The Fallen Merman Chapter 131

Published at 30th of January 2023 07:40:39 AM

The bus going to the airport set off on the highway at four in the morning. It was dark inside and outside the windows. Only Rimbaud's tail and Firefly's butt were lit in the entire bus; one glowing blue, one glowing green.

There were a total of 20 members participating in the exchange training with the PBB military base. The list of students was decided by Bai Chunian, which included Firefly, Clownfish, and Mongoose who had just joined the Search Department, as well as Bi Lanxing, Lu Yan, and Xiao Xun who stood out during the assessment at Greenfly Island, and the rest of the top ten students. 

The Medical Association sent Han Xingqian as their representative and brought two doctors along to participate in the exchange training. Correspondingly, the PBB Thunder Support Team also sent over three of their most outstanding young doctors to study at IOA.

The Technology Department sent Duan Yang and his assistant over. He heard that the PBB military base had recently bought a batch of high-tech equipment, so a tech whizz and mechanical expert like Duan Yang was racking his brain wanting to see it.

Rimbaud had a healthy routine—he dozed off with a pillow against the bus window. Occasionally, a little glowing blue jellyfish would pop out of his nose, then shrunk in with his breathing.

Today, Bai Chunian kept standing up to take things from the luggage rack; sometimes it would be to get a pack of tissue, and sometimes it would be a water bottle. It was all just to deliberately show off the fish-shaped sapphire ring on his ring finger that matched with Rimbaud's.

When Bai Chunian turned back, he saw that Rimbaud was already in dreamland, gnawing on half the curtain. He hurriedly brought him into his arms and let him continue sleeping on his shoulder. He tied up the half-eaten curtain and pretended nothing had happened.

There was only an aisle between Clownfish and Bai Chunian. Firefly sat next to him by the window.

Bai Chunian stared at Clownfish's face for a long time. “I remember you used to have single eyelids.”

Clownfish, “…uhm…well…” 

Lu Yan grabbed the back of his seat and popped out from above. “Yeah, we all think that Xiaocheng is getting better-looking. His eyes are bigger, his skin became paler, and even his legs are getting longer. They all say it's because you become good-looking when you're 18. Will I also become handsome when I turn 18?”

Bai Chunian chided, “That's it for you. Who said you can get up, sit back down.”

Bi Lanxing used vines to pull Lu Yan down from the dangerous place, and the vines wrapped him up like a safety belt. He coaxed him softly, “You are already good-looking enough, Ah Yan.”

Clownfish scratched his head in embarrassment. Because of his “child's father” translation, the king gave him good-looks. Since accepting the blue jellyfish from Rimbaud, Yu Xiaocheng had received more and more love letters every day. It was so much that whenever he saw an alpha now, he would grab Firefly and run off. 

Furthermore, his symbiotic summoned sea anemone also changed. The previously golden yellow anemone became a brilliant gold and was covered in a layer of faint blue pattern, which looked dazzling.

Bai Chunian signaled Clownfish to wake up Firefly who was also sleeping against the bus window. “Tell him to be more mindful, he shouldn't light up his butt anytime he wants. It's easy for him to be exposed when he's on a mission.”

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Han Xingqian sat on the long seat in the back row and rested with his eyes closed. Xiao Xun sat next to him. Seeing that Dr. Han had kept his eyes closed without moving, Xiao Xun thought that he probably fell asleep, so he quietly scooted closer to him. He sat upright with his hands on his knees, tail wagging.

Dr. Han had been busy since returning from the International Prison, and the two had fewer chances to talk to each other. At one point, Dr. Han had texted him to come over and eat with him. There were teachers everywhere in the Medical Association, Xiao Xun didn't think it was right for him to go over there, so he tactfully rejected his invitation. After thinking about it, he was worried that Dr. Han would be upset because of this. Xiao Xun had been thinking about this matter for several days now.

After sitting for a while, he felt that Dr. Han had really fallen asleep, so he carefully used his J1 ability, Universal Dashboard, to check Dr. Han's mood.

Emotional Ratio: 

Delight 50%

Curiosity 30%

Teasing 18%

Sexual Desire 2% 

“…”

Xiao Xun was puzzled after measuring such strange mood data. Although he could detect the emotion of the target, he couldn't tell who the emotion was directed at. He was confused for a moment, wondering if Dr. Han might be in a relationship.

“What have you found?” A pleasant and gentle voice sounded in his ear.

Xiao Xun stiffened. Dr. Han's face was leaning against him, even the hair on his face could be seen clearly. 

“Are you checking me?” Han Xingqian asked softly with a smile on his lips. “Your pheromone smells nice. Sunflower.”

Xiao Xun lowered his head.

“The mimosa fits you a bit better though.” Han Xingqian used the ball pen's cap to straighten his folded collar.

“Well…that sexual desire…” 

“Ah? You even detected this, too? But this value is considered very low for an alpha. Why don't you check Instructor Bai?”

Han Xingqian's calm attitude made Xiao Xun feel that he was narrow-minded. Since Dr. Han said so, he secretly tested Bai Chunian's emotional value.

Sexual Desire 90% to 50% range, rapidly changing

Madness 10% to 50% range, rapidly changing 

The numerical values on the Universal Dashboard were so chaotic that it was getting blurry.

Han Xingqian watched the little puppy's face gradually turning red, his index finger pressed against his lips to prevent himself from breaking into a smile. “You see, this is the value of a normal alpha.”

