Desharow Merman/德萨罗人鱼 by 深海先生 (English TL)

Chapter 3

Step by step, I approached the top of the cylinder tank. My steps were very light. Even when I came to the side of the merman, it did not seem to make any response. Though, through a layer of glass we are only a step away.

I carefully kept my pace and movement, because it was so static that I could keep track of it. I put the glow stick aside, switched on the DV's night vision mode. Leaning against the outside of the tank, I began to video it for different angles, from its tail to its head. In the dim water, the long, fair-shaped tail of the merman was like a boa constrictor in a tuft of water grass, and the three wing-like fins were folded together like a cloud of black smoke, like the mist of a squid.

I couldn't help but imagined that when it appeared in deep sea, it must have been as eerie as a shadow from hell. It would scare one to death if he meets it while underwater diving.
It's impossible to measure exactly how long its lower body is, but it can be measured at about 2 meters. With its upper body, it's roughly the size of an adult tiger shark. I wondered if it has the same attack.

With this in mind, I adjusted the camera's angle, along its tail up, the camera showed the back of the merman. When I was on the deck, I only glimpsed its upper body and thought it was the same as that of a human being. At that moment, when I looked closely, I realized that there was a shimmering substance outside the skin of the merman, just like the skin of the white whale I had seen before.

It was not only the existence of the merman felt unreal, but also what exactly happened there and then. I had an illusion of being in a dream.
Was a merman a creature of this world? Was there another planet beneath the ocean that we never knew about?

I shook my head and forced my mind to return to real life from sensual reverie. Damn it! Why are you thinking that? If Rhein had heard me, he might have laughed at my ridiculous sophistry.

Merman was right there, what was I thinking!
Laughing at myself, I refocused on his skin. That must be a protective mucous membrane, which is why merman didn't get ugly wrinkles and become extremely fragile after being submerged for a long time, as humans do. Their skin looked smooth, maybe as tough as shark skin.

Thinking this way, I couldn't help but feel the urge to touch the skin of the merman. At that time, I suddenly found a strange detail in the DV lens.

The merman's long, powerful arm was covered with a large, bloodless wound, the skin of which was revealing the flesh of it, and there were hideous bite marks which seemed to have been made by a shark.

I became nervous: damn, I hadn't noticed it earlier. He could be probably very weak, and he was getting anaesthetic needles, no wonder he was so quiet all the time!

At that point, I was glad to take the medicine box with me. Quickly put up the DV, I climbed toward the top of the water column. Perhaps I was making too much noise, at the same time, I caught a glimpse of the shadow below, which crept up quietly with me.

The merman was just under my feet. The fact made me take a deep breath and look down.
I was standing on the semi-circular metal platform where the keepers were feeding it, and through the tiny holes I could see the changing light of the waves, but could not tell where the merman was.

Splash...

Below came the sound of the water, the hole in the light suddenly disappeared, a very different dark color swept past. The merman swam to the other side of the platform, which was a transparent glass door outside the guardrail, the only way to escape from the water.

I didn't want to open the door that might have been dangerous, but there seemed to be no better way to treat the merman's wounds. I didn't want it to die of infection.