When Shu Tang woke up, she noticed that the apple hadn’t been touched.
Shu Tang: It’s so expensive, eighty yuan each!
She opened the curtains and saw that the morning rain had stopped and it had unexpectedly cleared up.
Shu Tang took out all the quilts to air, including the mermaid’s, and after she was done, she casually took some fresh fish to the cafeteria and asked the auntie there to cook it for lunch.
As for why the mermaid appeared on a rainy night and hid in the dark, not wanting her to find out it was him.
Shu Tang: Probably because he’s sensitive, introverted, and has a strong sense of pride.
Shu Tang had known many omegas since childhood, including her high school deskmate, a typical omega who would feel heartbroken with the moon and cry against the wind. Their tear ducts were developed, extremely sensitive, and particularly prone to stress.
Therefore, Shu Tang decided not to reveal this matter for now, and to talk about it when she visited the mermaid in Zone 01.
She went to work clocking in with her hands in her pockets and inquired about single dormitory arrangements in the break room.
Senior A: “You have to file a report to apply, and it’s very slow.”
After thinking it over, Shu Tang decided to write an application in the afternoon.
But what Shu Tang didn’t anticipate was that she soon received bad news: because the electricity had been restored, the interns had to come back for the night shift again.
This also meant that she couldn’t return to her dormitory at night and had to stay in the duty room all night.
Shu Tang was daydreaming during the morning meeting: So what about Little Rose tonight?
After dinner, Shu Tang caught up on some sleep in the staff lounge until she woke up at ten o’clock at night. The other interns were also waking up, yawning and complaining about Director Zhou being inhuman, and the seniors were all shirkers.
Shu Tang’s head was still fuzzy, not fully awake, until she heard the hospital broadcast a weather forecast:
“Tonight a cold wave is coming, with heavy to torrential rain at night, temperatures dropping to one or two degrees. Please add clothes to keep warm and guard against colds.”
That snapped Shu Tang to alertness, and she shivered from the cold air as she went to the window.
Su Yin stood next to her, unable to help sighing: “After the pollution area descended, the weather has been getting stranger and stranger.”
Shu Tang thought: She’s on the night shift and not in the dormitory, but the mermaid doesn’t know that. If he comes tonight, wouldn’t he not be able to find her? And it’s strangely cold tonight.
Shu Tang glanced at the time and said:
“Yin Yin, could you help me take an hour off later? I need to delay my arrival.”
Su Yin whispered, “Where are you going?”
“You know the sanatorium is under martial law now, they won’t let us wander around. Aren’t you afraid of encountering…”
Shu Tang turned her head: “It started raining, and I didn’t bring in my quilt.”
Su Yin: “…”
Su Yin: “Well, not bringing in the quilt is indeed serious.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Shu Tang ran off, taking advantage of her short stature to duck and slip away right under Director Zhou’s watch.
Due to recent nocturnal disturbances, everyone strictly followed the superior’s instructions to keep doors and windows shut.
At night, the sanatorium turned into a ghost town, eerily deserted and silent.
As usual, at midnight, the mermaid came to the dormitory building.
This time, however, he held an umbrella.
But as the tall, dark figure slowly approached the dormitory door, the mermaid suddenly stopped and turned his head slowly.
Shu Tang was holding an umbrella, standing under the only streetlight, looking into the distance.
She was waiting for someone.
The mermaid’s tall figure slowly retreated, stepping back into the rainy night, disappearing into the darkness.
Shu Tang hadn’t seen the mermaid initially, but she smelled something in the air that quickened her pulse, and she immediately noticed a vanishing shadow not far away.
Shu Tang quickly peered out.
The shadow disappeared completely—
— as if it had just been swallowed by the light of the street lamp.
Shu Tang spotted the trace, hesitated for a moment, but did not stop as she had the day before; instead, she chased after it.
Finally, she stopped in front of a storeroom at the end of the first floor of the dormitory.
Hiding in the darkness, the tall dark figure was silently watching Shu Tang. Unable to use the umbrella, the mermaid was drenched, rainwater dripping down from his silvery white hair, sliding past his pale, tightly pressed lips.
Shu Tang could vaguely feel someone watching her from the darkness.
Right inside the nearby storeroom.
At this moment, Shu Tang realized her actions were somewhat risky. Although the scent made her 80% certain the person was Little Rose, there was still a 20% chance—it was something indescribably dangerous.
