Chapter 6 — Mermaid Rising Waves

He coughed twice, spit out a mouthful of salty seawater, "It's just that his tail can't move for a while. He'll probably be bedridden for a few days."

“A few days?!”

“Maybe a few weeks.”

“Lam Triet!!!”

“Stop shouting…”

He weakly closed his eyes, "I'm so tired... let me sleep for a while..." Before he could finish his sentence, he fainted. When I carried him home, I saw how light he was. When purebred mermaids come ashore, due to the loss of water's propulsion, their weight will be much heavier than in the sea, but Lam Triet is as light as a piece of dried seaweed. He certainly hadn't eaten or drank anything in the past two days, putting all his energy into running away. My mother helped me lay him down on the living room sofa. My grandmother pulled out a large bag of seaweed mud from the refrigerator and applied it to the wound on his tail. While applying it, she cursed: "You bastards, dare to touch me, I will show them what a mermaid's wrath is." My mother was next to me, calling on the phone, her voice was very low. I sat on the edge of the sofa, holding Lam Triet's hand. His hands were cold, his fingertips twitched slightly, which was the aftereffects of electric shock. In a trance, he unconsciously squeezed my hand, his lips moving as if he were saying something. I leaned closer to my ear.

“Tieu Ngu, don't cry...

Your tears... won't get you any money..." I almost laughed out of anger. Even at this point, you still have the mind to tease me.

“Shut up, go to sleep.”

I whispered into his ear. The corners of his lips curled slightly, then he fell into a deep sleep. Lam Triet was in a coma for two days. During those two days, the mermaid tribe was like a bee in a hive. News of Cau Gai's arrest spread throughout the sea, and panic spread like a plague. The Council of Elders of the mermaid tribe immediately convened an emergency meeting, this time the grandmother personally appeared, skipping all the cumbersome procedures and getting straight to the point.

“I don't care if you have to recite poetry or sing epic songs,” the grandmother stood in the middle of the circular hall of the Council of Elders, swinging her tail and thumping on the floor, “now speak human language for me.”

The elders looked at each other, and finally the Great Elder had to speak first.

“The deep sea tribe has suffered an attack from human civilization, this cannot be tolerated.

We must take measures to retaliate——” “Retaliation?” Grandma sneered, "What kind of retaliation? Send a hundred mermaids out to ram their boat? Or use pearls to break their skulls?"

“We could cause a tsunami——” “And then drown millions of innocent people on land?

Have you lived so long that your brain is hydrocephalus? The great elder was speechless. The second elder raised his hand and said: "I agree with the Emperor's opinion. Retaliation by force is not feasible, it will trigger a large-scale conflict between mermaids and humans. But we cannot sit and wait for death. My proposal is: Take action from the human world."

“How to act?”

Grandma asked.

“Our mermaid tribe also has assets in the human world, representatives, and long-term cooperation partners.

We can use legal measures, economic sanctions, public pressure... to strike back at the Deep Lam Group." Grandma nodded: "It still sounds a bit like a human voice."

“But there's a problem.”

Tam The elder then opened his mouth, his voice thoughtful, "Our representatives are mostly pure-blooded humans. They don't understand the ocean very well, so it's difficult to sympathize with the crisis we're facing. We need a bridge." Everyone's eyes, including my grandmother, were on me. I stood in the corner of the main hall, wearing a face mask, a waterproof jacket, and Crocs sandals with holes in them, standing in the middle of a crowd of sparkling mermaids, looking extremely out of place.

“……

What are you doing looking at me? Grandma spoke up: "Tieu Ngu, you are a mermaid."

“Can you stop using the word 'hybrid'? It sounds like Mr. Vien Long Binh's hybrid rice."

“I'm a mermaid.”

Grandma corrected her, "You have both a human body and a mermaid's body. You can freely go back and forth between the two worlds. You are the most suitable bridge." I was stunned: "Wait, everyone is going to tell me to leave..."

“To the human business world to cause chaos.”

Grandma said calmly as if nothing, "Your mother is very experienced in this field, you should follow and learn from her."

“Nephew?

An eighteen year old high school student? Going head to head with a company with a capitalization value of tens of billions of yuan?”

“That's right.”

“Based on what?”

“Based on the fact that you are my niece.”

This reason... okay, there's really no way to argue. When Lam Triet woke up, I was sitting on the edge of the sofa looking at a document my mother compiled for me. Title: "Analysis of affiliated businesses and chain of benefits of Tham Lam Group", more than two hundred pages thick, full of intricate shareholding structure matrix, list of subsidiaries and cooperation projects with local authorities.

“What are you watching?”

His voice was hoarse, but much stronger than a few days ago.

“My new curriculum.”

I waved the stack of documents, "My mother forced me to memorize all of this within two weeks."

“Is your mother serious?”

“My mother is always serious.”

Lam Triet was silent for a moment, then slowly sat up. The wound on his tail has begun to close. The mermaid's regenerative ability is very strong, but the damage caused by electric shock is much more severe than normal external injuries, requiring at least another week to fully recover.

“Cau Gai…”

He whispered.

“There is still no news.”

I put down the file, "My mother is thinking of a way. She said that if the Tham Lam Group catches rare marine creatures, they will usually sell them to private aquariums abroad or biological laboratories. Cau Gai is still alive, we just don't know where they are being held." Lam Triet clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white.

“I will save him.”

He said, his voice was very quiet but firm.

“No.”

I said, “It's us.” He looked up at me.

“Don't leave me out anymore.”