I Was Raised After Being a Mermaid - Chap 26
Chap 26
: Finding A Job
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Kiramekineko
Mu Chen could not easily use super high acting skills to appease Little Silver, and left the mermaid room with a scratch on his cheek. He poured a glass of water, took a sip, and sat on the sofa to contact Norman.
Norman had just finished discussing the chef robot’s production plan with the designer when he received Mu Chen’s communication. He answered, “Out of the holographic world? How did Little Silver behave?”
“Unknown data detected, could not enter at all,” Mu Chen sighed. “As for Little Silver, he was very aggressive. He hated wearing the holographic helmet. Two helmets were destroyed.”
“Unknown data?” Norman wrinkled his eyebrows. “Is your helmet good?”
“You suspect that the helmet malfunctioned?” Mu Chen heard the voice of the mysterious. Surprised, he asked, “Did you take An An into the holographic world?”
“Mn.” He reminded again, “Keep it a secret. Don’t spread it.”
Mu Chen was curious. His back left the sofa and he sat upright. “What happened to An An after he entered the holographic world?”
Norman mused, “I’ll take him to the holographic world when I have time, you can see for yourself.”
“Okay, I’ll go buy two new helmets, try again, and contact you with the results.”
It was eleven o’clock at night when Mu Chen contacted Norman again. Norman, sitting on the bedside sofa reading a book, saw his communication and immediately connected.
Mu Chen said, “Unknown data. I asked the holographic operating company, they said that some creatures can not use the holographic helmet, and the database did not collect data.” He said more curiously, “One of them is a mermaid. According to them, mermaids can not enter the holographic world, and if team mode is used to enter, the team members will also not enter. Your Majesty, how did you bring An An in?”
Norman gazed across the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking into the back garden at the ghostly blue light spilling over the pool, and the faintly visible blue lights that were the small mermaid scales reflecting the light.
“What is the basis for the holographic helmet to acquire various data of the user and form a virtual image?” He asked instead of answering.
“Brain waves. Each individual’s brain waves are different.”
Norman’s eyes moved slightly, and his brain quickly analyzed.
After the little mermaid entered the holographic world, the default image of the system was an absolutely beautiful human teenager that looked similar to the mermaid’s form.
Two possibilities: the little mermaid had human brain waves, or the pure color mermaid’s brain waves were human-like.
Technology was advancing at a rapid pace, and many years ago there was research done on brainwave dissociation, but the mortality rate was too high and caused many criminal incidents and the research was banned.
He came from a royal family and had been in a high position for many years, and almost without thinking, a set of conspiracies came to his mind. The little mermaid was not a mermaid, but a human who had taken over a mermaid body and stayed with him for some purpose.
Soon, however, he used reason to rule out this idea.
The little mermaid, if he was really the enemy, could not have treated him for spiritual riots, nor would he have entered the holographic world with him; such a foolish act of exposure was not logical.
Then there was only the second explanation: pure color mermaids were not the same as ordinary mermaids, but closer to humans.
This explanation was close to his own feelings, and he felt more and more that the little mermaid looked like a human teenager.
“Your Majesty?” Mu Chen questioned when Norman did not hang up the communication and did not speak.
“Please, no need to test the reaction of Little Silver in the future.”
Mu Chen laughed, saying, “If you’re glad, satisfy my curiosity. Let me meet with An An in the holographic world, and then let me just take Little Silver to see An An.”
He said bemoaning, “Little Silver hated wearing helmets and hasn’t been as cranky as today in a long time. He seems to like An An a lot, so maybe he’ll be happier after meeting with An An.”
“Sure, bring Silver over tomorrow night.”
In the morning, Norman came into the mermaid room with the little mermaid’s breakfast.
The little mermaid looked more like a human teenager with a T-shirt on top.
An Jin saw Norman in his military uniform and immediately understood that he was going to work.
What was strange to him, however, was that Norman did not leave directly after introducing himself as usual.
Three minutes later, the robot came in holding a new holographic helmet with blue as the main color.
An Jin’s eyes immediately lit up. He swam to the shore, and with his hands on the shore, tilted his head to look at Norman.
Norman took the helmet and met the little mermaid’s bright eyes and said seriously, “You can only play after breakfast, you can’t stay in the holographic world all the time, and remember to eat at noon.”
An Jin hurriedly nodded his little head, full of good, good, yes, yes, yes.
Norman looked into his beautiful watery blue eyes. “Remember what I told you? Whoever touches you, kick them, and if you can’t win, get offline.”
