The Love-Hate and Grudges Between Me and the Mermaid - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“You’re saying you saw a mermaid? And she took you to a world made entirely of ocean?”

“And while you were doing it with your wife last night, she entered your dream to complain about why you aren’t with her?”

“The mermaid is the Alien God?”

Inside the hospital, Tang Xingran’s eyelid twitched. She shot Bu Yan a speechless look and scribbled heavily on the medical record: [Sleep Disorder].

She handed a prescription to Bu Yan, saying earnestly, “Sleep more, exercise less. Also, the Alien God doesn’t have a fishtail. You should take another look when you have time.”

“…” Bu Yan’s head was throbbing. If she could, she wouldn’t want to admit it either, but facts were facts. She had observed the statues of the Alien God—the God was a mermaid.

When she woke up from the Otherworld last night, her clothes were actually wet, and she truly did dream of the mermaid.

The creature said nothing, just stared at her with that piercing, resentful, and aggrieved gaze before finally spitting out one word: “Envy.” Before leaving, she glared at Bu Yan fiercely.

Furthermore, while Bu Yan was being rained on in the Otherworld, a heavy downpour had occurred in reality as well.

The blue eyes in the sky blinked, and decaying, sour rainwater poured from the sockets.

The rain hit the ground and corroded trash; it fell on the high-rises built by humans, causing black holes to appear in the buildings as they slowly collapsed one after another. People rose in panic, wailing once again.

The Mayor, draped in a raincoat, continued to maintain order: “Do not panic! Do not be afraid! Stay calm, this is the manifestation of the Alien God!”

“The miraculous rainwater possesses magic; it grants us eternal life!”

Consequently, some people stopped running. Leading the way, they knelt and continued to shout. Seeing this, the rest stopped running too, enduring the pain to kneel where they were, persisting in their faith, craving the eternal life promised in myths and legends.

Ian said that rain was incredibly wicked; it left scars on people, yet it left none on her.

Bu Yan didn’t blindly follow them in this near-masochistic “ritual.” Ignoring Ian’s kicks and scolds, she forcibly dragged her home.

The current tension was because of what Ian said while throwing a tantrum.

“They are lying to you,” Bu Yan firmly locked the front door, checked the windows, and made doubly sure Ian wouldn’t sneak out while she wasn’t looking before entering the bathroom. “Don’t believe them.”

“Sister, you are the one lying to me!” Ian followed her step-by-step to the bathroom, kicking the door in exasperation.

“Hey, how can you say that? If I hadn’t insisted on taking you out, would you have run into this?” Bu Yan had finally wanted to go out once, only to be dragged into an Otherworld and soaked by rain. Then, after finally pulling her wife out of danger, she was getting complained at.

But Yan was a bit irritable at this point. Her temper flared, and she let out a shout.

Ian immediately fell silent, lowering her head, her thoughts unknown.

A long silence followed.

Bu Yan said nothing more and pulled the bathroom door shut.

Warm water sprayed down from above, and the bathroom filled with steam.

Bu Yan stood in the center of the shower, letting the water submerge her.

The water here was slightly different from the rain in the Otherworld. Bu Yan reached out, watching the water slip through her fingers, thinking dizzily about the rain the girl had created.

Suddenly, the bathroom door was pushed open from the outside. Before Bu Yan could think, she was gently embraced from behind by a pair of hands.

“What are you doing?” But Yan clearly hadn’t cooled off yet. She tried to pry the hands away but failed, so she could only ask.

“I was wrong, Sister,” Ian had changed back into a blue long dress. She leaned against Bu Yan, murmuring in her ear. “I shouldn’t have questioned or doubted you. I should trust you unconditionally.”

“I was wrong, please don’t be angry.”

Perhaps it was too stifling in the bathroom or the sound of the water was too chaotic; her voice sounded muffled. But as she spoke, the heat of her breath falling on Bu Yan’s shoulder was impossible to ignore.

Bu Yan felt an itch there and shifted her shoulder uncomfortably.

Ian seemed to understand why humans liked “bathroom play” because the space is small, people wear very little, and in this situation, they are often helpless, subconsciously crawling into the arms of someone trustworthy.

So Ian tightened her arms, hugging Bu Yan tightly. She wanted to become her most trusted person.

As for Yafilian, what kind of trash was she? She wasn’t worthy of fighting for Bu Yan.

“Sister, thanks to you today, I wasn’t hurt. Are you tired? I can help you…” She flashed a bright smile, grabbed the body wash from the shelf, and squeezed it onto a bath sponge, rubbing it into bubbles before applying it to Bu Yan’s body.

She lowered her posture, looking up at her with wet eyes, appearing pure and shy. To any onlooker, she looked so obedient it made one’s heart itch.

But Bu Yan was not an “onlooker.” She didn’t understand how someone’s attitude could flip so fast.

She wanted to understand this problem, so she asked with abnormal rationality: Why?

“Because…” Ian’s movements paused. She seemingly hadn’t expected Bu Yan to ask such a question in such an ambiguous environment. After thinking for a while, she replied obediently, “I just saw it on my phone. The news said all those people are dead.”

“Dead?”

