Chapter One

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Ocean Blue Star, District Three, the Garbage Pit—a place notorious for being lawless and ungoverned.

The sun had managed to shine for a day, and Annie was carefully hanging her school uniform skirt out on the balcony to dry.

Behind her, an old man, cigarette in hand, called out, “Annie, come help me check if this prosthetic part is the right model?”

Annie let go and walked over. The old man had only his brain and lungs left original; the rest was replaced by mechanical prosthetics. With a sweep of his artificial eye, a floating display screen appeared in midair.

Annie bent over to help him select for a while, then suddenly noticed an implanted advertisement on the screen. It read, “The selection for the universe’s hottest live-broadcast hunting game will be held…”

She stared at the ad for a moment.

The old man’s eyes were cybernetic, and the advertisement was directly projected onto his eyeball. He naturally followed her gaze. “Only a bunch of suicidal maniacs participate in that thing. But…” He chuckled, “the live broadcast is pretty entertaining.”

Annie asked, “Suicidal maniacs?”

“That’s right,” the old man took a drag from his cigarette. “All kinds of races, all for the gene-evolution serum. Those big shots from the advanced planets fight tooth and nail over it. Ordinary folks like us—what good would it do?”

Annie propped her chin. “Are there races I haven’t seen?”

“Of course there are. Annie, you’ve only met a handful of cosmic races, just Cosmic Type One and Two humans, right? You haven’t even seen the merfolk from Ocean Blue Star. That game is truly eye-opening… Oh, Annie, have you received your admission letter yet?”

“I have.”

“Going to school” was a precious event. It seemed almost impossible for a poor “family” living in the lawless garbage pit to mention an “admission letter” so smoothly.

The old man grinned, his teeth showing. “Others say you’re a genetic-defective albino who won’t survive, but it takes my keen eyes to raise a smart, capable Annie! When I picked you up from outside, I knew you’d amount to something. Where were you admitted?”

Annie opened her StarNet watch and displayed the admission page.

It read, “Ocean Blue University.”

Just four simple words.

The old man was stunned, unable to react for a long time. His cybernetic eye scanned the content, automatically searching “Ocean Blue University”—the top institution on Ocean Blue Star, dominated by the merfolk, located in the eighth district, a place teeming with the wealthy and aristocrats.

There, the sea existed.

Untainted, pure ocean.

By the time he came to his senses and began shouting, Annie had already closed the door and returned to her room. Her room was dark, the lights off, thick curtains blocking all natural light.

The door clicked locked, Annie removed her StarNet watch, powered it off, and placed it by the door.

The room contained only a narrow bed, a small desk and stool. The floor was littered with all kinds of ancient paper books, notebooks, pencils and pens manufactured in 20X5, almost antique relics from a bygone century.

The room was not small, but usable space was scarce. Many items crowded together, making way for the centerpiece—

A massive aquarium.

Reinforced glass, repeatedly purified expensive water, a high-grade pump delivering premium oxygen—these items were worth a lifetime’s wages for any resident in the garbage pit.

Inside the transparent tank was a merfolk.

He slept within.

For him, the enormous tank was a prison. His mouth was tightly gagged with a spherical device; viscous material extended from within, binding his sharp teeth, blocking tongue and throat. He had a long, silver fish tail, scales delicate and radiant, bearing traces of “research.”

Annie’s footsteps startled him awake.

He swam up, pressed against the edge of the tank, deep blue hair cascading over his shoulders, covering a pale, well-proportioned body.

The merfolk stared at Annie. She allowed him to gaze, picked up the half-completed notebook from the floor, drew out a sharpened pencil, and continued writing. “My samples are still insufficient.”

A fierce splash sounded by her ear.

Annie brushed aside her hair dampened by his thrashing, walked over, and pulled out a key pendant from her neck, using it to unlock his gag.

As the key twisted, the mechanism whirred, the viscous seal receding.

The merfolk spat the gag out forcefully, biting hard with his sharp teeth. “What more do you want?!”

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“I want to fully mimic a merfolk. I need to know everything about your kind,” Annie replied, almost earnestly, her voice crisp and calm. “Including appearance traits, inherited genes, reproduction methods… reproductive value, things like that?”

“Reproductive value!” His hands gripped the edge of the tank, body leaning forward. In those beautiful eyes glinted a fierce, threatening cold light. He sneered, “You haven’t forgotten that merfolk are a non-marriageable race, have you? Even if you caught me, imprisoned me… insulted me, you’ll never achieve your goal.”

“I thought you’d cherish your time to speak.” Annie shook her head and picked up the discarded gag.

“……”

Annie cleaned the gag, reset the lock, and looked at the merfolk.

“Wait!” he cried.

His hands clawed the tank, sharp nails almost digging into the glass, but he lacked the strength to shatter his prison or tear apart the young girl before him.

“You’re ending without asking questions?” His nails curled, nearly piercing his own flesh.

“I do have questions for you,” Annie said, “Aside from the three chips I extracted from your body yesterday, do you have any other tracking devices?”

“You ask questions even a fool wouldn’t answer?” His crystal-blue eyes were still full of pride, as if he were staring at an idiot.

Annie tapped the tank. “It’s a routine inquiry. Remember, I’ll ask every time. You can choose not to answer.”

The merfolk buried half his face back in the water, glaring at her.

“In the past half month, I’ve recorded plenty of basic information. Now it’s time to try something new.” Annie glanced at him. Under the merfolk’s confused gaze, she suddenly took off her top.

He instinctively turned his head—

Even non-marriageable races observed basic decorum toward cosmic humans, especially females.

Halfway through turning, the merfolk abruptly recalled his predicament and viciously faced her again.

Annie was left in her underwear, skin pale but healthy. At the moment she met the merfolk’s gaze, her appearance underwent a dramatic transformation.

