The Fallen Merman Chapter 5

Published at 5th of August 2022 01:27:01 PM

Bai Chunian waded through the bathroom full of water to pull out the plug, and the washing machine finally stopped. Right now, this merman and his bandages had both been washed sparkling clean.

“What are you doing…?”

Rimbaud pointed at the “Start Washing” button—he recognized the word ‘wash’.

“Still, why did you pour so much laundry detergent?”

Rimbaud used his tail that was hanging outside the washing machine to wrap around the laundry detergent that lay on the ground. He pointed at the ‘wash’ word on the label to show Bai Chunian.

“Gua.”

“…Then how did you turn on the washing machine?” He clearly turned off the power before he’d left.

Rimbaud stared blankly for a moment, then his pupils flashed a blue light and a bolt of lightning went along his tail and into the washing machine’s power supply. The washing machine made a starting up sound, and once again, Rimbaud started spinning inside the washing machine.

“…”

Bai Chunian finally carried the omega out of the machine, drained out the water, used a towel as a pad, and placed him in the corner of the sofa. He then took out his phone and ordered the largest fish tank online, and ordered two takeouts while he was at it.

Bai Chunian felt it necessary to confirm with Uncle Jin about the admission ticket and blood test, so he wrote a message and was prepared to send it. At the same time, the takeout arrived. Bai Chunian habitually ordered Rimbaud to bring the food inside.

Uncle Jin and President Yan only had one child. Bai Chunian had only seen him a few times from afar. He was a lop-eared rabbit omega named Lu Yan. He was 15 years old this year. That child was used to being arrogant and domineering at school, sometimes he’d get into trouble and Bai Chunian would have to secretly help sort out his mess.

After sending the message, Bai Chunian looked towards the foyer, wondering why the merman hadn’t come back yet after getting the food. He discovered that the delivery boy still hadn’t left yet—his legs were trembling and he was holding on to the door frame, not daring to move.

Rimbaud’s tail was rolled up on the shoe cabinet, with half of his body raised to tear open the takeout. He directly swallowed the sushi wrapped inside a plastic cling wrap and ate the container with that same bite. He even bit off the corner of the cooler box slung on the delivery boy’s shoulder. Fortunately, Bai Chunian came over quickly and promptly carried Rimbaud away, then gave the delivery boy 200 yuan as compensation. 

Bai Chunian closed the door, sat on the floor, and rubbed his face.

Rimbaud: “Burp.”

Rimbaud had never lived anywhere outside the laboratory, and his knowledge of the human world was almost zero. He was bred for the sole purpose of war and destruction, along with being forced to mate with a powerful enough alpha to give birth to an even more powerful fighting machine.

Bai Chunian simply didn’t want to recall the past. In his memory, the sweet time he had spent with Rimbaud had actually taken place in a huge observation box. Inside the box was a huge mattress and warm yellow lights. He would embrace Rimbaud and kiss his neck and fingers, while Rimbaud would also respond fervently. 

Outside the one-way glass observation box were a dozen scientists in white coats surrounding and recording them. Furthermore, they would constantly inject pheromone boosters into the observation box’s ventilation system. 

Seeing Rimbaud who was ignorant of the real world, Bai Chunian felt that he had been thinking too much. It could be that this merman was born without emotions, so there was no such thing as betrayal to him. Thinking about it this way, the resentment in his heart lessened a bit.

Actually, being just friends… or even partners wasn’t bad. After 48 hours passed, enough to prove to President Yan that Rimbaud was not a dangerous experiment that could easily go out of control, Bai Chunian wished to help Rimbaud get a position in the alliance. And in the future, it wouldn’t be so boring as they spend time together as colleagues.

“I’ll take you out tomorrow, we’ll come back in two days.” Bai Chunian leaned on the back of the sofa and instructed lazily, “Uncle Jin’s son has a tactical exam tomorrow, I’m going to help him stay in the top three. It just so happens that there’s an empty spot in the team, I’ll take you along. This kind of exam is like playing and there is no need to fight. Remember, you don’t need to do anything, just report your position to me and you’re done.”

Rimbaud listened earnestly and accurately caught a few keywords, “@<+%x%ǎ you %%+ǎ fight %ǎ+x remember, +%@. Do @@%↑<ǎ and you’re done.”

He nodded his head to express his understanding.

At 6 a.m the next day, the city in the early morning had yet to fully awaken. The city dwellers were still lingering in the soft beds of their bedrooms or baking breakfast in the kitchen.

