The Love-Hate and Grudges Between Me and the Mermaid - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Yi An arrived, she had no luggage at all, only the long dress on her back and the plastic flip-flops on her feet. Now, the dress had been cut into an explicit miniskirt, and she was missing one flip-flop.

The two were similar in height, with only about a ten-centimeter difference. Bu Yan rummaged through her wardrobe and finally found some clothes suitable for Yi An.

“I don’t want to wear pants.” Yi An spread the clothes at the foot of the bed, her face full of reluctance.

Bu Yan: “I only have pants.”

“Fine.” A forced compromise.

“There are buttons on the pant legs. If you flip them up and button them like this, they won’t drag on the floor.” Bu Yan patiently dressed her wife.

The weather lately has been awkward, not exactly hot, but not cold either. Going out in just short sleeves was chilly, but long sleeves were too warm. Bu Yan stood before the wardrobe in thought for a few seconds before deciding to put Yi An in short sleeves while carrying a long-sleeved top herself to give to her if she got cold.

Oh right, my wife likes dresses. I’ll take her to buy some after we eat. Of course I have to spoil my own wife.

Having made her plan, Bu Yan took her wife’s small hand and headed out.

“Stay close to me outside; don’t run around,” Bu Yan emphasized repeatedly.

Yi An, confused and rebellious, asked: “Why?”

She soon learned the reason: bugs.

The streets outside were covered in trash, and the trash was crawling with insects and eggs. These things seemed to have a self-awareness; as soon as they saw a person, they scrambled to crawl onto them.

Yi An screamed silently, “Sister, I… I want to die.”

Bu Yan patted her to comfort her. “Don’t die. I want to, too.”

Having said that, she took insect repellent out of her bag and sprayed them from head to toe. The medicine was effective but barely; the bugs still crawled up, though they stopped moving halfway. Seeing this, Bu Yan pulled out disposable gloves and brushed the bugs off Yi An.

“Bear with it. Once we’re on the bus, it’ll be fine,” Bu Yan asked. “Do you want to wear the jacket now?”

“Yes,” Yi An closed her eyes. “If I don’t, I’m afraid I’ll die, Sister.”

Bu Yan: “…” “Stop putting ‘dying’ on your lips.” “Okay, Sister.”

The weather was hot at noon and the bugs were active; generally, they stopped crawling around by four or five in the afternoon. This was a pattern Bu Yan had observed over several days and had personally tested when she went to get the marriage certificate with Yi An yesterday.

“Then why didn’t we come out in the afternoon? It’s so filthy here!” After Yi An stepped on countless bugs, she finally couldn’t take it and asked.

Bu Yan hurriedly covered her mouth, warily observing the actions of people around them. She whispered, “Keep those words private; don’t say them in the street.”

“Why?” Before Bu Yan could answer, the response came quickly.

The people all around stopped what they were doing. Their soulless, pitch-black eyes stared intently at them. Their lips moved, incessantly muttering words that were impossible to understand.

At the same time, countless various bugs crawled toward them. But because they had sprayed repellent, most only dared to swarm around them; those that reached their bodies didn’t survive three seconds.

“…” Yi An: “These things are so ‘insane’ (dian).”

She took a step forward to escape; the bugs moved a step with her, continuing to surround them like a black wall. The other people’s eyeballs rolled in their sockets, continuing to stare.

“…” Mutual silence, leaving only the urge to die.

Yi An silently reached out and slapped a mosquito to death. Bu Yan took out a wet wipe to clean her wife’s hand.

“When can they leave? When will they stop looking at us?” Yi An crushed another fly and asked in a low, aggrieved voice.

Bu Yan continued wiping her hand, soothing her softly: “Soon, very soon.”

Having said that, she reached down, picked up a piece of trash, held it high, and shouted excitedly, “Wow! It’s trash! Our Empire is saved! The Empress is truly amazing to think of such a great idea! From now on, we won’t even have to look for trash cans!”

“Woo! The Empire is with us!” Across the street, a woman in a red dress with light makeup immediately responded with her hands clasped in prayer.

It was unclear what was so special about that phrase, but the others also began to clasp their hands and shout as if they had eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms, cheering together: “Long live the Empire! The Empire is with us!”

