CH 83

Translate by Hua

Along with the news from Vincent, a photo of the mermaid was attached.

The pale-faced mermaid has a skinny figure, and his slightly curly blond hair, whose shape and color can be vaguely discerned, is no different from a bundle of withered grass. His naked body is lying on the desolate ground, full of gravel. There were scratches and wounds on the exposed skin, and the blood seeping out made the ground beneath him look a little moist.

“I won’t post the video because the signal is not very good. This mermaid’s tail is also very strange. I couldn’t wake him up when I patted his shoulder, so I tapped his tail. Captain, you don’t even know how scary it is! This mermaid’s tail is soft and floppy, like a puddle of mud!!!”

The three exclamations at the end vividly expressed the panic in Vincent’s heart at this time. Ji Mingjiang could even imagine his expression.

His facial muscles probably moved so much that his sunglasses slipped halfway down, and his exaggerated mouth shape made his two mustaches fly up and down as well.

However, at this moment, Ji Mingjiang didn’t have the heart to joke about how Clarice could have such a passionate subordinate. He frowned and carefully looked at the mermaid in the photo.

After a long time, he looked at Clarice, who also had a solemn expression, and hesitated: “This mermaid… shouldn’t be from us, right?”

“Take him aboard the starship and come together to pick us up.”

After sending this message to Vincent, Leiden nodded to Ji Mingjiang’s question just now: “Let’s change our clothes first. We’ll talk about it on the way back.”

Thinking of the batch of accounts whose IPs could not be found, Leiden sighed. Things like this never really stop.

Xue Chen returned to the front desk and sat in a daze after seeing that nothing had happened to Ji Mingjiang. When Ji Mingjiang and Clarice packed their things and went over, they happened to see Wang Fu beating Xue Chen with a look of exasperation.

Looking at the two people who were neither bosses nor employees, Ji Mingjiang suppressed his smile, raised his fingers, and knocked lightly on the door frame twice, making some noise to attract their attention.

“We have to go first.” As he said that, Ji Mingjiang turned on his light brain and quickly picked up the payment machine. Xue Chen, who was slumped on the chair behind the front desk, was not as fast as him.

“Beep.”

A voice that he hadn’t heard for too long resounded in the spark-cracking room. Xue Chen slumped back under Ji Mingjiang’s proud expression, his gray-blue eyes full of helplessness.

“I told you I don’t want any money from you.”

It’s unknown whether the brief exchange with the two just now gave Xue Chen a new understanding of Ji Mingjiang and Clarice, but he seemed to be much more relaxed than at the beginning.

After yawning widely in the warm and comfortable environment, he prolonged his tone and complained, “Why do you insist on treating me like a stranger? Your live broadcast has helped me a lot. Just now, my appointment phone number was almost bursting; really, the work is going to be busy again.”

Although he made this complaint, Ji Mingjiang didn’t miss the slightly raised corners of Xue Chen’s mouth.

“Stop talking; the store manager behind you is staring at you.”

Looking at Wang Fu, who silently clenched his fists, Ji Mingjiang chuckled.

Xue Chen half-raised his eyelids, glanced to the side with his gray-blue eyes, and waved his hands indifferently. “He has always been like this. I’m used to it, but you and Your Majesty…”

Speaking of this, Xue Chen, who had always been considered mild-tempered in Wang Fu’s opinion, had contempt and disdain in his eyes that he had never seen before. However, this emotion came and went quickly. When he looked up at Ji Mingjiang again, most of it had been eliminated. “I saw those barrages just now. It’s just a trick of the Federation that never makes it to the forefront. Don’t take it to heart.”

The two of them were called out in the previous sentence, but the latter sentence was directly addressed to him. Ji Mingjiang couldn’t help but laugh out loud because of Xue Chen’s above-board double standard. He was laughing in place for a few seconds before trying to keep his expression serious, and he said, “Don’t worry, this method won’t affect me.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the public light brain placed on the counter rang again. After a few seconds, it automatically hung up because no one answered, and a line of messages slowly appeared on it.

“Reserve a ski package for two people for this Sunday. The communication number ends with 2894x, and the reservation person is xxx.”

After Ji Mingjiang noticed it, he immediately changed his tone and said, “Boss Xue, let’s prepare for the sudden boom in business. We won’t disturb you.”

After leaving the ski resort and getting into the hover car that Clarice had gotten from nowhere, Ji Mingjiang asked strangely while pulling on his seat belt, “Xue Chen should be a beastman, right? The type with a poor mental state.”

In his several contacts with the store manager, he could detect a small amount of mental power spilling out, though it wasn’t serious and probably wouldn’t affect his daily life.

However, thinking about the mental power that only partially leaks out and can make people feel a sense of oppression, Ji Mingjiang is a little confused. “I remember that it should be quite convenient to find a job for a beastman, not to mention the arctic rabbit’s animal form as the store manager. There are even more jobs to choose from, so why would he rather stay on this unsuitable planet with no income?”

After hearing his question, Leiden didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he started the hover car and turned on the automatic driving. After thinking for a moment, he said with some hesitation and uncertainty, “He might be retired from the military and would have a fixed yearly stipend.”

He knew very well that there was no such person in the team he was in charge of, but Xue Chen’s pair of legs that were too long… didn’t seem to be completely unimpressive?

After returning to the villa, Vincent, who had just finished sending the message not long ago, had already parked the starship in the large open space behind the villa, his face full of anxious despair.

As soon as he vaguely saw the two blurry figures of Ji Mingjiang and Clarice, he rushed forward, grabbed Ji Mingjiang’s wrist, and led him into the starship.

