Cat A is also an Alpha! Chapter 19

Shu Tang noticed the mermaid’s gaze turning toward the umbrella—her umbrella-repair skills were really terrible. She held the broken umbrella and said resentfully:

“This umbrella is broken, but I can buy a new one. Let’s just make do with it for now, I’ll buy you a new one when I get back.”

Shu Tang did not realize the significance of this umbrella to the mermaid: It was the first gift “she” had given “him.”

She reached out to touch the mermaid again, thinking “he” would dodge again or continue to lift her up.

But the mermaid made no move.

After confirming that Shu Tang did not show a frightened expression or any intention to run, the strong resistance and hostility that the mermaid had just shown melted away like ice and snow.

Shu Tang successfully touched the mermaid’s cheek.

Cold and devoid of any warmth, she touched a very obvious bruise on “his” face, afraid of hurting “him,” she quickly withdrew her hand.

The mermaid simply tilted his head slowly, the pain from the bruises he bumped into was nothing compared to the sharp nerve pain.

Of course, Shu Tang knew the torment mental outbursts brought to someone. She sighed, touched the mermaid’s long hair, and clumsily circled her fingers around the mermaid’s temples, using techniques she learned from books to help alleviate “his” nerve pain. Her fingers accidentally touched the mermaid’s fin, but this time the fin did not stand up sharply.

The pleasant scent on her body was extremely soothing, and the warmth from her fingers slowly relaxed the mermaid’s tense muscles.

Having endured such a severe mental outburst today, the mermaid slowly closed his eyes in her pleasant scent, as if after a long journey, finally reaching the end.

Then, the mermaid’s tail enclosed Shu Tang in the middle. This tail could easily snap a several-ton exploration ship in half with brute force, but now it gently touched Shu Tang, lightly brushing against her calf like a feather.

Shu Tang looked down.

The mermaid’s tail was covered in scratches and several scales had been torn off, glowing with a faint blue light in the basement, like shattered blue diamonds scattered on the ground.

The scales of this cold creature gave off a chilling feeling, yet this mysterious species of mermaid seemed like a divine creation, each scale a beautiful work of art, making the tail appear a mysteriously beautiful shade of blue.

Shu Tang asked the mermaid, “Is your tail injured?”

The mermaid seemed to understand and perhaps noticed her gaze, flicking its tail before resting it by her hand. Shu Tang then took the opportunity to examine “his” tail.

There were pale blue traces of blood on the tail, but it was no longer bleeding, and the situation was not severe—it was just some scales that had been lost through its own thrashing.

Shu Tang casually picked up the blue “broken diamonds” from the ground and stored them away, suddenly feeling like she was collecting fur shed by a pet at home.

However, when Shu Tang turned around, she found the mermaid had somehow leaned against the ruins, eyes closed, motionless.

Shu Tang was startled; had she not felt the mermaid’s heavy breathing, she would have almost thought the fish had died.

Shu Tang panicked: “He” had just been fierce, hissing at her, locking her up, and even seemed like he wanted to destroy the world, as if he could crush ten of her with ease, fiercely terrifying.

But then, just like that, he faintly collapsed.

The cat concluded: It was just a bluff!

She crawled over and touched the mermaid’s face, whose complexion was extremely pale, even the lips were pallid.

The dangers of a psychic burst are not only because the patient might go mad and cause great destruction around them; it is also because such outbursts cause severe damage to the body, and many people gradually weaken and die young from repeated psychic bursts.

Even after the psychic burst subsides, severe sequelae can occur, and if it causes a high fever, it could be disastrous, as it might burn the mental realm and pose a life-threatening risk.

Fortunately, the mermaid didn’t start burning.

But that doesn’t mean he won’t develop a fever over the course of the night.

Shu Tang looked around; the place was wet and cold, with the ceiling still leaking.

Shu Tang grabbed the mermaid’s arm, wanting to drag him to the “nest” in the Bastille.

Last time she tried to pull the mermaid from the rocks and struggled without success, Shu Tang always held a grudge, thinking it wasn’t that she couldn’t pull him out, but that the mermaid was secretly exerting force.

But this time, with the mermaid asleep, she realized how truly heavy he was, being so large.

Shu Tang was exhausted, her forehead dripping with sweat as she breathed heavily. In the end, all she managed was to drag the mermaid a short distance away from the leaking ceiling.

