Chapter 53: Nan Zishi Is Imprisoned by Lanxing
Nan Zishi was furious!
Anyone would be furious if they were repeatedly shoved underwater.
With a flick of her massive tail, Nan Zishi snapped back angrily, "What I am is none of your business! Get away from me, you big bully!"
After saying her piece, Nan Zishi started rummaging through her inventory space, looking for any tools that might help her survive in the great big ocean.
But before she could find anything, Lanxing tugged on the golden seaweed binding their wrists together.
"Since you’re a mermaid, this just got a whole lot easier!"
"What?"
Before Nan Zishi could even process what he said, the male mermaid dragged her straight down toward the seabed!
In that instant, seawater gurgled into her mouth.
Although, now that she had become a mermaid, the saltwater didn’t feel as unbearable.
Still, Nan Zishi mentally cycled through every curse word she knew.
Only after she was done did a belated thought strike Nan Zishi:
’Wait, I’m a mermaid now?’
’I... I’m a mermaid?!!’
’But I’m human! How could I have turned into a fish?’
An idea suddenly flashed in Nan Zishi’s mind. Her eyes flew wide open.
’If I’ve turned into a mermaid, there can only be one explanation!’
’My Mermaid Beastman must be within 50 meters of me!’
She suddenly looked at the blue-purple mermaid dragging her to the ocean floor.
He seemed... kind of... roughly...
A little familiar?
’Not sure, I’d better take another look.’
The ocean floor was a kaleidoscope of colors, a serene and profound world of shifting light and shadow.
Countless tiny bubbles brushed past her ears as schools of small fish stirred up shimmering, silver-like spots of light.
The male mermaid leaped through with Nan Zishi in tow, causing the school of fish to scatter with a silent explosion, the layers of silver light expanding outward.
The little golden mermaid cub followed its fish father and fish mother closely.
The little one was completely anxious.
’Daddy, Mommy, please don’t fight. Please don’t fight.’
"Where are you taking me?" Nan Zishi yelled. "Lanxing!"
The male mermaid paused for a brief moment, but in the next instant, he resumed dragging Nan Zishi toward the depths of the ocean.
*
Nan Zishi, the Seven-color Mermaid, had been imprisoned.
Inside a beautiful mermaid prison made of coral, Nan Zishi gripped the bars of the red coral cage with both hands, staring out in shock.
Seven or eight male mermaids were swimming outside. The one in the lead, who looked like he might have Parkinson’s, held a list of charges, his hands shaking nonstop and his voice trembling as he spoke.
"Princess, your crimes are as follows: forcing the Mermaid Prince to be your husband, abandoning your husband and daughter after forming a union, and not once fulfilling your responsibility to raise your young daughter. Do you... plead guilty?!"
After the male mermaid finished speaking, he looked like he was about to have a meltdown.
And right after, the mermaids behind him all looked like they were about to have meltdowns too.
A Seven-color Mermaid! The one before them was the most beautiful female Seven-color Mermaid they had ever seen!
And this gorgeous mermaid was actually Prince Lanxing’s female master!
’But what in the world is Prince Lanxing doing? Why would he lock up his own female master and even sentence her for a crime?’
They couldn’t figure it out. They didn’t understand. They were terrified.
Nan Zishi: "..."
Although she was furious about being shoved into the sea and choking on saltwater by Lanxing, but...
’...these charges actually seem to stick.’
Wasn’t it her, with the childbirth mission countdown about to end, who used a few pieces of Beast Skin to buy a handsome male mermaid from a fisherman on the shore? And didn’t she take that fish back to her cave that very night and, after a bit of a struggle, get pregnant with a Little Mermaid?
’Did I break the law? The law of the Mermaid Clan?’
Nan Zishi panicked.
The male mermaid across from her suddenly changed his tone, asking softly and cautiously, "Princess, do you feel... the charges are accurate?"
The male mermaids were genuinely afraid of making Nan Zishi angry.