An Jin’s eyes curled, Norman was, like this, quite like a parent.
His image in the holographic world was so ordinary that only parents would feel good about their cubs and worry that someone might take advantage of him.
Norman met his smiling eyes, his jaw slightly tense, and his lips pursed. He thought to himself that An An was a mermaid, not his soldier, and swallowed back the “serious point” that was on his lips.
He asked seriously, “Do you remember?”
An Jin sensed the seriousness of his tone and quickly nodded his head.
Norman put the helmet on the poolside and was very pleased to see that the little mermaid stayed in place to watch breakfast and did not come directly to get the helmet.
An Jin looked at the beautiful helmet, full of joy, and before Norman left, opened his mouth to sing.
Norman turned around and looked at the little mermaid and met his eyes with a smile.
At the end of the song, Norman’s spiritual power was restored to 20%, and the black spiritual silk range was once again reduced.
Norman said seriously, “Very good. Thanks, An An.”
An Jin’s eyes curved and he smiled at him.
Norman left the mermaid room and went to the military department.
An Jin perceived Norman leaving the villa, and he used his ability, removed food impurities, and then cooked the shrimp and crab together, eating sashimi while waiting for it to cook.
After breakfast, he crushed the crab and shrimp shells and flushed them down the toilet. He washed his hands clean, returned to the sink, grabbed his helmet and put it on, floated comfortably in the water, and flipped the switch.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of the restaurant.
The last time he and Norman had eaten, the two had gone straight down the line at the door. It was breakfast time, and the street was bustling with hot air all around. It was laced with the sweet smell of pastries, only to be interspersed with the bitter stench of impurities.
An Jin stood in the doorway and looked inside the store. The same waiter from yesterday was busy.
When the waiter was free, An Jin went up to him and greeted him, “Hello.”
The waiter was still impressed with him. “Hello,” he said and glanced behind him. “Is Team Leader Tang with you?”
An Jin shook his head and asked politely, “Excuse me, do you know where there is recruitment?”
The waiter looked odd. Last time he saw clearly that team leader Tang was very good to this teenager. He even guessed that the teenager was the son of team Leader Tang and did not expect that the teenager had to find a job.
But thinking that it was already the end of June, and some schools had already closed, maybe he wanted to experience life in the holographic world. He pointed to the left. “Follow this road, turn left at the first fork in the road, go to the end, and there is the talent hall. All the job information of the town is there.”
An Jin looked over there and apologized again, “Thank you.”
The waiter thought he was polite, and though he himself had spoken rudely, thought of the last time when team leader Tang hugged him like a child and taught him to squeeze chopsticks, and suspected he was young.
So he kindly reminded him, “If you want to experience working life, I suggest you go to the city, where the environment is good. The guests of this town are mostly hunters, reckless and irritable, not very good to get along with.”
An Jin thought for a moment. “How do I get downtown?”
“There is a station behind the talent hall. First go to the window and pay 10,000 star coins for a pass, then buy a ticket and you can go.”
An Jin didn’t expect the holographic world to be so realistic that you would need a pass to enter the city!
The holographic company was really a money-making ghost. He apologized again to the waiter and headed to the talent hall.
On the way, no one would give him a second glance, and he was happy and felt very much at home. The talent hall was large, somewhat like a modern waiting room. Once inside, on the opposite wall was an oversized electronic screen with many job postings scrolling on it.
On the left and right side, there were ten kiosks side by side, so people could search for jobs precisely. An Jin carefully looked at the big screen. The most popular job was hunter, then chef, driver, and waiter.
Hunter requirements were: good physical fitness, endurance, high combat power, wages for the hunt were 70%.
An Jin silently excluded hunter, and then chef and driver.
Before the apocalypse, he went into the kitchen a lot, but only to watch Nanny Zhang make the dishes. Nanny Zhang was afraid he would burn the food, and did not dare to let him do it himself. Many times he was pampered, but also there would be a few simple dishes. After the apocalypse, the food was mainly satiating and was casually cooked; there was no chance to improve cooking skills.
Looking around, An Jin found that it seemed he could only be a waiter. He was not quite qualified, since he was not articulate.
An Jin, a senior student of finance and management, stood in front of the kiosk and fell into self-doubt.
“You’re looking for a job?” asked a young boy with flaxen hair who approached him. The boy’s features were plain, a system face at first glance.
