Mermaid Feeding Rules

"...my hands are covered with blood, and when I die, I will go to hell."

"I'm guilty, but I think..."

The last sentence on the letter was scratched out by the author with a pen. Boyce looked at the unfinished sentence on the paper. What did Blake want to say?

"I think...she's alive?" Boyce tried to complete this sentence, but the added content was a bit strange. He always felt that this sentence should have nothing to do with S-5.

Boyce refolded the letter, hesitated for a moment, put the letter in Zoe's notebook, and put it under the pillow.

Boyce did not open it, but dug out Blake's notebook from previous materials.

Before Black, the breeder of s-5 was Kane Cotter, who had a friendly attitude towards mermaids, and was called the "fish-loving group" at the time. He and s-5 lived together peacefully for half a year, but in the description s- 5 was just non-aggressive during that time, ignoring Kane who was trying to get close to him.

Until half a year later, Kane was dragged into the water by the S-5 several times. The last time Kane said: "She was very anxious, and I even felt her killing intent."

Kane had been the core staff of the institute at that time, and the person in charge stopped his work as a breeder and handed it over to Blake, who was a junior at the time.

In Black's records, this senior was occasionally mentioned in the early stage. From the occasional leaked words, it can be inferred that he participated in several major experiments of the institute.

However, Boyce knew very little information about him, and the last information remained on a sentence decades ago, "Kane Cotter intends to steal an important experimental subject, and he will be expelled."

An important experimental subject... what is it?

There is also a brief mention in Black's record that after the Kane incident, he commented on it as "senseless and inexplicable behavior", but was vague about the specific incident.

Boyce also found that Blake, who was treated preferentially by s-5, was not a "fish lover". On the contrary, his attitude towards mermaids was even disgusting at the beginning of the recording.

"...I pulled out a scale today to test the difference in medicinal effect between the fresh scale and the naturally shed scale. The fish tail was bleeding because the scale was pulled out, and it was collected and placed in the refrigerator in room XC. The wound was not treated, and it will be observed and healed the next day. Condition……"

"...I checked my mouth today, and the s-5 is a bit uncooperative, with a total of 32 teeth...The vocal cords are similar to humans..."

"...s-5 attacked other researchers, I shouldn't think it has been domesticated, but, just like humans used to domesticate livestock, I believe humans will be able to tame it one day..."

"...The reason why s-5 is friendly to me? It's probably the same as the stray cats that bump into humans on the road, right?"

"...The first time I heard it make a sound, it kept repeating the word Sofia. No one in the research institute mentioned this word. The possibility of imitation is ruled out. Maybe it is the cry of their race?"

"..."

Boyce turned many pages, in the first few years of taking the breeder's job, his attitude to the s-5 though improved slightly because of its appearance - which he described many times in his records, and It's a pity that this face grows on the body of a half-man, half-fish monster.

"...Senior Kane said that it has its own thoughts and feelings, maybe it is an unrealistic guess made after staying with it for a long time? However, the researchers who are busy extracting medicine from it don't have time to pay attention to these... "

Kane was the first to suggest that mermaids had minds and feelings of their own, but Black dismissed such speculation.

So, what happened later that changed his perspective?

Boyce was very curious about the reason. Blake’s young records were very long, mixed with many things that happened in the research institute. Boyce didn’t see the part where Kane left the laboratory until early in the morning.

Thinking about the next day's work, Boyce put a bookmark, closed the record, and lay down to rest.

"Sofia—" Boyce thought of this word, feeling a little puzzled.

The word is their call?

But Beuys thinks it's impossible. S-5, which is hostile to human beings, has something to do with this word for the reason why it treats Black, who hates him, specially?

In a sense, Beuys felt that the s-37 could barely be regarded as special treatment for him.

During this time, Boyce heard a lot of rumors about s-37 intimidating or attacking the breeders. Every breeder of S-37 has experienced it, except Boyce.

However, Boyce has only been with it for a week, and looks at it across the fish tank more often. It is not clear whether its behavior is the same as that of the s-5 decades ago or it is just a play waiting for him to relax alert.

In any case, it is always right to take protective measures well... Boyce walked towards the warehouse with the protective suit that he found from Group C, which was said to be barely able to cope with the bite force of sharks.

S-37 did not touch the fish that Boyce threw in the water tank yesterday.

The fish that hadn't been picked up before had begun to rot. Boyce hesitated and threw the picked fish back into the bucket.

Other experimental subjects would eat a lot after being injured, but this one was different.

Boyce is not sure whether s-37 stopped eating because the wound affected his appetite or he did not eat carrion, but if it is the former, the sea water in the fish tank is changed every seven days, and more and more meat in it will only pollute the water quality and make the wound worse .

Caring for the health of the experimental product is also one of the responsibilities of the breeder... Boyce convinced himself that it had a human face...

