Bewildered, Gu Yao watched her thaw the chicken wings and prepare to cook. Irritated, she stormed over. “You’ve kept me locked up for a month. When are you letting me go? This is illegal detention, you know? I could sue you if I get out.”
Xu Tang’s hand paused as she drained the wings. She turned to look at Gu Yao.
Gu Yao flinched under her icy gaze, feeling like a mouse pinned by a snake, frozen in place.
Splash—
The last wing dropped into the basin, joining its siblings. Xu Tang put away the remaining half-bag and slowly walked to the fridge.
“Do you want to leave?” Xu Tang closed the fridge door and turned to Gu Yao. “Who would you even see once you’re out?”
Gu Yao stared hard at her, racking her brains. “I can go to my aunt, or find Group Leader Liu and the others. They’d help me.”
Xu Tang didn’t think so. She stepped right up to Gu Yao, looming over her as she enunciated, “After your parents died, no one in your family wants anything to do with you. What good is your living aunt? If she cared, she’d have come looking when you vanished. She wouldn’t be waiting for you to seek her out.”
“As for your work colleagues, none of them care about you.” Xu Tang continued. “In the month you’ve been gone, not one has asked about you. Group Leader Liu never inquired with me. Do you think such colleagues would help?”
Gu Yao’s pupils quivered slightly. “I-I could still go to…”
“To Zhao Shuqing?” Xu Tang smiled. “Sure, but she’s barely holding on herself. How could she possibly care about you?”
Though these were facts, hearing them laid bare like this hurt Gu Yao deeply. Family, colleagues, friends—none could help her now. She was trapped in this house by Xu Tang, unable to go anywhere.
“Why?” Gu Yao asked, bewildered. “We’re done with each other. What do you even want by keeping me here?”
Xu Tang watched her quietly without saying a word.
Gu Yao’s eyes reddened as she hugged her knees and squatted down. In a hoarse, tearful voice, she demanded of Xu Tang, “If you’re upset that I let Lin Feng go and it messed up your experiment, then you should just hand me over to the police instead of locking me up in your house.”
Xu Tang usually lived in the dormitory. Though she owned a house outside, she had never shown it to Gu Yao before. Gu Yao never imagined that the first time she set foot in this villa, she would end up confined there for so long.
The villas stood far apart from one another, their doors and windows sealed tight with welded security bars. The front door required a code. Gu Yao was just an ordinary person—she couldn’t pry open a window or kick down a security door with her bare hands. Besides, Xu Tang checked the surveillance footage every few days, leaving Gu Yao with no chance to escape whatsoever.
“Just call the police and have me arrested. Please stop keeping me locked up…” Gu Yao sobbed heartbrokenly.
Xu Tang watched her crying on the floor and crouched down with keen interest. She lifted Gu Yao’s face in her hands and gently wiped away the warm tears at the corners of her eyes with her thumb. In a soft voice, she said, “I won’t call the police on you.”
Gu Yao only cried harder.
If only she’d known better than to get involved with this woman… Sob…
Xu Tang found her tears oddly amusing. She wrapped an arm around Gu Yao’s waist and scooped her up off the ground. Gu Yao clutched at her shoulders in fear, staring at her in bewilderment.
“The chicken wings need more time to thaw,” Xu Tang said as she held her. “Let’s talk about us first in the meantime.”
Gu Yao stared at her in horror. Talking is fine, but why are you heading to the bedroom?
“Put me down!” Gu Yao cried. She watched helplessly as Xu Tang carried her into the bedroom and pinned her to the bed despite her struggles. Gu Yao had put all her strength into it, but Xu Tang didn’t budge an inch. How was this woman’s strength so immense? She had never noticed it before.
“You’re no use to me anymore,” Xu Tang said, looking down at her. She gripped Gu Yao’s wrists, holding the struggling woman—who thrashed like a fish out of water—in place. In a gentle voice, she continued, “Your only purpose now is to stay by my side. Wouldn’t it be easier to just accept that? You wouldn’t have to do a thing—just stay with me obediently.”
“What are you even talking about?” Gu Yao looked at her in confusion. “That would make me no better than a pet! I’m a person. I have a job. For the sake of the time we spent together, can’t you just let me go?”
“No,” Xu Tang replied resolutely. “You can only stay by my side.”
The pan simmered over high heat, reducing the sauce as the cola chicken wings turned meltingly tender. Xu Tang had just showered, her damp hair clinging to her slender neck and temples. She wore a loose set of pajamas grabbed from the closet.
A short video played on the phone beside her—the recent uproar over the black mermaid.
She listened to the female reporter’s voiceover while leisurely picking up a chicken wing to taste it.
Very sweet. Xu Tang wondered in her mind why Gu Yao loved this dish so much; it wasn’t nearly as good as seafood. Still, she plated all the wings and set them aside, intending to check on the chicken soup that had been simmering for half an hour.
