Chapter 6: Observation

Chapter 6: Observation

Inside the conference room.

"My apologies for pulling everyone out of bed at 1 AM, but an unexpected situation just arose," Jiang Xun announced from the center of the room. "Just now, Liu Hai—oh, that’s the name he just told me—"

"It seems things are progressing smoothly; we’ve successfully exchanged names with our deep-sea visitor from another world."

"Anyway, he escaped, and our alarms were completely unresponsive. I only manually triggered the alarm after hearing a heavy thud. By then, he was already suffering from air discomfort and nearly fell off the deck. Does anyone have anything to say about this?"

He flipped through the report in his hands. "Additionally, for Vivian Jin and An Feiyu, who were the first on the scene, I’ll be requesting new bonus commendations for you. You can look forward to this month’s paycheck."

"Woohoo!" Xiao Jin clapped, her eyes gleaming. "Thanks, Boss!"

A Yu echoed, "Yay."

"Uh," a researcher began hesitantly, "I’d like to explain—our security system has been active the entire time. In principle, the first door prevents external intrusion, while the ecological tank’s door prevents creatures from escaping."

"But… there might be a slight oversight in the design."

"This vessel, the Siren, is Siren Biotech Company’s oldest and first giant research ship. While its internal facilities are state-of-the-art, some things on board are a bit outdated."

A Yu nodded in agreement. "Sometimes you have to kick the shower to get hot water."

Xiao Jin’s eyes widened in shock. "Wait, what?"

Encouraged by the agreement, the researcher continued, "The ecological tank’s door requires a fingerprint to unlock. Since most small animals in the ecological tank can’t communicate and retain their natural instinct to escape, our alarm system is designed to prevent false triggers. A mere touch won’t set it off. Otherwise, if it rang every time a small animal brushed against it, the false alarm rate would be too high."

"And, upon my recent inspection, I discovered…"

His voice trailed off. "His initial touches indeed didn’t trigger the alarm, and as for the final one, uh, the security device was directly destroyed, so it couldn’t send out the last alarm either."

Jiang Xun: "..."

The researcher immediately stood up. "I-I will improve it! We will update the alarm settings for disconnection! I am terribly sorry; because he didn't appear to be a highly aggressive type, we didn't think to use such a design!"

Jiang Xun rubbed his temples. "What about that main door? Although the large door outside the ecological tank is meant to prevent unauthorized entry, its alarm didn't trigger either. Why is that?"

The researcher wiped sweat from his forehead. "Well… the door itself is quite heavy. Logically, it’s almost impossible to open without a key. And as a precaution, once the door is opened, a scan for unfamiliar personnel approaching would trigger an alarm, but…"

"But the scanning laser is emitted horizontally! Anyone over 50 centimeters tall couldn't possibly escape detection! If he had walked out normally, he would definitely have been scanned. But… he… he rolled out."

Jiang Xun: "..."

"This—this is incredible! He didn't investigate our security flaws, yet he precisely found every possible way to escape without triggering an alarm!" The researcher grew agitated. "Considering his miraculous survival from poachers… I still find it quite unbelievable!"

"A miracle, huh?" Jiang Xun murmured, then shook his head resignedly. "While I don't believe in such things, the company will certainly like that narrative."

"You can include that insight in your report."

The researcher nodded excitedly. "Yes, Doctor!"

"But before that," Jiang Xun sighed, "let’s fix the security system."

"He promised not to escape again, so we should still focus on guarding against outsiders, as these ancient waters aren't exactly safe."

"Draft a solution and apply for a budget…" He paused, looking at A Yu. "Including the shower hot water you mentioned."

A Yu nodded. "Understood."

Jiang Xun leaned back in his chair. "Anything else to add?"

"Yes!" Xiao Jin raised her hand. "Just before the meeting, Liu Hai pressed the button inside the ecological tank."

"I asked him what he needed, and he asked if he could have more food, saying that the whole ordeal was quite thrilling and required some brainpower, so he was hungry again."

"He confirmed with us whether food supply could be guaranteed if he stayed here. After I gave him an affirmative answer…"

Xiao Jin took a deep breath and gestured a large circle with her hands. "He asked for *thiiiiis* much fish as a midnight snack."

She clasped her hands dreamily. "Oh, putting on such a grand display, but all he wanted was food. He’s truly adorable."

Jiang Xun smiled helplessly. "It seems he wasn't fully fed earlier. We can prepare more food for him tomorrow."

"Yes, and also…" Xiao Jin giggled. "Since you told us to treat him like a human, I tried to negotiate with him."

"I told him we had a meeting soon and I might be tied up, so could the crew members who carried him earlier deliver the fish instead?"

Jiang Xun nodded slightly. "Letting him interact with others is a form of desensitization training. However, based on his previous behavior, I don't think he's particularly afraid of people."

"Exactly, exactly! He agreed right away." Xiao Jin looked envious. "I monitored his reactions the entire time."

