Chapter 68: Mermaid

Ming Ji’s question instantly drew the attention of everyone in the room.

Xie Gewen’s upright yet relaxed shoulders tensed slightly. Shi Huai sat up straight, sneaking glances at Ming Ruan. The rhythmic breathing of Lion and Snow Leopard, who were resting nearby, paused in unison.

“Favorite animal?” Ming Ruan mused. He was genuinely an equal-opportunity enthusiast on this point. Furry or scaleless, flying, swimming, crawling, or walking—cute or bizarre—he loved them all. If forced to name just one favorite, he always felt he’d be letting down all the other unmentioned little animals.

But seeing the expectant gazes around him, Ming Ruan cleared his throat and declared with deep affection: “My favorites are Gray Wolf, Fox, White Tiger, Lion, Snow Leopard, and Snake…” He added a postscript after listing them all: “In no particular order.”

Ming Ji: “…”

Even though he knew Ming Ruan was likely just placating everyone, hearing their beast forms specifically named sent everyone’s heart rate soaring to new heights.

Xie Gewen’s tensed shoulders relaxed. He closed his eyes, an expression of complete, relaxed satisfaction on his face.

Shi Huai used all his acting skills to feign nonchalance, but he couldn’t help wanting to reveal a little of his happiness, like a child who just got candy and had to show it off.

Snow Leopard had already come over, pushing his head against Ming Ruan’s shoulder and nuzzling him. Lion half-sat up and gazed at Ming Ruan from across the room.

Even though Ming Ruan had listed many names at once, everyone selectively heard only their own.

They all fell into the same peculiar thought: See, even though he loves all kinds of fluffballs, he still thinks of me, still specifically tries to make me happy. Since he’s willing to cheer me up, it means he’s willing to put effort in for me. How can you say that’s not caring, not liking?

They desperately wanted to rush over, hug Ming Ruan, and cover him in their scent. Take him home and tuck him under their bellies where no one else could see.

The very air in the room seemed to heat up.

Aside from Lochus and Su Yuyun, who showed little visible change, the others were visibly stirred, their hearts unable to calm for a long time.

Considering everything, what Ming Ruan had done for them could only be described as salvation. In everyone’s hearts, gratitude, affection, even attachment… countless emotions intertwined. It was like a floor covered in fireworks and firecrackers, ignited by the spark of a long-awaited reunion—suddenly, everything went off with a bang.

Back in their rooms, everyone spent the rest of the night essentially exploding in their own way.

They managed to hold out until early the next morning. Except for Xie Gewen, who had official duties, Snow Leopard, Lion, and Shi Huai gathered at Ming Ruan’s door, waiting for him to come out and have breakfast together.

Seven hours of the day had already passed, and in those seven hours, they hadn’t absorbed a single bit of Ruanruan.

They urgently needed their Ming Ruan intake!

But the three never got what they wanted.

Because the Ming Ruan they needed to absorb was currently submerged in the Imperial Palace’s artificial lake. On his wrist, his Light Brain was repeatedly sounding alerts for dropping vital signs.

This matter started several tens of minutes earlier.

Worried about the dietary needs of Lion and Snow Leopard, Ming Ruan had gotten up very early to find the palace kitchen staff and explain a few things.

Who knew that on the way, passing the artificial lake, he would spot someone sinking and floating in the water, seemingly drowning.

Ming Ruan triggered an alert on his Light Brain, but he was too worried to wait. In the end, he jumped in, intending to try to rescue the person.

Before jumping, Ming Ruan was full of confidence. He could swim. Even if he couldn’t pull someone out, he wouldn’t drown himself.

After jumping in, he faced reality. Clearly, he could, but only a little—limited to swimming one lap fully equipped in a swimming pool.

Once in the water, Ming Ruan tried to open his eyes and swim forward, but he found his clothes felt as heavy as lead, dragging him down. No matter how hard he kicked and struggled, he only drifted farther from the surface.

He also couldn’t hear any other human movements underwater.