If this beautiful Princess so much as said the word "no," they would absolutely, definitely, immediately open the cage and let her out!
Nan Zishi didn’t dare answer directly. She bit her lip and asked timidly, "Lanxing is your Prince?"
The male mermaids all nodded in unison.
Nan Zishi: "..."
’Oh, Mom, your daughter has really made it. Not only did I snag a fish, I snagged the Prince of the mermaids!’
Nan Zishi carefully replied, "If the charges are proven, what will happen to me?"
The male mermaids looked terrified and all shook their heads.
’What could happen? She’s the Prince’s female master! Of course there’s nothing we can do to her!’
But Nan Zishi interpreted it completely differently.
’What does that mean? Is abandoning one’s husband and child really such a huge crime in the Mermaid Clan? Why are they all shaking their heads?’
’They’re not going to kill me, are they?’
’The Mermaid Clan can’t be that unreasonable!’
Nan Zishi grew more panicked. "Where’s Lanxing? Get Lanxing over here, I need to talk to him!"
The male mermaids all shook their heads again.
"I can’t see Lanxing?!"
Nan Zishi looked left and right, but she couldn’t see Lanxing or the little golden mermaid anywhere.
’Lanxing left? He abandoned me??! He even took the Little Mermaid with him?!’
It was like a bolt from the blue!
’No, no, that’s not right. If Lanxing were more than 50 meters away from me, I’d be feeling really awful right now, about to turn back into a human.’
’I don’t feel that way, which proves my Mermaid Beastman, Lanxing, must be somewhere nearby.’
Nan Zishi gradually calmed down and began to analyze the situation.
’These male mermaids said I abandoned my husband and daughter, which means I gave birth to a daughter back then, right?’
’And back on the shore, Lanxing was holding the Little Mermaid, who called him "Daddy"... is the Little Mermaid my cub?’
Nan Zishi slapped her forehead.
’No, that’s not right. My and Lanxing’s mermaid cub should be five years old by now. There’s no way it’s not even two yet.’
’Did Lanxing find me so repulsive that he got a new female master? And then had another female cub?’
Nan Zishi’s mind was a complete mess.
She lifted the sleeve on her left arm, revealing her Mermaid Totem. Next to the Mermaid Totem was a tender little sapling leaf.
’That’s not right either. The totem is still here, which means Lanxing is still my Beast Husband.’
’I don’t get it.’
But the moment Nan Zishi revealed her Mermaid Totem, the eyes of the male mermaids guarding the prison lit up.
’The Princess really has Prince Lanxing’s Mermaid Totem!!’
’The Princess really is our Princess!!!’
’I want to scream! I’m so excited! I want to sing!!!’
Nan Zishi swam back and forth in the water with her arms crossed, deep in thought.
Oh!
’No one ever said that just because you call someone "Daddy," they have to be your biological father, right?’
’Maybe the Little Mermaid is his adopted daughter?’
’I must have figured out the truth!’
Sigh... What a shame. To think such a cute and beautiful mermaid cub wasn’t her own flesh and blood.
’What a pity...’
Nan Zishi sighed with regret.
However, seeing Nan Zishi’s disappointment, the male mermaid guards grew even more frantic.
’It’s all our fault! We actually locked up such a beautiful female Seven-color Mermaid.’
’We made the Princess upset and disappointed.’
’We’re all sinful male mermaids.’
’We’re so awful, ganging up on the Princess Consort and bullying a female.’
’SOB SOB SOB, why are we so bad?’
As they dwelled on it, the male mermaids burst into tears, which turned into white, pink, and red pearls as they fell one by one.
The sight of pearls instantly revived Nan Zishi. She quickly took a glass bottle out of her inventory space.
Holding the glass bottle, she shamelessly yelled at the male mermaids, "Pearls! Pearls!"
A younger male mermaid swam forward, still sniffling, "Princess, what do you want?"
Nan Zishi pointed eagerly at their tears and said, "I want your tears! I want the pearls!"
...