He and It Chapter 13: The King’s Pearl (13)

Chapter 13: The King’s Pearl (13)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

In full view of the crowd, Fabian held Jiang Mian hostage and backed into the vacuum shield step by step, and by the time the youth was pushed out again, he was alone, with an additional set of blood extractors specially equipped for mermaids from the Institute in his hands and seven or eight additional laser aiming points on his body.

“Looks like we’re in agreement?” Fabian smiled behind him, “Hey mermaid, I wonder if you can figure out the principle that bullets kill weak humans, since you’re an ‘intelligent being’ too?”

Raperth turned a deaf ear to his smug mockery and simply watched Jiang Mian intently as he stumbled around the bodies sprawled on the ground. He was so thin that the Institute’s white shirt looked like a half-length robe wrapped around him.

[Come here, Pearl,] he called softly, [Don’t be afraid, you’ll be alright.]

Jiang Mian wiped the fish attractant from his mouth and nose with shaking hands, as well as the dried crusts of blood, the dirty, hard cuffs rubbing red against his skin, as if he were unaware of it, and just tried to suppress the sickening feeling.

He crawled up the escalator and plopped down in front of the feeding port, lacking the buoyancy of water, the only way he could see through this window was to stare at Raperth on the floor from a distance.

The mermaid waded over and pushed aside a pool of shells, scales crashing with a chaotic sound of gold and stone. He looked up willingly at Jiang Mian, and looking at the youth’s face, he cooed tenderly, [You look like a little sea dragon in bloom.]

After thinking about it, he added, [Especially with a puffy face.]

“Ra… Raperth,” Jiang Mian nearly cried, “You really, you really don’t have to…”

“Give it to me,” the male mermaid made a purring, soothing sound, “It’s okay, I’ll do it.”

Not only will it hasten their destruction, and even grant them more pain in the process, but more importantly, it will keep you safe.

I have no reason to be unwilling.

“Handler, throw it by the tail!” Fabian issued a new command, full of anticipation, waiting for the triumphant outcome, “Now!”

Jiang Mian met Raperth’s determined gaze, teeth clenched, only stubbornly unwilling to let go. Fabian didn’t expect that he had the courage to resist, and couldn’t help but turn pale, snatching the sniper rifle from the guard’s hand, a shot pointing at the alloy platform not far from Jiang Mian, sparks flying, bursting out a deafening explosion.

“If you don’t let go, the next bullet will break your arm.” He said with a leathery smile.

Jiang Mian shuddered, Raperth’s roar of shock and anger, seeing the mermaid going berserk again, Fabian hastily shouted, “Freeze! Let’s see if you can catch him faster or the speed of the bullet!”

Raperth tried his best to stay calm as he turned to Jiang Mian, suppressing a subtle wave of sound that reached Jiang Mian’s ears, “Let go, Pearl. My blood, it will only do them harm, not good, they will destroy themselves.”

Jiang Mian held back his tears and looked into the mermaid’s eyes. After staring at each other for a long time, he finally loosened his fingers one by one with difficulty and let the blood extractor fall down and be caught by the mermaid’s probing hand.

Raperth relaxed his muscles and popped out his sharp nails, he studied the construction of the blood extractor, and after attaching it to his body, he then proceeded to dig into the skin without hesitation, controlling the pale red blood gushing out.

The watery sound of blood and flesh being torn open was sticky and scratchy, but the male mermaid’s expression didn’t have a ripple, as bland as if he was scratching an itch.

Soon, the 800ml volume was gradually filled, and Jiang Mian was so anxious that he couldn’t stop whispering and pleading, “It’s okay, it’s okay, stop!”

He saw with his own eyes, just 10 microliters of mermaid blood, could be mixed for hundreds of people to make the “immortal water”, the amount of nearly a liter of mermaid blood, and how big their ambition and greed to expand? Besides, Raperth was a king’s descendant, and his blood must be much more powerful than the last mermaid who suffered a tragic accident… 

When the blood collector was full, the mermaid gently closed the switch and surrounded it in a sterile environment, and from a distance, his blood looked like a large piece of beautiful and transparent red jade.

The process of lifting it up was more deliberate than the casualness of throwing it down. No need for Jiang Mian to be in charge, the man at the experiment station himself manipulated the mechanical arm and carefully pulled the rich ransom out of the observation room.

Looking at Jiang Mian, Raperth said with a serious expression, “Sleep and eat on time, recuperate well and build up your spirit. I miss you, be healthy.”

