Chapter 39
“Ruan Ruan…”
Lux turned his head and rubbed his cheek against Ruan Chen’s palm, but his gaze remained fixed on Ruan Chen’s face as though he could not bear to look away for even a second.
The tips of Ruan Chen’s ears heated beneath that stare. He tried to pull his hand back.
“I already said I’m fine. Stop staring at me like that.”
The merman seemed not to hear him.
Those pale-golden eyes were filled entirely with Ruan Chen’s reflection.
Ruan Chen looked away.
“I’m right here in front of you now. What’s there to miss…”
The merman did not answer.
The moment the words left Ruan Chen’s mouth, the shadow before him grew larger.
Lux leaned down again.
“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
The anxiety in his voice was impossible to hide.
Feeling the merman’s hands checking over his body, Ruan Chen slapped one of them and pinned it down. He looked up and glared at Lux.
“No! I feel perfectly fine everywhere!”
“All right.”
Lux seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Unlike before, he did not kiss or touch Ruan Chen anymore and quickly released him.
He turned around and brought over Ruan Chen’s little protective suit.
“Come, Ruan Ruan. Get dressed. We’re going back to Ocean Planet.”
Even if Ruan Chen were any denser, he could tell something was wrong with Lux.
His emotions, his tone, his behavior…
None of it was like usual.
Lux’s gaze had barely left him from beginning to end.
It was almost as if…
He was afraid Ruan Chen might suddenly disappear.
And the hands checking over his body just now did not seem to be trying to take advantage of him.
Lux had been making sure he was all right.
For once, Ruan Chen did not resist.
He propped himself up on his arms and obediently let Lux help him into his clothes.
“Can we go back now?”
After Lux picked him up, Ruan Chen lay against his shoulder and asked.
Lux hummed.
“Everything here has been resolved.”
Ruan Chen instinctively felt that he should talk to Lux.
At the very least, he wanted to ease his mood a little.
“Are we taking the big warship from before?”
The moment Ruan Chen finished asking, the merman cupped the back of his head and pressed him protectively against his chest.
Lux swam forward at a speed he had never used around Ruan Chen before.
“No. We’re leaving first. The warship will follow later with the rest of the troops.”
Ruan Chen felt the water rushing past his ears at incredible speed.
“Ah…”
He narrowed his eyes and asked quietly,
“Why are we leaving early?”
Lux did not answer.
Ruan Chen guessed,
“Is something wrong with my body?”
Under normal circumstances, how could he possibly have slept for so long?
Sure enough, the moment he asked, Lux said in a low voice,
“No.”
By the time they reached the central platform, Lux lowered his head and looked directly into Ruan Chen’s eyes.
“Don’t overthink it. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
The more Lux said that, the more convinced Ruan Chen became that something really had happened to him.
He opened his mouth.
Before he could speak, Vincent hurried over and interrupted him.
“Lux! Everything’s organized. All three squads volunteered to return with you ahead of schedule!”
Ruan Chen looked up.
Behind Vincent stood three perfectly aligned squads of merfolk, all fully armed and waiting for Lux’s order.
Lux gave them a brief glance and nodded.
“Then let’s depart.”
A light warship was docked on the platform.
It had been prepared specifically for emergencies.
It traveled much faster than the warship they had arrived on, but the number of merfolk it could carry was limited, and the interior facilities were nowhere near as complete as those of an ordinary warship.
The most obvious difference was that the rooms were smaller.
There was no human-specific conch bed.
No sofa.
No chairs.
Only a single shell bed.
They had brought only three squads and were rushing back to Ocean Planet ahead of everyone else.
Lux was also clearly anxious.
Ruan Chen had already guessed most of what was happening.
It was probably related to his earlier deep sleep.
Base X likely did not have a hospital specializing in humans, which was why Lux was so desperate to take him back.
Lux placed Ruan Chen on the soft bed.
The merman did not leave.
Instead, he settled down beside him.
“Is it cramped?” Lux asked.
Ruan Chen shook his head.
“No.”
The bed had been designed for a merman and had plenty of space.
Ruan Chen was tiny and barely took up any room.
There was more than enough space for him to lie down.
He secretly glanced at Lux, who was changing out of his combat uniform.
After some thought, Ruan Chen did not move farther away.
He sat cross-legged at the head of the bed, right beside the merman.
Lux hung up his combat uniform and turned around.
Seeing the human sitting obediently behind him, he looked slightly surprised.
He held out a hand.
“Ruan Ruan.”
Ruan Chen looked at him in confusion.
Lux softened his voice.
“Come a little closer.”
