The proprietress finally spoke in a chilling tone, "Take a good look, that thing isn't human."
She didn't deny that the meat she sold was cut from this creature's body.
Sixth Brother couldn't even look at the woman, nor at the beautiful "monster" imprisoned in the pool.
No wonder the proprietress said the secret recipe was "alive."
"Not human?" Sixth Brother's eyes flickered with confusion. "It's clearly a person, what nonsense are you spouting? And those things you keep outside, what exactly are they? You'd better tell me honestly, or even I won't be able to save your daughter."
"You keep these monsters just to get meat? How did these people turn into this? Who are you?"
The woman glanced at the man with a vacant expression, offering no explanation. Instead, she walked to the pool and pressed a raised, dark golden protrusion.
Instantly, the sound of rumbling chains echoed from the depths of the pool.
The man in the center of the pool, covered in scars, was pulled up by the slowly rising chains.
His slender, pale wrists were bound by thick iron chains, the metal having chafed his flesh down to the bone.
As his body was gradually lifted, Sixth Brother finally understood why the proprietress called the monster inhuman.
When the man's body in the pool was stretched to a certain height.
His lower half, a massive fish tail, was revealed.
"This... this is..."
Even Sixth Brother, who had seen his fair share of strange things, found himself speechless.
"A mermaid? And a male one?"
The proprietress stared at the mermaid with an almost obsessive gaze.
"You asked me, didn't you? I don't know where this creature came from. I only know that the two outside are just low-class defective products. Only this one before us is a true mermaid."
As she spoke, she stepped forward and moved aside the mermaid's long, scattered hair.
A wave of shock surged through everyone present.
This included Xu An, who had just arrived from outside.
Even peering through the gap in the door, the mermaid's disheveled and scarred appearance couldn't mask its beauty.
It was a beauty that seized the breath.
Its azure eyes were like the unfathomable depths of the ocean,
Deep and full of allure.
But no one knew whether those eyes held sweet nectar or a deadly trap.
Silky black hair, slightly curled, hung damply over its bare chest.
Skin so pale it was almost translucent, revealing faint blue veins beneath.
Its thin lips bore a deep bite mark, tinged with a hint of red.
Like a siren from myth, luring passing travelers.
It was as if a favorite of God, bestowed with all beauty.
Even confined in this filthy pool.
The azure fish tail still shimmered with rippling light.
Like a sudden star in the dark night sky,
Constantly twinkling.
"What in the world is going on?"
"They were already here when I arrived. I don't know who left them here, but I've always felt it was a gift from heaven."
Sixth Brother did not immediately believe her and retorted, "You're lying! When I first met you, you were using wild boar meat I hunted in the wilderness!"
Listening to the conversation, Xu An gradually regained her senses, clearing her mind of the beautiful mermaid with the massive fish tail.
She looked back to see Zhou Haimei still gazing entranced and gave her a firm push.
To bring her back to her senses.
As Xu An listened, she also observed the mermaid hanging there, its skin mottled with patches of light and dark.
Old and new wounds crisscrossed its body.
The latest wounds were still dripping blood.
If not for the shallow chest indicating the mermaid was still breathing,
Xu An would have thought it was already dead.
Zhou Haimei, who had regained her composure behind her, looked excited and thrilled.
"An'an! A mermaid, there really is a mermaid in this world!"
She couldn't see the mermaid's face, but through the door, she could faintly make out its slender, delicate form.
Ze Yuan, as if waking up, began to chatter in Xu An's mind.
"That's not a mermaid, just a mutant. True mermaids wouldn't be this pathetic. They possess immense killing power and absolute beauty."
"Not something you lowly humans can covet."
"Just a low-quality hybrid."
Xu An: "No one thinks you're mute until you speak."
Ze Yuan felt wronged but wouldn't say it.
"Wild boar meat doesn't taste as good as this creature's," the woman said with an infatuated smile.
"Don't you remember how delicious it was? Mermaid meat is the most delicious thing in the world, and only this can make people addicted."
"Do you really think that just red berries and shepherd's purse made people love this roasted meat so much?"
"Hahahaha..."
The woman tugged at the mermaid's hair, deeply inhaling its scent.
"My fruits and shepherd's purse, who do you think they were for?"
She forcefully pushed a fruit into the mermaid's thin lips.
Red juice flowed down its pale pink lips to its jawline,
Forming a captivating curve.
"The red fruit is for him?" Sixth Brother asked, somewhat confused.
"Yes, the shepherd's purse and red fruit create a special aroma within this creature. The truly addictive element is the mermaid's flesh and blood."
The woman explained word by word.
"But when harvesting the meat, it can only be from the waist and chest, in a one-to-ten ratio."
"Ratio?"
"So much meat, you can't use only mermaid meat, you have to mix it with the flesh of those things outside."
Sixth Brother recalled the disgusting things wriggling on the ground outside.
The urge to vomit that he had suppressed was immediately reignited.
The woman pleaded, "I've told you everything I know, you promise to save my daughter."
Sixth Brother frowned and nodded imperceptibly.
At the same time, he asked with doubt, "But if you cut meat like this, won't it die? Can it just keep growing meat endlessly?"
"It won't die. For some reason, as long as you don't touch its fish tail, even if you carve it down to a mere bone, it will grow back intact by the next day. It just needs some time to recover, which is why we only set up stalls at such long intervals."
Her words carried a hint of complaint towards the mermaid,
Resenting that it didn't need recovery time.
Otherwise, they could harvest meat continuously.
As the woman spoke, Sixth Brother noticed an unhealed, blood-red wound on the mermaid's tail.
It seemed the woman had tried this before, hence her conclusion.
But Sixth Brother was not curious about how the proprietress discovered that mermaid meat was edible.
None of this concerned him, regardless of how many cruel methods the woman presented to conduct inhumane experiments on this mermaid,
To perfect the mermaid meat.
None of it mattered.
Sixth Brother had recently come to understand a truth: sometimes, when you desperately desire something, you must sacrifice something else.
...
Zhou Haimei watched the commotion inside the room. A sudden gust of wind seemed to blow in from somewhere.
She couldn't help but sneeze.
Instantly, everyone inside and outside the door noticed the sound.
Even the pale, weak mermaid opened its eyes.
Its gaze, devoid of emotion, fixed in the direction Xu An entered from.