Chapter 27
Ruan Chen turned to glance at the door.
A voice in his head was screaming at him to run.
Lux, who was waiting for Vincent to finish setting up the translator, had yet to notice that his human was already on the verge of a breakdown.
“All done. Now the two of you can communicate.” Vincent turned toward the table with a gratified expression. “Huh?”
Lux asked, “What is it?”
“Uh…” Vincent searched around the bedside table. “That’s strange. Didn’t I leave the translator earpieces here?”
Ruan Chen watched their every move like a hawk, clutching the two translator earpieces in his hands. His heart rose into his throat.
Lux swam over to help search, but he could not find them either.
“Maybe I remembered wrong?” Vincent scratched his head. “I’ll check my room.”
Lux gave a quiet hum. “Go straight to the central platform and wait for me. We’ll meet there.”
“Okay.”
The first wave of the Zerg attack was about to begin. Vincent nodded.
“The optical computer can translate speech too. There are still ten minutes left, so you can talk to Ruan Ruan for a bit. I’ll head out first.”
After Vincent left, Lux turned to look at Ruan Chen.
The latter lifted his little head, his black eyes darting around as he stared at him.
Lux’s gaze fell on Ruan Chen’s arms hidden behind his back.
Noticing where he was looking, Ruan Chen panicked even more.
He tried his hardest to look pure and innocent while tightening his grip around the translator earpieces.
Lux moved closer and pulled up the voice translation function on his optical computer.
“Ruan Ruan…”
Ruan Chen’s taut nerves finally snapped.
He opened his mouth and blurted, “Meow meow.”
Lux’s optical computer automatically detected the language and began translating.
A few seconds later, it loudly read out the translation in the merfolk language:
“Chinese ‘meow meow’ detected. Translation result: I didn’t do anything.”
Ruan Chen: “?”
Lux raised an eyebrow and lowered his gaze to him.
Ruan Chen finally reacted, his face filled with disbelief.
This thing had voice translation too?!
Lux bent down.
Ruan Chen frantically kicked his arms and legs, trying to escape, but he was still scooped into the merman’s embrace.
He thought the merman was going to demand that he hand over the earpieces.
Yet Lux did not seem to care about them at all.
He placed one hand behind Ruan Chen’s head and made him look directly into his eyes.
“Ruan Ruan, there isn’t much time. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”
The translator simultaneously converted his words into Chinese.
Ruan Chen was already completely dumbfounded.
“I’m going to command the battle now. I may not be able to return until very late every day, or I may be unable to come back and stay with you for several days in a row.”
Lux’s voice was low, and he spoke very slowly.
“As long as I’m here, I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
He paused briefly to make sure Ruan Chen was listening before continuing.
“I taught you before how to deal with the Zerg. If I’m not beside you…”
Lux took the palm-sized laser gun out of Ruan Chen’s pocket.
“Remember to use this. And your protective suit. They can keep you safe.”
“The traitors inside the base have already been cleared out. The merfolk outside can all be trusted. If something happens to me…”
He paused.
“You can ask them for help. They’ll send you back to Ocean Planet.”
Ruan Chen’s eyes widened.
His lips moved slightly.
Seeing this, Lux rubbed the back of his neck and smiled.
“Don’t worry. That’s only the worst-case scenario. I won’t let it happen.”
“The cabinet over there contains your food and drinks. Take two of the nutritional pills I gave you before every day. I won’t be able to feed you over the next few days, so remember to take them on time.”
After saying that, he put the palm-sized gun back into Ruan Chen’s pocket.
“Be good, Ruan Ruan.”
The amount of information was so overwhelming that Ruan Chen’s brain completely crashed.
He did not even react when Lux kissed his forehead.
By the time he looked up again, the merman had already left.
What battle?
What Zerg?
What was Ocean Planet?
Countless unfamiliar words flashed through Ruan Chen’s mind.
