Chapter 38: Protection
The cup of hot water was so hot it scalded his palm, but Deng Xi never let go. He remembered that the humans here would call the little mute “Marshal.”
Was this person the one who was treating the little mute?
The little mute had promised him that he would get better, but Deng Xi didn’t actually know what kind of illness the silver-tail had, why he would suddenly not recognize him, when it would act up, and how long it would take to cure.
But Deng Xi knew that this illness must be very, very difficult to cure, otherwise the little mute wouldn’t have been unwell for so long.
“Mom, I’ll definitely take my medicine obediently in the future.” The white-haired cub, hearing the word “treatment,” suddenly hugged the middle-aged woman.
Deng Xi pursed his lips. “Medicine?”
Dr. Li explained, “It’s a gene-suppressing drug that will make the non-human parts of an alien disappear. He threw a tantrum last night and refused to take his medicine, which is why his rabbit ears popped out. Otherwise, what happened today wouldn’t have happened.”
The white-haired cub argued, “But my ears hurt when I take the medicine.”
Dr. Li instructed, “Mom can allow you not to take the medicine, because I don’t think you can’t show your rabbit ears. But you have to bear the consequences of not taking your medicine yourself.”
The white-haired cub turned his face away. “Alright.” He then tugged at his mother’s hair. “Mom, I want to take my medicine now.”
Dr. Li put down the white-haired cub in her arms and said to Deng Xi, “Wait a moment. My office is not here. I’ll go get his medicine.”
When facing unfamiliar humans, Deng Xi would not take the initiative to talk. He quietly nodded his head. After Dr. Li left, only the white-haired cub and Deng Xi were left.
The white-haired cub liked Deng Xi very much. This big brother gave him a feeling of wanting to get close. He asked timidly, “Does big brother have to take medicine too?”
Deng Xi blinked and asked in return, “Why do you have to take medicine? Is it because you want to play with them?”
The feeling of being alone in a corner was very unpleasant.
Deng Xi had experienced it.
The white-haired cub shook his head. “I don’t want to play with those little brats. I just don’t want them to bother me anymore.”
Deng Xi asked softly, “Really?”
The white-haired cub pursed his lips and said no more.
After a long while, he finally choked out, “No one will play with a monster.” He roughly rubbed his own ears.
Deng Xi handed his juice cup over again. Although there was only a little bit left, and although he hadn’t drunk any himself, he felt that the white-haired cub needed something sweet more. “Then let’s be friends, okay? We can play together.”
The white-haired cub timidly took the juice cup. “But I have rabbit ears.”
Deng Xi’s eyes curved. “I have a tail too, but I think my tail is very beautiful. I wouldn’t want to hide it.”
“Your ears are also very beautiful, soft, and look very nice to touch.”
The white-haired cub couldn’t help but tug at his own ears. “Really?”
Deng Xi nodded vigorously.
The white-haired cub seemed to have finally opened up to Deng Xi a little. “Big brother, I’m sorry. When they were scolding you just now, I didn’t speak up for you.”
“I’m not a mute.”
Deng Xi remembered that the cubs had called the white-haired cub a “mute monster” before. He shook his head. “I know you just don’t want to talk to them. It’s okay.”
The little mute had been like this at the beginning too, not liking to talk. So Deng Xi didn’t think there was anything wrong with the white-haired cub. Staying away from a group that ostracized you was a skill that every creature was born with to protect themselves.
It was a very normal thing.
The white-haired cub’s eyes lit up. “My mom said that there’s actually someone like me. He’s also an alien, and he’s been called a mute by many people, and treated like a monster by many people.”
“But now, he’s become a great hero. My mom said that no one dares to say anything about him anymore.”
“I’m going to become a great hero in the future too!”
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment, then pursed his lips slightly. “Can you tell me who your mom was talking about?”
The white-haired cub shook his head. “My mom said she can’t say.”
Just as he finished speaking, the door to the lounge was opened. Dr. Li walked in with the medicine and fed the dose, which looked very much like a nutrient solution to Deng Xi, to the white-haired cub.
In less than a few minutes, the white-haired cub was in pain and hugged Dr. Li, constantly crying out “my ears hurt.” His entire face was flushed red with pain, and his drooping ears were standing straight up.
Deng Xi said anxiously, “He looks very uncomfortable.”
Dr. Li patted the white-haired cub’s back comfortingly. “It’ll be over soon. This is a normal phenomenon.”
Because the white-haired cub was constantly crying out in pain, the lounge was in a chaotic mess. At this time, a clamor suddenly arose outside the previously quiet lounge. The next second, the door was opened with a “bang.” The parents outside, each leading a sniffling human cub, looked inside.
“Mom, he’s the one who pushed me!”
“It’s him, it’s him, the little monster!”
“He hit me, wahhh—”
The middle-aged woman holding the girl with pigtails frowned instantly when she saw the white-haired cub’s ears in the lounge. Naturally, when she saw Deng Xi, who was sitting in a bright pink, childish mobility chair, she also classified him as a harmless minor.
Especially when looking down from an adult’s height, she could clearly see the blue tail in the flying chair. A sense of superiority arose. As normal humans, they had never treated aliens, who were a notch lower than them on the food chain, as equals.
“As expected of a frenzied alien. You’re probably used to hitting people.”
