Chapter 112
“Well, I said I wanted to see one, but I also know it’s probably not real.”
Being seriously asked by Lin Ran, Zhu Yao shook his head, saying that he was just casually talking.
However, the arrival of the S University overseas teaching group was still big news for this remote island town, arousing a lot of curiosity.
“Eh, there are two kids here! Want some candy?”
While preparing lessons in the classroom, Zhu Yao unexpectedly found two little guys peeking through the window shyly, seemingly curious about the people inside.
Just as Zhu Yao took out some candy and wanted to chat with them, he found that they ran away in a flash, still speaking in a dialect he couldn’t quite understand.
“Am I that scary? Why is it so different from what I imagined?”
Zhu Yao stood up, a little doubtful of himself.
Lin Ran, carrying printed materials, almost bumped into him as he went upstairs and saw that the two little guys had tripped.
“What’s wrong? Did you fall? Does it hurt?”
After squatting down and helping them up, he found that the younger brother’s knee was slightly scraped, so he took them to the back of the classroom and applied a band-aid.
What stunned Zhu Yao was that these little guys did everything Lin Ran said and weren’t afraid of him at all!?
“They’re clearly very well-behaved, did you deliberately scare them?”
Lin Ran, after learning what happened, looked at Zhu Yao in surprise, and Zhu Yao felt very wronged.
“They ran away as soon as they saw me! I couldn’t even understand what they were saying.”
Qiu Yi, a senior sister in the same group, finally laughed: “Haven’t you noticed? The younger the children, the more they judge by appearances, so the treatment is naturally different.”
As soon as Lin Ran appeared, the two little guys stared at him with their big green eyes without blinking, and they were incredibly well-behaved when he held their hands.
Qiu Yi was a doctoral student from the S University’s Department of Education. She was very capable and had a friendly personality. Although she was the oldest in the team, she got along very well with everyone.
“So you’re saying I’m ugly?”
Zhu Yao became even more indignant, and everyone in the group laughed.
To be fair, Zhu Yao was quite handsome, it was just that he couldn’t compare.
“Be serious, we should try to make progress as soon as possible. Zhu Yao, you have to be careful next time. If you’re reported by the parents, it will affect our final team evaluation.”
Xiao Mingfei, on the other hand, frowned and gave him some pointers.
Zhu Yao immediately shut up, and the team members at this time were quite convinced by Xiao Mingfei, their team leader, and they also started preparing for the next day’s trial lectures.
Only Qiu Yi glanced at Xiao Mingfei strangely, then rubbed her eyes, she seemed to be hallucinating, there was black fur appearing on Xiao Mingfei’s neck for a moment.
“What’s wrong, Senior Sister Qiu Yi?”
Xiao Mingfei asked, and Qiu Yi immediately shook her head, saying it was nothing, but she instinctively felt uncomfortable.
However, to everyone’s surprise, the older and younger brothers who had boldly come to the classroom that day were actually from a very famous local fisherman’s family!
Their father, Weite, had the largest fishing fleet in the area.
“Hi——! Anran (A-Ran)! Teacher!”
Whenever he saw Lin Ran and the other students, he would enthusiastically greet them and try to give them some local specialties.
According to Weite, his two little guys had rarely been willing to go to school on time recently, and this was probably related to the so-called “Teacher A-Ran.”
The man’s Chinese wasn’t very fluent, and everyone could only guess what he was saying with the help of a translator, while the two little guys surrounding Lin Ran enthusiastically added to the conversation.
Before the teaching program, the school had stipulated that they couldn’t reveal their real names or leave their contact information, so they called Lin Ran “Teacher A-Ran.”
“I think it’s because they’re both very smart, especially talented in math.”
Lin Ran explained with a smile, feeling that these two little guys had an untamed wildness, but were also very smart and full of energy.
This made Weite laugh heartily.
As their relationship gradually became closer, Weite even agreed to lend an idle boat to the school so that these young teachers could go out to sea during their free time.
