I Woke Up To Find Myself Being Kept By A Mermaid – CH10

Chapter 10: Playing with Toys

Ruan Chen was startled by his own line of thought.

Had he seriously become a pet?

But if he were just a pet, why would the merman bite him?

Ruan Chen couldn’t wrap his head around it. He turned his head to look at the spot where Lux had grabbed the cat teaser wand earlier. The corner of the room was piled high with all sorts of boxes, each one adorned with exquisite, colorful patterns.

From the looks of it… they seemed to be toys bought entirely for him.

“Meow-uuu… (Fuck)“

He really had become a merman’s pet!

Ruan Chen’s worldview completely shattered.

Seeing him freeze without a reaction for a long moment, Lux assumed he didn’t care for the Pacific saury toy.

Setting it aside, he reached for the most expensive item among the toys and unboxed it.

To his surprise, the box contained a bag of loose pieces that required assembly before it could be played with.

Lux lowered his gaze to look at Ruan Chen, and Ruan Chen looked up to meet his eyes.

“Do you want to play?”

“Meow. (No)“

A meow should mean he wants to, Lux thought.

Lux pondered for a moment. “Wait a bit.”

After scanning the toy box with his optical computer, he began assembling it according to the instruction manual.

Standing off to the side, Ruan Chen watched the merman exercise extreme caution, trying his best not to let his sharp claws puncture the toy in his hands. His emotions were complicated.

This thing looked… an awful lot like a brainless toy he used to play with when he was a kid.

Except the one from his childhood wasn’t a shark’s mouth—it was a crocodile’s.

A row of teeth lined the inside of the jaws, and you had to press them down one by one. When you hit the trigger tooth, the crocodile’s mouth would suddenly snap shut, trapping your hand.

He had actually been scared to tears by that exact toy back then.

Ruan Chen’s brow furrowed deeply, his eyes filled with pure disdain.

“Meow, meow, meow. (He’d rather die than play with this piece of garbage again)“

Hearing his cries, Lux glanced up at him. “Don’t be impatient, it will be ready soon.”

Despite Ruan Chen’s protests, the merman still looked completely determined to piece it together. It was a textbook case of talking past each other.

Ruan Chen wrinkled his nose, picked out a seashell-shaped chair to sit on, and crossed his legs, watching the merman with a look of detached amusement.

Well, a pet is still better than food, he reasoned.

At least he didn’t have to worry about getting eaten anymore.

After waiting for ages, the merman still hadn’t finished assembling it. Ruan Chen looked up only to find that the progress was virtually at zero, causing his brow to twitch.

“Meow-awooo, meow-uuu. (You put that piece on backward)“

“Meow, meow, meow! (That belongs on the left side!)“

Lux was still trying to figure it out. A pair of hands that were completely invincible on the battlefield were proving to be somewhat inadequate when facing such a tiny, fragile toy.

He’s so stupid! I literally just told you that goes on the left! Dumb fish!

Ruan Chen couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He was just about to stand up and help the merman assemble it.

Then, he suddenly caught himself.

No way.

He had already sworn he would absolutely never play with this kind of childish garbage. A hard no meant no.

Ruan Chen sat right back down and turned his head away, refusing to look.

Thinking Ruan Chen had grown impatient from the wait, Lux patched through a video call to Vincent.

Vincent had only been home for a short while and was still halfway through pulling on his pajamas. He assumed a major crisis had struck. “Lux? What’s wrong?”

“This,” Lux said, holding up the toy in his hand. “How do you assemble it?”

Vincent: “…” Are you fucking kidding me?

“Uh…” Vincent opened his eyes wide to study it. “I’ve only ever seen the fully assembled version of that thing. I honestly have no idea how to put it together. Hold on, let me look it up for you.”

Lux’s brow knitted. “I already checked. It cannot be assembled according to the manual.”

The instruction manual seemed to have been packaged incorrectly; it didn’t match the toy at all.

Hearing their exchange, Ruan Chen couldn’t understand the words, but he could easily tell from the merman’s deeply analytical expression that they were trying to figure out how to install the toy.

Damn it, is it really that hard?

It’s not that I want to play.

It’s just that this merman is too stupid, and I can’t stand watching it. That’s all.

Having successfully convinced himself, Ruan Chen scrambled out of his seat and growled fiercely, “Meow-awooo! (Give it to me!)”

Lux turned his head. “It is not ready yet, wait a little longer.”

Before he could even finish his sentence, the components in his hand were snatched away by the human’s tiny paws in a single swift motion.

“Meow. (Watch closely)” Ruan Chen held up the toy. “Meow, meow, meow, meow. (This goes here)”

The two mermen focused their gazes entirely on Ruan Chen’s hands. His movements were incredibly nimble. Within a matter of seconds, he had assembled the shark’s head, followed by a satisfying click as he snapped the final trigger switch into place.

“Meow, meow, meow, meow-uuu. (Here you go, it’s done.)” Ruan Chen curled his lip, handing the toy back to the merman.

A flash of astonishment crossed Lux’s eyes. He double-checked the piece; it actually appeared to be entirely correct.

“Holy crap, that thing looks completely different from the tutorials online. Did you buy a knockoff?” Vincent questioned upon seeing the finished product.

The assembled toy truly didn’t look much like the illustrations in the manual.

Yet Lux had an inexplicable feeling that his human’s assembly was the correct one.

Seeing that the merman wasn’t moving, Ruan Chen assumed he had no idea how to play.

Whatever. If you’re going to help someone, you might as well see it through to the end.

