I Woke Up To Find Myself Being Kept By A Mermaid – CH5

Chapter 5: Actually Bitten

“Admiral Lux.” The director of the breeding center, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, hurriedly bowed to him. “Allow me to introduce the basic profiles of these two humans.”

Lux remained silent. Beside him, Vincent spoke up, “No need. Just introduce the one on the right.”

The director blinks. “Ah, right, of course. The one on the right is a precious purebred Chinese human. This breed generally has a very docile temperament, enjoys eating rice, and is quite easy to rear. He has already received his first vaccination shot and has no genetic diseases.”

He was referring to Ruan Chen.

The brief anomaly from a moment ago had already passed, and Lux’s pupils had returned to normal without the surrounding mermen noticing.

It was difficult to see him clearly through the glass. Lux turned and asked, “Can I hold him out to take a look?”

“You can…”

The merman nurse next to them hurriedly stepped forward. “It might be better not to, Admiral Lux. This human was just severely startled, and his emotions are currently quite unstable.”

The director, however, didn’t want to lose this opportunity to curry favor with Lux.

He said eagerly, “It’s fine. We can use food to trick him into coming out.”

Before the nurse could stop him, she watched the director fetch a bowl of rice, dump the previous container of prawns right on top of it, and place it at the edge of Ruan Chen’s enclosure.

Ruan Chen: ???

Are you seriously trying to pull the same trick twice?

Following the crushing blow to his self-esteem, he felt his intelligence was also being utterly insulted by these mermen.

With his rage meter hitting the ceiling, Ruan Chen launched a kick that sent the bowl of rice flying out. Then, under the dumbfounded stares of the mermen, he slammed his fists violently against the glass.

“You really think you can use the same garbage trick twice on me? Trying to lure your granddaddy into the water? If you’ve got the guts, come ashore yourself and fight me one-on-one! See if I don’t beat you so hard your own grandfather won’t recognize you!”

“This breed is docile?” Lux cast his eyes downward. The black-haired human, who had looked so good-natured just a moment ago, was currently hammering wildly at the glass. Even through the pane, he could faintly hear a barrage of furious “meow-ow-meow-ow” caterwauling, while a mess of food splatters clung to the soles of the human’s feet.

“Uh…” The director looked rather embarrassed. “This one is an exception. He’s a bit more… lively. Shall we look at the others instead?”

“No. I want him,” Lux said, his tone resolute.

He had come here specifically for this purebred Chinese human.

Although he hadn’t heard that last round of shouting very clearly, Lux could still feel that same sense of total comfort he had experienced back in the cafeteria.

He couldn’t describe the precise feeling, but it only intensified Lux’s intense craving for this human.

In the end, Ruan Chen still couldn’t escape fate. The mermen opened the enclosure and forcibly hauled him out.

He was fitted with the respirator once again, and looking up, it was that same merman nurse.

Ruan Chen: “…”

The nurse gave him a gentle nudge in Lux’s direction.

Up close, Ruan Chen’s eyes widened at the sight of the gold-toned merman.

Right now, the other party was gazing down at him.

Being stared at by him, Ruan Chen felt an instinctively powerful sense of threat.

He squirmed uneasily.

“Be good now, let the Admiral get a proper look at you,” the nurse crooned, gently smoothing his hair.

Ruan Chen heard her vocalization, which seemed to be directed at the gold merman.

Surveying the current situation, a sudden realization hit him: Could it be that they want this gold merman to pick a human that suits his appetite?

So it wasn’t that they weren’t going to eat him; they were just selling him to another merman to be eaten!

His heart gave a sharp jolt, and he hung his head, shrinking back into the embrace of the merman holding him.

It was best to act half-dead and listless so this prospective buyer would reject him.

Judging from how they kept him and Joshua in captivity, these mermen probably preferred their meat fresh rather than dead.

“Why did he stop crying out?” Lux’s gaze locked onto the human’s face.

Snatched out of the room, he wanted to hear his voice up close to test if that special sensation would occur again.