No sooner had she lifted the lid of the clay pot than her phone rang.
It was Shen Qingming.
Or rather, the mermaid who had become Shen Qingming.
“Hello?” Xu Tang held the phone to her ear with one hand while lifting the pot lid with the other. She scooped up a spoonful of chicken soup to taste and asked, “What is it? I told you not to call unless it’s urgent.”
Shen Qingming’s voice came through from the other end. In a low tone, he asked, “Did you see that news from abroad?”
“Yes.” Xu Tang added a spoonful of salt to the soup, replaced the lid, and set it to simmer on low heat. She walked out of the kitchen, pulled out a chair, and sat down. “You’ve seen it too?”
“Right.” Shen Qingming pressed, “That was Lin Feng, wasn’t it?”
“Most likely,” Xu Tang replied flatly.
“Didn’t you say she escaped? How did she end up in Country F?”
“Zhao Shuqing is in Country F. She must have gone looking for her.”
Shen Qingming listened to Xu Tang’s measured responses and grew furious. He demanded sharply, “Why haven’t you gone and dragged her back? She’s causing a huge scene abroad now. The higher-ups will investigate for sure, and our whole plan will fall apart!”
Xu Tang remained unperturbed. Instead, she soothed him. “Our plan won’t fall apart. As for you—once your business there is done, you can go ahead and ‘die.’ Mermaids are rare to begin with. Don’t waste time clinging to a worthless identity.”
Shen Qingming paused before letting out a cold laugh. “I don’t need you to tell me. I’ve already made arrangements. When the blame comes down from above, feel free to pin it all on me. After all, I’ll be ‘dead’ in less than two months. Might as well make use of me while you can.”
Xu Tang said nothing. She wasn’t sure what to say to this stranger masquerading as ‘Shen Qingming.’
The real Professor Shen was long dead. The current ‘Shen Qingming’ was nothing more than an ordinary mermaid. She had nothing to discuss with a fish like that.
“If that’s all, I’m hanging up,” Xu Tang said.
“Wait.”
Shen Qingming’s voice came through again. He asked Xu Tang, “I hear you’ve kept a human around?”
Xu Tang fell silent and glanced toward the bedroom without responding.
Seeing that she wouldn’t answer, Shen Qingming cautioned her, “This isn’t the time for you to get emotional. To us, humans are just tools for the mission. Every identity has its role. You need to deal with that human quickly…”
“She’s useful,” Xu Tang interrupted firmly. “She independently completed the double female gametophyte experiment. If we keep her around, she can continue the double female experiment and help breed new mermaids.”
Xu Tang repeated, “She’s useful.”
It was unclear whether she was saying this to Shen Qingming—or to herself.
The mermaid on the other end of the line fell silent for a long moment before slowly uttering four words: “You’d better be.” Then he hung up.
Staring at the darkened phone screen, Xu Tang felt a headache for the first time.
She looked toward the bedroom once more.
She hesitated to speak.
The black mermaid—who had appeared as suddenly as a flash in the pan—had captured the attention of Country F’s media. Since Zhao Shuqing was still in Country F, the local press had specially invited her for an in-depth interview on mermaids.
As the world’s only expert with close-contact experience with mermaids, Zhao Shuqing naturally drew enormous interest.
She had arranged with the media for a live on-site explanation at 8 p.m. that evening, right on the embankment where the mermaid had last appeared. At the moment, she was picking out what to wear.
Zhao Shuqing had a ladies’ suit ready from before the conference: a smoky gray jacket paired with a white dress shirt and black high-heeled pumps. Standing tall at over 1.7 meters, she cut a strikingly cool and handsome figure.
Using a garment steamer borrowed from the hotel front desk, Zhao Shuqing ironed her shirt. Lin Feng, who had never seen such a device, watched curiously from the side while munching on sour plums.
Zhao Shuqing glanced at the snack in her hand and asked curiously, “Something that sour—can you really eat it?”
Lin Feng paused for a moment, then looked up at Zhao Shuqing. “It’s not sour at all. It’s sweet and delicious.”
Zhao Shuqing was about to ask if Lin Feng’s sense of taste was off—those plums were so tart—when a knock came at the hotel room door.
“Professor Zhao, are you ready?” the female reporter’s voice called from outside. She said to the people inside, “We’d like to do a quick pre-live interview if you have time.”
Zhao Shuqing glanced at Lin Feng, her gaze lingering on her waist and hips. Seeing that Lin Feng was properly wearing underwear, she relaxed and instructed her, “Go change in the bathroom and put on a mask and hat. I’ll get the door.”
Lin Feng quickly popped another plum into her mouth and hurried into the bathroom with her clothes.
Zhao Shuqing gave a wry smile and shook her head at how fast Lin Feng had scampered off. Then she opened the door to greet the female reporter and her cameraman.