An Jin nodded, thinking he was taking too long, and took a step to the side. “You first.”
The boy looked at the screen. “I’m not looking for a job, I’m here to recruit. You want to be a waiter?”
An Jin was embarrassed. “Nothing else fits.”
The boy asked, “Can you grill?”
An Jin’s eyes lit up. Before his parents forbade him to go out to eat barbecue, when he wanted to eat it, Mother Zhang would get the ingredients, and he would eat a barbecue buffet at home.
He wasn’t good at cooking, but he was okay at grilling.
“I can.”
“Can you do arithmetic?” The boy asked again.
An Jin nodded. “Yes.”
The boy said, “Well, you can work with me, and you can work for one-fifth of the profit, daily.”
“Okay!” After An Jin agreed, he thought of his own situation and asked, “What are the working hours?”
“For now, I’ll do afternoons from twelve to five, and if business is good, I’ll continue at night from six to nine,” the boy replied
“I can’t do it at night.”
Six o’clock in the evening was his dinner time, and occasionally Norman would ask him to play games, but he was not free to arrange the rest of the day.
The only time he was completely free was during Norman’s daytime hours.
The boy thought about it. “Let’s do it first, and then we’ll find someone for the late shift.”
An Jin was a bit happy, he didn’t expect to find a job so easily, but he was worried about being trapped and cautiously asked, “Will you not pay me?”
“Of course not. Don’t you know that labor relations in the holographic world are protected by Siao law? Give me your account, let me add you as a friend. If I default on your salary, you can directly complain to me.”
An Jin clicked on his holographic panel and said awkwardly, “I don’t have an account.”
“Just create one. You’re new to the holographic world, right?” asked the boy.
An Jin nodded and the boy said, “I’ll know at a glance.”
He taught An Jin to create an account, added friends, and then said, “This morning is considered an internship. You can go offline for lunch and go straight to work in the afternoon. Is that okay?”
An Jin nodded, thinking that he would have to move up his lunch time, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to make it to work at 12:00.
“I’m Duran, and you?” Duran asked as he led An Jin out of the talent hall.
“My name is An… An An,” he said, not yet able to say the word “Jin” in interstellar.
Duran said as he led the way, “How old are you?”
“Twenty.”
Duran turned his head to look at him. “Twelve, right?”
“…Really twenty. If I were twelve would you still hire me?”
“It doesn’t matter how old you are as long as you can work. There are too few applicants this morning, I want to open today and don’t want to delay.”
An Jin blinked, realizing the meaning of the words. “You haven’t opened your barbecue yet?”
Duran corrected, “It’s a barbecue stall, I’ve been working for most of the month to save up the money for the cost of the stall.”
An Jin suddenly felt the pressure. In case he did not do a good job, and there was no business, the boss should not go bankrupt, right?
Duran did not know that he was thinking about unlucky things, and took him to buy various seasonings first, and then to buy a cart, as well as a barbecue grill, and finally bought twenty pounds of fresh meat skewers.
After the purchase, An Jin followed Duran to a small room. “First, put the skewers in a pot to marinate, and then you can take them to the grill this afternoon.”
An Jin watched how Duran did it, then put on his gloves and moved the skewers to the big pot. Duran took his performance in stride and was very pleased. The two quickly transferred the skewers, and Duran marinated the meat.
“It’s okay now, you can come back to work this afternoon.”
An Jin went offline and returned to the mermaid room, and at eleven o’clock he went to the robot with a tray, signaling that he wanted to eat.
The robot delivered food every day at noon sharp, but he would be late for work if he didn’t eat early. The robot had a silver lining in its eyes and quickly analyzed the little mermaid’s behavior. An Jin got his lunch early, as he had hoped.
At noon, An Jin finished his lunch and entered the holographic world again.
Duran was pushing the barbecue grill out with his cart when he saw him and said, “Just in time.”
An Jin rushed to help him push the barbecue and followed him out, but the further he went, the more he got out of the way. An Jin looked around and saw that the forest was not far ahead. He was not afraid, after all, he could get offline at any time, but he was a bit surprised. “This is so far away, will anyone come to buy?”
“Of course,” Duran pointed to the various wagons near the forest, “hundreds of hunters go in and out of the forest every day, all strong men that like to eat roast meat. Hunting is hard: when you go in you think about eating more to save up your strength, and when you come out you think about treating yourself.”
Duran showed a mouthful of white teeth. “I have long inspected here to set up a stall, business is absolutely good.”
