Hi everyone! I’m sorry for the irregular postings. I’ve been training out of town since last month so I can’t be consistent with the updates on the website. I’ll post when I have the time tho (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) thank you for reading and supporting 𖹭
It was probably due to a surge in mental power that the mermaid’s behavior was very similar to that of wild animals, expressing anger by hissing and flaring its gill fins, which was very simple to understand.
However, since the mermaid’s condition had improved and it understood more, such behaviors had become less frequent. The mermaid seldom hissed anymore, seeming to be able to better control and express its emotions.
It even mastered the advanced expression of a “cold laugh” on its own.
Even though Shu Tang always spoke confidently and was full of reasons, today she felt an unusual sense of guilt.
At night, when Shu Tang remembered that her bedding was still in the living room, she felt very embarrassed: because she had moved it with such conviction, and now she was sheepishly moving it back.
Feeling guilty, Shu Tang waited in the living room for a while, purposely waiting until the mermaid went to shower and she heard the sound of water in the bathroom, then she stealthily carried the quilt upstairs.
But halfway there, she heard a very familiar cold laugh.
Following that, a mermaid passed by, picked up the sneaky Shu Tang and the quilt, and carried them back to the room, stuffing them into the bed.
Shu Tang felt a bit awkward, so she turned off the light and lay next to the mermaid.
Shu Tang remembered TV dramas about couples divorcing, something about the “seven-year itch,” how they were together in bed but dreaming differently, appearing united but emotionally distant. But they hadn’t reached this stage yet and were already experiencing the taste of the seven-year itch.
She let out a sigh.
And then turned over and sighed again.
Due to some irritation, the creature had initially decided not to bother with this little cat tonight.
But she was rolling over in bed at a rate of ten times a minute and looking at him with a sigh each time.
Finally, the mermaid could no longer bear it, opened its eyes, and pulled her into its arms.
And pressed her down with its tail.
He was finally at her wit’s end.
The mermaid watched her for a while, then lowered his gaze.
In fact, the mermaid was well aware: she was soothing “him.”
Every time she felt pity and compassion for this creature, the massive monster would shrink immensely, becoming as tiny as the fish in her aquarium.
The creature really enjoyed her “pity.”
Yet, ironically, this pity made the creature’s heart suffer greatly at that moment.
In her presence, the creature wanted to show a reliable and strong side.
It wanted to tell her that it wasn’t so clumsy or slow.
At least, the creature knew what it was doing and what it wanted.
So, after Shu Tang fell asleep, the creature opened its eyes and left the bedroom.
The bathroom light turned on.
The creature looked at its pale reflection in the mirror.
In the darkness, it strained repeatedly, emitting harsh, eerie sounds.
These sounds were peculiar, always off-key, with a chilling airflow.
Yet, this fearsome creature stood in front of the lit mirror, practicing the mouth shapes over and over again.
Repeating the pronunciation of the name “Shu Tang.”
…
Having almost finished reviewing, Shu Tang didn’t get up to study as usual on Thursday morning but went into the kitchen to make seafood porridge instead.
When the mermaid returned from hunting and was about to enter the kitchen, he saw Shu Tang busying herself there.
The mermaid stood at the door, watched for a while, then lowered his gaze.
Shu Tang, lazy as a little cat, was trying to be diligent to soothe “him.”
Shu Tang thought the mermaid would sulk for several days, but after breakfast that day, he was back to normal, and even behaved naturally as they went for a walk.
Shu Tang thought this matter would just pass.
They made up and decided not to bring up kissing or confessions again, just like before, listening to the weather forecast and eating seafood together, which was actually quite nice.
Thinking this, the two were sunbathing on the rocks.
The mermaid lazily swung his tail and then very naturally took her hand.
Their fingers intertwined tightly.
Shu Tang immediately wanted to say: This won’t work.
But the mermaid did not let go.
As she tried to pull her hand away, the mermaid tilted its head and hissed at her.
As if to say, “Aren’t we supposed to photosynthesize?”
Shu Tang: “……”
Shu Tang looked at the fish, then looked again.
She suspected that the mermaid might have already known, but she had no evidence.
Thus, as the whole next day was sunny, the mermaid kept holding her hand, engaging in the beneficial photosynthesis for both mind and body.
Whenever Shu Tang tried to find an excuse to let go, the mermaid would reveal a familiar cold smirk, pulling her right back.
Shu Tang: “……”
In the afternoon, Shu Tang could only hold the mermaid with one hand and use the communicator with the other.
She sent a message to Chen Sheng to request leave.
Chen Sheng had already been informed about the qualification exam and quickly approved her leave. If it had been before, Chen Sheng might have hesitated a bit. But after Shu Tang’s fever incident, Chen Sheng was surprised to find that the Founder had regained some of his consciousness and even vaguely recognized him.
