The next few days became training days for the reserve soldiers.
To put it bluntly, they were days of nonstop beatings for this group of recruits.
As the instructor of this Area A squad, Wen Yu's teaching method was extremely simple and crude:
He beat people.
As for theoretical knowledge, that was left to the other two instructors.
During this period, everyone lived in misery.
Ah, were there people dissatisfied with it?
Please. This was Wen Yu teaching them. Even if he treated them like punching bags, being in Wen Yu's class was still far better than being in the other squads.
And Lansi became famous once again.
This time, however, it wasn't because he looked delicate and suspiciously like someone with connections.
This time, he became famous as Wen Yu's "favorite."
Every training session, Wen Yu personally sparred with Lansi.
And after every training session, Wen Yu would directly take Lansi away with him.
As a result, everyone became convinced that Lansi was a pitiful little thing constantly being "bullied" by Wen Yu.
Just look at him—they even had him go to Wen Yu's dormitory after training to "serve" him.
What was even more tragic was that the poor little thing himself seemed completely unaware of it and remained cheerful every single day.
After nearly a week of training, the reserve soldiers were finally divided into teams and informed that they would officially move into the real Xiacheng District to begin their missions.
Lansi was grouped together with Huang Mao, the teammate who had previously fought alongside him, and two other people.
A total of five members.
After forming the squad, they needed to select a captain.
According to the normal process, Lansi should have become the captain.
After all, his combat ability was clearly the highest.
Unfortunately, because everyone viewed him as Wen Yu's pampered favorite—and because he looked far too delicate—no one was convinced.
After much discussion, the five of them ultimately chose the former "teammate" as captain instead.
The newly promoted captain proudly declared that he would take good care of his little brothers.
Especially Lansi, who in their eyes "understood nothing."
Lansi: "..."
He really wasn't an idiot.
The entire Federation was divided according to wealth and class into the Upper City (the wealthy district), the transitional C42 District, and the Lower City (the slums).
Starting from the outer edge of the high wall, each district was numbered sequentially. Districts 1 through 41 belonged to the Lower City, while District 42 onward belonged to the Upper City.
Under Wen Yu's arrangements, Lansi's squad was assigned to the more remote District 19.
Because of its location, District 19 was mainly responsible for processing seafood for the entire Alliance. Every day, enormous quantities of fish caught from the sea were transported there for factory processing.
When Huang Mao learned they had been assigned to District 19, he became visibly unhappy. Even while sitting in the transport vehicle, he continued grumbling:
"Damn it, our luck is terrible. Why did we end up being the first ones sent there?"
The captain silently held a toothpick between his teeth. He glanced toward Wen Yu, who was waiting outside the vehicle, and muttered:
"He's getting revenge on us."
Meanwhile, Lansi—who knew the truth—silently stared at the tips of his shoes.
In reality, the others had guessed correctly.
This assignment truly had been arranged by Wen Yu.
The reason was simple: Wen Yu's military value was universally acknowledged, so the army naturally assigned him to more important and dangerous areas.
As a result, the squad under his command was sent there as well.
Because of its location, District 19 functioned as a massive seafood processing center.
The moment Lansi's team got out of the vehicle, they were hit with the strong fishy smell lingering in the air.
The instructor leading the team dutifully explained their mission.
"Your task is very simple: patrol the area. If you notice anything unusual, report it immediately. Understood?"
The squad responded loudly:
"Understood!"
Most of the people living in District 19 worked in the seafood processing factories. Because of those factories, the district was relatively prosperous compared to other areas of the Lower City.
As a result, public order there was fairly stable, making it suitable as a beginner zone for new recruits.
And honestly, the residents of District 19 didn't particularly care whether the military was stationed there or not.
Life in the apocalypse was already difficult enough. Who had the energy to care about such things?
After explaining the necessary precautions, the instructor led the group out on patrol.
"It's relatively clean around here."
As they walked along the roads used by transport trucks, the instructor continued explaining:
"Nothing major usually happens here. The processing plants have their own security, so we don't need to interfere there. Our main responsibility is patrolling the roadside vendors and marketplaces."
"Are we catching thieves?"
Lansi couldn't help asking curiously.
With this question, everyone in the team couldn't help but glance at Lansi.
After a while, the team leader explained:
"How could we use it to catch thieves?"
In the Xiacheng District, that is, the slums, everyone is too poor to be concerned about such things. People are already overwhelmed by survival—there's no spare energy to chase down thieves.
"Our main purpose is to ensure order here," the instructor said.
"It's forbidden to gather and fight, and we also deal with any mutant creatures that slip in."
There are too many mutated things in the ocean, and a large amount of seafood is processed here every day. If one is not careful, mutated organisms can end up mixed into the batch.
One of the patrol's responsibilities is to eliminate mutant creatures before they can cause chaos, preventing harm to humans.
