Soon, it was the second day, the Mermaid Festival.

The Mermaid Festival was an open-air festival. The sky was overcast. Although it was daytime, it felt like dusk after the sun had set, with an oppressive, deathly stillness.

Everywhere were mermaids on display. The mermaids were very beautiful, and their fishtails were all complete.

Except for the missing Double-Cap Big Shot, the other players had all turned into mermaids, and their fishtails had already merged into one.

The six players were placed together, on a circular platform, and in the center of the circular platform was a small circular platform.

The players were arranged like a dish. The other players were arranged in a circle, and Gu Lin, the only little mermaid cub, was on the small circular platform in the center.

The platform he was lying on was shaped like a lotus flower, protruding high, very conspicuous, absolutely the center position.

Gu Lin’s fishtail was green, and his upper body was wearing a pink lotus-leaf baby doll top, his lotus-root-like arms white and tender, soft and fleshy. He was also lying on fresh lotus leaves that had been picked from who-knows-where, and he was the little flower bud.

Unlike the other mermaids, whose hair had strangely grown longer after being soaked in the blue solution at the mermaid base, Gu Lin’s hair was still short and smooth.

Perhaps because his hair was short, a crocheted, hollowed-out triangular scarf hat was tied on his head, with a pattern of small strawberries on it.

Now, this little flower bud was lying in a ball, sleeping soundly as if no one else was around.

The other players were lying weakly, unable to speak. It was unknown if it was because they had been soaked in the blue solution. When they opened their mouths, they could only make “yiyi” and “aah” sounds.

They were first startled, but then they thought that those split-leg mermaids could all talk, so they felt slightly relieved. Not being able to speak should only be temporary.

Just as they felt relieved, they felt a sudden chill. Damn, were they now consciously comparing themselves to split-leg mermaids?!

The players: “…”

If they couldn’t clear the instance, they would be trapped in the instance forever, reduced to NPCs, waiting for their fishtails to slowly split, turning into split-leg mermaids.

The players tried to communicate with their eyes, but they had no tacit understanding with each other. Communication was difficult, so they gave up and silently shifted their gazes to Gu Lin on the small circular platform in the center.

The Double-Cap Big Shot was missing, and the other players had all been wiped out. Now there was no hope of clearing the instance.

At this time, the VIPs had not yet entered. The mermaid town mayor looked at Gu Lin, who was placed in the center of the circular platform, raised his eyebrows, and looked at Yu Youqing standing beside him, the meaning on his face obvious—won’t you explain?

He didn’t know that Yu Youmian had already become Yu Youqing.

And what he had discussed with Yu Youmian before was to use the last tube of real mermaid serum to transform Gu Lin into a little mermaid, and after the Mermaid Festival, send him home.

There was no auction segment.

But this morning, as soon as he entered the venue, he saw the little doll already arranged.

Yu Youqing didn’t wear gold-rimmed glasses, nor did he wear white gloves, and his expression was not as cold as Yu Youmian’s. A faint smile played on his lips.

He didn’t get the deeper meaning in the mermaid town mayor’s eyes. In his impression, this town mayor was a bandit leader.

This little mermaid was worth more than all the other mermaids combined. He wouldn’t have thought that the mermaid town mayor would let such a great money-making opportunity slip by.

Receiving the mermaid town mayor’s gaze, Yu Youqing thought he was dissatisfied with Gu Lin’s posture, so he smiled and explained: “This little mermaid has been sleeping since yesterday. I don’t know why he can sleep so much. Lying prone is more aesthetically pleasing than lying down.”

The mermaid town mayor: “…”

Yu Youqing saw that the mermaid town mayor’s brows furrowed even deeper, and he was also stunned for a moment, not knowing what he was trying to express.

Yesterday, he had carried Gu Lin all the way back to the fifth floor and placed him on the sofa.

His clothes had been torn and tattered when he was thrown by the “mermaid tail slap”. He went to change clothes, and when he came out, Gu Lin was already lying on the sofa, sleeping soundly and without any guard.

