No matter which World Fang Yuan traversed to, he never forgot his true profession—
a fish-pond owner.
Since he raised fish, and Mermaids were also fish, they fell under his care.
Of course, Fang Yuan had another reason for seeking Mermaids.
In the World of pirates of the caribbean, the Fountain of Youth could steal another's life for oneself, but three conditions had to be met.
The Fountain of Youth, a pair of chalices, and a Mermaid's tear.
"So I'm not doing this for fun, it's for the treasure." Fang Yuan put his hands on his hips.
Actually, Fang Yuan didn't need the Fountain of Youth; although his Character Template was temporarily unusable, his lifespan remained extraordinarily long.
But something like the Fountain of Youth, used well, could control the vast majority of people in the World.
For example, the King of England.
"It's summer now, Mermaid mating season." Fang Yuan immediately called a team of pitch-black subordinates. "Go repair that abandoned lighthouse!"
"What else do we need to attract Mermaids?"
"Right, singing!"
Legend said Mermaids often lured sailors with song, then dragged them into the sea to 'have fun,' and when tired, devoured them to replenish their strength.
To obtain Mermaids, Fang Yuan's top priority was to lure them out.
Clap clap clap!
He clapped to gather the remaining crew.
"The Jackdaw Idol Competition officially begins!"
Fang Yuan shouted to the men below.
"Line up and sing one by one!"
He planned to pick a few decent singers to serve as bait to attract Mermaids.
Also, since it was daytime and Mermaids only came out at night, Fang Yuan amused himself by toying with his crew.
Ahhh!
Oh-ha-uhhh!
Whitecap Bay instantly became lively with all sorts of bizarre tones.
These brainwashed Blacks hadn't completely lost their minds, but their artistic brain cells were clearly chopped away.
Each sang Pirate Songs as if reading lines; calling them human bots was generous.
Such singing would make Mermaids think they were being scared off rather than seduced.
Left with no choice, Fang Yuan tried different genres for his brainless Lackeys and finally concluded:
Even without brains, the best genre for Blacks was Rap.
Come to think of it, Black Rap never needed brains in the first place.
In the end, the champion of The Jackdaw Idol Contest was the lightest-skinned Black.
Not because he sang well, but Fang Yuan felt he'd suit Mermaid tastes best.
Literally... their appetite.
The rest were too dark and looked unappetizing.
Fang Yuan gave up luring Mermaids ashore with crew; he'd adopt Blackbeard's method.
Forced capture.
Near dusk, Fang Yuan ordered the repaired lighthouse lit, had the singing champ lead a team onto a skiff, its deck bathed in lighthouse light.
The skiff had a canopy blocking moonlight.
Wouldn't it be awkward if Mermaids arrived only to see them revert to true form?
Woo-wah-wah-wah!
The champ led the wailing, slow enough to barely carry a tune.
Mermaids wouldn't mind; they weren't here for a duet anyway.
Fang Yuan hovered The Jackdaw mid-air, leaving only the skiff in the area.
Soon he spotted movement beneath the water; a slim figure surfaced—a brown-haired woman whose face deserved the word beauty.
From above, her lower body was a fish tail.
This was the Mermaid scout.
After a brief exchange with the skiff's idol, she found these humans a bit dull.
Though rather dark, they were still edible.
More Mermaids swam toward the skiff; the first arrivals began groping the crew.
Hmm?
The leading Mermaids felt something wrong the moment they touched the crew.
"Too cold!" she cried.
But the Mermaids behind, eyes only for food, shook the skiff so hard the makeshift canopy shattered; moonlight spilled through, and the crew's flesh turned to skeletons in an instant!
Yet so many Mermaids, not one wanted to 'have fun' with the crew.
As the skiff rocked, the canopy broke first; moonlight through the cracks revealed the sailors' bodies had become skeletons!
Ahh!
The Mermaids paled and flung the skeletons aside, fleeing in panic.
Now Fang Yuan's men took the initiative, leaping into the sea and grabbing Mermaids by the tail so they couldn't escape.
Distant Mermaids returned to rescue their kin; when the numbers looked right, Fang Yuan dove The Jackdaw straight down from the sky.
Boom!
The huge hull smashed into the sea, sending towering waves that scattered the Mermaid formation.
Before the Mermaids could react, the crew of The Jackdaw leapt into the water—hundreds of skeletons splashed down like dumplings, the sight so stunning that the Mermaids' jaws dropped, baring the razor teeth that were their strongest weapon.
