Chapter 32
The tiny pill failed to hit Lux in the face as Ruan Chen had intended.
The resistance in the water was too strong. It barely flew a short distance before stopping halfway, floating all alone between the human and merman.
Lux pinched it between two fingers, thought for a moment, then mixed it into a spoonful of food and held it to Ruan Chen’s mouth.
“I don’t want you to feed me.”
Ruan Chen dodged aside and reached out his little paw to grab the spoon handle.
Lux had gone several days without enjoying the pleasure of feeding him. He desperately wanted to pull Ruan Chen into his arms and feed him bite by bite until he was full.
But today was supposed to be a reward for Ruan Chen.
Making him happy was more important.
Lux turned the spoon around.
“Ruan Ruan can eat by himself. Here.”
Ruan Chen really was hungry. The food Major Pegg had brought was different from the human-specific canned food he usually ate, and both the texture and flavors were novel.
That was enough to convince him to temporarily ignore the gaze constantly resting on him as he devoured the entire plate of breakfast at top speed.
“We’ll be going aboard an airship later. A lot of other soldiers will be coming with us,” Lux said while waiting for him to finish eating, taking the opportunity to explain the day’s schedule. “We may spend the entire day on the airship, Ruan Ruan.”
Ruan Chen had just stuffed an unknown fruit into his mouth. He looked up and mumbled indistinctly, “Mm?”
Lux explained, “It’ll be tiring.”
Ruan Chen gulped down the food in his mouth and clutched his spoon, looking at him nervously.
“You don’t want to take me anymore?”
He had finally gotten a chance to leave that room. If he were locked inside that tiny space again, he would go crazy from boredom.
Lux was amused by his anxious little expression.
“I’m worried you’ll get tired.”
Then he added, “I’m taking you. But once we’re on the airship, we won’t be able to bring you back midway, so…”
Smack.
Ruan Chen stabbed his fork straight through a fish ball on his plate.
He looked up coldly.
“I won’t get tired. Stop looking down on me all the time!”
Lux suppressed a smile.
“I’m not looking down on you.”
“What I was trying to say was…”
He reached out and took hold of the fork, then ate the fish ball.
“You won’t be able to come back midway. Is there anything you want to bring with you? Your drinks and canned food. There’s still time, so you can go back to your room and grab some to eat on the way.”
Ruan Chen stared helplessly as the final fish ball—the one he had been saving because he could not bear to eat it—disappeared into the merman’s mouth.
Lux met his blatantly food-protective gaze.
He blinked and deliberately sighed.
“Mm. Delicious.”
Ruan Chen: “?”
Was this merman actually a fucking dog??
The more Ruan Chen reacted like this, the more Lux wanted to tease him.
He reached out and aimed the fork at another piece of fish on Ruan Chen’s plate.
“You haven’t touched this one. I’ll help you eat it.”
Ruan Chen: “??”
That was the best piece!
He had deliberately saved it for last so he could savor it slowly!
His little paws moved so fast they practically became blurs. He slammed both hands onto the back of Lux’s hand and glared up at him furiously.
“Meow! (It’s all mine! If you want some, go get your own!)”
After finishing breakfast in complete chaos, Ruan Chen stormed back to the room and grabbed two small milk bottles and some canned food. He also packed a straw.
Drinking from a milk bottle in front of other merfolk?
He would rather be stabbed.
He deliberately wrapped everything in the tablecloth from before and tied it into a bundle.
By the time he returned to the gathering point with his little bundle on his back, the Third Merfolk Squad was already prepared and listening to Major Pegg explain the precautions.
Faced with so many unfamiliar merfolk at once, Ruan Chen did not dare approach.
Clutching his bundle, he quietly stood off to one side and listened along.
Pegg said, “Purple crystals are our primary objective this time. Blue comes second, and white comes last. If you see white crystals, don’t rush to collect them. Our energy supplies are still on the way, so every bit of energy must be used where it matters most. Understood?”
“Understood—!”
Ruan Chen was wondering what these crystals were when a low voice sounded beside his ear.
“Crystals are a unique product of female Zerg. They look clear and luminous on the outside. Very beautiful.”
Ruan Chen looked up.
Lux lowered his eyes to him.
“Did you pack everything you wanted to bring?”
“Yes.”
For some reason, Ruan Chen felt like this conversation resembled a parent checking whether a child was prepared for a field trip.
He kept a stern expression and changed the subject.
“What are those crystals used for?”
“They can extend our lifespan,” Vincent explained from behind Lux. “Merfolk without human partners can only rely on them to slow the damage caused by mental energy riots.”
At the mention of mental energy riots and partners, Ruan Chen inevitably thought of the educational section of the forum again.
He shifted his gaze away and murmured, “Oh.”
Then, subconsciously, he moved a little farther away from Lux.
He had not expected Lux to simply bend down and pick him up.
“This area is called Base X,” Lux explained. “It was built partly to defend against the Zerg and partly to collect crystals.”