It was now eight o’clock in the morning, and the event was about to start, but this little cub had been sleeping soundly until now, showing no signs of waking up.

Gu Lin was small and had taken a large dose of sleeping pills. It would take a while for the efficacy to be gone, which was why he kept sleeping.

The mermaid town mayor beckoned to a dark-skinned man beside him and said, “Take this little mermaid away.”

Yu Youqing: “?”

That man was one of the four NPCs who had gone to greet the guests earlier. Hearing the mayor’s order, he didn’t ask any questions and went to take Gu Lin away.

The players had been half-lying down. As exhibits, they couldn’t even speak, and they felt like their hearts were dead.

Now, seeing that the mermaid town mayor was clearly protecting Gu Lin, they felt slightly invigorated. Perhaps they still had a glimmer of hope?

And then Yu Youqing spoke: “Wait!”

The man’s movements paused, and he silently retreated to the side.

Yu Youqing saw the mermaid town mayor’s attitude, and remembered that last night Yu Youmian had taken this little cub to the secret room to find him for pearls. He was afraid this little cub was not simple.

The resentment in Mermaid Town was overwhelming, and the resentment condensed into fog. Those who weren’t residents of the town would either become their kind or die.

They had turned him into a little mermaid not to be auctioned, but probably to protect him.

Yu Youqing smiled: “The event is about to start, and the VIPs are eager to see the little mermaid. We can use this little mermaid as a gimmick, for exhibition only, not for auction.”

“With the first little mermaid, there will be a second and a third. Future Mermaid Festivals will also attract more and more guests and VIPs.”

The mermaid town mayor thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Anyway, with him here, he wouldn’t really sell this little doll.

However, in a place where Yu Youqing couldn’t see, he silently waved to Yu Li, who was holding the leash of the pit bull, and whispered, “Go find Zhuang Mu.”

Yu Li, holding the Doberman, accepted the order and left.

–

Soon, the Mermaid Festival officially began.

This was a specially developed area of Mermaid Town, larger than a football field, with grass on the ground.

The venue was filled with flowers and champagne, very grand, and various kinds of mermaids were placed in every corner of the venue.

The beautiful ones were placed in prominent positions, and the less attractive ones were placed in inconspicuous corners.

Except for Gu Lin, who was focused on sleeping, the other mermaids had all been soaked in the blue solution in the mermaid base.

At this time, they were all weak and powerless, unable to even move their fingers, nor could they speak. They could only lie on their respective display platforms like fish on a chopping board.

The VIPs entered one after another.

The rich and powerful VIPs entered the venue one after another and went straight for the little mermaid in the center of the venue.

Undoubtedly, this little mermaid was the best in the whole place, and all the VIPs were attracted to this little mermaid.

The five players placed around Gu Lin were all in despair, forced to act as background.

That blind, wheelchair-bound weirdo was also there. He was obviously of high status, surrounded by the VIPs.

The VIPs were all discussing, looking at this unique little mermaid from all angles.

As they looked, they all had the same question.

This little mermaid was chubby and cute, very delightful, but it was too lazy, why was it always sleeping?

The scene was noisy, logically speaking, no matter how deeply asleep, shouldn’t he be woken up by the noise?

A VIP questioned: “Could this little mermaid be fake? Why are his eyes always closed?”

The mermaid town mayor glanced at Gu Lin, smiling: “Our little mermaid is sleeping.”

Another VIP said: “Maybe it’s dead? It’s not moving at all. Find someone to poke it, see if it moves.”

Mermaid Town Mayor: “…”

Players: “…”

To prove that this little mermaid was indeed simply sleeping, the mermaid town mayor had to signal to a man next to him to gently poke the sleeping Gu Lin.

Gu Lin didn’t move, continuing to sleep soundly.

The man put his finger under Gu Lin’s nose to check, and said, “His breathing is normal. He is indeed sleeping.”

The VIP who spoke first said again: “Let this little mermaid get up and give us a performance, see if the tail can move normally.”

The other VIPs agreed: “Yes, after all, it’s the first little mermaid. What if the tail looks normal, but can’t move?”

