Chapter 13: The Combat Simulator
Back on the shuttle, Vincent finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. He slapped his tail fin and burst into a fit of laughter, rocking back and forth. “Did you see Sane’s expression just now? Hahahahaha! It looked exactly like he swallowed a whole bowl of black snails in one gulp!”
Black snails were a snack that had recently become popular. Vincent had smelled them once in the past and nearly couldn’t eat for three days afterward; he had no idea why some mermen actually enjoyed eating them.
Lux was also in a good mood. He placed Ruan Chen into the specialized safety seat for humans, taking his tiny paw to double-check once more for any injuries.
Ruan Chen kept squirming in the chair, desperately trying to get out.
“Mee-uuu. (Don’t like this chair)” Ruan Chen puckered his lips, clinging tightly to Lux’s body, refusing to go down.
“Be good, sit properly.” Lux gently pried away the small hands clutching his clothes.
Seeing this, Vincent remarked, “Oh, he doesn’t need to sit in that. I think your human is completely different from those other fragile, delicate humans. Look at the agility he showed when he threw Sane just now. How impressive.”
Hearing this, Lux fell silent for a few seconds before looking at Ruan Chen. “You really do not want to sit?”
Ruan Chen kicked away the seatbelt by his feet. “Meow-awooo.”
His attitude of rejection was absolute.
Thinking back on Ruan Chen’s behavior up until now, he truly did seem different from other humans.
So Lux didn’t force it, allowing him to clamber out of the safety seat.
“Lux, given how impressive your human’s skills are, what do you think he used to do? Oh! I just thought of something—could what he used just now be the legendary Chinese Kung Fu?” Vincent’s eyes lit up, deeply intrigued by the move Ruan Chen had executed earlier.
He gently poked Ruan Chen’s arm. “Hey, cutie.”
Ruan Chen tilted his head. “Meow? (What?)”
Vincent gestured to mimic the throw from earlier, raising an eyebrow. “This—how did you just do that? Can you teach me?”
His imitation was entirely butchered, and the movement looked incredibly awkward.
Ruan Chen glared in sheer disdain. “Mee-uuu… (What kind of garbage is that)”
Vincent let out a sharp “Tsk.” “You little thing, you’re actually mocking me?”
“Who are you calling a little thing?” Lux shot him a cold, indifferent glance.
Vincent folded instantly. “…Me, myself. I am the little thing.”
After a pause, he added, “Well, you haven’t given him a name yet, so I didn’t know what to call him.”
Lux froze slightly.
A name.
He indeed hadn’t thought of one yet.
He lowered his gaze to meet Ruan Chen’s bright, pitch-black eyes, and a wave of inexplicable tenderness softened his heart.
The corners of Lux’s lips turned upward in a very gentle smile. “Call him Ruan Ruan.”
“Ruan…” Vincent was tongue-tied. “This… him… Ruan Ruan?”
How could this explosive-tempered human be associated with a word like “soft” in the slightest?
Right at that moment, Ruan Chen turned his head and let out a puzzled, soft “mee-uuu” toward Vincent.
“Fine, fine.” Vincent surrendered instantly. “Just based on that cry of yours, Ruan Ruan works too.”
Juxtaposing this name with the little guy’s image of beating up a merman, Vincent found it inexplicably hilarious.
Ruan Chen’s brow knitted tightly. “Meow-awooo? (What are you laughing at)”
Although he couldn’t understand them, he had a distinct feeling this merman was making fun of him.
“Ahem.” Terrified of provoking him, Vincent rubbed his nose to change the subject. “Ruan Ruan beating up Sane today felt amazing, but… war is imminent. I’m worried Sane will use this as an excuse to go complain to that old fogey.”
Lux’s lips curled coldly. “Being pinned to the ground and beaten by a human is not something he would ever dare make a scene over.”
Sane cared about his pride above all else.
For an incident like this, he would only wish that every single merman present could suffer instant amnesia.
“True enough,” Vincent leaned his chin in his hand. “But given Ruan Ruan’s current situation, bringing him to Base X… what if his transformation phase becomes unstable and he can’t leave your side? What will you do then?”
“If we truly engage in battle with the Zerg, you absolutely won’t have time to look after him every day,” Vincent expressed his worry. “He’s just started his transformation and hasn’t reached the stage where he can communicate with mermen yet.”
And the translation device wasn’t ready either.
Lux observed Ruan Chen for a moment.
The latter was currently pressing his tiny paws against the shuttle’s window with a face full of curiosity, staring unblinkingly at the scenery outside.
Combined with the way he had thrown Sane today, he was brimming with vitality, showing absolutely none of the symptoms of needing spiritual pheromone soothing typical of the transformation phase.
