Grilling fish doesn’t require much skill; Shu Tang still had half a bottle of honey left in her cupboard. She brushed it directly onto the tuna, grilling it until both sides were golden brown, sizzling with oil, and each bite was a sublimation of the soul.
In the first fifteen minutes, Su Yin was shivering and told Shu Tang about the noises she heard the night before, but soon she was too busy eating to talk.
After eating, Shu Tang forgot about the eerie events of the morning and leisurely went to work.
However, clearly, others didn’t share Shu Tang’s calm demeanor. Before the morning meeting, the emergency department staff gathered in the break room to gossip, all pale and uneasy.
While adding sugar to her coffee, Shu Tang listened intently.
One colleague declared, “This must be haunted! Our sanatorium has seen many deaths.”
Shu Tang’s comment: Cyber idealism.
Another was agitated, “It must be the monsters from the contaminated zone.”
Yet another thought it was just a leaky roof;
As for the broken door, it surely was the midnight gale force winds;
Another fainted, definitely due to a sudden severe illness.
For this group, Shu Tang’s comment: Steadfast materialists.
Su Yin, mixed among the colleagues, described the strange occurrences in her dorm and firmly claimed:
Everyone would soon meet with mysterious contamination or sudden death.
Shu Tang’s comment: This is terrorism.
Finally, everyone unanimously turned to look at Shu Tang.
After all, she shared a dorm with Su Yin and was directly involved in the paranormal events.
Shu Tang hesitated.
She should have gone with the flow and expressed her own fright, but after touching her conscience, she found she wasn’t really scared. Besides, she was eating on someone else’s dime; how could she criticize them after taking their benefits?
She muddled through and slipped away with her coffee.
Shu Tang thought this issue would pass after a brief discussion, as such odd incidents happen yearly and don’t affect life much. However, during today’s morning meeting, Director Zhou announced something:
“I just received a notice from the Director; the sanatorium is now on high alert. From this moment, everyone should avoid wandering around and must not leave Zone 11 casually. Don’t blame me if something happens.”
As soon as this was announced, there was a buzz of whispers among those below.
Director Zhou sternly warned, “Also, everyone should go back early at night, lock your doors and windows, and regardless of any noise outside, remain quiet and do not go out unnecessarily! For safety, it’s best if everyone wears protective suits before going to sleep at night!”
All the alpha therapists at Cape Sanatorium are essentially military medics. Upon hearing this, they looked at each other, but quickly accepted the reality. Although most looked a bit pale, they were not as panicked as ordinary people.
Among a group of interns, the more experienced therapists should have been calmer, but their expressions became very serious upon hearing the announcement.
There’s a restricted area in the sanatorium known only to a few senior therapists. Its existence has always cast a persistent dark cloud over Cape Sanatorium, constantly pressuring everyone here.
Many had vaguely guessed: Something had happened in the restricted area.
“Ghosts” are not scary, but a real incident in the restricted area is a true horror story.
…
After the meeting, Shu Tang went on her rounds without any psychological pressure.
Shu Tang had no idea that she, a tiny Siberian butterfly, by flapping her wings, had caused a terrifying tsunami.
Shu Tang sighed, “Zone 11 is off-limits, and visiting the mermaid has to be postponed again.”
Because of the emergency at the sanatorium, the emergency department was chaotic all day.
Until before leaving work, Shu Tang still heard her colleagues discussing:
“He will definitely come again tonight!”
Her colleagues were anxious, discussing strategies for the night.
Shu Tang pricked up her ears.
Shu Tang was thoughtful.
After work, everyone rushed to buy protective suits from security, and some alphas also acquired some self-defense weapons, while Shu Tang, following the crowd, bought a protective suit and then detoured to the supermarket.
To Su Yin’s surprise, she found that her roommate had bought a bowl.
After nightfall, Shu Tang set up a bowl where a fish had unexpectedly fallen from the sky yesterday, and piled all her snacks on the table.
She clasped her hands together.
Dressed in her protective suit, Su Yin suddenly realized that she understood her roommate’s thought process.
After such a terrifying incident—
Cat: Fish from the sky! Fish from the sky!
