The Old Man and the Mermaid

In the early morning after being hit by the storm, Aigre was conscientiously cleaning up the debris and messy seaweed washed up by the waves on the coast.Occasionally, when the sun was blocked by the clouds that hadn't completely dissipated, he would look back at the sea surface where the mermaid disappeared, somewhat expecting to see that beautiful creature reappear above the sea level.

In fact, he didn't like to laugh very much, he didn't talk very much, and he didn't communicate much when he was in the academy. Only a few people who knew him well knew that this handsome young man was actually a kind and gentle person.The rest of the alumni, even the professor, thought he was a cold and indifferent study madman—and after this study madman received a full scholarship for three consecutive years and graduated ahead of schedule, he faced the angry gazes of professors in various subjects that were fiercer than laser beams. I chose to give up and continue my studies, and returned to my hometown to guard the lighthouse.

His friends who were also study madmen were also so angry that they vomited blood, and almost knocked his forehead to the sky with the broom hanging on the wall of the college dormitory all the year round.

However, after hearing that his friends and teachers had persuaded him, Aigre still maintained a calm expression, and firmly repeated his answer to them: "I want to go home."

In response to this, his friends stood on the fourth floor of the dormitory like shrews who poured water on a little man singing vulgar love songs, and scolded him fiercely: "mentally retarded!"

Aigre took one last look at his group of friends. Although he felt a little regretful, he still responded with actions.

This lighthouse carries all the memories of his entire childhood. His parents left too early, and only this small island and his kind grandfather have been with him since he was a child.Now that his grandfather passed away, although he had indeed longed for higher achievements and honors, now he only hopes to return to the land where he grew up and pass on this ordinary but sacred work.

The standard of living on the small island is not high, so he doesn't need much money, and the monthly salary, which is definitely not too much, is enough for him to live well.When the weather is fine during the day, he will occasionally go to the small town to work part-time to provide residents with some help within his ability in exchange for some meager remuneration.

It sounds like a pretty tough life, but he's confident he can live happily ever after—until he falls down a precarious staircase on his first night back at the lighthouse.

"..." Although Eigre respected his grandfather very much, he couldn't help questioning the truth of his grandfather's death the moment he fell.

In order to prevent more people from being injured, he carried out a series of repairs to the interior of the lighthouse when he did not need to control the lights. At least now, it is quite decent, and it is no longer the dangerous building it was before.

After cleaning up the area at the foot of the lighthouse, Aigre simply wiped some sweat from his forehead, and happily left the much cleaner shore, planning to go to the town to buy a simple and delicious lunch.

Every minute and every second, there will be many changes in the world, and everyone's mood will be different, so although Aigre is in a very happy mood now, it does not mean that everyone is as happy as him.

For example, the mermaid that he threw into the sea.

Mermaids come from the deep sea far away. They are mentally weak due to some unknown reasons. They don't have much strength to resist the supernatural power of the sea. So after being washed ashore, they have no more energy to drag His heavy body returned to the sea.

He almost thought that this would be the place where his life would end, and it might be a good thing to die in a place where there were not many human beings.

Especially when the dazzling sunlight pierced the sky again and the sun rose from the sea, the feeling that seemed to be burning on his back became even stronger.If the surrounding air were drier, he would even lose the ability to breathe in a relatively short period of time.

It's not that he can't be exposed to the sun, but his weak state also reduces the functions of his body and accelerates the volatilization of water in his body, making him almost become the first mermaid in history to die due to lack of water—even though he In fact, he had never witnessed the death of any mermaid.

When Aigre approached, although the mermaid was still in a coma, he could feel that the human being was gradually approaching him, but he couldn't keep his consciousness clear, and could only think about his fate after being captured in a daze.

Humans might scrape those beautiful, sharp scales off his body for experimentation—this is even more terrifying to mermaids than humans being bald as a teenager.

Or those scientists might simply keep him in a small tank.He's not a gentle mermaid, so while he wouldn't actively harm humans, if that happened to him, he might not be able to resist the urge to destroy everything.

This goes against the low-key philosophy of their race since ancient times.