“I will have him learn self-defense before we depart,” Lux pondered aloud. “Is the combat simulator still in the old place?”
Vincent blinked. “Yes.”
“Ah, you don’t mean…” He gasped, an expression of utter disbelief washing over his face. “Teaching a human how to use weapons? You really are…”
He certainly had a way of thinking outside the box.
Most fragile humans could barely even lift a gun, let alone fight in combat.
But… if it were Ruan Chen, the sense of mismatch didn’t seem quite so extreme.
Upon returning home, Ruan Chen was carried by Lux onto a chair that looked exactly like a holographic gaming capsule from a sci-fi movie.
He tilted his head back. “Meow, meow, meow? (What are you doing)”
Lux adjusted the visor and helmet to the smallest possible size, placing them securely onto Ruan Chen’s head.
Ruan Chen’s vision suddenly plunged into darkness, and he reached out to grope blindly. “Meow-awooo... (What is this)”
A few seconds later, Lux turned on the combat simulator.
A screen very similar to the first-person shooter games he used to play instantly materialized before his eyes, leaving Ruan Chen in complete shock.
Following the initial shock, Ruan Chen—the ultimate internet-addicted youth—felt absolute, unadulterated ecstasy.
Standing to the side and monitoring the simulator’s visuals through his optical computer, Lux planned to start by teaching him how to use the simplest defensive gear today.
However, before he could even activate the tutorial mode, Lux watched as the screen displayed Ruan Chen sprinting at full speed toward the weapon rack, letting out ecstatic shrieks the entire way: “Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow! (A holographic game! Hell yeah!)”
Lux: “?”
Watching Ruan Chen grunt as he hauled the most devastating automatic laser cannon into his arms, Lux went completely blank for a moment.
The moment the weapon was equipped, the simulator automatically generated a combat scenario based on the high tier of the selected firearm.
Since Ruan Chen had picked the highest-grade weapon, he had triggered the most brutal combat difficulty, and a dense swarm of Zerg began pouring out from the entrance.
Panicking that Ruan Chen would be traumatized by such a horrifying sight, Lux scrambled to hit the emergency shutoff button.
In the very next second, his fingers froze.
“Meow, awoooo, awoooo, awoooo——” (Aaaata ta ta ta ta!)
“Meow, meow, meow, meow!” (This weapon is way too overpowered!)
“Meow-uuu!” (So satisfying!)
The scene he had anticipated of a human crying hysterically with their head in their hands didn’t happen at all.
Ruan Chen wielded the heavy laser cannon with his slender arms, his eyes burning with pure excitement. He didn’t need to be taught a single thing; after a couple of trial attempts, he successfully disengaged the safety switch and began blasting the Zerg soldiers to pieces like a pro, his accuracy absolutely staggering.
Within moments, the simulated Zerg forces were decimated under his onslaught.
It wasn’t until the simulator displayed the words “Trial Cleared. Difficulty Escalating” that Lux finally snapped out of his daze.
On the screen, nothing remained but a floor covered in Zerg corpses and Ruan Chen, who had lowered the laser cannon to wipe his mouth, looking thoroughly unsatisfied.
Lux: “??”
“Difficulty Escalating. Awaiting authorization.”
Seeing that the second stage wasn’t starting, Ruan Chen scowled, waving his hands frantically in Lux’s direction.
“Meow, meow, meow! (Hurry up and start)”
By the time Ruan Chen was forcibly dragged out of the simulator by Lux, several hours had already passed.
His hands clung desperately to the edge of the pod, flatly refusing to come down. “Meow-uuu… (Just let me play a bit longer QAQ)”
Turning his head, Ruan Chen noticed Lux’s highly displeased expression, which suddenly reminded him that he was dealing with a merman who could crush someone’s skull with one hand without batting an eye.
He could only pucker his lips and release his grip. “Meow, meow, meow, meow-awooo. (Fine, I’ll play again next time then)”
Lux gathered him into his embrace, ruffling his hair. “Operating the combat simulator for too long strains the brain. You cannot use it anymore today.”
Moreover, Ruan Chen had already cleared his way up to the seventh stage. Seeing such a tiny human surrounded by a dense, suffocating swarm of Zerg had made Lux’s heart skip a beat just watching it.
If it weren’t to ensure he could protect himself in a worst-case scenario, he would never have let Ruan Chen touch these things.
“Mee-uuu.” Ruan Chen rested his head against Lux’s shoulder, casting a lingering, deeply affectionate final glance at his beloved “gaming pod.”
Who knew this merman would understand my hobbies so perfectly? Not bad at all.
At this thought, Ruan Chen cast a highly satisfied glance at Lux.
