Chapter 19: Mental Fusion
Inside the Ocean Planet’s imperial palace.
Within mere minutes, the members of the imperial royalty and nobility all received the video sent by Lux on their personal light-computers.
The sight of the decapitated guard captain caused the nobles, who were rarely exposed to such gruesome scenes, to cover their eyes and gasp in horror. One merman was so terrified that he threw his light-computer aside.
“Fools! All of them are absolute fools!” Prince Thayn bellowed in fury, flipping the dining table in front of him with a violent sweep of his tail fin.
Not long ago, he had been brutally thrashed by Lux’s human. The incident had even made the headlines of several minor news outlets, leaving him too ashamed to show his face before his brothers lately.
This compounding of new and old grudges threatened to make Thayn combust on the spot.
He stood in place, panting heavily a few times, before turning to face the silver-haired merman seated at the head of the room. “Father! Lux is acting entirely too lawless. He completely disregards our Imperial Family now. We cannot continue to let him grow unchecked!”
The Merman King lifted his eyelids, revealing cloudy pupils, and spoke in a raspy, gravelly voice, “And what exactly do you propose we do?”
Thayn’s eyes darted around. “I…”
“If we execute Lux now, will you be the one to lead the troops against the Zergs?” the Merman King countered.
Thayn’s lips twitched. “But…”
“But what?” The Merman King fixed his gaze on him. “Or do you possess the capability to deter the Siren Clan, keeping them from encroaching upon our territory?”
Thayn was left tongue-tied.
Yet, he remained utterly unwilling to let it go. “Father, but Lux… right now, the Military Department and practically the entire Ocean Planet revere him like a god. Once Lux disposes of the Zergs and the Siren Clan, will there still be any room left for us to stand?”
When he finished speaking, the room fell into a heavy silence.
After a long pause, the Merman King said softly, “He is still of use to us for the time being. We cannot touch him yet.”
“Furthermore, we won’t even need to be the ones to act.”
Thayn looked confused. “What do you mean, Father?”
The Merman King smiled faintly. “His mental energy can no longer support his continued arrogance.”
“But he found his matched human,” Thayn countered, frowning, before a sudden realization dawned on him. “Are you saying…”
The Merman King replied, “Bringing that human along into this campaign will undoubtedly be the most regretful decision he ever makes in his life.”
“Ha!” Thayn immediately flashed a venomous smile. “I understand. I will see to it right away.”
The moment of distraction passed instantly, and Ruan Chen immediately twisted his head back around to look at Lux’s arm.
“Meow-ao?” He stared intently at the merman’s scales.
He had distinctly seen them turn black just moments ago.
Ruan Chen extended a finger to poke at them. “Mew-wu. (What happened?)”
Lux leaned closer to Ruan Chen. Listening to the human’s soft, milky vocalizations, his volatile and irritable mood gradually began to soothe.
Mental energy riots were a destiny that no merman could escape, typically manifesting around the age of two hundred. No one knew what a merman would look like once a riot took hold; no merman had ever witnessed anyone survive after their mental energy collapsed entirely.
Finding a highly compatible human to soothe their mental energy was the sole remedy.
It was precisely because Lux had used his mental energy to suppress the merman guard captain earlier that this condition had flared up.
To be precise, however, he had experienced numerous mental riots long before encountering Ruan Chen.
He had simply kept it hidden from every other merman.
He absolutely could not let anyone know he was gradually growing weaker.
“Ruan Ruan,” he murmured, looking down at the human in his arms.
Ruan Chen was still poking at Lux’s scales with his finger. “Mew-wu? Meow meow meow-wu. (There’s no way I saw it wrong.)”
Lux gave it some thought but ultimately decided against having Ruan Chen soothe his mental energy right now.
The prerequisite for establishing a mental energy connection was that the human had to do so willingly.
Furthermore, it would drain the human’s physical stamina.
His human had just suffered a major scare and needed rest.
Ultimately, Lux still underestimated the severity of the mental riot’s grip on him. Those brief three seconds earlier had merely been a prelude. Just as he attempted to set Ruan Chen down, a violent wave of vertigo slammed into his brain.
Immediately following, a piercing, agonizing pain coursed through his entire body.
“Meow-ao-ao? (Where exactly does it hurt?)” Ruan Chen saw the merman’s pupils contract sharply once more. This time, Lux couldn’t even manage to keep his posture stable. The fins on his pointed ears flared out and trembled violently, appearing to be in immense agony.
Even though this merman was usually incredibly frustrating, he harbored no malice toward him. Ruan Chen could clearly sense that the merman genuinely liked him.
Moreover, during the hostage situation just now, it was the merman who had saved him.
Frowning, Ruan Chen stood up from the shell sofa, reaching out to support Lux. “Meow meow meow-wu? (Where are you hurt? Let me see.)”
His small face was a mask of absolute gravity. “Meow meow meow-ao. (I can help you.)”
