Ch 164: The World’s Number One Resort

“Tang Huai, native of Shengze in Huning City, 22 years old, graduate of Huaxia University with a major in Communication Engineering, currently the general manager and absolute owner of Sora Resort…” Vance scrutinized Tang Huai, then began speaking directly.

Tang Huai was not surprised by Vance’s introduction. According to Frank’s earlier investigation, the GreatTooth had been circling around Sora Island for three days, which was more than enough time for Vance to gather detailed information about the island.

“Are you looking for that fish?” Vance lit another cigar, a ROSE, imported from France—one of his favorite, extremely rare cigar brands.

“Where is Yu You?” Tang Huai cut to the chase without beating around the bush. From the moment he arrived on the island, he hadn’t planned on concealing his intentions. Both of them knew what this was about, so there was no need for any pretense.

After Tang Huai asked, the room fell into a brief silence.

“Yu You, huh? I came up with that name myself… Boss Tang, would you like to see my masterpiece?” Vance took a deep puff of his cigar and inquired.

Tang Huai paused. He had a rough idea of what Vance meant by “masterpiece.”

They left the room and headed to the port of Sule Island. Docked nearby was a small speedboat. Under the watchful eyes of the guards, they both boarded.

“Isn’t the ocean fascinating? It covers three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and is home to hundreds of thousands of life forms. Compared to the land, the ocean is more like the Earth’s main stage,” Vance said as he stood on the deck half an hour later.

Although they were meeting for the first time, Vance spoke as if they were old friends catching up after many years.

Tang Huai didn’t indulge in idle chatter; he observed his surroundings instead, calculating the coordinates of the speedboat.

Sule Island is located south of Malaysia, relatively small but surrounded by open sea. Vance’s destination lay directly south of Sule Island—another isolated island, albeit in a more complex and rugged sea area.

Feeling the silence after not receiving a response from Tang Huai, Vance soon grew bored.

A tense quiet fell between them.

It was 3 PM, local time in Malaysia. The sun was shining brightly over the endless sea. If not for the tense atmosphere, this could have been a pleasant holiday trip.

The black and red speedboat moved forward, and after another half-hour, they reached their destination.

This island was even more secluded than Sule Island; it was Vance’s stronghold.

As the boat approached the shore, three men with headscarves emerged cautiously from behind the rocks. Vance gestured, and the men lowered their rifles. The boat anchored, and Tang Huai and Vance disembarked.

“Let’s go.” Vance muttered a few words to the men, after which a dark green off-road vehicle emerged.

Vance sat in the front seat while Tang Huai, monitored by the guards, sat in the back. The terrain was rough, so the off-road vehicle made its way with some difficulty.

Shortly after, the vehicle stopped beside a three-story building. The building had a modern design, heavily guarded.

Vance led the way inside, with Tang Huai following. The interior resembled a large laboratory, filled with researchers in white lab coats. As they went deeper, Tang Huai’s heart grew heavy.

Inside the building were various cultivation tanks containing all sorts of marine creatures. These creatures looked grotesque, covered in tubes. Judging by the bubbles coming from them, most were still alive, though clearly not enjoying it.

They proceeded to the basement level. In front of them was a metal door that looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Vance entered a password, and the door slid open, revealing an even larger laboratory with over twenty researchers.

“Mr. Vance.” The researchers greeted Vance courteously.

Vance nodded casually.

“How is it?” The laboratory was both sleek and functional. Vance boasted to Tang Huai, proud of the design and the skilled researchers inside. This laboratory had taken him five years to build and perfect.

Tang Huai didn’t respond but kept his gaze fixed on the center of the laboratory.

In the middle of the laboratory stood a three-meter-tall cultivation tank. Hundreds of fine tubes connected to the outside of the tank. Three researchers were monitoring the object inside the tank while carefully recording data.

This cultivation tank occupied the most open area in the laboratory. Nearby were several small jars filled with bloated sea fish, all connected to the main tank.

Inside the tank was a naked man, about 1.8 meters tall. His eyes were closed, and intricate markings covered his face. The upper part of his body appeared normal, but from the waist down, eight two-meter-long, twenty-centimeter-thick tentacles extended, writhing reflexively.

Tang Huai’s brow furrowed slightly; the man in the tank was Yu You.

“The offspring of a mermaid and an octopus, the only one of its kind on Earth. Isn’t it a perfect piece of art?” Vance walked up to Tang Huai, his voice tinged with a hint of admiration.

Tang Huai turned around.

“I found him three years ago at the bottom of the Bay of Bengal…” Vance said as he looked at Yu You, not hiding any details.

Ten minutes later, Tang Huai understood the background story.

Vance, a notorious drug lord from South Africa, had moved to Mexico when he was forced to flee the country due to an international crackdown. He discovered Yu You three years ago while escaping to a remote volcanic island covered with rare tropical trees.

Vance intended to stay on the island for only a few days. However, during his search for food, he stumbled upon a gigantic clam, which contained a mermaid-like being—Yu You. Based on the clam’s condition, Yu You had been inside for at least three thousand years. At that time, Yu You was in a state of hibernation, an extraordinary biological phenomenon.

