Wen Yu had spent the whole day patrolling the slums but found no suspicious signs.
He reported the situation to Dr. Mu Rin, mentioning that it was late and he was about to head back. He also asked how to arrange tomorrow's plan.
Dr. Mu Rin thought for a moment before replying,"If there is still no sign by tomorrow, then we'll just forget it."
Wen Yu was a bit surprised."Aren't you afraid more people will die?"
"Those people live in the slums," Dr. Mu Rin said calmly.
Wen Yu looked even more surprised, and Dr. Mu Rin went on without waiting for a response:"They are poor, disabled, and have never received much education. The chance of a genius emerging from the slums is one-tenth that of a wealthy neighborhood. They will not contribute to this doomsday. Why should we worry about them?"
Wen Yu fell silent. These were always matters of humanity's own making. He didn't want to express his opinion, so he simply asked,"And then?"
"Then we focus on the other murloc that is running away," Dr. Mu Rin explained.
"If one murloc is in the slums, then the other must be in the wealthy area. Of course, there are security measures in the rich neighborhood, but who knows if accidents might happen? For example, a murloc might slip in and kill a councillor or a scientist in a key field."
"The death of such people could change the future of the entire survivor alliance."
"As for whether the two murlocs will succeed in building nests, those involved in that special matter already know the outcome— they will fail. But driven by instinct, the two murlocs will keep trying to build nests and even think about reproducing offspring, despite knowing they will gain nothing."
"After all, they are failed experiments."
"If there is nothing else, I will go back first."
Wen Yu was not at all curious about what exactly Dr. Mu Rin was working on. After saying this, he left directly.
His words were meant to inform, not to seek opinions.
Dr. Mu Rin smiled and watched Wen Yu leave. After Wen Yu was gone, the smile at the corner of Dr. Mu Rin's lips suddenly faded. He turned his head to look at the assistant nearby, his brown eyes suddenly sharp behind his black-rimmed glasses."How is it going?"
"We placed a monitor near Colonel Wen Yu's villa and tried to break in," the assistant replied, wiping cold sweat from his forehead."But the villa's protection is too strong, plus Colonel Wen Yu's first-rate perception—we haven't been able to get inside yet."
Dr. Mu Rin sneered,"Then what use are you?"
"Yes, yes!" The assistant was frightened and stammered. He knew that if he didn't bring useful information, Dr. Mu Rin might expel him from the 'human' race at any second, so he quickly added,"We did find that Wen Yu once brought a group of fish back to the villa. We traced the fish from the vehicle he used and learned they came from the deep sea. They are a very rare species."
"Fish?" Dr. Mu Rin murmured thoughtfully.
He naturally thought of the auction house's previous report that a white mermaid had been caught.
Could these fish be special food for mermaids?
"Interesting."
Dr. Mu Rin thought of the lump of meat still being studied in the laboratory and smiled."Notify the scientific research team and have them collect some of these fish when they return."
"Yes."
Seeing Dr. Mu Rin's expression relax, the assistant let out a long sigh of relief.
Villa.
Lansi woke up dazed inside the cocoon. He opened his eyes and subconsciously lifted his head to look at the water, only to realize it was already dark.
How long had he been asleep? Why hadn't Wen Yu come to call him to eat?
Lansi pondered these questions, still groggy, and immediately swam out of the cocoon.
After several nestings, Lansi's cocoon was almost complete. Only a small opening remained above his head—just enough for him to swim out. Lansi planned to seal the cocoon completely in one breath today.
Time waits for no one. Lansi was eager to evolve, and the faster, the better.
When Lansi swam to the surface, he saw the sky was dark. Judging by the lack of lights in the villa, Wen Yu was not home.
Where had Wen Yu gone? Why hadn't he returned yet?
Lansi thought about these questions but could only guess that whatever was keeping Wen Yu was very important.
He reminded himself that Wen Yu had an official title—if he had been around, it would have been strange.
Ignoring the unease in his heart, Lansi sat by the pool and turned on a screen Carl had set up there. He wanted to check the time but found that he had slept through both day and night.
Why had he slept so long this time?
Lansi frowned. He remembered Wen Yu had once warned him not to get too hungry. If he hadn't eaten for so long, Lansi worried he might slip into madness again.