It’s fine. We’re in the interstellar era… there are personal protective devices…

This was just going to be very embarrassing.

Ming Ruan comforted himself with this thought. He could no longer hold his breath. Strings of bubbles escaped him and floated toward the surface. His instincts overwhelmed him, and he opened his mouth to inhale. The moment he did, water would flood in.

In that split second between life and death, something seemed to support his lower back, stopping his descent.

“Hey? Are you looking for me?”

Strange. How could he hear such a clear voice underwater?

It was beautiful, enchanting, extraordinarily enticing.

Instinctively, he clung to the person before him. That person also seemed to realize something and carried Ming Ruan upwards. Their ascent was incredibly fast. In just a second or two, they had broken the surface.

“Haah… haah…” Back in the air, Ming Ruan couldn’t care about anything else, only gulping for breath.

Once the burning in his lungs gradually subsided, once the numbness in his limbs faded, once his groggy brain slowly cleared—only then did he manage to lift his head and take in his surroundings.

What met his eyes was a set of delicate collarbones, skin of a cool white tone, solid pectoral muscles, abdominal muscles… cool and slightly warm, yet full and springy.

It was only then Ming Ruan realized he was actually hanging onto someone, clinging tightly to them, his arms wrapped around the person’s neck.

And the other person’s arms were also wrapped around his waist.

The other person wore not a stitch of clothing, while he was completely disheveled. Everything was exceedingly suggestive.

The man saw Ming Ruan staring at him blankly. His smile was utterly captivating, his gaze flowing like water, as if he wanted to see Ming Ruan drawn in and pressing closer, or perhaps shyly retreating in a fluster.

Ming Ruan chose sincerity: “Thank you.”

The man: “…”

He was taken aback by Ming Ruan’s straightforwardness. He chuckled softly again and winked. “My pleasure… beautiful Sir.”

At Ming Ruan’s request, the man broke through the lake water, carrying him, and brought him to the shore.

Ming Ruan was carefully placed on the bank. The moment his rear touched solid ground, he heaved a complete sigh of relief and hurriedly said, “You should come up quickly too. You could drown if you get too tired.” It looked like the person had just been swimming and playing in the water, not needing rescue after all.

The person before him tilted his head in confusion. “Come up? Are you inviting me… to come ashore?”

“Yeah.”

No sooner had his voice faded, before Ming Ruan could say anything else, a tremendous splash erupted—like something had powerfully slapped the water. Immediately after, the exquisitely sculpted pectoral and abdominal muscles in the water grew larger and larger right in front of his eyes, and the whole person lunged at him heavily.

Ming Ruan was knocked flat onto his back. The shirtless man lay right on top of him, elbows propped on either side of Ming Ruan’s ears.

Their chests pressed tightly together.

…Isn’t this a bit too close, even for two guys!

Look away, look away.

Ming Ruan hastily turned his head to the side, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of something.

Was that… a fish tail?

The man, showing not a shred of boundaries, leaned closer and closer. He propped himself on one elbow, resting his chin in his hand. The other hand lifted a strand of Ming Ruan’s hair, twirling it around his finger a few times. He even bent down and sniffed, like a little puppy. “A human.”

This was the scene Shi Huai and the others saw when they arrived, frantically rushing over after receiving the alert.

In an instant, the roar of beasts was deafening, shooting straight into the sky.

A silver-white figure and a golden-brown figure shot forward like lightning!

Facing the ferocious beasts bearing down on him, the man on Ming Ruan slammed his palm hard against the ground and flew backwards, re-entering the water like a fish returning to its pool.

Lion and Snow Leopard reached Ming Ruan’s side simultaneously, their predator pressure relentlessly bearing down on the man in the water.

“Ming Ruan! Are you alright?” Shi Huai also ran over and half-knelt beside Ming Ruan. Seeing his clothes pulled askew and clinging to his body from being soaked, Shi Huai ignored everything else, unbuttoned his own jacket, and moved to drape it over him.

