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

Chapter 21

Rand jumped in fright.

He felt as if he were a frightened cat jumping in the air, but in reality, he just took in a lungful of cold air and moved a step back, his heart madly pounded in his chest as if his life depended on it, almost beginning to hurt like a piston ramming into his sternum.

That eyeball really doesn't look like it should belong to a fish. The pupil and iris of its eye were so similar to that of a human being. The bright blood-red even made Rand unconsciously think of Vincent.

Rand stood in place for a good while just as if someone had cast a petrification spell on his body. His mind was blank, and despite his fright, he was unable to tear his eyes off of the "cocoon" in the aquarium from start to finish.

That eye swiveled around as if it was looking at Rand through that small crack.

This sort of feeling nearly made his scalp go numb.

Rand stalled for a good chunk of time, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and slowly moved a bit closer to the aquarium.

Oh, that's just a marking on Munster's body. Have you forgotten? You've been scared by it before.

Rand desperately talked himself over in his heart, he carefully and cautiously surveyed the small crack, trying to get to the bottom of the matter and get a clear picture of what that thing was.

The air was filled with a faint fishy smell, a bit like that of a slow-moving river, the smell of the lake with lush aquatic organisms on a hot and stuffy summertime afternoon... Rand inhaled, dazed as if he was situated in a damp swamp with high humidity and not in his meticulously furnished mid-range apartment.

That crack grew even larger in the blink of an eye.

The blood-red eyes were nowhere to be seen. Through the film that had expanded to be nearly transparent, Rand clearly saw a few fish scales moving. He was inexplicably relieved. It seemed that Munster was moving around inside the cocoon.

He couldn't help but move his face closer towards the aquarium, the tip of his nose was pressed against the ice-cold aquarium wall.

Through the crack, he could vaguely see that Munster seemed to be squirming inside. In the process of its struggles, the crack grew larger and larger, and finally, another black fragment fell off. A paw pierced the film followed by mucous gushing out, it hooked at the edge of the small crack.

After pausing for a short time, another paw also tried hard to poke out.

It looks a bit like a froggish foot, but the pale blue webbing between the five toes are densely covered with thin, radial transparent fins, and have small, sharp hooks at the tip of the toes— very small, but the blue light flashing from the points of the hooks made Rand inexplicably feel that they would be exceptionally sharp.

Rand involuntarily widened his eyes. He looked at those two paws and hardly knew how he should react.

Oh, is it really possible for a fish to sprout paws like this?

Even Rand, who had no interest in living things, felt that something was off.

But reality did not give him too much time to think it over, because in the next few seconds, from the middle of the two paws, a pointed snout proddingly came out.

Compared to before, Munster's head has become a little more rounded, and its color has become a bright blue... Apart from this, two soft feelers reminiscent of snail antennae are perked up like rabbit ears on its head.

Its eyes are inlaid on both sides like beans, and the circular-lined markings that had always been behind its eyes turned red. A different marking appeared under the changed lighting in that small section of red— which was the reason why Rand had been so taken aback before. But when those stripes completely appeared before Rand's eyes, even he had to admit that it didn't look scary. Honestly, it was actually a bit cute.

Because of the placement, those two markings now look more like a cartoon blush on this strange fish.

Rand lifelessly stared at Munster, who had already entirely transformed... Well, he wasn't even too sure that this thing was really the one he had kept before.

It has changed a little too much.

Munster lifted his head and looked at Rand motionlessly. After a few seconds, its two odd, plump, and short antennas slightly shook, and then it began to do its utmost to wriggle out from the inside of the cocoon.

He had to say, this spectacle was a bit amusing.

Munster's body had also undergone great changes like its head. Its body has become smoother, rounder, and thicker. Its scales are very finely splayed on the surface of its body. If you didn't look at it carefully, you may even assume it to be a large glossy worm... sea snake... eel ... or whatever else.

Rand did everything he could to look for an animal that could be used to make an analogy with it in his barren head, but he ultimately gave up because he had no clue what it was to begin with.

Munster used its paws to claw at the bottom of the aquarium, and with great difficulty, pulled its fat body out of the disgusting cocoon shell.

It has grown a lot. The little thing that could previously be transported to Kansas in a sports water bottle was now in spite of everything already about the length of half of his arm. The aquarium that could previously be considered the perfect fit actually looks a bit narrow with the "huge" size it had grown into. The part that used to be the pectoral fine now protrudes two things between the fins and the paws. Its color has also become even brighter, that blue even shines as if it were glowing on its own.

Rand looked at Munster's current appearance in amazement and glanced at the "cocoon". He was unable to believe that it could have possibly stuffed itself into such a small space before.

No... no, it might not be Munster either.

Rand made a clever guess and then shook his head.

He undoubtedly remembered that he had just kept a common unidentified fish, that's all. But what exactly was this thing that was crawling out now?

That weird little guy circled around in the narrow aquarium with much difficulty, seemingly wanting to swim, but it ended up smacking into the glass wall of the aquarium head first.

The corners of Rand's mouth twitched.

Oh, Munster also had a passion for swimming around the water in circles. At the time it had been staying in the salad bowl, it never stopped.

However, the current condition of this fish is obviously not suitable for swimming.

Rand stared at it in disbelief— it didn't even float in the water!

"Jiji... ji......"

(TN: Left it in pinyin, supposedly the sound of chirping... cute? Lmao. I guess it would sound like 'cheep cheep'?)

A small, subtle chirping sound like a newborn chick sounded at this time.

Rand thought to himself that he might have been hallucinating.

Then he found that the sounds were coming from within the aquarium.

"..."

He looked silently at the source of the sound.

That strange thing was sticking its head to the side of the aquarium and chirping at him.

My fucking God, ah...

Rand massaged the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. He felt what seemed to be a muscle spasm at his temples.

Who could tell him what kind of situation this was once and for all?

Up until this point, not a single soul has told him how he should deal with a noise-making fish!

Where did the fish he knew go after all?!

(TN: Another chapter tomorrow, both short chapters. But for now, I shall sleep!)