Chapter 73: Golden Ball’s Cub-Raising Chronicles (Part 1)
[If the Lord God intervened early…]
Once upon a time, there was a creator god. He loved creating different worlds and called himself the Lord God of these worlds. Although He was mostly a golden ball, His supreme power deserved such a grand title!
One day, the Golden Ball stopped a war in the sea and brought back a seriously injured little merman, temporarily keeping him at the Dimensional Management Bureau.
The little merman was named Audrow. He was a powerful, mixed-blood merman, but his situation wasn’t good. Perhaps the war had traumatized him, as he was even resistant to the Lord God, his creator.
“Audrow, you should address me as the great Lord God!”
“Splash—”
The Golden Ball, repeatedly slapped away by the merman’s tail, rolled back to his office, tears welling up, leaving puddles everywhere.
Many system orbs, hearing about the Lord God’s troubles, gathered like spotlights for a short meeting and suggested sending the merman to the Coexistence Plane.
The Coexistence Plane was home to beings from many planes, survivors from collapsed worlds, rebellious troublemakers, and even directionally challenged runaways.
Since there were many residents, the Lord God, referencing human society, established order and the principle of peaceful coexistence.
The Golden Ball had recently created a school, so he prepared a small house for Audrow in the community and enrolled him in middle school.
The structured routine seemed to ease Audrow’s wariness. Mermen were intelligent creatures, and learning about unfamiliar civilizations was enough to distract him.
Days passed, and the merman, his tail straightened, let the Golden Ball measure him. This time, he didn’t immediately sink back into the water, but leaned against the edge of the pool, his tail swaying slightly.
The Golden Ball quickly reported, “Your tail has grown twenty centimeters!”
For a still-adolescent merman, a tail length of 1.2 meters was quite impressive.
Audrow raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly satisfied, and slipped into the water, his silver, fan-shaped tail fin creating a large splash.
The Golden Ball expertly dodged, thinking, Unhappy, splashes water, happy, also splashes water, what a bad fish!
The merman remained aloof, occasionally floating in the moonlit pool, humming a soft melody.
The Golden Ball could listen to one song, but for a second song, he had to offer fresh salmon and krill.
“Stingy, you’re a true merman.” The Golden Ball, not having brought enough salmon today, could only leave, drenched and disappointed.
Audrow thought the ball wouldn’t return for a while, but the next day, he brought a small boy.
On a whim, the Golden Ball had been browsing the data on the human world and stumbled upon an unfortunate soul.
This soul’s fate was terrible, according to the rules of his plane, he was destined to die young.
This time, his name was Ning Zhixia, and he was luckier than his previous incarnations, at least living to adulthood.
Feeling a pang of sympathy, He proposed to Ning Zhixia’s grandfather, who managed the plane connection, to take the boy away.
The old man, both fearful and awed by the Golden Ball, was worried when he heard his intention.
“Is that possible?”
“Only if you can guarantee he’ll stay in Yucheng forever, willingly becoming the next guardian of the connection point.”
Interacting with non-human beings was always risky, but after much consideration, the old man agreed.
So the Golden Ball erased all traces of Ning Zhixia’s existence and brought him to the Coexistence Plane.
A new destiny awaited him.
“His name is Ning Zhixia, he’ll be living with you from now on, take good care of your little brother!” The Golden Ball bounced excitedly.
Audrow sat up on the platform in the center of the pool, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the boy, his tail swaying gently in the water.
The boy, about six or seven years old, was wearing a pink hoodie, the pig ears on the hood twitching with every hop.
He looked around the unfamiliar room curiously, his gaze stopping on the merman in the pool, his dark eyes sparkling with delight.
Wow!
“This is the living room, the kitchen and bathroom are behind it, and your bedroom is upstairs…” The Golden Ball, softening his voice, enthusiastically introduced the house, then realized the boy was gone.
The boy, his eyes shining, had run to the edge of the pool, a sweet smile on his face, and shyly offered a small flower to the merman: “Princess, this flower is for you!”
The silver fishtail paused, then slapped the water, sending a large splash towards the boy—
“Waaah…”
The flower wilted, and water droplets dripped from the boy’s wet hair.
The Golden Ball looked at the boy’s trembling shoulders in astonishment.
Little Zhixia’s eyes filled with tears, his face turning red, then he burst into tears.
“Bad fish! Bad fish!”
A flicker of amusement appeared in Audrow’s light-colored eyes. He sank deeper into the water, flicked his ear fins, and blew a bubble.
To punish the merman’s bad behavior, the Golden Ball installed a railing around the pool.
He urgently consulted the Human Child Rearing Manual and found himself raising a child.
Little Zhixia, freshly bathed and in his new pajamas, sat cross-legged on the sofa, hugging a stuffed cat, sniffling sadly.
Golden Ball: “Don’t cry, don’t cry.”