The Founder was no longer resistant to communicating with the outside world, and his mental strength values had been very stable lately. Therefore, Chen Sheng thought it was not a big issue for Shu Tang to take some time off.
However, after approving the leave, Chen Sheng thought it over and still decided to send a message to Old Wu.
Shu Tang had originally planned to share a hired car back with Su Yin. But that afternoon, she received a message: the sanatorium had arranged a bus, and all the interns participating in the exam were to be picked up together.
Shu Tang was a bit puzzled until she saw Old Wu’s name on the list of drivers. Then she understood why.
Since she had observed the fearful yet cautious attitude everyone had towards the mermaid, she had already mentally prepared for this subtle form of protection.
With that, her departure on Friday afternoon was settled.
Shu Tang glanced at the mermaid’s profile, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
“Little Rose, I need to leave temporarily tomorrow for an exam that will last three days.”
“It’s a bit far; I have to go back to school. The exam is at Hua University.”
Upon hearing that Shu Tang would be far away for three days, the fin behind the mermaid’s ear immediately stood up. Given the incident when Shu Tang had a fever, the mermaid did not want her out of its sight. The way she lay unconscious and feverish that day had caused the mermaid great distress.
The creature wanted to be with its little cat at all times, just like now.
But the monster had come to understand what the exam meant and knew how much Shu Tang had invested in this exam.
The mermaid paused for a moment.
It was only after a long while that he lowered his head to look at her, his eyes cast down.
His pale lips moved silently, as if he wanted to say something.
The monster wanted to go with her.
However, the hoarse voice was still coming out.
Then the monster stopped.
She said “he” didn’t understand.
If “he” followed her while she was doing important work, perhaps the little cat would think that everything was because “he” knew nothing, that’s why he was so dependent and reluctant to leave.
The monster’s pale lips were tightly closed, forcibly suppressing that worry and unease, ultimately not making any sound.
Indeed, Shu Tang spoke with a bit of worry: “Little Rose, can you stay alone in the forbidden area?”
After a quiet moment.
The mermaid turned her head towards her and hissed.
This was a sign of agreement.
Shu Tang was also stunned for a moment.
She thought persuading the mermaid would be a big task, and had prepared many words to coax “him”, but the mermaid just hissed at her and then accepted the matter.
Shu Tang found that after realizing there was no need to coax, she felt somewhat wistfully disappointed.
She thought to herself: Just wait a bit longer.
She waited for a long time, hoping to see the mermaid show reluctance or unwillingness, then she would persuade him with emotions and reason, to coax “him” properly.
But the mermaid was not as before and had calmly gone back to prepare dinner.
At first, Shu Tang thought the mermaid was just pretending.
So during dinner, she quietly observed “his” pectoral fins—
Even those fins, which could show emotions, were very calm.
The whole fish appeared extremely calm and composed.
Compared to how the mermaid used to look unwilling to let her go and worried she would abandon him, he seemed 100 times calmer now.
Shu Tang felt a great sense of disparity. It was like having a cat that sleeps on your chest every day at home. Although you complain about the cat making you have nightmares, you actually enjoy the clinginess; but then one day, it stops sleeping there, and lying on the bed looking at the cat, that kind of melancholy feeling arises.
Shu Tang had often complained countless times: Oh, why is he so clingy?
But now, she felt a sense of melancholy.
So, she casually reiterated:
“I’m leaving tomorrow afternoon.”
“The exam will take three days, and I might need to rest a day in the dormitory.”
The mermaid paused slightly.
For this restless creature, having the kitten away for three days was almost unbearable.
In fact, the creature was already regretting it, with the fins behind its ears subconsciously wanting to stand up.
But feeling her gaze, it forcibly relaxed.
Shu Tang: Really not clingy anymore?
She was incredulous, yet melancholic.
Until the morning of Friday, Shu Tang was trapped in this mood.
Especially when she thought about being away from the mermaid for three days, she started feeling a bit anxious and not quite at ease.
Shu Tang thought: “He” must be very unaccustomed to her absence, perhaps he wouldn’t even be able to get through the days.
Shu Tang started to instruct:
“Little Rose, on rainy days, freeze the fish ahead of time, don’t go to the sea.”
“There seems to be a lot of pollutants in the sea recently, don’t get hurt. If you do, there’s medicine in the kitchen cabinet.”
The mermaid listened to her go on and on, watched her check if the food in the refrigerator was sufficient, checked some switches that might leak electricity, and then turned them all off.
—It was as if she was not leaving for three days, but for a year.
She said, “Little Rose, it’s very hot these days, remember when you freeze the fish…”
The mermaid had already lowered his head, his eyes downcast, and adjusted the refrigerator to setting three.
Deep freeze, the mermaid had already learned.