Ji Mingjiang, who had been unguarded from the start because Vincent was one of Clarice’s men, was really pulled forward a few steps by him. He only came back to his senses when he perceived the sudden rise of the black dragon in Clarice’s spiritual sea and managed to stop his footsteps, then yanked Vincent to a halt. “Wait a minute! Why are you in such a hurry?”

Clarice, who had been left behind just now, also followed up. His eyes fell on Vincent’s hand, which was still holding Ji Mingjiang’s wrist. He stared at him until he let go, then looked away and asked, “What happened?”

“Go in first, and then we’ll talk about it. The condition of the mermaid I brought back is a little too bad. I won’t be able to tell you the whole thing.” Vincent’s clothes were still stained with dirt. He was speaking very fast at this time, and before he finished speaking, he raised his legs and walked towards the starship with the hatch open.

Ji Mingjiang frowned, glanced at Clarice, and followed suit.

Passing through several areas, such as the public area and driving area of the starship, the two followed Vincent to a public bathroom in the deepest part of the rest area. Opening the door, the mermaid who was brought back was lying flat in the bathtub filled with water.

After the dust was washed away by the flowing water, the golden hair revealed its original color, but it was not that bright and beautiful now.

Ji Mingjiang frowned and stepped forward, reaching out to twist a strand of wet hair that was soaked in water. The hair in his hand was still rough even after it had been soaked in water for a while, and just by touching it with his hand, he could tell how fragile it was. With just a little force, this section of hair can probably fall to the ground.

Not to mention the tail that was highlighted in the message from Vincent. A healthy mermaid… No, even for those mermaids in the mermaid center who aren’t in their peak condition, their tails wouldn’t sway with the waves like a clump of soft, boneless seaweed when unconscious or asleep.

After Ji Mingjiang hesitated at a loss for a moment, he tentatively stretched out his mental power and one of his hands, preparing to take a closer look at the mermaid’s condition.

Then the very limp fishtail was stirred by air bubbles from the bathtub drain.

“…”

Looking at the outrageous scene in front of him in silence, Ji Mingjiang finally put his hand on his tail and gently but carefully stroked it from the junction of the fish tail and waist to the tail fin before retracting his hand.

Turning to look at Clarice and Vincent standing by the door, Ji Mingjiang shrank his fingers. The slight scratching sensation caused by the rough and curled fish scales seemed to still linger on his fingertips.

“Get ready to return. Contact the Mermaid Center and ask them to prepare the treatment equipment.”

Rubbing his brows, Ji Mingjiang looked back at the mermaid, whose eyelids had not moved from beginning to end. “If only we had discovered him a little earlier. I think his tail might have become crippled.”

“I’ll be there right away.” Gritting his teeth and slamming the door frame hard, Vincent hurried towards the cabin.

Seeing Ji Mingjiang coming over, Clarice stepped aside to make way and walked out of the bathroom with him before speaking: “After Vincent sent me a message, I contacted Oddo and asked him to adjust the file. After seeing the photos, he judged that the mermaid was still in his juvenile stage. Based on this age group, there are no records of missing mermaids in those years.”

Although specific tests will be needed to make a specific judgment after returning, both of them now have an idea.

After all, according to Vincent, he saw this mermaid on an edge star close to the Federation. The mermaids of the empire will not be smuggled to that kind of desolate place, even if they are not registered at the mermaid center. In addition, Vincent said that there was a crashed Federation mecha next to the garbage mountain, dozens of meters away from the mermaid…

“Why did the mermaid from the Federation come to us? It seems like he escaped after being tortured.” Ji Mingjiang followed Clarice outside, puzzled.

……

“Buzz——”

“Buzz——”

As soon as he got home and was about to take a shower, Grepa’s communicator, which had rung several times today, rang again, which was particularly jarring in the dark and quiet room with the curtains drawn.

And this time, it wasn’t a message but a direct call to him. There was only a thin layer of trousers between the continuously vibrating communicator and his thigh. Grepa was so startled by this unexpected movement that he almost stumbled against the door.

Why are there so many things going on today? The number of times he was contacted today was equal to the number of times he was contacted in the previous year!

“Hello?” After calming down the faint anger in his heart, he took out the communicator from his trouser pocket. After connecting the call, he put it to his ear when the voice coming from inside made his eardrums buzz.

“There is a very urgent matter that needs you to deal with…”

“One of the mermaid experimental subjects mentioned before is missing. The current speculation is that he’s very likely escaped to the Empire. Your additional task is to find him.”

“This incident happened in the underground auction house and was linked to the research institute. It directly alarmed the Speaker… Therefore, this task must only succeed and not fail.”

“After you find it, you can kill it directly on the spot or contact the two people I recommended to you before. You have to be fast. You must not let the mermaid fall into the hands of the Empire.”

Grepa’s eyesight went dark for a moment as Andrew’s voice continued to come out from the communicator. His tone was very irritable, and his voice was trembling a little. Grepa couldn’t tell whether it was due to fear or anger—maybe both.

After listening to Andrew’s words expressionlessly, he briefly responded with a few words and hung up the communication. Grepa leaned on the table and looked at the room with only a dim bedside lamp in front of him. A sudden sense of absurdity arose in his heart.

​…Are you kidding?! Even if they conducted human experiments for the ridiculous purpose of converting a mermaid to human form, how could they let a mermaid that had already been tested and confirmed to be a failure grab a mecha and run away from the auction house???

Now, he is told that the escaped mermaid has not been found in the Federation, and it’s very likely that he has escaped to the Empire, allowing him to complete his mission while secretly conducting a search?

“He must be crazy…”

Throwing the communicator in his hand on the table, Grepa muttered incomprehensibly.