Suddenly, the mermaid called out to her, “Tang.”
For some reason, Shu Tang felt something was amiss, so she turned her head to look at him and asked, “Little Rose, what’s wrong?”
However, in the next second, the mermaid clamped her waist and took her breath away with a nearly frenzied kiss.
She recoiled, and his icy hands, filled with intense jealousy and possessiveness, grasped her waist.
Before she could suffocate, the mermaid let her go.
Confused and still trying to catch her breath, the mermaid kissed her crazily again.
Her legs were captured and parted by the mermaid, pinning her athletic waist against the slightly cold refrigerator, almost completely covered by his towering form.
For a while, she gasped for breath, barely regaining a bit of her senses, and tried to push him away by grabbing his hair. The force was minimal, but after feeling that slight resistance, the mermaid obediently moved back two centimeters.
Shu Tang felt she was really going to be kissed to death, she gasped for air and glared at the mermaid: “Do you, do you want to kiss me to death here?”
The mermaid looked up, his eyes filled with madness.
For a moment, Shu Tang thought the mermaid wanted to say “yes.”
But when the monster spoke, it was a hoarse and sincere apology: “I’m sorry.”
Because this beast was very sincere and genuinely wanted to “kiss her to death,” and felt sorry for it.
Shu Tang didn’t even have time to ponder when the mermaid had learned to apologize, she just instinctively thought that his apology meant he wouldn’t continue. But when she moved, she realized that the mermaid had no intention of letting her go.
The mermaid’s gaze became very obscure, and he directly carried the little cat upstairs, opened the bedroom door, and threw her onto the bed. Shu Tang was still dazed in the soft mattress, but the next second, a crazy and chaotic kiss had already landed on her waist.
The mermaid’s hands were very slender and large, the blue veins making them look very elegant and beautiful, now these hands firmly controlled her waist. The beastly instinct is to cover unfamiliar scents with one’s own breath.
Shu Tang looked down and met that aggressive gaze. Accompanied by the movement of a handsome Adam’s apple, desire seemed to materialize. Shu Tang could hardly bear to meet his eyes. Amidst the increasingly thick pheromones, she let out a surprised breath, almost sinking into the soft mattress.
Shu Tang once told the mermaid that if he angered her, an apology was needed, and with an apology, she would forgive “him.”
So throughout the night, this ferocious beast kept apologizing sincerely. Shu Tang felt her head was about to explode; her initial slight embarrassment, due to the other’s earnest and sincere apologies, skyrocketed to a severe level. Frustrated, she raised her leg to kick the mermaid, landing her foot in the creature’s somewhat coarse palm.
Then, her calves and the insides of her thighs were covered in kiss marks.
…
A torrential rain poured through most of the night.
Shu Tang hid under the covers, glaring at the mermaid.
The kitten asked the “he” across, whether he was originally a dog. The mermaid did not object. Guilty, the creature spent the whole night unable to retaliate or talk back.
Even when Shu Tang threw a pillow at it, the creature caught it, then silently bowed down and respectfully handed it back to her.
But obviously, this was what irritated her the most.
Shu Tang wanted to send the mermaid to sleep next door, but as she emerged from under the covers, she caught the mermaid’s gaze.
Calm yet dangerous.
That look made Shu Tang immediately feel that tonight’s mermaid was not quite the same as usual.
So, the kitten, who bullied the weak but feared the strong, quickly dove back under the covers, swallowing back her words of sending him away.
Perhaps the cool summer night was conducive to sleep; she soon drifted off into a drowsy slumber.
*
Above the city, a colossal creature awakened, enveloping many high-rise buildings like a black cloud.
On a rainy night, the towering monster, holding a small blue umbrella, followed the scent to the Zhu family’s villa.
Among flashes of lightning, the tall figure was stretched out.
A man opened the door.
Pretending to be a relative of Zhu Yan, this family had profited immensely, now living in a luxurious villa;
But when this “relative” actually visited them on a rainy night…
Immediately after, a piercing scream tore through the night sky.
As the tall dark figure slowly entered, the monster saw the man who had intentionally left his scent on the kitten.
Behind the creature, black raindrops slapped against the windows, leaving wet handprints; the light bulb burst with a snap.
Like a rain-night ghost story.
The man let out a scream and fainted.
In the dark night, an icy sneer was heard.
……
Shu Tang woke up to find that the rain had stopped at midnight, leaving behind clear, sunny weather.
However, the mermaid was not there. Shu Tang had a vague feeling that, not long after she had fallen asleep yesterday, the mermaid had left the Bastille, but she had no idea where it had gone.
As she descended the stairs in her slippers, she saw the mermaid just returning.