“…” The mermaid town mayor confronted these VIPs for half a second, and then signaled to the man from before.

The man stepped forward, not daring to use force, gently shaking Gu Lin’s little body. He shook him for five minutes before finally waking the little cub up.

As soon as Gu Lin woke up, his chubby little hands rubbed his eyes. Before he even opened his eyes, his livestream bullet comments started to become active.

[Cub, wake up quickly, if you don’t wake up, you’ll be sold!]

[Don’t be afraid, with Mayor-yeye here, I believe Mayor-yeye won’t stand by and watch the cub get sold QAQ]

[But, the cub’s mermaid suit is really cute, and the triangular scarf hat on his head, it’s just too cute]

After Gu Lin woke up, he blinked his big eyes, looking at the VIPs staring at him under the stage. From the aunties, he learned of his current situation.

The players, seeing that Gu Lin had woken up, couldn’t speak, so they could only widen their eyes to give him hints.

Gu Lin turned his little head, looked around at the players, and then stretched out a little lanyao^[1]T/N: Lanyao (懒腰) means “lazy stretch,” often done upon waking up., and yawned.

After this set of actions, the VIPs, after a moment of silence, became lively.

“This little fatty fish is really cute. I’ll offer ten million!”

“Ten million and you want to buy this little mermaid baby? Wishful thinking! I’ll offer twenty million!”

“It’s not even the auction stage yet, but in my opinion, even one hundred million might not be enough to get this little mermaid.”

The VIPs were enthusiastically discussing the little mermaid. Just then, the VIP from before questioned again: “Why isn’t this little fatty fish’s tail moving?”

“…” At these words, all the VIPs looked at Gu Lin’s chubby fishtail.

Indeed, Gu Lin was only moving his upper body, his fishtail not moving at all, looking like a fake.

The mermaid town mayor smiled faintly and said, “This little mermaid, even in the human world, is a little baby. Little babies are all lazy and don’t like to move, aren’t they?”

“That seems to be the case.”

The VIP seemed to be persuaded by the mermaid town mayor, but he still had doubts: “But there are also those who like to move.”

The mermaid town mayor: “This little mermaid just doesn’t like to move.”

The one-eyed weirdo sitting in the wheelchair, hehe sneered: “Even if he doesn’t like to move, he has to be able to move.”

The other VIPs, hearing this, all nodded.

Not liking to move and not being able to move were different. They couldn’t spend money to buy a little mermaid whose tail was just for show.

The VIP who had questioned first spoke again: “Why don’t we let this little mermaid perform.”

The VIPs, hearing this, all agreed.

The players had heard this voice leading the rhythm several times. The voice was also faintly familiar. They looked at that VIP and saw a fair-haired handsome man, very tall, looking young, like a high school student.

Mm-hmm, don’t know him.

The players all looked away again.

The mermaid town mayor had the intention of delaying, hearing this, he also complied with the VIPs’ opinions, letting Gu Lin crawl for a bit to see.

Gu Lin had practiced crawling before. Hearing Mayor-yeye tell him to crawl for a bit, he heixiu heixiu, tried hard to guyong guyong, flapping his fishtail.

But it still looked very stiff, looking clumsy.

The mermaid town mayor said, “See, our little mermaid’s tail can move.”

VIPs: “…………”

The scene was silent for several seconds, then all the VIPs gasped.

“You’re not treating us as blind, you’re treating us as fools!”

“I knew it, little mermaids aren’t so easy to cultivate. It looks cute, but the tail looks like a prop.”

“You call that moving?!”

“…” At this time, that fair-haired VIP spoke up again, leading the rhythm: “But a prop is also cute.”

Other VIPs: “…”

Hearing this sentence, the other VIPs carefully looked at Gu Lin’s fishtail again, then silently agreed in their hearts. Suddenly, the direction of the wind changed again.

“It’s a little stiff, but fortunately, it can move.”

“Although the tail can’t crawl, it can guyong.”

“And he’s still a little mermaid, maybe it’s because he’s too young, so he’s not flexible.”

Players: “…”

Livestream: “…”

Good guy, are these fools?!