Due to limited conditions, this dinner had no seasonings. But the surface of the fish was grilled to a crisp, sizzling with oil, giving it a charred taste.
During this period, Shu Tang was busy revising every day, usually eating hastily at night before running off to practice problems. But today, the two of them were trapped in an abandoned power station, temporarily unable to leave. This resulted in some unexpected free time, leading to a whole night spent idly together.
While tearing the grilled fish, Shu Tang tried to teach the mermaid how to pronounce.
Shu Tang: “Ah.”
Mermaid: “Hiss—”
Shu Tang: “Oh.”
The mermaid suddenly remembered the chicken hiding inside the cat’s belly.
Although he didn’t understand why he needed to learn to imitate the chicken’s call, he tried anyway—
The result was an even stranger hiss.
It sounded much like the noise a dragon from the abyss makes when breathing fire; raspy, deep, somewhat sinister and robust.
Shu Tang said, “Try smiling with your lips, um—”
The mermaid made a sound somewhere between a “sizzle” and a “hiss.”
Shu Tang was skeptical: “Look closely at the shape of my mouth, make this shape first then make the sound…”
In the leaping warm yellow firelight, the mermaid’s gaze rested on her lips.
Illuminated by the fire, they seemed as soft as petals.
She made an “e” shape with her mouth.
The mermaid leaned down as if trying to see more clearly.
Just as she lifted her head.
Their noses bumped together.
Nose to nose.
Their breaths almost seemed to intertwine.
One cold, one warm.
It was unclear whose heartbeat began to falter.
Suddenly, their eyes met.
Laughter erupted.
She knocked her forehead against the mermaid’s, gently nudging his nose with her soft one.
The mermaid half-wrapped his arms around her, leaning back obediently, issuing a raspy, pleasant laugh from his throat.
Curious, Shu Tang reached out to touch the mermaid’s Adam’s apple.
She said, “Little Rose, is your vocal system different from mine?”
Touching the prominent Adam’s apple, she also felt the anatomical structure beneath the skin that was unlike humans’, realizing this must be why the sounds were different, and wanting to continue touching—
Her fingers felt the cold Adam’s apple, which rolled slightly, slowly.
She was only wearing a thin coat, and the mermaid’s upper body was merely wrapped in bandages, allowing their body temperatures to be clearly and directly transferred to each other.
The little cat half-sitting in the mermaid’s embrace suddenly shrank her hand back as if scalded.
The atmosphere turned quite peculiar.
Only their breathing filled the air.
The mermaid didn’t know why, nor did she make a sound to break the strange silence.
She just slowly withdrew her somewhat intrusive gaze.
Turning her head towards the firelight, grateful that the fire could blur her reddened cheeks.
……
The dinner lasted two to three hours.
Shu Tang was constantly teaching the mermaid how to pronounce, but throughout the night, the sounds he made became increasingly bizarre without any real progress.
Despite this, both were tirelessly amused by the act of shaping their mouths for the sounds.
The mermaid couldn’t produce any voice, but he learned to mimic the lip movements for the words “Shu Tang.”
Perhaps because the warmth of the fire made it easy to feel drowsy, Shu Tang felt somewhat groggy.
She decided to go to bed early to rest and recuperate.
Before going to sleep, Shu Tang felt slightly uneasy, so she asked the mermaid to sit still while she lifted a corner of the temporarily bandaged dressing to check the wound.
In such a short time, the torn wound had completely scabbed over, leaving no trace of it being just a two- or three-hour-old injury.
By the morning, the scab would fall off, leaving no scar or trace behind.
Shu Tang had many questions in her mind, but she did not ask the amnesiac mermaid; instead, she rewrapped the bandage.
Rather than delving into those questions, Shu Tang was more relieved that the mermaid wouldn’t suffer from an infection due to the wound overnight.
They discussed and decided to rest for the night and search for the lifeboat in the morning, then head back directly by boat.
Shu Tang planned to bypass the polluted area of the sea directly or move to the next sea area on the map to find a signal and seek rescue.
She turned off her nearly depleted communicator, planning to turn it on only if they encountered pollutants by bad luck.
Perhaps due to the stress of the day, she had a very restless sleep.
Her dreams were filled with a storm at sea and an approaching tsunami, with pollutants knocking on the windows as she ran around the desolate power station searching for Little Rose, hearing the shrieks outside with each step.
Feeling uneasy and a bit chilly, she subconsciously moved closer to the fire in her sleep.