Maintaining a scowl of sheer impatience, he extended his hand. “Meow, meow. (Hand it over, I’ll teach you)“

Once the toy was back in his possession, Ruan Chen sat down on the floor.

The merman followed suit, lowering his upper body.

Ruan Chen pointed the shark’s open mouth toward the merman, pressed down a tooth right in front of him, and instantly yanked his hand back. “Meow!”

Nothing happened.

Feeling that his sudden reaction had been a bit too dramatic, Ruan Chen cleared his throat, his eyes darting away slightly as he looked back at the merman. “Meow-uuu, meow-awooo. (What are you staring at?)”

The merman kept his eyes fixed on him. Ruan Chen glared back. “Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow! (I’m not scared, I’m just teaching you the proper way to play)“

Lux raised an eyebrow slightly. Mimicking the human’s actions, he gently pressed down another tooth.

Except he didn’t pull his hand back.

Ruan Chen tensely held his breath.

Still, nothing happened.

He let out a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed the merman’s luck was pretty good.

Ruan Chen followed up by pressing another one.

This time, he deliberately slowed his movements down a fraction, doing his best to appear entirely at ease.

The human and the merman took turns until more than half of the teeth were pressed down, yet the shark’s mouth remained wide open.

However, having fallen for this trap once before, Ruan Chen didn’t let his guard down. By the time only three teeth remained, his extended little hand hesitated slightly.

“What is the matter?” Lux asked. “Why are you not pressing it?”

Seeing the hesitation, he leaned in and pressed another tooth down on Ruan Chen’s behalf.

Only two teeth were left.

Still, nothing happened.

Ruan Chen stared intently at the final two shark teeth.

Fuck.

It’s just a stupid toy, isn’t it?

How can I let myself be looked down upon by a merman over a children’s toy!

Ruan Chen lightning-fast reached out, picked a tooth, and slammed it down—

With a sharp snap, the shark’s jaws slammed shut instantly.

“Meow-awooo——! (Holy mother of fuck!)“

Ruan Chen’s tragic shriek echoed through the entire room.

In the very next second, the water in front of him ripped open at an extreme velocity as a blur flashed before his eyes.

The weight on his hand vanished instantly.

With a loud crack, the shark toy that had been clamped onto his hand a split second ago was violently slapped away. It smashed into the wall and shattered into a dozen pieces.

Ruan Chen stood frozen in utter shock.

Lux retracted his tail, his brow furrowed as he scooped him up. “Extend your paws, let me see.”

Ruan Chen stared blankly upward, allowing the merman to take hold of his hand.

Lux inspected it thoroughly from every angle. Finding no injuries, he finally set Ruan Chen down.

“Mee-uuu… (What the hell just happened)” Ruan Chen turned his head to look at the fragments of the toy floating in the water.

Lux ruffled his hair a few times. “That thing was too dangerous. I will buy you a better toy another day.”

Humans who hadn’t reached their transformation phase couldn’t stay in the water for extended periods. As it happened, the military branch was about to hold another urgent meeting, so Lux carried Ruan Chen back to the specialized human habitat prepared just for him.

Standing inside the new room—which looked nearly identical to the glass enclosure from before—Ruan Chen still hadn’t completely snapped out of his daze.

That movement just now… the golden merman had used his tail to whip the shark toy right off his hand?

With that kind of sheer force, it felt like the water itself had almost been sliced clean through, yet his hand was completely unscathed.

Ruan Chen held up his hands and blinked.

Good grief.

A single swipe from that tail could probably slap ten of him to death.

Wait, no!

Recalling the scene that had just unfolded, Ruan Chen’s expression darkened significantly.

He wasn’t an actual pet cat! Why the hell did he just willingly sit there playing toys with that stinky goldfish?!

Damn it.

He completely played right into the fish’s hands.

With a sour face, Ruan Chen peered at his own reflection in the glass wall.

He lifted a hand to pat the top of his head to double-check.

His ears were on the sides of his face, not on top of his head, and they certainly weren’t cat ears. Correct.

He looked down.

His hands were human hands, and his face was his own human face.

Realizing what he was doing, Ruan Chen froze. He gave his own head a hard thump, burying his face in his hands as he let out a desperate cry, “Meow, meow, meow-awooo!” (I am not a cat! Wake the hell up!)

His shriek was so agonizingly shrill that Lux, who was just about to leave the house, turned back and tapped on the glass of his room. “I will be back to keep you company very soon. Be good.”

Vincent, who was still connected to the video call, remarked, “Ah, humans who are about to enter their transformation phase are always like this. They get incredibly clingy with their mermen. Once he officially hits the transformation phase, I bet you won’t be able to leave his side for even a second.”

“Is that so?” Lux mused. After a moment’s thought, he tossed the initial Pacific saury toy into Ruan Chen’s room.

“Yeah, humans are at their absolute softest and cutest during this period,” Vincent added, his face full of envy.

Staring down at the Pacific saury cat teaser wand that had just been added to his floor, Ruan Chen fell silent for a few seconds.

The moment Lux stepped out the door, he sent it flying across the room with a vicious kick.

“Screw you! If I play with that again, I’m a dog!”

Three seconds later, the saury hit the glass wall and bounced right back, smacking Ruan Chen squarely on the forehead. The incredibly lifelike, dead fish eyes stared directly back at him.

“Fuck!”

Baring his teeth in pain, Ruan Chen clutched his forehead. Overcome with humiliation and rage, he fiercely flipped a massive middle finger in the direction Lux had departed.

You actually dare to treat me like a pet? Just wait, see if I don’t tear your entire house apart.

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