Quick Transmigration: The Mad Beauty Refuses to Be the Scapegoat!-Chapter 358 - 8: This Fishpond’s Cannon Fodder Is Contracted (Part 8)

Chapter 358: Chapter 8: This Fishpond’s Cannon Fodder Is Contracted (Part 8)

Jiang Lai pressed his lips together, glanced at the mermaid once before sending him back, and like the male protagonist, the Little Mermaid was also locked up alone. It was just next to Jiang Lai’s lounge, only separated by a glass wall, allowing the Little Mermaid to see Jiang Lai’s every move at any time.

"Do mermaids sleep with their eyes open?"

Little Buding had never seen such a magical creature before and was very curious.

Jiang Lai finished washing up, lay on the bed, put on his glasses, and turned on the computer, replying casually.

"Their way of sleeping is like ribbonfish. According to the clan, they dive into deep-sea territories, generally in groups of ten to fifteen, with two patrolling and guarding while the rest cluster together, form a circle, and sleep standing at the seabed with their eyes closed."

"Then doesn’t he need to sleep? I’ve seen his eyes always open."

"The lighting doesn’t meet the sleep standard."

"Tsk, such high standards, won’t sleep if not met?"

"Yeah, I’ve studied a mermaid before who didn’t sleep for over forty days."

Little Buding seemed to be listening to an animal world commentary and continued to ask.

"What happened after over forty days?"

"Went mad, hit the glass, died, and was dissected. It was the first mermaid I dissected."

"You’re really cruel, no wonder you suffer consequences."

Jiang Lai turned to look at the Little Mermaid beside him, his tone still calm.

"Do you feel sorry for laboratory mice, rabbits, dogs used for experiments?"

"Yes, I do."

"Then do you think if I treat them this way, I would face consequences?"

Little Buding fell silent, suddenly feeling something was off, unable to discern whether it was him or Jiang Lai who was wrong. Logically, mermaids are similar to those lab mice, but why does treating mermaids this way seem...too cruel?

Jiang Lai continued speaking.

"Put away your useless sympathy. Studying mermaids is something others would do if I don’t. What I can do now is to try to reduce the number needed for research, minimize their torment, and strive to use only the few in front of me to advance human development. While others may see this as selfish and pompous, the fact is human life is above all. Under the premise of promoting human advancement, a mermaid’s greatest value is to be studied by me."

"Jiang Lai, you’re starting to seem a bit unfamiliar to me now."

Little Buding felt strangely uneasy, sensing something seemed to have gone wrong somewhere.

"Rest assured, we are in a symbiotic relationship now. Whatever benefits me also benefits you. And your task for me is to find the mermaid’s secret. Don’t waste sympathy on the mermaid, viewing me as an imaginary enemy. Just dealing with Ren Yan is enough."

Jiang Lai felt no guilt, after all, these mermaids also had ambitions. Faced with broader prospects, they too were unwilling to limit themselves to the sea, otherwise, they wouldn’t frequently attack human ships, dragging them into the ocean for their own studies.

This is essentially a game between humans and mermaids; either finding a balance or erupting into conflict. Jiang Lai’s task is to ensure humans don’t lose in this game.

Over the next few days, Jiang Lai spent a lot of time training the Little Mermaid’s listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Reading is the hardest part, as the mermaids’ phonetic system differs from humans. Jiang Lai does not force it, as this skill can be developed gradually, using gestures in the meantime.

After each day’s training, if the Little Mermaid performs poorly, Jiang Lai would have him dragged back into confinement. But if he performs well and cooperates, she would walk over at the end and gently stroke his tail while praising him.

"Well done. You’re really smart, and I believe you can do even better."

After a week, the Little Mermaid barely exhibited any frantic rampages during the training process, and his learning speed accelerated. By the seventh day, he could write Jiang Lai’s name fluently.

He pointed at the name, then pointed at Jiang Lai.

Now he knew, this woman in front of him was named Jiang Lai, and she was the person with the greatest authority here. She was stern and powerful, currently, someone he couldn’t oppose.

Mermaids are intelligent, and there are social stratifications within their clans, resembling wolf packs more than anything, with a reverence for physical strength.

Moreover, the later storyline introduces that this Little Mermaid is exceptionally intelligent and holds a very high status within the Mermaid Clan. Although the plot doesn’t specify, it becomes apparent from later developments that Ren Yan was accepted by the clan because she had previously aided the Little Mermaid.

Though Ren Yan’s greatest love remains the male lead, once she noticed how the other mermaids were more respectful towards the Little Mermaid than the male protagonist, she realized this Little Mermaid wasn’t ordinary.

Hence, Jiang Lai decided to target him, not only because he was the youngest but because in every aspect, he was ideal for social training.

In the past few days, Jiang Lai focused almost entirely on studying the Little Mermaid, hardly managing the outside matters, until Little Buding couldn’t help but remind her.

"If you don’t manage the lab, the people there will soon be swayed by Ren Yan."

The novel’s female lead has a special charisma. Although her appearance is plain and common, her understated and silent personality, along with the melancholy and mystery she exudes, has an inexplicable allure to men.

Little Buding calls it, the heroine’s aura.

"In this novel, Ren Yan doesn’t have only one or two backups. Not to mention Gao Qingjue and Zhou Liang, even your lab’s investor was captivated by her courage and charm. If you continue to ignore her, the barrel might be pointing at your head tomorrow morning."

Jiang Lai nodded, her expression hard to describe as very concerned.

"Didn’t you say I have one more skill to draw? Come on, show me your abilities."

Hearing this, Little Buding inexplicably felt a sense of nervousness, fearing that the drawn skill would not be what Jiang Lai wanted, making him lose face.

After all, Jiang Lai is already fairly arrogant now, and if he proves to be of little use, Little Buding believed that Jiang Lai wouldn’t hesitate to unleash her sharp and ruthless tongue.

Fortunately, the drawn skill was exactly what Jiang Lai could use.

"Congratulations, you’ve acquired the Sea Speaker skill! With this skill, you can freely communicate with sea creatures, including mermaids. The skill has been issued."

Little Buding straightened up.

"How about it? This skill is pretty good, isn’t it?"

"Yes, very good. I’ll strive to discover the mermaid’s secret by tomorrow."

If the encrypted communication of the mermaids can be deciphered, finding the seabed resources should be all too easy, right?

Little Buding thought it made sense, but still felt something was off.

"The task shouldn’t be this simple, because the difficulty of tasks in this world is quite high."