Chapter 22: Cruise Ship at Sea 21

Chapter 22

Today was the ninth day, and he was still alive. What’s more, that woman even found a large lizard to torment him!

A devil! She must be a devil!

He had been extraordinary all his life—top of his class in school, and as a young adult, already a senior executive at a major corporation.

He was a genius, envied by many.

His only regret was having such high standards that he never dated.

Even so, he had lived a life of great prestige.

Could he really die at the hands of a hideous, oversized lizard?

In his dazed despair, a figure descended from above.

It was her.

Zhao Jinchu appeared without him noticing. She struck the mermaid with a blade; the creature writhed in agony. Without a word, she prepared to flee.

Suddenly, her eyes caught something at the mermaid’s wound.

What was that? A gleaming silver object embedded in its flesh.

She raised an eyebrow.

The mermaid, furious, turned to chase Zhao Jinchu. Not daring to linger, Zhao Jinchu ran away at once.

---

A few minutes later.

Zhao Jinchu returned to the room. One hand was stained with blood, clutching a small silver mermaid mold.

System: [Mermaid Mold ×1]

She approached the bathroom, and as she neared Zeng Nian, he began shouting hysterically, “What do you want to do?! You devil! I will never give in! What have you done to him?!”

His words were jumbled. Zhao Jinchu glanced at him and unlocked his chains, saying, “You’re free now.”

Pausing, she added, “You should be able to hear the system’s voice. There are mermaids roaming outside. If you get caught again, you’ll die.”

Zeng Nian couldn’t believe she would let him go so easily.

Then, a sad expression crossed his face. “Is it that… he made you do this? Sacrificing himself to save me?”

Zhao Jinchu frowned.

What kind of twisted logic was that?

She fastened the thirty-carat Ocean Heart necklace around her wrist so that the pendant dangled just right, allowing her to grip it easily.

She walked over, bent down, and patted his cheek. “Hey, can you pull yourself together? How many times have you met him? Why are you so desperate to die?”

Zeng Nian remained lost in his emotions. “Yes, I need to stay strong. He sacrificed himself for me, and I—”

Zhao Jinchu couldn’t help herself and slapped him.

A minute later, Zeng Nian was thrown out of the room like a bag of trash.

---

An hour passed.

The other workers searched every room but couldn’t find the mermaid mold.

At that moment, all the speakers on the second floor crackled to life, and Zhao Jinchu’s voice came through: “The mermaid mold is inside the mermaid’s body, roughly below the right arm. One hour remaining. Hurry.”

Qin Chuan was with three high school students.

When he heard the announcement, Qin Chuan was stitching a wound on Li Xiaoming.

Li Xiaoming's mental state had dropped below 60; he was dazed and slow to react.

Qin Chuan’s stitching was poor—black thread zigzagged like a giant centipede—but after crying for a long time, Li Xiaoming finally realized, “Hmm? It doesn’t hurt?”

The wound on Li Xiaoming’s leg was deep, nearly piercing through. In such a short time, pus was already oozing out, and Li Xiaoming had feared amputation to save his life.

But Qin Chuan had washed the wound with something unknown, and the pain subsided.

As he sewed, Qin Chuan said, “This world isn’t like the normal one. Wounds inflicted by mermaids worsen rapidly. You’re lucky you met me.”