An Jin felt that he had a point and had confidence in the job. However, he rubbed his wrist and looked at the forest with a bitter face. “We won’t have to cut our own firewood, will we?”
Duran looked at him oddly. “The holographic world is more backward than the real world, but it’s not ancient times. How can you cut your own firewood to burn?”
“Then what will we burn? There’s no place to plug in electricity here either.”
Duran took out a hand-sized turquoise beast core from his pocket. “I bought a barbecue with a beast core as the energy source.”
An Jin’s eyes were immediately glued to the beast core, and he could tell at a glance that it was a first grade crystal core.
“Is it easy to buy beast cores?” He asked blearily.
“Of course. It’s easy as long as you have money. This first-class beast core cost me a thousand star coins. It is our biggest asset, every day. The first thing to do after work is to put it away. If I forget, you remember to remind me.”
An Jin responded and asked, “How many star coins does a Level 2 core cost?”
“Ten thousand.”
An Jin remembered this price, looked at the pile of skewers, and asked, “If we sell all the meat today, how much can we make?”
“I bought twenty pounds of meat, about four hundred skewers. One skewer for one star coin can be sold for four hundred star coins.”
An Jin’s hand movement paused, he did not have the experience of lacking money, not before the apocalypse. After the apocalypse, money was useless, and things were more valuable. He did not feel much when he heard 10,000, but after listening to Duran’s words, he silently calculated that if the meat was all sold, and his salary was only eighty.
He felt heartbroken about the second level beast core that he had absorbed.
Duran continued, “This is only the price sold. Counting the cost of seasoning, meat, beast cores, and so on, and the profit loss of twenty percent, the net profit is only about three hundred and twenty.”
“…” An Jin was more heartbroken. A day’s salary was less than eighty.
He silently lamented this rate of money. When could he invite Norman to dinner and afford to buy a beast core ah!
“Of course,” Duran’s tone raised, “this is only the net profit of twenty pounds of meat. If business is good, selling a thousand bunches a day, or more, we can earn more.”
An Jin instantly felt better. The boss is right, the future has infinite possibilities. He was not taking a dead salary! As long as the barbecue tasted good, business would certainly not be bad. After all, the people who come to the holographic world, in addition to working to earn money, almost all came for food.
An Jin looked at the meat skewers with impurities in the basin and asked Duran, “Boss, can’t you buy meat without black spots?”
Although all the food he had seen had impurities, he still had a hope in his heart.
Maybe there was pure, unadulterated food! Grilled up must be more delicious.
“What! Black spots?” Duran raised his voice violently. “I bought fresh meat skewers, and the meat seller said it was a freshly killed star beast.” He went to the basin and stared at the meat skewers. “Which skewers have black spots? I have to take it to the store and make him pay for it!”
An Jin froze and looked down at the meat in the basin, and in his eyes, every piece of meat had black spots. Suddenly he realized something, no one else could see the impurities! He guessed it had something to do with his water ability.
He smiled covertly and awkwardly fingered a piece of meat. “I misspoke. It’s pepper, probably didn’t smear well at first glance so it looked a little black.”
Duran breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good, I was afraid of unscrupulous sellers adulterating bad meat. If you find it, you must tell me in time,” he said, wiping the pepper away from the place.
An Jin nodded. “Okay.”
He calmed his heartbeat a little and his eyes were very bright.
The rest of the people could not see the black spots, which meant that those people could not tell from the appearance whether the food had the impurities removed. He thought of his previous appearance of deliberately turning around to eat, and deeply felt that he was being redundant.
Turning to the thought of how Little Silver found the meat had changed, he felt that a little caution was still useful. After all, although the appearance had no difference, with no impurities the taste was more fragrant.
Duran set up the grill, set the beast core into the right recess of the grill, pressed the switch, saw the grill working properly, and turned it off again. He asked An Jin, “Are you a good cook?”
An Jin nodded immediately. “Very good.” Thinking that his business was related to his salary, he said, “Yes.”
“Then you do the grilling, and I’ll do the accounting and packing.”
An Jin nodded, placed the spice bottle in a convenient position, and looked towards the forest, where people were coming out and going in. He then turned on the switch and took a handful of meat and put it on the grill, brushing it with oil while removing impurities with his water ability.
When he sprinkled the seasoning, he removed all the impurities at once for convenience.
Since the appearance could not show the difference, he was not worried about someone finding anomalies.
