Mermaid Effect 《人鱼效应》 Chinese BL Translation by: 黑猫白袜子

Chapter 10

In the blistering heat of the central city, the pale, huge moon shines upon the roof of Rogers's simple and crude cabin located in the outskirts. There, that man with the strawberry-colored hair hums a song as he takes care of the body parts. The same moon shines upon the apartment on 72nd Pine St., Rand is still fast asleep in his warm bed. In the kitchen, a fish that emits blue fluorescence slowly swims around in a salad bowl that is a little too small for it, the white film at its tail gradually comes off under the gentle flow of the water. In the room separated from Rand's apartment by a wall, Mrs. Smith's door handle turned.

The old woman's apartment exudes a pungent stench, the foul smell of excrement and cat urine makes the teenagers who slipped through the door, treading softly on their tiptoes, unable to restrain themselves from pursuing their brows. One of the teenagers switched on the light after quietly listening for any sounds in the room.

There were three people altogether, the young Mr. Smith, the grandson of Mrs. Smith along with his two companions, the girl named Daisy, and the teenager nicknamed Stone, their shared traits are their faces painted a deathly white, their jet-black lips and nails, and as well as all kinds of metal piercings adorning their skin. "Mr. Smith" looked at the carpet covered with stains under the dim light and disdainfully clicked his tongue.

"Hey, didn't you tell us not wake up that old bag?"

"Stone" muttered at him.

"She's not here," the young Smith licked his lips and lowered his voice, "If she was here, there would have definitely been terrible snoring. I think the care workers probably took her to receive  treatment somewhere, I think today is our lucky day."

"Lucky day? Are you sure that there are any useful things for us in this garbage dump?" Daisy examined her nails and sneered.

"What the fuck did you just say?"

The boy's whole face became twisted and he rushed forward but was blocked by "Stone" (his figure is as strong as his nickname, very buff).

  "Shut up," he issued an order at the two's quarrel, he then tore open the zipper on his backpack and swung the bag on his arm, "We have to hurry up and go take the goods while it's still dark."

After he finished talking, he began to frown as he scanned Mrs. Smith's apartment with his eyes and threw those barely useful things into his backpack— a few tortoiseshell dressing boxes, what looked like antique porcelain dolls, a barely usable candleholder...

When collecting these things, his brows were always tightly creased from beginning to end, he obviously could not be satisfied with these things.

The young Mr. Smith said that they could get a hold of some things in his grandmother's house—they were going to sell those things and exchange them for money to buy some "fun stuff" that gives a person a good time, but the current situation is obviously not completely up to their expectations.

When Daisy climbed on the cupboard and tried to pull the silver crucifix off the wall that looked to be a cross made of ebony, "Mr. Smith" let out a curse

"Hell, if that thing is lost, my grandmother will notice!"

Daisy turned his head and gave him a careless sneer.

  "Hell," she deliberately imitated the tone of his voice. "You didn't tell us beforehand that it would be such a garbage dump here."

  A mix of embarrassment and anger arose on "Mr. Smith's" face, and he indignantly turned around. He crudely pulled open all of the drawers in the apartment, but the things that can be exchanged for money are simply pitifully few— even if he is young, he knows that no one wants to take a pair of dentures that have a missing tooth.