Jiang Mian stared at the mermaid, his lips opened, but before he could make a sound, the laser aiming point on his body flashed a few times, urging Jiang Mian to hurry back to the inside of the protective belt.

Finally, dripping with tears, he didn’t say a word, just nodded his head.

—

Thus began Jiang Mian’s days under house arrest.

He was no longer allowed to go near the mermaid, in fact, the entire station was completely locked down and no one was allowed in or out unless they wanted to get themselves killed.

After that day, Ted said, Fabian was unanimously held accountable by the Institute’s senior management.

The academics accused him of hiding Raperth’s ability to manipulate infrasound, and that mermaids could actually kill everyone without notice; and for this, Fabian brought up Jiang Mian, who, he argued, had a different status in the minds of the experimenters, and as long as Jiang Mian was controlled, the experimenters would be able to “create a psychology similar to that of a throwing mouse.”

“However, you are also in a dangerous position…” Ted looked at him sympathetically and whispered carefully, “Fabian hit the left side of your face, and the experimental body touched the left side of its own face at that time. As you know, association is a basic quality of scientists, and they all think that you and the mermaid are probably connected in some different way…”

Jiang Mian was silent for a moment, perhaps because he notified him twice out of friendship, for now, Ted remained one of the few people who could meet him.

“That’s really just a coincidence,” he smiled reluctantly, “but I’m surprised they didn’t rush to dissect me.”

“Dude! What if there really is something between you guys?” Ted’s eyes widened, “If we dissected you, we’d never be able to control that crazy mermaid again!”

Jiang Mian lowered his head, a shallow, pale smile gradually fading from his face.

These days, developments were more twisted than a roller coaster, Jiang Mian was physically and mentally exhausted, but he still had to try his best to mediate with the people in the Institute.

He became more and more expensive, from Jiang Pingyang’s adopted son, to the exclusive handler of experimental subjects, to the heaviest bargaining chip with the mermaids… Jiang Mian racked his brains, but couldn’t think of a way to break the deadlock. Now, six years later, he could no longer use a pen without a nib to find a way out of the shackles for the mermaids trapped here.

Honestly, Jiang Mian was now under tighter supervision than expected. No books, no entertainment, no work; confiscation of all sharp and hard objects, forbidden to meditate for too long; even to go to the bathroom, must be under the supervision of a person, washing time never allowed more than fifteen minutes, and every five minutes, someone would twist the door handle to look… 

At mealtime, Jiang Mian was also shackled and secured to a welded table and chairs. Ted had to go through at least six extensive body searches to get to the ten-day visits.

Jiang Mian’s diet was irregular and his sleep was particularly poor. Sometimes, he was so hungry that he could eat a table, but more often than not, the chopsticks just touched the tip of his tongue, he retched his stomach to the ground; as for sleep, some nights, he could wake up hot, woke up to find himself sweating soaked pajamas and sheets, his body burning like a fire, while other nights, even in the constant temperature of the room, Jiang Mian was still so cold that his teeth chattered, chills spilled out from the marrow of his bones and forced him to curl up his limbs and huddle deeper under the covers.

Not only could he not tell anyone about the anomaly, but he had to act as if nothing was wrong. Over the weeks, his already fleshless body had lost even more weight, and his wrists could almost see the shape of bony knuckles protruding from his bloodless skin.

He didn’t speak, the silence spread for a moment, heard the door open again, Ted looked around the snowy, small, humble cell, forced a smile, “Time is running out, I’m afraid I have to go. You… Take care of yourself.”

Jiang Mian raised his head and said softly, “Goodbye.”

“…Bye!”

Ted’s back and footsteps were completely cut off behind the solid door, and he was once again left alone in the small single room.

Perhaps because the smell of fish lure was still lingering in his brain, Jiang Mian suddenly wanted to vomit.

In the next half month, Jiang Mian was again ordered by Fabian to raise the cell, as before, by nearly ten laser red dot targeting him, under the close scrutiny of surveillance, to take the drop of mermaid blood of 10,000 gold.

Seeing him, Raperth hurriedly whipped his fish tail and swam over, pressing his hand against the glass wall and rubbing Jiang Mian’s cheek with a joyful, urgent gaze.

Raperth’s fin membranes were dry, the ends of his fin bones were curled and contracted, and the dark scales of his tail were a true bronze-like, hard color, but he was oblivious to it, just wholeheartedly delighted to see Jiang Mian. Jiang Mian’s nose immediately turned sour.

He couldn’t bear to meet the mermaid’s eyes.

