Mermaid Throne

"Can I go?" Tao Yiran reminded the man.

"...Okay, okay." At first, he had some doubts about whether he had enough money, but now there is no need to say these words.

So after the crowd dispersed, the man took Tao Yiran and the two out of the black market through the side door, along a narrow and dark alley, turning around to a civilian area with surprisingly dense buildings.

Ji Yunzhi was stunned. Their information contained no information on this civilian area at all. This small civilian area looked like a huge and complicated building from a distance, but when he got closer, he realized that it was just a building. Countless houses of different heights are clustered together, and the width between buildings is only one meter. Some buildings even have a corridor in the air.

It's almost like a huge and complex castle.

The man turned his head from time to time to remind Tao Yiran to keep up with him, but several times Tao Yiran almost lost his way in this complex building.

When he came to a spacious underground space, Tao Yiran's tense face finally loosened slightly.

This is a space comparable to an underground city. It may have been an air-raid shelter built in the glory days of mankind, but it has been transformed into a complete underground city by various semi-suspended wooden houses or simple buildings built against the cave walls.

The man was obviously a resident here, and he skillfully found the kerosene lamp hanging on the entrance wall, and guided them to his home: "The environment here is not good, please forgive me. My family and neighbors still have some good ones. s material……"

"Materials?" Tao Yiran raised his eyebrows, and questioned in a calm voice with a half-smile, "What I see is not materials."

The man was very nervous: "That's..."

"That's a gun. It's still a pistol." Tao Yiran put his hands in his pockets and looked around, but he didn't look at the man who was so nervous that his forehead was sweating.

"...We only have a little bit of this thing..."

"Forget it, there's nothing to trade." Tao Yiran turned around and wanted to terminate the transaction without any hesitation.

The man who didn't expect him to be so direct panicked.They need money, especially in times of tension.Prices are soaring, living space is under control, and most importantly... his child has just been born.

"How much do you need?" The man finally asked with difficulty.

"50, what can you exchange with me?" Tao Yiran saw his entanglement, and immediately changed the transaction method.

"50?" The man was obviously excited.

"Isn't that enough?" Tao Yiran's lips twitched slightly, with the attitude of a local tyrant.

"Yes, do you have supplies?" The man was so excited that he even made higher demands, "Such as food, milk powder..."

How poor are the people who live here?Ji Yunzhi watched in surprise as the man completely let go of his wary and excited expression, and once again admired Tao Yiran's ability to deal with others.

"Then what can you give me? I'm not interested in the materials at all." Tao Yiran interrupted him coldly, "Show sincerity. Since I came here, I can't report you for hiding weapons."

"Guns, and scrap metal from before the war." The man finally confessed.

Tao Yiran and Ji Yunzhi looked at each other.

These are all tempting things for human beings, but they are not materials that can be sold on the table. How do these people at the bottom get them?

The more Ji Yunzhi listened, the more suspicious he became. If it wasn't for the fact that the man hadn't brought them to their destination, he would have left this long-winded guy and went to check around.

Just as the man led them to move on, Tao Yiran suddenly heard a faint cry of a baby in the dark alley.

After being transformed, Tao Yiran's five senses are different from ordinary people. The two ordinary humans in front of him didn't react much, and he was still sure that he heard the cry.

It is not surprising that there will be children here, but the crying voice of the children is not the same as that of ordinary children.

"How do you feel?" Tao Yiran asked Ji Yunzhi in a low voice, following far behind the man.

"It's like another city in the fourth city-state," Ji Yunzhi concluded. "Cables, ventilation, water supply and drainage are all another path, and they are not merged with the buildings on the ground. If even the supplies are different If they don’t come out, no one will know that there will be such a settlement here.”

"Yes, but have you thought about it? If life here is so difficult, why do you choose to stay here and accept the bullying of mermaids and humans at the same time? They can leave before the war."

"...Maybe there's something here that's why they had to stay."

"for example?"

"I don't know." Ji Yunzhi frowned, he rarely forced himself for something.

