The Little Mermaid Fell for the Jiaoren 44p2

Chapter 44p2: Lecture

People were packed together outside the hall. Deng Xi’s flying chair was bumped around, and the noisy clamor of humans filled his ears. In the blink of an eye, the adjutant’s figure had disappeared into the crowd.

The mobility chair simply couldn’t squeeze through the crowd.

The flying chair’s flight altitude was also low. When Deng Xi looked around, all he could see were human chests.

So many people.

He had never seen so many people before.

Deng Xi gripped the control panel in a bit of a panic.

It wasn’t until his flying chair was suddenly bumped hard that Deng Xi also swayed in the air. After he had finally stabilized himself, he heard a string of apologies. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

He raised his face to look and shook his head. “It’s okay.”

The one who had bumped into Deng Xi was a military academy student in uniform, with flaxen hair and some freckles on his face. He was thin and weak. If it weren’t for his habit of walking with his head down, he might not have even noticed the low-flying mobility chair when he was hastily squeezing through the crowd.

The moment the freckled boy met Deng Xi’s eyes, he couldn’t help but hold his breath. He blushed at the sight of those blue eyes.

The Jiaoren silk that Deng Xi was wearing today was longer than yesterday’s, and it covered his fish tail. At a glance, all the freckled boy could see was a white gauze dress.

When he noticed the small Adam’s apple on the golden-haired youth’s neck, the blush on his face slowly faded. After seeing the mobility chair that the youth was riding in, he felt even more guilty. “Are you disabled? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. Is there something wrong with your legs?”

Deng Xi tilted his head in confusion. “I don’t have legs.”

The freckled boy’s eyes instantly became filled with pity, and guilt almost drowned him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

The freckled boy: “Are you here for the lecture?”

Deng Xi nodded dejectedly. “I can’t find the person who brought me here.”

The military academy had specially opened its gates today because of this lecture, and many outsiders had come in. Otherwise, it wouldn’t usually be so crowded. After understanding, the freckled boy fumbled in his pants pocket and took out a golden badge with the Imperial Military Academy’s emblem carved on it. “I’m qualified to enter the hall. I’ll take you in.”

The freckled boy shyly wiped the sweat from his hands on his pants before he held onto the expensive-looking flying chair in front of him and carefully half-pushed the golden-haired youth to the queuing channel.

With the badge, they quickly passed the inspection and entered the military academy’s hall.

The seats in the hall were almost all full, but unlike outside, those who were qualified to enter the lecture were either the military academy’s league students or official personnel.

It was orderly and not noisy.

The freckled boy’s seat was in the last row. He took the golden-haired youth to sit on the side and lowered his voice. “I’m sorry, I’m a commoner student, so I can only sit in the back.”

Deng Xi blinked curiously. “What’s a commoner? Is there any difference from other people?”

The freckled boy looked at the dense crowd of heads below.

The seats in the hall were in the shape of a funnel, and the last row was at the highest point.

The freckled boy thought that the golden-haired youth had been living on the capital star all along and didn’t really care. He smiled. Although his expression was shy, he explained generously, “I came to the capital star from the Empire’s F13 star. We who live on the outermost fringe stars of the Empire, as the first line of defense after a war breaks out, are the commoners.”

The people at the bottom of the Empire’s society.

The freckled boy smiled. “But it’s no big deal. Look, we’re sitting in the back, but we’re also sitting at the highest point. We can see below very clearly.”

Deng Xi followed his words, looked down, and nodded in agreement.

After getting his approval, the freckled boy couldn’t help but open up. “You’re here for the Marshal too, right?”

The Marshal was the little mute.

Deng Xi nodded.

The freckled boy smiled. “Actually, very few people know that the Marshal was also a commoner at the beginning. But we commoner students all admire him very much.”

“The Marshal’s first victory was on E Star. A dozen or so years ago, E Star was still called a garbage star by the Empire. The people who lived on E Star were even worse off than commoners.”

Deng Xi didn’t know why. He clearly didn’t understand many of the nouns in it, but he still felt a little sad. “Is it very scary to live on that planet?”

The freckled boy shook his head. “Scary? It’s more like a nightmare. At that time, the galaxy was still being ravaged by the Zerg. E Star, as the first line of defense against the Zerg invasion, for three hundred and sixty-five stellar days a year, every day, every hour, every moment, there was a war going on somewhere on E Star.”

