"So, you've already included me in your camp so quickly, Miss Accomplice?" Shen Rongyu's deep voice echoed in Ji Qingzhuo's ears.
"Yes," Ji Qingzhuo replied, "you are my research subject, and I am responsible for you."
She turned her head to face Shen Rongyu and said, "Anyway, thank you very much for today. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to leave unscathed from him."
Shen Rongyu's tone was indifferent. "You didn't come to me at the agreed time."
"I'm sorry," Ji Qingzhuo apologized.
"If you're worried about the questioning, Miss Ji, why not let me handle it? I believe I am better at lying than you are," Shen Rongyu coughed lightly.
"It's not your responsibility," Ji Qingzhuo didn't intend to push Shen Rongyu away.
"Miss Ji, have you forgotten? This is...my ocean," he said.
He said it as if he pitied and protected everything in the ocean.
And Ji Qingzhuo couldn't determine if his words were false, as Nylan Sea did seem to be an ocean that coexisted with him.
"Okay," after a long pause, she agreed.
After resolving her most worrisome issue, Ji Qingzhuo remained silent and didn't ask anything about him. Normally, when collecting data, Ji Qingzhuo would ask Shen Rongyu questions about his experience with the ocean, but today she was unusually quiet.
Shen Rongyu even began to suspect that Ji Qingzhuo had already figured out the lies he wanted to tell and therefore didn't ask proactively.
But Ji Qingzhuo continued to gaze at the sea ahead, observing the waves.
For now, she temporarily put the unexpected events behind her. Today was the weekend, and she should have been enjoying rare leisure time.
Shen Rongyu leaned against the car window and turned his head to look at her profile as she looked ahead. "Aren't you going to ask me anything? You must be surprised by my performance on that ship, right?"
"I am surprised," Ji Qingzhuo honestly replied. "If Mr. Shen is willing to share, I can record it now."
"Why don't you ask me first, Miss Ji? Aren't you curious about me?" Shen Rongyu's voice softened, as if he carried a hint of doubt.
"That is within the scope of my work," Ji Qingzhuo adjusted the volume knob of the car's music, lowering the volume. "And Mr. Shen, you don't seem like a research subject at the moment."
Her research subject should be a mysterious creature whose tail was bound by chains, imprisoned deep in the abyss of the sea.
"Today is the weekend, and I'm not working," Ji Qingzhuo answered.
She wouldn't actively inquire about Shen Rongyu in this situation.
"Hmm?" Shen Rongyu leaned closer, as if he had grasped some key information. "Accompanying me, isn't that part of Miss Ji's work?"
"No, it isn't," Ji Qingzhuo replied. If she considered this as work, she wouldn't have come out in casual clothes. Even though she had resigned, she still strictly followed the rules and regulations of her former laboratory.
When she was in the independent research institute, she was the only one who meticulously buttoned up her research uniform to the top button.
"So, what does this count as?" Shen Rongyu relaxed, leaning back against the soft seat in the car. "Is it a date?"
Ji Qingzhuo's grip on the steering wheel tightened. She thought that it shouldn't be considered a date, but she couldn't find another word to replace the current interaction between the two of them.
And...a date. That was an ambiguous term that belonged to couples.
If it weren't for work, Ji Qingzhuo wouldn't have instinctively analyzed the truth behind his words. So, she pondered repeatedly on the meaning implied by Shen Rongyu.
After a long while, she sighed softly, looking somewhat helpless. "Mr. Shen, please stop teasing me."
Shen Rongyu chuckled softly, his laughter deep and echoing in Ji Qingzhuo's ears. Ji Qingzhuo could also hear her own heartbeat, which seemed to quicken, and at the same time, she saw the waves in the distance surging with joy.
He was happy, but she felt a bit at a loss.
Not knowing how to interact with Shen Rongyu without observing him as a research subject, Ji Qingzhuo instinctively wanted to take out her notebook and return to her role as a researcher.
But a hand reached out from the passenger seat and Shen Rongyu held onto her hand, his palm icy cold, reminiscent of the temperature of a snake.
"It's the weekend, you're supposed to rest. Why are you thinking about work again?" Shen Rongyu stopped her from reaching for that sinful little book where she had recorded every word he said, which she seemed to have seen through.
"Get out." Shen Rongyu opened the car door.
Ji Qingzhuo stood up, preparing to retrieve the diving equipment from the backseat.
"No need, I'll give you an opportunity to observe." Shen Rongyu stretched out his long arm and took her into the sea.
Ji Qingzhuo couldn't swim, and without the assistance of equipment, she was afraid of the ocean. She thought she would be choked by the cold seawater.
