(Our mermaid (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡ Photo from author’s WB)
At first, Shu Tang thought she was hallucinating. She had spent the entire afternoon imagining a mermaid emerging intact from the sea and appearing before her. But after waiting for so long, this fantasy never materialized.
However, soon enough, a sparkling scale was presented in front of her again.
The mermaid couldn’t speak and didn’t know how to comfort her. Normally, the mermaid could present her with beautiful pearls or succulent prey as gifts to please her. But now, he had nothing on him, so he could only pluck the prettiest scale from his tail to give to her.
She was stunned at the sight of the scale and looked up to see the mermaid gazing down at her.
The mermaid was puzzled to find that upon seeing him, Shu Tang seemed to cry even harder.
The mermaid thought she was frightened by his current appearance, as he was disheveled and covered in fierce wounds—
But just as he was about to retreat into the darkness, she threw herself forward and embraced the mermaid’s neck.
The mermaid was taken aback.
Her breath fell on his cold neck, accompanied by tiny sobs and the warm liquid that wetted the mermaid’s long hair.
Holding him, Shu Tang spoke a lot, her words intermittent and nonsensical.
At one moment she said, “Little Rose, I can’t get the paper to light.”
Then she said, “My flashlight is out of power, I’m afraid you won’t be able to find your way back.”
The warm liquid she wept, choked up, flowed into the cold neck of the mermaid.
The monster’s cold and sharp heart quivered from the heat.
The mermaid stiffened for a moment, then quietly listened, eyes downcast.
Then, slowly and clumsily, he raised his hand and gently embraced her.
They hugged for a long time amid the sea breeze and the heavy rain outside.
“He” gently patted her back, as if comforting a kitten, a child.
Suddenly, the mermaid felt a nuzzle on his neck and shoulder from the kitten.
Though they had been affectionate before, it was limited to leaning against each other, with the mermaid occasionally embracing her, resting his chin on the kitten’s shoulder—an action of strong possessiveness.
But the kitten had only ever haughtily rested her hands on the mermaid’s shoulders, never showing such intimacy, even dependence.
Yet the mermaid liked this feeling, the warm touch. He liked this gesture so much that he instinctively wanted to nuzzle her cheek.
But soon, the emotions enveloping the mermaid’s neck calmed, and just as she was about to release him, she felt something moist.
She reached out and touched a sticky liquid.
It was blood.
It was blue blood.
Shu Tang stared in disbelief at the large gash, unable to believe that the mermaid had silently let her cry for so long while being held.
The gash was so vicious, as if torn open by something, that Shu Tang thought the mermaid might die from such severe injuries, especially since sea water had contaminated the wound and they had brought no medicine to stop the bleeding. Trembling, she let go of the mermaid and turned to rummage through her bag, only to realize she hadn’t brought even a single bandage.
Behind her, the mermaid noticed her trembling fingers and her increasingly panicked tears; his pale lips pressed together, looking unsure, as if he had done something wrong.
At first, “he” thought Shu Tang was crying because she was scared, then he thought it was the sight of the wound that made her cry, but the mermaid soon realized it was neither.
She was crying because “he” was hurt, afraid that “he” might die.
However, this realization was very strange for the mermaid. In his subconscious, being injured was never a big deal, seemingly as simple as eating or drinking. Because of his strong self-healing ability, even the mermaid himself began to think that enduring pain for just three hours made the injury seem trivial.
But seeing her like this, the mermaid realized he might have done something wrong.
The mermaid can battle through storms at sea, tear pollutants apart with his bare hands, and in a sense, he is nearly omnipotent humanoid weapons. Yet, in this moment, faced with her, he is at a loss, clumsy and awkward.
Shu Tang was subconsciously repeating the motion of searching. But in the next moment, her hand was caught by the large hand of the mermaid.
The mermaid bowed his head towards her and hissed.
Then, he extended his hand to place her icy hand on his cheek.
Shu Tang thought blankly: Is he giving his last words?
But the mermaid only used his hard scales to scratch a cut on his own cheek.
This unexpected action, along with the rapidly spilling blue blood, immediately snapped Shu Tang back to reality. She quickly grabbed the mermaid’s hand to stop his self-harm.
The mermaid drew closer to her and hissed again.
Then, Shu Tang finally noticed: the small cut on the mermaid’s cheek was healing at a visibly fast rate. Soon, the blood coagulated and the bleeding stopped.
This was a healing speed that defied all logic. Shu Tang watched dumbly for a while and then suddenly understood the mermaid’s meaning, “Are you saying, it can heal very quickly?”
The mermaid grasped her hand and directed it towards a larger wound on his own body, signaling Shu Tang to observe.
Indeed, the blood no longer flowed and quickly coagulated.
She watched somewhat dazedly.
She felt like a pet owner who discovers that her pet’s tail is broken and cold, her mind blank, only thinking of quickly finding a vet to save its life
—only to discover the pet seems to be a gecko.