Remembering how resistant Ruan Chen usually was, Lux asked,
“Let me hold you for a while, all right?”
His voice was so gentle.
There was a deep sense of dependence in it.
Ruan Chen pressed his lips together and shuffled forward slightly.
Forget it.
Lux had probably really been frightened badly.
With that thought, Ruan Chen steeled himself and leaned against the merman.
Lux’s eyes lifted in delighted surprise.
Ruan Chen caught that tiny change in expression.
His fingers tapped lightly against the bed.
Then he slowly felt his way over and gently took Lux’s hand.
In a small voice, he said,
“Let’s make this clear first. You’re only allowed to hug me for a little while…”
The instant the words left his mouth, Lux pulled him straight into his arms.
“I said only for a little while…”
Being held while lying on a bed felt completely different from usual.
Ruan Chen braced his hands against Lux’s body and tried to wriggle free.
Lux rested his head on Ruan Chen’s shoulder and refused to let go.
“Just a little longer. A little longer is fine.”
“…”
Forget it.
A hug was just a hug.
Lux stroked down Ruan Chen’s black hair.
“Ruan Ruan is so well-behaved today.”
Ruan Chen thought, Isn’t that because you’re acting like a clingy child?
The merman’s soothing strokes felt so comfortable that Ruan Chen pursed his lips and patted Lux’s back with his little paw.
“I’m not going to be okay. Don’t be so nervous.”
The hand stroking the top of his head paused.
Ruan Chen added, “Really. I just slept for a while these past two days. You probably won’t believe me, but… I had a really, really long dream. And the entire dream was about you.”
Lux loosened his hold slightly.
“What kind of dream?”
Ruan Chen lowered his gaze to Lux’s waist and abdomen.
“Do you have a scar on your waist?”
Lux lifted the hem of his shirt.
A firm stretch of abdomen was exposed.
The muscle definition was obvious, and Ruan Chen had to look carefully before finding the faint scar he had seen before.
“I do,” Lux said. “It happened a long time ago.”
Remembering something else, Ruan Chen looked up.
“Did the wound on your shoulder leave a scar?”
“No.”
The merman shook his head and loosened his collar slightly.
With the movement, his pronounced collarbones and well-defined neck and shoulders were exposed.
Ruan Chen looked once and immediately whipped his head away.
“In my dream, I saw you get injured by the Zerg. That’s why you have the scar on your waist.”
Lux frowned and leaned closer.
“You saw things that happened in my past?”
Ruan Chen raised his eyes.
His gaze immediately landed on the smooth neck in front of him again.
His face reddened.
“Put your clothes back on before you talk!”
The merman obediently pulled his collar closed and fastened it.
“It’s fixed. Don’t be angry, Ruan Ruan.”
“…”
Ruan Chen lowered his head.
“I don’t know whether what I saw was real…”
Lux thought for a moment.
“Besides that, what else did Ruan Ruan dream about?”
Ruan Chen had practically dreamed through several of Lux’s mental energy riots.
He had seen Lux hide alone in a room, writhing from pain until he nearly lost consciousness.
He had seen Lux endure the agony, then immediately go hold meetings with the merfolk while pretending nothing had happened.
Ruan Chen had seen it all.
He briefly explained everything.
Lux fell silent.
“Did it scare you?”
After a long time, the merman smiled at him.
“It actually wasn’t that exaggerated.”
“Then what I dreamed wasn’t real?” Ruan Chen asked in confusion.
Lux was rendered speechless.
“It was real.”
Ruan Chen could not describe what he felt.
In his impression, this merman had always been overwhelmingly powerful.
Both physically and in status.
It was the first time Ruan Chen had realized that Lux also had moments of such vulnerability.
He fell silent for several seconds.
With his eyelids drooping, he poked one finger against the merman’s chest.
After a pause, he whispered,
“You won’t hurt like that anymore.”
Lux seemed not to hear him clearly.
“What?”
Ruan Chen pressed his lips together.
Then he closed his eyes and raised his voice.
“I said…”
“As long as I’m here, you won’t have to hurt like that ever again!”
The room fell silent.
Only belatedly did Ruan Chen realize how embarrassing that sounded.
He abruptly rolled over and tried to get off the bed.
Lux gave him no chance.
His tail curled around Ruan Chen and swept him straight back.
“Ruan Ruan…”
The merman gathered him against his chest.
“Is Ruan Ruan worried about me?”
Ruan Chen denied it instantly.
“No!”
He stubbornly added,
“You just looked too miserable. I couldn’t stand watching.”
Then he heard a low laugh beside his ear.
“What are you laughing at…”
Ruan Chen turned his head and furrowed his brows.