“Dr. Li, this matter of your son injuring my child can’t just be let go.”
“Tell us how you’re going to compensate for the medical expenses and mental distress.”
“And you, who are your parents? What’s their contact information? Hurry up and call your guardian over.”
Deng Xi, who was being pointed at by the human, looked at Dr. Li, who was hugging and coaxing the white-haired cub beside him, and lowered his eyelids dejectedly.
He seemed to have caused trouble for the little mute.
Dr. Li was just about to put down her child and prepare to negotiate with these people when she saw Deng Xi clumsily open his comm and, with a slightly clumsy fingertip, swipe it.
“Little Mute.”
“Ding—” The communication was automatically connected.
A man in a black combat suit appeared in the lounge. The 3D projection even reflected the golden light on his epaulets.
The noisy lounge instantly fell into a dead silence.
No one would not recognize the Marshal’s iconic silver hair and silver eyes. The parents swallowed and asked stiffly, “Is this your guardian?”
Dr. Li immediately stood up straight and said dutifully, “Marshal, there’s a little trouble. I can handle it.”
Si Jisheng only looked at Deng Xi. “What’s wrong?”
Deng Xi, as if he had done something wrong, said in a small voice, “I’m sorry.”
Si Jisheng said to Deng Xi in a low voice, “Wait for me for a few minutes.”
A short wait, because the communication had not been cut off, no one in the lounge dared to leave. It wasn’t until the door was knocked and opened.
The secretary-general walked in, opened his comm, and opened the access rights, ensuring that everyone could see the blue screen in the air. “The surveillance shows that your children were the ones who started the trouble.”
The blue screen was playing the footage of Deng Xi’s toy being knocked out of his hand by the girl with pigtails.
The secretary-general said in a stern voice, “This has seriously violated the rules set by the treatment center in the family area. And as far as I know, you are all in charge of the alien section in the treatment center.” His tone was serious. “But I seriously suspect that you have a discriminatory attitude towards aliens and are no longer suitable to continue working in the treatment center.”
“The treatment center will, in accordance with the contract signed at that time, compensate you for the breach of contract and dismiss you. Now, you can take your children and leave.”
The parents looked at the secretary-general in disbelief.
The military had always treated aliens with great favor over the years. They had relaxed the conditions for aliens to join the army, including the treatment center that served the military, and had also provided medicine to many aliens who could not suppress their atavistic phenomena.
In the few positions in charge of the alien field, because of the possibility of aliens going berserk, the treatment was much higher than in other fields. As pharmacists, their salary for dispensing medicine to aliens was nearly ten times higher than for normal people.
Although they looked down on aliens, they had to admit that this job was an important source of their income.
The middle-aged woman holding the girl with pigtails suddenly pushed her hard. “Quick! Go and apologize to that big brother!”
The girl with pigtails was pushed forward and, the next second, burst into tears.
Deng Xi was startled by the crying and controlled the flying chair to quietly move back a little. He said, at a loss, “No, no need.”
Humans who could change their faces were so scary.
“Take them away.”
A cold male voice sounded from outside the lounge.
The middle-aged woman, who had been planning to pester them, immediately shut her mouth, took the girl with pigtails, and the other parents also stopped their requests, tactfully taking their own children and leaving the lounge in a hurry, as if they were fleeing.
Dr. Li also led the white-haired cub out of the lounge. The secretary-general thoughtfully closed the door and waited outside.
Si Jisheng stopped in front of the flying chair, his eyes slightly lowered. “Hand.”
Deng Xi opened his hand, revealing the back of his hand, which still had red fingerprints, and showed it to the little mute. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
He blinked. “It’ll be fine if Little Mute blows on it.”
Only Deng Xi would believe in this action, which had no use other than psychological comfort.
Si Jisheng took Deng Xi’s hand, bent down, and his silver hair hung down. His cold breath sprayed on the little merman’s hand.
He imitated Deng Xi’s action of blowing on his wound in the ocean and gently touched it with his thin lips.
Deng Xi was stunned for a moment. “Mmm, then a kiss will also make it better.”
Si Jisheng straightened up with forbearance. “Recount what just happened to me.”
Deng Xi blinked in confusion and said obediently, “They isolated a human cub. I didn’t want him to be alone in a corner, so I went to play with him.”
“But the other human cubs wouldn’t let me play with him.”
The more Deng Xi spoke, the more wronged he felt. “They slapped my hand, pulled my chair, and my toys all fell to the ground. I was about to fall to the ground too. The juice that Little Mute gave me, I didn’t even drink a single sip, and they threw it all on the ground.”
Si Jisheng: “You have to say this in the future too.”
Deng Xi’s eyes widened slightly.
Si Jisheng repeated, “If you’re bullied next time, you have to recount what happened to me immediately.”
Deng Xi asked in return, “Will Little MMute help me bully them back?”
Si Jisheng nodded.
“Then in the future…” Deng Xi suddenly raised his hand, propped up his body with his tail, and opened his arms to hug the much taller little mute. He looked up with his blue eyes and asked very seriously, “If Little Mute is bullied too, can you tell me?”
The little merman tried his best to put on a fierce look and said fiercely, “If anyone calls Little Mute a monster in the future, and says he can’t speak.”
“I’ll help Little Mute bully them back too.”