Her hands and feet were no longer ice-cold, and she collapsed onto the ground.
In fact, there were many questions, such as although there was a mutation, she had never heard of such strong self-healing abilities before; and regarding this ability, how many people knew about it, could it lead to envy and crime?
But these questions were beyond her ability to think about at that moment.
Shu Tang got up, and since there were no bandages or gauze, she touched her own clothes.
The lining of her waterproof jacket was made of pure cotton and was of good quality, so some of the cotton was still dry.
Shu Tang then took it off directly, allowing the mermaid to tear it into a long strip of cloth, and then she quickly started to bandage.
The mermaid had thought that after knowing about the self-healing ability, she would be reassured, realizing that for such a formidable creature, it was a trivial matter that would heal in no more than a couple of days.
However, the mermaid found that after she knew, she did not seem much better.
So, the mermaid held her hand and hissed at Shu Tang.
Carefully indicating she need not worry, it would be fine soon.
But she pushed the mermaid’s hand away, her trembling hands bandaging “him.”
Did “he” know how much blood he had lost? Even if it healed quickly, the blood that had been lost wouldn’t come back. An ordinary person having lost so much blood would have already passed out, but the mermaid had come back without uttering a word.
If she hadn’t noticed, the mermaid might have let her hold him all night.
Shu Tang felt a stifling discomfort—perhaps because the wound was healing quickly, “he” didn’t seem to care much about the injury.
Shu Tang asked gloomily:
“Just because it heals quickly, does it mean it doesn’t need bandaging anymore? Does having breakfast mean you skip lunch and dinner?”
“What if the wound gets infected? Won’t it hurt?”
The mermaid did not respond.
Shu Tang lowered her head and continued: If he carelessly died, she would only burn a tiny bit of paper money for him!
The mermaid wanted to say he wouldn’t die so easily, but seeing her angry, he didn’t retort. Instead, he obediently let her bandage him and even carefully watched her expression, fearing that the little cat would show a sad face again.
She muttered, “If you die, I’ll just keep a different fish.”
The mermaid recalled last week— that day, the cat said she would start raising a little tuna, got a large glass tank, and by the next day, the cat was lying on top of the tank asking the mermaid: “Steamed or as sashimi?”
So at this moment, the mermaid kept silent about her threat.
Shu Tang continued: If he died, she would sit by his grave, eating roast chicken and instant noodles, leaving not a single scallop for him.
The mermaid was silent for a while.
It was then he realized the gravity of the situation:
In this scenario, after his death, the little cat would have to eat bony, tough prey or garbage.
Shu Tang didn’t tell the mermaid how pessimistically she had imagined many scenarios during the time “he” was absent.
She simply tied a knot carefully at the belly of the mermaid, then looked up seriously at the mermaid who seemed completely unaware of the severity of his injury.
“Even if you have self-healing abilities, please don’t get hurt carelessly, okay?”
Without you to listen to the weather forecast with me, I would be very sad.
At that moment, even the sound of the wind seemed to disappear.
In her voice, “his” understanding of life and death took on a new meaning:
Living meant listening to the weather forecast with her, hunting for her, watching the waves at the beach together;
Dying meant leaving a lonely little cat behind to eat plastic bags and the cheapest, worst cat food.
Some vague concepts formed in the mind of this once-humanoid weapon:
—Do not get hurt carelessly.
—Must survive.
Because “he” now had a cat that loved to complain.
Especially prone to dying, and fond of crying.
After crying, she would still scold “him.”
But she was also worried about “him.”
Thus, “he” instinctively, fondly loved his own cat.
…
So, the cat successfully overcame the fierce monster that had just been dominating the seas.
“He” could only bow down to her.
The mermaid lowered his head and gently rubbed his cheek against the little cat’s.
She held her breath.
Listening to the other’s breathing.
Thus, the long-built anxiety and fear gradually subsided.
The sound of rain pattered against the metal window frame outside.
Night fell, and the room became very tranquil.
However, when the mermaid wanted to rub her cheek again, Shu Tang suddenly snapped back to reality and said, “Don’t move!”
The mermaid froze in place.
Shu Tang was uncertain about the mermaid’s healing speed and was somewhat skeptical.
At that moment, in her eyes, the mermaid was a severely injured patient. It wasn’t a wise choice to go out rashly as the sea pollutants had only just dispersed recently—she would have called an ambulance immediately to take this fish away for an X-ray and to administer an IV.
Shu Tang got up and dragged a large wooden box from the side. She let the mermaid lean against it and then carefully positioned him in a way that absolutely would not strain his wounds.
The mermaid looked at her, puzzled, as he had never been treated as a patient before, but since she said not to move, the fierce monster obediently stayed still.
After settling the patient, Shu Tang started searching for dry wooden boxes in the sealed room and dragged one over to start a fire.
She sat cross-legged next to the mermaid, battling with the large wooden box and the lighter.