“Mm, all dead.” Ian lowered her head guiltily, piteously hooking Bu Yan’s finger. Whether out of relief or regret, she continued to explain with red rims around her eyes, “The Empress said so. She said that wasn’t the Alien God; they had the wrong one… and that the Mayor wasn’t the Mayor, he was an impostor…”

“And…”

“And what?”

Ian sniffled and muttered, “They said a mutant species was found at the scene. Those people seemed to have been brainwashed…”

Bu Yan thought of that mermaid—the brilliant tail shimmering under the moonlight, the massive caudal fin nearly transparent under the water.

In legends, mermaids dwelled in the dark, deep sea, surfacing to sing by the reefs whenever the moon rose.

Their song was the most lethal thing, a long-ringing alarm for fishermen.

“Did they say what it was?”

“It seems to be…” Ian’s brow furrowed as if she were trying to recall something. After a long pause, she said she didn’t know.

“But that’s not important…”

She felt Bu Yan’s mood suddenly drop. To follow the book’s instructions on making a wife happy and to continue what they were doing she immediately changed the subject. “The important thing is, thanks to Sister’s wit in discovering this in time, we weren’t hurt and didn’t die.”

“Sister is the best. I’ll listen to Sister from now on! My sister has saved me so many times.”

Bu Yan: “…” Wow.

Not a trace remained of the girl who just said she was lying and was dying to go outside.

But she remembered clearly that in the original novel, no one died before the apocalypse. In fact, the Empire heavily promoted “maintaining the original ecology” and “non-action” as beneficial. At the time, many people agreed not just Empire officials and business tycoons, but ordinary citizens and slum dwellers…

With so many people believing, it was impossible for them to backstab humanity before the end of the world, right?

“Where did you see that report?” But Yan grabbed a towel. Ignoring the dazed Ian who had just finished undressing, she turned to leave.

“Hey,” Ian reacted just before Bu Yan reached the door, hurriedly pulling her back. “Sister, wait…”

Wait for what?!

She originally thought she had at least until the apocalypse to survive, but looking at this, she might die before the world even officially ends.

This world not only fabricated gods but also faked them. If they were forcing people, would they eventually just create a god themselves?

She had to go to the basement; some things there weren’t finished. She had to write down her current knowledge and memories. At this rate, she wouldn’t even know if she got brainwashed at some point.

She had to stay awake, keep that paper on her, and remember the dangers of the apocalypse.

But just as one foot stepped out of the bathroom, the other tripped on something. Her body lost its center of gravity and lunged forward. Just as her face was about to have an intimate encounter with the floor, Ian pulled her back.

But with her in that posture… How did Ian pull her back?

Bu Yan stood at the door with lingering fear, her hand gripping the safety rail tightly. Her breathing was unstable and rapid, her chest heaving unnaturally.

Ian hugged Bu Yan from behind with gentle, soothing movements. One hand held her while the other patted her back to help stabilize her breathing.

Once Bu Yan calmed down, Ian carefully wiped the grime from her body with her hand.

“Sister…”

Bu Yan felt the girl’s fingertips slide over her skin, bringing a shiver. Everywhere her fingers brushed felt numb.

“I told you to wait, don’t be so impatient.” Ian sighed softly, turning the handle to turn the shower back on.

Warm water enveloped them both.

“Are you tired?” Ian turned Bu Yan around to face her, asking with a curved smile.

“I…” Bu Yan opened her mouth. At first, no words came out; it took a few seconds to find her voice. “A little.”

Actually, she wasn’t tired, but her body felt weak in this environment. Her abdomen, shoulders, neck… the places Ian had bitten felt hot. She didn’t want to stand here alone anymore.

She wanted to lie in the bathtub with Ian and take a bath together.

They could put a bath bomb in any scent, maybe even two. They would soak inside and watch them dissolve in the water together.

“Let’s fill that up with water,” Bu Yan looked past Ian toward the bathtub by the wall. “I’m tired and want to relax.”

Ian: “!”

The ultimate “Bathroom Play” from the book!

“Okay!” Ian was ecstatic and scurried over to start the water.

That night, they spent a long time in the bathroom before returning to bed. Bu Yan staggered with every step, her body covered in marks of different colors. Ian wasn’t much better; the corner of her mouth was cut.

That night, Bu Yan dreamed of the mermaid.

But this time, she wasn’t standing on a reef; she was in the water. She clung to the mermaid’s tail, putting all her strength into not sinking.

The mermaid seemed very angry, saying nothing and making no move, only staring at her with those azure eyes.

The gaze was shimmering and trembling, eyelashes fluttering. Just before Bu Yan woke up, the creature squeezed out two words: “Envy.”

Envious of whom?

Ian.

…

[Sis, you have to remember, dreams and reality are opposites.]

San Qi looked at the long message Bu Yan sent. After a long silence, she typed: [Don’t believe it. It’s more important for you and my sister-in-law to live your lives well.]

Finally, she added three times: [The Alien God has no fishtail!]

Bu Yan: […]

Okay, okay, fine.

No one believed her.

It was just like when she first arrived in this world; she said the apocalypse was coming in two months, and no one believed her then either.

It’s fine. But Yan didn’t quite believe herself either.

She had mostly forgotten if the Alien God was a mermaid; she planned to go home and check properly. What if they were right and it wasn’t?

But that wasn’t particularly important anyway. The girl in the Otherworld was a mermaid.

That was something she had truly seen and truly touched.