“Going out to sea to fish? Tsk, wouldn’t it be more interesting to go hunting in the forest next time?”
Shao Mian, inspecting the environment through the video call, wagged his tail and commented, instinctively feeling that the wetness of the sea wasn’t very pleasant.
Perhaps this was a characteristic of lions.
“What’s there to compare? Each has its own merits. And Atylanthos’ home is really beautiful.”
Lin Ran couldn’t help but share what he had seen and heard.
Although he was busy during the day, Ossi and Atylanthos had taken him to the Scythe Clan’s island for a walk at night.
It had a very classic and luxurious tropical island architectural style, and Ossi even said that he would leave a sea-view bedroom for A-Ran, inviting him to stay.
Although Atylanthos didn’t express his opinion with his usual arrogance, just by looking at the decorations in this guest bedroom, Lin Ran knew that Ossi, a little fish, couldn’t have prepared it.
He had even replicated the handmade clay vase that he and Sootball made in the “Demon World” hut and placed it on the table.
The more Shao Mian listened, the more he felt that something was wrong, and he mentally made note after note about Atylanthos with a sneer.
Heh, did he think that he couldn’t control him just because he was by the sea?
“Flamboyant. The Scythe Clan’s aesthetic has always been flamboyant.”
Shao Mian finally couldn’t help but comment coldly.
“Yuanbao, don’t criticize others casually. Forget it, move aside, I’m going to chat with Sootball and the others.”
Lin Ran knew at a glance that Yuanbao was throwing a tantrum, so he held onto the railing on the deck and couldn’t help but want to switch to someone else.
Sootball had indeed been “cheeping” for a long time, trying to squeeze into the video call to see A-Ran.
But Shao Mian was firmly occupying the center of the screen, and no matter how Sootball squeezed, he couldn’t get in, looking very aggrieved.
“I’ll take you to my home next time.”
Shao Mian softly added as he gave the phone to the cub.
However, this made Lin Ran truly curious, what was Yuanbao’s home in the human world like? He had never heard him mention it before.
“By the way, there’s something very strange, I’m certain that Xiao Mingfei really has demonic aura, Yuanbao, do you know this kind of demon?”
Lin Ran sent the image he had restored as much as possible.
It was only after being reminded by “Demon World” that he remembered the “Ice Soul Glasses” he had received as a reward for Snowball’s quest.
The item description explained that wearing these glasses could allow one to see the wonders hidden in ordinary life, but Lin Ran hadn’t found anything different after trying them on many times before.
He had almost forgotten about this useless item.
Until this time, when Lin Ran took advantage of the lesson preparation time to put on the glasses and look at Xiao Mingfei, he suddenly found that there was really a black shadow behind him.
And it had two fluffy little heads!
“This is an Abyssal Two-Headed Dog, an ancient demon race that has long been extinct. But this one seems to still be a juvenile.”
Shao Mian, after pausing for a moment, directly frowned and gave the answer.
Abyssal Two-Headed Dog? Wasn’t that a dog?
Lin Ran pondered, there were many feline beasts at home, but there really weren’t many canines.
But such a young demon, theoretically, could live for a long time, why would he easily give his core to Xiao Mingfei, a human?
Luo Xiao and the others, not far away, were experiencing sea fishing for the first time and saw Lin-zai talking on the phone in the corner with a strange expression.
“Do you think Lin-zai is really in a relationship?”
“Mm, it’s hard to say.” But his behavior did seem like it…
“Then this ‘partner’ is quite clingy, always calling to check on him, even more so than my previous girlfriends!”
Everyone tacitly didn’t dare to think further: Could this clingy guy be the one in the news and trending topics before!?
Since they hadn’t dared to ask Lin-zai directly, and Lin Ran had never mentioned it, they had almost forgotten about this matter.
“Forget it, forget it, why think so much? It’s a good thing that annoying guy isn’t here.”