But trying to gnaw bare bones with those teeth?
The Mermaids could cry on the spot.
Victory was impossible; the Mermaids could only scatter and flee.
Yet Fang Yuan had packed The Jackdaw with eight hundred undead pirates—there was nowhere for the Mermaids to escape.
"Captain, we've caught thirty-five Mermaids in total!"
"All alive!"
A Lackey reported.
Watching his skeletons pin a Mermaid to the sand in groups of three or five and line them up before him, Fang Yuan was dazzled by the thirty-five of them.
"Tsk… none of you bothered to find a shell to cover up?"
Even a man who'd seen countless women, Fang Yuan couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.
After all, these Mermaids were stark naked, not a stitch on them.
Once ashore, their tails had turned into legs—well, the view was… ahem.
Strictly speaking, the living dead didn't count as people, so on this beach it was just one man, Fang Yuan, and thirty-five unclothed women.
Enough talent to stock an entire Caribbean Euro-American division.
"Which of you is the leader? Step forward and speak," Fang Yuan coughed and called quickly.
"&%￥%@#!"
A Mermaid with an ashen face spoke up.
Fang Yuan cut her off: "Stop the gibberish; I know you speak the human tongue."
Sure enough, the Mermaid chieftain spat, "Wicked Land-man, what do you want?"
Fang Yuan gestured for his men to release the Mermaids, then lifted the Black King mask from his face, revealing his handsome features.
Clearly the Mermaids' eyes brightened at the sight; even the chieftain's disgust softened.
Mermaids, too, love beautiful things.
Put simply, they're all a bunch of face-judgers.
"Actually, I bear no malice—I simply wish to get closer to you," Fang Yuan said with a smile.
"But you tried to eat my crew the moment you arrived, so I had no choice but to restrain you first." He spread his hands in feigned helplessness.
Faced with Fang Yuan's reversal of blame, the Mermaid chieftain froze, her momentum faltering.
Strictly speaking, Fang Yuan wasn't wrong—it had indeed been the Mermaids who struck first.
Mermaids dwell long in the ocean; contact with humans mostly amounts to singing duets—how could they match Fang Yuan's twists and turns?
Most important, Fang Yuan's looks outstripped others by leagues; the chieftain was certain she'd never seen a finer face.
Whatever a handsome man says must be right!
"Who are you?" The chieftain staggered a few steps forward, clearly unaccustomed to walking on land.
She pitched forward; Fang Yuan's quick hands caught her at once.
Soft and warm in his arms, her skin was slick from long immersion in water.
"My name is Fang Yuan, a sea explorer. Hearing legends of Mermaids, I came especially to meet you."
His warm smile glowed as he asked gently, "And you—what is your name?"
The chieftain stared at him as though her heart might melt.
"Yago." She answered.
He had seen that look before—in Elizabeth.
Creatures far removed from the mortal World fall in love so easily; their hearts are blank pages.
Seeing Yago linger in his arms while the other Mermaids glanced with envy, Fang Yuan knew he had won.
With a wave of his hand, his men hauled heaps of raw meat, wine, and all manner of food from The Jackdaw.
Piled before the Mermaids, Fang Yuan declared, "A gift for our meeting. Follow me, and you'll never need to risk your lives hunting again!"
At once the Mermaids' eyes changed; without waiting for Yago's word they scrambled to the food and devoured it ravenously.
Half human they may be, but the other half remains Beast, and their hunger for food is fierce.
Not a single Mermaid still felt any rejection toward Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan raised an eyebrow: Beasts may never be slaves—unless food and lodging are provided; the saying's worth kept rising.
Yet to activate the Fountain of Youth required Mermaids' tears, not their smiles.
Fang Yuan, however, was no Blackbeard. Blackbeard clearly failed to grasp sustainable development, slaughtering Mermaids wantonly and earning the hatred of their entire race.
Were it not for a daughter both clever and foolishly filial, Blackbeard wouldn't even know what Mermaids' tears looked like.
Fang Yuan was different.
Obtaining Mermaids' tears didn't have to be brutal.
For Fang Yuan, making women cry was child's play.
Too much sorrow brings tears—so does overwhelming pleasure.
Climactic tears are still tears.
The details were too graphic to describe; suffice it to say that by the next dawn Fang Yuan had collected a large bottle of Mermaids' tears.
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