Hanging the fish on the hook borrowed earlier, Boyce stepped back to the edge of the lift.

s-37 is just the serial number given by the research institute. Boyce didn't know what to call it. After hesitating for a moment, he tentatively changed it to "Sofia". No matter what meaning it contains, it should come out after hearing it.

Boyce stared intently at the water surface, and when the blue color appeared, his other hand held the anesthesia needle tightly, aiming at its moving track.

It wasn't interested in the fish, so it circled around the piece of fish without moving it. Boyce looked at it, and the wound on its tail was covered with a layer of transparent mucus, and the wound looked better than yesterday Many of them had no infection and had started to heal, but the scales on the tail had begun to fall off, and a small piece of the tip of the tail had become bald, and the scales on other parts were dull and showed signs of falling off.

The injury should not cause the scales to fall off, and it has entered adulthood, so it is reasonable to say that there should be no large-scale descaling.

Boyce looked back and found the suspected culprit—the antibiotics it had been given that night.

No one had injected antibiotics into mermaids, and different mermaids have different physiques. Boyce hadn't considered the problem of allergies before the injection.

Although Boyce was also very surprised, apart from allergies, Boyce could not find other reasons for the time being.

Boyce looked away from its tail and down to the top of its head, the tail is bald, will the hair be affected too?

It didn't know what Boyce was thinking, so it swam up for a circle and then swam inside.

Boyce thought it was gone and was about to withdraw the hook when he saw it swim up pushing some pieces of fish, pushed them to the hook and turned to swim back.

Boyce waited for it to turn around and take back the fish on the hook, and then continued to salvage the fish it pushed over.

Boyce brought back a piece of fish and the hook was out for the next piece, and it pushed some more.Boyce was worried about its sudden attack, and was about to wait for a while. It walked away before continuing, but unexpectedly it stopped by the hook.

Boyce stared at it, poking it with the hook in his hand whenever it came.

But it obediently kept its distance, and after pausing for a moment beside the hook, it picked out the largest and best piece of fish from the pile of fish meat around it and hung it on the hook.

It sees it!When I was fishing for fish yesterday, it was watching quietly underwater...

Boyce's pupils widened, and a chill appeared in his heart.

The s-37 in the water could vaguely feel the fear surrounding Boyce, flicking its tail a little irritably, and a few scales fell into the water with its movements.

Its eyes lit up, and it rolled a few nicer scales from its tail, dived to a position where Boyce couldn't see it, and then quietly swam towards the lifting platform.

Boyce stared at the water, still uneasy that it was gone, the anesthesia aimed at the fish tank.

A blue head suddenly appeared in front of him, Boyce shook his hand in fright, and the anesthesia needle was fired towards it.

It turned sideways subconsciously, and the anesthetic needle fell into the water.

Boyce raised his heart, touched the iron rod in his hand and threw it at the two hands on the lifting platform.

"#&*!"

Its right arm was immediately bruised and slightly swollen.

Boyce threw the hook aside, took the stick with both hands, and hit it again whenever it came.

S-37 opened its right hand, and a few dark blue scales fell on the lifting platform. Everyone in the research institute wanted its scales, and it thought Boyce would like them too.After putting down the scales, it glanced at Boyce, turned around and jumped down, and Boyce felt that it looked a little pitiful.

Boyce waited for a while, seeing that it hadn't appeared yet, he retracted the hook, hesitated, picked up the scale and put it in his pocket.

As for the fish on the water, wait until the next time you bring an anesthesia needle.

-

It was almost ten o'clock when Boyce walked into the laboratory of Group D.

Matthew leaned over: "Boyce, you are a bit late."

"Because of it?"

"Yes," Boyce thought of the wasted anesthesia needles, "do you still have the anesthesia?"

"I remember Ivy applied for two for you?" Matthew was a little surprised, "Have you used up all of them?"

Boyce shook his head: "I was taken aback by it during the feeding this morning, and an anesthetic needle wasted." Anyway, no one watched the surveillance in the breeding room, and no one knew that Boyce changed it quietly.

"Didn't get it?"

"No."

"Then you have to practice hard."

The two were talking together when they saw Cyril walking over.

Matthew immediately put away the smile on his face, and stood up straight: "Teacher, I just chatted with Boyce for a while!"

Cyril knew what kind of virtue his student was, and after glaring at him, he told him to go to the experiment.

"Professor Cyril." Boyce called out respectfully, a little curious as to why he called him over.

Cyril looked at him carefully, with a satisfied smile on his face.

Cyril and Chris's doctoral supervisor are the same person, and they have a good relationship. He has heard Chris mention his students before, and this group d experiment was originally just to let Boyce know, but unexpectedly he gave Surprised myself.

Cyril said bluntly: "I am very interested in the ideas you mentioned in the experimental results, and I wonder if you would like to join my laboratory."