Thegroup of people were still trying to understand who, when Wen Yu had moved towards the person sitting in his bedroom, on his bed.
Wen Yu walked over, gently rubbed the head of the man sitting on the bed, and asked,
"Lansi?"
Lansi shook his head, brushed away the hand on his head, and deliberately blinked at Wen Yu.
"Yes, it's me."
Wen Yu smiled, though only in a way that couldn't be seen by the crowd behind him. He slowly sat down beside Lansi and helped him tidy up the loose bathrobe he was wearing.
"Why are you here?"
Lansi leaned over slightly, using his body to block the curious stares from the people in the hallway behind them. He lowered his voice and whispered,
"Came to take a shower."
To explain all this properly, we have to go back to before Wen Yu and the others arrived.
After Lansi escaped from the murlocs, he sat down beside the pool, looking at his now-filthy white fishtail, wondering how he could clean himself up.
Of course, the best way to do that was to shower. But to get to the bathroom, he had to go into the villa. With such a long tail, moving through the place would definitely leave a trail of water and blood.
The thought made Lansi a little annoyed.
He knew the dark blue water in the pool was the blood of the murlocs. Although he felt some pity for them, he didn't want to leave a trail of blood through the whole villa.
He wasn't a pervert, after all.
If only he had two legs.
Right then, Lansi understood why the little mermaid in those old fairy tales had been willing to pay such a high price to trade her tail for legs. If he could really do the same right now, Lansi felt he might also be willing to pay a great price to get rid of his tail.
After struggling with this for a while, the water on Lansi's tail had mostly dried.
He recalled what he'd seen of the murlocs transforming. During the transition, he quietly prayed, hoping that he too could get two legs.
Whether it was some unknown deity that heard his wish or he truly did have the ability to change like a murloc, Lansi couldn't say.
But the moment the thought crossed his mind, he saw his tail begin to secrete a thin white membrane. Underneath it, the tail started to shift. The fin shrank. The scales receded. And finally, the tail split apart and transformed into two beautiful, pale legs.
Lansi was stunned.
The transformation happened so fast he didn't even have time to feel any pain.
When it was over, though, his legs ached. As expected, everything had a cost.
He waited a while until the soreness began to fade.
Then he wiggled his toes curiously, and sure enough, the ten round, pale toes moved on command.
Lansi was thrilled.
He tried to stand, but since he had just transformed, his legs weren't strong yet. They could support his weight, but if he tried to run or jump, the pain was sharp.
It was like dancing on knife blades.
Lansi was frustrated for a moment, but soon comforted himself. Maybe with time, once his legs adjusted, he would be able to walk and run like normal people.
Feeling a bit more optimistic, he tried walking around the pool. Then, he happened to catch his reflection in the water and froze—
In the reflection, there was a naked pervert staring back at him.
Lansi: "..."
Right. Clothes. He needed to cover up. Otherwise, yes, he would absolutely look like a pervert.
Once he got used to using his feet, Lansi walked toward the villa.
Halfway there, he remembered he should probably check where the murlocs had come from.
But he set that thought aside. If he ran into someone while snooping around, they'd definitely think he was a lunatic. Or worse.
So, everything that followed happened quite naturally.
Lansi made his way to Wen Yu's bedroom, took a shower in the small attached bathroom, and came out wearing one of Wen Yu's bathrobes.
But just as he stepped out, he glanced toward the hallway and realized—there were a lot of people in the villa now.
Half terrified and half embarrassed, Lansi dashed straight for Wen Yu's bed, wrapping himself in the soft quilt in a desperate attempt to hide.
And shortly after he lay down, the group came directly into the bedroom and saw him sitting there on Wen Yu's bed.
If there had been a crack in the ground to crawl into, Lansi would have taken it.
Now back in the present.
Wen Yu subtly shielded Lansi from the inquisitive stares behind him, while helping fix Lansi's bathrobe. His eyes glanced over Lansi, studying him closely.
He asked softly,
"Does anything feel uncomfortable?"
While adjusting the bathrobe, Wen Yu noticed that the reason it was hanging open wasn't because it was too big. Lansi had been so flustered earlier that he hadn't even tied the belt.
Looking down at Lansi's chest, Wen Yu could even see his stomach.
The rest was hidden under the quilt.
What a pity.
Wen Yu thought to himself. He still hadn't seen what a mermaid looked like after their legs transformed.
"My feet hurt a little," Lansi whispered.
He had just run a few steps, and the movement had been too much.
It was strange. He had used those legs for over twenty years before. But now that he had regained them, they felt so fragile.
While Wen Yu and Lansi whispered to each other, the group behind them finally exploded into noise.
