Chapter 1

The surface of the sea was gently stirred by a light breeze, creating ripples, and the warm water was home to all sorts of colorful fish swimming leisurely beneath. It was tranquil and peaceful, like a beautiful dream.

But in reality, Lance was gasping for breath, exhausted and submerged in the water, thinking this was an absurd nightmare. The mildly warm seawater brushed gently against his body as he lay back, looking through the azure water at the rippling sky above.

The white, gauzy fins seemed to sink like a blooming white lotus, almost wrapping around Lance’s upper body. He let out a lonely bubble.

Underwater, he could breathe just fine, not hindered at all, but there was one problem—could someone please teach him how to flip like a fish?!

Lance tried to flip over again, but with his fish tail measuring about two meters long, his entire body was unbalanced, causing him to sway with the current. Then, before he knew it, he bumped into an innocent little fish.

The little fish was momentarily stunned, and upon seeing Lance, it gave his face a quick “boop” before darting away.

Lance: “……”

With no other choice, Lance crossed his arms and frowned, starting to recall how he ended up in this situation.

It had been an hour since Lance woke up, which meant he had been a mermaid for at least that long. An hour ago, he had woken up to find himself inside a white membrane, and he was startled.

Lance clearly remembered that he had been on a cruise ship. It was a hard-earned vacation, and he had taken the opportunity to go on a cruise. The ship was called the Queen Mary, and the ticket was quite expensive.

Once on board, Lance planned to relax. The night before, he had attended a party with his colleagues, drinking to the point of being tipsy, and then he had struggled to find his way back to his room. He lay on the soft, warm bed, ready to rest and continue enjoying his vacation the next day. But when he opened his eyes again…

A white membrane?

This was not how jokes were supposed to go!

As he grumbled, he reached out to tear open the white membrane.

The membrane felt soft, like gummy candy, and with a little effort, he tore a hole in it. The moment he did, salty seawater rushed in.

Lance: ???

What was this?

Holding his breath, Lance tore the hole wider and suddenly burst out through it.

Once he emerged from that membrane, he gasped, nearly becoming the first fish to drown in seawater—

Where were his legs?

He had turned into a mermaid?!

A mermaid that only existed in fairy tales?!

At first, Lance was in a panic, but the next moment, he was captivated by himself.

His legs had been replaced by a long fish tail, and his upper body was bare. From his waist up, the scales of the fish tail extended upwards, densely merging into his skin.

Lance’s short hair had transformed into long, silvery hair, flowing around him in the water, his nails had sharpened, and there were webbed fingers between them.

Thinking he was still dreaming, Lance groggily opened his mouth to call for help, but all that came out was a strange sound:

“yi——ya——”

In the next second, Lance’s eyes widened in terror as he instinctively touched his throat.

He finally understood that he wasn’t dreaming; he had truly turned into a mermaid.

And not just any mermaid, but one without the enchanting singing voice from the legends!

Lance was extremely anxious.

He flailed his fish tail a few times, but every muscle refused to listen to his brain, causing him to lose control of his direction. He ended up crashing into a nearby reef, making him want to cry.

But thinking about how mermaid tears were pearls, Lance was afraid of crying himself blind, so he forced the tears back.

Lance patiently waited for himself to sink down. Once he touched the reef, he grabbed onto it and turned his head, noticing a deflated white eggshell on top of the reef.

Though Lance was reluctant to admit it, that was indeed where he had been born.

After struggling a bit, Lance dragged his long fish tail over to the eggshell, then sat beside it, feeling dejected.

He had no idea what was going on and was even more confused about why he had come out of something resembling an eggshell.

The once soft eggshell had become hard after he emerged, and when he touched it, it shattered into powder, drifting away with the current.

Lance: “……”

Great, now there was no evidence left.

After that, Lance fell into a dilemma, sitting dumbly in place, staring at the endless ocean, listening to the whispers of various creatures in the sea, looking as dazed as a rock.

He was now puzzled about his identity.

