Mermaid Effect

The fish is still brightly colored.

Rand had an illusion that it seemed to be aware of the arrival of humans. When he came to the side of the salad bowl, the fish turned angrily and shook its tail towards him... Then it gradually calmed down, Returning to the way Rand saw him before—maybe a little different—Rand noticed that its surface color had become a little more vivid, and the neon-like sheen had become more blue-green now. , it no longer looks as dusty as it used to be.

Rand quite rightly attributed all this to a well-healed wound on the fish's tail.Maybe it was originally blue-green, and it was only gray because of the injury.As for the appearance of this fish before the cat's roar, Rand didn't pay much attention to it. He once accidentally ran into a small black fish in the "experience pool" of the aquarium, but the next second The thing swelled into a fist-sized circle, and the surface was not full of disgusting spines... In contrast, this fish just made its tail fin more colorful.

Rand reached out and knocked on the salad bowl habitually, and as expected, he saw the fish turned into that gorgeous appearance again, and the bright red membrane trembled at Rand like a red cloak in a bullring.

Probably all things in the sea are so strange.

Rand thought without any pressure, and he now felt that in terms of appearance, it was not unacceptable for this fish to become his pet.

About half an hour later, Rogers rushed back, and then kindly took Rand to the hospital for an expensive and painful rabies vaccine injection. At the same time, the doctor there helped to treat the wound on Rand's hand again. There was an extra band of gauze on his wrist when he opened the door.

The next thing is to pray that Mrs. Smith's black cat will not show symptoms of rabies within seven days. If so, Rand must return to the hospital for follow-up treatment.

Rand didn't think that would be pleasant—in fact, he had started to have a low-grade fever from the vaccine as soon as he walked out of the hospital.

"Don't worry," Rogers obviously thought that Rand's horrified face was because he was worried about the damned cat, "Juana has always been weird, and Mrs. Smith lost her brother yesterday... Ah, that's the one named Corolla's cat, so it has a particularly irritable personality today."

"Is that cat really lost?"

Rand tried his best to talk to Rogers, even though his head hurt like it was about to split.

Compared with cat scratches, the headaches and low-grade fever caused by vaccines are more unbearable.

It seemed that it was about to rain, and the air became viscous as if it had added gelatin. Rand felt as if he smelled a faint fishy smell.

The stench of sea water, blood and animal decay, but when he sniffed carefully all he could smell was the heavy perfume in Rogers' car.

"...Yes, I forgot to mention that Mrs. Smith's balcony is very close to your kitchen window. Sometimes her cat will sneak out to your kitchen. You'd better close the window in time. I think she probably That's why I found you..."

Rogers said something later, but Rand couldn't help but leaned against the car window and closed his eyes.He slowed down the speed of the car, and stared at Rand sideways: thin face, tired expression, pale lips, by the standards of an adult man, Rand had a kind of innocence that was completely inappropriate for his age when he fell asleep breath.

Rogers couldn't help sticking out his tongue and licking the corner of his mouth, then laughed.

When he returned to the apartment, Rand was still in a deep sleep. Even in the state of a patient with a fever, he had slept too deeply, but Rogers seemed not to care about this at all, and he easily hugged Rand in his arms. into his arms and transported him back to Rand's own room.

He put Rand on the bed, changed him into pajamas with the utmost care, scrubbed his face, and finally covered him with a blanket.

If Rand woke up, he would [-]% be creeped out by the unnaturally happy smile on Rogers' face, and Rogers stood by the bed after finishing everything in an orderly manner and looked at Rand.

"You're still as cute as ever."

He leaned into Rand's ear and said softly.

Rand, who had a calm expression before, frowned visibly after these words. He was trembling unsteadily, as if he had fallen into an extremely terrifying dream.

And after seeing him, Rogers looked even happier.

His eyes shone like a wild beast, and the last person who saw his gaze had become a dry bone under the tombstone.

In the end, though, Rogers did nothing.

He turned around and left Rand's house, went straight downstairs and started his car towards the suburbs.

Everything was going well for Rogers, except he got a call from Caroline on the way—

"Yes, I'm sorry, but it's just a cat! A cat... ok, ok I admit I made a mistake..."

Caroline's attitude towards Rand's injury can only be described as "hysterical". Rogers even started to rejoice that he got Rand home and returned to the car - if he was at home, he would be very worried about Caroline. Roaring on the phone would wake up Rand, who was sleeping with a fever on the other side.

Of course, Rogers would not admit that a large part of Caroline's rant was also related to his current behavior: he left Rand and was driving alone to the suburbs.

"...I've got enough traps all around his room that I swear there won't be any problems...God, do you have to pester me about that cat?"

……

"Well, I admit I'm out of town for a reason, and I'll be back soon to protect our 'princess' Her Highness, and I swear the dragon won't eat him up for such a short time. Seriously, I just can't understand your thoughts, I mean, Rand is just a normal person, why are you acting like he's going to be killed in a second?"

Rogers said to Caroline with a trace of deliberate malice, no accident, the other party was avoiding this topic.After the ultimatum, Caroline hung up the phone.

And Rogers giggled when he heard the busy tone from the microphone. Unlike the bored tone on the phone, he actually had a happy smile on his face from beginning to end.

Humming in a brisk tune, he drove up the trail.Next to a large birch grove, a sign saying "Private property, no entry" is hung on the rusted wire fence. Behind that is a dilapidated house that looks like no one has been in it for many years.

Rogers unlocked the barbed wire fence and drove in—the muddy driveway was hardened by the sun, but tire tracks were still visible—exactly like the one Rogers was driving now.

He parked the car in the garage and opened the trunk.

The smell of blood and decay escaped like a beast, and Mrs. Smith's body twisted and stuffed there unnaturally.

A fly came in and landed on her cracked skull, and her face took on a comical expression, her mouth gaping open, a purple tongue hanging out of her throat.

Rogers raised an eyebrow.

"Shh," he said to her cautiously, "you should be quieter. Oh, by the way, and you should take care of your cat."

He said.