Zhuang Mu wasn’t a real mermaid either, so his tears couldn’t turn into pearls.

Gu Lin wiped away his tears with his chubby little hand, his little voice choked with sobs: “Zhuang Mu-gege, after turning into yuyu, can you turn back?”

He didn’t want dagege and jiejie to not be able to turn back.

Zhuang Mu shook his head. Although he didn’t want Gu Lin to be sad, he didn’t want to lie to him.

Artificial fish’s fishtails would split in two, but they could never turn back into their original human legs.

Seeing Zhuang Mu shake his head, Gu Lin burst into loud sobs, reaching out his short little arms to Zhuang Mu: “Zhuang Mu-gege…”

Seeing this, Zhuang Mu immediately picked up the little cub.

Gu Lin lay on Zhuang Mu’s shoulder, wuwuwu crying very sadly.

Seeing the little cub cry, the aunties in the livestream chat were all heartbroken, constantly rewarding to comfort him.

9527 was also heartbroken: [Little streamer, don’t cry, don’t cry!]

Gu Lin wasn’t a crybaby. He rubbed his face with his little hand, and even comforted himself, his childish voice still carrying a sob: “Cub doesn’t cry. Cub is a big kid, a little man!”

This was what gege had told him. Actually, he didn’t fully understand the specific meaning of “man.”

Zhuang Mu smiled upon hearing this. Gu Lin was not even two years old and wobbled when he walked, yet he was unexpectedly well-behaved and obedient.

Zhuang Mu took Gu Lin to the bathroom and washed his little face. Then he placed him on the sofa and brought him a small cake and milk.

After eating, Gu Lin felt much better. He took a small spoon and ate the cake.

Then Zhuang Mu, from who-knows-where, brought out a small bib and tied it around his neck.

Gu Lin lowered his head and looked at the small bib tied around his neck. There was a little mermaid pattern on it.

Zhuang Mu smiled: “This was made by Doctor Yu overnight for you.”

Yesterday, the mermaid town mayor had mentioned a small bib and a high chair. At that time, Yu Youmian had been quite speechless, but afterwards, he had actually personally sewn a small bib for Gu Lin.

Just imagining Doctor Yu holding a needle and thread to sew a small bib didn’t match his temperament.

Those hands of his were accustomed to holding cold, sharp scalpels.

This little bib, while called a little bib, was actually very crude. It was just a piece of cloth cut from who-knows-where, with straps sewn on both sides.

With this tied around the little cub’s neck, plus the fact that the cub barely had a neck, at first glance, it looked almost like a barber’s cape.

But Gu Lin didn’t mind. He poked the little mermaid with his little hand, his childish voice clear and tender: “Yuyu.”

Zhuang Mu, seeing that he was almost better, felt relieved and let out a breath.

He remembered Gu Lin asking him earlier why his fishtail was different from other mermaids’: “Kid, didn’t you want to know why my fishtail is different from other mermaids’?”

Gu Lin, eating the small cake, shifted his gaze to Zhuang Mu’s beautiful pale golden fishtail, blinking his big eyes: “Why?”

Zhuang Mu: “Probably because I was transformed using the serum of that real mermaid.”

Gu Lin was meng: “Huh?”

Zhuang Mu patiently explained to him: “Only mermaids transformed with the serum of a real mermaid will have fishtails that don’t split. The mermaids in town now are all transformed with secondary serum, because that real mermaid is nowhere to be found. On the surface, I’m Doctor Yu’s personal assistant, but in reality, I’m the source of serum for the current artificial fish.”

The smile on his lips carried a trace of imperceptible self-mockery, “Artificial fish like us aren’t real mermaids, but we’re no longer considered real humans either. We’re just monster-like existences.”

But at first, they were also ordinary people, just like everyone else.

Gu Lin hmphed, his childish voice: “Zhuang Mu-gege is not a monster!”

Zhuang Mu was stunned, and the expression in his eyes softened. “I heard that the pearls formed from mermaid tears can create illusions.”

Gu Lin: “What illusions?”

Zhuang Mu didn’t continue, he rolled up his sleeve, revealing a string of numbers on his arm. The numbers above were 3416.

“Artificial fish all have their own numbers. I am the 3416th artificial fish.”

Gu Lin looked at the numbers on his arm, speaking softly and tenderly: “3, 4, 1, 6.”

Zhuang Mu smiled: “You know numbers.”

Gu Lin spread out his little hand: “Cub knows ten numbers.”

Zhuang Mu: “…”

For a cub less than two years old, being able to recognize ten numbers was already good.

Gu Lin remembered that Song Ran-shushu and the others said that one of Zhuang Mu-gege and the mermaid in the secret room was a real yuyu. Now Zhuang Mu-gege wasn’t a real yuyu, so was the mermaid in the secret room real?

Gu Lin: “Zhuang Mu-gege, is the yuyu in Doctor-shushu’s secret room a real yuyu?”

Zhuang Mu was stunned for a moment, not expecting Gu Lin to even know about the mermaid in the secret room. Yesterday, the town mayor had taken Gu Lin to the mermaid base, so it must have been the town mayor who told him.

