Future Beast World: Becoming A Pampered Beauty-Chapter 86 - 49: The Mermaid in Heat

After Sang Luo had eaten her fill, the sky darkened, and she soon grew drowsy. The Mermaid carried her to a cave.

The cave was a world of its own. It was over a hundred feet high, with an interior space roughly the size of a basketball court. There was a small pool that glowed with an eerie blue light. Clusters of plants she couldn’t name, bearing tiny white flowers, grew among the gravel by the pool’s edge. Other than that, the cave was empty, filled with nothing but gray-brown stone.

Sang Luo took a silk mattress and quilt from her storage space, spread them on the ground, and lay down.

She wouldn’t let herself be uncomfortable, no matter where she was.

’I’ll just treat this as a relaxing beach vacation.’

The Mermaid watched Sang Luo for a moment before leaving the cave. He returned shortly after, having gathered an assortment of colorful stones, shells, coral, and pearls from who knows where. He dumped them all in a pile before her in a clear attempt to curry favor.

Sang Luo glanced at the pile once, then looked away, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Seeing she wasn’t interested, the Mermaid scattered the stones around the cave. As the night deepened, Sang Luo realized the cave wasn’t dark at all. The various colored stones seemed to contain some kind of phosphorescent material, casting a faint glow in the dark.

In the middle of the night, the Mermaid shifted into his human form. He lowered his head, sniffing around her lower body, and reached out to pry her legs apart.

A large, cold hand squeezed the flesh of her thigh. The man’s ragged, heavy breaths were thick with desire. Sang Luo jolted awake and kicked at him.

The force of her kick was clearly not enough to harm the savage Mermaid. Yet, he took a step back, a dejected whimper escaping his throat.

The Mermaid had killed the Sea Beast that tried to assault her and had shown such goodwill when approaching her that Sang Luo almost forgot—he, too, was a male Mermaid in his mating season.

He had saved her, but his goal was the same as the other Sea Beastmen: to mate with her.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Sang Luo casually picked up a stone from the ground and threw it at the Mermaid.

He didn’t dodge, merely staring at her blankly. Sang Luo could clearly sense his dejection. Her hand faltered. She didn’t actually want to hurt him; otherwise, she would have already attacked with her Talent Ability.

There was no need to elaborate on this Mermaid’s appearance. He was in the same top tier as Caesar, each with their own distinct charm. In his mermaid form, his beauty was enough to topple nations—cool and elegant, yet with a bewitching and demonic allure in his eyes. He was exquisite. His strength wasn’t bad, either. To be able to kill a Seventh Rank Peak Sea Beastman in one blow meant his power was definitely not low.

She hadn’t seen a Beast Pattern on his arm, but his aura was nowhere near as strong as Duotu’s or Caesar’s... Sang Luo guessed he probably hadn’t reached King Rank yet. ’Perhaps he’s on the borderline between Seventh Rank Peak and King Rank?’

’His strength barely passes, but it’s nothing special.’

Sang Luo would rather find a King Rank Beastman, but to be honest, she coveted the Mermaid’s aquatic Talent Ability.

Caesar had once said that not even a King Beast could easily venture into the Deep Sea.

’If I could take on a Sea Beastman as a partner, the Deep Sea would become as easy to traverse as solid ground.’

The temptation of this special racial Talent Power was immense.

But Sang Luo had no desire to be forced upon by a male Mermaid in heat out in the wilderness.

’I also have no interest in taking a Beast Husband with no intelligence. What’s the difference between that and a wild animal? Not to mention how humiliating it would be. We couldn’t even communicate, let alone flirt. There would be no fun in bed.’

’Besides strength and looks, her other criterion for choosing a Beast Husband was pleasure in the bedroom.’

"Stay away from me," she warned. "If you get handsy again, I won’t be so polite."

Sang Luo didn’t care whether he understood or not. She had said her piece. Rolling over, she pulled the blanket over her head, feeling not a shred of guilt for occupying his home.

The Mermaid, completely dejected, hid in the pool.

When Sang Luo woke up again later that night, she found he had secretly returned to lie down beside her and had fallen asleep.

This time, he didn’t try anything. He was in his beast form, his body curled and his tail wrapped around her as he slept, letting out soft, contented purrs. His tail was very long, over two meters, easily encircling them both in a wide arc, forming a protective, defensive posture.

This was a primal defensive instinct that ran in a Beastman’s blood.

By encircling her within his protective coil, he further confirmed Sang Luo’s suspicions: this Mermaid truly saw her as a potential mate. ’Those stones and shells must have been his courtship gifts,’ she thought. ’No wonder he looked so sad when I rejected them.’

Thinking the Mermaid was fast asleep, Sang Luo started to get up.

But he opened his eyes, and his tail tightened slightly, blocking her way.

Sang Luo said, "...I need to relieve myself."

He closed his eyes again and tapped his tail lightly on the ground twice. She had no idea if he understood, but at least he didn’t follow her.

On an island surrounded by the sea, he probably wasn’t worried she would run away.

’That must have been his intention in bringing me here, right?’

’This primitive Beastman isn’t completely witless, then.’

Sang Luo walked out of the cave. She felt the damp, salty sea breeze on her skin as she gazed out at the boundless, eerie-blue ocean. The deep night sky was dotted with countless stars.

She took a deep breath, and her heavy heart lightened considerably.

Sang Luo could easily use her spatial ability to leave, and she wasn’t afraid of the Mermaid trying to force himself on her. The truth was, she was the one who didn’t want to go back... back to the Yalan Empire. Returning there would remind her of everything about meeting and getting to know Caesar.

’Memories are the most painful thing of all.’

Her heart ached with a miserable sorrow. Sang Luo knew her emotional state was abnormal, but she couldn’t control it... She just wanted to find a remote place where no one could find her, to have some peace and quiet, and to slowly heal.

...

Aside from his mating urges on the first night, the Mermaid didn’t stay depressed for long after being rejected. He was out of the cave hunting before dawn.

When Sang Luo woke up in the morning, he was already waiting for her with an even plumper fish, along with some small fish, shrimp, and scallops.

As was her routine, Sang Luo scaled and gutted the fish, cleaning it thoroughly before cutting it into small, easy-to-eat pieces.

She could never finish all the food the Mermaid brought, eating only a small portion each time while most of the meat went into his mouth. In return, Sang Luo would also clean the scales and guts from his share. Although he seemed to eat it with the same gusto as before, she secretly felt the texture must be much better now.

「A few days passed.」

Every day, the Mermaid would bring fresh, plump food. He would still pick up any pretty stones, coral, or shells he came across and bring them to her. At night, he would sleep with his tail wrapped around her.

Life was quite peaceful and leisurely.

Sang Luo’s emotions had calmed considerably.

One morning, she woke up to find that the Mermaid had already scaled and gutted the fish. He had even specially cut it into easy-to-eat fillets and arranged them on a large, banana-plant-sized leaf as a tray. He eagerly offered the food to her.

"..." Looking at the familiar preparation, a stunned thought flashed through Sang Luo’s mind. ’He’s learning from me?’

Many Deep Sea Beastmen had never been exposed to civilization, but that didn’t mean they had low intelligence. Their capacity to learn and imitate was no worse than that of ordinary Beastmen.

A thought suddenly occurred to Sang Luo. ’Perhaps... I can teach him.’

’Teach him how to speak, how to communicate with me like a normal Beastman.’