Rushing over from the other direction was a large group of people led by Xie Gewen.

Xie Gewen confirmed Ming Ruan’s condition with a glance, reined in the impulse to rush to his side, stepped past the others to stand at the forefront, and looked down at the man in the lake. “Mr. Samuel.”

Samuel—a foreign guest from the Azure Galaxy who had arrived at the Imperial Palace today.

The Azure Galaxy was a neighboring galaxy to the Alpha Galaxy. Most of its inhabitants belonged to aquatic species, half-human and half-fish. Relations between the two were merely passable. However, some time ago, the Azure Galaxy had suddenly begun applying for diplomatic visits with unusual frequency.

Previously, the Research Institute had tried its utmost to delay Lochus’s beast-transformation timeline. Later, they had specifically summoned Ming Ruan to the Imperial Palace to assist with Lochus’s Reverse Therianthropy. All of it was to prepare for this diplomatic engagement.

Samuel was the equivalent of a mascot within the visiting delegation. His status and position in the Azure Galaxy were similar to that of the royal family. Although Lochus hadn’t been able to reverse his transformation in time, reinstating Xie Gewen to the position of Council Speaker to receive the delegates was just as appropriate.

This was the “important matter” Xie Gewen had mentioned to Ming Ruan yesterday—the reason he was at the Imperial Palace.

This visit had come out of nowhere. The Alpha Galaxy wasn’t clear on the Azure Galaxy’s demands. But now Samuel had unexpectedly appeared here, and had even encountered Ming Ruan…

Xie Gewen’s instincts picked up on something. His expression remained impassive, but his mind was already racing.

But Samuel seemed utterly unconcerned by any of it—unconcerned that two fierce beasts were staring him down, unconcerned by Xie Gewen’s icy tone. He certainly offered no explanation for why he’d been in the artificial lake.

He swam to the side, maneuvering around the crowd blocking his view, and continued to look at Ming Ruan, realization dawning on his face. “So you’re Ming Ruan!”

Ming Ruan blurted out, dumbfounded: “So you’re a mermaid.”

Mermaid?

Beautiful?

Everyone looked at Samuel, then at Ming Ruan’s utterly captivated expression.

Fists clenched.

The aquatic species of the Azure Galaxy were indeed renowned for their high average attractiveness, and Samuel was naturally among the elite. But still!

Everyone couldn’t help but feel wronged.

This person had just yesterday declared that he liked them the most. Today, right in front of them, he was unabashedly praising someone else as beautiful.

Anger and grievance intertwined and surged up. The acidity in the air was overwhelming—so much so that Samuel couldn’t help but rub the tip of his nose with a finger.

Ming Ruan couldn’t hear the inner lamentations of those around him. He had completely recovered from the near-drowning. Now his mind was filled with wonder and excitement.

A mermaid!

A mermaid from fairy tales!

Even interstellar space had fantasy creatures like this?!

He walked forward a few steps and crouched by the lake, eyes shining as he looked at Samuel.

Samuel was the classic mermaid image from fairy tales: Western features, deep-set eyes, curly golden hair, azure blue irises—pure, beautiful, and alluring. The only unique thing was that he was a red-tailed mermaid. Red scales were distributed finely along his waist. Below his lower abdomen, his body transitioned completely into a fish tail. As for further down… with the lake water obscuring his view, Ming Ruan couldn’t make it out.

Seeing Ming Ruan crouch on the shore, Samuel also swam toward him.

Xie Gewen moved to intercept.

The aquatic species of the Azure Galaxy all possessed certain special abilities. He worried Ming Ruan might have been affected by something. But no matter. Samuel would not have another opportunity to be in contact with Ming Ruan.

Xie Gewen said, “Mr. Samuel, please come with me—”

Ming Ruan asked, “Can I add your Light Brain contact?”

Xie Gewen: “…”

Composure shattered in a single instant.

Nevertheless, Ming Ruan and Samuel successfully exchanged contacts. As Samuel reluctantly departed, he kept spouting suicidal remarks like, “You smell very nice,” “I like you,” “Come visit our galaxy next time, okay?”