Deng Xi couldn’t help but ask, “Then is there a place to sleep?”

The freckled boy shook his head. “It’s hard enough to fill your stomach, let alone sleep.”

Deng Xi suddenly felt a little breathless.

The freckled boy continued, “Isn’t it incredible? The Marshal, as a commoner, had never served in the army, had never attended any military academy, but he climbed from the most backward garbage star to the very center of the Empire.”

It was simply a miracle.

Deng Xi didn’t quite understand. “Is it very hard, very tiring?”

The freckled boy listened to the youth’s childish question but did not laugh. He was used to the attitude of the nobles on the capital star who were far from the war. On the contrary, he had a good impression of the youth who was listening attentively. “Of course.”

He opened his comm and clicked on the record file he had made. Every line of the dense text was a battle that the Marshal had participated in.

The freckled boy, who had been a little shy, straightened his chest. His eyes were filled with admiration and reverence, and they were also shining with confidence. “Starting from the Empire’s year 5330, the Battle of the Miluo Desert, E Star, without the support of other galaxies, for the first time annihilated an invading Zerg army.”

“At that time, no one knew how this Zerg army was annihilated. It wasn’t until the invading Zerg had been strangely wiped out three times that someone discovered the Marshal, who would appear there every time.”

“After that, the Marshal was invited to join E Star’s combat concentration camp. But at that time, the Marshal was almost ostracized by the collective. I’ve checked the reports. They only recorded a few lines of text.”

“Before the Marshal was promoted to colonel, he would refuse almost every battlefield report. The other people in the concentration camp’s evaluation of him was also almost all negative.”

Deng Xi’s process of receiving information was very slow. He had listened for a long time before he understood a few words, but he was not completely clueless.

He asked softly, “Did no one like him?”

Did no one like his little mute?

The freckled boy sneered. “Just like now in the military academy, those noble students look down on us commoner students. Who would look up to a commoner student who came from a garbage star, wouldn’t curry favor with the generals, didn’t fit in, but had stolen everyone’s military merits?”

“But that was many years ago.”

“Actually, there are very few private reports about the Marshal. Many of them are just my speculations based on the few bits of gossip. It wasn’t until the trial conference three years ago.”

Trial conference?

Deng Xi blinked.

After the freckled boy finished speaking, he suddenly reacted. He quickly looked around. Seeing that no one had noticed their corner, he breathed a sigh of relief and said with a sigh, “I wish I were an alien too.”

“Although the controversy on the star network about the Marshal being an alien is quite big, if the Marshal wasn’t an alien, he might not have been able to create this miracle.”

“Don’t you think so?”

Deng Xi pursed his lips. “Is it because he has a tail, is not human, is an alien, that everyone doesn’t like him?”

The two of them were talking at cross-purposes, but the freckled boy could still keep up. “No, it’s because all the aliens are sick, so they’ve been living in ostracism.”

From consciously staying away from the crowd at the beginning, to being consciously ostracized by the crowd after being exposed.

Deng Xi thought of the sick little mute and the bunny who had to take medicine every day. His breathing seemed to have stopped due to his low spirits, and he could only breathe uncomfortably with his stuffy nose. “Can taking medicine cure it?”

The freckled boy said with certainty, “No.”

His sad eyes were like a sharp blade, piercing into Deng Xi’s clueless blue eyes. It suddenly hurt a little, and he couldn’t help but close his eyes.

But the moment he closed his eyes, the entire hall suddenly erupted. The sound of cheering instantly broke through the sky. Deng Xi could vaguely hear the host’s incessant voice below, mentioning the word “Marshal” in a long string of words.

The clamor of the crowd and the freckled boy’s voice were mixed together.

“This sickness can never be cured.”

The moment the freckled boy’s words fell, Deng Xi suddenly felt an indescribable sense of suffocation. It might be because the voices were too noisy, densely intertwined, like a heavy net that he couldn’t break free from.

He opened his eyes and looked down.

Before he could see clearly, the entire hall suddenly fell silent in a single breath. No one made a sound anymore, only the constantly flashing magnesium lights were continuous in the silence.

The quiet atmosphere made the stagnant air even more difficult to breathe.

Deng Xi took a deep breath, and his blurry vision became clear again. What met his eyes was a familiar, cold and solemn figure. The black military uniform stood on the vast lecture stage, and the epaulets reflected a cold, golden light.