Ruan Chen had just been about to struggle, but he was too curious about what Lux was saying.
His hand paused on Lux’s shoulder.
“So that’s why the Zerg attack you?”
After all, they were taking resources from someone else’s planet.
Lux raised a hand and tapped the tip of his nose.
“No. Crystals are useless to the Zerg. Before we came here, the entire planet was covered in them. They attack us because they covet the resources on Ocean Planet.”
“The environment on this planet is too harsh. The Zerg have already exhausted most of its resources,” Lux said indifferently. “They want to occupy our planet.”
“When the conflict with the Zerg first began, Base X hadn’t even been established yet.”
Lux recalled the past.
“They found Ocean Planet directly and attacked us there.”
It had happened too long ago.
At the time, the merfolk had been caught completely unprepared. They had even needed to ally with the sea demons to resist the Zerg and had nearly been wiped out.
Ruan Chen subconsciously thought of movies he had watched before.
Then what about Earth in this world…?
Before he could ask, Lux had already turned with him in his arms and begun giving Pegg instructions for after departure.
Ruan Chen listened to them discuss how to operate the airship and could not find an appropriate chance to interrupt.
Forget it.
He would ask Joshua another day.
Once aboard the airship, Lux switched to a military headset for easier communication. The translator earpiece was temporarily inconvenient to wear, so he put it away.
The process of collecting crystals was completely different from what Ruan Chen had imagined.
He had assumed it would be like mining ore—just digging some sort of stone out of the ground.
He had not expected them to need to carefully avoid the enormous fungus-like plants and prevent the airship from getting hit by the toxic liquid they sprayed.
The stuff seemed extremely corrosive.
Ruan Chen could see obvious Zerg remains stuck to some of the giant mushrooms.
There were five airships in total.
They spread out in an orderly formation and explored the Spore Forest.
“Strong signal on the left side of the airship. Crystal fluctuations detected,” reported the merman soldier operating the detection equipment.
Their luck was excellent.
They had found a purple crystal almost immediately.
The closer they moved, the stronger the fluctuations became. The waves on the display nearly overflowed the screen.
Ruan Chen clung eagerly to the window and stared without blinking as the mechanical arm extending from the front of the airship probed downward.
Suddenly, the airship jolted violently.
“Meow?! (What’s happening?)”
Ruan Chen was so startled that he grabbed his seat tightly.
Lux turned at the sound of his cry.
“Don’t be afraid. It’s fine.”
Only then did Ruan Chen notice that every other merman soldier inside the airship looked perfectly calm, as though the violent shaking just now had been his imagination.
“Slime has stuck to the rear of the airship. Activate the high-temperature gun,” Lux ordered through the communicator.
The merfolk moved in an orderly fashion.
Soon, they controlled the high-temperature gun to melt through the slime, and the airship resumed normal operation.
Ruan Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Seeing his expression, Pegg came over to comfort him as well.
“Ruan Ruan doesn’t need to worry. Just enjoy the scenery. These are all minor problems.”
Ruan Chen fell silent for several seconds before nodding.
“Meow. (Got it.)”
It would have been fine if no one had pointed it out.
But after this incident, he looked around and suddenly felt completely out of place among the busy merfolk around him.
Every merman soldier had a specific duty.
Only he sat in a specially assigned seat with a safety belt fastened around him, placed at the spot with the best view so he could admire the scenery outside.
He looked like some boss who had come to inspect the operation.
Ruan Chen: “…”
The beautiful Spore Forest suddenly did not seem so appealing anymore.
“Reporting!”
The merman soldier in charge of detection suddenly looked ecstatic.
“We found… we found a source crystal fruit ahead!”
The moment he finished speaking, even Lux, who had hardly shown much expression, abruptly stood and moved closer to the detector.
Pegg crowded over too.
“This fluctuation frequency… it’s real!”
The airship headed toward the source crystal fruit.
Within minutes, Ruan Chen understood why the merfolk were so excited.
In the center of an open circular area lay a perfectly round, translucent fruit.
It was still daytime, yet Ruan Chen could faintly see a soft halo glowing around it.
It looked less like a fruit and more like some precious gemstone.
Ruan Chen’s eyes widened.
“Mew… (So pretty.)”
“Wow, what kind of luck do you all have?”
Vincent came out of the cockpit.
“A source crystal fruit! Ruan Ruan, you’re in for a treat this time!”
Ruan Chen froze.
What did that mean?
Was this thing for him to eat?
“Hehe.”
Knowing Ruan Chen did not understand, Vincent patiently explained.
“I’ve come to Base X so many times, and I’ve only seen one of these before. We probably find one every ten years or so. They’re especially beneficial to humans in the transformation period.”
If a merman ate one, it would mostly strengthen the body.
But if a human in the transformation period ate it, it could help them safely pass through that dangerous stage.
Most importantly, the fruit had an extremely short shelf life, so almost none ever circulated on the market.
