Mermaid Effect

"I screwed up everything, didn't I?"

When Bennett was about to leave this overly decorated office, he heard a faint voice from Rand.

When he turned his head, he could just see the pale face of the black-haired man. He was sitting on an ergonomic chair that was built according to his physical characteristics at every angle. In front of him was a thick stack of documents, which were for Past issues and copies of selected manuscripts for Rand's "familiarity with the style." Of course, Bennett knew that those things were useless at all, and the real work was with him.He made a very good salary just to keep Rand Sievers comfortably in his office and not have to think about anything, not have to worry about anything.But it's clear that Rand himself isn't the type to enjoy that.

Bennett hesitated for a moment.

In theory, he could easily shrug his shoulders at this point, and then tell Rand in a gracious manner that there is nothing wrong (he believes he will persuade Rand, he is always good at convincing others).However, for some reason, at this moment, he didn't want to fool Rand in the same way as before.

"Uh, actually...it's kind of bad."

Before Bennett knew it, he heard himself say that directly to Rand.Rand turned paler than before, and he looked like a real white marble statue now.

Bennett walked towards Rand involuntarily, leaned against his desk, and stared at him.

"But it's going to be okay, everyone's 'first time' is bad."

He comforted him, feeling bad in his heart because of his slightly vulgar joke.

He should have made a better impression on Rand Sievers, he thought.

But Rand didn't seem to notice that. He lowered his eyes, as if he was thinking about something. After a while, he suddenly raised his head and looked straight at Bennett.

"It's my first day at work and it sucks," he said, standing up and grabbing his bag, "but I guess I'll probably make it a little bit worse... Sorry, Bennett, I have some errands to do today and I need to take time off."

After finishing speaking, he pushed open the door of the office in front of the stunned Bennett, and ran towards the outside under the shocked eyes of everyone.

"Mr. Rand Sievers, you—"

He vaguely heard someone shouting to him behind him, but he didn't realize it.

In the elevator, he pulled off the tie around his neck to let himself breathe more freely, then he took out his mobile phone and dialed Caroline for the umpteenth time.

Today, after Vincent's phone was hung up, he tried to contact Caroline, but he found that he couldn't reach her, which made Rand so restless that he ruined the phone that was actually at home. Secretly preparing for Inauguration Day for a long time.Rand should have felt extremely depressed, but at this moment he found that he didn't pay any attention to all of this, and all his mind seemed to fly to far away Washington, to Vincent's side.

Oh, this is really ironic.

Even Rand himself was a little shocked.He has always felt that he has something for Vincent...how should I describe it?Some kind of unnatural resistance.It was so difficult for him to accept Vincent's desire to control, and he couldn't figure out what was going on in his head. As long as he came into contact with Vincent, Rand would feel a sense of pressure that seemed to be suffocating.

But when something is really wrong with Vincent...

Rand suddenly realized that he cared more about that person than he thought.

Even without any memory, that person was always his elder brother—the only relative he had left in this world.

"Drip-drip-drip-"

The busy tone from the microphone made Rand feel unspeakably anxious.

"Damn it, Caroline... answer the phone..."

He didn't even pay attention to the strange eyes cast on him by the people around him, and whispered anxiously on the phone.

Well, if no one really paid attention to him, he would just buy a plane ticket and fly to Washington—Rand made a decision in this stomach-twitching agitation.

The elevator doors opened in front of him.

At the same time, a woman's hoarse voice finally appeared on the phone that seemed to never get through.

"Hi, Rand."

Caroline's "happy" greeting came over.

"Caroline!"

Rand let out a long sigh of relief, and he walked towards the exit of the building among a group of urban white-collar workers who were also in suits and leather shoes.

He was completely immersed in the conversation, and he naturally didn't notice a courier who passed him by.He almost ran into the man, but finally he walked away in a panic without even saying "sorry".

The person he bumped into remained silent. It was a man with his head bowed, wrapped in blue and orange overalls, holding a huge cardboard box in his hands. He looked ordinary, but the sideburns under the brim of the hat Completely wet with sweat.

His gaze was fixed on the cardboard box in his hand, and he didn't even bother to look up at Rand who bumped into his shoulder.

His breathing was faster than anyone else, and only he knew that his palms holding the cardboard box were covered with cold sweat.

The recipient of this shipment is written on the top of the carton.

Rand Sievers, Deputy Editor, National Express

Beneath the print there is a string of handwritten words - please be sure to sign in person.

The courier who was walking towards the elevator and Rand who was rushing to the outside of the building with the phone in his hand, on this somewhat busy weekday morning, there was a momentary stagger, and then quickly rushed in two completely different directions. go.

……

Well, let us turn our attention to Rand Sievers again.

He had always been a good-natured middle-aged man, but at this moment, facing Caroline, who had a good relationship with him, he was anxious and... so rude.

He even stood directly on the steps by the side of the road, arguing loudly with the person on the other end of the phone.

"...I'm worried, Caroline, Vincent never called me at that point and then hung up and his phone didn't even turn on after that, what happened?"

"Calm down, Rand, I've told you countless times, you don't understand what I have to say, we just quarreled, and he dialed the wrong number in anger... Now his physical condition is not very good Optimistic - just like before. I can't get him to talk to you because he's still in ICU..."

