He and It Chapter 24: The King’s Pearl (24)

Chapter 24: The King’s Pearl (24)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

The humans had arrived.

Raperth held Jiang Mian in his arms, slowly opening his lids, and his golden eyes, like burning lamps, unfolded silently in the darkness of the hazy night.

His blood flowed in the bodies of many hosts, reproducing endlessly, devouring their weak cells and barren flesh and blood, and giving back to the hosts a meager amount of nutrition and vitality. Through nearly a hundred pairs of lost eyes, the mermaids heard the instructions from the collective called “headquarters”, and saw the point of light, a symbol of its presence, approaching the airspace of the Sigma Institute.

The male mermaid’s face was indifferent, still as solid as marble, without the slightest ripple for the arrival of the group.

Raperth quietly lifted him upward and placed his ear fins close to Jiang Mian’s chest, reassuringly listening to the small, hard heart that was beating, as if a warm and lively bird was being raised.

Raperth purred with satisfaction as he lifted his head, touching a snowflake without melting it, and gently touched the base of Jiang Mian’s ears on both sides, where there were already the dark lines of the gills, hidden under the white skin, just waiting for a time to metamorphose.

After looking at the gill lines, the mermaid quietly coiled and swam away, keeping Jiang Mian trapped in his huge body, pillows and soft mattresses rubbing against his dry scales, making a rustling sound similar to the chaotic rain. Finally, he stopped by Jiang Mian’s legs and carefully inspected the tender new scaly marks there.

Even though he fed Jiang Mian for a short period of time, the impact of adequate food and nutrition for Jiang Mian was immediate. The youth has not yet grown fat, but his body has gained a lot of weight, and after developing again, he looked better. In the late evening hours, Raperth held him and could hear the sound of bones pulling together, like a subtle but magnificent resonance, in Jiang Mian’s body.

The newborn scale marks weren’t yet considered scales, soft to the touch, on Jiang Mian’s already smooth skin, permeated with starry crystal patches, like haloes of color on jade.

Raperth smiled, remembering Jiang Mian protested that he was always sneaking around to kiss him, the mermaid couldn’t help but follow the human example and shrugged his shoulders innocently.

If the little one didn’t want him to keep sneaking kisses on his eyes, cheeks, fingers… or other body parts, then he shouldn’t have been so cute to begin with.

The mermaid turned to swim back and gently kissed Jiang Mian’s increasingly transparent little ears.

“Those people… here they come.” He whispered.

At this point, Jiang Mian wasn’t strong enough to climb out of the nest Raperth had built for him. Their nest smelled as if the sea breeze met the ocean, warm and fluffy, and he curled up in the mermaid’s arms, wrapped in a small blanket, feeling only that there was no more reassuring, more secure place in the world where he could sleep until the end of time.

It was only when Raperth touched Jiang Mian’s cheek with the tips of his long, contracted nails that he let out a “hmm” with feeling.

Jiang Mian was dazed, coveting the pleasure and peace of skin-to-skin contact, turning his face from one side of his chest to the other.

Who’s here… 

“Headquarters is here.” The mermaid replied.

Who… Wait, what what?

Jiang Mian jerked awake, he jumped up from the mermaid with a start, and again because he got up too vigorously, hit the pillow fortress making it softly wobble, and re-bounced back into Raperth’s arms.

Jiang Mian panicked and turned to Raperth without a clue, “How long until they arrive?”

The mermaid blinked, “Soon… about an hour before they land.”

Jiang Mian froze and gasped, no matter what, he had never dealt with anyone from Sigma headquarters, let alone a group executive, could he muddle through?

“You want to retaliate in… what way?” Raperth shook him comfortingly, “I know that you have always… wanted revenge for the female mermaid.”

Jiang Mian calmed down, he thought about it and said to Raperth, “Can you promise me one thing?”

“Tell me.”

“I know that the Immortal Water has contaminated the Institute’s water circulation system, but the regular employees who serve here, I think they’re all alive.” Jiang Mian said, “The rest of them, the wrongdoers, let’s leave them here forever.”

“Whatever you want.” The mermaid agreed in one breath, and he didn’t tell Jiang Mian that after his tentacles of power spread up and down the stiff, massive building, he had chased away a significant portion of the unimportant land people who hadn’t bullied Jiang Mian or contributed to the project of studying mermaids, keeping them as far away as possible.

In his and Jiang Mian’s lair, he only needed some of the most important actors for decoration, the rest were… supporting actors who could be exiled.

Raperth laughed as he nuzzled close to Jiang Mian, his exhale lingering on the side of his face, whispering, “You know what? Our cubs… there’s an adult hunting season… when the cubs compete with each other for the name of the bravest. The first boom is almost over… you will come of age… and perhaps… your hunting season… will soon be upon you.”

Does Raperth mean that I will make these men of Sigma my prey? That sounds really strange… 

The side of Jiang Mian’s face itched, and he reached out to scratch it, accidentally touching Raperth’s lips, and was immediately caught and kissed several times.

With a red face, he managed to snatch back his hand and asked embarrassedly, “But, isn’t this a traditional activity for when I return to the bottom of the sea…”

“If at the bottom of the sea… I will lead you… your prey… will be the most bountiful ever… no one’s battle… dare to compare with you.” The male mermaid declared unashamedly, “But here… it is not like my battlefield… it is more like… yours.”

He reached out his fingers and softly nudged Jiang Mian’s heart, “Here… you lead me… Pearl.”