The “annoying guy” Zhu Yao was referring to was naturally Xiao Mingfei.
In fact, during this period of time, even many team members had gradually noticed something wrong with Xiao Mingfei.
This usually very socially adept student council president would occasionally become condescending and aggressive.
Although with Xiao Mingfei’s family background, he was indeed superior to most ordinary students, this was undoubtedly a far cry from his approachable reputation at school.
And Xiao Mingfei was especially targeting Zhu Yao and his group, often suppressing or even mocking them. Even Qiu Yi, the most oblivious senior sister, had noticed this.
Therefore, on this sea trip, Qiu Yi, as the deputy team leader, didn’t follow them. Instead, she organized the current materials and progress and wanted to talk to Xiao Mingfei, the team leader, about the final summary report.
And tactfully remind him to pay attention to team unity.
“Junior Mingfei, are you in the dormitory?”
However, Qiu Yi, after knocking on the door for a while, didn’t hear any response, and when she pushed the door, she found that it wasn’t locked.
The next second, she looked up and saw the figure standing in the middle of the room, which made her pupils constrict instantly.
It was less of a person and more of a monster.
Black fur appeared on his upper body, and his fingertips had turned into sharp black claws.
The moment their eyes met, Qiu Yi’s back felt cold, and she instinctively turned and ran!
Was she dreaming?
Qiu Yi, running with all her might, didn’t even dare to look back.
Xiao Mingfei, who was originally immersed in great fear, paused for a few seconds, then clumsily controlled his transforming body and chased after her.
It didn’t matter if she died, his family could afford to compensate.
But if she lived and revealed his secret, that would be troublesome.
This was the only thought in Xiao Mingfei’s mind at this moment.
However, a sudden uncontrollable realization struck him: Wait, how could he have such a crazy thought? He was actually killing someone!
Had he really become a monster after consuming the other half of the core?
Or if he pushed her into the sea, then she would have drowned herself, and it wouldn’t be him who killed her…
While comforting himself, Xiao Mingfei tremblingly reached out, trying to push Qiu Yi, who was cornered, into the sea behind him.
A few minutes later, a high-pitched scream broke the tranquility of the coast.
And at the same moment that Xiao Mingfei transformed, the two-headed little beast locked in the special cage whimpered in pain.
The iron chain around its neck firmly restrained its struggles and resistance.
The private bodyguards were a little apprehensive, but they couldn’t reach Xiao Mingfei, their employer, no matter how many times they called.
They were initially told that it was a dog-catching mission, but they didn’t expect to catch such a strange dog. Even the strongest bodyguard would shudder when looking at it.
[See, you lost the bet in the end.]
[…But I told him, he absolutely couldn’t eat it.]
The two voices in his mind were very weak at this moment, but the dominant one still had a hint of disappointment.
Xiao Mingfei had actually eaten the half of his core that he had only temporarily lent him for his trip.
If he died and the core was lost outside and couldn’t be brought back, he might really never be able to go back.
The small beast, curled up into a ball, didn’t make a sound, just licking the blood at the corner of its mouth.
He had simply been happy being held and taken home.
But people seemed to change as they grew up, becoming more and more unfamiliar.
And that wasn’t his home anymore, because only he had been waiting there for a long, long time.
However, Qiu Yi’s scream at the last moment finally attracted the attention of those around her.
But the area of the sea where she fell happened to be a famous rip current area. Once someone fell into it, the seawater could easily drag them into the depths of the ocean in an instant.
The fishermen nearby saw it and tried to shout and confirm, but Qiu Yi had already disappeared the moment she fell into the water.
“Do you know?? Someone fell into the water!” (Dialect)
“I also heard a scream just now, who was it?” (Dialect)
“A fisherman? Or someone else?” (Dialect)
The news quickly spread to the students on the deck, who discussed it in a panic.
So much so that no one noticed Lin Ran’s disappearance.
