Be Careful, Scum Dad! Mommy Is Back!
Chapter 414: Sinister Totem

Chapter 414: Chapter 414: Sinister Totem

There are clearly other forces at play around Ji Muye.

The list is the best proof of that.

Now, half of his attention is focused on her, which isn’t ideal for someone like Ji Muye, who needs to remain calm and composed during times like this.

Lu Xining is very clear about her own goals and the direction she needs to take.

She doesn’t want to become a burden that forces Ji Muye down a different path. The road he’s on is already full of thorns, yet he keeps walking back and forth without regard for his own health. Lu Xining hopes the words she just said will help him see the current situation and understand which course of action is most advantageous for him.

Suddenly, the sound of banging came from the direction of the bathroom.

Lu Xining immediately grabbed the backpack from the sofa and slung it back onto her shoulders. Her eyes gleamed sharply as she glanced toward the bathroom with caution.

Ji Muye, who had just entered the room, rushed over to Lu Xining’s side.

Cheng Cang and Shang Lvxing also moved into protective stances, shielding the only woman in the room behind them.

The banging sounds continued, accompanied by an unsettling yet somewhat familiar noise that triggered a flash of memory in Lu Xining’s mind.

"It’s a merman!" she exclaimed before instinctively reaching for the candle stand on the table.

She aimed the sharp end outward.

Seeing Lu Xining act so swiftly, Ji Muye, Shang Lvxing, and Cheng Cang also quickly grabbed whatever tools were within reach.

The four of them carefully approached the bathroom.

The noises inside didn’t stop; the sound of something slapping echoed rhythmically.

Lu Xining thought of the seawater in the biological laboratory and nodded at Cheng Cang just as he gripped the bathroom door handle.

The door was flung open!

Cheng Cang raised the random object he had grabbed, aiming it at whoever was inside.

The others stood ready, tense and prepared.

But what they saw inside the bathroom made their expressions change involuntarily.

A teenage merman lay in the bathtub, slapping at the water. His agonized face was marked with deep blue lines resembling veins, or perhaps something entirely unfamiliar.

As his emotions surged, those blue patterns seemed to push against his skin as though trying to break through. The sight was horrifying.

When he caught sight of Lu Xining, his eyes suddenly brightened, and joy flashed across his face.

"Ah! Ah ah ah!" Save me, help me!

He stretched his hand toward Lu Xining, unable to form words. Lotte had severed his tongue and damaged his vocal cords, rendering him incapable of speech.

His face conveyed not only pain but also desperation and a plea for help.

Water covered the floor of the bathroom.

Lu Xining’s gaze landed on the bathtub, which was only half full, and the uncontrollable fish tail pounding fiercely within the bath and its remaining water.

... Experiment Subject No. 13599.

This was the unique, singular success recorded in the Lotte Life notebook—the only perfect experimental subject.

As someone who valued precision and rigor in her research, Lu Xining’s expression as she looked at the teenage merman was filled with seriousness and solemnity.

Half of his body had spilled out of the tub, and he gazed at her with eyes full of pleading.

Seeing this, Cheng Cang frowned and murmured, perplexed, "What’s happening to him? The chaotic blue patterns on his face look eerie, almost like some bizarre totem."

The merman paid no attention.

"Ah, ah, ah!" It hurts so much!

She tightened her grip on the candle stand, recalling the notes from the Lotte Life notebook. She knew that all of his reactions stemmed from being deprived of seawater for too long.

The water from the bathroom was freshwater, completely inadequate for his genetically modified body’s needs.

Lu Xining saw through his predicament and offered him a solution. "Your body needs seawater urgently. The quickest way is to jump straight into the ocean from the window upstairs."

The safer option would be to head to the lower deck and jump down from there.

But outside, guards were everywhere, searching for the escaped experimental subject. This teenage merman was the perfect and most valuable subject, Experiment No. 13599.

While the teenage merman was unable to speak, he could still understand human words.

"...." He shook his head at her.

The Royal Cruise’s structure was much taller than ordinary vessels to accommodate the biological laboratories in the lower sections. Adding the fact that their cabin was on the top deck, the distance was even greater. On top of that, they didn’t have any accessible tools at hand.

Even after Lu Xining explained the situation to him, the teenage merman continued to shake his head persistently.

He turned the faucet on again, repeatedly flushing water over his scalded scales. The pain made him appear increasingly dangerous.

*Crack!*

The stabilizing handrail beside the bathtub, intended for guest use, broke off effortlessly under his grip.

Ji Muye and Shang Lvxing immediately moved to shield Lu Xining behind them, but when they turned around, they found her gone.

Lu Xining suddenly remembered that during her previous time on the balcony of her room, while feeding Little Fatty the bird, she had used the sink there and discovered it dispensed seawater.

In the moment of chaos, she hadn’t recalled this detail.

Now that it came back to her, she hurriedly grabbed the trash bin and brought it over to fetch seawater.

Ji Muye strode over to her quickly. "What are you doing?"

"The tap at the balcony sink dispenses seawater. I don’t know how much is available, but let’s try using it to ease the burns on the experimental subject’s skin," she explained.

This was actually one of Lotte’s cruel tactics for controlling experimental subjects.

They would confine them within glass enclosures and force them to acclimate to seawater. Over time, their brains, increasingly invaded and restructured by modified genes, lost all semblance of human thinking, leaving them incapable of adapting to regular situations.

Cheng Cang and Shang Lvxing stood vigil at the bathroom door, ready to curb any sudden aggression from the merman.

Lu Xining turned the tap on at the balcony. Her eyes brightened. "It’s seawater!"

She immediately began filling the trash bin with the water.

Ji Muye didn’t compete for the trash bin in her hands but instead moved quickly back into the cabin to find other containers to carry the water.

The two worked together seamlessly.

No one paid attention to how perfectly synchronized their actions were.

Before pouring seawater into the bathroom, Lu Xining warned the merman, "We’re going to change your water. Don’t attack us suddenly."

Upon hearing this, the merman immediately nodded.

Noticing the remaining half-bath of freshwater, Lu Xining instructed him, "Drain the freshwater first using the button on the right-hand side."

The merman complied obediently.

When his tail finally made contact with the seawater, relief and pleasure instantly washed over his face.

"Ah, ah, ah! Thank you! I feel alive again!"

The bathtub filled rapidly with seawater.

The teenage experimental subject stopped flailing his tail in discomfort and leaned comfortably against the edge of the tub. His large, glistening eyes gazed toward Lu Xining at the door.

Ji Muye and Shang Lvxing stood guard at the bathroom entrance.

Watching the merman’s gaze toward Lu Xining, both Ji Muye and Shang Lvxing furrowed their brows. Their peripheral vision caught each other’s reaction, and their eyes briefly met. They quickly pretended they hadn’t noticed anything and looked away.

At that moment!

Lu Xining heard the call of a bird outside.

She immediately thought of the intelligent Little Fatty. Stepping outside, she was met with its sight!

But something was clearly different than before...