Bu Yan: “…” This world is truly f*I’m insane.

Yi An silently wrapped her jacket tighter, filled with emotion. “Sister, luckily you are normal. Otherwise, I would have gone to die.”

Bu Yan: “…” She gave Yi An a sharp look. “Less discouraging talk.” Yi An shrunk her neck. “Okay~”

After an unknown amount of time, everything returned to peace. The bugs no longer followed them, and the others no longer stared. To be safe, Bu Yan played the act to the end, gently placing the trash back on the ground and stroking its upturned corner. “Be good now.”

She stood up, immediately changed her expression, and pulled out a wipe to clean her hands. As a girl with a proper moral compass, she never littered; the used wipes and gloves were put into a trash bag she carried until she found a bin.

“Sister,” Yi An praised sincerely, “you are such a good baby, a fragrant little strawberry ‘Baba’ (poop).”

But Yan’s movements froze. Her limbs went stiff as she turned her head to look at her in disbelief. “Have you gone ‘insane’ (dian) too?” Her voice trembled uncontrollably.

Yi An pouted. “Sister is so unromantic.”

Bu Yan slowly typed out a mental question mark: ?

Yi An shook her head helplessly, stood on her tiptoes, and placed her hands on either side of Bu Yan’s head to turn her toward the front. “I learned it from there. Didn’t you hear, Sister? They are all praising XX as a cute little ‘Baba’.”

Well, yes, they were praising, but had she seen clearly what the person being praised was giving out? And the specific vocabulary used.

Baba… if she remembered correctly, had another meaning: poop.

It was a milk tea shop. There were staff members at the entrance running a promotion, wearing mascot costumes and performing while giving things away. A circle of people had gathered; after the mascot finished performing, everyone praised it for being cute, calling it some kind of “fragrant and soft little Baba.”

Admittedly, the mascot suit was indeed cute, but the things it was giving out were disgusting.

Bu Yan couldn’t even bring herself to look, but Yi An refusing to believe the “evil” leaned in for a closer look and then fled rapidly, hiding behind Bu Yan.

“Did you see clearly?” Bu Yan asked, somewhat helpless. “I saw,” Yi An was trembling. “What were they giving out?” “Butts after wiping poop no, no, no, it was used toilet paper.”

The heart that had been hanging in suspense died completely.

“The words used to praise aren’t right,” Bu Yan thought about how to heal her wife’s young soul. Yi An’s values overlapped with hers in some ways she loathed trash and loved cleanliness. Looking at her “silly-sweet” and clumsy appearance, she knew the place Yi An came from must have been somewhat normal though she didn’t know where in this world was actually normal.

But it didn’t matter, as long as her values weren’t that “insane.” Since she was a newcomer, she surely had to adapt to the rules here slowly. Bu Yan explained and analyzed euphemistically:

“The people doing the praising are also wrong. ‘Baba’ refers to poop; it’s very unclean and has many bacteria. To give this as a gift shows it isn’t really that…” Cute.

Mid-sentence, Bu Yan suddenly realized she was outside. Her words, which violated the “common sense” of this world, would surely attract the deadly stares of those around her, and she might get chased by bugs again… She immediately shut her mouth and pretended she had never said those things.

Seeing this, Yi An thought her chance to make her wife happy had come by bailing her out.

She followed Bu Yan’s previous actions, ran to the mascot in a few steps, and grabbed the entire box full of used toilet paper. “Sister, quick, say the phrase! Otherwise the bugs will follow us again.”

Seeing Bu Yan had no reaction, Yi An covered her nose and mouth, holding the corner of a piece of paper with one hand and thrusting it in front of Bu Yan’s eyes, urging softly: “Sister, hurry.”

Sister can’t hurry… I can endure the disgust of touching any kind of trash, but not this…

Bu Yan truly wanted to stay at home and live a “salted fish” life until death came with the apocalypse. In other novels, people transmigrated into CEO stories or Mary Sues, bittersweet campus stories or sweet urban romances. Why was hers an apocalyptic story filled with blood and violence? Oh, and add a modifier: Disgusting.

Bu Yan appeared calm on the surface, but her soul had already departed.

