Mermaid Effect

Rand once had a cat.

Of course, only once.

In the white steam of the bathroom, Rand vigorously wiped the mucus on his body, and the memory of the cat came back and forth in his mind suddenly.

When Rand first developed mental anorexia due to Vincent's strong desire to control, the psychologist once advised him to get a cat.

It was a smart and cunning Russian Blue cat with stunning emerald green eyes.Rand fell in love with it almost the moment he saw it, yet it didn't even stay around Rand for 24 hours.

It scratched Rand because of the nervousness of animal nature when he approached. A few minutes later, Vincent took a silver table knife and directly nailed the elf with gray-blue fur to death on the peach. Heart on wooden dining table.

Vincent was almost insane (in fact, according to the psychiatrist, he was insane at the time), and the knife went in, then pulled out, and then went in again.

Blood flowed from the cat, splashing across his marble-white face.

"You shouldn't have hurt him, you should never have hurt my Rand..."

He was numbly doing that horrible thing like a robot, repeating that sentence like a nightmare.

Rand can still recall the strong breath of fear spreading from him at the side and the scalding water hit Rand's skin, but he still felt a deep cold that almost made his blood coagulate.

It took him a long time in the bathroom to get the weird goo off of him, using up almost half a bottle of body wash, but when he finally had to walk out dazed, he could still vaguely The smell on my body... After being diluted by a lot of citrus-based body wash fragrance, that smell has an indescribable animal fragrance.

Rand twitched the corners of his mouth, his expression troubled by the memory of the cat.He walked into the living room, brushing his hair apprehensively.

Munster floats belly-up in the aquarium, treading the water with ease on his newly grown hind legs.After seeing Rand, he happily poked his head out of the aquarium, paws resting on the side of the tank - he has become more and more used to this way now, just like a puppy will do when he hears his master coming home. Wagging their tails and gathering at the door.

Apparently it was much smarter than any amphibian Rand had ever seen, Rand heard himself mutter.But now it seems to have forgotten that Rand chased it not long ago. It looked up at Rand enthusiastically, its eyes sparkling.

"Haw..."

It muttered to Rand, trying to crawl out of the aquarium.I have to say that it is much more agile now than before.

Rand wasn't even sure if the aquarium would be a good fit for Munster now.

"No, don't come out."

Rand sighed deeply, said to it, and then stretched out a finger to gently scratch Munster's forehead covered with fine scales but smooth to the touch.Under his gentle movements, Munster rested his chin on the palm of Rand's other hand, and made a slight "chirp" sound, and the scales of the bright peacock blue snakes on the back of his neck slightly stiffened, looking comfortable and pleasant.

It seems to have become a little cute again now (of course only in Rand's eyes), but no matter how slow its breeder is, he clearly noticed Munster's abnormality at this time.

It's so weird in every way.

Rand thought of what Vincent said before, the raw materials leaked in Blue Moon Harbor, and he had other thoughts in his mind.

Perhaps the water pollution caused Munster's mutation, he thought, trying to find a reason for Munster's weirdness.

In fact, his best option at this point is to call Caroline directly and tell her that his pet fish has undergone a strange change.According to past experience, Vincent would find a way to make any uncertain things around him clear and clear. He wished to find out the pedigree of every fly that appeared around Rand.Moreover, Deep White Biotechnology has its own biological research and development department, and Rand is sure that someone will know what is going on with Munster—and then, he will never see it again.

Rand looked down at the tiny fangs protruding from Munster's lips.

He put the tooth that Munster spit out to him earlier in an empty chocolate box, and the process happened to be seen by this weird little monster.No one knows exactly how it understood it, but Rand knew that every deciduous tooth it lost was carefully and solemnly held in Rand's palm.At the same time, it would whine desperately, urging Rand in its own way to put the teeth into the blue-toned tin box with cute patterns.

Sometimes Rand would have that strange illusion that this naked little bastard is full of intelligence and emotion, but its fangs, its sharp claws and powerful tail fin, the most important thing is The carnivorous eating habits all prove that it is definitely not the kind of animal that is not dangerous.

Vincent would never allow such an animal to appear beside Rand.

Just imagining what this little monster might suffer if it was discovered and sent to the deep white biological research and development room, Rand felt his skin tighten.

It may indeed be an annoying little bastard, but it doesn't deserve that.

At least it shouldn't look like that cat.

And now, just in retrospect, Vincent's nervous red eyes almost literally appeared before Rand's eyes.

The black-haired, green-eyed man screamed in the room and backed away, only to realize after a few seconds that he was only confused by the brightening red stripes behind Munster's eyes.