Even though the weather was fine outside, the unlit Bastille looked incredibly eerie, and the mermaid, appearing at the door, still seemed like a ghastly protagonist from a horror story.
The mermaid had not returned all night and only came back in the early morning, casually asking her at the door, “Do you want to go out today?”
It was a deadly question, for if Shu Tang sought out that omega again, it would be fatal. You cannot expect a monstrously powerful creature to remain rational amidst intense jealousy.
But Shu Tang peeked at the bright sun outside, quickly withdrew, and went to make some milk instead. She said, “Let’s just stay home today.”
Thus, the monster’s boiling jealousy gradually subsided.
Yet, the mermaid was still uneasy.
“It” calmed down, tilted its head, and the stone gates of the Bastille closed behind it.
A loud noise echoed.
If Shu Tang had been more perceptive, she might have realized that the mermaid had probably left the forbidden area yesterday to do something.
Although the monster’s original intention was not for Shu Tang to seek out that person, its terrifying appearance and abnormal behavior were very prone to misunderstanding. Linking this together, one could easily imagine some sort of paranoid captivity play.
If someone were more alert, they would believe that this monster had finally shown its brutal and paranoid side after she let her guard down. If one were more timid, feeling scared and attempting to flee, they might inadvertently become involved in a drama of torturous love and enforced affection.
Yet as Shu Tang watched the mermaid close the big door, she was completely unaware of the monster’s sinister nature or anything amiss.
She passed the mermaid with a mug of hot milk: “If you’re closing the door, could you please also take the quilt upstairs to air out?”
The horror story protagonist: “……”
Shu Tang turned to face him.
Shu Tang: “Do you know how many bacteria are on a quilt that isn’t aired?”
The sinister horror story protagonist paused for a moment, then obediently turned around and went out to air the quilt.
Shu Tang leaned out from the balcony and continued to direct:
“Oh dear, little rose, while you’re at it, could you also fertilize the tomatoes?”
In the ghostly tale, the protagonist turns to fertilize Shu Tang’s tomato seedlings.
While the mermaid was watering the tomatoes, he watched helplessly as Shu Tang, who was supposed to be locked in the castle, emerged.
She came up to him with her hands tucked in and asked, “Little rose, how many times have you watered today?”
The mermaid looked at her oddly, inquiring how she managed to get out.
Shu Tang looked at him, baffled: “Through the window!”
She even demonstrated enthusiastically, climbing back through the narrow window and halfway through turned her head: “What are you staring at? Give me a push.”
The monster: “…”
When the mermaid returned, she was still curious, “Why did you close the main door? Is it because there are too many little insects lately?”
Shu Tang lit a mosquito coil and casually went back to watch TV, not taking the matter seriously at all.
What forced love, what ghostly protagonist, even living in a prison, one must honestly have three meals a day and wash and dry things.
This is the worldview of a cat.
Amazingly, within this wondrous attitude, the obsessive monster gradually relaxed. Especially when Shu Tang had the mermaid mop the floor along the way, the mermaid had completely returned to normal and even thought about hanging a little cat from a tree branch.
Shu Tang received a piece of news from Mama Shu.
This was indeed mysterious. It was said that the Zhu family had done something shameful and haunted their house. In the past two nights, eerie handprints appeared on the window, terrifying the family almost to madness. The next day, they started telling everyone they saw ghosts and requested 24-hour police protection.
Subsequently, it was discovered that the Zhu family had embezzled logistic funds from the base and were dismissed from their posts. Over the years, they had profited using their surname, and due to the large amount of embezzlement, imprisonment was inevitable.
After learning about this, Shu Tang breathed a sigh of relief. She intuitively felt that their attitude changed drastically after knowing she was transferred to work in Zone 01, probably with ill intentions. She was somewhat worried they would bother her parents, but now she no longer had these concerns.
She immediately turned around and shared the news with the mermaid.
The mermaid’s hand paused, and he stared at her strangely for a while, not detecting any sympathy on her face. He even saw a bit of schadenfreude.
The mermaid was pleased by Shu Tang’s carefree attitude, shook his tail, and the clouds over his head seemed to clear away.
The mermaid moved closer and gently bit Shu Tang’s finger.
Shu Tang still didn’t know that her little rose nearly drowned in a sea of jealousy.
Just like that, the storm passed, unseen and unfelt.
Even though there was some disagreement regarding whether to go to Yan City or not, life still went on.
However, Shu Tang couldn’t tell if it was her illusion, but she faintly felt that the mermaid was no longer so resistant to seeking treatment.
Previously, whenever Shu Tang brought it up, the mermaid would kiss her or press her between its tail. But now, the mermaid’s uncooperative attitude had improved quite a bit, although it still hadn’t given in completely.
Jealousy is a powerful force that made this monster dissatisfied with the status quo for the first time.
