Li Shu kept his word and turned off the protection for the merman’s petri dish. The silver metal cover on the large petri dish was lifted, allowing the merman to directly stick his head out from above.
It wasn’t that Li Shu didn’t care about the safety of the researchers in the base, but he knew that the merman had already recovered his strength. If the merman really wanted to do something, the protective shield wouldn’t be of any use. It was better to use this as a bargaining chip.
The merman’s attitude towards him was very strange, and Li Shu felt it. He went through the logs left by the original owner, trying to find more clues. At the same time, he asked Gu Li to find the list of personnel in the base. The original owner knew too little about the base, and he needed more information.
As he was looking through the list, he suddenly received an email. He looked at the signature on the email and was momentarily stunned. The email was sent from outside, and the signature was from his older brother, Li Zhang. He opened the email, and it was informing him that a new species had been discovered by the scientific expedition team and would be sent to the base in three days. At the end of the email, his brother asked about his well-being and inquired when he would have time to come home for a gathering.
The Li family had three children in this generation, each with different interests and personalities. The eldest brother, Li Zhang, was mature and steady, and has inherited the family business. The second sister, Li Li, was bold and daring, and was flying around the world. The original owner was the youngest. He was introverted and liked to research unknown creatures. All three Li siblings were outstanding individuals, and each had made significant accomplishments in their respective fields.
The original owner had a more solitary personality, was introverted and not very good at expressing himself. All the Li family members were very concerned about the youngest child, and the eldest brother, Li Zhang, even established a scientific expedition team to search for unknown creatures for his brother.
From the original owner’s memories, it was evident that his family cared for him greatly. They were able to keep the existence of an extraordinary being like the merman, let alone the other creatures in the base. This is one of the reasons Li Shu wanted to protect the base. Rather than saying it was the original owner’s effort, it was mostly due to his father and older brother’s dedication.
Li Shu didn’t want their hard work to be in vain. If the mission failed, the city, including the Li family, would face only one outcome.
Finding no useful information, Li Shu rubbed his temples and decided to check on the other experimental subjects.
The merman enjoyed the exclusive treatment of having his own laboratory, while the other subjects were not “living alone.” The subjects were classified into levels A~F based on their rarity and danger level, with different levels placed in different zones. Li Shu wandered from zone A to zone F. Some of the subjects were very large, some very small, and their appearances were strange and varied. Li Shu tested them and found that none of these subjects hadn’t developed intelligence.
Realizing what he was thinking, Li Shu smiled to himself. What was he thinking? Having one unexpected merman was already quite unbelievable.
“Where did you go?”
Li Shu paused while arranging his lab coat, feeling inexplicably uneasy. “Why do you ask?”
“I smell other creatures,” the merman lay on the petri dish, looking down at Li Shu, and added, “Non-human creatures.”
Merfolk’s sense of smell was extremely sensitive. They could distinguish the attributes of their prey by scent. Li Shu’s scent had always been very clean, mixed with the smell he intentionally left, which was pleasant. This time, he didn’t know where Li Shu had gone and picked up other smells. Various odors mixed together, masking the scent he intentionally left scent. He suddenly felt a wave of violence in his heart.
It felt as though something that belonged to him had been stolen. He narrowed his eyes, and his tail splashed water everywhere. Seawater overflowed from the edge of the petri dish, and the air in the room began to feel sticky.
The unique smell of the ocean spread, salty and fishy.
Li Shu keenly noticed that the merman was angry, but he didn’t quite understand why he was angry.
Silently looking into those crimson eyes, Li Shu suppressed his emotions. “I just went to the other zones for a walk. Why, do I smell bad?”
He raised his arm and sniffed, but didn’t smell anything.
“Yes, it smells bad,” the merman leaped out of the water. Before Li Shu could see his movements clearly, the merman was already behind him, sniffing lightly at his neck. “The smell is too mixed.”
Narrowing his eyes slightly, a certain emotion flashed through them. “I don’t like their smell.”
The merman’s voice was deliberately low, with a hint of weakness.
If he was too aggressive, Li Shu wouldn’t care about him. But he showed weakness first, and Li Shu, who was thinking of maintaining a good relationship with the male protagonist, said reluctantly, “I’ll go there less often.”
Where Li Shu couldn’t see, the merman slowly curled his lips. After observing for a while, he found that Li Shu was someone who responded better to gentleness rather than force. He admitted he had a strong possessiveness for this human, and he had no intention of restraining it. Sometimes, showing weakness could achieve the desired result, so why not do it appropriately?
After all, there was nothing to lose, right? The merman could be quite cunning at times. Having achieved the desired result, the merman narrowed his eyes in pleasure. At this moment, all the dangerous aura on him disappeared, and he rubbed against Li Shu’s cheek like a satisfied big cat.
