I Woke Up To Find Myself Being Kept By A Mermaid – CH24

Chapter 24: Injured

Having scratched the merman yet again, Ruan Chen absolutely refused to let him carry him, no matter what.

Unable to win the argument, Lux had to settle for the next best thing, holding his small clawed hand with one hand and carrying the baby bottle for him with the other.

They walked along strange, narrow corridors the entire way, seeing no other merfolk besides themselves.

Ruan Chen was bewildered. “Meow-ao-wu? (Where are we going?)”

Hearing his cry, Lux looked down. “We’re almost there.”

The cultivation gardens were located at the absolute rear of Base X. Normally, only a few logistics soldiers came to tend to the plants.

To ensure the plants grew well, the environment here was very beautiful, making it the area with the best water quality in the entire base.

Most importantly, it was sufficiently hidden. It would be hard for anyone to guess that they would place Ruan Chen in a spot like this rather than inside the heavily guarded base.

Without leaving it to any other merman, Lux personally escorted Ruan Chen into a small room in the cultivation gardens.

Seeing that there were actually plants growing in the water, Ruan Chen was pleasantly surprised. “Meow meow meow. (That flower is so pretty.)”

It was still early, so Lux simply swam with Ruan Chen to the spot he was pointing at. “Do you like this one?”

“Meow-ao! (Don’t touch it!)” Ruan Chen smacked away Lux’s hand just as the merman was about to snap the stalk, glaring at him. “Meow meow meow-ao? (It’s growing perfectly fine, why are you pinching it?)”

The merman arched an eyebrow. “You don’t want it? I can take it back and put it in a bottle for you.”

“Meow-wu. (You’re not allowed to pinch it.)” Ruan Chen shielded the flower.

Lux could only open his hands to show his compliance. “I won’t touch it.”

“Mew-wu. (That’s more like it.)” Satisfied, he turned back around, swam up a little bit, and gently pressed his face close to the center of the flower. “Meow-wu… (So pretty.)”

The petals were a shade of blue he had never seen before, deepening into a rich purple near the receptacle.

Only when he got closer did he realize it merely looked like a flower, but was actually a type of algae.

But that didn’t stop Ruan Chen from liking it.

Lux stayed to the side, quietly watching him admire every single flower along the way. The human’s already perfectly round eyes grew even wider, his eyes curving with joy.

It was truly magical. Before owning a human, Lux had never imagined that one day he could feel his heart become so peaceful and warm just by looking at someone.

After touring the entire cultivation gardens, Ruan Chen was reluctantly carried into the room by the merman.

“Wait for me here obediently,” Lux instructed him one last time. “I will contact you on the light-computer before I come. Other than that, do not pay attention to any merman who knocks on the door.”

He brought up his light-computer and combined it with physical gestures to make Ruan Chen understand his words as much as possible.

Arriving on a new planet, Ruan Chen could also roughly guess that the merman had urgent business to attend to and couldn’t keep him by his side.

For once he didn’t make a fuss, nodding very obediently at Lux. “Meow-wu. (Finish up early and come back to get me.)”

This look made Lux practically reluctant to leave.

He smoothed out Ruan Chen’s black hair and showed him where the food and supplies were stored.

“Once we find the traitor the Imperial Family hid here, Ruan Ruan won’t have to live by himself anymore,” Lux said, meeting his dark eyes.

Ruan Chen kicked his legs. “Meow-ao, meow meow meow. (Alright, alright, don’t get sappy.)”

The consequence of a language barrier was that after he finished saying this, he was pulled into the merman’s embrace and given a thorough round of petting once again.

Leaving Ruan Chen’s room, before he could even swim out of the cultivation gardens, Lux’s light-computer suddenly popped up.

Vincent’s anxious voice came through: “Lux, emergency! The technical department just decrypted the signal from the Imperial Family. They lured an Zerg detachment, and it’s heading straight for the cultivation gardens!”

The moment his voice fell, Lux heard a noise and whipped his head around. The protective shield above the cultivation gardens had cracked open a tiny slit at some unknown point. Several Zergs had already flown into the previously quiet area, including a high-level beetle.

That beetle cast a glance toward Lux.

In the next second, it abruptly snapped its wings open and charged toward the room where Ruan Chen was located—

With a deafening crash, the alloy door was smashed to pieces under the beetle’s weight.

