I Was Raised After Being a Mermaid - Chap 49
Chap 49
: Catch
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Kiramekineko
Norman, wearing a capsule mask, pushed the mermaid car to the suburban factory, which was surrounded by surveillance. He quieted down until he felt the view behind the surveillance disappeared. Norman’s gait was calm and steady, and he was not worried about being watched.
The monitor detection mode could ignore the mask and see one’s identity, but this did not include him. The data on him was classified even in the military database, let alone from the general database, which would only reveal his false identity.
An Jin stayed in the hover car. He and Mu Chen wore earrings and communicated with the mermaid next to Norman at all times.
Mu Chen’s face was serious as he went through the virtual screens to check the situation of the operation team to make sure that the factory had been surrounded. Not a corner was missed, and his expression relaxed a little.
At the same time, the royal guard team members were scattered, closely monitoring the rest of the people who did not go to the black market, but participated in the match. All of them were good at hiding their bodies, and they waited quietly in the shadows, waiting for His Majesty to make his move, and then they took control of the people in time.
They had to pay close attention to the timing: to not strike early, so as not to be monitored by the people who have a code who could quickly notify the black market people to be careful, but also not to strike too late, in case someone finds something wrong and tries to escape.
Norman walked to the left side of the factory gate, and two staff wearing black metal masks used instruments that they waved up and down to check him. They determined that he did not have illegal items, then let him go in.
They did not expect that the real offending item was on the mermaid’s body.
The mermaid’s pearl hair ornament, which was inlaid with the military department’s nano-camera, was connected to the technical department, and the black market’s true identity would be immediately parsed out by the technicians as soon as the person entered the range of view.
The technicians looked at the people in the black market, each with increasingly serious expressions. They had all realized that this time, the case involved a very large number of people.
Norman pushed the mermaid cart and walked around casually, although the movement was not large, it allowed the camera to capture all the corners of the room.
There was not a single dead corner.
This also meant that he had evidence of all the people who came to the black market tonight. He was not prepared to make a move in the black market, there were too many black market mermaids, and hands were likely to be accidentally injured. His main purpose was to collect evidence.
In the end, he was not satisfied with the price, did not sell the mermaid, and left with the mermaid.
Mu Chen got his message and instructed his men, “Do it.”
So, for those who came out of the black market, the hover cars were only started when they were controlled by the long-awaited soldiers of the Three Legions. Some of them saw that the situation was not right and hurriedly forced the hover car to start and tried to escape from the air, only to be forced to land by the stealthy small warships.
They had no choice; if they didn’t land themselves, what was waiting for them was being blown down.
One soldier was disappointed and shouted, “Motherfuckers. So afraid of death? Harden up and refuse to be arrested! Let me blast you!”
Of course, there were also those who refused to be arrested, so there were fights all around. The sounds of fighting were accompanied by the screams of the mermaids, which were particularly noisy.
An Jin picked up the loudspeaker he had prepared and said in the mermaid language, “Hello, my name is An An, and I am here with these two-legged beasts to rescue you. Don’t be afraid, observe the situation around you, take care to protect yourself, and don’t get hurt.”
He said this while releasing all his senses and feeling everything that was happening around him.
Suddenly, a giant crimson mecha rapidly approached Mu Chen’s command vehicle from the direction of the factory. Mu Chen’s eyebrows knitted. “Molten.”
Three years ago, the leader of the Flaming Star Pirates disappeared into thin air and was hiding here! He was about to take out his mecha and get out of the car to meet the battle, when he saw a black mecha meet him.
At the same time, Mu Chen’s terminal received Norman’s message: [Free the mermaids, send them back first.]
Mu Chen looked at his men’s battle situation; the situation was under control. After all, he brought a lot of people this time, and the number, combat power, and weapons were comprehensively crushing. The outcome of the battle was not in doubt.
The leader of the Star Pirates was the only surprise, but with His Majesty around, it was not enough to be feared. He ordered his men, “After the men are controlled, send the mermaids over.”