Shu Tang continued: “Little Rose, when you take a shower, you need to adjust the water temperature of the shower head—”
Before she finished speaking, the mermaid had already adjusted the shower to the right temperature.
She said, “That TV, remember every time you use it to…”
The mermaid pressed the remote, and the TV screen went dark.
Shu Tang paused for a moment.
She hesitated and said, “So you already know all this.”
Shu Tang wanted to give some other reminders to the mermaid: Remember to eat three meals a day, the supermarket delivery person will leave the snacks in the elevator, and if that’s not enough, just go directly to the elevator to get more.
But before she could speak, she suddenly remembered that the mermaid was exceptionally strong in hunting, and really didn’t need her to prepare a box full of bread and snacks.
Shu Tang paused for a long while before she remembered something else: “Oh right, you also need to take your medicine on time.”
Ever since Shu Tang had a fever, the mermaid knew that the tablets weren’t poisoned.
When she prepared the medication, dividing it into daily doses, Shu Tang realized that all she had left to do was administer the medicine.
She felt a bit disheartened as she realized:
Perhaps “he” didn’t need her as much as she had imagined.
…
After going around in circles, she found she really had nothing else to instruct and couldn’t find an excuse to linger any longer, so she just packed her suitcase, grabbed her study materials and examination admission card, and prepared to leave.
Before she left, she turned back and said, “Little Rose, I’m really going now.”
But what she didn’t know was that the mermaid had been silent all along, and since this morning, had rarely even made eye contact with her, simply because—
The monster worried that one more glance would make it uncontrollable to forcibly keep the little kitten in its den.
Shu Tang thought the mermaid probably wouldn’t come to send her off. After saying this, she picked up her suitcase and walked ahead, a bit sullenly.
Until she heard steady footsteps.
Then the large suitcase was silently taken over by the tall monster.
That tall figure then walked in front of her.
Shu Tang paused for a moment, then hurried to catch up.
The mermaid stopped, reached out, and hoisted her up.
Shu Tang said, “Little Rose, just drop me off at the entrance to Zone 01, a car will come to pick me up soon.”
And so, the mermaid really did put her down at the gate of Zone 01.
As the bus approached, the mermaid subconsciously raised its sharp dorsal fins, its dark eyes looking at the bus, tensing its muscles all over.
While constantly watching TV, the mermaid had come to understand what these things were, but as he watched Shu Tang walking into the bus with her suitcase, the monster still uncontrollably displayed sharp vigilance and hostility in its gaze.
However, the mermaid did not hiss or use its mental force field to cause destruction as it had in the past.
The monster, from the moment she said “he doesn’t understand,” has been desperately trying to appear human.
In the darkness, the monster forcibly diverted its gaze, controlled its restless psychic energy, and let the bus go.
As he watched the kitten disappear, the monster was tormented inside.
It felt as though it had been abandoned, desolate, or as if it had lost its heart and felt hollow.
Yet, it could not follow, for she would think again “he doesn’t understand”; nor could it show too much aggression, for that too would prove “he doesn’t understand.”
Thus, the monster could only use its immense psychic form to gaze, soullessly, as the bus carrying Shu Tang slowly moved beyond the reach of its psychic energy.
A light rain began to fall from the sky.
The monster stood motionlessly in the rain.
However, in a moment of distraction, the massive figure in mid-air suddenly fixed its gaze on a window.
Because “he” saw on the small window of the bus, meticulously written were two characters: “Zhu Yan.”
After boarding the bus, Shu Tang did not chat with the other interns but sat in the last row by the window, somewhat forlorn, gazing outside.
The mermaid’s figure was long gone.
She felt a sense of reluctance, a poignant sense of loss.
This led her to lean on the window, her finger tracing the not-yet-dried raindrops, and absentmindedly, she wrote two characters: “Zhu Yan.”
The massive figure in the air was silent for a moment.
Actually, at that time, staying silent was the right thing.
However, just as Shu Tang was about to erase those two characters.
The characters suddenly began to appear on the glass.
Meticulously written were two characters: “Shu Tang.”
Neatly placed next to “Zhu Yan.”
Shu Tang immediately knew who it was.
— “He” had been watching her all along.
This discovery made her leap for joy.
She stretched out her hand.
And drew a cat.
The figure opposite paused for a moment.
And drew a fish.
However, as the other party was about to finish their writing, Shu Tang reached out and touched the water stain.
The air paused for a moment, then she changed position and continued writing.
The monster wrote the word “like.”
But just as it began writing “吉,” someone called out, “Shu Tang!”
She turned her head instinctively.
“Everyone, please sign in and check if you have your admission ticket…”
Shu Tang hastily turned back and rummaged through her bag.
Thus, the word “like” that the monster was writing in mid-air was caught in the rain.
It became damp and muddy, slowly sliding down.
It dragged out a long, wet mark.
As she turned back, it blurred into this humid rainy season.