Because Little Feather, who had hurriedly flown over, told A-Ran that that terrifying guy had really transformed!
[Ding——Detected that the Scythe Clan Affection Level has reached its maximum, do you wish to activate the special form skill “Mermaid Form”?!]
The moment the “Demon World” prompt sounded, Lin Ran was stunned for a moment, then directly clicked [Yes].
To be honest, he had experienced Sootball and Snowball’s related skills before. For example, after activating the Luna Clan’s special form, his eyes would turn dark red, and his teeth would become sharp.
Then for the Scythe Clan, would he grow a fishtail!?
So the next second, even Lin Ran himself was dumbfounded as he “plopped” into the sea, his familiar legs really disappearing, replaced by a pale, pearly white fishtail!
It shimmered under the sunlight, dreamlike and incredible.
Atylanthos and the other mermen, who had rushed over after noticing something was wrong, were all stunned.
“Ya…?”
Ossi rubbed his eyes, A-Ran?
A-Ran had grown a fishtail!
After transforming into the Scythe Clan form, the ability to swim in the water seemed innate. With a thought, he rapidly swam towards the depths of the sea.
All the information in the ocean seemed to be at his disposal, and he could even see a figure choking, coughing, and struggling painfully.
Senior Sister hadn’t lost consciousness yet, she was still trying to save herself!
This calmed Lin Ran down a bit, and he swam towards the direction of the aura more intently.
A few minutes later, Qiu Yi, gradually losing consciousness in the water, suddenly felt herself being firmly held by a pair of hands, giving her an indescribable sense of security.
“Are you okay?”
The other party’s gentle voice seemed to come from afar.
Qiu Yi, in a daze, only saw the young man’s features before completely losing consciousness.
Fortunately, Lin Ran had already stuffed the special pearl that Ossi had given him into Qiu Yi’s pocket and zipped it up, so she could also breathe underwater.
“Found her, found her, she’s here——!” (Dialect)
More than ten minutes later, the arriving fishing boats were shocked to find that this student who had almost drowned was lucky enough to be unconscious and hanging onto a reef in the sea.
However, the first words Qiu Yi said after being rescued silenced everyone.
“…Cough, cough, mermaid! I saw a mermaid!!”
Qiu Yi, still coughing up water, weakly stood up and looked at the sea, trying to find the figure she saw at the last moment.
“What is this lucky girl talking about?” (Dialect)
The fishermen looked at each other.
“She said, she saw a mermaid!” (Dialect)
The little guy who had learned the language seriously translated for the adults.
While everyone was surprised, some felt that this wasn’t impossible.
“After all, what kind of luck would it take to find a reef just in time?” (Dialect)
Lin Ran, hiding far away in the sea, confirmed that Senior Sister had been rescued onto the boat and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Little Feather, who was holding the phone to prevent it from falling into the water, blankly looked at A-Ran, who had grown a fishtail, flapping his wings and floating on the sea surface, the video call on the phone still connected.
The moment the transformation happened, Shao Mian even wanted to rush over, but he was caught off guard, seeing Lin Ran transform into a mermaid and swim into the sea even faster than him.
After watching the whole process, Shao Mian had to admit for the first time that the flamboyant Scythe Clan’s fishtail seemed to have a bit of taste.
The slender and well-proportioned fishtail was agile and powerful, and the long, light gauze-like tail fin swayed as he swam in the seawater.
Even the young man’s already fair and well-proportioned waistline looked very good, even though he was still wearing that shirt.
But Shao Mian tried hard to suppress the strange thoughts in his mind.
He felt that this must be because cats were naturally more interested in fish.
So when Lin Ran transformed into a mermaid, he couldn’t resist even more!
A certain evil golden tabby, successfully shifting the blame, finally felt at ease and continued to look at the screen, trying to sneak a few more glances and frantically take screenshots.
“Ya——!”
