The mermaid’s long hair tickled her cheeks.
It was supposed to be cool, but when it touched the skin, it felt somewhat hot.
She could distinctly feel the mermaid’s breathing on her back.
This phone call, obviously, couldn’t continue.
Mr. Wu on the other end hadn’t heard any reply for a good while.
It seemed like he heard an extra breath.
After a while, Shu Tang’s stuttering voice came through:
“Mr. Wu, Little Rose is looking for me, I need to hang up first.”
Mr. Wu hung up, puzzled.
It took him a while to react.
Mr. Wu asked Chen Sheng: Isn’t therapist Shu with you?
Chen Sheng: She’s in the restricted area, the elevator is broken.
So, if she’s in the restricted area, where did the second breath come from?
So, that sound just now was the Founder’s.
Mr. Wu’s heart skipped a beat.
…
Shu Tang thought the mermaid was interested in the communicator, so after hanging up, she climbed out from the mermaid’s arms and handed the device to him, showing him how to use it.
However, the mermaid clearly had no interest in the communicator, spending most of the time just watching Shu Tang while swishing his fish tail.
Shu Tang was baffled.
But after a while, she suddenly understood the mermaid’s behavior just now:
It was like when a cat mysteriously lies on your keyboard while you’re at work.
When your attention returns to the cat, and you try to engage it with a cat teaser, the cat would immediately lie down lazily, responding to you intermittently with an indifferent look.
—It was simply to attract her attention.
Shu Tang thought: Who really is the kitten here!
But as she turned her head, she caught a fleeting hostility from the mermaid towards the communicator.
Shu Tang vaguely felt that the mermaid not only disliked the communicator but also had a strong aversion to it, almost as if he wanted to flatten the device with a flick of his tail.
Shu Tang was unaware that the hostility was due to it catching her attention, which could only be attributed to the mermaid’s possible aversion to external things.
In fact, when Shu Tang first took the mermaid to her duty room, she realized the mermaid’s aversion to the outside world.
She tentatively asked, “Little Rose, do you want to go out and play with me?”
As expected, the mermaid hissed at her.
Shu Tang really didn’t understand why the mermaid, who used to secretly follow her out and sleep beside her bed, was now unwilling.
Shu Tang wondered if it was because the last time the troops withdrew en masse, the scene was too overwhelming and startled Little Rose.
But she didn’t know.
This creature was sharp and sensitive, filled with unease.
Initially, the creature only wanted to stealthily follow her, content with just smelling her scent.
Later, the creature thought, as long as she returned, anything would be possible.
But Shu Tang didn’t deceive “him.”
She returned to the creature’s side.
However, the creature that received her generous gifts became greedy.
The mermaid was still worried about her leaving.
Only after repeatedly reassuring that he would not be abandoned or forgotten by this little cat, would the unease subside.
In this process of confirmation, out of the pride and arrogance of being a top predator in the food chain, “he” would definitely not take the initiative to go out and bring her back, or seek her out like before.
This ferocious monster greedily longed for her to return to “him” time and again.
This ferocious monster even longed for her to choose “his” world.
Only then would the anxious, sharp unease slowly calm down.
Yet Shu Tang attributed the mermaid’s behavior to an aversion to the outside world—clearly, this was not sufficient. Shu Tang still wanted to reteach “him” how to integrate into human society.
Thus, next, Shu Tang added a bedtime story segment, hoping to gradually dissolve the mermaid’s aversion to the outside world.
Her approach was to open the sanatorium’s forum, pick the latest topics everyone was discussing, and talk about them with the mermaid.
However, as soon as Shu Tang opened it, she saw a hot post: “Deeply Remembering Our Colleague.”
Upon clicking, she saw a blurred black-and-white photo.
The poster, @Su Yin is a Little Wolf.
Below, a string of people were offering flowers, holding a cyber-funeral.
Curiously, Shu Tang replied: Who died? Who died?
Here’s what happened—because Comrade Shu Tang disappeared without a trace after getting off the car that day, and there was no news at all, her colleagues in the emergency department thought she had kicked the bucket. Especially after everyone heard a lot about the insider information and that the hospital had blocked the news, the emergency department’s little Shu Tang therapist directly “immortalized.”
Today marks the seventh day since the passing, and my roommate Su Yin solemnly hosted the online memorial service.
Shu Tang was completely unaware that she had died. After leaving a message, she started reading Su Yin’s posts.
However, as she read on, Shu Tang began to sense something was amiss and went back to look at the photograph used for the memorial—
It was a black and white photo of a cat with a drumstick.