When Ming Ruan was brought back to his room to change, he was educated about the various aspects of the Azure Galaxy. Upon learning about its dual living environments—above and below water—and that an entire galaxy had mermaids, Ming Ruan immediately declared: “I absolutely have to visit the Azure Galaxy someday!”

What fantasy come true!

Shi Huai was by Ming Ruan’s side. Still irritated by the earlier events and sporting a sour expression, he paused upon seeing Ming Ruan so excited. His eyes shifted. “I’ve been up on stage a few times over there, and even filmed for a while. I know the place well. I’ll take you next time.”

Ming Ruan: “Really?! That’d be amazing, thank you!”

Shi Huai: “Hmph.”

In what way was a fox inferior to those half-human, half-fish oddities?

Meanwhile, on the other side, Samuel accompanied Xie Gewen to the banquet hall to continue the meetings. Samuel, with an air of innocent naivety, kept uttering things that grated on their nerves. Amid his irritation, Xie Gewen did not simply dismiss these as thoughtless comments.

Just as expected, as the negotiations neared their end, the topic inevitably turned to the matter of therianthropy—after all, this had been a matter of immense importance for the entire Alpha Galaxy’s populace in recent years.

Mentioning therianthropy meant mentioning its reversal. Mentioning its reversal meant Ming Ruan was completely unavoidable.

As he conversed with the representatives from the other party, Xie Gewen adroitly steered the focus of the discussion, intentionally downplaying Ming Ruan’s role.

Samuel had been listlessly flicking the water with his tail from a pool off to the side. At a certain moment, however, he suddenly interjected: “If Ming Ruan is so impressive, why not send him as a representative to the Azure Galaxy sometime?”

In the initial days of the Era of Beastification, the Alpha Galaxy had also sought help from the Azure Galaxy. The Azure Galaxy had dispatched many relevant scholars and representatives back then—though they hadn’t been able to solve the problem.

Xie Gewen nodded. “The Azure Galaxy is very beautiful. If he wishes to go, he certainly will.”

Like a small wavelet on a vast ocean, after this brief exchange, neither of them brought the subject up again.

But everyone knew that in such a setting, not a single word was wasted.

Behind the scenes of this direct confrontation, countless operatives sprang into action. They began analyzing the true purpose of the Azure Galaxy’s diplomatic visit, the possibility that it was linked to Ming Ruan, the reasons they might want Ming Ruan to go to the Azure Galaxy, the potential problems within the Azure Galaxy…

And for now, Ming Ruan would remain unaware of all of this.

These past two days, he would look at Samuel’s profile on his Light Brain again and again. He’d change the nickname to “Mermaid,” then decide it wasn’t polite enough and change it back. After this back and forth, it finally became “Samuel (Azure Galaxy – Mermaid),” which he set with satisfaction.

And if he’d been even a second slower, Lion would have snatched the Light Brain in his jaws and flung it away.

Time flew, and soon it was time for Ming Ruan to return and report the end of his leave.

It seemed the white tiger had left with the Boss several days ago, not traveling with them. The good news was that the snake was also coming to the Rehabilitation District. So, besides Ming Ruan, the Flying Sedan was loaded with Snow Leopard, Lion, and Snake.

Xie Gewen, Shi Huai, Benny, the researcher stationed at the Imperial Palace, and Ming Ji all came to see him off.

Ming Ji said, “Big brother will come visit you later.”

Ming Ruan’s slight melancholy was diluted a bit. “Okay!”

He sat inside the Flying Sedan and waved at everyone.

Just as the Flying Sedan was about to take off, he suddenly remembered something. He poked his head out and asked Xie Gewen and Shi Huai, “So when will Gray Wolf and Fox be sent back?”

Both Xie Gewen and Shi Huai froze for a moment.

Ming Ruan asked it so naturally, so matter-of-factly. His eyes held only anticipation for a reunion.

But…