Mermaid Effect

When Rand woke up, he smelled a fishy smell, a smell so strong that it seemed to soak into the skin.He groaned, pushed the quilt away and sat up, the strange thing was that when he woke up, the smell disappeared like a hallucination.

Rand sniffed. All he could smell was the faint scent of high-grade incense—from the Egyptian cotton sheets and quilt beneath him.The morning sun poured into the room from the window, and the silk curtains emitted a pearly hazy light.Compared with Rand's apartment near the subway and parking lot, the room was so quiet on a morning like this that it made one want to smile.A bird stopped on the balcony, and Rand heard the sound of its flapping wings, but when he came to the balcony, the bird had already flown away, and Rand only picked up a long feather with a blue color.He put his hands on the railing of the balcony and looked out. On the other side of the road, he happily saw a beautiful green land and woods.The sky was unbelievably clear, cloudless, and the blue sky shrouded Rand's head without any flaws like a huge blue gem. Under such a sky, it seemed that there was no haze in the world.

Rand breathed the dry air, and he was beginning to like it a little.

A bell rang in the room, and Rand rushed back to the room. It took him some time to find the phone.

"Hey, Rand, are you satisfied with the apartment I prepared for you?"

A gentle voice sounded in the microphone.

Almost as soon as he heard the voice, Rand felt himself smile.

"Oh," he sat down casually on the sofa, his body relaxed, "I should have thought it was you, Caroline. Everything is so perfect."

Caroline was giggling on the other end of the phone, and even if it was just through the voice, Rand seemed to be able to see her happy face.

Caroline was only a year older than Rand, and if Rand's memory hadn't faded, he would remember how he, Vincent, and Caroline went hunting together in the autumn years ago.She was a frequent visitor to the Severs family, a delightful neighbor and Rand's favorite older sister.

And now, she is Vincent's personal secretary.

Without her, Rand felt that his relationship with Vincent might be worse than it is now.What Caroline said next confirmed his thoughts even more.

"...Actually, Vincent was furious at me. He tried to buy you a luxury villa with three swimming pools and two Lamborghinis. After I told him that you would never like it, he tried to buy it again. The most luxurious hotel downtown. So I told him, give it up and let me do it. I stayed in that apartment you live in in college and I know it's great."

Rand let out a long sigh of gratitude. "Yes, that's really great, Caroline...thank you."

He thanked her sincerely.

Even if Caroline didn't say anything, judging from Rand's experience with Vincent, convincing Vincent is definitely not an easy task.

Caroline burst out laughing again, and her laugh was as charming as she was.

"Okay, Rand, I'm really glad you like that apartment, in fact, I'm trying to make Vincent a little…"

"Be a little more normal." Rand picked up her words.

Caroline lowered her voice.

"Hey, don't let Vincent hear this sentence... Okay, I just called to tell you that you can go to the deputy editor's office of "National Express" to be tortured a little later, Vincent customized the body for you The engineering chair is still in the factory in Switzerland—sorry, I really can't refuse that chair for you."

"I see."

Rand said he felt a burst of relief.

God only knows how much he doesn't want to go into a completely unfamiliar place and be looked at, whispered or whatever.

What followed was a pleasant conversation between him and Caroline.

When he was about to hang up, Rand hesitated a little.Caroline sensed it quickly: "What happened?"

After a few seconds of silence, Rand couldn't help but asked, "So... is there something wrong with Vincent? No, Caroline, don't tell me he's fine, I know something must have happened , otherwise he should be the one who called me."

Rand was well aware of Vincent's paranoia, so when he found out it was Caroline calling, everything went wrong.

Caroline's voice dropped.

"Uh... I'm not sure I should tell you. But... well, I think you already know about the chemical spill over at Blue Moon Bay. In fact, that ship was ours, and the Ocean Service The people here are desperately trying to trouble us. But don't worry, Rand, you know that Vincent is best at solving problems, and I believe you will continue to receive mental harassment from Vincent in a few days."

Rand couldn't help laughing.

There is no doubt that Rand felt a little relieved after hearing that Vincent was just busy with the leak of the raw materials.

In addition, he felt that he could more or less forgive Vincent's nervousness on the issue of water pollution.

After hanging up the phone, he went to the kitchen to get some food for himself. According to Caroline, everything was ready, including his favorite "Yummy" brand breakfast cereal.

However, after Rand opened the cupboard, he didn't find the box of cereal. He vaguely remembered that he might have taken out a box of things yesterday, but...

Rand frowned at the jumble of jars and boxes on the counter, dried sage, salad dressing, canned tomatoes.

No cereal.