The moment Ruan Chen’s palms made contact with Lux’s skin, a comforting, warm body temperature radiated into the merman’s frame.
The excruciating pain racking Lux’s body instantly eased by a significant margin.
Ruan Chen heard the merman emit a brief, deeply satisfied low hum. Following this, the merman leaned down and gently nuzzled the back of Ruan Chen’s hand with his forehead.
His brow smoothed out, looking profoundly comfortable.
Does touching him really make him feel better?
Ruan Chen froze for a few seconds.
This drop-in-the-bucket level of comfort was far from enough to satisfy Lux. The merman soon flicked his tail fin restlessly.
Ruan Chen tried pressing both of his hands against the sides of Lux’s face.
His palms met smooth, slightly cool skin, his fingertips catching the texture of tiny, delicate scales.
“Ruan Ruan…” Lux’s jaw clenched tightly, as if he were practicing immense self-restraint. “Hold me, alright?”
“Mew-wu? (What?)” Ruan Chen heard the merman’s voice and could clearly read the pleading look in his eyes.
Yet, he didn’t quite grasp what it meant.
The sensation of a blade churning violently inside his mind was pushing Lux to the brink of losing his sanity.
Forcing himself to stay conscious, he opened his arms wide to Ruan Chen.
He wants a hug?
Ruan Chen understood now.
“Meow-ao-ao… (It’s just a hug, you should have just said so.)” Pushing off the shell chair with his little feet, he threw his entire body forward into the merman’s embrace.
Embracing the merman voluntarily for the first time, Ruan Chen felt a slight pang of nervousness.
He wrapped his arms around Lux’s back, and after a brief hesitation, rested his head against Lux’s chest.
“Meow meow meow meow… (I was the one who got choked and even I wasn’t this scared. Why are you terrified out of your wits?)” Though Ruan Chen grumbled critically, sensing the merman’s trembling body, he softened his voice anyway. He gently patted the merman’s back, mimicking the way his grandfather used to soothe him when he was little. “Meow meow-ao-ao. (Big brother is right here, don’t be scared, don’t be scared.)”
For a merman of such massive stature, he hadn’t expected him to have such a fragile heart.
“Meow meow meow. (Good boy.)” Ruan Chen lifted his head from Lux’s chest. “Meow meow meow-wu? (Do you feel any better now?)”
His concerned gaze reflected deeply within Lux’s eyes.
The merman’s golden eyes brimmed with an overwhelming tenderness.
Ruan Chen blinked, feeling the merman extend a hand to gently lift his chin.
Immediately following, Lux closed his eyes and pressed his forehead flush against Ruan Chen’s.
“Mew-wu!” A bizarre, crystal-clear sensation erupted explosively within his mind.
Ruan Chen instinctively closed his eyes as well.
It felt incredibly comfortable.
It was ten thousand times more blissful than when the merman had bitten him before.
“Wu…”
It felt as though someone were gently massaging his brain, sending a delightful, tingling sensation rushing into every fiber of his limbs.
The surrounding water currents seemed to perceive this power, settling into absolute stillness.
A wave of mental energy, invisible to the naked eye, centered around the human and the merman, slowly unfurling outward in all directions.
“Ah…”
“Hiss… that feels so good…”
“What is this?”
The fluctuations generated by the mental fusion were so powerful that all the merfolk in the vicinity of the room felt as though a pair of gentle hands had completely ironed away all the restlessness and anxiety in their hearts.
They instinctively began to draw closer to the room where Ruan Chen and Lux were located.
After several minutes passed, Ruan Chen opened his eyes blearily. “Meow-wu… (That was amazing.)”
Lux slowly regained his clarity as well, an unprecedented sense of liberation bursting forth within his chest.
The agony that had tortured him for nearly a century through mental riots had completely vanished. Lux instinctively spread his tail fin, the fine scales behind his ears bristling upright. His golden pupils contracted sharply, only reverting to normal the moment his gaze landed on Ruan Chen.
The human in his arms was tilting his little head up, looking thoroughly intoxicated. “Mew-wu. (Don’t stop, I want more.)”
Lux let out a low chuckle.
Following this, he cradled Ruan Chen’s arms and lifted him up to eye level. “Ruan Ruan…”
“Meow-ao.” Ruan Chen reached out and grabbed a handful of his ear scales.
Lux didn’t mind in the slightest, turning his head to plant a gentle kiss in the palm of the human’s hand.
He met Ruan Chen’s wide, dark eyes, the golden irises shining brilliantly. “Thank you, Ruan Ruan.”
What immense fortune it was for him to have encountered this human.
Being stared at so intensely by Lux, Ruan Chen felt a sudden flush of embarrassment.
With a soft “Mew-wu,” he covered his face with his paws and twisted his head away. “Meow meow meow, meow meow meow-ao. (I only gave you a brief hug, don’t stare at me like that!)”
