Talk, everything is negotiable
"This station reports: Recently, a series of violent incidents have occurred in multiple locations in the southeastern states of the United States, with the suspect suspected to be an alien species. The Federal Secret Service reminds all citizens to pay close attention to their personal safety and property security when going out. In case of emergency, please call 001-1010-1111..."
GI Research Institute, Area A1, S-Class Special Biological Observation Room.
Inside the riot cage, a silver-white male mermaid lay languidly on a platform, its entire tail submerged in water, motionless, like a beautiful corpse. However, if the camera were to pan closer, its upper body, indistinguishable from that of an ordinary human, would become visible—
If you ignore his overly "slender" figure, the faintly visible silver scales, and his flowing white hair.
The not-so-large laboratory was completely silent, so quiet that apart from the cold voice of the TV presenter, breathing, and the rustling of pages turning, there was no other sound.
—Yes, flipping through a book. The mermaid is currently flipping through a book at random, and is reading it with great interest; if the camera zooms in a little more, you will find that it is reading an academic journal, and it is a core journal, Theia (Note 1).
"Click".
The door opened. As usual, Yunhe, sporting naturally dark circles under her eyes, arrived on time, swiped her card to enter, and listlessly placed the boxed lunch she brought from the cafeteria on the table.
"Chief Chen, are you still asleep?"
Chief Shen. This was how all the researchers in the institute addressed Shen Huai'an when he was still "human," and now only Yun He still calls him that. Even so, she can only do so in such "private" settings; if a third person is present...
The consequences would be unimaginable.
Good afternoon, cloud researcher.
A deep male voice came from inside the cage, with a hint of barely perceptible laughter: "The cafeteria made braised pork with preserved mustard greens?"
Yunhe pouted and muttered "dog nose" under her breath, not caring whether Shen Huai'an could hear her, before adding, "Um, if you want to eat..."
Experimental subjects are, in principle, not allowed to eat any food other than their "special meal (nutrient solution)". But once a rule is broken, it will definitely be broken again - if they can drink red wine, why can't they eat some simple braised pork with preserved vegetables?
She miscalculated.
"Thank you." He was as well-mannered as ever. "Unfortunately, I can't eat this right now."
Why is cooked meat included in the mermaid's food taboos?
Yunhe paused, startled. She suddenly realized a fact she had been ignoring—
Since revealing his mermaid "true form," Shen Huai'an has been confined to this small cage not far away, never once leaving even half a step. So how does he relieve himself?
“Mermaids can metabolize through their skin and gill slits.” Director Xiao Lin, who made the decision to take “α-level containment measures” against Shen Huai’an, said: “I think S1 has been exposed to the civilized lifestyle of humans, so it’s unlikely that it would make a mess of its ‘living place’?”
Old Deng was absolutely right.
Perhaps due to the water circulation system beneath the cage, she has never smelled even the slightest "strange odor" in the house so far. Now that she thinks about it...
"You..." She hesitated for a moment, but still managed to ask, "Aren't you hungry?"
It was a particularly awkward question. Fortunately, Shen Huai'an didn't respond.
On television, the news continued. It was now showing footage of major landmarks across the country being destroyed by "unknown, unscientific forces," leaving behind ruins and chaos. Shen Huai'an sat up slightly, looking at the utterly chaotic scene on the television screen, his blue eyes narrowed, lost in thought.
"Oh, you're watching the news?"
As Yunhe hastily ate his boxed lunch, he followed the gaze of the man and casually said, "I ran into a colleague in the cafeteria this morning, Director Li Liguo, do you remember him? There was also an attack near his hometown. Fortunately, only a few people died and it didn't cause too much damage."
After speaking, she stopped and subtly observed Shen Huai'an's changing expression. He didn't ignore her: "Who died?"
“I don’t know the specifics. But I remember, it seems like a senior executive at the Red River Research Institute lost his head.” Yunhe shrugged and swallowed a big mouthful of rice. “You might even know him, I think his name was Wang… Wang something dynasty? I can’t remember.”
Shen Huai'an paused in his book-turning motion.
"You do know him... right?" Yunhe said with a grin.
Shen Huai'an did not answer her question directly. He simply closed the journal, placed it on the tray used for delivering items, and pushed it out: "Researcher Yun should also be careful lately."
"Oh?" Yunhe took the opportunity to move closer to the cage, picked up the journal, and winked, saying, "Why are you suddenly concerned about me? Have you had a change of heart?"
Shen Huai'an slightly raised his eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering down, so much so that even at such close range, Yun He could not fathom his true thoughts at that moment.
"More than that," he said casually. "After all, you're the only one willing to 'serve me food and drink,' so I can't bear to do that."