The nurse explained, “He might be a bit shy around strangers. He was only awakened a little over a day ago, so he hasn’t adapted to this environment yet.”

The human’s face was mostly covered by the respirator, a contraption Lux found highly obstructive.

He wanted to see this human’s adorable little face.

“Can this be taken off?” Lux reached his hand toward the respirator.

Noticing that Ruan Chen had gone completely rigid with alarm, the nurse shook her head. “You can’t, Admiral Lux. He hasn’t reached the transformation phase yet; he can’t breathe underwater.”

“How is it? Satisfied?” Vincent, having just finished admiring the blonde-haired, green-eyed human nearby, swam back over to ask about the situation here.

Lux fell silent for a few seconds.

Finally, under the expectant gaze of the director, he nodded. “Very satisfied.”

Vincent clapped his hands in delight. “That’s fantastic! Can we do the compatibility test today?”

Every human had to undergo a mental strength compatibility test. Only when their compatibility score with a merman reached 70% or higher could that merman obtain rearing rights.

The merman who earned the right to test would inject a small amount of mental pheromones into the human’s body. If the human didn’t suffer a severe rejection response to the pheromones over the next few days, the match was successful.

The higher the compatibility, the milder the human’s rejection response would be.

The director looked a bit conflicted. “About that… the law dictates that compatibility testing must follow standard procedures.”

Lux understood. “When is the auction?”

Humans were far too scarce, and a single compatibility test required a reaction period of at least three days. To prevent disputes, the right to test had to be auctioned off first—highest bidder wins, perfectly fair and just.

The director said, “It hasn’t been decided yet. I’ll need to consult the Imperial Breeding Center.”

“This human hasn’t finished his three vaccination shots, nor has he completed his health checks or internal and external deworming. It might take a few more days,” the nurse explained.

Vincent was taken aback. “Huh? Hasn’t he been awake for a whole day already?”

This efficiency was absolutely abysmal.

The nurse offered an apologetic look. “He’s rather timid and extremely afraid of needles and examinations, so we originally intended to let him adjust for a couple more days.”

“Timid?” Lux looked at Ruan Chen, cocking an eyebrow.

The agile, fierce display from this human just a moment ago didn’t match that description in the slightest.

“…” The nurse was left speechless.

Ruan Chen was growing impatient.

He was being held tightly by his limbs, curled up in this merman’s arms in an incredibly uncomfortable posture.

He had possessed a restless nature since childhood, unable to sit still for even half a second. Training in martial arts with his grandfather had taught him a bit of restraint, but his fundamental nature remained unchanged.

He could faintly tell that this gold merman seemed to hold a very high status, given how the surrounding mermen were consulting him.

Although he couldn’t understand them, he knew the topic of conversation definitely revolved around him.

The gold merman had just nodded his head, presumably indicating an intention to buy him.

They might even be discussing whether to steam him or stir-fry him.

But regardless of your discussions, could you at least put him back in his room? It wasn’t like he could run away.

Ruan Chen tentatively tried to stretch his slightly numb legs, successfully extending one out.

Before even a second could pass, the merman hauled his leg right back, gripping him even tighter while muttering away in that incomprehensible language.

This feeling of waiting for execution felt like death by a thousand cuts. Ruan Chen didn’t want to endure this torment any longer. “Can you just give me a quick death? Stop torturing me. You guys are so huge, one bite is all it takes to finish me off—is there really a need to debate it for so long?”

Lux was still waiting for Vincent and the director to finish discussing the testing arrangements when a long string of “meow-meow-meow-wu” suddenly echoed beside him.

This time, the cry was drawn-out. It wasn’t loud, but because it was so close, it sounded impossibly soft and moving.

Lux’s temples throbbed sharply.

This sound felt as if his entire soul was being gently caressed from the inside out, sending a wave of pure gratification through him that made him want to extend his caudal fin, his whole body trembling with pleasure.

The remaining mermen were also more or less entranced, their heart rates quickening slightly, though none of their conditions were anywhere near as severe as his.