The unconscious mermaid was vaguely aware of his surroundings, sensing someone tugging at his arm forcefully and, unable to move him, shifting to drag his tail instead. The mermaid despised any creature touching his tail; any careless touch would result in being whipped away hundreds of meters by a swift lash of it.

However, perhaps it was Shu Tang’s scent that soothed him, as the normally irascible mermaid did not retaliate. Eventually, Shu Tang sat down beside him and quickly dismissed any thought of dragging him to the Bastille. She thought to herself: Well, at least it’s not leaking anymore, let’s just make do for now.

Shu Tang remembered her supermarket shopping bag was still by the elevator, containing food and a medical kit she had brought. Thus, she got up and went back to fetch it, guided by the light from her communicator.

Throughout her journey, Shu Tang’s communicator had no signal, and she couldn’t hear any sound from outside. The whole sanatorium seemed like a ghost town; it was pitch black outside, as if even the streetlights were gone.

Shu Tang was worried: If everyone had left, what would become of the two of them?

The mermaid was still unconscious, and she couldn’t just drag him along to chase after the bus!

But Little Chen was reliable. Even if he had left, he probably remembered that there were two people here, right?

On her way back, Shu Tang was concerned that she and the mermaid would be forgotten here. Wouldn’t they then have to start a wilderness survival script? And with the mermaid unconscious, if his condition worsened tomorrow with no electricity or equipment, she wouldn’t be able to save him alone!

However, upon returning to the basement and seeing the mermaid in the corner, Shu Tang gradually calmed down.

Trees are dead, people are alive. Even if left behind, she could wait for the signal to return, inquire where the main troop had moved to, and then catch a taxi with Little Rose to follow them.

Shu Tang reassessed the feasibility of her plan to “drag the humanoid nuclear weapon to chase the fleeing main troop,” feeling a sense of relief.

She rummaged through the medical kit, found an agent for relieving neuralgia and stabilizing the mental field, and administered it to the mermaid.

Before leaving, Chen had given Shu Tang a protective suit, intended to save her life, but Shu Tang had completely forgotten about it until now. She found it: large and thick. Whether it saved lives or not was uncertain, but it definitely seemed warm.

She sat down next to the mermaid, shook out the protective suit, and draped it over them both.

Although she was very tired today, Shu Tang tossed and turned without falling asleep, occasionally checking the mermaid’s temperature.

It was now five in the morning, and daylight was slow to arrive in spring. The sanatorium was shrouded in darkness. As soon as Shu Tang lay down, she could hear the sound of raindrops. She hadn’t noticed it in her tense mood earlier, but now, relaxed, she realized this was not a good place to sleep.

This abandoned medical facility was like a hotspot for horror movies. Instantly, Shu Tang thought of a long-haired sister who liked to crawl out of the TV, sending a chill straight to her head.

The more Shu Tang imagined, the more frightened she became. She sat up and quickly scooted closer to the mermaid, pressing against his arm.

Underneath, the mermaid’s tail instinctively encircled Shu Tang—

Shu Tang instantly felt relieved and laid back down: She found a sense of security!

…

Mermaids only have a memory span of three months.

However, it had been ten years since the former leader of the Federation, Zhu Yan, stepped into the prison built for himself on that deep, dark night. For those ten years, people outside the forbidden zone thought that “his” body had mutated and fallen into a deep sleep.

In the early years, Zhu Yan had a clear self-awareness, so much so that, although the mermaid couldn’t remember, some chaotic images still faintly lingered.

What dominated these memories was not the pain brought by the outbreaks of mental power, but the suffocating silence that felt like death.

After all, no one had set foot in the forbidden area for ten years. The nearby waters were closed to fishing, high protective nets were installed, and even seabirds rarely visited.

In the chaotic memories of the mermaid, the most frequent images were of “him” wandering in the desolate “Bastille” on countless rainy nights, like a long-dead ghost; even each passing seabird seemed like a grand event in this forgotten corner, as the lonely ghost would quietly watch for a long time and then solemnly etch into the wall a record of every bird that flew by. “He” wasn’t talkative, nor fond of speaking to himself, so gradually, “he” forgot how to speak or make any sound.

Although these fragments were soon replaced by chaos and turmoil, they often appeared in the chaotic dreams.