Su Yin lay down, her face full of disbelief.
*
After nightfall, the entire dormitory building was tightly closed, plunging into dead silence, as if even the breathing sounds of everyone inside had disappeared.
Finally, during the time when most were asleep, the dripping sound of water started again.
At this moment, some were still awake, yet a nameless fear gripped their hearts, keeping them quiet, hiding under their covers, too scared to make a sound.
Sure enough, the tall dark shadow appeared again at the staircase.
“He” had come.
The mermaid was once again by Shu Tang’s bed, watching her for a long while.
She was sleeping soundly, seemingly having completely forgotten the existence of the mermaid after her escape, a fact that gave the mermaid a familiar sense of anxious unease.
But this time, “he” didn’t shriek at her, nor did he make any sound.
— “He” couldn’t wake her up.
After watching her quietly for a while, the mermaid slowly retreated, curling up in the dark corner like the day before, with his tail coiled, the only difference being:
The mermaid’s pitch-black eyes suddenly noticed the protective shield on Shu Tang’s body.
To the mermaid, even research vessels could be easily torn apart; this armor, supposedly developed by the research institute using cutting-edge technology, was still as fragile as paper in “his” presence, offering no protection at all.
— Yet Shu Tang, having noticed the tuna, wore such a thing out of fear.
Even though “he” had not harmed her.
Confused and angry, the mermaid stiffly coiled his tail in the corner, his dark eyes fixated on her.
For such a monster, ferocity and slaughter were natural; kindness was rare and precious. Constant rejection only served to infuriate “him” more.
The mermaid, angry and anxious, flicked his tail.
All through the night, he never approached her again.
Just in the corner, he kept watching the sleeping Shu Tang with an angry and icy gaze.
Finally, it was dawn.
The mermaid slowly shifted their gaze away, having been trapped in a tight corner all night, which made getting up a very sluggish affair.
Before leaving, “his” footsteps suddenly halted.
Because at the place where “he” left the fish yesterday, there was now a bowl.
A tall dark shadow slowly lowered its head to see a piece of paper placed beside the bowl with an arrow drawn on it.
Cat: Put the fish here ↑
The mermaid stiffened for a moment, then cocked their head.
There was usually no expression on the mermaid’s face, making it hard to discern any emotions from “his” face.
But the beautiful fins behind his ears fluttered slightly.
After a long while, “he” turned his head to look at Shu Tang beside him.
The anger and restlessness from the whole night gradually subsided.
However, the deep-sea butcher who had secluded himself in a corner all night was not an easy creature to converse with.
The mermaid moved closer to Shu Tang, staring at the protective shield on her body. Finally, with his long, pale fingers nearing the shield, there was a “rip” sound, and the obtrusive shield was very badly torn to shreds.
—This was a form of intimidation and warning from a monster.
Yet, the mermaid still brought the fish to Shu Tang.
It was neatly placed on her bowl.
…
After waking up, Shu Tang looked at the tuna, then at the shredded protective suit.
She touched her still intact neck, finally feeling a bit nervous.
Oh my, the protective suit was shredded!
While scared, she went on to steam the tuna, adding sea salt and sauce to it.
But the tension didn’t last until the fish was cooked; Shu Tang had a realization.
She analyzed:
Since “he” could tear apart the high-density protective shield, taking her life would have been very simple; but “he” didn’t do anything and just left her with two fish over these two days.
It’s important to know that after most of the ocean became a pollution zone, fish became very rare in the federal market.
It seems that the other party came to the dormitory building, frightening the passersby and damaging the door, all just to bring her some tuna to eat.
Shu Tang clasped her hands together: What a kind-hearted deity of tuna!
Shu Tang relaxed a bit and flipped the fish over. But she wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination; she could smell a faint but tempting scent of lemon sea salt grilled fish.
In fact, she had smelled it yesterday too, but since the tuna was grilled yesterday, Shu Tang didn’t think much of it.
But here was the problem: today her fish was steamed!
This familiar scent was something Shu Tang would never forget once she smelled it, because there was no other scent in the world that could make her lose control, causing her brain to fog and her heart to race.
Suddenly, Shu Tang had a guess.