“Don’t get smug. Be careful or I’ll change my mind and stop soothing your mental energy in the future.”
Lux touched his forehead gently against Ruan Chen’s.
“I’m not smug.”
His eyes curved in a smile as he rubbed Ruan Chen’s earlobe.
“I’m happy. Ruan Ruan is worried about me.”
The moment he finished speaking, an embarrassed and furious “MEOW!” rang through the room.
The merman received another swipe across the face.
The light warship really was far faster than an ordinary warship.
The trip to Base X had taken several days.
The return journey took only a day and a half.
Throughout that time, Lux stayed beside Ruan Chen without leaving him for even a moment.
He even had to watch Ruan Chen eat.
Had Ruan Chen not known the merman was genuinely worried, he would have exploded countless times already.
But before they reached Ocean Planet, Ruan Chen fell into a deep sleep once again.
The moment the warship docked, Lux hurriedly carried him onto an airship and rushed toward the West Sea Human Breeding Center.
“Admiral Lux!”
They had returned early without leaking the news to any merfolk.
The director of the breeding center was extremely surprised to see him.
Lux got straight to the point.
“Something is wrong with my human’s body. I need you to examine him.”
The director hurriedly summoned several of the center’s most senior researchers to examine Ruan Chen.
Near the end of the examination, Ruan Chen woke up.
This dream had once again shown him a memory belonging to Lux.
But it had been very short.
He could hear merfolk speaking nearby.
Ruan Chen’s consciousness was still hazy and had not fully returned.
“Admiral Lux, the results are ready. Let’s discuss them outside.”
Ruan Chen had been about to open his eyes.
Hearing that, he hurriedly evened out his breathing and pretended to remain asleep.
After Lux and the merman researcher left, Ruan Chen cracked his eyes open and looked around.
The room was quiet.
There were no other merfolk inside.
He lightly climbed down from the examination table and kicked his legs, swimming toward the door where Lux and the researcher were speaking.
They had not closed it completely.
A small gap remained.
Ruan Chen pressed his back against the wall and pricked up his ears.
“Admiral Lux…”
It was the researcher’s voice.
“I’m truly sorry. We also had no idea this human would develop such a problem.”
Lux asked,
“What exactly is wrong with his body?”
The researcher sighed.
“He doesn’t have an unusually high ability to absorb mental pheromones. The problem is with his transformation period…”
“To put it simply, this human may never be successfully transformed.”
“He may be unable to transform and remain human for his entire life. He also won’t be capable of producing new merfolk offspring.”
“The most serious issue is that humans have much shorter lifespans than merfolk. And after being frozen for so many years, his bodily functions have declined significantly.”
“If he cannot successfully transform, he may only have a few decades left to live.”
“And after those decades, no one will be able to treat your mental energy riots.”
In other words, once Ruan Chen died, Lux would die too.
Lux’s own lifespan had also been reduced to only a few decades.
Ruan Chen had not expected to hear such a result.
He froze.
Lux asked, “What are the chances of curing him?”
“This…”
The researcher sounded troubled.
“This case is far too unusual. His breed is extremely rare, and on top of that, he is a perfect match for you. There is absolutely no existing treatment plan we can refer to.”
“We can only do our best.”
Lux said, “Understood.”
“Admiral Lux, you haven’t completely transformed this human yet. Actually, you could still…”
Ruan Chen pressed his lips together.
Still what?
Find another human?
The merman researcher was cut off.
“Do not let me hear those words a second time.”
Lux’s tone abruptly turned cold.
“I don’t care whether he remains human or becomes a merman. I don’t care whether he can lay eggs.”
“He is my partner.”
“I have one partner, and only one.”
The researcher became anxious.
“But if he dies, you’ll die too!”
The room was silent for several seconds.
Lux said honestly,
“Before he appeared, I had already endured mental energy riots for decades.”
A moment later, the researcher’s shocked voice sounded.
“Then… then how are you…”
How was he still alive?
Lux laughed.
“It really was painful.”
“In the beginning, every time it happened, I worried I wouldn’t survive.”
Ruan Chen clenched his fists.
Hadn’t he said before that it was not scary at all?
That it did not even hurt that much?
Lux’s calm voice continued.
“I never thought I would have a human of my own.”
“I had already prepared myself to face death at any time.”
“So being able to meet Ruan Ruan was already an incredibly fortunate thing.”
“Without him, I might already be dead.”
“If he lives for a few more decades, I’ll simply consider those decades extra time I was lucky enough to receive.”
“And if he dies…”
“I don’t care about living another one or two hundred years without him.”
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