These days, he has been thinking about one thing.

Is it really because of me that Raperth is willingly trapped here? But what’s so special about me that I can make a powerful mermaid look at me differently?

Jiang Mian now knew, compared to the last mermaid, how easy it was for the Institute to completely control Raperth? Even if the Sigma Group could field an army, his strength, speed, body strength, and even the terrifying ability to manipulate infrasound, all proved one thing to mankind without compromise: the status of a king’s heir wasn’t something that could be obtained with an empty name.

Not to mention, this matter still let Fabian firmly control the source of information, not even a hint of wind was released to the group headquarters.

So, why didn’t he leave yet?

Raperth while gazing at his small human — in fact, even with a thin body, Jiang Mian’s head was already considered tall in the crowd, but for a body length of more than three meters of mermaid, he still looked small and could be carried in his arms completely.

Not good, the mermaid twitched his ear fins anxiously, after so much time together and catalyzed, Jiang Mian’s rut was already close at hand, even through the thick glass wall, he could still smell the sweet, almost ripe scent, brewing in a ferocious tide under the hairy skin.

And, lacking the attentive care of a male mermaid, Jiang Mian was eating and sleeping badly these days, as he had sensed many times… Wait a minute, Pearl, you… Are you crying?

Jiang Mian sat on his knees on the feeding spout, silently hanging his head, tears falling into the shackled mermaid’s cage before the blood extractor stuck in his hand. Raperth swam over in a panic, shushing him, [What’s wrong? Don’t cry, don’t cry…]

Too young, still a cub, and suffered so much.

Raperth switched to human language and stretched both hands upward, as if ready to catch Jiang Mian’s whole body, “Want blood? It’s okay, if they want it, give it to them. I just want you.”

The feeling of being eaten up by guilt is just like that, I think. What did I do to deserve this?, Jiang Mian thought bitterly, In the end, it was me who dragged him down.

The repeated pull of frustration and self-loathing caused him to clench harder and harder. As he watched the red dots on Jiang Mian’s body begin to flicker excitedly and unpleasantly, Raperth frowned humanely and sent out a small, harmless sound wave from his throat, successfully numbing the youth’s hand while letting the extractor fall down.

Jiang Mian was taken aback, “Raperth?!”

[You’re fine,] the mermaid said gently as he skillfully, if not carelessly, ripped away the blood extractor, [It’s good that the human wants my blood, it’s a decision that will benefit the nesting program. Soon, you will feel the need for a safe, warm nest… And I’ll make it nice and clean and wrap you in it and drown you in food, Pearl.]

The mermaid cooed, [So I can’t add to the dead bodies here, the land doesn’t have the strong self-purifying power of seawater, they’ll just make our nest all stinky… And the humans have you, I just want you to be safe and sound, okay?]

The mermaid drowned out the sound of the blood being taken with a gurgling ramble, Jiang Mian had no idea what he was saying, all he knew was that the mermaid was raising his brilliant deep gold eyes and looking intently at him.

Jiang Mian remembered an article he had read in National Geographic magazine, which mentioned that until the last century, the aborigines living on the Yucatan Peninsula still had the custom of throwing gold and human sacrifices into the depths of the sea, and now he suddenly understood the source of it all — he wanted to throw himself into Raperth’s pupils if the situation allowed, in the infinite golden dark sea.

For it… for this, I can hold out, Jiang Mian said to himself, I’ve been holding out for more than 20 years, a little longer isn’t a problem.

“Sleep and eat on time, recuperate well and build up your spirit.” When he left, Raperth told him the same words as before, only hesitating at the last moment, “I think you… Don’t think about it.”

Even though Jiang Mian had mixed feelings in his mind, he still nodded his head. If Jiang Mian wasn’t a quiet and introverted person who was born to negotiate with him through his inner world, it would have been difficult for him to last until this moment.

In the evening of the twenty-seventh day, the alloy door brushed open from the outside.

Jiang Mian calmly turned his head to see that it wasn’t Ted, it wasn’t the disgusting Fabian, and it wasn’t the guards serving food…- No, they were indeed guards, but they weren’t here to deliver food.

“Mr. Jiang?” With an unnatural deference, the captain at the head of the group gestured down to Jiang Mian, “Your confinement is over, please follow me.”

Jiang Mian stood motionless in place, wondering if he had lost his eyesight, misheard… Or in the long dead silence and confinement, the illusion of freedom was born.

Seeing no response from Jiang Mian, the guard captain added, “This is an order from the highest level, please allow me to uncuff you.”