“Lux, Lux?” Vincent looked up. “Are you even listening to us speak… Holy crap?!”

The pupils of the merman before him had contracted entirely into sharp, narrow slits. His ear fins stood erect, and the golden scales on the sides of his face flared open slightly.

This was a physical manifestation that only occurred when a merman experienced extreme mental stimulation.

This appearance…

Was Lux about to lose control?!

The moment Ruan Chen finished speaking, the gold merman in front of him abruptly turned his head, his golden eyes staring dead at him.

He choked up for an instant.

He was the one who had talked big first. Clutching his respirator, Ruan Chen forced himself to hold his ground. “Wh-What are you looking at?”

“Meow-wu?”

A pale gold blur flashed violently before his eyes.

“Ah—!”

Amidst the panicked shriek of the nurse, Ruan Chen was violently yanked into Lux’s embrace.

Following that, the merman’s powerful tail fin gave a fierce thrash, and he bolted forward with thunderous velocity.

The churning wake left Vincent and the remaining mermen dizzy and disoriented, taking them quite a while to stabilize their bodies.

By the time they looked again, where was there any sign of Ruan Chen and Lux in the room?

The heavy doors to the breeding room stood wide open, revealing an empty corridor.

Only a long trail of bubbles whipped up by the high-speed swim remained to tell everyone present that they weren’t seeing things—Lux had indeed fled from this spot.

Held in a crushing grip against the merman’s chest, Ruan Chen’s soul had nearly flown away from sheer terror.

He had never moved through water at such a terrifying speed before. The water pressure overhead was so intense due to the velocity that he was forced to plaster his body completely against the merman’s chest.

Damn it.

So negotiation had failed, and he decided to resort to brute force, snatching him away to find a quiet corner to eat him?

The merman seemed to notice his discomfort. A large hand came up to cup the back of his head, shielding him from the crushing force of the seawater.

Finally, they came to a halt.

Ruan Chen’s brain was completely scrambled.

Fortunately, he had kept a vice-like grip on the respirator, and it hadn’t fallen off.

Otherwise, he would have kicked the bucket right then and there. If this merman ended up with a mouthful of unfresh, dead meat, he wondered if he would leave this establishment a bad review.

The merman loosened his grip, letting Ruan Chen suspend in the water.

He lifted his head, locking eyes directly with the other’s pure golden gaze.

Holy moly.

Looking at him like this, he was actually incredibly handsome.

The merman before him was more than a head taller than him, and the golden scales on his long, powerful tail fin shimmered with radiant light.

He was entirely different from the delicate, dainty mermaids from the fairy tales he had read as a child.

This merman wore an exquisitely crafted long-sleeved garment on his upper body, yet fine scales and sharp fins could still be seen on his exposed wrists.

The sides of the merman’s face near his ears and neck were also covered in dense, fine scales just like the other mermen he had seen earlier. The coloration was pale but beautiful, resembling some sort of delicate artwork.

His ears were long and pointed, adorned with translucent ear fins.

At this exact moment, those previously retracted ear fins were fully extended, and his tail swayed gently, looking thoroughly content.

The only jarring detail was the pupils in his eyes, which had narrowed into vertical slits, looking rather eerie.

“Uh, th-that…” Catching the merman’s gaze, Ruan Chen’s heart gave a shudder, but he forced himself to try and negotiate. “Big brother merman, can you please use a bit of force when you bite? It’s best if you rip my head off in one clean chomp. Whatever you do, don’t leave me half-dead… Holy crap!!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the previously placid merman abruptly lunged forward.

Ruan Chen was slammed forcefully against the wall.

The merman pressed close to his vulnerable neck, letting out a low, blissful rumble as if inhaling his scent.

In the next second, he felt a vicious stab of pain against the side of his neck.

Damn it!

Physiological tears welled up instantly from the sheer agony. Ruan Chen widened his eyes, his mouth falling open, yet he couldn’t produce a single shred of sound.

He had actually been bitten.

And it was so incredibly hard.

He was going to die.

Ruan Chen thought in absolute despair.

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