Having realized this, a belated sense of crisis made her involuntarily frightened. In the face of the other’s icy gaze, she felt an impulse to turn around and run. This had nothing to do with her own thoughts; it was like an instinct carved into her biological body, making Shu Tang tense up, feeling as if all her hairs were standing on end.
But Shu Tang held back.
She hesitated no longer and pushed the door open to enter.
Shu Tang thought she could easily find the mermaid in the storeroom, calm it down, and then take little Rose away.
However, as soon as she stepped into the storeroom, the large door behind her creaked shut.
Instantly, Shu Tang felt as though she had stepped into some dangerous territory.
In the darkness, the mermaid’s tall figure loomed, its monster-like, dangerous eyes scrutinizing her. Its powerful mental force enveloped the small room from all sides, turning it into a perilous hunting ground.
“He” did not intend to scare her, which is why he had hidden himself. Yet, she pursued him relentlessly, determined to make “him” reveal himself.
So, the terrifying monster decided to give this little cat a scare, to tell her not to probe or be curious about who “he” is.
Nor to try and change the status quo.
At that moment, Shu Tang could distinctly feel the large figure just behind her, as if she could hear “his” heavy, steady breathing.
She turned around to get a clearer look at him, but the next second—
A cold, large hand covered her eyes, chilling with the coolness of the rainy night outside.
With her vision obstructed, her other senses became acutely sharp.
She felt his hand was very cold, as if it had been soaked in the rain for a long time. “His” touch was gentle, rigid yet delicately covering her eyes, not allowing her to see “his” appearance.
Despite this, because of the significant difference in size, when the mermaid slowly approached Shu Tang, there was still an absolute sense of oppression, as if merely covering her eyes was enough to leave her with no escape.
The mermaid maintained this position, covering her eyes and threateningly, slightly lifting her chin as he slowly drew closer, his icy breath instantly causing a shudder around her neck.
The neck is a vital spot—and this deep-sea predator could easily snap her neck.
Indeed, the little cat immediately stiffened up, her breathing even seemed to slow down.
After about two or three minutes, perhaps feeling that the threat was sufficient, the mermaid slowly let her go.
“He” silently conveyed his intention: this is where it should stop.
She should not keep pursuing “him” and exploring the truths that she feared.
The mermaid was ready to let her go, to retreat back into the darkness.
However, the moment he moved to remove his hand from covering her eyes—
Shu Tang suddenly reached out and swiftly caught the mermaid’s hand.
For the mermaid, the force she used was not enough to hinder him at all, but in the darkness, the tall mermaid lowered his gaze and stopped moving back, his pitch-black eyes fixed on her actions.
Shu Tang could see nothing, only able to follow the hand of the mermaid that covered her eyes, groping slowly backward and upward.
Shu Tang felt the mermaid’s still-dripping wet hair, and then his beautifully shaped yet icy cold lips.
Her warm fingers lingered for a moment on the mermaid’s lips, the gesture as gentle as a small fish touching him lightly in the deep sea.
The monster in the darkness slowly tilted its head, the icy lips cherishing the warmth of her fingertips as they lightly brushed across.
Shu Tang immediately withdrew her hand.
Shu Tang realized that the fish was completely drenched, with water still dripping from the tips of his hair, cold as ice on this night that was nearing zero degrees.
She sighed silently in her heart.
She had searched the wrong spot, but continued downward, finally finding the mermaid’s other hand.
Shu Tang breathed a sigh of relief and stuffed an eighty-dollar red apple into the mermaid’s hand.
The pale-faced mermaid slowly lowered his head, looking at the bright red apple in his hand.
Without looking back, she spoke to the tall creature behind her in the darkness:
“The rain is so heavy tonight,”
“Come with me, will you?”
After a long time.
So long that Shu Tang almost thought there would be no response.
Behind her, the mermaid slowly moved back, let go of her, and disappeared into the darkness, without making a sound.
Shu Tang tentatively took a few steps forward, pushed open the door of the storage room, and walked into the pouring rain.
Soon, amidst the pattering rain, footsteps followed behind her.
Shu Tang walked, “he” also walked.
Shu Tang stopped, “he” also stopped.
It seemed to silently answer her question.
Come with me, okay?
“Okay.”