By the way, where was the little octopus?
Even if Wen Yu wasn't there, the little octopus should have been.
Lansi lay on the pool's edge and looked into the water, spotting the little octopus clinging to the underwater reef.
Despite Lansi's big movements, the little octopus did not wake up.
Lansi tilted his head.
He had now noticed a problem.
Although Wen Yu had explained that he and the little octopus were a community, Lansi realized Wen Yu never appeared together with his 'community'—the little octopus.
It was like there was only one soul and consciousness shuttling between different bodies.
Because there was only one soul, when one vessel was active, the other had to be offline.
Thinking this over, Lansi narrowed his eyes.
This situation... somehow reminded him of Winsor.
Winsor had not been awake for some time, and Winsor's explanation was "assimilation."
What was assimilation? Could it be that Winsor, like Wen Yu, had a symbiotic relationship similar to the little octopus?
Before Lansi could continue thinking, his stomach growled.
Now he dared not think there was nothing left. He looked anxiously at the dark villa.
It seemed he was going to have to fend for himself.
Half an hour later, the villa was brightly lit.
When Wen Yu returned, he saw the villa glowing warmly and felt a brief moment of blankness.
Had someone come to his house?
After stepping inside, his doubts vanished when he saw Lansi busy in the kitchen.
Wen Yu stood at the kitchen door, watching the white mermaid cooking, and couldn't help laughing with a soft chuckle.
There was no other reason. Seeing the white mermaid so absorbed in cooking was just too surreal.
Although Wen Yu had seen Lansi cooking in the videos Carl gave him, seeing it in person was completely different.
He knew Lansi must have gotten the villa's password long ago, but he hadn't expected Lansi to tinker with everything in the villa so well.
Compared to last time, the white mermaid was even wearing a small white apron that Wen Yu had no idea where it came from.
From Wen Yu's viewpoint, he could only see the smooth, white back of the mermaid busy at the stove, with just a few thin straps holding the apron.
Sinful, indeed. Just looking at the upper body, the scene felt decidedly inappropriate for children.
After Wen Yu laughed, the white mermaid's ear fins twitched. He turned his head and saw Wen Yu standing at the door.
"Go change your shoes and eat later," he said suddenly.
Wen Yu blinked and joked,"Isn't that what a wife says to a husband coming home from work?"
Lansi sneered,"This is my very hungry complaint to the owner."
Wen Yu had no response.
The whole situation was indeed a bit unkind.
Seeing Wen Yu obediently change his shoes, Lansi turned back to the stove and stirred the green vegetables with a spatula, frying them sternly.
But his eyes gradually dulled.
He did not know how things had come to this point.
According to Lansi's plan, he started by making simple fish soup to feed himself, so he would not attack Wen Yu out of hunger or eat the little octopus directly.
But when he entered the kitchen and saw the food in the refrigerator, Lansi began to consider preparing more than just soup.
He washed a few vegetables casually.
After washing them, Lansi felt he might as well cook a bit more, so he simply prepared two portions.
While cooking, he worried about oil splattering on his bare skin—especially since mermaids don't wear clothes and he was afraid of fire. So he went to check if there was an apron in the kitchen.
While searching, Lansi accidentally knocked over a rice cooker.
He thought seriously for a moment, then washed two bowls of rice and put them into the cooker.
He wasn't worried whether Wen Yu had eaten or not.
After all, he was only cooking fish soup for himself, yet unexpectedly, he ended up preparing a proper dinner.
When did he develop a habit of feeding others?
Lansi put down his chopsticks and bowls, puzzled by the thought.
A few minutes later, Lansi and Wen Yu sat together at the dining table.
One person and one mermaid faced each other, sitting upright as if this were not a simple meal but a full banquet.
Three dishes were on the table: green leafy vegetables, stir-fried eggplant, and a fried fish so charred that the original form was barely recognizable.
Wen Yu cleared his throat and asked,
"Can I eat this?"
Lansi nodded solemnly.
He pointed to the fish, trying to save face a little:
"You can taste this fish. It looks bad, but it's still edible."
Wen Yu was silent.
A fish blackened like coal? The fish should have been white.