He endured the feeling of vomiting that was creeping up like a rising tide, and then slapped himself hard to wake himself up.

For the first time, he realized so clearly that Vincent must not be aware of Munster's existence.

And it was at this time that the phone rang.

Rand, who was lost in his own thoughts, was startled. He found the phone and looked at the number on it, then connected to the arc.

"Caroline? You've never called me this late. What happened?"

As he said it again, he sat down on the sofa.

"..."

There was a silence on the phone.

Rand even thought it was a misdialed call, but before he almost hung up the phone, the nervous voice that only existed in his memory before really echoed in his ears.

"Rand, it's me."

said the voice to him.

Rand opened his lips, feeling the hairs on his back stand on end, and even his sitting posture couldn't help but become straight.He felt a twinge of nervousness, the same way he had done countless times talking to Vincent.

"Oh, hi, Vincent, how are you?"

Rand tried his best to make his voice more relaxed, but in fact the voice transmitted to the microphone seemed to be dehydrated, dry, and his voice was a little hoarse due to tension.

"I'm on the plane." Vincent's voice seemed a little weak (but Rand wasn't sure about it), "The plane will stop at SmOKYHILL in Salina for two hours and 45 minutes in one hour, and I'll send someone To pick you up... I think we can meet up."

he said in a low voice.

At the same time, Rand clearly heard the roar of a helicopter coming from the roof...

Six and 10 minutes later, Rand was already sitting in an office at the Smoky Hill military airport.

There was still a faint smell of body wash on his body, and he was dressed in a plaid shirt and soft knitted trousers indiscriminately—this kind of attire, which could not be called formal at all, made him stand in this room full of strong military imprints. The office felt cramped.

A cup of medium-roast Colombian coffee, a bar of fine chocolate wrapped in gold foil, and a glass of water are placed on the huge hardwood desk.

"Mr. Sievers ordered us to prepare this for you."

When these were served, the blond corporal said under Rand's puzzled gaze.

Ok……

Rand's eyes glanced at the carefully prepared things again. Perhaps only Vincent in this world would notice these details, such as the water and chocolate after coffee.

But it was this kind of meticulous care that seemed to take care of even the strands of hair, which made Rand, who was already an adult, feel a subtle sense of discomfort.

While Rand was staring at those things in a daze, the door was opened, and then Rand knew that Vincent had appeared.Don't ask him why he doesn't need to turn around to know this - the proof is that he feels his roots tightening and goosebumps on his arms.

Rand turned around and saw Vincent standing at the door in a pure black suit, staring at him motionlessly with those bright red eyes.

……

Neither of them spoke while staring at each other.

Rand noticed that Vincent was thinner than before, his silver hair was combed back neatly, revealing his stone face.

He didn't show any expression, but his eyes made Rand think he looked like some kind of beast trying to devour him.

Fortunately, Caroline finally rushed over from behind Vincent at this time. She was out of breath and her champagne-colored hair was messy. She looked at the two silent people in the office with a frustrated face, and complained from her mouth.

"...God, Vincent, it's not a gentleman to leave your personal assistant behind and ignore it," she looked at Rand while calming her breath, "Hey, Rand, you look good .”

"You don't look too bad, Caroline, with nice hair."

Rand forced a smile to comment on Caroline's newly dyed hair.

Caroline shrugged, and then said to Vincent and Rand: "Need I remind you? Gentlemen, you only have a little over two hours to reunite, talk, hug and cry together. ...Of course I know the last item won't happen, but, all in all, I don't think you guys would like to just stand and watch each other spend this time." Then she turned to Rand, "Vincent took a detour Just arrived here, two hours means that he has seven meetings to reschedule. As the person responsible for arranging his meetings, I sincerely hope that you can be more kind to Vincent. "

After she finished speaking, she didn't give Rand any chance to speak. Instead, she blinked and quickly slipped out of the extremely soundproof office.

Oh, by the way, she also closed the door by the way.

Vincent's eyebrows trembled, and he slowly opened his hands towards Rand with that expressionless state - a gesture of hugging.

"I haven't seen you for a long time. You look really good."

He said, with a trace of regret that people don't want to think about.

Rand screamed frantically in his heart, but in reality he had to resist the urge to run... He walked over and hugged Vincent gently.

He felt like a working dog under orders all the time, a state of command that he had to pander to Vincent before he started going crazy.

Vincent, on the other hand, seemed very happy.

His arms were so hard Rand almost thought he wanted to crush his body into his ribs.

