Shapeshifters

However, there are too many uncertainties in this. Furthermore, the subjects available for study are too scarce for me to determine whether the species of cats and cockroaches are related to the Merfolk or if their mutation process is related. From what I can see now, the latter seems more likely because a large number of immortal cockroaches have appeared, while there is only one cat. So, why exactly did they undergo such mutations? I tried my best to explain with everything I could think of until I felt a sudden dizziness. When I snapped back to reality, I noticed my colleagues sitting beside me were all giving me strange looks, probably because they had never seen me so intensely focused. I quickly crumpled up the paper. I thought perhaps I should tell them about my visit to see the cockroaches at the university yesterday. Although they might just take it as a joke, who knows, they might accidentally come up with something useful. Normally, we don’t talk much during work, but privately, we are quite informal. “Hey, I was just thinking…” I was about to speak when my colleague, Zhang, who I usually get along well with, came over, patted my shoulder, and whispered, “Kid, you’re quite the lady’s man, huh? Had a good time with the college girl yesterday?” “What?” I was taken aback, “No! Who told you that!” I said, but my heart was pounding with guilt. How did he know? If there was actually something between me and Su Ying, I’d admit it, but I was worried that such baseless rumors would ruin my reputation. “Hey, look at you getting all flustered. I was just joking to test you. Really nothing?” “Nothing.” I was sweating bullets. “Well, here’s the thing, there’s this intern from the film school, she said she saw you at their dorm yesterday.” “An intern? I didn’t know that.” Zhang laughed, “You’re only here for less than half an hour every day and always seem distracted, so even if she saw you, she wouldn’t have noticed.” I was speechless. However, I wanted to ask this film school intern about Su Ying. Soon, I met the girl, Lu Ye. To be fair, she wasn’t in the same league as Su Ying in terms of looks, but she was still presentable. I greeted her politely. After a brief chat, I learned she was indeed Su Ying’s classmate and had experienced the cockroach incident. We felt an instant connection. After cursing the cockroaches for a while, I asked about Su Ying. Unexpectedly, she frowned, looking uncomfortable. I immediately recalled the reactions of Su Ying’s classmates when I encountered them at the university. There must be something going on here. “Are you close with Su Ying?” Lu Ye asked first. “Not really, I’m just her neighbor, just asking casually.” I quickly explained. “Oh… I see. Actually, I’m not that close to her either. But…” The girl hesitated, seeming reluctant to say something. “What’s wrong? Is there something off about her?” I pressed. Lu Ye’s attitude changed. She leaned in and whispered, “She’s got a screw loose. Seriously.” “Huh?” I was surprised but not entirely shocked; I could guess the reason. Seeing my expression, she explained more earnestly, “Su Ying really has mental issues. When she started college, she took a year off because she was hospitalized. So, we’re not that close. But she’s really weird, always mumbling about… Merfolk or something. It seems like some kind of obsession. She often connects everything to Merfolk, but when you confront her about it, she gets very agitated. Didn’t you notice when you talked to her?” The words hit me like a ton of bricks, leaving me speechless. So… that’s what the Merfolk were about. This revelation was too sudden. I stood there stunned for a moment before asking, trying not to show my concern, “How come she’s such a good swimmer?” Lu Ye’s answer was, “Su Ying was on the professional swim team before university. She was on the city team, I heard. If it wasn’t for her mental issues, she would’ve been on the national team with her skills. She kept saying she was a Merfolk, which was laughable.” I managed a strained smile, probably looking worse than crying. I felt utterly fooled. If anything, it was Su Ying’s beauty that made me reluctant to doubt her. Now, looking back at her every move, her neurotic behaviors, her sometimes incoherent speech, and her quick temper, it all made sense. And last night when she claimed to be a Merfolk, it seemed she had shared this “secret” with many others. I reminded myself again not to be easily swayed by a pretty face. If a less attractive woman had done the same, I would’ve dismissed her as crazy and ignored her. Despite this, Su Ying’s image in my mind, once mysterious and beautiful, now felt more real, albeit as a mentally unstable person. What was most frustrating was that she appeared when I was involved in these bizarre events, dragging me into this nonsensical Merfolk loop, wasting my time and energy. Now I realized that starting from the Merfolk was fundamentally wrong, how could I expect to reach the right conclusion? Nevertheless, I soon realized that even without the Merfolk, figuring out the connection between the strange cat, the cockroaches, and the archaeological site at Zhidan Garden was still a puzzle. I sighed to myself. Lu Ye thought I was upset and quickly added, “But she should be better now; since she’s back at school, there shouldn’t be any issues. Don’t take it to heart.” I smiled to reassure her, not wanting any misunderstanding, and indeed, I hadn’t taken it to heart. What I needed to do next was to find the connections without the Merfolk angle. I stayed at the newspaper office for a while longer, pondering deeply, something I hadn’t done since university. After a long while, I decided to go back to the excavation site at Zhidan Garden. Sitting idly wouldn’t help. I arrived at the community gate around five, and it was still light out. I hurried to the site where work was still ongoing.
From afar, I could still see the archaeological team leader Zhang Qiang standing at the same old spot where I had last seen him. However, this time he had someone new by his side. I immediately recognized him as Ruan Xiuwen. Ruan’s skin color contrasted sharply with Zhang’s; one like white chocolate and the other like dark chocolate. Upon stepping closer, I noticed Ruan’s arms were slightly darker, veering towards milk chocolate, but he still seemed to be of a different race from Zhang, perhaps due to his constant presence at the construction site for the past two days. Ruan had a serious look on his face, holding a map in his hand. As soon as he saw me, he greeted me politely, while Zhang just nodded. “I live nearby, so I thought I’d drop by. I won’t interrupt your work,” I explained with a smile. Ruan’s earlier demeanor piqued my curiosity, “Any new developments?” “Sigh.” Ruan shook his head. “The excavation scale at this site is limited. We can’t dig further in the direction of Yan Chang Road.” I glanced at the map; an ‘x’ was clearly marked on Yan Chang Road with red ink. “Progress will be slow if we keep digging here. Most of the main structures have been unearthed; what we’re doing now is just routine. Still, I believe there might be new discoveries if we dig in that direction.” Ruan continued, his tone barely concealing his disappointment. Zhang chimed in, “We’ll have to wait about a month for the municipal government to coordinate and approve the documents, then we can open up Yan Chang Road. Maybe we’ll find something new then, we’ll see.” He clearly wasn’t too pleased with my visit. Pretending not to understand his meaning, I tentatively asked the polite Ruan, “Have you encountered any strange phenomena during these two days of excavation?” “No, what do you mean?” Ruan looked puzzled. “Um…” I could see Ruan wasn’t pretending, but I pressed on, “Like strange insects or anything unusual?” Both Ruan and Zhang looked bewildered. It seemed neither knew anything. I bid them farewell with a sense of disappointment. Yet, looking back at the entire site, I felt something was off, as if there was a subtle discord. What could it be? Perhaps it was Ruan’s mismatched attire of a shirt and tie with a large safety helmet? Or was it the stark difference in skin tones between the two? No. I shouldn’t waste my brain cells on such trivial matters. I decided to go home first.