The aftereffects of the powerful mental outbreaks led the mermaid into a brief coma, almost unable to distinguish between dreams and reality.

It was unclear how much time had passed before the mermaid vaguely became conscious again.

“He” felt someone touching “his” lips, pouring warm liquid in; someone came close, curling up next to “him.” The rustling noises throughout the night never stopped, like a little cat worried that the human might die, occasionally coming over to check his breath.

Actually, it was kind of noisy.

But “he” really liked the sound of this gentle, continuous bustle,

Memories from ten years ago and the present alternated, bizarre and extremely chaotic, with countless voices swirling in his mind. One moment there were crowds fleeing, the next moment, ghosts wandering in the “Bastille.”

“He” thought everything before falling unconscious yesterday was just a dreamlike bubble: Shu Tang had left, or perhaps had never appeared, and the incessant noises probing “his” temperature last night were just products of his confused memory.

However, as soon as the mermaid opened his eyes, he saw Shu Tang sitting cross-legged at the edge of “his” tail—

Yawning, Shu Tang was cooking instant noodles, tearing open the plastic bag and adding various seasoning packets.

She seemed to have trouble tearing the bag, looked around for a bit, and stealthily brought the bag close to the mermaid’s tail, and sure enough, it cut open easily.

But the moment Shu Tang noticed the mermaid’s tail move, seeing that “he” was awake, she immediately withdrew her hands guiltily.

Shu Tang turned around: “Good afternoon, little rose!”

In that moment, the mermaid returned from the chaotic dreams of ten years ago to reality.

Here, it was still the desolate forbidden area.

But the wandering souls seemed to have come back to life.

…

The mermaid stared at Shu Tang. Although his face was expressionless and difficult to read, it didn’t stop Shu Tang from noticing that his look was somewhat peculiar.

Shu Tang felt oddly scrutinized, but the mermaid’s slight tilt of the head made his meaning quite clear.

If the mermaid could speak, he would probably be asking her, “Why aren’t you running?”

Shu Tang misunderstood—she thought the mermaid was curious about the instant noodles in her hand, so she explained, “This is a type of junk food, but it’s really tasty.”

The mermaid slowly sat up, moved closer to Shu Tang, and with his pupil-less eyes stared intently at her, coming very close. His tail possessively coiled around her, like a dragon clutching its most cherished treasure.

When the psychic energy surged, it was the most volatile time for the mermaid, also when his emotions and willpower were at their weakest. Last night, during his most vulnerable moment, had Shu Tang wanted to run, the mermaid wouldn’t have stopped her.

But today, after a night’s rest, the now fierce monster wouldn’t easily let her go.

The mermaid likely wanted to convey something along the lines of “You can’t escape,” like a demon declaring that he wouldn’t spare her judgment even at the ends of the earth. After all, while good intentions offered to angels might return kindness; given to demons, they bring relentless entanglement.

Yet, Shu Tang thought the mermaid wanted to try the noodles, hesitating for a moment: Oh, can mermaid eat salt?

So, while the mermaid stared at her, she extended a chopstickful.

mermaid: “…”

Neither of them had yet developed the skill of telepathic communication.

The mermaid actually took a taste of the noodles.

Even during yesterday’s psychic upheaval, which had not caused him to grimace, the taste now changed his expression. He immediately lifted Shu Tang away from that pot of noodles and hissed at her.

The awakened mermaid had never tasted anything so unpleasant before; he didn’t know what it was, but he had seen plastic bags—

A type of ocean trash, the kind that causes small fish to roll their eyes back.

Shu Tang’s food involved a plastic bag = Shu Tang was eating trash.

Confused, Shu Tang didn’t understand why the mermaid, who had just had a gloomy face, became agitated after eating the noodles, showing an expression she couldn’t decipher, and hissed at her for a while before lifting her up and heading outside.

As Shu Tang swayed in the mermaid’s grasp, she felt a huge generational gap in their communication.

The mermaid didn’t take her back to Bastille, but instead carried her to the seaside.

After placing Shu Tang on a rock surrounded by the sea, the mermaid disappeared into the ocean.

After placing Shu Tang on a reef surrounded by the sea, the mermaid disappeared into the ocean.

Shu Tang: Why on earth is this happening?

Feeling guilty, Shu Tang thought to herself, it’s true that she bought some instant noodles that were about to expire, but why would the mermaid jump into the sea after just one bite?!