At the same moment, a fly hovered before her eyes and finally landed slowly on her clothes rubbing its hands, nodding, and buzzing. This fly had just been on that pile of paper…

But Yan snapped completely. She turned and ran. Yi An dropped the paper and hurriedly followed. “Sister, wait for me!”

Seeing this, the others immediately lowered their heads in unison, as if they were born with this programmed reflex. Following their low murmurs, countless insects suddenly flew out from the ground, the trash, and various buildings to chase them.

The bugs landed on exposed skin, biting and leaving red welts, an alternating sensation of stinging and itching.

So annoying! The human world isn’t fun at all.

A flash of killing intent crossed Yi An’s eyes. In an instant, the air became damp as if covered in a layer of water vapor, and a faint, salty-wet scent drifted around.

The bugs’ wings grew heavy and they fell to the ground. The pedestrians’ vision blurred; they stood dazed on the spot, their low murmurs continuous. In the clear mist, hearing was particularly sharp. This time, Yi An heard clearly; they were saying: “The Heteromorphic God grants me eternal life.”

Yi An found Bu Yan in a restaurant. At that moment, Bu Yan was leaning over the sink where dishes were washed, gasping for breath, breaking out in a cold sweat, her eyes bloodshot.

“I was wrong, Sister.” She had upset the human again.

Yi An washed her hands with dish soap before carefully squatting on the ground, using her clean hands to hook the human’s trembling fingers. “I won’t do it again. Forgive me this once, okay?”

After saying this, as if suddenly remembering something, her tone changed. She found a bargaining chip for forgiveness, her pride and desire for favor leaking between the lines:

“Sister, I took revenge for you! I cleaned up everything outside…” “Hee-hee, I’m impressive, aren’t I? For the sake of that, be a little happier and forgive me~”

Maybe she cleaned it, or maybe not. Mist had suddenly appeared behind them, spreading out with herself as the center. They appeared light, like thin gauze, but they could carry away millions of tons of trash. When the mist dissipated, they turned into foam and vanished together.

The street returned to being fresh and clean. The bugs disappeared. The shrubs, flowers, and trees by the roadside revealed their original forms.

[This is the true human world.] This sentence appeared in her mind unbidden.

“Really?” Bu Yan lifted her eyelids, staring at Yi An in a daze, without blinking.

“Really.” Yi An snapped back to reality, took the human’s hand, and hugged her gently, her voice soft. “If your sister doesn’t believe it, you can go out and look.”

“Mm…”

The town becoming clean should have brought joy, but she felt a mysterious sadness. It was likely the original owner’s emotion again. Her gaze fell on the roses in the flowerbed; a butterfly danced.

The surroundings were bustling with people some in despair, some in sorrow, some in joy. With several different emotions mixed together, Bu Yan was a bit unsure of her own view on this.

She retracted her gaze, a cry of sorrow in her heart; this was her own emotion. The background of this world wasn’t quite normal. Apocalypse, apocalypse if environmental resources didn’t reach their “End” (Mo), how could a “New” (Xin) world be welcomed?

She alone couldn’t change the destined ending, nor could she change the views of those currently in power, and she certainly couldn’t shake the rules. Since that was the case, she might as well live her days well, take care of the home for the original owner, and look after her wife…

“Let’s go.” Having thought this through, Bu Yan’s state of mind shifted greatly. She decided to “crouch and survive” (gou) well with her wife.

Taking Yi An’s hand, she walked into the mall, a pleasing smile on her lips. “I said I’d take you out to eat, but I didn’t expect to let you go hungry for so long…”

“What do you want for lunch? After we eat, I’ll buy you some new clothes. Dresses or pants? I’ll also buy you a phone. I have to work tomorrow, so it’ll be easier to stay in touch…”

“Anything is fine.” Yi An deliberately skipped the first part and answered the latter directly. “Pretty little girls definitely want everything, but I prefer dresses~”

“Preferably blue! I really love this color.”

“Why?” Bu Yan asked with a smile.

“Because that color matches my hair perfectly.”

Indeed, it did. The slightly curly blue long hair and the folds of a blue dress were both like the ripples of the sea.