They say the eyes are the windows to the soul.
Previously, the mermaid’s soul’s windows were closed, but since his eyes turned blue, Shu Tang has found it easier to sense the mermaid’s emotions.
For example, when she was playing Go with the mermaid, Shu Tang was deep in thought, hesitating with the black stone in her hand, and when she looked up, she saw the mermaid looking at her with tender affection.
Shu Tang: “……”
What does he mean?
For example, when Shu Tang stays in bed in the morning and rolls around hugging the mermaid’s tail, she notices the mermaid’s gaze becoming very strange. Normally, she wouldn’t notice anything amiss, but now, with one glance from the mermaid, Shu Tang immediately realizes something is off and hurriedly burrows into the quilt.
But it was too late; she tragically revisited a new position from last night.
For example, Shu Tang and the mermaid undertake challenging language exercises every morning.
However, after opening the window to the soul, Shu Tang finally discovered the truth.
As soon as class begins, the mermaid adopts an expression that says, “I’m just playing games with a child.”
The mermaid pretends to listen attentively, and because his eyes are black, Shu Tang can’t tell whether he is focused or not.
But now, Shu Tang finally notices that during class, the mermaid’s attention is on her lips;
Throughout the class, he is entirely focused on playing with her hair.
Shu Tang is furious.
She feels that after the window to the soul was opened, some cracks appeared in their otherwise perfect relationship. It seems that mystery creates beauty.
However, there are exceptions:
At least, every morning, seeing the blue eyes of the mermaid under the dew makes Shu Tang’s heart flutter; while watching TV together and exchanging glances, she is also mesmerized by his sunlit azure eyes, often forgetting that she is supposed to be watching TV.
After the mermaid notices this, he pretends as if nothing has happened.
But often, he casually picks the best-lit angle, among the blue roses in the garden, and with those beautiful eyes, he stares at Shu Tang with a half-smile, his beautiful long hair and fins seeming to glow.
And every time she sees this scene, she is uncontrollably drawn to the mermaid’s side, lifted by the chin and lazily kissed.
This new method of teasing is repeatedly successful.
So much so that it took Shu Tang a long time to realize she had been fooled.
Of course, once the mermaid’s eyes return to normal, more and more people recognize his identity. Even on the first day after they turned blue again, as they walked into the research institute, they were greeted with a salute as all the researchers took off their hats. More and more people began to call him “the founder” upon first meeting him.
Shu Tang feels that when the mermaid’s eyes were black, it was like they were censored. Moreover, the mermaid’s demeanor was somewhat intimidating, and Shu Tang was the only one who dared to look closely. Now, that sinister aura has faded a lot with the blue eyes, very much like Zhu Yan from ten years ago.
The recognizability has greatly increased.
Although going out often results in getting a couple of extra buns, to avoid unnecessary trouble, Shu Tang and the mermaid no longer go to crowded places for shopping.
They switched to walking at dawn and dusk when there are fewer people, and spent most of their time in the manor.
Shu Tang knew that the mermaid had done something recently that had restored their peaceful life. But after she smelled the scent of blood on the mermaid, she never asked about it again, not until the mermaid stopped going out in the middle of the night. Only then did she stop worrying every day about whether the mermaid would come back.
When the mermaid began to lazily flip its tail at home every day, Shu Tang knew this was a sign of safety. At that time, she merely thought she didn’t have to worry anymore, but she didn’t expect that what followed would be somewhat unexpected.
Time flew by quickly, and the calendar soon had only a few days left.
One morning, Shu Tang heard a piece of news:
“It is reported that a huge psychic entity has recently appeared in the skies over Yan City…”
Shu Tang was very shocked.
She always thought they would deny the existence of the mermaid’s psychic form and make up excuses to gloss over it, just as they had done in South Island City.
But unknowingly, things had changed.
The news directly acknowledged that it was the Founder’s psychic entity and even continuously aired special reports, displaying its enormity and strength.
Shu Tang saw the new spokesperson on TV, surprisingly it was Little Chen, whom she hadn’t seen for a long time.
And it seemed that Little Chen had been promoted.
He appeared among many big shots and was standing in the front row.
Shu Tang was very shocked.
Many intricate struggles, like the battle for supremacy in Nine Dragons or the political drama in House of Cards, filled her mind, but all these imaginations were shattered.
Because when she turned her head, she saw the mermaid lazily flipping its tail, squinting in enjoyment of the sunlight and the spray from the garden flowers.
—This was Shu Tang’s inspiration while watering the plants.
She bought an automatic rotating spray nozzle fixed to the wall, so she could water the plants while also sprinkling water on the mermaid’s tail.
This way, the dry summer in Yan City wouldn’t feel too dry for the house’s fish.
Shu Tang saw a rainbow over the mermaid’s head, and she was immediately drawn to it, completely forgetting what had just happened.
…
Zhu Yan’s nickname was “Human Nuclear Weapon,” and even before mutating, he was already one of the federation’s top special forces, unmatched in combat strength.
However, a decade has passed, and with generational changes, many people’s memories of events from ten years ago have grown vague. Furthermore, many young people, naïve about the realities of the world, have taken positions of power, believing they can control this monster, tempted by the prospect of immense benefits.
But as Chen Sheng reminded, the mermaid is no longer the old Zhu Yan.
This deep-sea beast adheres to only one rule: survival of the fittest.
In the face of this monster, those impeccably dressed politicians of human civilization hold no value in negotiations; it directly drags them into another dark jungle law.
Here, the law of the jungle prevails, and the strong are revered.
Thus, after changing leaders for both factions, the world became peaceful.
The monster, finding no more threats to its lair, went home.
The storms outside did not affect their little home at all. They still read books and watched TV together by the window, and watered the plants under the shower when the sun was out.
However, gradually, many people began to visit their estate.
There were quite a few faces frequently seen on TV.
The first visitors were a couple.
Shu Tang initially didn’t recognize them; she thought they were there to help clean the estate—Little Chen had said that gardeners and cleaning ladies would come every few days, so Shu Tang just let them help clean up the small garden in front of the estate.
The couple looked at each other, but recalling certain images, they obediently took the broom and swept the floor.
They could not imagine that this terrifying monster also had a lover. If it were the Zhu Yan of ten years ago, there might have been many followers, but now this creature, completely unrecognizable as “human,” was both revered and feared.
They always believed that this girl rumored to be captured.
Until they heard whispers and laughter coming through the window.
…
Shu Tang noticed that each cleaning crew was different, so she tied up the blue roses pruned from her home with zip ties and hung them on the door, leaving a basket of bouquets.
Because each time they left, they received a bundle of blue roses.
Later, there arose a rumor called “Blue Rose Diplomacy.”
It meant that anyone who could visit the great leader would receive a blue rose.
Life in the manor was secluded from the world.
Because of the blooming blue roses, it was nicknamed: Blue Rose Manor.
It was like the residence of a monster in a fairy tale castle, filled with mystery and legend.
However, in reality, the monster and his girl spent most of their time in the kitchen flipping through cookbooks, trying to cook new dishes together.
One would blow up the kitchen, attempting the ultimate dark cuisine with Isatis root instant noodles; the other was in charge of finishing all the failed dishes of the little cat.
They were always slow to notice changes in the outside world.
One morning, while watching the federal news, Shu Tang saw the janitor uncle who came to mop the floor yesterday and realized something was amiss.