At Rose's urging, even Carl—who had been genuinely surprised to see Lansi—managed to reorient himself. His strong-minded instinct finally kicked in. He realized what he needed to do now was mock the group of Dr. Mu Rin's researchers.
Without holding back, Carl started his assault.
"What's all this talk about finding a mermaid? Look right there. Damn. The boss has been doing all the work for you guys. Now you're all standing around getting caught up in your feelings."
Rose: "..."
Great. The topic had completely derailed.
But even so, the way things looked, it was clearly Dr. Mu Rin's team who had been careless.
The rest of the guards were all incredibly awkward. They looked at each other, hoping someone else would take the lead.
Eventually, someone nudged another, and the group started trying to retreat quietly from the room.
They couldn't help but complain silently in their hearts. If Dr. Mu Rin hadn't sworn there was someone here, who would dare to offend Wen Yu?
After all, compared to Dr. Mu Rin, who had always been buried in the lab, Wen Yu had fought on the battlefield.
Because of that, the guards respected and understood WEN YU far more than they ever had Dr. Mu Rin.
"Impossible!"
Dr. Mu Rin suddenly exploded, his voice sharp with frustration and embarrassment. "The mermaid must be here!"
Before Carl and the others could react, Dr. Mu Rin lunged forward and yanked the quilt off of Lansi.
"There must be a fishtail hidden under here..."
But the rest of his sentence died in his throat.
According to Dr. Mu Rin's theory, Lansi must have seen them coming and tried to hide his mermaid tail under the quilt.
Instead, what everyone saw were two perfectly human legs.
Lansi instinctively pulled his feet in under the sudden chill of the room.
The air went completely still.
All eyes turned to Lansi, drawn by Dr. Mu Rin's dramatic move. At the same time, everyone clearly saw that Lansi's lower half had two long, slender legs, not a fishtail as Dr. Mu Rin had claimed.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Before Dr. Mu Rin could say another word, Lansi sat upright with a jolt. He flipped the blanket back over himself and yanked it up to his neck, his face burning red.
"Who are you people?! Get out!!!"
Overcome with shame and anger, Lansi didn't care who had the quilt. Even though Dr. Mu Rin still had a grip on one side, Lansi clutched the other corner tightly and began a tug-of-war with him.
"You made me run out here like this! Ahhhhhh!!!"
In his rush to shower, Lansi hadn't had time to find any clothes in Wen Yu's closet. He was completely bare under the bathrobe.
And unfortunately, the way he had been sitting on the bed, with his legs apart, meant that when Dr. Mu Rin flung the quilt aside, the group of people across from him might have seen more than they should have.
The men didn't seem to care. They had seen Lansi confess to Wen Yu before, so they probably weren't surprised.
But the problem was... Rose was here.
And Rose was a girl!
A girl he liked very much!
Lansi was mortified. He peeked at Rose in panic, only to see her quickly turn away after making eye contact.
Lansi: "..."
Crushed, Lansi's embarrassment quickly overwhelmed any lingering fear of being discovered as a mermaid.
When he couldn't yank the blanket back from Dr. Mu Rin, LANSI let go with one hand, grabbed a nearby pillow, and threw it straight at Dr. Mu Rin's face.
"GET OUT!!!"
The pillow hit its mark. Despite being soft, it had enough weight to daze Dr. Mu Rin for a moment.
At the same time, Lansi was still pulling the quilt, and Dr. Mu Rin lost his balance. With a loud thud, he smacked his forehead against the edge of the bed.
Then, slowly, Dr. Mu Rin's body slumped and slid to the floor.
Wen Yu had been silently watching the farce. Now, he reached over and gently pulled the quilt fully over Lansi, wrapping him up tightly like a cocoon.
After making sure Lansi was covered, Wen Yu looked at Dr. Mu Rin, now unconscious at his feet, and calmly told the guards:
"Just now, Dr. Mu Rin slipped and fell by himself."
The guards exchanged glances, unsure how to respond.
Wen Yu, seeing their hesitation, barked with authority:
"What are you all standing around for? Take Dr. Mu Rin out and find a doctor!"
"Yes, sir!"
WEN YU's commanding tone snapped the guards back into action. They quickly stood at attention, gave him a sharp salute, and then rushed to carry Dr. Mu Rin out.
It was humiliating. Deeply humiliating.
Whether the story they told outside became "Wen Yu hiding his lover in secret" or "Dr. Mu Rin knocked himself out after slipping," neither version would save face.
And even worse, whichever version spread, the guards were sure of one thing: they were doomed to be hunted down later, either by Dr. Mu Rin or someone from Wen Yu's side.
Why had they followed Dr. Mu Rin to the villa in the first place?
So unwise.