Caroline's voice was very hoarse, and for some reason, her voice was very weak, and sometimes Rand could barely hear what she was saying.

"ICU? Caroline, just in the last sentence you said you had a fight with Vincent so he doesn't even have the energy to talk to me now? It's confusing!"

Rand couldn't care about anything else, he raised his voice and said to Caroline.

He was terrified of Caroline's incoherent explanations, and a strong sense of uneasiness, like something burning in his hair, made him restless and confused.

He began to worry that Caroline was hiding something... For example, something bad happened to Vincent, and in order to make him not worry, he asked Caroline to block the news.

The idea was indeed absurd, but Rand couldn't help himself not to think about it at all. After all, something was really wrong.

"..."

Sure enough, after Rand pointed out the contradiction in her words, Caroline suddenly fell silent.

"Me, I'll buy the nearest flight to Washington, I feel like I need to see Vincent, and if he's all right I'll be back…"

Rand said into the phone, he held up his hand, waited for a taxi and got in.

However, it was also at this moment that Caroline suddenly spoke to Rand in an unusually weird tone.

"However, what can you do when you come here? As a useless waste, a troublemaker who will always need Vincent to help you wipe his ass, even if Vincent is really in trouble, how can you help him? Woolen cloth?"

……

Rand didn't even react at first.

God, what the hell was Caroline talking about... Rand understood every word she said, but he found himself completely unable to understand the meaning of her words.

waste?

trouble?

Would such words really come from Caroline's mouth?

Rand even thought it was some kind of unfriendly joke or something else, the person speaking on the phone was so different from the Caroline he was familiar with.

Her voice was indifferent and full of resentment, and that strong negative emotion could turn into poisonous gas that overflowed from the microphone from a long distance and reached Rand's ears.

It's not Caroline... although it has Caroline's voice.

"Hmm, sorry, Caroline, I don't understand—"

"Enough, Rand, I'm tired." Caroline let out a strange laugh, "I really can't take it anymore, I can't bear all this, of course you can if you want, Rand Sievers , anyway, even if you come here, it’s just causing trouble for Vincent, you can’t help him with anything, why don’t you just want to admit it.”

"Caroline? You—"

"Drip...drip...drip..."

Before Rand could speak, the monotonous electronic busy tone remained on the phone.

Caroline hung up the phone directly.

It feels like suddenly someone poured a bucket of cold water on you.

Rand thought.

Holding his mobile phone, he sat blankly in the carriage, unable to digest everything that happened before. Caroline's change was so sudden that he really didn't know how to understand what she just said.

"Hey, I said, man, what the hell are you doing here? Where the hell are you going?"

The taxi driver stared at the pale Rand in disgust. He stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers, and said to him with his plump lips trembling.

His voice made Rand seem to wake up suddenly from a nightmare. He raised his head in a daze and stared at the driver's dark face.

"I, I'm going to..."

Where should he go?

Rand found that his mind suddenly went blank. His original plan was to go directly to the airport, but——

"Rand Sievers, anyway, even if you came here, it's just causing trouble for Vincent"

Caroline's words echoed in his mind like a ghost, echoing again and again.

He rubbed his temples vigorously, then stroked his face to cheer himself up.

"I am going to the airport--"

……

"Boom—"

A huge roar directly obliterated his words.

The extremely harsh light, the heat, and the accompanying debris that hit the roof of the car like a hailstorm made the whole world vibrate in an instant.

Rand's head hit the seat in front of him, as if someone had punched him, his head instantly became chaotic.Time seems to have passed by a second... It seems that ten years have passed, the huge sound left a buzzing echo in his ears, accompanied by the screams and screams of some people who seemed to come from very far away. howling.When Rand finally supported his head and struggled to do it, a lot of blood flowed from his head.

The car glass on his right was smashed by something, and the spider web-like cracks turned the clear and transparent glass into white.Rand pushed open the car door with difficulty, and then staggered out.

He saw many people.

Lots of people, dusty and bloody on their heads and arms, from flying sand, broken glass, or other construction debris.They supported each other and looked behind Rand in horror.

Rand also turned his head, and then his eyes widened for a moment.

The first floor of the American Dispatch's iconic sapphire-blue fiberglass-clad building, where Rand had spent the morning and had a nightmarish start-up, was now engulfed in flames.

That's the floor where his office is.

And in the little apartment on Pine Street that belonged to Rand.

A certain monster, hugging its knees in the bathtub and glaring angrily at the video, suddenly trembled its tentacles on its head.

"Whoa-"

Accompanied by the loud sound of water, it jumped out of the bathtub suddenly, and then slammed into the glass door of the balcony.

"Hey - hey -"

Its paws rested on the railing, and it stretched out its head in a certain direction.

"Rand, Rand."

it shouted.

And in the direction it was staring at, an ominous column of black smoke was billowing towards the sky.

Munster's nose fluttered slightly. Although it had been diluted to a very thin level by the air and wind, it still smelled that bad smell.

The smell of burning.

"Rand..."

An anxious voice suddenly rolled out of its throat.

After a very brief hesitation (Rand once strictly prohibited it from appearing on the balcony during the day, after all, he did not want it to be exposed to the crowd at all), Munster stuck to the outside of the apartment wall with unimaginable agility, Slide towards the outside.