Xiao Xun quickly closed the Universal Dashboard. So scary.

Han Xingqian softly comforted, “Frequent attacks to the gland by an alpha's pheromone can lead to some allergy symptoms. You can come closer to me so that the male lion's pheromone in heat won't get to you.” 

“Oh, okay.” Xiao Xun scooted closer.

It was only them two in the last row. The bus bumped slightly on the road. Xiao Xun became sleepy not long after, closing his eyes while hugging his backpack.

The left half of Han Xingqian's snow-white wings stretched out quietly from behind him and gently covered Xiao Xun's body.

The big bus that drove them stopped outside the terminal building. Bai Chunian did a roll call to check the number of people. Not long after, a Land Rover stopped in front of them. 

“I was supposed to come see you guys off.” Golden Silk Spider opened the passenger door and got off. “But I got lost while looking for the bus. By the time I got there, you guys had already left.”

“How considerate. Who drove you here?” Bai Chunian looked at the driver's seat. The mummy's hands were on the steering wheel, turning its head to face them.

Golden Silk Spider moved the spider web between his fingers. The mummy turned off the engine, got out of the driver's seat, opened the trunk, took out a suitcase from it, and carried it to Golden Silk Spider.

Golden Silk Spider opened the suitcase and handed them all gifts. 

Inside were silk-knitted things. Golden Silk Spider knitted a shirt for Bai Chunian, earmuffs for Lu Yan, protective arm covers for Bi Lanxing, knee pads for Xiao Xun, and a pom pom hat for the tip of Rimbaud's tail.

“The President said it's cold over there. My silk can keep warm and is very tough.” He slowly whispered to them, “While you guys are away, me and gege will help the President with trivial matters.”

As the passenger plane took off, Bai Chunian saw through the window that the scenery below was getting smaller and smaller. Golden Silk Spider and the mummy sat on the roof and waved at them.

Rimbaud was much calmer compared to when he first flew on a plane. He sat next to Bai Chunian with his seat belt on. 

“Cute.” Rimbaud really liked the little hat Golden Silk Spider knitted for him. When he put it on the tip of his tail and shook it, the pom-pom swayed accordingly.

“You're right.” Bai Chunian looked at the sky outside the window. “Some people are willing to face the future, while some choose to stay in the past. I only realized today that death doesn't mean you'll be forgotten.”

“I have already investigated, Shao Wenjing transferred the property under his name himself. He probably knew that things won't end well, so he left all his money to Golden Silk Spider.”

Bai Chunian opened a file from his tablet and showed it to Rimbaud. “Also, I found a USB wrapped in spider silk from under the bed of the secret room in his house. The Technology Department decoded the USB—in it were clues pertaining to the Research Institute that Shao Wenjing obtained from that year's investigation.” 

“What was written in it?”

“This is the summarized document Shao Wenjing had written up before his death.” Bai Chunian zoomed in on the screen for him to see. “The 109 Research Institute's executive member, Hummingbird Aileen, is now the leader of the institute.”

“Do you still remember the File A that we obtained during the ATWL Exam? About a hurricane virus plague that broke out in the early seventeenth century, after which people developed glands. There was a European magician who publicly demonstrated floating magic, grew wings and flew off. A group of doctors believe that the magician reached M2-grade and their gland awakened as a hummingbird.

“The magician's gender wasn't disclosed in that file. My habitual thinking intuition is telling me that they were an alpha. However, they could also have been an omega, as the probability of an omega leaving an offspring of the same race as themself is far greater than that of an alpha.” 

“There are a lot of people with hummingbird glands.” Rimbaud didn't think that this non-linear thinking of association was meaningful. “Even if Aileen is the descendant of the magician, so what?”

“If we can prove that they are related, it would confirm many of my conjectures.” Bai Chunian said, “At first, I thought they were making special operations weapons just to make money, but that might not be true.”

“Look, Golden Silk Spider is an experimental subject they transformed in the early stages. Their initial experimental subject targets were only humans, or rather, their initial intention were humans.”

“Then what about Medusa's Eyes?” 

“His middle number is 5, which means that his degree of mimicry between the initial form and the final form is 50%. He's like you—you have both merman and manta forms, your degree of mimicry is also 50%, which is why your serial number is 857.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I thought that Medusa's Eyes was originally a snake, and after transformation, he grew a human-like upper body. It's possible that he was originally a human being and the snake tail appeared after transformation. In that case, his middle number is still 5.”

“So in truth, their original idea was just to transform humans in the maturity stage?” 

“En… I'm not too sure. This matter should be discussed after arriving at the military base. An investigation will start when there is a guess.”

“In the end, it's not our fault.” Rimbaud rested an arm on Bai Chunian's shoulder and shook his tail. “Humans will pay the price for their pride and arrogance—same with the 109 Research Institute. I'll personally rip out their skulls and put them in the palace to be used as fish bowls.”

“Oh right, where are we going right now?” Rimbaud had always solely cared about his own intentions. He'll do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He didn't ask about the next step in the plan nor did he care. For him, both ignorance and truth are but fleeting moments in a long life.

“We're first going to Heart Island. The captain will pick us up there and take us to the military base. When we arrive, they'll arrange for our accommodations, then assign training.” 

Rimbaud frowned. “If you're going to be an instructor, what will I do?”

“Be my student.”

Chapter end