Mermaids who have transformed into two legs are indistinguishable from humans in appearance; only differences in mirror images reveal their identity. But what is the purpose of making them all like this here?
Ruan Mingchu never did anything without a purpose, and when thinking about problems, he was used to deducing the purpose and cause from the result.
The two continued walking forward. Although there was a corridor, the walls on both sides were unchanging metal walls, with no doors or windows.
No matter which way you go, no matter how many turns you make, the scenery around you is exactly the same.
Mu Yu was getting a little irritated as he walked away. He looked at Ruan Mingchu, who was still deep in thought.
Ruan Mingchu's brow furrowed involuntarily again; he always did this whenever he was thinking. Mu Yu was no longer agitated; he simply wanted to reach out and smooth his brow.
His fingers twitched, but he ultimately didn't cross that line and didn't reach out his hand.
“Little Fish,” Ruan Mingchu suddenly spoke up, her voice tinged with excitement, “What do you think the reflection in the wall would look like if a modified mermaid like Liya stood here? And what would those artificial mermaids without intelligence look like?”
Mu Yu blinked in confusion, indicating that he didn't understand.
Ruan Mingchu naturally didn't expect Mu Yu to be able to answer his questions. He was just sharing his thoughts with Mu Yu and organizing his own ideas.
Humans can create many things through their imagination, but they absolutely do not have the ability of a creator to create a species.
If you didn't know that Lia wasn't a mermaid, you would never guess that her tail wasn't original just by looking at her body.
The tail grew out of her body.
Perhaps the initial experiments were conducted here, using mermaids and humans as samples.
If the walls are experimental equipment, there's absolutely no need to make them all look like this; there must be other reasons.
“Let’s try to sabotage it.” Ruan Mingchu knocked on the metal wall, went to the corner, and decided to start from there.
The corrosive light wave, acting as a pioneer, first acted on the metal wall, and soon the wall was melted into liquid and flowed down.
Not long after, a hole appeared in the wall.
Ruan Mingchu frowned as he looked at the gap, and asked Mu Yu, "Little Fish, can you cut off a piece?"
Mu Yu nodded. The initial training for offensive classes is to strengthen themselves. He turned his hand into a knife, and with what appeared to be just a light touch, a piece of the metal wall fell down.
The cut surface was neat and tidy, revealing many electrical wires.
Ruan Mingchu knocked on the wall again. Was such a complicated wiring for experimental power supply, just buried in the wall, or was it used to support the wall's mechanical functions?
He enlarged the opening so that he could enter by bending over, and went in with Mu Yu.
The scene inside was completely different from that in the outer corridor. Bloodstains, bits of flesh, and bone fragments were as if they had been maliciously smeared on the place, and they were everywhere you looked.
A great deal of malice was conveyed.
Qiu Fang said that the researchers' and test subjects' corpses all disappeared, but aren't they all here now? What is Qiu Fang's basis for this conclusion?
This made Ruan Mingchu think for a long time. When he learned that Qiu Fang was just speaking off the cuff based on his personal thoughts, he felt like killing the fish.
Neither the black monsters on land nor in the sea possess any independent consciousness, and they don't seem like things capable of doing something so vengeful.
Ruan Mingchu is more inclined to believe that it was done by people they captured for experiments or by mermaids.
Following the same method, Ruan Mingchu and Mu Yu dug several holes in the corner of the wall and found several rooms that looked just like the first one, which shows how strong their desire for revenge was.
These rooms are filled with experimental equipment; there are no notebooks or similar items at all.
Having found nothing useful, Ruan Mingchu and Mu Yu were about to leave when they discovered that the hole they had created was gone.
Ruan Mingchu & Mu Yu: ?
When they reached the place where there should be a hole, Ruan Mingchu and Mu Yu both heard a sound.
There was a sound of something being slapped against the wall.
And there was a child's voice... cursing and swearing.
"Damn it, trash, bastard, all he does is destroy."
"Waaah, the wall doesn't hurt, blow away the pain and let Ah Jin heal your wounds."
"Don't let me see that bastard, or I, Grandpa Jin, will definitely tear them down to avenge you."
"Don't cry, okay? The wall is the strongest."
Ruan Mingchu and Mu Yu exchanged a glance, both looking bewildered. How could there be a child here?
“We’ll go from the other side,” Ruan Mingchu said, lowering his voice instinctively.
Mu Yu nodded.
After Gymboree finished yelling, he noticed the lights were a bit dim and wondered if they were broken. When he looked up, he saw two people staring at him.
Gymboree felt they were full of malice.
Holding the small shovel horizontally in front of her chest, Jinbaobei, though outwardly fierce, said weakly, "What...what do you want to do? Don't mess around, I'm very strong!"
Ruan Mingchu smiled and said, "We came here because we heard you said you were going to tear us apart."
"You guys are the villains who destroyed the wall?!" Jin Baobei almost jumped up upon hearing this, throwing away the shovel in his hand. He wanted nothing more than to punch Ruan Mingchu and Mu Yu each, his indignation overflowing.