Shu Tang: ?
Subsequently, Shu Tang stumbled upon a bizarre and terrifying story.
In the post, Su Yin depicted how her colleague, the “Drumstick Cat,” mysteriously disappeared on a rainy night and how it bizarrely died within a restricted area, speaking with a tone of deep sorrow.
Honestly, seeing one’s own eulogy while still alive was quite amusing.
Shu Tang, increasingly intrigued, eagerly recited it aloud to a mermaid.
—So thrilling!
At first, the mermaid listened with his tail swishing, but as he listened, the swishing slowed down.
Especially when Shu Tang recited about the monster in the restricted area.
The monster in the area had a pale face.
The mermaid looked at his overly pale arms, and his tail’s swishing gradually slowed.
Noticing the mermaid’s gaze, Shu Tang commented, “Little Rose, it’s different for you; you’re just hypoglycemic.”
The mermaid didn’t understand, but Shu Tang was right about it.
So, the mermaid started swishing his tail again.
After a moment, Shu Tang turned to look back at the mermaid.
The cat doctor pondered deeply: “It might also be a deficiency in both Qi and blood. No, next time I’ll bring you some red dates to replenish your energy.”
Chicken stewed with red dates, highly nourishing.
It was said that the monster was very tall, nearly reaching two meters.
The mermaid swished his tail thoughtfully.
Shu Tang remarked, “Ah, these days, it’s easy to find tall people everywhere.”
It was said that the monster only appeared on rainy nights.
Shu Tang completely ignored this fact.
—What does this have to do with her finding a pitiful creature on a rainy day?
It was said that the monster’s voice was hoarse, only able to emit a raspy sound.
A tall, dark shadow hesitantly approached from behind her.
This seemed to refer to “him.”
Who knew Shu Tang would tell him to stop messing around.
The protagonist of the story had no choice but to shrink back.
After finishing the recital of this bedtime ghost story, Shu Tang commented below, “Quite the imagination.”
For some reason, after the ghost story ended, the mermaid behind her fell silent.
It was eerily quiet in the Bastille during the night, and Shu Tang was a bit frightened.
She put down the communicator, hugged the mermaid’s tail to calm her nerves:
“Little Rose, if you fought with that forbidden area guy, who would win?”
A tall figure in the darkness: “…”
…
A silent night, very peaceful sleep.
Shu Tang was slow to react, often catching on half a beat too late.
So, when she got up the next morning, she sleepily opened her eyes and glanced at the mermaid behind her.
Suddenly, she remembered last night’s bedtime ghost story.
Something seemed off.
During breakfast, Shu Tang kept staring at the tall mermaid across from her and even leaned in close to inspect him.
After finishing her inspection, she dragged the mermaid out to sunbathe under the sun.
Shu Tang wanted to get some color into the mermaid’s skin.
But even as the firewood on the ground dried out, the mermaid’s face remained eerily pale and transparent.
Shu Tang then took out a ruler and stepped on a rock to measure the mermaid’s height.
—Without fin ears height: 196 cm.
—With fin ears height: 201 cm.
Shu Tang, at 166 cm, felt envious: Why couldn’t she grow fin ears? It would be so convenient during physical measurements, adding five centimeters to make her 170 cm.
After measuring the height, Shu Tang looked suspiciously at the mermaid.
She recalled their past: the cozy blind date, the rainy night they found the pitiful little one, Robinson Crusoe and Friday.
Connecting these events from the recent past, she vaguely felt she could string the clues together. It was like catching the end of a yarn, a pull away from unraveling the whole truth.
The mermaid appeared calm, even casually lifting Shu Tang off the chair.
“He” remained silent, his gaze occasionally sweeping over Shu Tang with a cryptic intensity, his pale lips tightly sealed.
But soon, Chen Sheng sent a message to Shu Tang, breaking this strange atmosphere.
Because the elevator might be fixed by tomorrow, he was asking if Shu Tang could attend a medical seminar tomorrow afternoon to discuss her own case with other therapists.
After all, Shu Tang had officially become the mermaid’s therapist, and such a meeting was definitely a must-attend.
Chen Sheng sent a long message.
Shu Tang’s brain automatically extracted the keywords: meeting, report.
Extract ddl: Tomorrow afternoon.
After realizing she’s entangled in a horror tale—the heroine opts to explore the truth and strive to survive; the romance addict chooses to ignore the truth, indulging in illusions.
Meanwhile, the office worker simply furiously chases deadlines beside the protagonist of the horror tale.
