Chapter 2: Communication Barrier
“Why hasn’t the backup guard detail arrived yet?!” At the West Sea Breeding Center, an older merman wearing a white lab coat barked in irritation.
Ever since the news broke about the awakening of a purebred Chinese human, the customer service light-brains at the breeding center had been absolutely overwhelmed with applications from mermen all over the galaxy requesting mental compatibility tests. Some of the more hot-tempered mermen had even flown their private airships straight to the scene, demanding to see Ruan Chen.
The exterior of the West Sea Breeding Center was already surrounded by a sea of mermen. They were severely understaffed on security. If this continued, he was genuinely worried they would lose their minds, storm the facility, and snatch Ruan Chen away.
Meanwhile, the human who had caused all this commotion was completely oblivious.
Inside the breeding room.
“Hey, buddy, can you hear me?”
Taking advantage of the moment while the mermen seemed to have been called away by other business, Ruan Chen tapped on the glass wall of the adjacent enclosure.
Yesterday, not long after he woke up in this bizarre place, the mermen had brought in another foreigner. The poor fellow was locked up right next door to him. The moment he entered the room, he had curled up into a ball in the corner, looking thoroughly drained and dispirited.
Hearing the noise, the blonde, foreign teenager carefully peeked out from the corner of the room.
Seeing a reaction, Ruan Chen felt a surge of joy. “Hey are you from?”
The other boy just kept staring at him, offering no response.
Ruan Chen scratched his head.
Great. English class had always been his absolute least favorite subject. Even after racking his brain, he could barely squeeze out a handful of words.
“Can you, can you understand English?” He gestured with his hands, trying his best to communicate in his broken, cobbled-together English.
“Hello?”
“You, English, understand?” Wait, no. That sounded like the Japanese soldiers in the historical dramas his grandfather loved to watch.
Finally, after he uttered that last line, the blonde teenager reacted.
Ruan Chen blinked.
Could this guy be Japanese?
But with that high nose bridge and big eyes, he looked entirely Western no matter how you sliced it…
The blonde teenager slowly approached the glass separating them. Then, applying a tiny bit of pressure, a beep rang out, and the glass panel between the two rooms slid open.
Ruan Chen: “…”
Wait, it could do that?
“Japanese? Korean?” the other boy asked as he walked over.
“NO, no, no!” Ruan Chen shook his head. “Chinese, Chinese.”
The teenager knitted his brows and mumbled something Ruan Chen couldn’t catch.
But that didn’t matter. What mattered was figuring out what exactly was going on here.
He scratched his head in frustration, when suddenly, a stroke of genius hit him. “Uh… Question!”
“Uh-huh?” The blonde teenager cocked an eyebrow, looking a bit surprised that he even knew the word.
Ruan Chen asked, “They… those fish, eat us?”
He pointed between the two of them.
The blonde teenager shrugged. “Probably.”
Seeing the look of confusion on Ruan Chen’s face, he pouted slightly and added, “Maybe.”
“OK.” Got it. Ruan Chen gave a thumbs-up.
So they really had crossed over into an alien world to become mermaid food—and the captive-raised kind at that.
There was no telling when they’d be eaten.
Ruan Chen sized up their respective builds, figuring in his head that everyone else had probably already been devoured. The two of them were too scrawny, so the mermen turned their noses up at them, wanting to fatten them up before taking a bite.
Before he could ponder any further, a sharp whistle echoed from outside the glass.
The two in the room jolted in surprise. The blonde teenager abruptly yanked Ruan Chen back, shielding him behind his own body as he stared warily at the merman outside.
Outside the glass, the merman pressed his hands to his heart. “What am I witnessing! Cutie is actually chatting with Goldie!”
“Cutie” was the nickname they had all agreed on for Ruan Chen after discussing it last night.
It meant that there was no human more adorable than him.
Noticing that the two humans had stopped communicating—and that the black-haired one was staring at him with wide eyes, looking faintly angry—the merman first blushed in extreme embarrassment before saying apologetically, “I’m so sorry to disturb you two. I just came by to check on your safety. I’ll leave right away.”
After all, they could still watch them from the monitoring room, where the view was closer and much clearer.
Having said his piece, the merman flicked his caudal fin. The water around him instantly whipped into a flurry of bubbles, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished into the distance.
Ruan Chen hadn’t understood a single word he said. All he had seen were the razor-sharp teeth exposed when the merman whistled.
It felt like one bite would be enough to rip his head clean off.
He shivered, a detail noticed by the blonde teenager who happened to turn around just then. The boy patted his shoulder. “Easy.”
Understanding his meaning, Ruan Chen’s face flushed slightly. “I’m not scared!”
Getting shielded behind someone else’s back right off the bat—how embarrassing was that?
“What?”
“…”
Ruan Chen pointed to himself, put on a theatrical display of sheer terror, and then waved his hands frantically. “Scared, No!”
He extended his arm, rolled up his sleeve, and slapped his bicep. “I am strong! You know?”
The blonde teenager crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, his gaze dropping to the other’s thin, twig-like arm.
Ruan Chen grew anxious. Although he had no idea why he had woken up with a body so pale and thin it looked malnourished, he was still someone who had trained in martial arts with his grandfather for over a decade.
He said loudly, “Don’t look down on me, I can protect you! I can beat fish all over the floor looking for teeth!”
As he spoke, he bared his teeth and pointed at them.
“Hungry?” Perplexed by the word salad, the blonde teenager shrugged. “Whatever. I’m sleepy, be quiet.”
With that, he walked back to his own room.
Damn it.
Ruan Chen stood rooted to the spot.
Never in his life had he missed his English dictionary as much as he did right now.