Although mental energy was of little use here, Ruan Mingchu still habitually set aside a portion for monitoring, never expecting it to come in handy at this moment.
Ruan Mingchu discovered that when Jinbaobei was angry, the surrounding black substance would surge into Jinbaobei's body.
In an instant, the visibility of spiritual energy in the surrounding area increased significantly.
This seemingly innocent and cute chibi character might be the one who set up the horrific scene in the laboratory, a thought that crossed Ruan Mingchu's mind.
At first glance, it seemed unlikely, but Ruan Mingchu discovered that the skin hidden under the cute blue children's overalls had a metallic sheen, and the reflection in the wall was in the shape of a fish tail.
Gymboree may have been very powerful at some point in the past, but his current fighting ability is indeed shockingly low.
With just one finger, Ruan Mingchu made him spin in place, waving his little fists.
"Alright, we didn't do it on purpose. There was no door here, so I had to make a hole myself."
Then Gymboree was brought to tears by Ruan Mingchu's rude words and actions.
The kind that involves wailing loudly.
Ruan Mingchu subconsciously raised his forearm and took two steps back. Children are really scary.
Jinbaobei's crying woke up Tu Aotian, who then pounced on her face.
When I touch Gymboree, it's so soft and smooth, it's wonderful!
I even play games with him.
Rabbit Aotian: Grandpa Rabbit is teaching you how to be a person!
Disturbing the peace is the worst!
Gymboree tore the rabbit off its face and hugged it.
He hiccuped and said, "I accept your apology. Apologize again and I'll forgive your wicked behavior."
Ruan Mingchu: ...
If you want rabbits, just say so. Why beat around the bush like that?
“No,” Mu Yu said coldly. “Xiao Tian is an independent individual. If you want to be friends with it, you have to get its permission.”
Jinbaobei clung tightly to Tu Aotian's arm, "I don't care, you hurt me!"
Ruan Mingchu: It felt like I was being scammed.
Rabbit Aotian found a comfortable position in Jinbaobei's arms and continued to take a nap. It had accidentally eaten something dirty, and sleeping would help it digest.
Gymboree: "Look, its lack of refusal means it agrees."
Mu Yu: "Alright, I'll let you hug me for a while."
Ruan Mingchu tore off the other rabbit from Mu Yu's shoulder and threw it into Jin Baobei's arms, saying, "You can play with this one too. I'll ask you questions, and you can answer them."
Gymboree struggled to hold the two soft rabbits, her face beaming with joy, and nodded, "Okay."
After a conversation, Ruan Mingchu understood most of the things.
This laboratory can be considered part of Gymboree's body; it was sealed off because he disliked the smell inside.
The reason why the mermaids can be distinguished in the mirror images of all the metal walls is because there was once a mermaid experiment that caused problems and almost escaped by pretending to be a human.
As for the horrific conditions in those laboratories, it was both caused by Gymboree and not by Gymboree.
Jinbaobei's body was the former vessel of that thing. After it took its revenge, it disappeared, and that's when Jinbaobei took over the body. Jinbaobei's true identity is an artificial AI from the intelligent laboratory.
As for the black monster and the black substance in the air, Jinbaobei didn't know what they were either.
"It was from the corpses of those wailing mermaids that he killed."
Ruan Mingchu pondered for a moment, and considering what had happened when Jin Baobei was emotionally agitated, he wondered if he could get Jin Baobei to take those things back into his body.
Judging from Jinbaobei's current state, it seems that absorbing so many substances has had no effect on him, but Ruan Mingchu doesn't know whether there have been any changes inside.
Jinbaobei's body was based on a mermaid body, with the genes of countless organisms added, and was then mechanically modified to take shape.
Ruan Mingchu suddenly thought of something and asked Jin Baobei, "Can you go into other mediums?"
“Sure,” Gymboree nodded, “but I really like this body.”
The implication is that they won't change bodies.
Ruan Mingchu didn't intend to change Jinbaobei's body. Without Jinbaobei, this body would just be a "corpse." Even if those substances were put inside, they would eventually escape again.
He asked Jinbaobei for her opinion on this matter.
Gymboree said "Oh," her eyes darting around, "Sure, but why should I help you?"
He held up the two rabbits in his arms, almost as if to make it explicit.
Mu Yu was about to speak when Ruan Mingchu comforted him, "If Tu Aotian doesn't want to, who can stop him?"
Mu Yu thought about it and realized that this was a risk-free business.
He had no objections.
Jinbaobei inwardly despised these two wicked people. Once they were in his hands, they thought they could escape? Dream on.
But he didn't say anything, so he let those two scoundrels have their daydreams.
The matter of the black monster was mostly resolved, but Qiu Fang couldn't let him handle the aftermath. However, their main objective—finding a way home—was still nowhere in sight.
Gymboree has not released any information on this matter.