After coming up from below, Jiang Mian stood in the center of the crowd at the experimental station, trying to hide his inner uneasiness.
"There is no doubt that the merman is learning. You all heard it correct one of the keepers' pronouns, replacing 'you' with 'I'."
"What did the female say six years ago? We wrote tens of millions of words about it and wrote research papers about it. We also spent more than 20 days studying the video footage after its death, but it never said anything!"
"That was Dr. Jiang's project. I can only say that he is too independent and stubborn. He never gives us old guys any chance."
Hearing some unkind comments about his adoptive father in the midst of some discussions, Jiang Mian did not immediately defend himself or fight back. He had already learned his lesson. Therefore, he just controlled his facial expression, took a deep breath, and covered the back of his right hand that had been gently poked by the mermaid with his left hand. The skin there was still continuously emitting heat, which had not dissipated at all.
Fabian's gray-blue eyes glanced downward, taking in his little movements.
"She - I mean the female mermaid six years ago. After she was brought back to the research institute, she never made a sound again." Jiang Mian suppressed his uncomfortable feeling, "Even during... during the experiment, it was the same."
Someone snorted. "Yeah, this is really strange for an animal with an intact voice and vocal cords."
Fabian shrugged and smiled warmly: "Let the past be the past. The most important thing is always the present."
He turned to Jiang Mian, his smile still gentle: "Mr. Jiang, ignore your disgusting interactions that are enough to embarrass normal people. I think you can certainly teach the experimental subject the human language."
Turning to the others, he asserted, "Its value, in my opinion, cannot be confined to the laboratory. In the near future we shall certainly need a road map, a navigator, or, perhaps, a key to the real treasure trove. What do you say, gentlemen?"
Jiang Mian didn't move a muscle as a vicious chill instantly rushed through his body, turning all his previous joy into nausea.
After a moment of silence, Dr. Brown sighed and made a hungry speech on behalf of the group of scholars behind him: "What else can we say? One mermaid is still too small and too few. The blood samples collected before are almost used up. Have you obtained the group's permission to cut, Dr. Fabian?"
The German shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry, Dr. Brown. As you know, the group's executive will be arriving soon. Before that, we still have to ensure the integrity of the experimental subject."
"Hypocrisy!" The scholar accused with disgust, and then turned to Jiang Mian, "Then, young man, just do it! Teach the experimental subject to speak human language. When needed, we will definitely need to use some of the information it provides."
Jiang Mian's cheeks flushed unnaturally. Perhaps someone would misinterpret his behavior as excitement of being entrusted with an important task, but he knew that the feeling came again - the feeling of being squeezed and forcibly shaped, the feeling he had been fighting against all his life, it came again.