She patted her cheeks and dazedly looked down at the tuna in her hands.
At that moment, Su Yin had just woken up. She got up with a start: “Why is there more fish?”
Su Yin asked with a bit of fear, “Little Tang, it’s not that again, is it?”
Shu Tang dazedly replied, “What?”
Su Yin got up and sat beside her: “I heard them say last night, that alpha who fainted woke up.”
Su Yin continued, “He said he saw a black shadow, and everyone said it might really be a ghost.”
Because of this testimony, the cyber-idealist faction of the emergency department momentarily dominated the public discourse. Su Yin, looking at the fish in Shu Tang’s hand, really wanted to ask her if she wanted to go get a charm.
Shu Tang snapped back to reality and firmly corrected: “It’s not a ghost.”
Su Yin: ?
Shu Tang hesitated, “It’s actually not that scary.”
But she didn’t say anything more.
After cleaning up, Shu Tang didn’t go with Su Yin to the emergency department but said, “Yin Yin, I have something to do this morning. You go to the morning meeting first.”
After Su Yin left, the dormitory was left with only Shu Tang.
She walked around her bed and quickly found traces on the ground; something had slapped underneath her bed, leaving deep imprints on the floor as if a large ferocious monster had swung its tail here;
On the corner curtain, there were folds from being leaned against;
Shu Tang also discovered on her iron bed frame, a corner was deeply indented with a handprint, as if someone had accidentally squeezed it.
Actually, the scene was already terrifying enough, but Shu Tang seemed not to be very scared.
—Although uncertain, she seemed to have an idea who the benevolent “Tuna God” was.
…
That day, Shu Tang rushed to work and, as expected, was severely reprimanded by Director Zhou for being late. However, Shu Tang was preoccupied with other thoughts and didn’t care about Director Zhou’s sarcasm, finding a corner to copy medical reports instead.
While copying, she came across a sentence:
“Amnesia is a common sequel of severe mental exertion, accompanied by the fading of mental acuity and the forgetting of common knowledge.”
Shu Tang was momentarily stunned, lost in thought.
Actually, when the mermaid was learning how to eat, Shu Tang had guessed that he must have amnesia, otherwise such a simple way of eating wouldn’t necessitate an adult relearning it.
This was also why Shu Tang always thought about him and wanted to check on him.
But Shu Tang had always thought he would stay in Zone 01, never considering the possibility of the mermaid coming to find her.
The sanatorium was very large, with Zone 01 being far from Zone 11. Not understanding the signs could make one lost for half a day.
So, how did the mermaid find her?
The amnesiac mermaid was like a blank slate, unable to speak, naturally unable to ask for directions.
—The rain had been particularly heavy the last few nights, the mermaid didn’t even know how to use an umbrella, just silently walking in the heavy rain.
He probably didn’t even know to seek shelter under the eaves.
…
Shu Tang’s mind was cluttered with thoughts.
After work, she hesitated for a moment: Speaking of which, can mermaid catch colds from the rain?
Shu Tang felt she was worrying unnecessarily but still went to the pharmacy to get some cold medicine from a colleague.
Although Cape Sanatorium doesn’t treat colds, they always have standard medicines available.
After leaving the pharmacy, Shu Tang thought it over and quickly made a trip to the supermarket.
Shu Tang bought the largest size blanket available, specifically choosing a waterproof one; she also bought a thermos for taking cold medicine; she picked an umbrella and an extra-large towel.
After buying these items, Shu Tang passed by the produce section.
The auntie warmly said, “How about some apples? These are a new variety cultivated by the base, big and especially sweet!”
According to Shu Tang’s observation, the main diet of the mermaid seemed to be fish, but the supermarket didn’t sell any.
Shu Tang thought, then let’s buy something not found in the sea.
Carrying her large and small packages, she left, and on her way back, Su Yin looked at her several times, unable to help asking:
“Why are you buying apples? They’re so expensive, isn’t the fruit nutrient solution tasty?”
Shu Tang: “Su Yin, have you ever heard this line from the ‘Book of Songs’?”
Su Yin: “?”
Shu Tang: “Give me a fish, and I’ll repay you with an apple.”