However, with Shen Rongyu holding her hand, her body didn't touch a single drop of water, as if a thin layer of air separated her from the sea.
Wide-eyed, Ji Qingzhuo's thinking was always different from others. She was contemplating how this water-separation method worked. If it was an air layer, the air chamber created by the diving equipment through numerous calculations would already be the limit in withstanding water pressure. The thickness of the air layer couldn't be any thinner; otherwise, the chamber would be invaded by seawater.
Moreover, the air chamber she designed in the diving equipment was circular, which maximized the ability to counter water pressure from all directions. But... with Shen Rongyu holding her, the air membrane separating her from the water closely adhered to her skin. This... didn't conform to the laws.
Ji Qingzhuo was confused. She turned her head to look at Shen Rongyu beside her and opened her mouth, unexpectedly producing sound.
"This...," she expressed her doubts.
This time, Shen Rongyu finally gained the upper hand. He said, "Isn't it the weekend? Why are you thinking about your research work?"
"Not telling you," he said.
Ji Qingzhuo wasn't angry; she simply responded with a muffled "oh."
Shen Rongyu led her wherever he went, and she floated along. It made Shen Rongyu feel as if he was holding onto a human-shaped balloon; he pulled the cord, and the balloon floated toward him.
He intentionally swam with her towards the beautiful coral reefs, but Ji Qingzhuo didn't have much of a response to this enchanting underwater world.
Shen Rongyu's tricks to amuse little girls were a bit outdated, or perhaps this was his first attempt to attract a woman's gaze.
Previously, he didn't even need to make a move; countless adoring gazes would fall on him. But Ji Qingzhuo would only lightly look at him with her gentle, shy, and rational eyes, even avoiding eye contact with them numerous times.
Ji Qingzhuo wasn't moved by the scenery before her, as she had already surveyed and classified the coral reefs here in advance. She knew what species of fish would emerge from the crevices of these reefs.
She reached out and lightly touched the swaying sea anemones in the sea – whenever Shen Rongyu's breath approached, any creature that could escape would flee, leaving only these rooted organisms unable to escape.
"Miss Ji, is there anywhere you'd like to go?" Shen Rongyu asked.
"Whales," Ji Qingzhuo replied, still thinking about those injured giants. "Can Mr. Shen go there?"
"Yes," Shen Rongyu thought, she was still thinking about her fish.
"Then I'll go home and get my special medicine. They're injured," Ji Qingzhuo wanted to swim back.
"No need." Shen Rongyu grabbed her wrist.
The area where their skin touched shrank, making him appear very gentlemanly. But Ji Qingzhuo could feel his grip on her wrist gradually warming up.
Shen Rongyu led her to swim into the deep sea without relying on any positioning devices, and he managed to find the injured whales they had encountered before.
The two small figures faced the giants like facing a mountain.
Ji Qingzhuo pushed her glasses up and saw blood mist seeping from the whales' backs. These giants huddled in the center of the seaweed, silently gliding through the water, waiting for their wounds to heal.
The silence of the suffering was even more heartbreaking. Ji Qingzhuo saw the wound on one of the whales, nearly half the size of her own body, pale and washed by the seawater.
Meanwhile, Shen Rongyu reached out and pressed his palm against the whale's injured area, where its flesh had been slashed by a harpoon. Then, a faint blue light emanated from the wound.
The whale's visible wound began to heal at a speed surpassing Ji Qingzhuo's comprehension. Her lips parted slightly as she carefully observed Shen Rongyu treating the whale.
As if to retaliate for her previous silence, Shen Rongyu stood in front of her. "Observing it is your job. Today is the weekend, I won't let you watch."
"Mr. Shen..." Ji Qingzhuo softly called his name.
Please, she really wanted to see. The healing speed was even faster than the powerful medicine she had specially purchased. How did Shen Rongyu accomplish this? She wanted to observe closely.
Shen Rongyu was also using this power for the first time—the power bestowed by the dragon tail—and he was healing something for the first time.
But this was just a performance for Ji Qingzhuo beside him.
Of course, he didn't really intend to keep Ji Qingzhuo from watching. It's just...
"Aren't you curious?" Shen Rongyu's voice carried a playful tone.
"I'm very curious," Ji Qingzhuo couldn't hide her thoughts.
"Allow me to make one request, Miss Ji. As for the content of the request, I haven't decided yet," Shen Rongyu stepped aside.
"Okay, as long as it doesn't violate laws and morality," Ji Qingzhuo quickly agreed.
Then, her gaze fell on the slowly healing wounds of the whales.