As for the impurity-free meat, it could restore spiritual powers and he was not afraid of being found out. After leaving the holographic world, one’s spiritual power would be restored, so restoring spiritual power in the holographic world was not considered conspicuous.
Even if someone contacted the real world, he was not worried about being discovered, after all, who would think he was a small mermaid!
Only Norman would know, and he knew that Norman would not harm him.
After all, he was a very useful mermaid!
Soon, the rich smell of meat wafted out. The smell of meat was spicy and especially seductive, and the aroma was very pure, without the usual bitter stench of Siao food.
Duran was sorting out the packing bags and couldn’t help but gulp at the smell. “Oh my God, I thought you were lying and boasting about your skill, but I found a treasure!”
An Jin was also greedy. He was very satisfied with a full meal yesterday, but when he smelled the aroma of food without impurities, he realized that he was too easily satisfied.
If the food he ate yesterday had the impurities removed and was eaten again, how delicious would it be?!
The more An Jin thought about it, the more he craved it, and his eyes were glued to the skewer in his hand. He wanted to eat a skewer so badly! If he offered to buy a skewer with his salary in advance, would the boss be willing?
No! He denied himself first with a small face. He was a part-time worker, and should not covet the goods for sale.
Not far away, the hunters who came back from hunting in the forest, smelled the scent and swallowed their saliva. “What smells so good?”
“Boss, look there, someone has set up a barbecue stall.”
A strong man ran over. “Boss, I’m done for the day, let’s go.”
“Holy shit, wait for me, help me buy twenty, no fifty skewers!” Another man reacted and ran after him.
“I can’t!” Duran couldn’t stand it and reached out to An Jin. “Give me two bunches.”
“Go away,” the strong man pushed Duran away and looked at the slim An Jin. “Young man, give me a hundred skewers first.”
An Jin’s eyes opened slightly. “One hundred bunches?”
“Yes,” said the strong man as he reached out, “the ones up here are almost done, right? Give it to me first.”
Duran blackened his face. “That’s mine!”
The strong man paid in a flash. “What’s yours? I’m the first one to pay, so the first one to grill is mine.”
An Jin’s hands worked fast. He handed two skewers to Duran and then said to the strong man, “He’s my boss.”
“…” The strong man glared at Duran. “What’s up little brother, you’re not going to make money in business? Why do you need to eat your own food before you sell it? Not afraid of going bankrupt?”
Duran did not pay attention to him, his entire body and mind on the barbecue, bite a bite. Just the feeling between the mouth and teeth was full of rich flavor, a trace of bitter smell was gone, the taste was so good that he finished two skewers in three bites. He looked at An Jin with glowing eyes. He did not want to spend money to register for the job, thinking that it was just a helping hand and he just needed to find someone, but he did not expect to find a cooking god!
“Boss, I want a hundred skewers!” shouted another person who came running.
Not long after, three more people were attracted by the aroma and ran over. They heard the shout of the person in front of them and looked at Duran who could not wait to swallow the barbecue sticks, and they asked for a hundred skewers.
Duran reluctantly threw away the signature and said to the last person, “There are only four hundred skewers in total, one hundred for each of the four people in front of you, no more.”
“What!” That person was hooked by the aroma and greedily said, “I’ll raise the money, give me a hundred skewers.”
Duran did not expect this situation, originally thinking that the first day to sell four hundred skewers was good.
After all, the town barbecue store was quite popular. He said to An Jin that with those marketing considerations, the actual embellishment, many hunters preferred to go to the tavern to eat and drink at the same time.
Of course, they were not resistant to hunger, and the more anxious, the more willing to buy food nearby. Originally he thought that even with the benefits of the location, the advantages were not great. He only sold this much because the staff he recruited was so powerful.
He had no choice. “There are only four hundred skewers, you can discuss with the first few customers, let them share a few skewers with you?”
“I don’t want to!” The first four customers spoke in unison, and the strong man at the front said, “I’ve changed my mind, I want four hundred skewers, all for me.”
The one at the back got angry. “Bullshit, do you want to fight?”
An Jin looked at the people who were about to fight and was dumbfounded.
The waiter was right, hunters were really grumpy. He quickly gathered up the twenty skewers he had grilled and said to the big man at the front, “Big brother, here are your skewers, here are twenty skewers, you eat them first, they taste best when they are freshly grilled.”
The strong man immediately turned around, took the skewer, took a bite, and with his eyes round, shouted, “God, it’s so good!”
