunami years in advance and attempted to change themselves by extracting numerous fish genes to achieve the ability to live in the sea.

Whether they succeeded or not remains undetermined as no exact records survive.

However, after that, a marvelous race was born in this land: the mermaids.

The mermaids lived in this sea for thousands of years, piecing together fragments of the long-lost civilization from remnants and learning about that ancient civilization while thriving in the oceans.

Three hundred years ago, a massive tide receded, revealing parts of the previously submerged land. Some mermaids living in those areas suddenly found themselves exposed on land.

Some mermaids stranded and died on the shore, while others developed legs as they matured and transformed into a human form.

If it had just ended there, mermaids might have one day come ashore, or perhaps walked freely between the deep sea and the land, creating a new civilization.

However, those humans who had left on spaceships came back after wandering for a thousand years, discovering this newly exposed land.

The spaceships landed, and they returned.

They awoke in large numbers from their hibernation chambers and established a new empire on this fresh land. At the same time, they discovered mermaids, these newly evolved beings who had emerged during their absence from the land, seemingly wanting to become the dominant beings on this territory.

War broke out between humans and mermaids. The wanderers returning from the starry sky fought against the mermaids who had just adapted to their new environment over this brand-new land.

It would be more accurate to call it a one-sided massacre.

Faced with the advanced technological weapons of humans, the mermaids, whose civilization levels were comparable to that of primitives, were utterly defeated. They could only flee desperately towards the farther sea.

The story would have originally ended here. Humans gained control of the land, and mermaids returned to the sea. But during this process, something unexpected happened.

Mermaids were innately beautiful, regardless of gender, and their looks were naturally striking. Furthermore, once out of the water, apart from a few scales remaining behind their ears, their appearance was indistinguishable from that of humans, which sparked some people’s interest.

Captive beautiful mermaids became the playthings of nobles and military men, and subsequently, some mermaids gave birth to human children. These children appeared completely human externally.

These hybrid children were sent to research institutes, and through a series of genetic tests, people were astonished to find that their genes were identical to humans yet seemed to possess a certain degree of optimization compared to their human fathers. Whether in appearance and physical form, cognitive capacity, health conditions, or potential lifespan, they greatly surpassed normal reproductive levels. Even more astonishingly, these humans born from mermaids inherited the unique talent of mermaids—exceptional mental force.

Thus, more and more mermaids were thrown into breeding experiments, as people repeatedly verified a result from the accumulated data: mermaids could indeed help humans acquire more optimized genes.

Therefore, a new possibility emerged in the once opposing relationship of deadly enmity.

Or rather, for humans, they found a way to deal with mermaids that aligned more with their interests than slaughter.

In the black market, industries revolving around the capture, plunder, and sale of mermaid slaves quietly flourished.

On the imperial side, they were somewhat more gentle; they publicly protected mermaids while secretly engaging in similar activities under the guise of marriage.

They promised humans the safety and basic rights of mermaids, offering them equal treatment with humans, while also providing weapons and knowledge.

What mermaids had to do was simple: besides retaining a necessary number of their kind for reproduction, other mermaids must, upon reaching adulthood, head into human society and marry human nobles.

These mermaids were treated as sacrifices, forcibly married to human nobles. They enjoyed a life of wealth but not freedom, giving birth to offspring in exchange for the right for their kind to survive.

In order to gain the empire’s protection and learn human civilization, generations of female mermaids were sent for marriage. In return, the empire genuinely helped mermaids significantly, assisting them in constructing cities in the sea and teaching them farming, ranching, and hunting methods while providing various weapons and resource aid. From a certain perspective, their lives did become increasingly stable and prosperous. But they simultaneously lost their freedom, becoming domesticated and kept by humans.

This brutal history had long been covered and polished over in the river of time, with even the kingdom of mermaids deliberately encouraging future generations to forget it.

Yet, there remained a group of mermaids who always remembered.

“Our grandmother was one of the few mermaids who knew this history. She told this story to her two mermaid daughters, hoping they might do something in the future.” Yan Bai said, “But your mother didn’t want to be involved in this hatred; she chose to leave the mermaid kingdom to live with the sharks. Later, she gave birth to you, and from then on, we lost contact.”

“My mother later, inadvertently, gave birth to me with another mermaid and altered my genes with medication when I was very young to make me look like a human, giving me to my adoptive father, the head of Yan Shipping, Yan San.”

“Although I now walk on land as a human, in my heart, I am forever a member of the mermaids. I constantly wish to change the situation of mermaids.”

Yan Bai turned to look directly into Su Su’s eyes, “Now that you’ve heard this history, Su Su, my cousin, what do you think of this past?”

What did he think? Su Su blinked, shaking himself from the lengthy and weighty history.

It felt as if he had read a book or heard a story, filled with empathy and bitterness, yet when the story ended, he was still himself.

Growing up alone as a shark, he never felt a strong sense of identity regarding mermaids. Although he had received an education, the chip’s curriculum emphasized theoretical knowledge over humanistic thought. Su Su’s temperament was more like a shark acting on instinct rather than resembling either humans or mermaids.

The hunger in his stomach pulled Su Su back to reality.

“Uh.” Su Su licked his lips, honestly expressing his current thought, “I’m a bit hungry.”