An Jin heard his command and hurriedly used the loudspeaker to get the mermaids to cooperate. The three soldiers were surprised when the mermaids, who were struggling and seemed to recognize them as enemies, suddenly became obedient and let them push them away.
An Jin and Little Silver couldn’t help but be angry when they saw the mermaids sent over: some of them were very thin, and others had lost their scales and looked miserable.
Little Silver bared his teeth and roared, “These damned two-legged beasts!”
An Jin soothed him and went back to soothe the injured mermaids, who were in a much better mood when they saw him.
Soon, the heads of the mermaid hospital, the research institute, and the Mermaid Protection Association all came. All the rescued mermaids were sent to the mermaid hospital.
An Jin was sent back to the palace. He was floating in the water against a large crab, and the terminal was on, playing an instructional video. However, his eyes fell on the virtual screen, but his eyes were unfocused and completely still.
Although he knew Norman was strong, he couldn’t help but worry when he heard Mu Chen say that the owner of the red mecha was a vicious star pirate. He originally did not want to come back, he only followed mainly to pacify the mermaids. His mission was complete, and if he were to stay any longer, instead of helping, he’d only be adding trouble.
After all, Norman was fighting, and he may distract Norman. Not to mention the capture of so many people at once. Many of them were noblemen and rich; Norman and Mu Chen still had to deal with the follow-up.
It was close to ten o’clock when he sensed Norman approaching towards the mermaid room and thought nothing of it, swinging his tail and swimming to the shore closest to the door. Norman first asked the housekeeping robot to make sure the little mermaid’s brain was still active and not sleeping before knocking on the door.
The next second, he heard the little mermaid say, “Come in.”
He pushed the door in and saw the little mermaid with both hands on the bank, his pretty eyes scanning him as soon as he saw him.
Norman strode up to him and squatted down with a smile in his eyes. “Worried about me?”
His voice was already good, and at night it was even more magnetic and low.
An Jin’s heart inexplicably beat much faster. He squeezed his fingers and did not answer, but asked, “Are you hurt?”
Norman met the little mermaid’s transparent eyes and suddenly regretted not being hurt, but on second thought, he didn’t want the little mermaid to worry about him. He stated the truth, “No, you should have confidence in me, no one is my opponent.”
An Jin couldn’t help but laugh; Norman had always been very serious and calm. These very wild words were not like his style. He subconsciously praised, “You’re amazing!”
“It’s because An An is great. An An has restored my spiritual power to SSS level.” Norman looked serious.
An Jin was a little embarrassed, Norman’s spiritual power recovered because he sang a song. Singing to transmit spiritual power was a mermaid’s talent, for him, he actually did not do anything. So to receive a compliment, he felt a little weak, feeling that he did not deserve the compliment.
He looked at Norman’s spiritual sea, and after a battle with mecha, his spiritual power was depleted a bit. He hadn’t sung to Norman since he got to level three, because the difference was too great, and he was worried that Norman would get suspicious.
But now, he wasn’t so worried, even if he was suspicious. He mulled over his emotions, then smiled at Norman and sang.
Norman’s expression softened and his deep brown eyes focused on the little mermaid. Although the little mermaid did not give him a response, the little mermaid’s gesture still made him feel warm and sweet.
After this incident, he had realized that the little mermaid was truly an adult, both physically and mentally, in which case he would not have to wait for the little mermaid to grow up before formally pursuing him. His eyes deepened slightly.
Little mermaid, grow up quickly.
When the song ended, An Jin met Norman’s deep eyes, and his heartbeat inexplicably accelerated. A little panicked, he turned his head. “Don’t you look at me like that.”
“Why?”
An Jin clenched his fingers into a fist and bit his lip. “It’s like you want to eat me.”
When he finished, he heard Norman give a low laugh, and his long, curved eyelashes blinked rapidly and abruptly. He turned his head to look at Norman. “Don’t you laugh! I just sang to you!”