But what this young human did surprised him—especially when he felt himself being thrown into the sky and finally slammed into the sea.

He felt the sea water embracing him again, and while taking a breath, he remembered the scene on a certain human luxury cruise ship he saw from a distance a few months ago.

The cleaning women patted their fat waists and thighs at dusk, tightly strangled the layers of fat on their waists with their aprons, and then chatted and laughed with each other, and cleaned the sheets and quilts used by the guests. Hang up the drying rack.

The action when they hung the quilts on the string was so similar to the action of Aigre's throwing him out that it made people want to hide their faces and cry.

Mermaid: "..."

For the first time, his emotions, which had not changed for many years, appeared a little turbulent.He even suddenly had an urge to drag the young man into the sea and throw him into the volcanoes to avenge his shame.

But the lad saved him.

Although it was not in such a great gesture, it saved his extremely weak life at that time.

So after slowly regaining consciousness in the sea, the mermaid opened his eyes again, realized that he was indeed saved by a human once, and decided to repay his favor.

He woke up, recovered his physical strength as much as possible, and then quickly swam toward the deeper seabed to look for food.

In this sea, no single sea creature's strength can match that of a mermaid.Even those huge and ferocious creatures cannot break free from the grasp of the mermaid - this group is the real overlord of the ocean, and the only species in the vast sea above the ecosystem and the food chain .

The mermaid rushed into the darker area along the turbulent sea current, and quickly grabbed a fish that he didn't even see what kind of fish it was, and directly took its life away. began to eat in the soaked seawater.

He didn't need to know what kind of fish it was, because their bodies were not afraid of toxins at all, and any living sea creature could be their food.

The only difference is that it is difficult to eat.

For example, the one he is holding now is particularly unpalatable, and it can even be said to be difficult to swallow in normal times.But he urgently needed to replenish his energy, so he didn't care too much about the taste. After finishing the poor fish in his hand that had already lost his life before he could react, he swung the fish's tail and rushed to the next target.

As he swam rapidly, he reflected on how careless he had been to get himself into the predicament of almost dying from ridiculous reasons.

Mermaids have quite perfect thinking ability, and the brain structure is basically the same as that of human beings, which is something that Egreel has not thought about carefully.After all, fairy tales always only describe the beauty of mermaids, but never mention their brains and ferocity.

The handsome young man was holding a large pile of wooden boards for making glove boxes, and was about to replace a box that was accidentally smashed by the fruit seller at the top of the market.

Dusk Island is not a well-known large island, and there are very few places on the island for people to watch, so not many people will come for sightseeing all year round.Their lives are very comfortable and peaceful, and even the flow of time seems to have slowed down a lot here. The residents on the island live and work in peace and contentment, without fighting or making noise. Over time, everyone has a good temper. .

is a happy place.

"Thank you so much, little Iger," the young woman at the fruit stand said to Aigre with a smile on her face as she pulled back her sweat-soaked long hair, "Every time I trouble you to do this for us A small job that is not very lucrative and tiring."

"You're welcome, ma'am." Aigre replied briefly, with a symbolic smile.

The young woman was stunned by his handsome and soft smile, and teased: "The young man who shyly called me sister who followed Mr. Payer back then has become so handsome after he grows up. I've seen the town Which beautiful girl? You are lonely guarding the tower alone, why not find someone to accompany you earlier, and I can introduce a few for you. "

"I won't consider it for the time being, thank you madam." Aigre shook his head, rejecting her kindness.

The young woman blinked, and the smile on her face widened, "What about the lads? There are a few young people in West Town who went out to study and came back like you. If they don't like girls, they all have a good attitude." Good boy."

Aigre: "..."

He smiled helplessly and slightly embarrassedly and said, "It's really unnecessary, madam."

The young woman stopped joking with him, and after taking the finished box from him, she walked a few steps towards the fruit stand, waved to him and said, "See you next time, Little Iger, I wish you a happy day!" joy."

"I wish you a happy day too." Aigre bent down to her, turned around and glanced at the scorching sun that was still shining high, thinking that there was still a period of time that could be used before sunset, and planned to go to the other end of the market Take a look and see if there is anything you need in life that you can buy.