In the end, they all stopped on that final sentence—Be good, Ruan Ruan.
Who was good??
And who the hell was Ruan Ruan???
Suddenly remembering something, Ruan Chen opened his optical computer.
He looked toward the upper-right corner where he had noticed something before.
Sure enough, the place he had originally thought displayed his name now showed a row of words.
Username: Ruan Ruan.
For a long moment, there was silence.
Then a furious roar erupted from Lux’s room.
“MEOOOOW—! (MY NAME ISN’T RUAN RUAN!!)”
After Lux left, Ruan Chen stood alone in the room for a long time before finally calming down.
He went over the merman’s words again and again in his head, but still could not sort them out.
Ruan Chen decided to seek help from the Human-Raising Forum once more.
Maybe the post he had seen earlier was just an exception.
Perhaps not every merman regarded humans as partners.
Maybe he had simply been too sensitive and misunderstood everything.
Ruan Chen rapidly tapped through every section until he finally found the information he wanted in the Popular Science section.
With trembling hands, he opened a post titled:
[The Complete Guide to Raising Humans]
The post thoroughly explained every aspect of human care.
Ruan Chen started reading from the compatibility test section and continued downward.
The farther he read, the more violently his hand trembled as he scrolled.
So the reason the merman had bitten his neck before was because their compatibility was too high.
His voice could bewitch merfolk, causing Lux to lose control, become irresistibly attracted to him, and crave closeness with him.
And the reason he had grown fish gills was because the merman had injected mental pheromones into him, gradually causing his body to develop merfolk characteristics.
Later, when the merman had wanted hugs, it was not because he had been frightened.
Lux had been suffering from a mental energy riot and needed Ruan Chen to soothe him with his own mental energy.
That euphoric sensation, as though he had gotten ridiculously high, had come from their mental fusion.
Without a human to soothe their mental energy, merfolk would suffer unbearable pain.
They might even die.
Every description perfectly matched everything that had happened recently.
Ruan Chen’s feelings became extremely complicated.
[Each merman can only have one partner in their lifetime, so everyone must consider their choice carefully and never act on impulse.]
The moment Ruan Chen saw this line, the last sliver of hope in his heart shattered.
He raised a hand and pinched his philtrum.
He felt like he urgently needed oxygen.
Finally, when he reached the sections titled “Transformation Period and Preparing for Pregnancy” and “How to Help Your Human Successfully Lay a Healthy Egg,” Ruan Chen completely broke down.
Run.
He had to run tonight!
He slammed off his optical computer, hurriedly pulled on his protective suit, and grabbed a pile of canned food and drinks from the cabinet.
He wrapped everything in a tablecloth.
Once his supplies were packed, Ruan Chen slung the bundle over his back and opened the door.
The door slowly slid apart.
He looked outside—Two heavily muscled merman soldiers, one on each side, simultaneously turned their heads.
Ruan Chen’s gaze fell on the laser guns in their arms.
He froze.
The merman soldiers also looked him up and down.
Their gazes stopped on the massive bundle strapped to his back.
Then one soldier frowned and pressed his communicator.
Ruan Chen’s optical computer popped up with a translation.
“Reporting. Please connect me to Admiral Lux. Your—”
“Meow meow meow meow! (No, no, no, no!)”
Ruan Chen threw himself forward and slapped his little paw over the soldier’s communicator.
Terrified, he frantically waved his hands and shook his head.
“Meow meow meow! (Don’t call him! Don’t call him!)”
At the same time, his optical computer relayed his words to the merman soldier.
The soldier nodded.
“Understood!”
He switched off the communicator.
Then he tried his best to give the tiny human before him a friendly smile and pointed into the room.
Ruan Chen read four words from his eyes:
No leaving the room.
Sorry for bothering you.
Running Away: From Beginner to Giving Up.
Numbly, Ruan Chen retreated into the room and collapsed onto the shell bed, utterly devoid of hope.
