It was deep into the night, and Shi Qing was playing with her own fishtail while starting to review her memories.
In reality, there weren't many memories to speak of. The original owner had a fishtail and looked like the kind and gentle mermaids from fairy tales, but in reality, being able to survive in the treacherous depths of the sea meant she couldn't be all that kind-hearted.
Compared to mermaids, she resembled more of a sea monster. In her inherited memories, sea monsters enjoyed lying by the reefs, luring ships with their singing, and then silently watching them run aground with a sinister delight.
Sea monsters had a notorious reputation in the ocean due to their formidable combat abilities and skin that appeared delicate but was incredibly tough. They dominated almost every corner of the deep sea.
In the cutthroat world of the sea, killing and consuming others was perfectly acceptable, as long as you were strong enough, you could claim entire stretches of the ocean.
But these malicious creatures, the sea monsters, didn't kill their prey for sustenance. Instead, they derived pleasure from tormenting and playing with their victims.
Cruelty seemed to be ingrained in their nature, and whenever they spotted a living being, they couldn't resist provoking it. If the other party didn't fare well, they were all the more pleased.
Many believed that creatures in the ocean had no memory and merely swam around aimlessly. However, in reality, deep-sea creatures also yearned for life and exhibited it by avoiding sea monsters whenever possible, playing dead when they couldn't.
Shallow waters were a different story. Sea monsters' attention was focused on humans every time they surfaced, leaving them little time to pay attention to the fish around them. The pretty little fish in shallow waters were unafraid of sea monsters and would even playfully chase after their tails or arms, pecking gently, creating a picturesque scene for observers.
Shi Qing finished reviewing her memories and found it somewhat amusing.
Shi Qing: "[System], now that I'm this strong, which protagonist can defeat me?"
Whether on land or in the deep sea, if a sea monster wanted to, it could easily kill anyone. In fact, underwater, it didn't even need to open its mouth; it could dispatch its prey directly.
The system cautioned carefully, "[Host], you're still in your juvenile form."
Shi Qing responded, "[Is there a difference? I can still rule the sea as I am now, can't I?"
She extended her pale, delicate arm towards the brilliantly bright moon shimmering on the sea's surface. Her initially harmless-looking, smooth, and pale fingernails revealed razor-sharp claws lurking beneath.
Extend and retract.
Extend and retract.
Just like land feline animals that appeared cute with soft paw pads, their fur, seemingly harmless, concealing razor-sharp claws ready to strike at any moment.
Shi Qing then glanced at her tail. This long, silvery tail shimmered in the moonlight, appearing radiant as if it were glowing. It looked like a piece of art, but in reality, it possessed tremendous lethality.
For comparison, by merely flicking her tail, she could easily fling a shark or an orca to its death.
Such power was available even in the vast ocean and was even more formidable on land.
Even though she was still in her juvenile form, hardly anyone could challenge her.
Even the cliché protagonist always-winning trope wouldn't make it easy to kill a sea monster.
Confident in this notion, Shi Qing began to examine the original plot.
As soon as she did, everything became clear.
Indeed, as the antagonist, she ended up killing the protagonist in the end.
She had thought so, if the protagonist could win even in such a scenario, then the protagonist would be too overpowered.
This world had recently undergone a massive cleansing.
The cleansing essentially meant that the planet could no longer sustain life, so it underwent a purification process, leveling the playing field by eliminating the human advantage at the top of the food chain. This prevented excessive exploitation of the planet's resources by humans.
Human dominance was primarily attributed to their technology. The planet had decisively cut off all electrical power sources.
Simultaneously, creatures that had gradually migrated to the deep sea as human technology advanced began to resurface.
Before the cleansing, humans had extensively explored terrestrial animals, but the deep sea remained uncharted territory. Nobody could fathom what lay beneath.
Such as sea monsters.
Sea monsters were solitary creatures. In her inherited memories, she had always lived alone. However, she possessed ancestral memories that revealed the tastiest delicacy was always humans. Therefore, upon sensing something amiss with the planet, she couldn't wait to surface.