He brushed off one skewer and went on to eat a second one.
The customer behind him gulped silently at the smell and tapped the strong man on the shoulder. “Brother, give me a skewer to satisfy my craving.”
The strong man pretended not to hear, the man gritted his teeth. “Later I will also give you two strings…three strings…five strings, no more!”
The strong man thought for a moment, turned his head and gave him a string, so the two people in line behind him followed suit.
The fifth customer was gluttonous. When a few more people rushed over, he waved his hand. “Sold out.”
Duran also said, “We’re sold out today, come back tomorrow.”
“How can they be sold out so quickly? You go buy finished meat skewers, I’m willing to wait.”
“I’m willing to wait too.”
Duran hesitated. “The kebabs I’m grilling now are my own marinade, others sell them, but I’m not sure how they taste.”
By now, the smell of grilled meat had spread far and wide, and more people were arriving at the smell.
An Jin was fast, using a brush to brush the meat on the skewers, An Jin estimated the remaining spiritual power. “Boss, you can buy another thousand skewers. I will grill them; the taste will not be too bad.”
He knew too well that the main reason for this fragrance was the removal of impurities, and his handiwork was considered the icing on the cake. People here were used to bitter and smelly food, never having had pure fragrant food, and the contrast was so strong that they thought it was especially delicious.
Duran smiled and immediately made a decision. “Well then, I’ll go buy some well-marinated meat skewers.”
The fifth customer hurriedly said, “I want two hundred skewers!”
“Limit is one hundred skewers,” he shouted. “The last nine hundred skewers, first come, first served!”
The people who were walking this way heard this and immediately ran fast. Duran took the first four orders and went to buy the meat skewers. He wasn’t worried at all about anyone making a scene, and the last person who wanted someone to make a scene was definitely the person waiting for the skewers.
As expected, someone was not satisfied and yelled at An Jin, and was immediately taken away by a strong man. “Don’t disturb the young man’s skewer, can you pay for it if he’s hurt?”
An Jin looked up and smiled at the strong man, and the brush in his hand flew.
—
At the Military Department, Norman piloted the mecha and practiced on the virtual battlefield for two hours straight until he was reminded when it was time to come out of the training ground. He hopped off the mecha, retrieved the mecha back to the mecha button, casually unbuttoned the top button of his combat suit, and walked to his office. Passing a break room, the excited voices of soldiers came to his ears.
“It’s really super delicious, I had a hard time overpaying for a bunch of them, and I can’t wait to swallow the sticks.”
“Too bad the quantity is too small.”
Norman walked over, thought of the teenager’s love for food, took a step back and turned his head to look at the training room. “You just said it was super tasty, where is it sold?”
The soldiers hastily stood straight and saluted. “Reporting to Your Majesty, the barbecue stand is in the holographic world, near the forest.”
Norman nodded at that. “Thank you.”
He turned to leave and decided to take the little mermaid to eat in the evening, but then thought that Mu Chen was going to take Little Silver to find the little mermaid tonight and decided to postpone it for a day.
The soldiers were relieved to see Norman leave. “I never thought His Majesty would be interested in food!”
One man’s face showed admiratio. “His Majesty is so strong, he practiced mecha for two hours today.”
“Yeah, I usually don’t dare to touch mecha.”
“You guys, why is His Majesty’s spiritual power so full all of a sudden?”
“I heard that a new type of soothing agent has appeared, so maybe it will be available soon.”
All the soldiers couldn’t help but look forward to it.
Norman returned to his office, and the adjutant followed up with a report on official business.
“It’s almost July, the Ministry of Information wants to discuss with you the time of this year’s broadcast.”
Norman frowned. “Cancel.”
“I’m afraid it’s difficult. It’s an annual tradition to broadcast live from the palace in July, which is good for the relationship between the royal family and the public. If you cancel, it will not be good for your pro-people image and will make the public worry about your spiritual condition.”
“I have a pro-people image?”
“…The people adore you.”
Norman lowered his eyes and his eyes fell to the military report. Several planets were not too honest since the news of his spiritual riots spread.
With the frequency of the little mermaid’s singing, it wouldn’t take long for his spiritual power to reach its peak state, and until then, he didn’t want to make a scene. He thought about it and said, “Choose whichever day is free of schedule.”
The adjutant immediately replied, “You don’t have a schedule on the third, so I’ll make an appointment with the Ministry of Information on the third?”
Norman nodded. “Yes.”