But the next second, Ossi, who had rushed over while frantically wagging his little tail, pounced into A-Ran’s arms and couldn’t help but swim around A-Ran’s fishtail, looking at it from all angles.
Lin Ran subconsciously flicked his fishtail from the ticklish sensation and lifted the little guy out of the water.
“Why are you all here?”
Lin Ran turned around and saw that Atylanthos and several other Scythe Clan mermen had rushed over after he jumped into the sea.
However, no one spoke at this moment, they just silently looked at Lin Ran.
It instantly made Lin Ran a little embarrassed, and he subconsciously glanced at his own fishtail. Could it be because his fishtail looked a bit strange?
Although the seemingly calm mermen like Atylanthos actually only had one thought in their minds: Could they take a picture of this?!
Their Scythe Clan was finally in the spotlight!
Didn’t this deserve a Mermaid A-Ran card face!?
[Frantically grabbing “Demon World’s” collar and questioning.jpg]
But no matter how much Atylanthos and the other demons wanted to ask him to stay, Lin Ran still had to quickly change his clothes and go back.
“See you later, Atylanthos, I have to inform some people.”
As Lin Ran waved goodbye, the demons in the sea almost felt the urge to drown themselves.
If they drowned in the water, could they also be held and rescued by A-Ran?
But a fish drowning in the water sounded strange no matter how he thought about it.
Fortunately, the Monitoring Bureau acted even faster than Lin Ran had imagined.
Xiao Mingfei, who had packed his luggage and was trying to buy tickets to fly to another country, was directly intercepted and detained.
And Qiu Yi, after waking up in the hospital and learning about all this, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Even when facing the school leaders who came to visit, Qiu Yi hesitated for a long time and still didn’t reveal what she had seen, only saying that she had a quarrel with Xiao Mingfei and was accidentally pushed into the sea by him.
“Then what about the mermaid? Did you really see a mermaid save you, Senior Sister Qiu Yi?”
Some classmates also came to visit and couldn’t help but ask this question that even the school leaders were curious about.
After all, there were rumors on Talma Island that a mermaid had really appeared.
“I don’t know… but Junior Lin Ran, could you stay for a moment?”
Qiu Yi hesitated and finally called out to Lin Ran.
Lin Ran wasn’t too surprised by this, but under Luo Xiao and the others’ puzzled gazes, he closed the ward door and walked to the bedside.
Qiu Yi seriously looked at Lin Ran’s eyes for a long time, still not quite sure about the scene she saw before losing consciousness.
“Actually, I didn’t dare to say those things because I was afraid of being treated as a lunatic. In fact, I really seem to have been rescued by a mermaid… and he looked just like you!”
After tentatively saying all this, Qiu Yi watched as Lin Ran, by the bed, lowered his eyes and slowly peeled an apple for her.
Not only did he not interrupt her, but he listened to everything very seriously.
“So that’s how it is, and then?”
Seeing that Qiu Yi had stopped, Lin Ran even looked up and asked gently, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
This successfully gave Qiu Yi, who had been mentally exhausted for a long time, a lifeline, and she subconsciously revealed the biggest secret hidden in her heart: “I even saw Xiao Mingfei turn into a monster…”
Qiu Yi seemed to want to get everything off her chest in one breath, and the invisible stone weighing on her heart was finally removed, more effective than all the recent psychological counseling she had received.
“Senior Sister is already very strong, rest well for a while, and everything will be over.”
Lin Ran let Qiu Yi hold his hand tightly and comforted her seriously and calmly.
Strangely, this senior sister, who was much older than Lin Ran, really closed her eyes with a sense of security.
At this moment, as her memory gradually blurred, Qiu Yi was certain that this feeling of being held was exactly the same as in the sea…
“Just sleep and you’ll be fine, Senior Sister.”
Lin Ran wasn’t quite sure if this mermaid ability could really make Senior Sister Qiu Yi forget everything, but at least she could have a good sleep. He was very sorry that she was involved in this incident.