The freckled boy could no longer be bothered with Deng Xi.

Deng Xi looked around. Almost everyone was looking with an almost worshipful gaze, their eyes shining.

Deng Xi suddenly realized that the little mute, whom he had always thought was very weak, very pitiful, and needed his protection, was actually very amazing in the human world.

But he looked at the figure that everyone was looking at.

He couldn’t help but think, why?

Why was it that even though he was being admired by so many people, the little mute was all alone on the stage, looking not happy at all?

He still looked like he needed his protection very much.

Deng Xi suddenly really wanted to hug his little mute.

He lay on the flying chair and quietly looked at the blurry figure below, which was too far away. By his ear was a familiar, cold male voice, but Deng Xi didn’t hear a single word.

He quietly looked, and kept looking.

He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but in the middle of it, the little mute seemed to have glanced over at him. His silver eyes were sharp and keen, and then they quickly passed over.

A few minutes passed quickly.

After the Marshal left, the oppressive and quiet military academy hall slowly returned to its original noise.

Because they were sitting in the last row, right next to the back door, the freckled boy’s excited mood had not yet calmed down when he heard a knock on the closed door behind him.

The freckled boy hesitated, then turned and opened the door. The moment he saw who it was, he said in pleasant surprise, “Adjutant William.”

The adjutant was covered in sweat. He raised his hand and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then nodded and laughed. “Hello, hello, young man.” Then, when he saw Deng Xi next to the freckled boy, he finally let out the breath he had been holding.

Because of the adjutant’s arrival, there were a few small gasps in the back row. Many people turned to look. The adjutant waved his hand, telling them to continue listening to the lecture. After squeezing in, he quickly said, “The adult is waiting for you outside. I’m so sorry, it was my negligence.”

The freckled boy realized something and looked at the golden-haired youth beside him in disbelief.

Deng Xi shook his head. “It’s okay. He’s the one who brought me in.”

Hearing this, the adjutant carefully looked at the freckled boy a few times, memorized his appearance, and then casually asked, “What subject are you studying?”

The freckled boy’s heart was beating violently. He said crisply, “Third-year student of the Imperial Military Academy’s command department.”

The adjutant patted the freckled boy’s shoulder. “Good kid, I’ll remember you.”

The back door was suddenly knocked on again, softly.

It was only one knock, but it sent a shiver through the adjutant’s entire body. He pushed Deng Xi’s flying chair and went out.

The back door was tightly closed again.

The freckled boy vaguely heard a cold warning, “There won’t be a next time.”

The freckled boy suddenly stood up, startling many people in the back row. He sat down, unable to hide his excitement. After waiting for a while, he still couldn’t help but pull open the back door to look.

In the distance of the corridor, the golden-haired youth in the flying chair was being held in someone’s arms. The tall figure was bent over, his silver hair hanging down, and the golden chain made a soft sound as it bumped.

It was really him.

The freckled boy touched his chest, and in a daze, closed the back door with his hands and feet moving in unison, as if he had just had a big dream.

Si Jisheng was holding Deng Xi, who had suddenly pounced on him. Worried that the blue-tail, who had straightened up in the flying chair, would be in pain, he placed his palm on Deng Xi’s lower back and allowed this embrace. He comforted him in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid.”

“Even if you get lost, I won’t be unable to find you.”

Deng Xi shook his head and said in a muffled voice, “I know Little Mute will come and find me.”

So he was not afraid.

Deng Xi wanted to hug the little mute for a little longer. He asked in a small voice, “Can friends hug too?”

The adjutant couldn’t help but interject, “Let alone hugging, what can’t you two do?”

What friends, what friends? What kind of fun and games was this?

Deng Xi’s arms, which were hugging the person, stiffened slightly. He belatedly realized that there were other people around. He thought of what the little mute had said about “being misunderstood,” and slowly let go of his hands, sat back in the flying chair, and said in a muffled voice, “I’m hungry.”

Si Jisheng straightened up and gave the adjutant a cold look. “Extra training for three days.”

The adjutant secretly hated himself for not being able to control his mouth. He resignedly acknowledged with a “yes,” and then said, “Dr. Li couldn’t contact you just now and sent several documents to me. When will you deal with them?”

“Now.”