Facing the mermaid before them, everyone was utterly speechless.
They had initially expected a mermaid straight out of a fairy tale, but it turned out fairy tales were indeed just that, albeit dark ones.
The creature was indeed a mermaid, but "beauty" was far from it.
Because the one playing the mermaid was none other than the director of Xihong Zoo, Yang Lin.
At this moment, Yang Lin stood bare-chested, revealing his chiseled, muscular physique.
From a purely physical standpoint, he was qualified, but the problem was that he was a man.
A wave of disbelief washed over the entire audience.
"Ah, my eyes! My eyes are burning!"
"My mermaid sister! I feel like I'll be dreaming of Director Yang for the next week."
"If I had known, I think it would have been better if Director Yang just wore a mask."
"Or at least weld the wig onto his head."
"What kind of mental pollution is this? I want my money back!"
"Daughter, let's stick to being Princess Elsa from now on."
"Mom, I'm heartbroken."
...
After a burst of complaints, the crowd quickly regained their composure.
Their opinions on Yang Lin's performance began to shift.
"Honestly, putting aside Director Yang's face, his performance was absolutely amazing."
"Right, right, I agree. Everything except him showing his face was perfect."
"Overall, I'd give Director Yang's performance a 9 out of 10."
"You know, Director Yang's physique is quite nice. Who says mermaids have to be female?"
"Exactly. Director Yang is now worth hundreds of millions. For a rich businessman like him to stoop so low as to perform as a mermaid for us, I feel like the ticket price is already completely worth it."
"I think the artistic merit of that performance was very high. I've already recorded it. I'll use AI to change the face later."
"I'm going to cut out the last part of the video I recorded and share it. I can't be the only one who has to endure this."
"Yes, yes, share it! Hahaha, the thought of their expressions when they see Director Yang's face makes me excited."
"Alas, life is tough, Director Yang is performing for a living. This teaches us that people shouldn't sacrifice dignity for money."
...
As the crowd discussed, their assessment of the performance underwent a complete 180-degree turn.
Meanwhile, Yang Lin, submerged in the underwater world, couldn't hear the tourists' chatter. He could only see their smiling faces.
"It seems the audience is quite satisfied with my performance."
"But as the director, I can't be performing here every day. I'll need to find time to recruit a mermaid lady soon."
Nodding with satisfaction, Yang Lin then turned and left the area.
As soon as he departed, the audience members present immediately uploaded videos of his performance to various video platforms.
As if by unspoken agreement, they all collectively edited out the final shot of Yang Lin's appearance.
Not long after these videos were uploaded, one titled "The Most Beautiful Mermaid in History Appears at Xihong Zoo Aquarium, I Was Breathlessly Beautiful After Watching the Performance" garnered over fifty million views in less than half an hour.
This video documented the entire opening process of the aquarium.
It captured everything from the appearance of the fish and dolphins to the magnificent entrance of the mermaid.
Coupled with beautiful background music and filter effects, it achieved the quality of a blockbuster, stunning anyone who watched it.
While other videos lacked these post-production elements, their raw, unedited nature inadvertently lent credibility to the mermaid's authenticity.
Instantly, netizens exploded.
"She's breathtakingly beautiful, like she swam straight out of a fairy tale."
"As expected, anything from Xihong Zoo is a masterpiece."
"Booking tickets now. Flights, tickets, everything's arranged."
"Why did their aquarium open right after I left Ningnan?"
"Damn, this is so much better than the 398 yuan tickets at Hengqin Ocean Kingdom. Are they doing charity by charging only 50 yuan for this kind of performance?"
"Ugh, I'm at Xihong Zoo right now, but I couldn't get tickets for today's aquarium opening. Seeing your videos is worse than killing me."
"Can anyone tell me what the mermaid lady actually looks like?"
"I'm here at the scene, I can only tell you she's beautiful, incredibly beautiful."
"Yes, I'm inside right now. So beautiful it takes your breath away."
...
The naive netizens were clearly unaware that they had fallen into a deception.
As for Yang Lin himself, he was even more oblivious to the fact that the audience was spontaneously promoting him.
At this moment, after shedding his performance costume, he immediately went to another area of the venue.
The tourists who had finished watching the opening performance had already exited the underwater tunnel and officially entered the aquarium.
Upon entering, interconnected semi-circular tanks lined the venue.
Within these tanks swam both common freshwater fish and some less common marine species.
Of course, what drew the most attention were not these ordinary fish, but the dolphins and porpoises that also resided there.
In the freshwater section on the left, the two porpoises familiar to everyone were swimming.
Compared to before, these two porpoises were noticeably plumper.
In the saltwater section on the right, in addition to the striped dolphins that had participated in the performance earlier, there was now a beluga whale.
These aquatic sprites seemed to sense the arrival of the crowd, emitting soft, affectionate sounds and occasionally poking their round little heads out of the tanks.
The visitors felt an immediate sense of healing.
Tourists flocked to the tanks, taking photos with these adorable aquatic animals.
However, at this moment, Yang Lin's voice suddenly echoed through the venue.
"Dear visitors, we will now have an interactive session with our animals. If you are interested, please proceed to the next area."
"In this session, we will randomly select lucky visitors to interact closely with our aquatic animals."
As soon as Yang Lin finished speaking, a large number of tourists showed signs of interest.
Following the directions of the staff, a vast open-air water area soon appeared before them.
High stands surrounded the water.
As they surveyed the surroundings, a dark shape suddenly leaped high out of the water.
Along with the dark shape came Yang Lin's familiar face.
He was standing on the back of the leaping dark shape, appearing to be flying.
As they watched, a collective thought arose in everyone's mind.
"It's Director Yang again."