Of course, the chance of encountering mutated creatures is very small. This group of reserve soldiers might stay here for ten days or half a month without encountering one.
"But that's exactly why it's dangerous," the instructor shrugged.
"This place is considered a food supply base. If someone deliberately carries out a terrorist attack and releases a batch of mutated creatures here, then you'll be in serious trouble."
After hearing this, several people in the team exchanged glances.
Lansi felt nothing—he was, after all, technically a "fish person," so he probably shouldn't feel much about it.
That thought came to an abrupt halt when Lansi saw the seafood market.
In addition to processing plants, District 19 also hosts the largest seafood trading market in the entire alliance.
The market is completely open-air. Vendors line both sides of the streets, shouting endlessly. Fish, shrimp, crab shells, and various marine offal are scattered across the ground.
The smell of fish is overwhelming, and dead fish carcasses hang everywhere.
Lansi stood at the entrance of the market and couldn't help but shudder.
Perhaps because he had become a mermaid, watching vendors butcher fish right beside him made his tail ache instinctively.
"After the fishing boats return, they sell their catch here. The leftovers from the processing plants are also brought here," the instructor explained.
"As for you, follow me and continue patrolling. If you see vendors breaking the rules, step in and remind them. Understand?"
Lansi finally understood—they were essentially acting like "city managers."
After a full day of patrol, Lansi and the others didn't encounter anything unusual.
Once the market closed, their work for the day was essentially over. They were allowed to disband, buy whatever they needed nearby, and then return to the dormitory.
The group had little cohesion and their own thoughts, so after the instructor left, they scattered quickly.
Lansi stood there for a moment, unsure whether to explore on his own or head straight back.
After hesitating, he looked at the closed market and couldn't help but sigh.
Today, he had spent the entire day walking through what felt like a "graveyard" of fish.
"Lansi?"
Just as he was thinking about whether to eat fish for dinner, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.
Someone had approached without him noticing.
That made Lansi's hair stand on end. He turned around quickly and was startled again.
"Wil… Will?"
Standing behind him was Will, dressed in uniform.
Will withdrew his hand and smiled.
"Yes, it's me."
"Why are you here? Didn't you go to Zone B?" Lansi asked in confusion.
Earlier, he had been told that District 19 was relatively dangerous, so the more elite soldiers were usually sent here first.
That led Lansi to assume that everyone assigned here would be from Area A.
"I was sent here."
Will blinked, pretending to be innocent, while the corners of his lips lifted slightly.
"Great, Lansi, you're worried about me."
Lansi was speechless. He asked:
"How did you find me?"
"Telepathy."
Will replied half-truthfully. He took Lansi's hand again, his tone bright with excitement.
"Lansi, did you just get here? I found a shop selling supplies—let's go pick up some things together."
There was nothing wrong with the suggestion.
The dormitories for reserve soldiers only provide basic bedding; all other daily necessities must be prepared by the soldiers themselves.
So when they arrive at a new place, many recruits choose to buy essentials.
"No need."
Lansi quickly pulled his hand free from Will's grip and explained,
"I'm Wen Yu's orderly soldier, so all my things are with Wen Yu."
Everything he owned was already at Wen Yu's place—there was no need to buy duplicates.
And the reason he had been standing there in thought wasn't about shopping at all, but about something far more abstract and messy.
"You live with Wen Yu?"
Will suddenly let out a sharp sound of disbelief.
"What's so good about him?"
His expression darkened instantly, as if he had just realized the toy he liked belonged to someone else, and not him.
"He even makes you take care of him?!"
Lansi was momentarily stunned by the reaction and tried to explain:
"It's not like that. Actually, Wen Yu takes care of me… calm down."
Then he paused and suddenly realized something.
"No—why are you even asking this?"
"I like you!"
Will stopped shouting. He crossed his arms and said seriously,
"I like you, so I will give you the best things, and I can take care of you."
Lansi felt a headache coming on. He also noticed that, despite his appearance, Will seemed emotionally immature in a very obvious way.
"Thank you, but I can take care of myself," Lansi said, patting Will's shoulder.
"Good boy. It's getting late, go back."
"I can take care of you."
Will suddenly stepped closer, sniffed at Lansi's scent, and then said firmly,
"I will take better care of you than him."
Lansi opened his mouth but didn't know how to respond. Will's logic was completely unhinged.
So, half-joking and half-deflecting, Lansi nodded casually.
"Alright, alright. You can."
"What do you want?" Will asked immediately, serious again.
"Something tasty," Lansi replied, hoping this would end the conversation quickly.
"Got it."
Will stood there for a moment, staring at Lansi's departing back, deep in thought.
"It's getting late. I have to go. Be careful."
Lansi left.
…
Two o'clock in the morning.
A faint rustling sound came from inside a mansion.
A trail of water marks stretched from the entrance all the way to the kitchen refrigerator.