On the edge of the downtown area of Greenfly City was a dome-shaped building covering an area of more than 3,000 acres. At this moment, there were thousands of young students dressed in lightly-armed uniforms. There were basically three to four students in the same-colored team uniform gathered together, while those wearing different-colored team uniforms hardly talked to each other. Their eyes that mutually observed each other held a hint of competitive hostility.

There was a petite omega crouching on the flag-raising platform, staring at a distance while talking on the phone. The two rabbit ears hidden within his hair raised up then fell back down.

Lu Yan found a shaded place and leaned against the wall. He took out his tactical dagger from his belt and casually tossed it around to relieve his boredom. “I can’t believe my dad, last night he told me suddenly that he has a distant nephew who’s also going to take the exam. He told me to guide him… I heard from my dad that they’re not only low level, but also don’t have any combat awareness. They’ve never even worked in a team before. When we go in, we’ll just be giving away points to others.”

Standing next to him was an upas tree[1] alpha that was slightly older than him by two years. He patted Lu Yan’s head to comfort him, “Don’t worry about it. Go ahead and fight, I’ll protect them.”

Bi Lanxing was two grade levels above Lu Yan. He had smoothly passed the exam last year and obtained a 5-star certificate, but the ATWL exam allowed candidates to brush up on their scores. Candidates who wished for a higher star rating were allowed to continue taking the exam, and the system would automatically fetch their highest score and input it into their records.

Lu Yan snorted, “It’s not easy even for a team of four people with tacit cooperation to pass the exam, but now it’s become two dragging two. [email protected]@@, what a let-down.”

ATWL, the Advanced Team Warfare Level exam, was the most difficult tactical exam at the student level. It was held once a year, with an extremely low passing rate and 23 years old age limit. Moreover, each student was limited to a maximum of four times participation. In other words, ATWL was an exam for selecting elites. Students who could obtain the ATWL certificate would be the main training target of various influential forces. 

Lu Yan glanced at his watch and impatiently called the phone number Lu Shangjin sent him.

Bai Chunian quickly answered the call. “Hi.”

Lu Yan was stunned for a moment, then cleared his throat, “Where are you guys? The exam starts at 9, it’s already 6:30. We still have to change into our uniforms and take a blood test later, hurry up.”

Bai Chunian gave a laugh, “So fierce? I’m almost there, I think I see you. The omega under the flag, with two rabbit ears and nice dimples, right?”

“Yeah…” The sharpness in Lu Yan’s voice unconsciously reduced a bit, and his cheeks flushed.

Lu Yan hung up and whispered to the alpha beside him, mumbling, “Lanxing, this alpha, this alpha sounds like a scum…”

Bi Lanxing broke out into laughter. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just… his voice sounds especially gentle, and sometimes sounds soft and nasally—the kind like he hadn’t woken up yet. I can tell it’s the voice of a scum who smokes too much.”

As soon as Lu Yan finished speaking, his eyes suddenly lit up. A few steps away, there was an alpha wearing a casual lion T-shirt and sunglasses, dragging a black suitcase and slowly walking over. Sitting on top of the suitcase was a hybrid omega with blond hair and blue eyes, coldly staring at the alphas whose eyes were attracted to him. He was holding a rubber band in his mouth while tying his hair in boredom.

Bai Chunian came over with the suitcase in tow, took off his sunglasses, and lowered his head to greet Lu Yan.

“Rimbaud and I have never participated in this kind of exam. I’ll be troubling you guys to take care of us. We’re very weak and don’t really know how to fight, so we will dodge and try our best to not trouble Lu-ge, alright?”

Lu Yan’s face turned red from embarrassment, his eyes went back and forth between the two of them, and his rabbit ears wrapped around his face full of nervousness.

After a while, Lu Yan adjusted his state, adjusted his wrist guard and finger gloves, put away his tactical dagger, and made simple arrangements. “I will explain the rules in detail to you later. Rest assured, this is a holographic battle. You guys won’t really get injured, so don’t be scared. After we enter the arena, we’ll directly occupy the points. I’ll grab the ammunition chest and you guys will go to the roof to set up the guns. Don’t get knocked down. I’ll fight close combat, you guys keep quiet, got it?”

Bai Chunian: “What does setting up guns mean? I don’t understand, I don’t know anything.”

Rimbaud was eating the sunglasses.

Lu Yan: “…?”

Chapter end