Norman reacted quickly. “Thank you An An,” he paused with a smile in his eyes, “An An’s spiritual power of transmission has become more again, is An An getting closer to me and trusting me?”
An Jin was stunned, and suddenly it dawned on him. No wonder Norman never suspected when he transmitted more spiritual power after his ability upgrade in the past. Norman thought it had something to do with his trust and closeness.
“No, it’s not,” An Jin explained, “it’s because I’ve become an adult!
Norman was slightly surprised, and then complimented, “An An is amazing.”
An Jin saw that he didn’t doubt him at all, but he was a bit vain. His water ability had something to do with his origin; it was his secret card, and he didn’t want to tell anyone. Unless he told them all, he would have to make excuses for having the water ability again, and that would be cheating, so he might as well hide it all. He changed the subject and asked about the business. “Did you catch all the black market people?”
Norman nodded. “Mn, they were all sent to the military prison and tried separately. There are a lot of people involved, and some didn’t show up tonight, but the techs have cracked the black market accounts and all the people involved in the transactions are recorded, so no one will slip through the cracks.”
An Jin was relieved and looked at Norman. “I want to go to the hospital to see those rescued mermaids.”
“It’s too late today, and they are in bad shape. They should have rested by now, can I drive you there tomorrow?” Norman suggested.
An Jin was also planning to go tomorrow. “Thank you, thanks to you this time.”
Norman’s face was serious and he said in a deep voice, “It’s my fault.”
An Jin could see his self-condemnation, shook his head and said seriously, “This matter was never exposed, and once it was, you solved it quickly. It was already very impressive! Even if you’re the emperor, you can’t know everything. An empire, it’s hard to guarantee that there can’t be anything dark at all.”
The little mermaid’s blue eyes were like crystal, pure and clear. Norman listened to the little mermaid’s gentle persuasion, and his heart was very warm. His eyes moved slightly. After the little mermaid had the ID card, and was an independent individual, he was such a good little mermaid and would certainly attract many people.
“An An.” Norman’s voice was low, which sounded exceptionally good at night.
An Jin blinked and looked at him suspiciously. It felt a little strange to have two people right in front of him and still call him by his name so formally.
Norman asked, “What kind of mate do you wish to have?”
An Jin’s eyes opened slightly and met his deep brown eyes. His cheeks burned involuntarily, and his eyes moved away in panic. His fingers, resting on the shore, unconsciously curled up. “I don’t know.”
He really didn’t know. After he found out that he liked boys, he panicked a bit, and then looked up the relevant information to know that this is normal, but in modern times, not everyone thought it was normal and were not blessed. He was afraid of being found out, yet he was still found out by his parents.
Even his parents were that bad, so he did not expect to find someone to be with for the rest of his life and made plans to be single for the rest of his life. In this situation, he wouldn’t even think about what his desired mate was like.
Norman saw that the little mermaid was torn, and was not prepared to make things difficult for him. Rubbing the top of the little mermaid’s hair, he said, “You will always know later. An An, get some rest, good night.”
“Good night, Norman.”
Norman looked at the little mermaid’s half-curved blue eyes, suddenly a bit reluctant to leave, but he still got up and left the mermaid room.
Standing at the door of the mermaid room, he mused that he could not possibly sleep separately from the little mermaid every night if he was with him.
The little mermaid slept in the pool. He couldn’t let go either. It seemed he had to practice sleeping in the water.
—
In the mermaid hospital, An Jin approached the ward and immediately felt the emotions of mania, anger, pain, and etc.. His small face was unconsciously slack as he drove the mobility scooter and entered the ward with the strongest emotions.
“Damned two-legged beast, let go of me! Get out of here!” Half of the mermaid ward was a pool and the other half was a marble floor with a water bed on the floor and instruments next to it.
As soon as An Jin entered, he saw a mid-level mermaid with an orange tail and pupils and orange hair. The orange mermaid was lying on the water bed with both hands locked and the tail fixed. The original beautiful tail was scarred and had lost many scales, revealing the flesh inside.