Vance transported the clam and Yu You away. For unknown reasons, the clam turned to dust during the transport, but Yu You remained alive.

Vance sent out his men to the ancient villages around the Bay of Bengal to gather information. Finally, an elder spoke of an ancient legend that once mermaids lived in the Bay of Bengal. These mermaids were half-human, half-fish but were scarce and individually weak. Due to natural selection, they had been eliminated from the ocean.

Yu You was the offspring of a mermaid and an octopus, considered a disgrace by the mermaid race. When mermaids died, they would seal themselves inside a giant clam. This wasn’t permanent; usually, within three to five years after death, they would dissipate inside the clam. From Yu You’s situation, it seemed he was sealed by the mermaid tribe upon reaching adulthood.

The combination of mermaids and octopuses was viewed as an ill omen of the sea.

Though Vance found the story perplexing, he grasped one key point: Yu You had been sealed for over three thousand years, yet he was still alive.

Vance formed a research team to study Yu You. After half a year of research, Yu You was awakened. Due to the prolonged time in the clam, his memories of the mermaid era were faint. Everything in the laboratory piqued his curiosity.

Vance hired life coaches to teach Yu You modern knowledge.

Yu You’s learning ability was astonishing. Within half a year, he had mastered nearly a hundred languages and had hearing and vision hundreds of times more sensitive than those of ordinary people.

Vance, being ambitious, wanted to exploit Yu You to gain wealth beyond measure.

Yu You stayed in the laboratory for a year. Apart from normal research, Vance conducted blood extractions, whippings, and other experiments to test Yu You’s limits. The results indicated that Yu You was an exceptional specimen.

A year later, Yu You disappeared. At that time, Vance was preparing to conduct a deep-sea pressure experiment, bringing Yu You to the Pacific Ocean. During this time, Tang Wangchun’s fleet passed by, leading to a fierce conflict between the two parties.

Despite being a notorious drug lord, Vance’s influence in the Pacific paled compared to Tang Wangchun. Forced to flee, Vance accidentally left Yu You behind. Tang Wangchun discovered him and brought him to the Ring City Villa.

The Ring City Villa was one of Tang Wangchun’s hidden assets. Vance had secretly sent people to search around Mexico twice but found nothing. He then shifted his focus to South America, believing the dense tropical rainforests there would provide an ideal hiding place.

“If it weren’t for Obrien’s incident, I wouldn’t have found him,” Vance concluded, his gaze fixed on Yu You in the cultivation tank, eyes burning with intensity.

After two years of twists and turns, he finally managed to find him again.

“What about those wounds?”

Vance looked a bit smug, while Tang Huai took two deep breaths, his eyes lowering slightly. From his angle, he could see strange wounds on Yu You’s abdomen and arms. These wounds had scabbed over, but it was clear how severe they must have been.

“Just some simple experiments,” Vance said dismissively. These experiments were indeed “simple”—simple enough to be repeated countless times every month.

“A mermaid state, an octopus state, a hybrid organism… If we can uncover the principle behind this biological transformation, it would be a groundbreaking study.” Vance continued, his tone growing more excited.

Three years ago, Vance only wanted to understand the secret of Yu You’s long survival and apply it to human experiments. Now, besides the prospect of immortality, he was more interested in discovering the mechanics of Yu You’s transformations. If these principles could be clarified, he could potentially merge with birds, fish, or any other creatures at will.

This idea thrilled him far more than the drug trade ever could.

Vance shivered with excitement.

“So, what’s your reason for luring me here?” Tang Huai asked calmly.

From the moment he set foot on Sula Island, Vance had the power to capture him. Yet, even now, Vance treated him casually, like an old friend. It was obvious that Vance had an ulterior motive.

“Would Mr. Tang be interested in joining this research?” Vance finally cut to the chase, dismissing the nearby researchers and staring directly at Tang Huai.

Tang Huai was slightly taken aback. Then, Vance’s intentions became clear to him.

In this modern economy, maintaining a high-tech lab like this required a lot of money, both for the research itself and for the staff’s salaries.

The drug trade was indeed lucrative, but with the intensified global crackdown on drug smuggling and frequent incidents involving downstream suppliers, Vance was finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. He was starting to run out of resources.

Vance had considered collaborating with major international biotech companies. However, reaching out was complicated, and there was a high risk of betrayal. Caught in this dilemma, Vance noticed the opportunity presented by Tang Huai.

The Great Tang had money and land. More importantly, Tang Huai had met Yu You before. This made him the perfect partner.

“If we work together, even if the research fails, selling the merman to major biotech companies would guarantee huge profits…”

“Bang—”

Vance continued to tempt Tang Huai, but before he could finish speaking, a loud noise came from the cultivation tank. It was the sound of something hitting the glass.

Tang Huai looked up, only to see that Yu You had already awakened.

His face was now covered in totemic patterns, and he was staring directly at Tang Huai, who met his gaze.

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