The mermaid tilted his head.
In those memories, every time he was injured, he was left alone to wait for healing, which was a lengthy process. Most of the time, he seemed to choose to close his eyes and sleep through the pain; if there was an emergency, he would hastily bandage up, rest briefly, and still stand at the forefront of everyone, appearing impeccable like an everlasting iron tower.
However, now, it was completely different from those memories. There was someone buzzing around like a frantic little ant. Circling him, even occasionally casting worried and anxious glances.
For some reason, basking in this gaze, the mermaid couldn’t help but slightly flick his tail.
Feeling a pleasure he had never experienced before.
Actually, it hurt a bit when he tugged at the wound, but a small smile appeared on the mermaid’s pale and expressionless face.
Just then, Shu Tang turned her head and caught it.
She couldn’t help but turn back and glare at the fish, forbidding him to smile:
“You’re in so much pain, yet you still smile.”
The mermaid continued to smile at her, his dark eyes brimming with laughter.
Shu Tang was laughed at by him, which made her already clumsy attempts to light the wet wooden box with a lighter even clumsier.
She attributed it to the mermaid’s gaze fixed on her, causing her to perform abnormally.
Before she turned back to glare at the mermaid again, he reached out, took the lighter and firewood, and easily snapped them in the middle, finally igniting the fire.
The fire burned, dispelling the cold around them.
But soon, Shu Tang’s stomach began to rumble.
It was already night, and both of them had expended a lot of energy during the day, feeling quite hungry.
Thus, the mermaid naturally stood up, preparing to head towards the door.
After all, every day in the past, it was the mermaid who did the hunting, and even though he was injured today, the wound on his waist and abdomen had healed considerably, without sharp pain anymore. So the mermaid just frowned and walked towards the sea without any concern.
But the next second, Shu Tang immediately pulled him back.
Shu Tang pressed the mermaid down to sit and checked that the temporary bandage was not bleeding, then warned sternly:
“Don’t move, I’ll find us some food.”
But in Shu Tang’s eyes, “he” was an invalid who couldn’t touch water or move, so how could she possibly let “him” go fishing below?
Thus, Shu Tang repositioned the invalid and confidently assured that she would definitely return fully laden.
She found a large iron basket in the corner and carried it downstairs.
Shu Tang had no plans to go fishing in the sea, as it was too risky.
She climbed down to the first floor along the stairs.
The first floor of this abandoned power station only had a platform and a railing, with the ground being somewhat uneven.
Shu Tang planned to take a walk around here.
She guessed that tonight’s tsunami might bring some seafood, and if it remained in those small puddles, dinner would not be a problem.
With a bit of light from her communicator, she searched the area and was delighted to find that there really was some.
She rolled up her trouser legs, holding the iron basket, and began to search. Most of what was washed up were shellfish, which would be enough for her alone, but the mermaid’s appetite was large, and a few scallops wouldn’t even be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.
Fortunately, in a deeper puddle, she saw a stranded fish as long as an arm.
She put the basket aside, rolled up her sleeves, and immediately went down to struggle with the fish.
Although the sea fish was stranded, it still had a lot of energy, and it immediately started struggling when caught by Shu Tang.
Worried about the remaining pollutants, the mermaid followed her soon after.
In the darkness, the mermaid watched her from afar.
The creature tilted its head in confusion.
Because of the sudden memories that emerged tonight, the mermaid vaguely gained some new understanding: for instance, it was only natural for the strong to protect the weak.
Especially when someone became terrifyingly powerful, this became an even more natural understanding.
Even if injured, the overlord of the deep sea remains the strongest combatant.
Shu Tang, however, treated this formidable “he” as a weakling, as if a breeze or a rainstorm could destroy “him.” She even clumsily tried to hunt, attempting to bring back a big fish to feed this fierce monster.
But such behavior made the monster hiding in the darkness feel a scorching sensation at the heart.
It was as if a tough corner had melted into a puddle.
Thus, even the monster’s gaze lost its usual indifference, becoming unexpectedly tender.
“He” watched her struggle with the fish, but did not help—
That was the kitten’s proud trophy.
“He” simply watched for a while, then returned to the small cabin.
It took Shu Tang some time to move that iron basket up.
She pushed open the door and saw the mermaid maintaining the pose she had arranged, looking well-behaved.
The kitten proudly came over to show off, and the mermaid tilted his head, gently flicking his tail in approval.
Then, when Shu Tang came over again to check the bandages and asked if “he” still felt pain—
If it had been that “human weapon” in those memories, he might have said without a frown: It’s fine.
But now, this monster exaggerated the insignificant pain, showing a frown, even lowering his head to nuzzle the kitten, initiating the contact.
Silently saying:
“It hurts.”
Perhaps due to being favored.
The once steel-like human weapon had come to understand what “pain” was.
And planned to use it as an excuse, hoping for more favoritism.