After Vincent finished, Pegg said with a troubled expression, “But Admiral Lux, we didn’t prepare the mechanical arm used to harvest source crystal fruit this time.”
“Right.”
Vincent scratched his head.
“This fruit is too delicate. An ordinary mechanical arm would damage it.”
Lux looked at the source crystal fruit.
Going back to retrieve the specialized mechanical arm just for this fruit would consume far too much energy.
The only option was to send a merman soldier to pick it…
But there was no water on the Zerg home planet.
A fish tail could not move properly across dry ground at all.
After listening to their conversation, Ruan Chen more or less guessed the situation.
Merfolk could not walk.
But he had legs!
He anxiously waved his little paws at the group of merfolk gathered together discussing solutions.
“Meow meow meow!”
None of the merfolk present had translators.
Lux had also removed his translator earpiece, so all they heard was his cry.
Ruan Chen was about to turn on voice translation when he looked up and saw Lux putting the translator earpiece back on.
He repeated what he had just said.
“I can go pick it.”
“No.”
Lux rejected him without even thinking.
“It’s too dangerous. There’s slime everywhere outside. If even a little gets on you, it won’t be a joke.”
Ruan Chen’s eyes widened.
“Before we left, you said you wouldn’t look down on me!”
Lux paused.
“Be good. This isn’t me looking down on you.”
Ruan Chen turned and checked the area again.
The stretch of ground between where the airship had stopped and the fruit was completely open.
There was no slime.
He persisted.
“This part is very safe. Look, there’s nothing there.”
Lux followed the direction of his arm.
Worried that the merman still would not agree, Ruan Chen softened his voice and tugged at Lux’s sleeve.
“You’ve all been working for so long… I want to help too.”
“Besides, this fruit is for me to eat anyway. It’s only right that I go pick it myself.”
Ruan Chen reasoned with him.
He lifted his head.
“I’m not as weak as you think. It’s just picking a fruit.”
Lux met Ruan Chen’s eyes, which were filled with hope.
No one could refuse their human when he looked at them like that.
Lux sighed inwardly.
After once again confirming that there were no fungi or slime along the path to the fruit, Lux finally nodded.
“Bring the oxygen helmet. Put it on Ruan Ruan.”
Vincent and Pegg had listened to one person speaking and the other meowing, completely baffled.
“What… what are we doing? You’re not actually letting Ruan Ruan go pick it, are you?”
Lux unfastened Ruan Chen’s safety belt.
“Mm. He won’t let us look down on him.”
The tips of Ruan Chen’s ears turned red.
“Because you shouldn’t…”
Once Ruan Chen had put on the breathing equipment, he looked exactly like a tiny astronaut.
Lux checked his protective gear once again to ensure there were no problems.
“The leaves have thorns. Be careful when picking it. Just remove the fruit from the stem. Ignore the roots.”
Ruan Chen listened seriously.
“Got it.”
The hatch above the airship opened.
Under the nervous gazes of the merfolk, Ruan Chen braced himself and climbed out.
A safety line was fastened around him.
If anything went wrong, they could pull him back from inside the airship.
The atmosphere on the Zerg home planet was very thin.
Ruan Chen felt as though he were stepping on clouds, light and unsteady.
He pressed his lips together and looked up.
There were no fungi overhead.
Ruan Chen tugged the safety line at his waist.
Lux immediately loosened it, allowing him to slide along the outer hull of the airship and reach the ground.
The other merman soldiers had already put down whatever they were doing.
They all gathered closer and watched the human’s tiny figure slowly make its way toward the source crystal fruit.
Finally, Ruan Chen stretched out his arms and leaned forward.
His little gloved paws reached out and firmly hugged the fruit against his chest.
The fruit had grown very well and was about the size of a child’s soccer ball.
Ruan Chen pulled upward with all his strength, bracing his feet against the ground and using every last bit of power he had.
He was wearing a military communication headset.
The entire airship was filled with his strained “meow meow meooow” sounds.
Every merman soldier held their breath for him.
Several seconds later, Ruan Chen felt the fruit’s stem snap.
There was a faint crack.
Holding the fruit, he stumbled backward several steps and looked as though he were about to fall—
“Meow!”
Ruan Chen kicked his left leg backward, dug his foot against the ground, and steadied himself.
Then he stood upright, turned around, and raised the source crystal fruit high over his head.
Facing the merfolk inside the airship, he smiled sweetly.
“Meow meow meow! (I picked it!)”
“Oh—!”
“Amazing, amazing! Ruan Ruan is amazing!”
“Ah, I was so nervous!”
The merfolk inside the airship burst into applause.
They looked even happier than if they had received promotions themselves.
Laughter and cheers swept through the soldiers, washing away the exhaustion of working for an entire day and night.
Vincent enviously patted Lux on the shoulder.
“Your human really is a little treasure.”
Lux chuckled softly.
His gaze rested on Ruan Chen’s excited little face as his hands swiftly reeled in the safety line.
“No matter how precious he is, he’s still mine.”