Even when the horror tale’s protagonist signals that she can have lunch—
Office Worker Cat: Wait, I can’t finish writing!
The horror tale’s protagonist hisses at her that she must eat.
Office Worker Cat: Ah, maybe you can feed me!
Office Worker Cat: Ah—
Horror Tale’s Protagonist: Passes a small silver fish.
Cat continues: Ah—
Horror Tale’s Protagonist continues feeding the cat.
Thus, that bizarre atmosphere was swept away.
The gloomy air of the Bastille prison seemed filled with the essence of overtime.
Shu Tang actually took this seminar very seriously because she couldn’t understand the mental power chart of the mermaids and was cautious not to jump to conclusions, so she only provided basic medication. She didn’t continue with any mental power guidance—Shu Tang thought her own mental capacity was too small to be of much use and considered consulting her seniors.
But obviously, Shu Tang didn’t know that trying something with the seniors might lead to their demise.
In summary, Shu Tang possesses the admirable traits of caution and timidity. This seminar gave Shu Tang the opportunity to consult her seniors, as it concerned the life of Little Rose, and even the usually lazy “Salted Fish Cat” became unusually diligent.
She feverishly wrote three full pages, back and front, until the sky was nearly dark.
Throughout the day, Shu Tang did not notice that the mermaid was as quiet as when she had called the day before, without any disturbances. There was just a faint, almost imperceptible gaze fixed on her.
At that moment, Shu Tang was submitting her report.
When she was pulled into the discussion group, Shu Tang realized that things were very different from what she had imagined.
There were over a dozen therapists in the discussion group.
She randomly opened one therapist’s report: 300 pages.
Then another: 270 pages.
And so on, with the shortest being: 107 pages.
Shu Tang, who had written only 6 pages, felt speechless…
She painstakingly rewrote some trivial parts, barely managing to extend it to 8 pages.
The mood of the “Corporate Slave Cat” began to sink.
Especially when Shu Tang realized that these dozen therapists were clearly not just temporarily brought together for a meeting—they wouldn’t have such lengthy research reports otherwise—
That also meant that Shu Tang might not be the only therapist for Little Rose.
While Shu Tang was writing her report, the mermaid was always by her side.
From the beginning, Shu Tang thought the mermaid had been abandoned by his family, left uncared for in Zone 01. But since being transferred to work in Zone 01, Shu Tang gradually began to sense—
He might not be the pitiful figure she had imagined.
This feeling was reinforced today, and many questions bubbled up in her mind.
Staring blankly at her 8 pages, Shu Tang realized that no matter how much she wrote, she couldn’t turn 8 pages into 80.
She turned to look at Little Rose and suddenly asked:
“Little Rose, if there were more skilled therapists, would you still choose me?”
The mermaid was helping Shu Tang open scallops.
He stiffened for a moment upon hearing her.
But after realizing what her question was, the mermaid returned to normal.
He looked at her and tilted his head.
Then, Shu Tang took out the scallops—
She arranged a dozen large scallops to represent the other therapists.
And placed a small scallop to represent herself.
Shu Tang pointed to the scallops one by one and described them:
Scallop No. 1: “This one is a researcher who has won many awards, with rich theoretical experience.”
Scallop No. 2: “Also has frontline experience, very rich in clinical practice.”
…
Scallop No. 18: “Just an intern, can only write an 8-page report, and is unlicensed.”
The mermaid didn’t quite understand some of the unfamiliar words.
But he understood the issue.
As Shu Tang was about to continue, the mermaid decided to keep Scallop No. 18—
And swiftly put the rest of the scallops into the pot.
Then he quietly watched her.
Flicking his tail.
In the gulping sounds, Shu Tang quieted down.
She looked at Scallop No. 18, then at the mermaid, and her mood finally improved.
She put down the report, moved closer, and began to eat.
That is—
Suddenly, Shu Tang felt it was inappropriate to compare the scallops to her colleagues:
For example, now, this pot of colleagues—should she eat them or not?
…
In the end, out of politeness, Shu Tang stewed herself too.
…
That night, Shu Tang did not tell the mermaid a bedtime story.
Perhaps because she went to bed too early, Shu Tang had a bizarre dream.
In the dream, it was the ghost story written by Su Yin in the forum.
When she woke up, it was still very early, and she lay on her pillow in a daze for a while.
She wasn’t scared by the dream, but she had a sense of foreboding afterwards.
She got up early, brushed her teeth.
Shu Tang paused for a moment in front of the prison-like iron gate.
Then, time to eat.
