Mermaid or snake?
"I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen anyone this shameless," Yunhe muttered to himself, standing to the side.
The atmosphere in the already cramped laboratory became incredibly awkward. The chains jingled softly as the mermaid straightened up slightly, her voice calm:
"Okay, you can take it."
"I never realized you were so shrewd." Li Liguo narrowed his eyes, not thinking his agreement was too quick, and blurted out his true feelings: "Of course! I can't let you suffer like this..."
After a pause, Li Liguo's gaze fell on Shen Huai'an, filled with ill intent.
—To be honest, if he hadn't known the true identity of this "creature" beforehand, he would have been instantly captivated by its otherworldly beauty. No wonder so many politicians and tycoons enjoy keeping mermaids; no wonder a random artificial hybrid mermaid can fetch over fifty million federal dollars on the black market…
"In return, I can put in a good word for you with the director." He glanced at the various restraints haphazardly draped over the mermaid's body with a hint of schadenfreude: "How about that?"
Shen Huai'an blinked slowly.
"He could have easily used force, but Director Li still..." He seemed to be carefully choosing his words: "...politely followed the proper procedures."
Li Liguo: "..."
More abstractly, Yun reflexively added, "He really is, I'm going to cry my eyes out." Then she immediately regretted it and covered her mouth.
Fortunately, Shen Huai'an quickly deflected Li Liguo's possible anger: "So, what do you want me to do?"
Seeing that there was hope, Li Liguo immediately took small steps forward, spread the manuscript out in front of the glass, and looked like a lively lapdog: "This, can you make it?"
——————————
Li Liguo left. The laboratory finally returned to calm.
Yunhe remained seated at the computer, typing heavily, as if she were sulking. The mermaid lay quietly on the platform, her long silver hair cascading down, then lifted by the buoyancy of the water, like a snow lotus blooming in a pond.
"You did it on purpose."
Suddenly, Yunhe spoke. Her voice carried a hint of angry coldness: "You know perfectly well that under these circumstances, I have no way of getting your manuscript!"
This wasn't the root of her anger. The reason she was angry was quite simple.
She hated being used more than anything in her life. Yet, right now, she was being used.
—As bait, to lure Li Liguo, or any other opportunistic individual, into taking the bait quickly.
The mermaid's long eyelashes trembled, but he didn't open them. However, the occasional twitching of his ear fins betrayed his current emotions.
"Can't you just say what you want to do?" She finally couldn't hold back and whispered to him, "You know I... I'm different from others! I've never treated you like an animal!"
The surveillance light flashed in the corner. Shen Huai'an sighed almost imperceptibly, while simultaneously making a "smile" expression.
Completely unprepared, Yunhe caught a fleeting glimpse of his forked, slender tongue beneath his lips—
Nobu... Nobuko? !
Holy crap...!
How come I didn't notice this before? Wait, she had looked at his information before, and she didn't mention this point.
So, while she tried her best to suppress the fear of snakes ingrained in her genes from millions of years ago, her attention was immediately diverted to something a million miles away: "No, your tongue?!"
Somewhat incredulous: "You, you're not... a fish...?"
Shen Huai'an slightly opened his mouth, revealing two fangs at just the right moment. What was even more terrifying was that his "rarely visible" forked tongue nimbly darted back and forth between the fangs several times, finally scaring Yun He, who was already terrified of snakes, so much so that he kept backing away until his back was against the wall before he finally stopped.
"Don't worry," he said with a mischievous smile, watching her "awkward" state, "there are no poison glands."
This is the difference between Yun He and people like Xiao Lin. From the very first day after his identity was "exposed," Xiao Lin figured out 80% of his species characteristics (including but not limited to his unique scale morphology), and immediately realized the enormous misjudgment the biological community had previously made regarding mermaids—
"Mermaid?" At that moment, Old Man Xiao smiled and circled the fish tail that was unable to move twice, saying in a mocking tone, "More like a snake fish."
—It's very simple; the shape and "material" of its scales couldn't possibly be that of a fish. The most likely candidate is a snake.
"Huai'an, you should be glad you don't have poison glands."
At that moment, Xiao Lin, who was holding his left fang with tweezers, was testing it with an instrument while giving him a sly smile: "Otherwise, a mermaid missing two upper teeth is not very beautiful, and its value will be greatly reduced."
At the time, Shen Huai'an had not yet regained his ability to speak. Upon hearing this, he only gave a half-dead laugh and hissed at Xiao Lin. Although this move did not frighten Xiao Lin, it clearly startled the fragile security guard. So, the next second, he reaped what he sowed and was given a sedative injection powerful enough to take down an orca, falling into a coma as he had wished.
The reason why hellish jokes are funny is because they haven't happened to you. So, even after dozens of days, Shen Huai'an still didn't find them funny. Coming to his senses, he looked at Yun He, who was still in shock, and sighed helplessly, "How come I never noticed before that you were such a coward?"
"You're the coward! Your whole family are cowards!"
Sure enough, the tactic of reverse psychology never goes out of style. Yunhe's argumentative nature successfully overcame her fear, and she retorted loudly, "Who told you to look so scary!"
