A Mermaid's Survival Guide to the Apocalypse

Please add my next rebirth novel, "The Anti-Fraud Movie Star," or my sports novel, "I'm Not Normal, So Watch Yourself," to your favorites.

Mo An and Xia Yu: a member of the merfolk and a member of the jellyfish folk. In a cyberpunk apocalypse, these two little ones stumble through the wasteland, trying to survive. (Also known as: Two Unlucky Kids Take on the World.)

Blurb:

Xia Yu grew up as a test subject in a research institute. As far back as he could remember, everyone in the lab called him "Little Jellyfish."

Because his DNA was mixed with that of a jellyfish, he was insensitive to pain, could make certain parts of his body transparent, and could regenerate severed limbs.

He never resisted his fate. Every day, they dismantled him according to schedule. He thought his life would go on repeating like this until the day the robots became sentient and the institute was breached.

The humans who had once pointed scalpels at him fell. He had a chance to escape. Just before the institute's self-destruct sequence began, he couldn't bear to leave behind Mo An, another member of the X series, and carried him out.

A merfolk who had spent six whole years incubating inside a fish egg without showing any signs of life.

The world was no longer peaceful. Mechanical wars, rising mutants, rampant natural disasters, genetic mutations... Any one of these could kill them.

Ten-year-old Xia Yu braved the acid rain and fled with Mo An. He didn't know whether Mo An would ever hatch, but he had never considered abandoning this fish egg.

Until one day, Xia Yu was caught by an augmented human while trying to get an expensive bottle of nutrients to replace the fish egg's supply. As they threw him into a waste-processing plant to be dismantled, the one-meter-tall egg finally began to stir.

Little Jellyfish is stupid, but Little Jellyfish must not be hurt.

That was the only thought in Mo An's mind as he slipped out of the egg.

Notes:

* Merfolk are fierce and very fish-like, and they follow the rules of survival of the fish.

* I've changed the blurb. The title may change when I start posting, but the plot points from the previous blurb will definitely appear in the story.

* If you don't know much about cyberpunk, don't worry about not understanding it. I can't write anything too complicated anyway, hahaha.

Blurb for "The Anti-Fraud Movie Star":

A big-budget film starring the second-tier celebrity Lin Fanxing is about to premiere. He's on the verge of becoming a sensation, but dies in a car accident.

When Lin Fanxing opens his eyes again: Have I gone to heaven? This time, I'm going to have a proper romance!

But it turns out he's traveled back two years. He's still an obscure celebrity on the fringes, getting by on his looks, and secretly dating the newly crowned Best Actor Qin Xin, who's 22.

But this actor boyfriend gives him the silent treatment, emotionally abuses him, cheats on him, and never pays back the money he borrows.

In the end, Lin Fanxing asks to meet and break up. The other man replies: "No need. Dating you was a disgrace to me."

Given a second chance at life, Lin Fanxing originally planned to steer clear of that jerk. But by chance, he ends up taking an ad.

Since fate hasn't abandoned me, Lin Fanxing, who's been hurt to the core, decides to make Qin Xin regret ever calling him a disgrace.

Manager: "Go make yourself familiar to Qin Xin!"

Lin Fanxing walks straight up to Qin Xin and gives him a cold smile. "Hey, that chair's mine."

Manager: ???

Unexpectedly, Qin Xin looks up and flashes his little tiger teeth. "Brother Fanxing?"

Manager: !!!

From then on, Lin Fanxing has a puppy-like actor trailing after him.

This time, Lin Fanxing lets his demanding side shine. The actor serves him food, and he spins the table away. The actor pours him water, and he refuses to drink. The actor sings karaoke, and he changes the song. He even insists on parachuting into a film invested in by the actor, scoring himself the second male lead.

On screen, Lin Fanxing embraces Qin Xin. They whisper intimately, their faces close, and shed passionate tears.

Qin Xin, playing the younger brother: "I'm here, Brother."

Lin Fanxing looks moved on the outside, but laughs cruelly inside as he puts an arm around the actor and cuddles up to him. He thinks: You little brat. Isn't this humiliating enough for you?

Unexpectedly, a year later, a criminal who had impersonated Qin Xin to scam people is caught. One of the victims releases their chat history, and Lin Fanxing finds it strangely familiar.

It looks exactly like his own chat history from back then.

He'd mistaken the wrong person for the culprit and taken revenge on the wrong person.

Would quitting the entertainment industry tomorrow keep him safe? Lin Fanxing's pupils tremble as he looks at the actor, who's crouched at home mopping the floor.

As if sensing something, Qin Xin comes over and wraps both hands around his wrists. "Brother Fanxing, where do you want to go?"

* The gong is sweet on the outside and dark on the inside.

* No real-life inspirations. The setting is entirely fictional, so please don't make real-world comparisons in the comments.

* I'm not very good at writing the entertainment industry, so please don't take it too seriously.

Theme: Protect marine life