Little Zhixia blinked his teary eyes, didn’t reply, and continued sniffling.
Golden Ball: “Any flavor you want, and two cartoons, okay?”
Little Zhixia tilted his head, let out a long “hmm” in agreement, then, seemingly feeling greedy, buried his face in the stuffed toy’s belly, swaying like a roly-poly toy.
System orbs brought various cupcakes and filled the coffee table. Little Zhixia’s eyes widened, his hand hovering over them, then he picked up the nearest cupcake and took small bites.
“Hee… so cute!” The Golden Ball snapped a few pictures. This was how a child should be.
He floated away to prepare the bedroom. Children in a new environment needed careful attention, not just a pool of water.
Little Zhixia licked the frosting, the calm water in the pool rippled, and the aloof teenager slowly surfaced.
Half an hour later, the Golden Ball, satisfied with the cozy, child-friendly bedroom, happily floated downstairs, but his well-behaved little human wasn’t on the sofa.
Little Zhixia, his mouth covered in frosting, was munching on the cupcake, a sweet scent surrounding him.
The intense gaze from across the room made him uncomfortable, and he turned his back.
The sound of splashing water, and the merman silently followed him, swimming to the other side of the pool.
Little Zhixia turned around, tilted his head, and suddenly held up the cupcake, moving it from side to side, the merman’s gaze following it.
Ha!
Little Zhixia, as if discovering a new continent, grinned.
“Want some?”
He brought a donut to the edge of the pool, stood on tiptoe, and waved it through the railing.
Audrow had submerged when he approached and only resurfaced after a while.
The sweet aroma of cream wafted towards him, and the wary merman stared at the child, then, at his soft, sweet voice, gradually relaxed and swam closer, his tail swaying.
Just as the donut was about to reach his fangs, Little Zhixia pulled his arm back and opened his mouth wide.
He took a large bite out of the donut.
Audrow’s light-colored eyes narrowed slightly, and after a moment of stunned silence, he bared his teeth at the boy.
Little Zhixia, sitting cross-legged behind the railing, unfazed, chewed loudly, “Mmm, delicious, delicious!”
The Golden Ball, witnessing the whole scene, paused, then wrote in his parenting diary—
[Merman, bad temper, bad; human cub, vengeful, good.]
“Nine o’clock.” The Golden Ball announced the time and took the sleepy human cub to his bedroom.
The bedroom was a cozy, milky white, with a moon and stars mobile casting a soft glow.
The house had a constant temperature system, but Little Zhixia still opened a small, red mushroom-shaped jar and applied lotion to his face.
“Ball Ball, want some lotion?” Little Zhixia offered the jar.
“Thank you, I don’t need it.” The Golden Ball paused, then said, “You should call me the great Lord God.”
Making the merman downstairs show respect was impossible, so He amplified his own glow, appearing more divine.
Little Zhixia tilted his head and looked at him silently.
The Golden Ball patiently instructed, “Come, repeat after me, great Lord God!”
“Golden Ball.”
“No, it’s great Lord God.”
“Golden Ball.”
“No, no, no…”
The Golden Ball tried repeatedly, knowing that humans were intelligent creatures, five syllables were nothing to them, but this human cub was clearly playing dumb.
He tried again: “Great Lord God!”
Little Zhixia blinked mischievously and replied with a grin: “Yeah!”
The Golden Ball froze, then limply fell onto the bed.
Little Zhixia poked him with his tiny finger, and the great Lord God rolled across the bed. He giggled, “Ball Ball!”
“Hmm…” The Golden Ball replied lazily, giving up.
The confined merman, unable to retaliate against the little human’s provocation, could only slap the water with his tail in frustration.
Humans were truly cunning and shameless creatures. Audrow hummed a low tune, the sturdy railing vibrating slightly.
He floated in the water, planning his revenge, when his ear fins twitched, and he heard light footsteps.
A plate was placed on the steps by the pool with a clink.
Audrow looked up and saw a small figure with a backpack running away.
He waited, but nothing happened, so he swayed his tail and swam closer, finding a plate of fragrant cookies.
[I’m going to school! Bye-bye, fishy gege!]
A pink note with crooked handwriting was placed among the cookies, but the drawing of a merman at the bottom was quite good.
Audrow slowly ate the cookies, his tail swaying contentedly in the water.
The Golden Ball, after completing the enrollment procedures, took Little Zhixia to his first-grade classroom.
“Study hard!”
“Yes, bye Ball Ball! Remember to pick me up later!” Little Zhixia stood on tiptoe, his soft cheek nuzzling the golden surface.
“Ooh…”
The Golden Ball let out a happy whimper, floated back to the house like he was drunk, and was drenched by a splash of water.
“Get me a waterproof bag.”
Audrow, his chin resting on his hand, held a small pink note between his long fingers.
“…”
The Golden Ball dried himself and wrote in his parenting diary—
[Picked up a little ancestor, annoying.]
