Mermaid Feeding Rules

Boyce clenched his palm tightly, leaving several months of tooth-shaped depressions in his palm, and the faint smell of blood spread out.

"No... can't..." The pain brought a flash of soberness to Boyce's eyes. He didn't mind dedicating himself to research, but it didn't mean he didn't want to live.

Through a piece of glass, the mermaid was still looking at Boyce, a drop of blood slipped down her fingertip.

"Tick-tock-"

The ears of the mermaid in the fish tank seemed to move, and it looked away first, and it fell on the blood on the ground. Then, it glanced at Boyce, turned and dived into the bottom of the water.

"call--"

Boyce breathed a sigh of relief, and fell to the ground directly, with unshakable fear in his eyes.

"Really..."

After a few minutes, he rubbed his limp legs, sat on the chair and continued to read his notes.

"It's still half an hour away..."

Fortunately, it didn't reappear after that. Boyce looked at the fish tank from time to time while reading his notes, but he didn't find that touch of blue.

When the two hours were up, Boyce packed his things and left exhausted.

A moment before the door closed, the mermaid who was lying on the glass below the ground floated up, with his face pressed against the cold glass, staring at the closed door.

He said softly, "Sofia—"

"Got you--"

The harsh sound of fingernails scratching on the glass made the mermaid frowned.

he is afraid of...

Are you afraid of me?

The mermaid tilted her head, so she pretended to be more docile and harmless in front of him...

-

"s-37..."

Boyce rummaged through the notes and found a record of it.

"According to nearly a hundred years of records, mermaids don't have a particular preference for human flesh, but they don't reject it."

"Other merfolk we've caught will target a person until they're killed, and even use their carcass as food."

"But the S-37 is different. It is hostile to everyone around it, but it only inflicts some non-fatal wounds on them."

……

Before Boyce went to bring it lunch, Ivy came over with a pair of small things.

It's a pair of earplugs.

Boyce was puzzled.

"I heard that it can isolate its sound to a certain extent. I haven't tried the one made by Group C."

Boyce took the earplugs: "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ivy smiled helplessly, "Professor Chris is not here, I should have taken care of you...that's all I can do."

"Is there an anesthesia needle?"

"Yes, why didn't I expect..." Ivy patted his forehead, "I'll get you a self-defense, the most effective anesthetic for s-37 is..."

Boyce took up his words: "Tc3v9, 70.00% pentaconcentration, 5ml."

"Yes, it's this one, one can make it fall."

Ai Wei reminded: "Don't use it unless necessary. Mermaids can easily develop resistance to drugs. If you use it, remember to report it later."

so strict?Boyce was a little surprised.

"All mermaid anesthesia must be recorded...Once the anesthesia fails, we will be the first to die."

Ai Wei's face was tense when he talked about this matter. Once the anesthesia was out of control, with the force of the mermaid, these people in the institute could only be slaughtered.

But before that happens, live mermaids are more important than these people.

Boyce's anesthesia needles could only be approved due to the particularity of the s-37, but there were only two of them, which were used to save his life, and he could only resign himself to fate when they ran out.

-

Boyce entered the breeding room almost fully armed.

It didn't show up when Boyce threw the fish into the aquarium, and Boyce was relieved, a little thankful and a little disappointed.

After putting on the earplugs, most of the fear in Boyce's heart disappeared. After all, the top of the fish tank was sealed, and it was impossible for him to break the glass and escape from it.

After the earplugs cut off the sound, it is still relatively safe through the glass. Boyce stared at the water and subconsciously held his breath. Now he can only hope that the experimental products in group C will be useful.

I didn't see it eating in the morning, and Boyce didn't want to miss it in the afternoon. After waiting for a while, I saw it swimming up from the bottom of the water.

The blue fish tail swings, light and smooth, cutting through the water.

It grabbed a piece of fish and tore it lightly, and the piece of meat was cut in half.

The laboratory prepares hundreds of catties of fish each time, but it quickly cleans them up.

Boyce stared at it intently, and wrote a few words in the notebook.

Until it ate the last piece of meat, it looked straight at Boyce.

Are you about to start?

Boyce was a little nervous, and touched the earplugs with his right hand to make sure they were still on his ears.

"Bang—bang—" Boyce felt his heart beating faster and faster. He swallowed, but still kept his eyes on it.

It opened its lips again, saying something.

Boyce only knew it was talking, but his ears were quiet, and the urge to approach him in the morning was gone.

Boyce heaved a sigh of relief, and the sweaty hands clenched into fists were slightly loosened. Those in group C are more reliable.

It barked a few more times, but seeing Boyce didn't respond, it glanced at him before turning away.

At night, probably knowing that Boyce could not hear, this time it did not do anything else after eating dinner, and dived directly into the depths.

The next day, it didn't appear when feeding, probably because it couldn't grasp the time accurately.

After eating, it lingered for a while, but did not speak.

Boyce could occasionally see it suddenly appear in front of this glass, and then slap its tail and swim away.

Due to the presence of the earplugs and the fact that it was never present when Boyce was feeding, a couple of days passed without incident with one man and one fish.

Boyce had already read Zoe's notes, but he always felt that Zoe hid some of them and didn't write them down.

There is indeed a part that is biased towards mermaids in his records, but Boyce inexplicably feels that his records of the behavior of mermaids in his later records are similar to the previous ones, and guesses that he has hidden part of the content.

It's quite normal when you think about it. After all, he has a different feeling for it. To some extent, the observation diary may be regarded as a special love diary by him. Naturally, he won't write too much. He thinks he should write it if he doesn't run away. s things.

It was inside again beating the glass.

Maybe that's what Zoe taught it.