Rand shrugged his shoulders and quickly put the matter aside.The celibate life in the past ten years has made him as sloppy and rough as all single straight men. He just has a very vague doubt, and this doubt quickly disappeared after he found some moderately roasted Colombian coffee beans. forgotten.

Rand got himself coffee and turned to look at the other creature in the room.

The fish's wound was completely covered by the white film, and it seemed to be in good spirits. The water splashed out while circling wet the table.

Perhaps an illusion?Rand felt that it seemed to be a little bigger than when he saw it yesterday.

"Hey, you seem to be recovering well."

He took a sip of his coffee, tapped the rim of the salad bowl playfully, and remembered that he hadn't fed the fish since he caught it.

Rand wasn't sure what the fish was supposed to eat—he tried putting some sugar-free cereal on the top of the water (he hated it), but the fish didn't respond at all.So Rand shared some fried chicken breasts from his breakfast.

The moment he was about to put the white shredded meat into the salad bowl, the fish suddenly jumped up, opened its mouth and bit the chicken breast viciously.

"Ow—"

Rand withdrew his hand suddenly, and he was startled.

If he hadn't stopped fast enough, the fish would have almost bit his finger.

After swallowing the shredded meat, the fish regained its composure, and it continued to circle slowly in the salad bowl, but the two circles of patterns on its body seemed to become more vivid, reflected by the water surface, Rand always It was as if the fish was watching him with its strange eyes just below the surface.

Hell, he actually got back a carnivorous fish.

Just as Rand was thinking this, he saw the fish float up and swallow the oatmeal he had put in the water one by one.

Rand swore he'd never known a fish like this one that ate meat and cereal.

Rand tried to get some chicken breasts again, but this time he didn't dare to hold the shredded meat with his hands, he used a fork.

Just like before, the fish bounced out of the water with unimaginable ferocity and took hold of the flesh.From this, Rand knew that the fish must have hard teeth in its mouth (although it was completely different from what he had observed before), and he heard the crisp sound made when hard bones collided with stainless steel.However, he did not find a clear cut mark on the fork he took back.

Forgive his carelessness, for his doorbell rang with annoying frequency while he was blissfully studying this odd fish.

"Ding-dong-ding-dong-ding-dong-"

The person who rang the doorbell must have been impatient. He didn't even wait for the previous sound to die down before pressing the button. Rand heard only a series of harsh sounds.

He opened the door and saw the annoying guy.

A tall man with strawberry hair.

Rand was stunned for a while, unable to get his tongue back.

He stared at each other dumbfounded.

That's right, a strawberry-colored head... that extremely gorgeous red like a fresh strawberry is unusually eye-catching.

Rand couldn't believe that someone in this world would dye his hair such a color.

"Strawberry hair" didn't seem to care about Rand's blankness at all, perhaps because he was used to it?He winked at Rand, then handed the plate to Rand with a smile on his face.

"I noticed someone moved in yesterday, it's great, I finally have neighbors, here are the cookies I baked, many flavors, chocolate, vanilla, and a great strawberry one, hope you like it , Oh, by the way, did I forget to introduce myself, I am Rogers who lives across from you."

He said quickly, and after saying his name, he stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.Rand had to see the pink lipstick on his lips again.Oh, yes, he painted his eyebrows and eyelashes too, and some silver glitter glittered under the man's eye sockets.

Rogers' skin was wheat-colored, and an unusually tight cherry-pink short-sleeved T-shirt was pulled on him with difficulty. When he handed Rand a plate full of bunny-shaped biscuits, the muscles on his arms were stretched by the paint. Shines brightly in the sun.

He gave Rand an urge to back off, a creature that Rand had been fully exposed to before.

Rand wasn't quite sure how he should face Rogers, but he took the biscuit reflexively and gave him an awkward smile.

"Ah, that... I'm Rand, Rand Sievers, thanks, the color is lovely... I mean the cookies are cute."

Rogers covered his mouth and smiled like a girl.

"Oh, Sievers? I like that name."

He showed Rand his left hand covering his mouth, and it wasn't until this moment that Rand realized that something was wrong with his left hand.It was a prosthetic limb, covered with artificial skin made of silicone, and Rand saw a two-headed mermaid logo on the elbow of that hand, with the words DW underneath.

This is a product of Shenbai Biotechnology.

Rand's eyes widened, and Rogers had already spoken before he could form the words: "This thing is great, isn't it? It's not on the market yet, but I managed to volunteer. With it, weightlifting can become Good job. Vincent Sievers, I admire him."

He habitually gave Rand a bunny wink when he mentioned Vincent, so Rand closed his mouth tightly.

Maybe it's better not to leak the fact that Vincent is his brother to Rogers, Rand thought instinctively—but even so, it doesn't prevent Rand from classifying Rogers as a "good guy", even if the latter It was overwhelming in every sense of the word.