If he was just born, then he should be a baby;

But if he was a baby, why did he come out in an adult form?

Where were his kin?

Even video games have guiding NPCs!

Time passed, and Lance finally moved reluctantly.

This time, it was because he was hungry.

Lance stayed in place for half a day, hoping to see if any other mermaids would show up.

But as it turned out, his expectations were in vain.

Lance sighed and had no choice but to go hunting for food…

Half an hour later, Lance lay on the sandy sea floor, wanting to cry but having no tears.

Why? Why couldn’t he even catch a single scallop?

Lance never imagined that, having been an athlete in the human world, he now couldn’t even catch a fish.

Clearly, he could see the fish hovering right in front of him, but as soon as he reached out, the fish would swiftly dart away, leaving him with nothing but water.

And when Lance shifted his focus to the scallops, he painfully discovered that scallops—

Could run too.

The scallops “gagged” as they spat out water, seemingly mocking him, circling around Lance before drifting away.

Lance: “……”

Lance sat on the sandy sea floor for a long time, rubbed his eyes, sniffled, and tried to find something else to eat.

His instincts warned him not to starve himself, or something terrifying would happen.

“ya——zi——”

Lance couldn’t help but let out a small cry. He sat up, hugging his fish tail in despair, wondering if he should just eat the seaweed nearby.

However, before Lance could try eating the seaweed, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him start to shake, a massive tremor resonating from below;

At the same time, all the fish became restless, darting out from their hiding spots, quickly zipping past Lance and fleeing into the distance.

Lance curiously flicked his fish tail, propping himself up to see what was happening, only to witness the ground nearby crack open, bubbling up with a series of bubbles.

An underwater volcano?

Lance stared intently at the bubbling spot, unable to help but frown.

In the next second, a gigantic tentacle burst forth from the ground, its black surface rough, and the numerous suckers made Lance dizzy.

Lance was momentarily stunned, still doubting whether this was just a hallucination from his hunger.

Once the massive tentacle emerged, it flailed around in the water, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Then, several smaller tentacles crawled out from the crevice, trembling on the ground as if searching for something.

Lance watched the tentacles crawl, until he saw one reach the spot where his eggshell had been.

The outcome was predictable; that tentacle did not touch the eggshell.

The atmosphere in the entire ocean suddenly became heavy, so oppressive that Lance couldn’t help but hold his breath.

He dared not move.

Strangely enough, not long after, the oppressive atmosphere dissipated, and the murderous intent of the tentacle was retracted.

Only then did Lance exhale a long breath, realizing he should escape.

But just as Lance prepared to flick his tail, he suddenly felt a force pulling at it.

Confused, Lance looked down and saw a small tentacle resting on his tail.

Lance blew a bubble, freezing in place, contemplating whether he should play dead.

However, before he could even move his fish tail, the massive tentacle came crashing down towards him with a thunderous force.

Lance felt a chill at his waist, and then everything spun around him.

In the midst of extreme fear, Lance embarrassingly fainted.

Before losing consciousness, he thought, that octopus was really huge.

……

When Lance woke up again, he found himself lying on a large reef, or more accurately, on a gigantic sea anemone atop the reef.

Thanks to the excellent vision of a mermaid in the water, Lance could see everything around him clearly, and his heart sank.

It was pitch black here; if nothing unexpected happened, he had sunk into the deep sea.

The soft, sea anemone-like creature beneath him was merely resembling an anemone, with soft tentacles that could comfortably accommodate him lying down, and the fine tentacles did not have any stingers.

More importantly, Lance discovered that he was surrounded by coral bones, a white, eerie circle of coral bones blocking his chance to swim away.

Was this… him being kept as a reserve food by that octopus?

——————

While Lance was questioning his life, a group of researchers was also in shock.

The laboratory where the researchers were located was tense, and the reason for their heightened alertness was the data displayed on the instruments in front of them, revealing a fact—

The Nat Trench had experienced an earthquake.