If he had been more decisive, perhaps Xiao Mingfei wouldn’t have had the chance to transform.
Fortunately, there were no casualties.
But the information obtained by the Monitoring Bureau from Xiao Mingfei was far more dangerous than imagined.
There were actually quite a few humans like Xiao Mingfei who were bold enough to “trade” with demons, hidden all over the world!
However, recently, as many stray demons were intentionally taken back to the Demon World for recuperation by “Demon World,” it became increasingly difficult for these people to find stray demons to trade with, and the phenomenon of demonization and loss of control became more and more frequent.
After all, once they came into contact with demonic aura, it was like stepping onto a path of no return.
What made Zou Zhenyuan silent was that many demons, during this process, actually displayed an unbelievable naivety.
Or perhaps, those humans who deliberately approached them were incredibly good at disguising themselves.
“After all, the power of demons is indeed too tempting, so some people would take risks to try this temporary power. We will focus on monitoring and cracking down on this trend in the future. This is indeed a major oversight on our part, we are very sorry.”
Zou Zhenyuan couldn’t even imagine how terrifying the future would be if this trend wasn’t discovered and stopped in time, and was allowed to secretly grow.
“Okay, but don’t worry, there shouldn’t be any more lost demons in the future.”
Because he would take good care of every demon and not let any of them go missing.
Lin Ran frowned and made a decision in his heart.
Perhaps because they all loved him so much, Lin Ran often felt that he also had the responsibility to take care of every single one of them.
“But there’s one more thing that you might find more useful than us. This is what that guy coughed up during his final rejection reaction.”
Zou Zhenyuan had his assistant hand Lin Ran a handkerchief, inside which was actually a purplish-black demon core!
“This is indeed very important to me, thank you.”
The moment Lin Ran received the core, he realized that perhaps that little demon could still be saved!
“I’m guessing you want to go and retrieve that demon now? But to be honest, the demon captured by your schoolmate is the most powerful one we’ve detected so far.”
However, he was still young, and his power hadn’t been fully unleashed yet.
Qiu Ying didn’t know how to comment for a moment.
She felt that if Xiao Mingfei had had a little patience and properly raised this demon cub, the “benefits” he would have received would have been far greater than now.
But fortunately, he hadn’t really intended to carefully raise a juvenile demon from the beginning, so naturally, he didn’t know about this.
Lin Ran nodded.
The Monitoring Bureau was responsible for dealing with humans, and he would naturally take back the little guy whose core had been taken.
In the silver cage, the curled-up fluffy cub was already on the verge of death, and his usually oppressive demonic aura had almost completely dissipated.
Even when the cage was opened with a “click,” the little guy didn’t even raise his head, listless.
He only tensed up, afraid of being kicked, and tightly protected the thing underneath him.
But unexpectedly, the familiar pain didn’t come. Instead, it was the gentle touch of fingertips stroking his back that made him tremble.
“Baby, can you still hear me?”
Lin Ran was half-squatting outside the cage, and Little Feather, Sootball, and the others also looked at this little demon curiously and worriedly.
As for the great demons who had accompanied him, they were almost furious seeing this, and even Shao Mian’s gaze turned completely cold.
Although this wasn’t a cub of their clan, being deceived by a human, taking advantage of a demon’s trust and taking his core, then locking him in this kind of cage, this was simply outrageous!
If they hadn’t paid attention to those stray demons who had lost contact with “Demon World,” wouldn’t this phenomenon become more and more common!?
“Chibi…?”
The little guy whimpered softly and finally raised his head.
He wondered if he was hallucinating, seeing A-Ran.
And when Lin Ran reached out and tried to pick up the little guy, he found that the thing he was tightly protecting underneath him was actually that “Global Garden” magazine!
So it was you.
Hugging the little demon tightly, Lin Ran seriously said:
“Don’t be afraid, baby, we’re going home now.”
