QWAPMP Chapter 79

Chapter 79: The Merman Comes Ashore

This record of the jiao-ren was much more detailed than the books Song Qiuyi had read about merfolk before. It stated that the sound of the jiao-ren could bewitch people, their crying tears could turn into pearls, and the oil from their bodies could be used to create eternal lamps that would not extinguish for a thousand years.

When Song Qiuyi read this, his heart suddenly felt heavy. Regardless of whether these things were true or false, he couldn’t even imagine the possibility of that last point.

In the past, he had greatly hoped to find books about merfolk, and after finding one that seemed somewhat reliable, Song Qiuyi felt for the first time that such books should not exist.

Song Qiuyi tore the book into pieces, then lit a fire, burned the book to ashes, and poured them down the toilet drain.

Meanwhile, Yan Ye, who should have been sleeping as usual, was woken by footsteps outside his door. A few seconds later, the laboratory door opened, and Tan Fei appeared in the doorway, looking furtive as if afraid of being discovered.

Yan Ye understood that his target was probably himself. His peripheral vision scanned the laboratory and settled on an alarm.

Tan Fei looked at the merman before him, recalling what had happened during the day, a look of extreme arrogance on his face. He lowered his voice and said, “Something that refuses a toast will have to drink a forfeit. Now that Song Qiuyi isn’t here, let’s see who can stop me.”

This drug would best be able to cripple this tail as well.

For the first time, Yan Ye had the strange feeling of a tiger being bullied by dogs. Although he couldn’t smash the glass immediately, he was capable of making a big enough commotion to trigger the alarm.

Before Tan Fei could even approach the water tank, Yan Ye’s thick tail had already viciously smashed against the tank, causing the water to slosh violently.

Tan Fei was startled by his sudden frenzied behavior. “What are you doing? Stop it!”

He rushed forward, but was immediately scared into retreating by the sound of the glass vibrating.

After smashing twice more, red light appeared in the dim laboratory, and the alarm started ringing incessantly.

Song Qiuyi was awakened by the sound. He hurriedly put on a jacket, didn’t even have time to grab his glasses, and rushed barefoot to Laboratory 52. Security personnel arrived shortly after.

As soon as the security personnel finished asking “Who’s there?”, the lights came on brightly. Seeing that the person in the laboratory was Tan Fei, they lowered their weapons.

Song Qiuyi was still barefoot on the floor, showing how rushed he was to get here.

His gaze was cold as he stared at Tan Fei, his voice even colder. “Professor Tan, shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”

What was he doing coming to the laboratory in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Song Qiuyi walked to the glass of the water tank with his mind full of questions. Seeing that the jiao-ren inside was unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He placed his palm on the glass. Great, he’s okay!

Yan Ye saw the unease in his eyes and swam over, also placing his palm on the glass, his gaze rarely showing tenderness.

Seeing their interaction, Tan Fei’s eyes turned malicious, his fingers behind him clenched tightly. He wished he had just administered the drug as soon as he entered, leaving this merman no chance to cause such a big commotion.

Tan Fei was still regretting his slow action when Song Qiuyi strode towards him, grabbed his collar, and said, “Professor Tan, where is your explanation? Or should I report directly to the superiors that you were here in the middle of the night trying to kill it?”

Tan Fei’s face turned red and his neck thickened. “Professor Song, you need evidence for your words. I just came to check on it. How did that turn into murder for you?”

“If you just wanted to check on it, why would it get scared and smash the water tank? Give me a reasonable explanation!” Song Qiuyi tightened his grip, wishing he could smash this person against the glass wall too.

Tan Fei raised his hand to try and pry open Song Qiuyi’s hand, but he couldn’t. “Let go of me first. What does it have to do with me if he suddenly goes crazy and smashes the water tank? He also suddenly went crazy and hit me last time!”

Song Qiuyi sneered, “If you didn’t harm him, would he hit you?”

Tan Fei was immediately stumped by his question. Song Qiuyi’s gaze lowered, and he noticed something was wrong with his other hand, as if he was holding something. “What are you holding in your hand?”

Tan Fei’s eyes started darting around. “What does that have to do with you? Let go of me first.”

Song Qiuyi saw a flash of black, and his expression became serious. He released Tan Fei’s collar, acted quickly, seized Tan Fei’s arm, and pressed down. With a crisp snap, Tan Fei let out a cry of pain, and the thing in his hand dropped to the ground.

Seeing the black liquid, Song Qiuyi’s eyes became incredibly cold. He released Tan Fei’s arm, bent down and picked up the object. “Wasn’t this thing already destroyed? Who gave it to you? And who told you to administer this drug to it?”

The situation at this moment clearly felt wrong. Yan Ye could see through the glass that Song Qiuyi’s face was becoming increasingly angry because of the appearance of this drug.

The security personnel looked at the two confronting professors, not quite understanding their conversation, and unwilling to offend either of them, they said awkwardly, “Professors, if there’s nothing else, we’ll go outside and stand guard.”

Song Qiuyi said, “Okay, you can go out.”

Tan Fei looked at the drug held in Song Qiuyi’s hand and said with a forced smile, “I don’t know what Professor Song is talking about.”

“Are you genuinely not understanding, or do I need to report this matter upwards for you to understand?” Song Qiuyi said coldly.

Tan Fei straightened the collar that Song Qiuyi had wrinkled, his fingertips trembling slightly. “What do you want?”

The person who developed this drug was not from the laboratory where Tan Fei previously worked, so it was impossible for him to have this. Who could have this? And who gave this to Tan Fei?

Song Qiuyi pondered for two seconds. “Who gave you this drug? As far as I know, this drug was destroyed a long time ago. You’re not even from the laboratory that developed this drug, so it’s even more impossible for you to have it.”

Seeing that his plan for the night had failed, Tan Fei lowered his head, his voice mocking. “The drug was given to me by your teacher.”

Song Qiuyi blurted out a rebuttal, “Impossible, teacher has been missing for ten years.”

Tan Fei saw the disbelief in his eyes and sneered. “Haha, your teacher is just missing, not dead. Have you forgotten? The person in this world as obsessed with merfolk as you is your teacher? He knew you captured a merman, so he couldn’t wait to study the merman himself. That’s why he gave me the drug and told me to administer it to the merman, so he could possibly obtain the merman’s blood and every cell from its body.”

Song Qiuyi was stunned in place by what he said, his eyes blank, and he looked back helplessly at the merman in the glass water tank behind him.

Teacher was indeed as obsessed with merfolk as he was, and the drug was developed ten years ago. At that time, teacher’s status in the research institute was not low, and it would have been easy to obtain a black drug.

It was just that teacher had been missing for ten years, and now suddenly appeared in Tan Fei’s words. Song Qiuyi didn’t know whether to believe it or not.

Tan Fei added, “Your teacher said that if I helped him get this merman, he would let me become his student. As for you, he will publicly declare that you have improper conduct and are no longer qualified to be his student!”

“I don’t believe it, teacher is not like that.” Song Qiuyi pursed his lips. “I will report everything that happened tonight to the superiors.”

“No, Song Qiuyi, you can’t do that.” Tan Fei said in a panic, not expecting that even bringing up his teacher wouldn’t make Song Qiuyi show any consideration.