Rogers leaves 10 minutes later, and by the time he leaves, Rand already knows everything: where are the good restaurants, the coffee at the corner coffee shop is shit but the milkshakes are great, the shared washing machine in the apartment Best not to use it because someone peed in it...

In any case, he is indeed a warm-hearted person.And, the biscuits he makes are really delicious.

Rand returned to the kitchen, finished the plate of cookies with coffee.

On the other hand, when Rogers returned to the room, he received a call.

"You shouldn't have told Rand about that."

said Caroline reproachfully.

Unlike the bright and cheerful woman in Rand's impression, she was stern and cold in front of Rogers.

"I have my own measure." Rogers was in the kitchen, with his head tilted and the phone between his hands, kneading the dough with both hands.The dough exudes the smell of butter, sugar and vanilla, and on the side of the chopping board, molds of fawns and stars are piled up randomly.In the oven behind Rogers, strawberry soufflés are puffing up under the heat.

"Letting him see the dark white marks will make him less vigilant... Believe me, I know how to approach a person better than you." Rogers rolled out the dough and began to pick out the mold after laying it out. He gave up the stars And Xiaolu, the last thing I picked up was a Q version of the skull mold.

"I warn you, you must never let him find out..."

"Hey, calm down baby, it's definitely not me who should really worry about being exposed, I have experience."

"Your previous experience was killing people rather than protecting a person..."

"My previous experience allowed me to break through the protection, get close to the gang leader who had never met outsiders in 30 years, gain his trust and finally kill him. By the way, I finally got all his property, until now 'Viper' Those people are still waiting for me to go back and take over the position of leader," Rogers placed the skull-shaped biscuit embryos on a baking tray lined with oiled paper.During this process, he also took the time to go to the mirror and touch up his makeup a little. "Caroline, I'll take care of your little one for you, don't worry."

……

After a while, Caroline put down the phone silently.

She looked at the notebook in her hand, sorted out the information that Rogers provided her and made it into a table: Rand's actions in the room, Rand's falling asleep, Rand's waking up...Of course, they were not in Rand's room. Vincent had promised Rand that a monitor would be installed in Rand's room.But Vincent still thought of another way. He let another person, the world's top killer "Spider", live next door to Rand.And "Spider" can provide information to Vincent through the observation of Rand (the sound in the room, the usual contact), and he is very good at this.

Rogers is a pseudonym provided by "Spider".Vincent and Caroline both know this, "Spider" just finished a big case recently, as he said, killed the leader of "Venom", a criminal gang that almost occupied the entire North American drug market .He wants to take a vacation and earn a little "pocket money"

No matter from any point of view, "Spider" is a dangerous person, but Caroline has no other choice. After all, this is a special period.

Thinking of this, she sighed helplessly.

When she opened the pressed powder and powdered it, she saw two fine wrinkles at the corners of her mouth - these were all formed in the past two days.

Caroline's mood became worse. She stood up, picked up the memo and walked into Vincent's office, and put the things in front of Vincent.

"Everything is fine, Vincent."

she says.

"You don't look happy." Vincent's chair turned from behind the huge steel desk, and he looked at Caroline with blood red eyes, pale like a living zombie crawling out of a coffin.

Caroline held out her hands to him.

"Honestly, I think I'm in a complicated mood right now," she said, sitting in front of Vincent. "At least you have found a way to adjust your desire to control Rand. No monitor? God, it's a terrible improvement, I can hardly believe you can actually do this."

Vincent raised the corner of his mouth, and he spread out the memo, eagerly watching Rand's every move recorded on it.

Caroline rubbed the space between her brows, and continued to speak wearily.

"But, 'Spider'?"

"I swear to Rand, there is no surveillance, no tracking... I can only send someone to watch him from a distance and protect him. And 'Spider' is the best candidate."

Vinson said.

"But he is a killer, a wanton killer!"

Caroline involuntarily increased her voice.

"He has a miniature bomb installed in his prosthesis." Vincent raised his eyes and looked at Caroline. "As long as I want, I can kill him at any time, and he will learn to obey."

Caroline sat back in the chair as if all her strength had been taken away, and she felt that the wrinkles on her face had become more than before.

"I really think it's impossible to get you back on track. When will you become more normal?" Caroline was filled with frustration.

This is not the first time she has come into contact with Wen Sen's dark side, and even often, she herself is an accomplice.However, she still couldn't help wanting to bring Vincent back to normal—she still remembered how pleasant Vincent was when Rand was still alive.

And now, everything is a mess.

At the very least, Rand should be kept away from these damn things...

The idea flashed through Caroline's mind, and it was like a seed that gradually began to sprout, take root, and become firm.