"..."
Yunhe gritted his teeth: "How old are you? Isn't it cheesy to say that?"
"No need for such a high price, it's less than three hundred."
Yunhe was stunned. "Huh? No, really—"
Shen Huai'an smiled gently, and kept his words to himself.
He pointed to the digital clock: "Is the cloud researcher planning to chat with me like this until the group meeting is over?"
"...!"
His reminder finally made Yunhe realize that she had a meeting in twenty minutes. Frustrated, she slapped her forehead and dejectedly turned to continue her last-minute cramming while eating. However, just as she was about to rush out for the meeting, Shen Huai'an called her back:
"Come to my office after the meeting and get the manuscript from the first shelf of the cabinet."
Damn it, he can't even say "please" properly. He really doesn't treat himself like an outsider. He orders me around like I'm his lackey!
"Okay, Chief Chen~"
Yunhe, with a forced, insincere smile, immediately received a sycophantic reply: "You 'old man,' stay put and wait for me~"
Yunhe only realized what was going on after the meeting was over.
No, tell her to "go to his office"? Is he really so forgetful that he's forgotten his "human identity" was quietly cancelled by the institute a long time ago?
Yunhe stood dumbfounded in front of the sealed-off "Chief Researcher Shen Huai'an's Office" (the three characters "Shen Huai'an" were covered by spray paint), feeling utterly depressed.
"Researcher Xiaoyun," just as she was lost in thought, someone patted her shoulder from behind. It was Director Li Liguo, whom she had met in the cafeteria not long ago, who was now smiling with a kind but unsettling expression: "Are you standing here looking for something?"
"..."
Yunhe first forced a very stiff smile before finding a suitable excuse: "No, I wasn't looking for anything, hahaha... I'm just, um, a little sentimental."
Director Li patted her shoulder again, which made her grimace in annoyance.
"This matter," he whispered in her ear, his voice extremely low, "is very sensitive and absolutely must not be leaked—Xiaoyun should understand the implications, right?"
"I understand, I understand!" Yunhe immediately declared his survival instincts with a forced smile, a thin layer of sweat beading on the back of his neck. Wasn't it only the director who knew? How come this old man also...?
As she was pondering this, she saw Director Li mysteriously pull his hand out from behind his back. In his hand was a stack of documents.
—A handwritten manuscript!
"Then I'll trouble Researcher Xiaoyun to introduce me to them?" Director Li said with a forced smile, casually placing the still-wet ink "approval form" on the stack of manuscripts and patting it a few times. "I have something important to discuss with S1."
——————————
Just as Shen Huai'an let out his third soft yawn, the door opened.
He didn't even need to open his eyes to know the identity of the "uninvited guest"—because the system voice in the card reader had already told him that the visitor was actually Li Liguo from the "gene editing team".
When he was still "human," his main job was chief researcher, and he also held many side titles, one of which was "senior advisor to the gene editing team." Logically, in a society like the Federation where power is paramount, "young experts" like him usually hold administrative positions. However, he had extremely little interest in power and money, and therefore did not advance further in his "official career"...
If he had truly wanted to "advance," Li Liguo would probably have been at least two ranks lower than him.
"Well, haha." Li Liguo's first words were a fake laugh mixed with flattery and disdain: "I heard you can communicate with humans, so, may I ask how to address you, sir?"
Yunhe: "?"
Not Old Deng? You know perfectly well why.
Upon hearing this, Shen Huai'an slowly opened his eyes. His gaze finally fell on the documents in Li Liguo's hand, his eyelashes trembled, and his upper body leaned forward slightly.
"Whatever." His voice was as calm and even as ever: "It seems that Director Li has taken everything he should and shouldn't have taken?"
"..."
Li Liguo's face immediately turned red and then white, then red again, clearly very embarrassed.
He didn't actually know much about Shen Huai'an. Like most people, in his mind, Shen Huai'an was just a young researcher with a bit of "bourgeois sentimentality, free-spiritedness, and arrogance." No matter how high his academic level was, if he "didn't take sides" and "didn't strive for improvement," he was ultimately just a dish on a plate, to be shared! Now he had been reduced to an animal-like experimental subject, and the only reason he could say a few kind words to him was because he needed something from him. And this guy was taking advantage of him?
"Alright then." No matter how good the acting, if the other person doesn't connect with the script, the performance can't continue. Li Liguo immediately dropped the pretense—he stepped forward, held the script in his hand, shook it, and laughed:
"Huai'an, these are just a pile of waste paper in your office, but if you take them out and make a result, it would be a great act of kindness that benefits the entire human society—don't you think?"
——————————
Note 1: Theia refers to another celestial body that collided with the original Earth and formed the Moon.
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