0046 was in despair, collapsing. “Zong Yuan! I can’t find its butt!”
Zong Yuan, almost unable to hold back his shock, snapped back, “…Get lost.”
He turned to look at the wound on his shoulder. It was hard to see, so he reached out and felt it. The mermaid’s tongue was blocked by his hand at the wound, and it thought this was a sign of rejection from the human. The sea surged, washing over Zong Yuan’s body.
Zong Yuan’s emotions were a complex mess. “You wait for me!”
The mermaid’s eyes deepened.
He found the wound, repeatedly touching it in disbelief. “Damn,” he looked at the mermaid, unable to tell if he felt more joy or frustration. “…What is this?!”
The mermaid grew impatient. It grabbed Zong Yuan’s body, planning to drag him into the sea to punish this disobedient human. Zong Yuan held onto its hand. “You wait.”
His tone unintentionally revealed a hint of tenderness.
Even if he couldn’t find the mermaid’s butt… he had a strong feeling he was on the right track.
Zong Yuan fixed his gaze on the upper half of the mermaid’s body, staying calm without having seen its tail. “Do you have a butt?”
The mermaid was taken aback, tilting its head to look at him.
Zong Yuan painfully took off his jacket and wrapped it around his hand to pat the spot on the mermaid’s tail where its butt would be. “Right here, do you have one?”
The mermaid lowered its head and kissed him, its slick tongue licking the salty seawater off his face. Zong Yuan said, “…That’s right.”
This familiar stubborn trait.
Zong Yuan covered his eyes and sighed in despair.
His wife had turned into a mermaid.
It sounded quite intriguing; however, he was afraid he could only gaze at it across the sea.
Zong Yuan wanted to reason with the mermaid. “Can you understand what I’m saying?”
The mermaid licked his throat, its sharp teeth faintly grasping at Zong Yuan’s vital points.
He let it bite him. “You little fool?”
The mermaid lifted its head from his neck and let out a warning growl. It didn’t understand the meaning of these three words, but it recalled Zong Yuan once said them to it with malice.
Zong Yuan tentatively touched the mermaid’s curly hair. “Be good, call me Daddy.”
Taking advantage of the fact that the foolish mermaid didn’t understand his words, he decided to bully it, avenging the humiliation he had suffered before.
Yet, despite all this, his heart still felt desolate. My dear, how did you turn into a fish? What will happen from now on?
The mermaid gazed deeply at him, a fearsome power emanating from its abyss-like black eyes, filled with unabashed greed. Zong Yuan, however, felt no tension; aside from his lover’s fish tail, he had almost no fear.
He pressed down the mermaid’s head, resigned and helpless, and kissed its forehead. “Da–ddy. Call me Daddy.”
Human emotions change so quickly. The mermaid’s dark eyes flickered with confusion, tentatively sounding out, “D…”
Zong Yuan patiently encouraged, “Da.”
He repeated it over and over without annoyance, unexpectedly feeling a paternal sense of satisfaction. 0046 remarked, “…No action leads to death.”
0046 understood perfectly. From Fu Xin to Jiang Shengyan, and from Jiang Shengyan to this mermaid, none were easy to deal with.
The mermaid stumbled over the words, “Da… Daddy.”
It was pleased, pinning Zong Yuan’s hands down, its tail pressing against his legs, licking him from head to toe. “Daddy.”
The cold, scaly texture pressed tightly against his damp clothes. Zong Yuan’s palms were sweating, and an overwhelming fear burst forth after his anger had dissipated.
He gritted his teeth, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of the mermaid. “Get down.”
His tone was weak, and the mermaid asked, “Daddy?”
Suddenly, a sound echoed nearby, drawing the mermaid’s attention. The man in the suit, with a terrified expression, cautiously approached with a lit stick, trying to intimidate it. “Get lost!”
When the mermaid was licking Zong Yuan’s throat, the man’s heart raced. It wanted to eat Zong Yuan!
He swallowed hard, waving the stick in front of him. “Get away!”
The mermaid had always lived in the deep sea, never seeing such bright and warm colors before.
But this was something it couldn’t touch; it had touched it before and had been severely injured.
The mermaid curled its finger and a small water column surged from the surface, striking the stick with precision.
The man’s face turned pale.
He dropped the stick and hurriedly ran toward the cave.
With its sharp teeth bared, the mermaid let out a low growl, but Zong Yuan quickly covered its mouth. “Little one, don’t be so violent. Just listen to Daddy, okay?”
Despite his own fear, he didn’t hold back on the verbal advantage.
Hearing the familiar words, the mermaid’s anger calmed. “Daddy.”
Zong Yuan forced a smile. “Good boy, can you get off Daddy?”
The moon had risen to its highest point and the mermaid took one last look at him before turning and diving into the sea.
Zong Yuan suddenly stood up, instinctively taking two steps toward the water.
The surface of the sea was completely still, dark and murky, reflecting only the moonlight.
Zong Yuan couldn’t express his feelings as he walked back to the shore. 0046 sighed, “Ah, mermaids!”
Zong Yuan’s expression soured; what had bothered him had turned into heartache. “It’s so dark and cold in the sea. How long has it been alone? I feel oppressed after just a few minutes; isn’t it even more miserable?”