The deputy left, and Norman thought about it, opened the terminal, and checked the status of the little mermaid’s helmet first. He smiled, thinking that little mermaid really liked the holographic world.
He wondered what words the little mermaid had learned today. He clicked on the official website of Siao’s most famous clothing brand, asset authentication, jumped to the custom page, selected a copy of each of the styles the young people liked, and asked to have two of each made in waterproof fabric.
—
An Jin worked all afternoon, almost without stopping; his hands were sore, but he was in a good mood.
Duran checked the income and was also in a very good mood. “After the capital, the net profit of 1,400 skewers of grilled meat is 1,000!” His eyes glowed. “This is still the first day, and we prepared too few skewers. We will definitely earn more in the future.”
An Jin silently counted his salary: two hundred. He remembered the last time Norman invited him to dinner, the total cost was two hundred and three. His eyes lit up, tomorrow when he gets his salary, he can invite Norman to dinner!
A soft sound, and he opened the panel and found that the balance had changed from zero to four hundred. He froze. “Boss?”
“Business is good mainly because you are good at your craft. From now on forty percent of the profit will be yours.”
An Jin became happy and said seriously, “I will work hard!”
Duran smiled and thought for a moment. “Do you think we should raise the price?”
An Jin hurriedly nodded. “I also think a string of one star coin is too cheap.”
This was food with impurities removed!
Duran asked, “How much do you think is appropriate?”
An Jin thought about it, the holographic world star beast meat was particularly cheap: one star coin a catty. A catty was equal to twenty skewers of meat, so by the calculation, the profit was also very large. He hesitated for a moment. “Let’s try selling it for two star coins a skewer? If customers think it’s expensive, then adjust the price?”
Duran agreed, and they agreed to meet tomorrow. An Jin went offline.
Norman returned to the villa, changed into his regular clothes, and walked into the mermaid room to see the little mermaid floating in the water spitting bubbles. His pretty fish tail was wagging lazily, obviously in a good mood.
When An Jin saw him, he immediately swam to the shore and picked up his helmet, then swam to Norman, tilted his head to look at him, and shook his helmet.
The boss temporarily raised his salary, so he could hire Norman back today!
Norman said, “Later Mu Chen is going to bring Little Silver over, so we can’t go to the holographic world tonight.” He paused and asked, “Do you remember Little Silver?”
An Jin nodded, it was the only mermaid he had ever seen.
Norman helped him put his helmet on the shore and asked, “Did you have a good time in the holographic world today?”
An Jin nodded, and his tail wagged briskly. This was the first money he had earned in this world, and he was especially happy. He was in a good mood and his spiritual sea was full, so he simply sang a song to Norman.
Norman’s eyes flashed with laughter. He did nothing for the little mermaid, but the little mermaid sang a song and seemed very happy indeed.
Not long after, Mu Chen brought Little Silver.
An Jin silently observed Silver. Silver saw Norman, but was not as aggressive as the first time. He just bared his teeth, like a polite threat.
Mu Chen laughed. “Last time I went back, he did not stare at his hand every day bitterly. Instead, he took the flat fish every day and has forgotten that you broke his hand.”
Little Silver saw An Jin and quickly patted the mobility scooter with his tail, urging Mu Chen, “Stupid two-legged beast, still not put me down!”
To human ears, it was angry yelling.
Mu Chen was helpless. “Look, he’s been fierce these past two days.”
Little Silver entered the water and immediately swam to An Jin’s side, “I want to eat flat fish!” He slightly raised his chin. “In order not to forget, I am taking the flat fish every day to remember!”
An Jin was curious. “Can’t you remember without doing that?”
“Do you remember what happened before?” Little Silver asked.
“Mn, do mermaids have bad memories?”
“Yes,” Little Silver said with pride. “I can remember for seven days! If I don’t want to forget something, I can remember it all the time by remembering it once a day.”
Little Silver said again, “I want to eat flat fish.”
An Jin was still impressed by Little Silver’s childishness. “I don’t have any fish.”
Little Silver said, “I do.” He swam to the shore, showed his canine teeth towards Mu Chen, and reached out. “Two-legged beast, hurry up and pay me tribute!”
An Jin was speechless.
Mu Chen was very familiar with Little Silver, and skillfully took out three food boxes and laid them on the shore.
Little Silver lifted it, grabbed a flat fish, swam back to An Jin, silver eyes shining. “Make it delicious.”
