A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

Scales? Fish scales?

Zhou Xun stopped rowing and went to the corpse. He reached out and touched the fish scales on Erdan's body, then looked up at Li Jitong and said, "Master, how can a person have fish scales? Could this be a mermaid from legend?"

Li Jitong then took the pipe out of his mouth, his brows furrowed, looking as if he had never seen anything like it before.

However, he was certain that this was definitely not a mermaid.

Zheng Xuan knew the whole story, and his understanding of mermaids was much deeper than that of the two people present, after all, his wife was a mermaid.

The reason why Erdan's corpse was covered in scales was entirely due to the injection of drugs by those foreign devils.

But what kind of medicine could make people grow scales?

Thinking of this, Zheng Xuan said, "Senior brother, you must be joking. There are no mermaids in this world. You must be taking the legends as fact, right?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong picked up his pipe, took a puff, and said, "Mermaids have existed since ancient times; many ancient books record them."

"For example, the Classic of Mountains and Seas records: 'Mermaids have the body of a fish and the face of a human, and their voice is like that of a mandarin duck. Eating them will prevent scabies.'"

"For example, the Southern Song Dynasty's 'In Search of the Supernatural' records: 'Beyond the South China Sea there are mermaids, as large as fish, who do not cease weaving, and their tears can turn into pearls.'"

"In addition, there are records in the Taiping Guangji of the Tang Dynasty and Nie Tian's Zuyi Ji, and even our Heshenmen has records. During the Ming Dynasty, the sixteenth generation leader of our Heshenmen accompanied the eunuch Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean."

"When we stopped at the Wanshan Islands in the South China Sea, we encountered mermaids. They also had a country called Quanxian Kingdom. They lived in the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea. According to the sixteen generations of ancestors, the mermaids were ugly men and beautiful women. The male mermaids were ugly, so they were called fish people, because they were said to look more like fish. The female mermaids were beautiful, so they were called mermaids, because they were said to look more like humans."

"When Eunuch Sanbao returned from the Western Ocean, he brought back a mermaid, who was bestowed the title of 'Fish Beauty' by Emperor Xuanzong. A pond was built in the back garden of the palace for her to play with."

"Later, when the Great Jing Dynasty was founded, these barbarians went to the South China Sea to search for the merfolk, but whether the merfolk hid themselves or for some other reason, they ultimately came up empty-handed."

Upon hearing Li Jitong's words, Zheng Xuan was also surprised. Could the country of Quanxian in the South China Sea have any connection with the fisherwoman?

Zheng Xuan was thinking, while Li Jitong took a puff from his pipe and said, "However, the scales on this child's body should not have been left by a mermaid. According to our ancestors' records, mermaid scales are like clouds, not like these scales that are just like those of a sea fish."

Zhou Xun asked, "Then how come this person has scales on their body?"

Li Jitong shook his head and said, "That's hard to say."

Zheng Xuan asked, "Does our River God Sect have any similar records?"

Li Jitong said, "If we really look for it, there are a few words recorded in the writings of our 16th-generation ancestor who accompanied the eunuch Sanbao on his voyages to the Western Ocean. Not far from the Wanshan Islands, they encountered pirates. Among the pirates was a very peculiar one, with half his body covered in fish scales and extraordinary fighting power."

"It took the combined efforts of our ancestor and four powerful beings at the seventh or eighth level of the Sequence to subdue this monster."

"After further inquiry and some other means, we learned that this group of pirates had a cruel ritual: every year they would capture ten children and inject them with the blood of a strange fish they had caught. Most of the children would die suddenly, but only this one survived, and that is the monster in front of us."

"Did the dead child have scales on his body?"

When Zhou Xun inquired, Li Jitong shook his head and said, "I don't know, my ancestors didn't record it."

Upon hearing this, the three fell silent once more. Zheng Xuan, however, was filled with a sudden surge of emotion. If he could successfully inject the strange fish's blood into a human body, he would transform into a powerful monster.

Are these foreign devils experimenting on us Chinese people?

Zheng Xuan frowned, considered the matter carefully, and then spoke up, "Master, these corpses were stolen from foreigners. Do you think it's possible that the foreigners are using these people to create those strange beings left behind by our ancestors?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong's brows furrowed immediately: "Ah Xuan, are you saying that those foreign devils are using the lives of us Han people to create monsters!"

Zheng Xuan said, "It's just a guess."

Li Jitong said, "No, those foreign devils commit all sorts of atrocities, including arson, murder, and looting. They are also adept at stealing things from China, and they even came to the corpse retrieval team to buy corpses that had turned into zombies. They have ulterior motives!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun asked, "Then what do we do now? Should we report it to the authorities?"

"We mustn't report this to the authorities!"

Zheng Xuan and Li Ji spoke at the same time, and Zhou Xun, taken aback, asked, "Why?"

Li Jitong then looked at Zheng Xuan, his eyes narrowed as if he were testing him. Zheng Xuan looked at Zhou Xun and said, "What status do foreign devils have in Dajing? Even the emperor and empress dowager avoid them. These officials are even more afraid of foreigners like tigers and leopards. If we report to the authorities, firstly, the government will not dare to accept it, and secondly, if the foreigners collude with the government, we will be in a passive position."

"The officials might even help the foreigners cover up the evidence. Then the three of us would become the biggest threat to those foreigners!"

"The government cannot be trusted."

Zheng Xuan gave the final summary.

Li Jitong nodded slightly, acknowledging Zheng Xuan's insightful perspective. Zhou Xun, upon hearing this, also didn't think there was anything wrong with what Zheng Xuan said. They knew all too well what was going on with this damned imperial court.

Thinking this through, Zhou Xun said, "So what do we do now? Reporting to the authorities won't work, so how about we take the body back to the body retrieval team?"

Zheng Xuan shook his head again: "Too many people around, and they're not reliable."

Zhou Xun frowned: "This won't work, that won't work, what should we do?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong looked at Zheng Xuan and said, "Xuan, just say what you want to say. It's just the three of us here, so no one else will know."

Zhou Xun also said, "Junior brother, you're quick-witted, speak up."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan said, "This matter is too big. We are just three corpse retrievers. We have no soldiers or power and can't handle so much. Let's find a place to bury the body and then pretend we know nothing about it."

Upon hearing this, Li Jitong frowned and said, "These foreign devils are causing trouble for us Han people, and we're just pretending not to know. It's really cowardly."

Zhou Xun then advised from the side, "Master, if even the imperial court can't handle this, why should we? We're just unlucky to have such an imperial court."

Li Jitong was so angry that he gritted his teeth. He had been a soldier in the past. When foreign ships and cannons attacked Tianjin, he was a sailor. Unfortunately, the court was corrupt and the officials were incompetent. The country was defeated in one battle and signed an unequal treaty.

The thought of his brothers, who had risked their lives with him, dying at the hands of foreigners filled Li Jitong with rage.

But no matter how angry you are, you have to face reality. The court is corrupt, it pretends to be peaceful, incompetent officials are in power, and that old witch is in charge. She has set the tone for the country: "Better to give to outsiders than to traitors within the family."

The entire court is now more concerned with guarding against Han Chinese than against foreigners. Li Jitong's fervent patriotism can only fade away on the Haihe River.