Ark learned from the discussions of the surrounding townspeople that the second generation Archangels had temporarily come to the capital of Titan. He and the little mermaid usually kept to themselves, so they had missed the news of the Archangel’s arrival.
Maybe it shouldn’t be called the capital city anymore. After all, now that Titan was under Noah’s rule, technically their capital city was on Noah. However, the indigenous residents of Titan still considered this city as their capital and were unwilling to accept that their planet had changed rule.
Amidst the majestic military music, the large and flamboyant float slowly travelled down the street. The second generation Archangels smiled and waved in all directions. Their blond hair shined slightly too brightly in the sun and their smiles didn’t change shape from beginning to end. They looked as if every action had been programmed into them in advance.
Although they smiled, Ark knew they felt no emotions of their own, they were simply doing as they were told to.
The same was true for the residents, standing on each side of the street. Most of them bitterly hated the Archangels who colonised their planet and took away their freedom, yet they were still forced to smile at these trespassers.
Witnessing this stilted performance, Ark suddenly felt uncomfortable. He didn’t like this illusory and arrogant show, nor the hate and fear that resulted from it, but he was one of the murderers who caused this to happen. Titan was captured by Noah without a fight, and he was undeniably responsible for that sin.
The second generation Archangels passed beneath Ark’s window and finally moved away into the distance, but the long procession hadn’t yet finished. Several huge transport vehicles drove past, carrying massive water tanks several metres high. Inside each tank was a mermaid.
These mermaids were all beautiful, but they looked haggard. Most of them were quietly curled up at the bottom of their tanks, motionless, as if they’d lost the will to even be angry.
“Who are they?”
A childish voice suddenly resonated in the silent room. Ark looked to his left and saw the little mermaid had poked his head out of his tank. His two tiny hands were laboriously clinging to the edge of the window, as he flapped his tail in order to keep himself upright. Seeing the mermaids in the tanks, his eyes widened.
“Don’t come out.”
Ark’s heart pounded, and he quickly pulled the little mermaid away from the window and back into his tank, terrified he would be spotted. The little mermaid fluttered inside the tank, asking excitedly, “They look like me, they all have tails. Are they my family?”
“…I don’t think so.”
After a moment of silence, Ark shook his head. The entire royal family was slaughtered that day. The little mermaid probably didn’t have any relatives left.
But he’d still accidentally let the little mermaid see his kin, and he was worried he would want to find his clan. If the little mermaid really wanted to be with them, he wouldn’t have the heart to stop him, but his biggest fear was that the little mermaid would get caught and taken as a plaything, like those mermaids inside the water tanks. Ark wished the little mermaid could escape that tragic fate in this life.
“I want to see them again.”
The little mermaid blinked his round eyes and acted spoiled with Ark. Seeing that he didn’t seem to realise the mermaids were imprisoned, and his excitement simply came from seeing his own kind, Ark nodded. He wrapped the little mermaid from head to toe in a bath towel, and carried him to the window.
The mermaids inside the water tanks were almost out of sight. The little mermaid watched them without blinking. He looked like he wanted to greet the mermaids, but held himself back.
Bang.
However, the next moment, the mermaid inside the final tank started frantically slamming his head against the glass wall. Within seconds, plumes of red blood stained the water inside the tank. He let out a hysterical scream and scratched his long nails down his face.
His severe reaction caused a commotion between the other mermaids and quickly all of them were slamming their tails against the tank walls. The soldier in charge of the tanks panicked and dropped the black cloth covers down across the tanks, but everyone could still hear the crashing sounds inside.
“Don’t look!”
As soon as the first mermaid hit his head against the tank, Ark had put his hand over the little mermaid’s eyes, preventing him from seeing the bloody scene below.
But the screams that followed still frightened the little mermaid, and his small body trembled all over. Ark pulled the curtains closed and held him tightly in his arms. He kept his ears completely covered and gently rocked him until the parade was long gone. The little mermaid was still shaking, tears streaming down his face.
“He said he wanted to get out…”
The little mermaid grabbed at Ark’s sleeve and pleaded, “He didn’t want to be in there. He was trapped. Let’s save him Ark-Gege, wuwuwu…”
The little mermaid wailed. Ark gently stroked his back, his face distressed. He wanted to help, but he couldn’t make that kind of promise to the little mermaid.
If Noah discovered he was alive, they would send the second generation Archangels to hunt him down again. This time, he wasn’t alone, and the little mermaid and Fu Ji would also be in danger. He wouldn’t rescue other people if it meant putting either one of them at risk.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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It wasn’t until the early hours of the morning, when the little mermaid’s fever broke, that Ark finally breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to rest. He’d been too scared to leave the little mermaid’s side for a moment and hadn’t even had a glass of water for half a day.