The Fleet HQ of the Ocean Planet was the most heavily fortified place on the entire planet.
At this moment, the conference room doors were tightly shut, guarded by a row of heavily armed merman soldiers.
For security reasons, all external communications were jammed during the meeting. Unable to play with their light-brains, and with the atmosphere being incredibly solemn, even Vincent—who usually loved to joke around—kept his expression stiff, standing in a textbook military posture behind Lux.
Seated at the head of the conference table was Admiral Lux, the ruler of the military.
“This war is unavoidable. The Zerg have provoked us more than once.”
“Exactly, we must fight! Let them know our Ocean Planet isn’t a pushover. The barrier at Base X was shattered; this ambush was definitely premeditated. We need to teach them a lesson.”
“But… we still have to face the threat of the Sirens. If we go to war with the Zerg, we’ll be attacked from both fronts.”
After a round of heated debate, the figure at the head of the table had yet to offer a single opinion. The merman officers present all stopped speaking in unison.
Every merman turned their gaze toward Lux, everyone harboring a trace of inexplicable dread.
The conference room, which had been buzzing with fervor just seconds ago, instantly fell dead silent.
Lux lifted his eyelids, his pale irises devoid of any emotion. “Finished discussing?”
“Yes, Admiral.” A merman Major General in the front row adopted a look of profound reverence. “We would like to know your opinion…”
“The Sirens last invaded over a century ago,” Lux said indifferently. “But the Zerg have been causing us losses continuously over the past decade.”
With the words laid out like this, the implication was crystal clear.
The few merman generals who advocated for peace and recovery exchanged glances, not daring to utter a sound.
Lux rose from his seat. Just as he was about to speak, the conference room doors suddenly swung open.
Every single merman snapped their heads around—
“S-Sorry to disturb you, Admiral Lux.” A merman guard swam in, timidly leaning over to whisper into his ear.
After listening, Lux turned around. “Captain Curt.”
The named merman stepped out from the conference table. “Present!”
He stared respectfully ahead, yet he could still feel Lux’s gaze lingering on him.
It seemed… to carry a hint of amusement?
Before he could ponder further, Lux spoke: “Congratulations. Your human has entered the transformation phase.”
Curt froze at first, then a look of sheer ecstasy washed over his face. “R-Really?!”
In the next second, meeting Lux’s cool gaze and feeling the dissatisfied glares from the other merman generals, Curt immediately realized he was still in the conference room.
“Apologies.” He tightened his facial expressions and snapped back into his military posture.
His heart was still pounding with anxiety.
Humans in the transformation phase needed their companions the most; there couldn’t be the slightest mishap, or they might suffer a mental breakdown, causing irreversible damage.
Although humans were strictly protected by explicit laws, having such a situation pop up right in the middle of a meeting personally presided over by the Admiral was completely unprecedented.
He hoped Lux would take into account the many achievements he had secured for him…
“Go accompany your human. After the transformation phase is over, report to the military discipline department yourself to receive your punishment,” Lux said flatly.
Feeling as though he had received a grand amnesty, Curt gratefully gave him a military salute. “Thank you, thank you, Admiral!”
“Go on.”
With this interruption, the meeting was delayed by quite a bit.
Ultimately, the peaceful faction was successfully persuaded, and the resolution to officially declare war on the Zerg was finalized.
Several hours passed, and by dinner time, the meeting was recessed. Lux dismissed them to return tomorrow to discuss the specific operational plans.
The other mermen left first, while the oldest merman Vice Admiral waited behind for Lux, looking hesitant to speak several times.
“If you have something to say, say it. They’re all gone, it’s just the three of us, no need to be so formal,” Lux glanced at him.
The silver-haired but high-spirited merman Vice Admiral swam forward. “Curt is only in his seventies this year and has already successfully transformed his human. Before long, we should be able to add another adorable merman baby to our ranks.”
The lifespan of a merman generally reached three to four hundred years, so seventy was considered very young.
Lux gave an “mm,” already knowing exactly what his subsequent words would be.
Sure enough, the old Vice Admiral smiled and said, “Then… Lux, your one hundred and fiftieth birthday is coming up soon. Have you considered…”
“I’ve tried advising him, Vice Admiral Erwin,” Vincent, standing behind Lux, chimed in. “It’s useless. He doesn’t listen to us at all.”
The Vice Admiral said worriedly, “But Lux… even though this topic is taboo, I must remind you that two hundred years old is a hurdle almost no merman can cross. For a merman with SSS-grade mental strength like you, the impact will only be more terrifying. Without a human to soothe your mental strength, you…”
“I will definitely die,” Lux finished the sentence for him, his expression placid, as if the person facing death weren’t him at all.
Vincent chuckled. “Vice Admiral, please don’t be upset. That’s just how he talks.”
The Vice Admiral sighed. He had watched Lux grow up since childhood and knew his temperament well. If he didn’t nod his head, no one could force him.
“Though I did learn something today,” Vincent winked. “He told me his ideal type.”
The Vice Admiral’s eyes lit up. “What breed?”
“A purebred Chinese human.”
“…” The Vice Admiral’s expression froze on his face.
“I’m not joking with you, heaven knows, those were his exact words. Aside from a purebred Chinese human, he won’t look at anything else,” Vincent shrugged.
“A purebred Chinese human is almost impossible to find. The catastrophe that befell ancient Earth…” The Vice Admiral attempted to continue his persuasion.
Lux interrupted him, his tone casual. “I know. If they can’t be found, then so be it. Every merman must die eventually. If extending my life means spending the remaining centuries with a human I don’t care for, I’d rather die sooner.”
Vice Admiral: “…”
Vincent threw up his hands, conveying with his eyes: See? I told you so, he’s impossible to persuade.
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