He couldn't help but wonder why, even the last time he grilled fish, Lansi stubbornly fed him fish that looked burnt to a crisp.
After saying that, Lansi immediately buried himself in his bowl of fish soup.
If he didn't eat, he was afraid he might jump on the table and devour Wen Yu.
Still, this was the first time Lansi and Wen Yu had eaten together at the same table.
One human and one mermaid sat across from each other on chairs, which gave Lansi a sense of normalcy, a feeling that he was on equal footing with Wen Yu.
After eating for a while, Lansi looked up and noticed Wen Yu hadn't moved his chopsticks. He asked curiously,
"Aren't you hungry?"
Though the dishes weren't very good, they were edible.
Wen Yu nodded, then raised his head and looked at Lansi with gentle eyes:
"I'm reluctant to eat."
Lansi was confused.
"This is the meal you cooked for me."
Wen Yu didn't know why he was being so petty about it.
In Wen Yu's memory, his dinners were always simple, usually just a bottle of nutrient solution.
Everyone, including himself, took this for granted.
It was convenient, efficient, and enough to survive.
With his combined memories and Wencer's memories, Wen Yu never thought this was strange and continued using nutrient solutions to maintain his physical strength.
The kitchen was mainly to make fish soup for Lansi.
Making fish soup wasn't complicated, and most of the work was done by machines.
But stir-frying required several steps: selecting vegetables, cleaning, frying, and seasoning.
Lansi was willing to put effort into this for him. Did that mean Lansi actually liked him?
Even with this body, Wen Yu's current identity was still Wen Yu, and he couldn't help but think about himself, feeling a slight warmth on his face.
Sometimes he felt jealous of his two identities fighting inside him, but other times he was extremely happy with Lansi.
No matter who he liked, in the end, he liked Lansi.
This contradictory feeling made Wen Yu's heart both sour and sweet, leaving him unsure what to do.
Is this love?
Wen Yu began to seriously consider the question.
At that moment, as Wen Yu spoke, even Lansi, who was usually dull, saw pink bubbles floating nearby.
"Enough. Don't think too much!"
Lansi suddenly reached out and patted the table, hurriedly changing the subject.
"Wen Yu, what were you doing out today?"
Wen Yu snapped out of his strange thoughts and glanced at Lansi, his expression unclear.
"You know humans have been trying to fuse sea monster genes with human genes, right?"
Lansi looked shocked.
He knew about it. Was the experiment still going on in the laboratory?
"Yes, the experiment is ongoing."
Seeing Lansi's expression, Wen Yu knew what he was thinking.
"Recently, two subjects escaped and caused some trouble."
After a pause, Wen Yu added,
"The two are trying to build nests, just like you."
"Are they mermaids?" Lansi asked, curious.
"Why do you call them experimental subjects instead of mermaids?"
Wen Yu shook his head.
"In human eyes, mermaids share some traits with humans, so the word 'human' comes first. These experimental subjects... they are pure beasts."
Hearing this, Lansi waved his tail in frustration.
He had hoped to meet others like himself.
"Wen Yu, I will finish building my nest soon."
Talking about nesting made Lansi feel he should tell Wen Yu,
"Tonight, I'll shut myself in."
Wen Yu looked up, surprised.
Lansi smiled and said,
"I don't know how long I'll stay in the cocoon this time, nor what I'll become after I come out."
He lowered his head, glanced at the dishes on the table, and sighed,
"At least this meal is the best I can do for you in my last moments as Lansi."
Lansi was vaguely aware that his body and mind were slowly shifting closer to the beast.
As a human, his memories were basically useless fifty years later.
He was quite afraid that after building the nest, he would forget everything about being human.
"You won't forget."
After hearing Lansi's confession, Wen Yu's tone was unusually firm.
"Why?"
Seeing Wen Yu's determination, Lansi became curious.
"Evolution means abandoning something."
During the nest-building, Lansi was sometimes controlled by instinct, losing reason and thinking about drowning Wen Yu.
"You will remember me."
Wen Yu said this very firmly.
"I will be your anchor."
"That... is really..."
Lansi muttered to himself, "Weird."
At the same time, his ear fins quietly turned red.