After a week of feeding, Boyce's fear of it has disappeared by [-]% or [-]%, of course, under the condition that it cannot escape from the fish tank.

Boyce took notes over the course of the week, including his food preferences—as if no one had considered them before.

In the past week, except for the first morning when it gave Boyce a big scare, its appearance in the next few days has been a gradual process.

In the afternoon and evening of the first day, Beyce didn't see it except when it was eating. On the second day, when Beyce was reading notes, it occasionally crossed the glass that appeared in the breeding room, like letting Boyce Yis can adjust his mentality.

Until now, he was able to read a book opposite it without changing his expression, turning a blind eye to its knocking on the glass.

Boyce even had the illusion that it was giving itself time to get used to it, but...how could it be.

"Sofia—"

It touched its ears with its hands, signaling Boyce to take off the earplugs.

It was impossible that Boyce could have guessed its purpose.

As long as he takes off the earplugs, there is a high possibility that he will be controlled by its voice, and it is uncertain what will happen then.

Putting down the notebook that had been turned over and over several times, Boyce approached the glass for the first time when it appeared.

He walked over to get very close to the glass, and found that his height was the same as the height where it exposed the glass.

Boyce's exhaled air landed on the glass, forming a layer of white water mist, covering its face. He reached out to wipe away the blur and then put his hand on the glass, printing two handprints.

Boyce looked at it so seriously for the first time. They were far away when they first saw it, and all his energy was concentrated on looking at it.

It moved its body, adjusted its posture, face to face, and its hands were pressed against Boyce through the glass, like the inside and outside of a mirror.

"Sofia——" it spoke again, looking at Boyce, and Boyce actually saw a trace of expectation in its eyes, as if it was waiting for his response.

Boyce looked away and landed on its tongue. Unlike humans, its tongue is thin and red, but it is very tough. Today's fish meat has a lot of spines and is extremely hard. It seems to like it very much. Boyce was a little worried that it would be scratched by the fishbone, but later found that the fishbone could not cut its skin at all...

Standing face to face with it for a while, Boyce looked away, took out the record book again and wrote a few words.

After finishing writing, Boyce looked at the time on his wrist, and it was two hours.

Seeing that it hadn't done anything to itself, Boyce knocked on the glass, and it quickly responded by knocking twice on the glass.

Even though he knew it didn't understand, Boyce said, "I should go." Then he packed his things and went back to rest.

I happened to meet Matthew from Group D in the corridor.

Matthew smiled at Boyce, looking very happy: "What a coincidence, I was going to find you."

"what's up?"

Boyce and Matthew were not familiar with each other, they were just nodding acquaintances. It should not be a personal matter for him to come to find him.

Is it because of it?

"No need to feed s-37 tomorrow."

"Are you going to do an experiment?"

Matthew nodded: "To test it in advance, the food for tomorrow has been arranged."

"You can come and help too."

"Olier only asked me to observe the S-37, so I can go too?" Boyce was a little surprised.

"of course can."

Olier naturally knew the news that Boyce would participate in the experiment, but he didn't stop him. He always had to give some favors to make Boyce stay in the breeding room willingly.

Boyce saw the test site the next day.

The test aid prepared by group d was a six-meter great white shark that had been hungry for several days.

Having dealt with mermaids for decades, the experimenters of the research institute are well aware of the cunning of this creature, especially after a mermaid disguised its strength and injured most of the people in the laboratory.

Before the experiment, they would first evaluate the mermaid's strength.

The experimenters left the laboratory and continued to observe through monitoring.

Boyce's eyes fell on the screen. Overall, the mermaid had the upper hand, but there were also a few more wounds on his body.

After a few minutes, the shark stopped fighting and went stiff.

It didn't let it go, but sent it after destroying the shark's brain with its claws. Boyce's eyes fell on its nails, and he subconsciously looked away.

Outside the monitoring, a mermaid model has been constructed on the electronic screen in the laboratory, and the parameters are improved according to the captured data.

Matthew pressed the last command, and the mermaid's data was displayed on the screen.

"Data is controllable."

Cyril glanced at the data, with a complex look on his face: "It's very healthy."

Before Boyce could figure out what he meant, he heard him say, "Let's get started."

The water level in the fish tank dropped quickly, and after an hour, the whole picture was revealed under the light.

There are some small algae attached to the glass wall of the fish tank, and there are many fish bones accumulated at the bottom of the fish tank, and the complete skeleton of the shark just put in is on the top.

After the water in the fish tank was drained, it was forced to lie on the bottom of the pool, its blue tail undulating slightly with its breathing, and its fins clinging to its body after losing water.

It seemed to know the location of the surveillance camera, and Boyce almost had the illusion that he was staring at the surveillance camera.

Boyce recalled the words in Zoe's notebook again: "I always feel that he has an IQ no less than that of humans and can understand what we are saying. He just can't speak our language, that's all."

Boyce subconsciously avoided its gaze through the monitor, and his heart tightened, feeling an inexplicable feeling.

On the other side, group d has successfully injected anesthesia needles into its body.

Its body, capable of fighting sharks, became limp and weak. When several researchers approached, it bared its teeth helplessly, and was restrained by black ropes and carried onto a stretcher.

Boyce put on sterile clothes and followed Group D into the laboratory.

The mermaid was firmly bound on the experimental table, and her wrists and tail were handcuffed so that she could not move.

After approaching, Boyce could smell the blood on its body. It also paid a high price to kill the shark. There was a wound several centimeters thick on its chest and tail. Boyce felt its gaze Stopping on himself, lips parted—

Because it is weak now and can't hurt anyone, no one in the lab wears earplugs, and there is no glass to block it. Its voice is no longer intermittent, and Boyce can hear what it is saying clearly for the first time.

"Sofia—"