Tiny silver scales sprouted along her collarbone, matching the color of the merfolk’s tail exactly. Her delicate ears became soft and flexible, a coral-like external ear bone grew at the sides, and a hidden, thin slit opened behind her ear.

That was her breathing fin.

Annie’s pink eyes flickered, observing the merfolk’s expression.

He was stunned.

Her appearance now mirrored a terrestrial merfolk almost perfectly.

Then, he watched as Annie extended her hand—her fingers elongated, nails sharpened, a thin membrane appeared between them.

“It seems my initial mimicry is quite successful.” Annie suddenly moved closer.

Caught off guard, he didn’t evade. The girl’s hand seized his deep blue hair; for the first time, he sensed the immense strength akin to his own kind.

Annie gripped his hair, met his eyes, noses nearly touching, and whispered, “You are the finest gift I’ve received since birth, my first subject for merfolk simulation. Your opinion matters to me. How do I look?”

His proud, sharp eyes quivered.

Blue lashes swiftly brushed her cheek. The merfolk tried to turn away, but Annie held him fast. Adult female merfolk possessed enormous strength and violent temperament; for a moment, he felt as though he faced a true counterpart.

“Your opinion matters to me,” Annie repeated, her tone almost pleading, even a bit pitiful and innocent.

The merfolk trembled.

He knew this girl was strange. Since the damned starship accident half a month ago, she had managed to control him in countless ways.

“You,” he said, “you monster. How could you, how can you…”

He could still distinguish between appearance and substantial change.

Annie’s hand burrowed in his blue hair, sharp nails poised as if they might slice open his skull at any moment. She said, “I want a direct answer.”

The merfolk clamped his mouth shut.

What on earth was this monster? She wasn’t merely altering her appearance, she had truly become a terrestrial merfolk… No matter, only terrestrial, as long as she only had legs, it didn’t count…

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Annie stepped into the glass tank, which was far too deep for her.

An ordinary human entering the water would be killed easily by a merfolk, even if this one’s tail was bound with a controlling shock device, even if he’d been wounded for days and couldn’t leave the water.

He stared at Annie in disbelief.

In the next instant, a silver tail, identical and dazzling as a work of art, unfurled in the water, suddenly wrapping around his own.

For a moment, the merfolk truly felt the world might as well be destroyed, and he himself might as well lose his mind.

Annie pinned him to the bottom of the tank, speaking underwater, “Is there anything I haven’t learned?”

The merfolk’s breathing was rapid beneath the water. He opened his mouth in fury and bit Annie’s arm, leaving a bloodied mark with his sharp teeth. His voice carried the characteristic soft howl of merfolk underwater: “Why become like this? Aren’t you a cosmic human? What exactly are you researching with me?!”

“Do I seem human?” Annie asked curiously.

“……” He was about to lose his mind, growling, “No. You’re like a monster.”

“I’m not human.” Annie wasn’t angry; she explained, “I have no kin left. I am the last… well, monster. Our race has no males, so I can only…”

She stopped, unsure how to continue.

“…The males are extinct?”

“You could say that,” Annie replied. “I’ve studied you for so long just to learn how to become like this. Before meeting you, I only mimicked cosmic humans—you know, the common ones everywhere. I’ve simulated for eighteen years.”

She sounded pleased, speaking more than usual: “There are so many cosmic humans, plenty of samples, nothing special, easy to research. I haven’t encountered any who’ve taken gene serums or mutated human branches—just ordinary ones. Ordinary cosmic humans can’t fulfill my reproductive mission.”

“…What? Mission?”

It was already the eighth era of the Star Sea, yet someone was saying such incredible things.

“Reproductive mission.” She answered seriously, “I’m nearly extinct, you can tell, right? I need to know if you can bear children with me.”

If an ordinary human girl said this, he’d just scoff and not even bother to ridicule her.

But when the words came from this monster who’d become his own kind—

He’d rather die than stay, couldn’t wait for his wounds to heal before rebelling. For a non-marriageable race intent on bloodline purity, if this monster could really have a child with him—he would go mad, certainly, and if defiled by another race, he’d find a way to kill her.

The merfolk struggled to escape her entwined tail, swimming upward to break the surface. The implanted shock device buzzed, and in the next instant, his long hair was seized again, and a figure pressed tightly against him.

The subtle howl of merfolk underwater echoed along the transparent fin.

Her lips touched the fin, brushing the delicate slit: “You’re splashing all the water out; this water is very expensive. By the way, what’s your name?”

A gentle warmth slid along the fine fin lines. For a moment, he thought it was a female merfolk’s forked tongue, but it wasn’t—Annie hadn’t figured that out yet; her tongue was still human.

He breathed heavily, “You lunatic, merfolk have a reproductive lock, it’s impossible to mate with outsiders… Let me go, I’ll help you think of another way.”

He resorted to pitiful deception.

Annie wasn’t fooled, persistently asking, “What’s your name?”

“You’ve kept me for half a month, dug out my tracking chips, drained my blood, plucked my scales, and only now ask my name!”

“What’s your name?” she continued with unwavering softness.

Annie pried at the fin’s slit with her teeth.

She’d read about this in books; not being a female merfolk herself, she could only half rely on texts, half on instinct to seek the merfolk reproductive method, to learn more about this species.

The male in her arms seemed to feel intense pain, his struggles becoming hysterical, ignoring his injuries. His anguished cry toppled the items on the small desk, spilled water flooding the floor and soaking scattered papers.

His pained moans, the unique resonance of merfolk voices, made eardrums throb: “My name… Lin. That’s it… you won’t succeed like this, don’t rush…”

“My name is Annie,” she replied, as if responding, “I’m not rushing. I just need to collect some samples from your body. You’re just too nervous.”