"He even greeted the crew member and played with him for a while—honestly, I think it was more like he was playing with the crew member, rather than the other way around."

"He’s probably the most people-loving little darling I’ve ever seen in all these years."

"Mmm, mmm," A Yu agreed, nodding. "He probably hasn't encountered many bad people before."

Jiang Xun: "Perhaps. Tomorrow, you two…"

"So!" Xiao Jin clenched her fists. "We must protect him well! No bad people allowed near him!"

Jiang Xun: "..."

Xiao Jin realized. "Oh, Boss, were you about to say something?"

Jiang Xun chuckled softly. "Nothing. Since you like him so much, you'll be on food duty tomorrow. Also, suggest to him that we'd like researchers to observe his daily activities."

"Oh…" Xiao Jin agreed. "But haven't we always been able to observe remotely? Do we need to bring them inside?"

"Yes," Jiang Xun nodded. "I want to see if he can get used to having people around."

"And what the researchers who go in need to do…"

He pulled out a sheet of paper. "Is to fill out this basic information form."

"We only know his name. We know nothing else about him. Good luck, everyone."

***

The next day, inside the ecological tank.

Liu Hai looked at the flower wreath Xiao Jin handed him, then obediently lowered his head, allowing her to place it on his head.

"So cute—" Xiao Jin gushed, admiring her handiwork, and nudged A Yu. "See? I told you it would suit him!"

A Yu held up a mirror for Liu Hai to look into. "Yep, adorable."

"Hm?" Liu Hai tilted his head, admiring the wreath from different angles in the mirror.

"Since we hypothesize you're a mammal living in cold waters, you probably haven't seen many flowers before," Xiao Jin said, cupping her face. "Hehe, do you like it? Oh, and just to be safe, even though I picked non-toxic flowers, you still can't eat them, okay?"

"Okay," Liu Hai nodded in agreement. He suddenly dove underwater and, a moment later, surfaced with two seashells, pushing them towards them. "These, for you."

"Wow—" Xiao Jin exclaimed enthusiastically. "Thank you!"

A Yu: "Those were actually the ones we put in for decoration… Mmph!"

Xiao Jin playfully covered his mouth, smiling.

A Yu pointed at the water's surface, signaling Liu Hai to look back. "The flower wreath fell off."

When he had dived underwater, the flower wreath had remained floating on the surface.

"Ah!" Liu Hai touched his head, then quickly submerged again. He resurfaced, carefully balancing the flower wreath back on his head.

He cautiously protected the wreath on his head as he returned to the shore.

Xiao Jin squeezed A Yu's arm, sighing. "Damn it, how can he be so cute!"

"It seems you really like this—our Liu Hai is such a little beauty!"

A Yu tried to pull his arm back, urging her to regain her composure. "Focus, focus."

"Oh, right." Xiao Jin cleared her throat and pointed towards the door. "Actually, there's one more thing we need to ask you today. I’d like to introduce you to some new friends."

"These are our colleagues, a few researchers. They’d like to observe your daily activities from outside the tank today. Is that okay?"

A Yu added, "You don’t have to pay attention to them—just pretend they don’t exist. They’ll try to keep quiet too."

Liu Hai asked curiously, "I don’t need to take care of them?"

"Oh—you’d actually consider taking care of them?" Xiao Jin took a deep, moved breath. "No, no need to worry about them. See the papers in their hands? That’s their project from the director. If you’re too accommodating, that’d be cheating."

She lowered her voice. "Don’t be too easy on them—you can use this chance to ask the boss for more goodies. He’s strict, but he’s also generous."

Liu Hai looked thoughtful, then nodded in agreement.

He watched as Xiao Jin and A Yu reluctantly left. The two researchers who had just entered set up a tent that blended almost seamlessly into the wall, peering out from its window with their eyes fixed on him.

Liu Hai: "..."

Ignore them. He already agreed to let them observe.

Liu Hai flipped over, floating on the surface with his eyes squinted.

They said they wanted to observe his daily life, but here, he didn’t need to hunt, had no other seals to play with, and aside from sleeping and swimming, there wasn’t much else to do.

Oh, right—A Yu had given him a ball to play with.

Just as Liu Hai was about to swim to the shore to retrieve the ball A Yu had given him, he suddenly heard the duo in the tent whispering.

"He’s definitely a mammal, right? But is he male or female? I don’t see any obvious reproductive organs."

Liu Hai went rigid and sunk slightly lower into the water.

"Speaking of which, we used to hypothesize that mermaids’ reproductive organs are usually hidden under their scales and only appear during their heat cycle."

"So, does he have a heat cycle?"

Liu Hai: "..."

He froze for a moment, then lashed his tail and leaped onto the shore, smacking the call button with his flipper.

Xiao Jin: "Hey—what’s up, Liu Hai? Did you miss me?"

Liu Hai said with a grave tone, "...Just get them out of here."

Author's Note:

Liu Hai: There are perverts here! No harassing the seal!