Will stood in front of it, opened the fridge, took out a prepared nutrient drink, and gulped it down.
His wet black hair clung to his shoulders, water dripping continuously onto the floor. His skin was unnaturally pale, faintly glowing blue in the darkness—like something that had just crawled out of the sea.
Click.
The kitchen lights suddenly switched on, flooding the room with harsh white light.
Will's pupils contracted into vertical slits under the brightness. He slowly turned his head toward the door.
Dr. Murin stood there.
His head was wrapped in bandages, and his expression was far from pleasant. His gaze shifted to the water trail on the floor.
"Where have you been?" he asked.
Will blinked. The vertical slits in his eyes gradually returned to round human pupils.
He straightened up, closed the refrigerator door, and replied calmly:
"In the sea. Hunting."
"You went to the sea?" Dr. Murin's voice rose sharply.
"What the hell are you doing? Isn't the nutrient solution enough?"
Will chuckled softly.
He walked toward Dr. Murin, his shoes soaked in seawater, each step making a soft "puff, puff" sound against the floor. He stopped in front of Dr. Murin and grasped his hand.
"Not… enough," he murmured. "Even if I eat all of you… it's still not enough."
He had just crawled out of the sea. His body was as cold as the ocean at night, and even his breath carried the damp, briny scent of seawater.
The cold grip around Dr. Murin's wrist made him flinch.
The Will in front of him looked almost like a massive octopus that had crawled out of the deep sea—cold, smooth, and inhuman. It clung to its prey without mercy, as if one careless movement would drag everything into the abyss.
Dr. Murin forced himself to stay still and said, suppressing his fear:
"You've only just been born a few days. Don't run around."
Hearing this, Will's smile deepened.
He grinned—and the expression stretched unnaturally. The corners of his mouth split wider and wider, extending all the way toward his earlobes, revealing rows of sharp teeth. A low, breathy laugh echoed from deep in his throat.
Dr. Murin's pupils dilated in sheer panic.
The face in front of him… was exactly the same as his "mother."
That's right. Will was the embryo extracted from the belly of a murloc disguised as a woman in a white dress.
After being injected with Nate's cells, the embryo had developed at an abnormal speed. In just twenty-four hours, it had matured into an adult body.
That alone had shocked everyone. They had expected, at most, a second "Wen Yu"—a controllable result of the experiment. But this growth rate, combined with the fully formed adult body, proved otherwise.
He would never become "Wen Yu."
He was something else entirely—something inhuman. A pure beast wearing a human shape.
Once the body stabilized, consciousness emerged. Under everyone's watch, he suddenly went berserk and bit off the head of the nearest assistant in a single bite.
When the lab immediately moved to eliminate the unstable subject, he suddenly fell silent.
He didn't attack again.
Instead, he crouched down quietly.
And he began to think.
Yes—think.
Dr. Murin swore he truly saw it: this newly born being was thinking. And whatever had triggered that thought… was likely the head of the assistant he had just eaten.
Not long after, the creature began to change its face under everyone's gaze, reshaping itself until it became what it was now.
Clearly, besides inheriting the cruelty of his "mother," the murloc, he had also inherited human knowledge from his "father."
Without anyone teaching him, the embryo named itself—"Will."
All signs pointed to one conclusion: Will was a fusion existence. Physically, he combined the deformity and strength of a mermaid; mentally, he carried human memory fragments and emotional structure.
That discovery had thrilled Dr. Murin. Against opposition, he chose to raise Will in a human environment, to observe what he would become.
"I didn't run around, Father," Will said softly beside Dr. Murin's ear.
"Didn't I come back?"
He had found a loophole in the wording with unsettling precision.
Dr. Murin realized, uneasily, that Will also seemed to have inherited the cunningness of "Earl Vale."
After a long silence, Dr. Murin asked:
"Did you meet someone special?"
Over the past few days, Will had been unusually excited. Unstable.
"Yes," Will smiled.
"I saw a white mermaid."
Dr. Murin inhaled sharply.
"Where is he?"
"I won't tell you," Will replied lightly.
Then, almost shyly, he added:
"He acted spoiled with me and said he wanted something delicious, so I went to find him something tasty. It took me a long time."
Hearing this, Dr. Murin's unease deepened.
"Where is the white mermaid?" he pressed again.
In his mind, the white mermaid mattered far more than Will.
It was the success of the "Poseidon Project." Compared to Will and Wen Yu, the white mermaid was the truly significant result.
Will's smile suddenly vanished.
He stared at Dr. Murin with his blue eyes and tilted his head slightly.
"Hmm?"
Dr. Murin froze.
A moment later, a sharp, piercing pain exploded in his temples.
It was so intense that his body lurched forward, stumbling several steps back.
"Father, you should rest."
Will's voice sounded distant, as if coming from underwater—cold, calm, and unreal.
He lowered his gaze at Dr. Murin, expression unreadable.