Zhuang Mu quickly recovered: “I don’t know. The mermaid in the secret room is not open to the public. Except for Doctor Yu, no one has seen it. I don’t know if the town mayor has seen it.”

Zhuang Mu said a lot of things that Gu Lin couldn’t fully digest, but there was one question that had been bothering him for a long time.

“Were these yuyu all transformed by Doctor-shushu?”

Zhuang Mu paused for a moment, then nodded.

Gu Lin, now completely recovered, became lively again, furrowing his little brow: “Then why did Doctor-shushu transform so many yuyu? Is Doctor-shushu a bad person?”

Zhuang Mu: “…”

Gu Lin couldn’t understand. It was because he could always sense the good and evil of others. But strangely, he couldn’t sense any malice from Yu Youmian, nor could he sense any kindness.

It was as if he were a cold, lifeless sculpture, without emotions, without any feelings.

But he felt that Doctor-shushu and Scarface-shushu were different. That Scarface-shushu was a big bad guy, and had even killed the jiejie who gave him a lollipop, while Doctor-shushu had sewn him a little bib.

But Doctor-shushu had turned people into yuyu.

Gu Lin’s little head, big doubts.

Zhuang Mu was stunned for a long time. His sapphire blue eyes seemed to be covered with a layer of fog, making it impossible to see clearly: “Many times, you can’t simply judge a person as good or bad. Humans are very complex animals. Despicable and noble, evil and kind, hateful and loving, can all coexist in the same heart.”

Gu Lin was completely meng, this was too difficult for the cub.

Humans were really complicated. He was trying hard to integrate into human society, but he hadn’t even fully learned to count, only knowing ten numbers.

Zhuang Mu seemed not to care whether Gu Lin understood or not, and ruffled the little cub’s head: “Eat quickly.”

Gu Lin’s thoughts quickly shifted to eating, nodding: “Mm-hmm!”

He scooped up a large spoonful of cake and aowu ate it in one bite.

Zhuang Mu watched the little cub eat, a smile spreading into his eyes.

He quickly finished the small cake and milk. Gu Lin said, “Zhuang Mu-gege, when will we chi fanfan?”

Zhuang Mu: “…”

What about what he just ate?

Zhuang Mu was only surprised for a moment, then let him play by himself in the living room first, while he went to prepare breakfast.

Zhuang Mu went to prepare breakfast, and Gu Lin opened his Ultraman backpack and found snacks to eat.

In the kitchen, Zhuang Mu opened the refrigerator door.

On the first shelf of the refrigerator’s freezer compartment, there was a glass tube, and in the glass tube was some kind of unknown blue solution.

Zhuang Mu reached in, seemingly to take the eggs below.

But when he was about to touch the eggs, his fingers paused, slowly moving upward, moving towards the blue solution.

The blue solution made the skin on his fingertips even paler.

Zhuang Mu slowly turned his head and looked at the ignorant cub outside.

The cub was sitting obediently on the sofa, holding snacks. Perhaps sensing his gaze, he turned to look at him, revealing an innocent and naive smile.

At the moment Gu Lin looked over, Zhuang Mu also showed a gentle smile.

–

Zhuang Mu prepared another lavish breakfast for Gu Lin: scrambled eggs, pan-fried steak, and a plate of fruit and vegetable salad.

After finishing breakfast, Gu Lin, like a lazy little piglet, lay on the sofa, yawning repeatedly, so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open.

“Zhuang Mu-gege, cub is sleepy, wants to shuijiao.”

Zhuang Mu looked at the breakfast he had eaten clean, smiled gently, and said a similar sentence to what he had said before: “Right, both the cake and breakfast had sleeping pills added.”

Gu Lin didn’t even hear it. He had already closed his eyes and fallen into a deep sleep, it could be called falling asleep instantly.

Zhuang Mu lowered his head and looked at him for a while. He took off the little bib that was still tied around his neck and covered him with a soft, furry little blanket.

Gu Lin slept soundly, completely unaware.

He didn’t know how long he slept, but he heard two low voices talking nearby.

Gu Lin couldn’t open his eyes. He vaguely heard that it was Mayor-yeye and Doctor-shushu talking.

“Can this little doll be turned into a little mermaid?”

It was the voice of the mermaid town mayor, pondering.

Yu Youmian’s voice was cold: “The last tube of real mermaid serum was used on him. If it doesn’t work, it’s better to let those VIPs give up.”

Mermaid Town Mayor: “I was going to have Zhuang Mu add it to his lunch, but this little doll’s appetite is too big.”

Saying this, he sighed again: “At least the little cub called me Grandpa. It makes me feel bad.”

Yu Youmian seemed to chuckle lightly: “The mermaid town mayor also has a heart, how rare.”

Mermaid Town Mayor: “…”

“However.” Yu Youmian was silent for a moment, then said, “Turning into a mermaid is better than dying. That fog is the resentment of mermaids condensed. Except for the residents of Mermaid Town, those who inhale the fog will either become their kind or die. The town mayor is also saving him.”

The mermaid town mayor sighed again: “In Mermaid Town, we can no longer see the stars.”

–

Soon, the voices nearby disappeared.

Gu Lin drifted off to sleep again.

He didn’t know how long he slept. When Gu Lin woke up and opened his eyes, a little mermaid baby was freshly baked.