Shu Tang’s gaze lingered for a while on the mermaid’s very powerful yet extremely elegant and beautiful fingers.
She nonchalantly began to eat the little silver fish.
But this was the first time she had not chattered away at the breakfast table.
The tall mermaid opposite noticed but no one spoke up.
Shu Tang had originally planned to get up early to extend her report to twenty pages, but she didn’t do so this day. Instead, she started sorting out the things she had bought, organizing them with the mermaid.
Pots and pans were placed in the kitchen.
One desk lamp in the living room, another in the bedroom.
A blue and a pink towel were hung in the bathroom.
When it came time to change the showerhead, Shu Tang wasn’t tall enough, so she attempted to verbally instruct the mermaid on how to install it.
The mermaid tilted his head, listening to Shu Tang’s commands.
With a pinch of his hand.
The showerhead cracked.
Water splashed everywhere.
Finally, through sheer force, the showerhead was securely installed.
Shu Tang found that the mermaid was easy to talk to today—silent when she added chaos; and even though he knew Shu Tang was blabbering nonsense, he showed no sign of objection.
The atmosphere was actually a bit subtle.
It was as if both were pretending everything was fine, yet certain small details made some truths more conspicuous.
Like a kitten hiding its tail, only for the fuzzy tip to peek out.
Shu Tang continued organizing.
It was when unpacking clothes that she realized there was no wardrobe in the bedroom, but she remembered there was a large unused cabinet in the storage.
So, Shu Tang directed the mermaid to move the cabinet.
The mermaid stood still in front of the cabinet, looking up at Shu Tang.
Shu Tang patted the mermaid beneath her: “Hurry and move it.”
The mermaid was silent for a while.
—And then plucked Shu Tang, who was gesturing from his shoulders, off.
Shu Tang: “Ah, I forgot. I thought I was that tall.”
She followed the mermaid, watching as the tall figure effortlessly dragged the large cabinet into the room.
Shu Tang’s gaze lingered on the mermaid’s arms for a while.
A cabinet that usually required several adults to lift seemed weightless to the mermaid. Even their muscles didn’t tense, making it look effortless.
It took her a while to look away.
She chased after him again.
There were no glass windows in the Bastille, only iron bars and empty stone window frames.
Shu Tang had someone use the wardrobe to block the window—this way, there wouldn’t be any wind coming in at night.
The cat doctor said, “Getting your head blown by the wind makes it easy to have a stroke.”
The mermaid casually lifted the cat doctor off the wardrobe.
As if it were nothing, Shu Tang said, “Little Rose, I have a meeting this afternoon.”
The mermaid quietly watched her.
Silent, without uttering a word.
For some reason, the mermaid hadn’t destroyed the newly repaired elevator.
…
When Shu Tang left with her report, she looked back.
The beautiful fortress surrounded by blue roses might not necessarily be a fairytale dwelling.
—It could also be the “Bastille” of a terrible monster.
Shu Tang felt her mind was a mess, as if the happiness she felt upon meeting the mermaid had stealthily slipped away when she left, leaving only confusion.
However, as Shu Tang stepped into the building, she heard footsteps behind her.
Silence, following her like a shadow.
Just like that rainy day.
She walked ahead, and “he” followed behind her.
She turned around.
The tall, dark figure was watching her—
“He” was very tall.
“He” had sharp, terrifying fins.
“His” voice was hoarse.
But his gaze was intense.
Her heart suddenly softened under his gaze.
She stopped and said, “Little Rose, I’ll come back.”
But the tall dark figure remained still, stubbornly watching her.
Shu Tang said, “Little Rose, don’t wait here, go back first.”
The tall mermaid quietly watched her.
Just like every night he waited for her on rainy days.
Shu Tang took a few steps, looked back, and indeed, the mermaid was still there.
“Little Rose, it’s going to rain soon…”
The silent mermaid just watched her.
Subconsciously, she vaguely guessed some truths.
She was a bit confused, a bit doubtful, and a bit at a loss.
So, in front of the last layer of the window paper, she stopped.
When she didn’t know what to do—
In the darkness, the tall mermaid suddenly opened his arms toward her.
The mermaid did not understand what that last hug was.
But the mermaid liked it.
Shu Tang suddenly understood what “he” meant.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of that moment.
It was like being hit by a warm, immense happiness.
Thus, hesitation and unease retreated far away.
She stopped.
She put down her bag.
She ran towards “him.”
She threw herself into the arms of that tall creature, into his broad and icy embrace.
She gave “him” a huge hug.