"There are things here, but things that are not elsewhere..." Tao Yiran suddenly raised the corners of his lips when he thought of the unusual crying of the baby, "Do you remember? This man said he had scrap metal from before the war. "

"Scrap metal?" Ji Yunzhi was stunned for a moment, but his mind quickly turned around, "These things on the mainland have long been collected in the central city, and ordinary people can't see them at all, and he won't buy these inexplicable things. Tunneling, the only possibility is to go to the sea to pick up..."

"There are mermaids. The mermaids are here and live with them." Tao Yiran stopped and ran in another direction.

The man leading the way was taken aback, thinking he had discovered something, and hurried to catch up.Ji Yunzhi followed Tao Yiran into an alley until he saw him pick up a baby from a two-meter-wide waterway.

Ji Yunzhi looked at the half-mermaid baby in his arms in shock, unable to say anything for a moment.

"Where did it come from..." His eyes followed Tao Yiran's, looking at the densely packed pipes on both sides of the canal.The discharge from these pipes is not sewage, it is as clean as bath water...

Tao Yiran licked the drops of water on the back of his hand: "Salty. Sea water."

They immediately followed the canal and looked into the distance.From a distance, I can only see a little light. As for whether the other end is the sea, I am afraid that I can only know if I walk there.

"How naughty is this child to be able to flush down the water pipe?" Ji Yunzhi couldn't help reaching out to tease the little baby's fish tail - he has seen many mermaids, but this is really the first time for such a small mermaid baby See.The cubs of mermaids are too fragile, and they are usually protected on Mermaid Island or other absolutely safe areas after birth. How can there be double species of babies in such a dark underground city?

Holding the baby in his arms, Tao Yiran calmly turned his head and looked in another direction: "We will find out soon."

At the other end of the alley, the man leading the way rushed towards this side in a hurry, followed by a woman.

When the man saw the mermaid baby in Tao Yiran's arms, he nervously grabbed the tear-stained woman.

The man stared at Tao Yiran, for fear that he would do anything harmful to the baby: "This is our baby, please return it to us."

Ji Yunzhi was keenly aware that it was not an ordinary woman. Although he couldn't see her face clearly under the dim light, he still felt that this woman might be a double species after being in contact with mermaids all the year round.

The offspring of humans and mermaids?

He looked again at the mermaid baby who gradually calmed down in Tao Yiran's arms.This is a baby with obvious double-species characteristics. It is not uncommon for mermaids to combine with humans before, but the chances of humans and mermaids giving birth to double-species are quite low.

"This is your child?" Tao Yiran took a step back, holding the baby in a stiff posture, but he still dutifully protected this little creature.

The man couldn't hide his surprise when he saw that the baby stopped crying, but the matter of being found by the mermaid slave was too serious, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

"Yes, it's ours!" The woman couldn't wait to pick up her child and answered first.

Tao Yiran showed a provocative smile, and asked again: "Are you joking? He is a mermaid."

"...What you want is just a weapon. I will try my best to satisfy you. Please return the child to us." The man was very cautious, covering his wife vaguely.

Tao Yiran stepped back again: "Oh? Without evidence, I wouldn't dare to hand over the mermaid to humans." He added viciously: "I am a mermaid slave."

In order to break the deadlock as soon as possible, Ji Yunzhi added: "Perhaps this child was kidnapped?"

"I am of the double species!" The woman was so excited that she cried, "This child is also of the double species. I know that this kind of case has never happened before, so he is the only hope for a couple like us. Please return it." I……"

Tao Yiran couldn't bear to see the woman's tears, so he could only turn his head aside, letting Ji Yunzhi ask further.

"If you are a mermaid, why don't you live on the ground? This place is not suitable for children to grow up. The environment of the fourth city-state should be very suitable for you to live here aboveboard."

Seeing that the baby was sleeping soundly while clutching Tao Yiran's clothes, the woman finally slowed down her voice: "Yes, the whole earth, perhaps only here will allow me to be with my husband openly. However, whether it is human or mermaid It seems that we are all shameless. Even in the fourth city-state, these views are not much better. If the hatred between humans and mermaids is not resolved for a day, we can only be rejected by both sides on the ground. Only the underground city can There is a space for us to be free... Although the living environment here is a bit harsh, isn't it more terrifying to be rejected by your compatriots than darkness?"