In such an unfamiliar environment, it was nearly impossible for this vigilant monster to fall asleep. “He” was always alert, so when he noticed Shu Tang’s movements, the mermaid unconsciously opened his eyes.
However, he quickly noticed something was wrong with Shu Tang.
Her face had an abnormal flush, but her lips were pale; sweat beads kept forming on her forehead, and she was muttering indistinctly.
After moving closer to the fire, it wasn’t long before she started murmuring “hot” in a soft voice.
As she complained of the heat, the mermaid’s pale lips were tightly pressed, his dark eyes filled with worry. He covered her cheek with his cold hand to cool her down but dared not move her away from the fire.
Nevertheless, she didn’t get better.
Shu Tang began to whisper lowly: “So thirsty, water…”
In that long dream, she sat alone by the fire, severely thirsty, unable to drink seawater, constantly waiting for the mermaid’s arrival.
……
Shu Tang had a fever.
The mermaid placed her by the fire and left the room, heading into the sea to find the lifeboat.
The lifeboat wasn’t damaged; instead, it had washed up on nearby rocks. It contained mineral water, a small blanket, food, and other items Shu Tang had brought.
However, the moment the mermaid’s fingers touched the lifeboat, residual pollutants bubbled up from the surface of the sea.
The overlord of the deep sea suddenly turned, its fins sharply splayed, its gaze fierce and threatening.
The massive spiritual entity in the air also opened its eyes, its dark pupils like those of a malevolent god descending, casting a shadow over the entire sea area, transforming the beautiful blue spirit into something monstrous and vicious.
Accompanied by the mermaid vanishing into the sea like a streak of silver light, the spiritual entity began its slaughter.
Brutally tearing and crushing.
In an instant, the sea was clouded with patches of black blood.
Gradually, the pollution dissipated, tainting the entire sea area.
For a long time, this sea area was neglected and gradually became a hotbed of pollutants, breeding many potent contaminants. However, today, the enraged deep-sea overlord destroyed what had been built over ten years.
The mermaid favored quick, decisive battles, with no defense, only attack. Sometimes, to quickly end a fight, it would take a few hits, but these were just minor injuries, nothing serious. After all, a mermaid’s robust body doesn’t feel pain as acutely as humans do.
But perhaps remembering Shu Tang’s words, this time the mermaid made sure to return completely unscathed.
Shu Tang felt as if she was dying of thirst, her head smoking.
Suddenly, a bottle of water was handed to her lips.
After a few sips, the parched feeling eased somewhat.
She awoke from that dreamlike state, feeling herself being lifted; almost instinctively, she clung to the cold body, thinking she was dreaming, waiting for little Rose to return.
The usually low body temperature was now just right for Shu Tang, very comfortable.
The pale, cold creature stiffened.
But realizing that Shu Tang was still conscious, it held her tightly in its arms.
In the darkness, the mermaid’s strong arm cradled her with one hand, grabbed the railing of the power station, and placed her on the lifeboat.
Fortunately, the lifeboat’s glass was bulletproof, and the hatch was undamaged, with dry blankets inside.
Along the way, the mermaid occasionally stopped, got on the boat to check her condition, and gave her some water.
Yet Shu Tang’s condition showed no signs of improvement.
To any ordinary person, this would clearly be just a common cold or fever, easily treated with some cooling down and a good sleep; if not too severe, even fever-reducing medicine might not be necessary.
But the mermaid knew nothing of these common human understandings.
“He” didn’t know she would be better by tomorrow.
A great anxiety emerged in this creature.
However, “he” found it difficult to understand and express this helpless and alien emotion, eventually transforming it all into anger, making “him” wish to destroy all the remaining pollutants in this sea area.
The mermaid’s fins all stood erect, brutally tearing apart any small pieces of pollution that came close to the small boat.
Yet beneath this violent facade lay a deep sense of panic and helplessness.
The monster was afraid that his little cat would die.
As if sensing the intense unease of this creature, Shu Tang half-consciously felt something when the mermaid next boarded the ship to check on her. She opened her eyes.
“His” pale lips were tightly pursed, and all his fins were sharply arced, his dark eyes filled with worry and anxiety.
Shu Tang wanted to say she just had a slight fever, that it would subside quickly after cooling down and she would be fine, but her head felt heavy and dizzy, and she barely made a soft sound, instinctively grasping the mermaid’s hand.