“Ark-Gege…”
The little mermaid with a bright red face was placed inside the incubator tank. He opened his eyes a crack and twitched the tip of his nose as he looked at Ark with eyes filled with grievance. The tears that dripped from his eyes disappeared into the water around him.
Although he was so weak he could barely move, he still tapped his hands against the glass, wanting Ark to hug him. Ark fished him out of the tank and held him close, stroking his hair as he comforted him in a low voice, “I’m right here.”
The little mermaid stretched out his hands and clutched Ark’s wrist, refusing to let go as he sobbed, “I had a really bad nightmare…”
“Don’t be scared, the things in your dreams aren’t real.” Ark wiped the tears away from the corners of the little mermaid’s eyes and coaxed him gently, “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“But in my dream you weren’t there…” The little mermaid sniffed, “I was all grown up, and even though we were still together, you were really busy and I was always left by myself.”
“I had a huge pool that I could swim around in, but I wasn’t allowed to leave it and there were a lot of scary people watching me. They wouldn’t tell me where you were and they gave me something nasty to drink. When I drank it, I kept throwing up and you only came back when I felt like I was about to die.”
“In my dream I didn’t call you Gege, I called you ‘Archangel’, and you looked weird, not the way you look like now…”
Ark was stunned silent.
He had already lived through the little mermaid’s nightmare once before. It was the scene of Ji Ning’s death. When Noah discovered Ji Ning was a spy, he was executed by poison. By the time Ark arrived, it was too late. He could only watch helplessly as his mermaid died in his arms.
Why had the little mermaid dreamt of that scene?
How could he have known about that?
The angel’s heart felt trapped inside a storm, but the little mermaid in his arms was still very weak. Speaking for so long had consumed a lot of his physical strength and he soon curled up into a ball and fell asleep, his fingers loosely holding onto Ark’s hand. He murmured uneasily in his dreams.
“Don’t leave me…”
“…”
Ark hugged the little mermaid’s small body. The corners of his eyes reddened as silent tears rolled down his face.
He didn’t dare to think any further.
But he had to figure out what was going on.
Fu Ji’s mission finished and he returned to Titan to see Ark and the little mermaid. Ark trusted the man enough to tell him what happened.
“So you’re saying the kid dreamed about something that happened to Ji Ning?”
Fu Ji looked incredulous, “How is that possible? He’s not Ji Ning, how could he know what happened in the past?” He asked Ark, “Have you asked him for more details?”
“…He doesn’t remember.” There was a complicated emotion in Ark’s eyes. He slowly shook his head and said in a low voice, “After his fever subsided, he didn’t even remember seeing the mermaids and has no memory of the nightmare.”
“Is that so…”
Fu Ji rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful, “Could he have been stimulated by seeing people from his own clan? But no matter what the reason was, how could he dream about Ji Ning? Ji Ning was already gone by the time he was born, they’ve never had any contact.”
He paused, then continued, “Although I’ve been curious about his growth for a while. Mermaids grow up quickly, but I’m sure he’s ageing much faster than an average mermaid. Could it be because he was a companion egg? Humans don’t know much about them…”
“Let’s do it!” He slapped a fist against his palm and made a quick decision, “I’ll enter the mermaid city and find out what the hell is going on with companion eggs. You know I’ve been learning the mermaid language, as long as I can acquire another of those pills to become a mermaid, I can get close to them.”
“Fu Ji…” Ark shook his head, not knowing how to respond, “I can’t bother you anymore, you’ve done so much for me…”
“It’s not just for you.” The red haired man smiled, “I only studied the mermaid language so I could look for more treasure. Inquiring about companion eggs is no hassle if I’m already down there.”
No matter what excuses he gave, Ark felt grateful to Fu Ji. Ever since Fu Ji had rescued him, he’d really taken care of him a lot, and Ark had given him very little in return.
“It’s good that you know to appreciate me.” Fu Ji hummed and said, “When the kid grows up, you must take on difficult missions for me and earn me a lot of money!”
As an experienced mercenary, Fu Ji’s abilities weren’t to be questioned. Using only a slight grasp of the mermaid language, his charms, and the transformative medicine, he smoothly extracted information from a mermaid family. Once he was sure his cover was secure, he talked about companion eggs with them.
“Listen to me carefully Ark.”
As soon as Fu Ji returned to land he entered their temporary base. His usual playful expression was gone as he said seriously.
