I'm not the Little Mermaid

The Wayne Family had an unspoken ironclad rule-

Handle the little things yourself, go to Batman for the big things, and if even Batman couldn't handle it, go to Butler Batman!

Whether it was the Wayne Family's inherited talent for culinary disasters or the Bat-heroes' hereditary inability to communicate, one call to Butler Batman could solve anything!

As the saying went, "What sound does a bat make?"

Answer: "Alfred! Alfred!"

Alfred, the Butler Batman who had raised Bruce Wayne single-handedly, served as both mother and father, and still had a whole flock of grandchildren to raise, sighed.

"Miss Miaomiao, I'm very glad you enjoy my cookies." Alfred bent down and offered her a handkerchief. "But food is meant to lift our spirits and bring us happiness, not tears, isn't it?"

Looking at this kind, gentle elder, Miaomiao slowly stopped crying. She glanced down and saw that blue-violet pearls already covered the entire bottom of the tray in Bruce's hands. A little embarrassed, she said, "I'm sorry. That was rather rude of me."

"Not at all. We've never seen a little mermaid's tears turn into pearls before, right?"

Dick nudged Damian with his elbow, hoping for agreement, only to receive a glare from his dear little brother.

Okay, okay. I got so excited I forgot the guy next to me wasn't someone I could mess with.

But Dick's words didn't comfort Miaomiao. Instead, they earned him a bewildered look.

"Little mermaid?"

Hearing an unfamiliar word, Miaomiao looked over in confusion.

"Mermaid? What's that?"

Ah, how was he supposed to explain this? You? That didn't seem quite right...

When Dick didn't answer, Miaomiao turned to Bruce, who had been teaching her to speak. "Bruce, what does 'mermaid' mean?"

This time, Miaomiao spoke in Chinese, the language she was more comfortable with.

And because of a certain nighttime "side job," everyone in the Wayne family knew at least a few foreign languages to varying degrees. As the language with the most speakers in the world, bar none, Chinese was naturally required learning for them.

So everyone understood her.

And precisely because everyone understood her, a new question arose.

"Wait, why do you speak Chinese?"

Faced with Tim's confusion, Miaomiao was even more confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"No, wait. Does this make sense?"

Unpleasant as it was to put it that way, it was understandable that a test subject born and raised in an illegal laboratory wouldn't speak English well. Those researchers weren't nannies or tutors, after all, and had no obligation to teach their subjects. But being unable to speak English while speaking Chinese as fluently as a native? That wasn't right.

After all, this illegal human experimentation lab was in the land of the free, America.

Even if Miaomiao was gifted enough to pick up a language through everyday exposure alone, that language absolutely shouldn't have been Chinese. Unless-

The premise had been wrong from the very beginning.

Afraid of stirring up the girl's painful memories of the laboratory, Bruce had always tried to avoid mentioning anything related to it in front of her. Only now did he belatedly realize that Miaomiao had apparently never said she had escaped from a laboratory. He had let his assumptions lead him and imposed that backstory on her. Even when Miaomiao had mentioned words like "elders," he had automatically rationalized them as lies the researchers had told the girls.

This wasn't normal!

How could Batman make a mistake like this? And after all this time, he hadn't noticed a thing until today. He had simply muddled along, oblivious, right up to this moment!

"Bruce? Is something wrong?"

Miaomiao sensed the subtle change in the atmosphere, but she didn't understand why.

"Miaomiao." Bruce took a deep breath. He knew he couldn't let this continue. "May I ask you a question?"

Good girl that she was, Miaomiao nodded obediently. "Of course."

"Can you tell me where you were born and grew up?"

"In the ocean, of course."

Miaomiao gave Bruce a puzzled look. What kind of question was that? Naturally, the Merfolk could only be born and raised in the ocean.

"Uh-oh..." Dick couldn't resist nudging Damian again. "Now this is getting interesting."

"If you can't keep your hands to yourself, you'll be the entertainment."

Damian viciously shook a fist at his so-called big brother. If he hadn't wanted to avoid leaving a bad impression on the little mermaid, he would have struck the first time Dick elbowed him, as he normally did.

But for now, all of that could wait.

The most important questions now were these: if Miaomiao wasn't a genetically engineered product born in a laboratory, then who exactly was she? Why did she have a human body and a fish tail? More importantly, why had Batman, who was always on high alert and questioned everything, completely ignored every inconsistency in their interactions and stubbornly believed the "test subject" explanation?

Miaomiao's current vocabulary wasn't enough for her to explain so many things, but that was all right. As already mentioned, everyone in the Wayne family knew some Chinese.

Learning another language always came in handy.

With Bruce's explanation, Miaomiao finally understood that everyone had apparently mistaken her for something artificially "created." And that "little mermaid" was a girl from their fairy tales who, like her, was born in the ocean, beautiful and kind, with a human body and a fish tail.

"Besides mermaids, similar creatures in fairy tales and legends include sea sirens and the sirens of Greek mythology. Generally speaking, mermaids have human bodies and fish tails, and are often beautiful, kind guardians of the ocean. Sea sirens don't have a fixed appearance, but they often use their looks or voices as bait to stir people's desires and achieve their goals, such as taking human souls. Greek sirens have the upper bodies of beautiful women and the lower bodies of birds, with wings and talons. They lure sailors with beautiful songs, causing passing ships to strike reefs and sink, then drag those who fall overboard into the depths to eat them."

Tim took out his portable computer and showed Miaomiao the pictures he had found.

"As these stories are passed down over time, some blend together. In some stories, sea sirens and Greek sirens are the same species. In plenty of others, mermaids are a kind of siren too, using their voices to lure sailors into jumping overboard and meeting their deaths at the bottom of the sea."

"How amazing..."

Looking at the various pictures and descriptions on the computer, Miaomiao cautiously touched the screen with a finger. Unlike rice paper or silk, it was smooth and cold, yet its colors and detail were far richer.

"So Miaomiao isn't a genetically engineered product from a lab, but a real little mermaid?"

Dick was thrilled. This was so much better than being a test subject born of evil. No wonder there wasn't a trace of darkness in the girl's eyes.

"But..."

Miaomiao tilted her head, looking puzzled.

"I'm not a little mermaid..."