The latter was currently lowering his gaze, using his optical computer to search the phrase: “Humans enjoying combat simulators.” However, the only results that popped up were: “No results found. Did you mean: ‘Humans hating combat simulators’ or ‘Humans terrified of combat simulators’?”
Lux sank completely into deep thought.
Gazing at the golden merman’s profile, Ruan Chen felt his pulse quicken, perhaps due to the lingering adrenaline from blasting those monsters earlier.
He leaned down and nuzzled his head against Lux’s neck. “Mee…”
Successfully receiving the merman’s hair-smoothing service, Ruan Chen narrowed his eyes in blissful comfort.
Three days later, aboard a military battleship.
With only a few hours left before their departure for Base X, Ruan Chen was once again packed into the portable habitat by Lux, brought all the way into this unfamiliar environment.
He peered through the transparent window on the side of the box, his eyes wide with curiosity as he took in the colossally massive starship before him.
Ruan Chen marveled, “Mee-uuu… (So badass)”
This thing looked even more impressive than the interstellar dreadnoughts in sci-fi blockbusters.
As Ruan Chen was looking up, a group of mermen dressed in military uniforms suddenly blocked his view.
He scowled, slapping the side of the container. “Meow-awooo! (You’re blocking my view)”
Outside the box, the merman generals who had come to welcome Lux offered their congratulations. “Congratulations, Admiral Lux. We heard your human has successfully entered the transformation phase.”
Lux gave them a slight nod of acknowledgment.
The merman soldiers whispered excitedly behind them.
“As expected of a rare breed, he looks incredibly beautiful.”
“A perfect match, they really look so compatible.”
“I’m so envious…”
“I heard this human is going to participate in the campaign with us. He’s so tiny, yet so incredibly brave!”
“We must protect him and Admiral Lux at all costs.”
Lux went to his private quarters first, letting Ruan Chen out of the portable habitat.
Finally restored to open waters, Ruan Chen stretched lazily, expanding his limbs in absolute comfort.
Because his movements were too wide, a small strip of pale, slender waist peeked out from the hem of his clothes.
Lux’s gaze locked onto it for a brief second before turning away. “I must attend a briefing. You can play with the simulator on your own first. I will lock the room from the inside; no other merman will be able to enter except me, so it is entirely safe.”
Even though he knew the human couldn’t understand him, he still instinctively conversed with him.
Over the past few days, Lux had fully accepted the reality that Ruan Chen treated the combat simulator as a toy.
His human didn’t like playing with the plush dolls and teaser wands he had bought, preferring this blood-pumping, destructive genre instead. It created an overwhelming sense of cognitive dissonance when paired with Ruan Chen’s deeply adorable appearance.
Ruan Chen was carried by him onto the simulator.
The moment he saw the “gaming pod,” his eyes lit up instantly. “Meow, meow, meow, meow! (Quick! Let me play!)”
The instant Ruan Chen pulled the helmet on, he immediately immersed himself in the joy of slaughtering monsters, completely failing to notice when Lux left.
The game created by the mermen featured an incredibly high degree of realism, the shooting mechanics felt phenomenal, and there was an immense variety of weapons. The only flaw was that there was only one type of monster, making it a bit repetitive.
He had already made it to the tenth stage, where he was facing an incredibly colossal Zerg creature that looked like a broodmother.
Ruan Chen had been stuck on this exact stage for the entire day yesterday.
Today, he swore he would beat it.
For the fourth time, his health bar was completely emptied by a single sweep of the broodmother’s leg, sending him straight back to the respawn screen. Ruan Chen let out an incensed howl, spitting out a curse word.
Time to take a break.
He pulled the helmet off, panting heavily for a few breaths.
Suddenly, a wave of profound discomfort washed over him.
Ruan Chen’s brow furrowed tightly.
The hands clutching the helmet began to tremble weakly. He hadn’t noticed it while fully immersed in the game, but now that he had stopped, he realized his heart was pounding at an unprecedented, frantic speed.
Ruan Chen let out a few weak “mee-uuu” cries.
It hurts so much…
The merman.
Where was his golden merman?
Ruan Chen’s pupils dilated slightly.
Dropping the helmet, he used his weakening legs to support himself as he swam toward the door of the quarters.
But it wouldn’t budge.
The door was locked.
“Meow-uuu… meow, awoooo, awoooo…” (Help me, is there a merman out there?)
A few seconds passed, and the rims of his eyes began to flush a deep crimson, his entire body burning with a terrifying, feverish heat.
Ruan Chen reached out, frantically scratching at the door.
“Mee-uuu…” (I’m going to die)
“Mee-uuu-awooo…” (He…lp…)
![After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]](https://i1.wp.com/panda-translations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/20220822190944_300_420.jpg?resize=151,215 "After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar]")