An Jin wanted to laugh a little, took the fish and swam to the farthest pool, although he knew that the food would not change in the eyes of humans after the impurities were removed, he still turned around as a matter of caution. He cut a large piece of fish, removed the impurities and handed it to Little Silver.
Thinking of Silver’s explanation of the mermaid’s gift of food, he did not eat it and returned the flattened fish to Silver.
Little Silver face intoxicated eating fish, did not take, the tone was very trenchant, “This is for your hard work.”
An Jin inexplicably wanted to laugh. Seeing Little Silver eat so happily, his heart was suddenly moved.
When humans and mermaids ate food with impurities, the spiritual power would automatically resist the impurities. He used his water ability to remove impurities, which also consumed spiritual power.
A mermaid’s spiritual power could be transmitted through song. If the spiritual power was transmitted to the food, would the impurities of the food be offset by the spiritual power? The more he thought about it, the more he thought it was possible. He stared at the fish in his hand and pondered. Should he try singing a song to the fish?
“What are you looking at? Eat it, you’re welcome,” Little Silver said.
An Jin looked at Little Silver and asked, “Do you want to sing?”
Silver clasped his hands to his chest. “If you want to hear me sing, sure, but,” he pointed his long nails at the remaining flat fish and gulped silently, “you have to make it all delicious.”
“…Try singing to it, it might turn out delicious.”
“Really?” Little Silver immediately grabbed the flat fish and stared at An Jin. “You’re not lying to me?”
An Jin said honestly, “It’s just my guess; I’m not sure. Let’s try it together?”
Little Silver put the fish behind his back. “This is mine.”
An Jin cried and laughed, snickering, “Didn’t you just say it was for me?”
Little Silver hesitated and gave the fish back to him. “Here, I have more!” He forced the fish into An Jin’s hand, swam to the shore, and swam to An Jin’s side with the entire bowl.
On the shore, Mu Chen sighed. “Little Silver is especially protective of food, but he even gave An An his favorite fish. He really seems to like An An.” He rubbed his chin and suggested, “Little Silver is coming into heat, why don’t we pair him with An An?”
Norman’s eyebrows knitted. “No.”
“Why? Although Silver is not a pure-colored mermaid, he is still an upper intermediate mermaid,” Mu Chen pushed, “I think they are a good match.”
Norman thought of the little mermaid teenager’s appearance. “Not at all matching.”
Mu Chen spread his hands. “Okay, let’s see how you find one for An An later.”
Norman’s eyebrows wrinkled more tightly. “Why must we pair mermaids?”
“Your Majesty, don’t you know that mermaids have an estrus period? It will be hard for them if they are not paired.”
Norman grimaced, unable to imagine what the teenager and the mermaid would look like together. Suddenly, two pleasant singing voices rang out in the room, and Norman and Mu Chen froze in unison.
Mu Chen sighed in a small voice. “Look! They are so close, they sing as soon as they meet.”
An Jin sang with a mermaid for the first time. Their voices were different: one gentle and one crisp. The song was very ethereal, not hard to listen to, but very special.
An Jin stared closely at the flat fish, he found that of the energy particles floating out of his spiritual sea, only a little fell to the flat fish. The other vast majority flew to Norman’s spiritual sea.
Almost half of Little Silver’s spiritual power fell to the flat fish, a small part fell to the Mu Chen spiritual sea, and a small part fell to An Jin’s spiritual sea.
At the end of the song, Little Silver grabbed the flat fish, took a big bite, and his eyes glowed. “Delicious!”
An Jin looked at his own flat fish, the impurities became less, but were not completely eliminated.
The spiritual force could indeed cancel the impurities, but the spiritual force he used on the flat fish was too little.
Little Silver finished eating and tilted his head. “Hey, I ate it and my spiritual power became better!”
An Jin was more curious about another thing. “What were you thinking when you were singing?”
“I hope the flat fish becomes delicious; I want to eat flat fish so badly.”
An Jin pondered. His singing was not effective. Was it because his emotions were not as strong as Little Silver’s? He thought about it and decided to try again next time. The corners of his mouth curled up, he was very happy.
He wouldn’t have to eat food with the impurities removed secretly in the future, because a mermaid could have removed impurities from the food. It was just that no one had noticed it before. His water ability would not be exposed.
Moreover, if Norman knew that the barbecue he sold in the holographic world could restore spiritual power, there would be a reasonable explanation. He arched his eyebrows and thought of how best to invite Norman to dinner!
After Becoming A Mermaid