“Meow-ao?! (Holy shit!)”

Inside the room, Ruan Chen jumped out of bed in fright.

He stared at the utterly trashed room, taking half a second to realize that this was a real Zerg, not a projection from a light-computer.

Playing video games to kill monsters was one thing, but seeing a mountain-like giant monster in reality was quite another. Hurriedly gripping the palm gun Lux had given him from his pocket, Ruan Chen’s hand shook as he aimed at the beetle’s weakest joint.

But it was still too slow. The beetle had already raised its forelimb, screeching as it slammed down toward Ruan Chen.

If this hit connected, it would likely mean instant death.

Ruan Chen’s eyes widened in sheer terror.

I’m a goner.

In that exact split second, the water in front of him suddenly tore open.

A pale-gold figure flashed with extreme speed. A split second before the beetle could touch Ruan Chen, he pulled him tightly into his embrace, shielding him completely.

The other party’s strength was so immense it felt as though he wanted to grind him into his own body.

Ruan Chen’s head was pressed against Lux’s chest, and he clearly heard a muffled groan of suppressed pain.

Everything happened too quickly. Lux hadn’t had time to think at all before his body made the split-second judgment to rush over and take the hit for Ruan Chen.

Even across the protective suit, the merman was still injured.

The scent of blood quickly drifted into Ruan Chen’s nose.

Time seemed to stand still.

He tilted his head up.

The merman lowered his eyes to scan him, his pale-gold pupils lacking any major emotion, as if confirming he wasn’t hurt.

Ruan Chen’s pupils contracted.

He saw that the beetle’s forelimb had impaled Lux’s left shoulder.

“Meow-ku-su…”

But the merman acted as though he couldn’t feel pain at all. Seeing that Ruan Chen was completely unharmed, his ear fins snapped open. He turned his head, violently yanked out the forelimb embedded in his shoulder, and slammed his powerful tail fin down, slicing it in two on the spot.

The beetle shrieked in agony.

At the exact same time, the troops led by Vincent finally arrived.

Lux scooped Ruan Chen up, swaying his body to pull away from the Zergs.

The single-shot laser cannons held by the merman soldiers scored precise hits, instantly blowing the beetle and the remaining Zergs to pieces, systematically conducting the cleanup work.

“Lux! How are you?” Vincent rushed over hastily with the medics.

Lux set Ruan Chen down, saying calmly, “I’m fine.”

The medic cut open Lux’s combat suit to tend to his wound.

The Zerg’s body carried toxins, rendering the merman’s powerful healing abilities useless. Without the combat suit covering it, the wound looked even more horrific.

Standing to the side, Ruan Chen’s face went completely pale.

He couldn’t bear to look at the shoulder that kept bleeding out, so he cautiously observed the merman’s expression.

Lux kept his eyelashes lowered, very quietly letting the medic apply the medicine, without even knitting his brows once.

It was as if he had no sensation of pain.

But how could it not hurt?

Such a massive wound, the entire shoulder had been pierced through…

Just thinking about it made Ruan Chen shudder.

Ruan Chen didn’t feel good about this at all.

That strike had originally been aimed at him. The merman had only been injured like this to save him.

When the stitching began, he distinctly noticed the subtle tightening at the corner of Lux’s forehead.

Ruan Chen’s heart gave a shudder along with it.

He thought it over back and forth, eventually taking small steps to shuffle toward him, before stealing a glance at the other merfolk nearby.

No one was paying attention to him.

He pursed his lips, slightly bending his body to slip his small clawed hand into the merman’s palm.

Sensing the warmth in his palm, Lux turned his head.

Ruan Chen looked away in a panic.

Yet a few seconds later, unable to keep his heart hardened after all, he lifted his eyes to meet Lux’s gaze.

“Meow-wu… (Does it hurt a lot?)” Ruan Chen swallowed hard, lightly stroking the back of his hand.

Lux stared at him for a long while before letting out a small smile. “Scared?”

The sharp pain from the stitching caught him mid-smile, causing the corner of his mouth to tense up.

Ruan Chen quickly stroked the back of his hand twice more. Burying his little head, he murmured awkwardly in a tiny voice, “Mew-wu. (Thank you for saving me.)”

How could Lux bear to see him like this? He withdrew his hand and gently rubbed his black hair. “Good boy, don’t be afraid. It’s a small injury, it’s nothing.”

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