During her ascent, she stumbled upon a deep-sea behemoth she had never seen or encountered in her inherited memories.
It looked peculiar, at least from her sea monster perspective.
In the pitch-black depths of the sea, except for sea monsters, who had developed night vision (such as herself), most creatures were effectively blind.
Their appearances were generally shaped by the notion of "since no one can see me, I might as well let loose."
There were bizarre forms.
Strange and exotic ones.
But there were no good-looking ones.
However, this sea monster, a creature she had never seen in her ancestral memories, was stunningly beautiful. It had large, razor-sharp claws and golden scales, each larger than her face. It sported long, floating whiskers in the dark abyss.
In the eyes of the sea monster, it was extraordinarily beautiful.
But it was also extraordinarily dangerous.
The behemoth somewhat resembled the colossal sea snakes she had seen in her inherited memories, but this massive sea snake, in comparison, was as insignificant as a newborn.
She had never seen such a gigantic creature in her life. It even dwarfed the dinosaurs mentioned in her ancestral memories.
Ordinarily, if any other creature had encountered it, they might have fled immediately. But sea monsters were not your average creatures; their nature was to toy with their prey. Even if this colossal creature was clearly beyond her ability to toy with, she still wanted to try.
So, she circled around it and noticed that its eyes remained shut. She swam up to its face.
Then, she saw a pearl as large as half her body enclosed within the colossal creature's mouth, shining brightly even in the deep sea.
Sea monsters adored all things shiny, so she eagerly swam into the colossal creature's mouth and snatched the pearl before fleeing.
After hiding the pearl, she went to have fun with humans on the shore.
However, when she reached the protagonist, the colossal creature woke up.
According to the author's plan, the protagonist was supposed to narrowly escape, and before the sea monster could kill the protagonist, the colossal creature would appear, save the day, and then return to the sea. For some reason, thanks to the author's "plot armor" device, this colossal creature would develop a fondness for humans and assist the protagonist on multiple occasions in the subsequent plot.
But the plot had deviated.
The protagonist didn't wait for the colossal creature to rescue her; she was killed by the sea monster first. Moreover, her death was gruesome.
With certainty, Shi Qing remarked, "The protagonist in this world is definitely not the person I'm looking for."
The system, puzzled, asked, "How do you know, Host?"
Shi Qing explained, "Because the protagonist in this world is the female lead."
The system responded with confusion, "???"
The system added, "..."
It looked at the information panel, contemplating the short-haired, scar-faced woman with a cigarette in her mouth, who was the female lead.
Shi Qing: "[In the entire plot, there are only two creatures besides me, and since it's not the female lead, it must be that colossal creature.]"
The current timeline indicated that he had already stolen the large pearl and had begun tempting the female lead. In other words, the awakening of the colossal creature was not far off.
The beautiful mermaid turned around and dived underwater, heading towards the deep sea.
Mermaids had night vision, and in Shi Qing's eyes, everything in the sea was crystal clear—the various coral reefs, the beautifully patterned small fish, and the large crabs brandishing their pincers.
He swam swiftly, reaching the depths in no time. The deeper he went, the more bizarre the creatures appeared. They were not only ugly but also ferocious, with many teeth protruding out. It was hard to find any words to describe their appearance other than "ugly and monstrous."
The sea monster continued to sway its tail as it descended, and wherever it went, any creatures with a semblance of intelligence would immediately steer clear of it.
Finally, Shi Qing found the colossal creature from his memories. He stopped in the water, gazing at the creature that was as tall as a skyscraper, covered in beautiful light yellow scales.
"It doesn't seem as massive as I remember, but this height is normal in the deep sea," he thought.
The system closed its visual systems and cautiously reminded him, "[Host, that's its... well... reproductive organ.]"
Shi Qing: "???"
He swung his beautiful tail and looked up.
"Wow, that's stimulating!"
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