“Companion eggs are so rare that even most mermaids don’t know much about them. I was taken to speak with an elder of the mermaid tribe, and although it sounds incredible, I think this might be true.”
As he spoke, he glanced toward the little mermaid sleeping in the water tank. The little guy grew up very fast, and now had the appearance of an eight or nine year old child.
“Whether it’s his dream about things that happened in the past, or the fact that he’s growing up so much faster than normal mermaids, they’re both proof to support this.”
He unconsciously lowered his voice and said slowly.
“The mermaid elder told me that companion eggs live in symbiosis with the soul of the mermaid…”
“Even if the mermaid dies, as long as the fire of their soul doesn’t burn out, one day they can be reborn through love and longing.”
“I think I have to take back what I said before. He is Ji Ning. He’s the reincarnation of Ji Ning.”
“It was you Ark, who brought him back into this world.”
That night, Ark sat motionless by the water tank, quietly watching the sleeping little mermaid.
His eyes slowly traced the mermaid’s face. He felt like he was in a dream, his heart beating so quickly it hurt.
He felt heartache again.
But this distress was different from before. Instead of fear and pain, he felt extreme joy.
Tears fell silently from his silver eyes.
The angel finally stood up and placed his palm lightly on the water tank, pressing a gentle kiss to the glass.
This time, he would be the one to teach the mermaid what ‘love’ was.
Before they knew it, a whole year had passed since the birth of the little mermaid.
After the first nightmare, the little mermaid intermittently dreamed more about their past lives. Ark wasn’t sure how to feel about it. He desperately hoped that his mermaid could recall their previous time spent together, yet he didn’t want him to remember how his planet, Titan, had been destroyed. They’d both failed to save it.
On his birthday, Fu Ji spent a lot of effort to buy a food similar to birthday cake. Although his frugal heart cried when he served it out, when he saw the happy smile on the little mermaid’s face, he ruffled his hair and laughed, pulling out a candle to put into the cake.
“Happy birthday to you…”
As he sang, there was a strange expression on his face. The mermaid sitting inside the tank had an adult’s body, his beautiful face exuding a charming and tempting aura. What about him looked one year old??
However, the way mermaids aged was different to humans. They had longer lifespans but grew much faster in their infancy. By their first year, mermaids were already considered adults, and the little mermaid aged even faster than ordinary mermaids. Converted to human years, he was at least twenty years old.
“Thank you Fu Ji.”
The mermaid in the tank screwed up his eyes and made a wish. Before blowing out the candle, he smiled and said to the other two, “Why don’t you make a wish too?”
“Oh, okay.”
Fu Ji agreed happily, closing his eyes to make a wish. Ark silently did the same, making a private wish in his heart.
When he was an Archangel he’d never heard of such a custom, but after integrating into the lives of ordinary people, it was one of the many things he’d learned. He liked to participate in every one of the traditions he learned as it made him feel more like a real person.
“What did you two wish for?”
After making his wish, Fu Ji opened a bottle of wine and asked, “My wish was obviously to make a lot of money. I want to make so much money that I don’t have enough time in the rest of my life to spend it!”
“I wished I could be with Ark forever.” Said the mermaid with a smile.
“What about me?” Fu Ji shouted in dissatisfaction, “Aren’t I part of your wish?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to get married and have children?” The mermaid laughed, “If you stay with us forever, how could you get married?”
“Uh…” Fu Ji was lost for words. He muttered, “Only as friends…”
The mermaid laughed again, then suddenly frowned, touching his forehead with an uncomfortable expression.
“What’s wrong?”
Ark immediately stepped forward and supported the mermaid’s arm, only to find that his normally cool skin was hot to the touch. A gorgeous crimson flush lit up the mermaid’s beautiful face as his lips parted slightly, taking in panting breaths.
“I don’t know.”
He turned to Ark, tears spilling down his cheeks. He grabbed the corner of Ark’s shirt, “But, I feel so bad, Ark, it hurts…”
“Ah, shit…”
Watching the mermaid press himself against Ark’s body, rubbing his heated cheeks against Ark’s cool palm, Fu Ji froze. His eyes widened suddenly as he muttered.
“Has he entered his breeding period?”
He’s a six thousand year old baby – but that means it’s okay (^^ゞ)
Thanks for your thoughts everyone – I’ve added some Geges, some Didis, a Xiong Wang and a few Shioxiongs and Shidis and it looks much better now!!
I know Ark’s story will make me emotional… (╥﹏╥)
Only sweetness from Ark, he’s our angel afterall~
Little mermaid Ji Ning~
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/739029124512874567/1097721886626041926/image0.png
I have that feeling too comment under me TwT
Wuwuuu so cute