“It’s clean, but too small. It’s no fun to swim in, like being in a fish tank. I used to swim 100 meters without taking a breath, and I could free dive down 20 meters without any equipment, and these are all natural talents. Don’t you find that strange?” She looked at me expectantly after finishing.
“Impossible. You must have trained to reach this level. You’re not some native from Hawaii.”
“Those people? They are just trained for survival, but I feel like I have this instinct.” Su Ying said somewhat unhappily. I really didn’t want her to steer the conversation back to mermaids, so I laughed, “By the way, you mentioned a fish tank? Speaking of which, your aquarium at home is beautiful. You must have put a lot of effort into it, the fish inside are…”
I stopped mid-sentence. The huge aquarium was empty, not a single fish in sight, only a lone clump of aquatic plants swaying. I remembered that the last time I saw it, there were fewer fish, so I asked, “Haven’t you been taking good care of the fish these past few days? It’s a pity, how come they’re all gone?”
Su Ying glanced at the aquarium and shrugged, “Not really.” She then walked over, shook it vigorously, and tapped the bottom side a few times. Immediately, numerous fish emerged from the thick layer of sand at the bottom, swimming around in a panic. I was puzzled; I had never heard of these marine fish behaving this way. These were clearly ornamental fish, with bright colors, not the type to burrow into coral or under sand for food. After the water calmed down, the fish, wagging their tails, burrowed back into the sand. I leaned in closer to observe, noticing several spots on the sand surface where movements seemed to indicate fish swimming beneath. From a distance, it looked empty.
Mutation
I asked Su Ying, “When did these fish start changing?”
“Just these past few days,” Su Ying replied with an indifferent look. She showed little interest in anything other than mermaids and swimming. I was used to it by now. Having kept fish myself, I knew a bit about their behavior. After some thought, I concluded that these fish might have undergone some sort of mutation. My mind flashed back to the cat and the cockroach; these fish would be the third species to mutate. Combining my experience from watching Hollywood movies, it was likely that something like a radiation source existed in the Zhidan Garden community. This thought gave me the chills; if humans were next… the consequences would be unthinkable.