Jiang Mian stared at the mermaid for a long time and he laughed, “Then why don’t you go and soak in the pool? How can you fool them into coming in if you don’t do the whole show.”

Oh no, a little villain was born, and Raperth stared at him in fascination, unable to resist such a cute directive.

[Okay,] he purred, [Have fun, little one.]

—

Placing a reluctant — mostly reluctant to be separated from Jiang Mian — Raperth into the observation room, Jiang Mian straightened his uniform and put on his protective goggles. The soggy fog of the Institute had not yet lifted, and for the mermaid, which was part of the comfort nest, he wasn’t going to compromise for a few alien land folk.

As for the plan, it was even simpler, just needed to probe the attitude of those at the headquarters for the Immortal Water, Jiang Mian would be able to unilaterally decide their next end, as how they decided the end of Lady Red in the old days.

The room was filled with white mist, after these days of rest, the powerful mermaid blood began to recover in Jiang Mian, it made him healthier and more agile. He had tried to bury his head in the water, and although he could not yet breathe underwater, Jiang Mian had been able to instinctively perceive the richness of the water and oxygen that surged tantalizingly on the side of his neck.

His thoughts were interrupted by the hum of people in the hallway, and Jiang Mian looked up, his hearing becoming increasingly acute as the swarming cacophony of discussion spread through the wide aisles as if it were a large, boisterous wave, with Fabian guiding a group of distinguished guests in the direction of the observation room.

After some arrangement, the hall of the observation room was no longer empty as usual, and in accordance with the instructions of the headquarters, Jiang Mian had arranged a long table for dining here. He remembered that Jiang Pingyang had once let slip that he had said that when the headquarters first came to inspect Lady Red, they had arranged a banquet next to her prison cell. I guess this time was no different, that crowd still kept the tradition of watching the mermaid while having dinner.

The crowd poured into the hall, and Jiang Mian was a little surprised to see the two men at the head of the group. He didn’t know how Raperth had done it. Just yesterday, the German had looked skeletal and dried up, so much so that he was about to lose his face, and today, when he looked at him again, his muscles swelled up as if he had blown up, his face looked much better, and he quickly returned to his usual tall, strong, dust-free human chauvinist self.

This wasn’t like a hallucination or hypnosis, it was like a reshaping of his flesh and blood… 

Jiang Mian didn’t have time to think about it, the executive team, surrounded by the puppets, wasn’t far from him and Raperth.

Fabian reached out and made an almost showy gesture of introduction, and upon closer inspection, his pupils were like lifeless glass beads, emitting a dead look, “Behold, this is the trophy of our capture, the royal family from Stormhaven, the deep sea mermaid named ‘Raperth’ by the human academy! The mermaid!”

The executive officer was a mature man over the middle of his life, meticulously buttoned up in his protective suit, with the vacuum protection belt blurring his features into an indistinguishable mosaic. Behind him were elderly, but not too old, tilted their heads, looking at the water floating and sinking with the closed-eyed Raperth, their gaze had already been undisguisedly twisted into greed, even the vacuum belt couldn’t stop their intense mouth-watering gaze.

Jiang Mian’s brow jumped, half in disgust at being coveted, and the other half in sneering contentment.

——Sigma’s patriarchs, the primary beneficiaries of the first generation of Immortal Water, who finally couldn’t hold back their thirst and desire for longevity and chose to move in person and come to the Sigma Institute to find out what was going on.

“Is this the strongest mermaid?” The executive officer stared fascinated at the mermaid king heir, tsk-tsk-ing at the way he moved through the water, “It’s incredible! How about the Immortal Water developed with it, have you tried it?”

Fabian smiled faintly as he took two steps toward the long table, picking up the table knife with a stiff movement. Jiang Mian knew the inside story, so he could see that his every movement was like a rusty-jointed tin doll, full of unnatural stagnation, but in the eyes of the beholder, it was just a sign of his seriousness.

The German turned around, stroked up his cuffs, and pressed the serrated dinner knife on his wrist until the pale skin was deeply sunken, and then he pulled hard.

Blood spurted in all directions, the wound wasn’t small, and looked dripping and blurred, yet his expression didn’t change at all, still smiling kindly, “Please see.”

The crowd came forward with interest and gathered around Fabian, gazing eagerly at the deep, bloody gash.

The healing took place in a matter of moments, and as the crowd watched, the cut flesh glued together with visible speed, making a sticky, slight watery sound. It was as if a divine hand, which couldn’t be witnessed, had pulled the flow of time, making it reverse in a person’s body.

Fabian reached out and meticulously wiped away the residual bloodstains. His thumb wiped hard across his wrist, drawing a perfect semicircle, and people stared intently, seeing his skin as clean as new again, no trace of a knife wound.

No one was willing to speak up and risk breaking their miracle-like trance. After a long time, Fabian’s eyes were impassive and he said proudly, “This is how it works.”

There was a sparse applause, and then more and more people joined in the applause and applause, and in a moment the applause was thundering, and the people’s applause was incessant, and in the high hall, the echoes became a tsunami of turbulence, as if pouring a whole ocean of noise.

Jiang Mian stood next to the glass wall, watching the people’s ecstasy, their emotions and celebrations with cold eyes.

He remembered the dusk when the institute caught Lady Red, and the morning when the first version of the Immortal Water was successfully developed, just as the gift of fate had its price tag, how much joy they had received in the past and today, and how much pain they would have to pay in the future.

The scales in his heart had already made up their own mind.