After a while, Rand had to protest against Vincent's chest.

"No, no, Vincent, you're going to strangle me."

He said, barely breaking free.

He and Vincent came to sit on the only sofa in the office, and Vincent grabbed Rand's hand.

He twirled Rand's arm with his fingers, and made a judgment.

"Your fat percentage has gone up."

"...Ah, yes."

Rand said dryly.

"I'm glad to see that you're having such a good time. I've been very worried about you before this, Rand. You can't take good care of yourself."

He continued.

Rand didn't know how to respond to Vincent. In fact, he felt that he knew how to take care of himself better than Vincent.The kidnapping case that he has no memory of at all is over after all...

But he dared not say so at all.

He was very worried that some careless response of his would change Vincent's mind and force him to move back to the "prison" built with banknotes.

The jailer in that prison was Vincent, and Rand was the only prisoner—obviously Vincent would like that.

"Oh, I'm fine, really, everything is fine, the apartment is fine, life here is fine, I've even made pretty good friends..."

Rand's brain was almost frozen with fear.

He described his life quickly, inlaid gold rims on those meager daily activities, trying to make Vincent understand that he really had a good life.

And, he did have a good time.

He didn't notice the distorted facial muscles on Vincent's face when he mentioned Rogers, and every time he repeated the name, Vincent's eyes became darker.

When Rand felt that Vincent's grip on his arm was unbearably painful, his narrative, those parts about his friendship with Rogers, had completely made Vincent uncontrollable.

"I'll give you another place to stay."

He cut Rand off firmly.

"what?"

Rand didn't react at all, he stared blankly at Vincent's red eyes, and then the muscles in his stomach tightened for a moment...

That crazy look was something he had seen many times before.

"I don't know."

He whispered with trembling lips, and then instinctively wanted to stand up and stay away from Vincent.

But he couldn't do it.

Vincent's hand held Rand tightly.

He announced his decision to Rand word by word.

"I want you to stay away from that Rodgers, he's not the type to be around you - so I'll give you another place to stay. I'm investing in a lab in Switzerland and I think you'll like the Alps landscape."

Rand closed his eyes, and he took a quick breath of air, trying to calm himself down, but he found it too difficult.

"Vincent, I have said many times that I don't need others to control my life."

It took all of his self-control to force the words to "speak" instead of growl.

Just like countless times before, Vincent didn't pay attention to his words.

He just made his own decision like that.

"If you like this apartment, I can build you an as-is there, and everything will be fine, Rand, and you'll have the best protection..."

"To shut up!"

Rand stood up suddenly, and Vincent grabbed a bright red mark on his arm.

He stood up and kicked the desk vigorously, the wooden table made a dull sound, but Rand felt that he was about to explode.

"Vincent..." he growled tremblingly at Vincent, "look at me, just look at me—I'm a man, a free man, not your slave, not your property! No! Forever No! You can't rely on the brotherhood I still have for you and control me so shamelessly!"

"I never thought about it that way, Rand, I just wanted to protect you...to protect you..."

Vincent's eyes stayed on the bright red mark on Rand's hand that he had drawn by himself, and his breath began to send out, and at the same time his eyes became as chaotic as glass beads.

If Rand could still maintain a semblance of sobriety at this time, he might be able to realize that something was wrong with Vincent, but at this moment he was completely outraged by Vincent's infringement of his personal freedom again.

"I've had enough! Vincent, I've had enough of you! I'd rather die at the hands of some fucking kidnapper..."

"Rand!"

With just this sentence, Vincent stood up screaming like an enraged king cobra.

He rushed in front of Rand, and his hands were as cold as death, and Rand's head was stuck.

He was close to Rand's face, and his red pupils were flickering with crazy light.

"How dare you say that, you shouldn't say that! Never, never! You will never die, never get hurt, I will protect you, always protect you, you will always..."

Rand's vision blurred for a while.

Vincent's hands were so tight that he couldn't even breathe—or he really couldn't.

His body struggled instinctively, but he never thought that someone like Vincent would be so powerful—his body was as hard and cold as it was made of iron, and there would be nothing respond.

Rand felt like he was going to die.

He opened his mouth and gasped frantically in an attempt to take in some air, and only Vincent's red eyes could be seen in a hazy field of vision.

Demonic red eyes.

Then suddenly—

"boom……"

With a muffled sound, the shackles around his neck were loosened.

Rand knelt limply on the ground, clutching his throat and began to retch.It wasn't until a few seconds later that he raised his head, and saw Vincent's body lying on the ground like a corpse.