The worst part was, “It has been so special to me from the beginning and yet I wanted to kill it… I’m such a scumbag!”
His wife had turned into a mermaid, yet he could still recognize him among a crowd.
But he could only wait for his lover to find him.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt inhuman. “If it hadn’t bitten me, would I have possibly killed it? Or would we have both been hurt?”
0046 hesitated, unsure of what to say. “If all of this is just hypothetical…”
Zong Yuan restrained his emotions and silently walked into the cave.
Inside, everyone was gathered around the terrified man in the suit. Just then, Zong Yuan entered and they gasped in surprise. “You’re not dead?!”
Zong Yuan nodded and sat down in the corner.
He was clearly in a bad mood. Others suppressed their urge to ask questions, thinking that if he was okay, then the mermaid should have left.
It was late, and it was time to sleep.
As they prepared their space, the man in the suit approached Zong Yuan, handing him a lighter and whispering, “Although I didn’t succeed, that monster should be afraid of fire. It often gets close to you. You should give it a try.”
He reached out to touch Zong Yuan’s Adam’s apple. “Were you bitten?”
Zong Yuan grabbed his hand. “Thanks, bro, but I’m fine.”
The man in the suit felt awkward. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
0046 stared at his expression. “He’s lying, Zong Yuan.”
Zong Yuan released his hand, his tone calm. “The mermaid’s target is me. You all shouldn’t approach it carelessly… and don’t get close to me either.”
He had a good idea why the mermaid wanted to kill the man in the suit.
The man in the suit grew anxious. “No way! Don’t worry, I’ll definitely help you!”
Zong Yuan looked at him. “Do you want to live?”
The man in the suit trembled, his lips quivering.
Zong Yuan smiled. “Brother, for your own good, if you want to live, don’t get close to me.” He turned to the others who were eavesdropping. “You all too.”
Zong Yuan stood up, preparing to curl up in a corner at the cave entrance for the night. Suddenly, he remembered something and said to the man in the suit, “I forgot to mention, I have a partner now.”
He paid no attention to the man’s expression, focusing instead on finding a comfortable spot to sleep.
By chance, when he looked up, he was greeted by a dazzling starry sky.
Zong Yuan felt no sleepiness at all. 0046 asked him, “Are you thinking about the mermaid?”
Zong Yuan softly replied, “Mm.”
0046 sighed. “It looks like this world is just you and the mermaid living separate lives.”
Zong Yuan frowned at its words, feeling irritated. “I can be on the shore and he can be in the sea. We can meet and even kiss.”
0046 exposed his lie. “But that doesn’t count as being together.”
Zong Yuan pinched the flesh of his palm. “Why doesn’t it count?”
0046 replied honestly, “You’re afraid of his tail and that’s understandable. Zong Yuan, have you ever considered that you and he are not of the same kind in this world? He can only be in the sea, while you can only be on land. If one day he dies in the sea, you might not even know…”
As it spoke, its voice gradually diminished, and it asked worriedly, “Zong Yuan, are you okay…?”
Zong Yuan took a deep breath but found it hard to refute.
He had been afraid of fish since he was a child.
Very, very afraid.
His mother had once been pregnant with a brother.
Neurotic, cold-blooded, and unpredictable—these were all traits of his mother.
His older brother was far away at school, and his father lay in a hospital bed. Young Zong Yuan sat in his father’s hospital room like a little adult when his mother pushed the door open.
On the table in the room sat a bowl of adorable goldfish.
His mother suffered deeply from the pain of pregnancy, crying and laughing before his unconscious father. Zong Yuan lowered his eyes, carefully watching over his mother’s large belly.
Gradually, Zong Yuan’s mother became fixated on the fish tank, silent as she stared. The goldfish’s gills puffed rhythmically, and its eyes reflected a desire similar to her own as if she saw herself trapped in a suffocating family.
In a daze, she reached out to grab the goldfish, crazily swallowing it down, blood splattering across her face. The goldfish struggled in her mouth, its eyes locked onto Zong Yuan’s, slowly turning dull and lifeless.
The head of the fish slid down to Zong Yuan’s feet.
His mother laughed madly, pounding her belly fiercely, and then jumped from the 36th floor.
Zong Yuan stared at the sky, feeling defeated. “I thought I could overcome this.”
0046 had come up with many comforting words but found itself unable to voice any of them.
No one could understand a person’s pain; no one knew why Zong Yuan’s mother would act that way. But she did what she did and only her family could bear the pain.
0046 finally said, “Go to sleep.”
Zong Yuan couldn’t sleep. He thought about many things; if he truly had to be separated from his lover, he might not be able to bear it himself.
And would the mermaid allow him to escape?
His lover, after all, would only be a ravenous predator.
Perhaps starting tomorrow, he could try to overcome his fear, beginning with…
Forget it, he’d think about it tomorrow.
0046: “…”
Zong Yuan’s heart sank.
The author has something to say:
So the mermaid’s world could be considered a healing world???
Zong Yuan was feeling cowardly.
Time to start overcoming it!!! Go for it, Zong Yuan!!!