"Not dead?"
Sirens stared blankly as she climbed to her feet. She looked at her hands. The backs were covered in scales, but her palms remained human flesh.
Unlike Number 002 Deep One's scales, Sirens's scales gleamed, reflecting blue-violet light.
She tried to stand, but the fish tail behind her could not support her. She could only crawl on the ground as she spoke.
A fish tail?
As if recalling something, Sirens abruptly looked toward Chen Ye. Chen Ye had somehow dragged over a chair and was sitting with one leg crossed over the other, examining her.
"Even if you're a failed product, I can't just leave you alone. Study your abilities properly and see whether you can stand."
Upon hearing this, Sirens tried to get up, but no matter what she did, she could not stand.
Chen Ye shook his head at the sight. He was just about to intervene when a cloud of steam suddenly rose from Sirens's body.
Thick white smoke billowed upward. Once it dispersed, Sirens had actually returned to human form.
What was this?
Sirens seemed just as confused as Chen Ye. She looked at her hands, then at her legs.
"I changed back?"
"I just... imagined having legs, and I changed back."
Hmm...
This was easier to control than Number 002 Deep One.
It seemed he could draw some blood from Sequence 007 Sirens and give it to Number 002. Perhaps it would allow him to develop a completely controllable Fishman serum.
Well, this attempt had not been a complete failure after all.
"Stand up."
As soon as Chen Ye spoke, Sirens stood up without hesitation.
Her body had moved on its own...
"Y-you... who exactly are you?"
Sirens suddenly felt that the man before her had become exceptionally tall, like the shadow of a mountain looming over her.
So terrifying...
Chen Ye's eyes flashed beneath his mask, and his pupils instantly split into eighteen.
"Do you believe in fate?"
"I..."
The girl's heartbeat suddenly quickened as she stared at Chen Ye's divided pupils.
The mask prevented her from seeing Chen Ye's face clearly.
And that was precisely why she was afraid.
She did not know whether the face behind that mask was even human. Looking at those divided pupils, Sirens could only imagine a monster's face.
The unknown was terrifying.
"...I do."
Chen Ye waved a hand and drew out a Silk Thread. "But sometimes, there is no such thing as fate in this world. Suppose one person can decide another person's life or death. Whose fate is that?"
"Is it the dead person's fate, or the fate of the one who grants death? If it is the dead person's fate, then whose hands hold the fate of the one who grants death?"
"From this, it is clear that what most people call fate is merely the result of human action."
"But at times, I also feel that fate truly exists in this world."
"Was our meeting a coincidence? I do not think so. Like this Silk Thread—though you cannot see it, it invisibly connects you and me."
With that, Chen Ye lifted a finger, and Sirens's arm suddenly rose with it.
But Sirens had not moved. At that moment, she had lost control of her own body.
This only deepened the fear in Sirens's heart.
"Though I do not know who controls my own fate, I do know that your fate is now in my hands."
"Of course, not only yours. I control the fates of many people. Because of my appearance, they split off from the road of their lives and walk an entirely different path."
"Or they follow the rules, trying to return to their original road, only to find themselves on the path of monsters, unable to turn back."
"So to them, I am the Weaver of Fate."
Chen Ye withdrew the Silk Thread, and Sirens regained control of her body.
She tried to understand Chen Ye's words, but under the influence of fear, she understood only one sentence.
I am fate itself.
Sirens calmed herself and thought deeply along those lines.
Strictly speaking, if falling to her death today had been her original fate, then Chen Ye's appearance had renamed fate.
The original her was already dead. Chen Ye had forcibly torn open a fork at the end of fate and led her into it.
From that point on, Chen Ye had become her fate.
Or perhaps her fate had been controlled by Chen Ye from the very beginning.
From losing her voice to attempting suicide, from falling from a height into the abyss, from death to rebirth—none of it had been accidental.
It had all been planned by that lord.
Weaving fate, changing fate, deciding fate—was that what the Weaver of Fate was?
At that thought, Sirens suddenly felt like a puppet on strings.
Before she had even known it, someone had already pulled her onto the stage by her strings.
Of course, she was surely not the only person on this stage.
They were all puppets on the stage, and there was no need to think about who held the strings. It could only be Chen Ye.
Seeing the girl's awestruck expression, Chen Ye raised a brow.
Had she misunderstood something?
Forget it. Whatever.
Sirens suddenly bent at the waist. "May I ask, where does fate point my next step?"
"Wherever."
Wherever?
Chen Ye's reply had indeed been casual, but Sirens thought this "wherever" could not possibly mean what it literally said.
Could it be!
Sirens's eyes suddenly lit up as she finally realized it!
Her voice had actually returned!
Did "wherever" mean that she could go back to being a singer?
This was surely fate's gift!
"But remember, do not let anyone learn your secret."
"Also, after you adapt to your new body, write me a report every day. Send me the changes in your body and your abilities."
Since she was not the primary target, Chen Ye could not be bothered to observe her himself.
He would let Sequence 007 observe herself.
"Yes."
After receiving Sirens's response, Chen Ye took a single step and instantly vanished from before her.
As for how he disappeared—have you watched Spider-Man?
Next, Chen Ye would continue wandering around. Perhaps he might pick up a few more experimental materials.
Serum Number 1 had failed. He needed to try Serum Number 2 as well. If that failed too, he would have no choice but to return and remake them.
After Chen Ye left, Sirens returned upstairs alone.
Along the way, she spotted an orange cat in the hallway. She recognized it—it belonged to her neighbor across the hall.
Sirens often fed it ham sausages. She was in a good mood today and planned to pet the orange cat as usual.
But the moment the orange cat saw her, its fur stood on end!
It bared its claws and began letting out fierce cries, with none of its usual gentleness remaining.
Sirens was scratched by its claws and froze for a moment.
What she did not know was that, in the orange cat's eyes, she no longer looked human.
She was a monster covered in tentacles and viscous fluid.
Soon afterward, the neighbor next door heard the commotion and hurried out.
Seeing Sirens's scratches, the neighbor quickly apologized and carried the orange cat away. Yet even as it was being carried off, the orange cat continued baring its teeth and glaring at Sirens.
"Looks like there are still some differences."