Yunhe swore that this was the second time in just ten minutes that she had regretted it so much she wanted to crawl into the earth. Just as she was digging her toes into the sand, she heard the mermaid in the cage let out a long, leisurely sigh:
"...I see." He seemed a little disappointed: "I was still rejected."
Yunhe: "..."
Aren't we buddies? Why are you talking like a wronged little wife?
Shen Huai'an's "melancholy" made her feel embarrassed, and her previous fear dissipated considerably. Mustering her courage, she crouched down in a conciliatory manner, blinking her eyes, and said, "Hey, Shen Huai'an."
Shen Huai'an was slightly taken aback.
Two years ago, when she was still working as an assistant in his research group, she would always look at him with her deep-set eyes, her voice low and ingratiating: "Um, Chief Scientist Shen... could you tell me how this gene expression matrix was compiled?"
It was a very simple question, so simple that while he casually and "patiently" answered it for her, he glanced at the top of her head and her face with interest...
Hmm, her hair was slightly sparse, her skin was pale with an unhealthy sallow tinge, and although her features were delicate, they appeared somewhat bloated due to excess fat...
You should rest earlier and avoid staying up late, so you won't get boils, lose hair, or gain weight—he thought to himself casually, but he didn't say these words to her, because his more than 270 years of life experience was enough for him to fully understand the social etiquette of the human world:
Judging a woman's appearance is impolite, even if the intention is "for her own good." In this day and age, people tend to categorize it all as "paternalistic." Besides, whether she's good or bad is none of his business—
Yunhe, this female human, was utterly ordinary and unremarkable in his long and eventful life. The reason he could have the above thoughts at that time was nothing more than a kind of idle person enjoying watching ants move house before a rainy day—curious, but completely indifferent.
"Alas, Shen Huai'an."
Now, the girl was staring at him expectantly, stammering, "You, are you..." With her back to the monitor, she made a strange gesture at him: "—You still have cards in your hand?"
Shen Huai'an burst out laughing.
"Cards?" He barely suppressed the urge to retort and helplessly corrected her, "Researcher Yun, have you been reading too many online novels?"
"you……!"
Yunhe raised the recorder with a hint of annoyance, making a "I'll punch you" gesture, while continuing to lower her voice: "Otherwise, why would you 'make a deal' with Old Li... Director Li? He's not someone to be trifled with. Aren't you afraid he'll use you until there's nothing left but bones?"
Shen Huai'an listened patiently to her finish speaking before making a gesture that left her completely baffled—
He reached out and grabbed the railing in front of her!
Yunhe was startled by his sudden action, but managed to refrain from backing away: "..."
“Researcher Yun,” he said gently, seemingly speaking to her, but his gaze fell on the flashing surveillance camera in the upper left corner: “In my current state, do I still have a choice?”
Yunhe fell silent.
The mermaid before her gripped the iron bars, facing her through a thick layer of bulletproof glass, his expression calm. But strangely, beneath his calm exterior, a layer of near-sorrow gradually surfaced on his face, which no longer bore many human features.
He looked like he was about to "break."
——————————
Monitoring room.
Xiao Lin leaned back on the soft sofa, his gaze fixed on the monitor screen through his reading glasses. In the center of the screen, the mermaid's exquisitely beautiful face, "full of brokenness," was directly in his line of sight. Her voice, though soft, still came clearly from the speaker:
"Do I have any other choice now that I'm in this state?"
Xiao Yan didn't laugh. He merely curved the corners of his mouth slightly and narrowed his eyes with a playful expression. His beautiful and perceptive secretary, standing beside him, stepped forward and brewed him a cup of fragrant tea.
The moment his secretary's delicate hand "inadvertently" brushed against the back of his hand, Xiao Lin raised an eyebrow.
He gave his secretary a cold glance, and she immediately realized she had made a mistake—clearly, the big boss wasn't in the mood. She felt a pang of resentment, but was helpless; she could only wryly purse her lips and curse inwardly.
That old geezer who won't die. If it weren't for your few scraps of money...
Of course, he wouldn't utter such treasonous words aloud. But without mind-reading abilities, the "old man" could deduce every thought in her mind simply from the expression on her beautiful face.
Another impatient and eager-to-achieve young man. He sneered inwardly, but remained outwardly calm: "Little Zhang."
"Huh?" The female secretary looked completely bewildered.
"You've done well lately," he said casually. "Perfect timing. The Federal Academy of Sciences is going to hold a ball soon. Go and get some experience, and learn a lot from those important figures."
A ball? That ball where, according to rumors, the sons and daughters of the Federation's political, economic, and military elites gather?!
Secretary Zhang instantly forgot the nauseating old man's smell emanating from him. She even forgot this was the research institute's "workplace" and went straight up to him!
"Oh my god, Mr. Xiao!" she exclaimed happily in a soft voice, "I love you so much!"
Xiao Lin let her hold him like that, his old eyes, which were not cloudy, gleaming with a sharp light.
—General John's son's "addiction" has struck again recently. Let this unfaithful and brainless woman fill the bottomless pit of cruelty in that young man.
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