Time flew, and it was already July 10th. Ten days had passed since they received the news.
During the day, Shu Tang started to read the materials sent by Chen Sheng, reviewing cases of people who died due to outbursts of psychic power, which finally made her anxious.
But Shu Tang couldn’t rush the mermaid, fearing that any slight waver on the mermaid’s part due to her urgency would be suppressed again.
Perhaps it was because she saw too many cases, but Shu Tang, who usually had excellent sleep quality, began to have nightmares influenced by her daytime worries.
She dreamed that the mermaid’s spirit turned into a murky black fog, opening fierce eyes over the city, wreaking havoc without sanity or humanity, and losing its mind completely during its frenzied rampages.
Eventually, it disappeared without a trace.
She stood atop the ruins of the city, turning her head to see collapsed buildings. As she walked forward, she couldn’t find the mermaid anywhere.
Often, she couldn’t wake up from this dream or find a way out.
These dreams weren’t baseless fantasies but were due to the many real cases Shu Tang read during the day.
Shu Tang knew that if they didn’t seek treatment, this might be their future one day.
Because of these dreams, she often woke up in the middle of the night.
Only when she held the mermaid’s tail and felt its warmth could she find a sense of security.
She never told the mermaid about the nightmares she had every night because she felt it was somewhat ominous to speak of such dreams.
In fact, Shu Tang had another secret she hadn’t told the mermaid:
Sometimes, Shu Tang felt that she had taken advantage of the mermaid’s vulnerability to gain its dependence and affection.
If the mermaid didn’t get better, she would feel like a thief exploiting someone’s vulnerability, like robbing someone while they were unconscious or boldly intruding into their world while they suffered from amnesia.
That’s also why she couldn’t find a way out in her dream.
She thought the mermaid didn’t know about her waking up at night, but sharing a bed, the mermaid, with its keen hearing, could sense her every turn.
At night, when she tossed and turned in her dreams, the mermaid would embrace her and gently pat her back, comforting her like a child in a fit, until she calmed down in her dreams.
Upon discovering that she would wake up startled in the middle of the night, the mermaid began to prepare milk for her before bed to soothe her nerves.
However, while preparing the milk, the tall mermaid cast his gaze downward.
The already unsteady balance in his heart began to slowly tip.
The mermaid did not want to change the current situation. “He” did not like to return to his previous role as Zhu Yan, nor did he like Yan City, preferring instead to stay by her side as her little rose. Moreover, the mermaid thought that past memories were not important to himself.
Ten years after the mutation, this creature had grown accustomed to his current life. The ocean was boundless and as free as the sky—this was the true world for the mermaid.
But “he” had fallen in love with a cat from the land.
…
In the middle of the night, the mermaid noticed that Shu Tang was awake again.
When he reached the kitchen doorway, he suddenly heard a faint noise and realized: she was crying.
In that instant, the mermaid froze.
At that moment, this sharp creature faintly understood something:
Perhaps in love, compromise is the norm.
Shu Tang got up in the middle of the night to drink water, but it was too dark, and the thresholds in the fortress were made of high, solid stone. Not seeing it clearly, she accidentally kicked it: “…”
If pain had levels, stubbing a toe would definitely compete with pricking a finger.
Shu Tang felt her toes disappearing, her soul almost flying away from the pain.
She bent down, squatting and holding her legs, as tears naturally flowed.
Standing not far away, the mermaid watched her trembling shoulders, knowing she had been sleeping poorly lately and would come out at night, but not realizing she would hide and cry.
The mermaid felt at a loss. Guilt flooded over him like a tide. He lowered his head to look at his little cat, silently opening his mouth, wanting to say something to soothe her emotions.
But this creature had few words to say, clumsy and inarticulate, hardly capable of winning her favor.
Finally, the mermaid was silent for a while.
Then suddenly said, “Okay.”
In pain, Shu Tang clutched her leg, already hearing footsteps approaching. She was still immersed in the agonizing thought that her toes were splitting open and might need to be amputated. When she heard the voice of the mermaid, she paused, startled.
Shu Tang maintained her posture as she turned around, having just kicked the corner of the wall, her toes visibly swollen.
The mermaid lowered his head and finally saw Shu Tang’s full posture.
The imagined helpless little kitten crying over this was gone, replaced by a kitten grimacing in pain, clutching her foot.
Mermaid: “…”
Shu Tang immediately snapped out of it, the surprise hitting her as fast as a tornado.
As the mermaid was about to speak, Shu Tang, suspicious that he might be having second thoughts, quickly moved towards him like a crab, clinging onto him tightly, her entire body hanging off him.
She warned, “You promised, I heard it with both ears, you can’t go back on your word!”