Li Shu had gotten used to the merman love of rubbing against him. It was like raising a large pet, except this pet was very powerful and overly clingy.
“Professor, everything is ready over there,” Gu Li said as she swiped her card to enter. She was no longer surprised to see the merman hanging onto the professor.
“Good.” Since he was using the original owner’s identity, he naturally had to carry on with the original owner’s work. Li Shu nudged the merman hanging on him, signaling him to return to the petri dish.
Li Shu’s actual workplace was next door, which was a fully equipped lab. It was one of the best in the base, with all the most advanced equipment and exclusively for the original owner’s use.
Once, Jiang Tao tried to use his connections to allocate this lab to his nephew, but he was decisively refused. Jiang Tao’s dislike for the original owner was related to this incident.
Speak of the devil, Li Shu was just thinking about Jiang Tao’s nephew when he ran into him.
“Oh, isn’t this Professor Li? Why aren’t you spending time with your precious merman today?” The speaker was wearing the same white lab coat and had downturned eyebrows which made him look gloomy. Overall, he gave off a sinister impression. This was Jiang Tao’s nephew, Jiang Weihua.
The same white lab coat looked cool and ascetic on Li Shu but seemed weird on Jiang Weihua, which made Li Shu’s extraordinary demeanor stand out even more.
Like his uncle, Jiang Weihua always disliked Li Shu, especially after Li Shu obtained the exclusive research rights to the merman. He didn’t care about the lab, as his current lab conditions were good enough. But the merman was different. For so many years, there was only one merman. He had discussed it with his uncle, and agreed that the merman would be handed over to him upon arrival. He waited with great anticipation, only to find out that no one could touch the merman without Li Shu’s permission.
Before the merman arrived, he boasted and even received many benefits. But all this depended on him obtaining the research rights to the merman. Li Shu’s intervention embarrassed him greatly. Since then, he disliked Li Shu even more. He wondered what background Li Shu had that even his uncle couldn’t shake.
No matter how big his background was, Jiang Weihua suppressed his disdain. In the base, his uncle’s word was law. After such a long time with no research results, eventually…
He waited for that day. The merman, the lab—everything he wanted would eventually be his. And there were two assistants under Li Shu, Jiang Weihua poked his cheek with the tip of his tongue, they had to follow him obediently when the time came. It just so happened that he was tired of his current amusements.
His blatant gaze fell on Gu Li, and the girl’s face instantly turned ugly. She recalled some unpleasant memories and bit her lip.
“What I do is none of your concern,” Li Shu glanced at him indifferently. Noticing the tension in the girl beside him, his tone turned stern, “And you better watch where you’re looking.”
“What did you say? Professor Li, I’m still calling you professor now. You’d better worry about yourself. Someone who can’t even protect themselves has no business meddling in others’ affairs.” Jiang Weihua withdrew his gaze, his displeasure evident. He had already determined that Li Shu was destined to fail, so he was not worth his attention. His interest was disturbed and he was angry.
“Gu Li is my assistant. As long as I’m here, you better keep your little thoughts to yourself,” Li Shu calmly warned, “Otherwise, I won’t mind letting you taste the same thing.”
“The same thing?” Jiang Weihua sneered, “Who’s going to make me taste it? You, professor? If it’s you, I don’t mind tasting it right now.”
His words were extremely flippant. After speaking, he carefully observed Li Shu’s expression, hoping to see a look of shame and anger on that cold face. Just imagining it…
But he was destined to be disappointed. Li Shu’s face showed no sign of displeasure, his cold eyes didn’t even flicker. But the words he spoke were not so gentle: “What do you think of the little guys in Zone A-5?”
Gu Li’s face was originally pale and uneasy. She feared Li Shu would offend Jiang Weihua. Jiang Weihua was very petty, and those who offended him never ended well. Despite her worry, her face changed several times at Li Shu’s words.
The same was true for Jiang Weihua. His smile froze, as if the pause button had been pressed, looking both ridiculous and funny.
Their reaction was not surprising. Everyone in the base knew that Zone A-5 was absolutely off-limits. If one had to go, extreme caution and full protection were necessary. Although the creatures there weren’t as dangerous as the merman, researchers dreaded facing them because they housed giant octopuses, dubbed the deep sea monsters, far from the “little guys” Li Shu mentioned.
In Zone A-5, researchers’ first concern was their chastity. This wasn’t just a scare tactic; researchers had fallen victim there more than once.
Li Shu really found this world fascinating. Although only the merman possessed intelligence, many legendary creatures existed here. Not to mention other places, the base housed many.
Li Shu had only visited a few nearby zones. He hadn’t yet been to farther zones like A-5. He lowered his eyes slightly. If he wanted to complete the original owner’s research results, he had to visit those places.
Jiang Weihua swallowed hard. He inexplicably felt that although this person mentioned it casually, he could really do it. It was best not to provoke him for now.