An Jin sucked in a breath, when he lost his scales, he tried to pull them because he was curious, but the scales and the flesh were stuck together, and it would be very painful to pull them hard. He tried once and didn’t dare to try again. He was also more sure that scale replacement was a normal sign of maturity.
The orange mermaid had lost scales in a location where there was flesh underneath, clearly an injury caused the scales to fall off.
The two doctors were discussing whether to inject sedatives again when they heard the movement at the door and turned around. Seeing An Jin, they froze, then their eyes suddenly lit up.
Immediately after, the two men saw Norman behind An Jin and hurriedly saluted, “Your Majesty.”
Norman asked about the mermaid’s condition and the doctor looked worried. “He is in a very troubled mood and has not been cooperating with the treatment. We had to forcefully contain him to prevent the wound from getting infected, but he seems to be very angry.”
Once the orange mermaid saw An Jin, he inexplicably felt very relaxed and quickly calmed down. An Jin drove the mobility scooter to the bed and asked worriedly, “Are you feeling okay?”
The orange mermaid shook his head. “Not good at all, these damn two-legged beasts hurt my tail! They must be jealous of my beauty! Damn it!”
An Jin was speechless. Wasn’t pain the most important thing to care about?
The two doctors felt very surprised how the orange mermaid, who had been growling incessantly, suddenly became so quiet. Is the charm of the solid-colored mermaid so great?
The gossip of ten thousand Star Alliance fish fans no one knew, the two doctors certainly also knew. Seeing this scene, the two people were still very skeptical, but now they couldn’t help but be convinced: seeing the pure color mermaid, the mermaid’s mood will really become better, and their temper mild.
An Jin’s warm voice calmed the mermaid. “I did not say yesterday? They are helping you to heal. The person who hurt you has been caught.”
The orange mermaid stared at the doctor. “They’re exactly the same as the two-legged beast that hurt me! Look, they still have me in chains!”
An Jin was startled and looked at the two doctors. Had the bad guys gotten mixed up? He saw the two men with worried faces and thought of Norman saying all of them were caught and asked in surprise, “How can they be the same?”
The orange mermaid replied, “They all have the same white skin!”
An Jin choked, looking at the mermaid’s pure eyes, and hated the black market people even more.
The intermediate mermaid in front of him was even more innocent than Little Silver. “This is a human…biped’s suit, identify them only by their face.”
“It’s ugly.” The orange mermaid seemed a little disgusted, looking at the doctor and deflecting his head. “It’s bare.”
An Jin was sure that this mermaid loved beauty and also loved scales in particular. He looked to Norman, who could not speak because of the two doctors, and nodded his chin toward the orange mermaid’s handcuffs.
Norman immediately understood what the little mermaid meant and asked the two doctors to open the handcuffs.
The doctor hesitated. “Your Majesty, he is very aggressive. If we don’t get him under control, he might hurt you and An An.”
Norman still insisted. The two doctors had no choice, but they were afraid, after all, they were not like the people in the military department who were skilled in resisting mermaid attacks with spiritual force.
The doctor took the key and looked at Norman. “Can I give him a relaxant first?”
Norman refused the doctor’s request and took the key himself to unlock the handcuffs.
An Jin reminded the orange mermaid not to act aggressively, and the orange mermaid then obediently laid down on the bed, even after the handcuffs were unlocked, and did not make any aggressive behavior, quiet.
The two doctors felt very amazed and had a deeper understanding of the charm of the solid-colored mermaid.
Norman was unaware of the doctors’ mental activities, or he would have expressed his approval. He saw the little mermaid’s worried face and asked the doctors to treat the orange mermaid’s wound.
The two doctors immediately picked up the treatment instrument, and the orange mermaid was very cooperative. The original seeping blood wound quickly healed. Of course, this was not a full recovery, the wound could easily bleed again if moved, but if the mermaid rested, he could recover in two days at most. Therefore, An Jin reminded the orange mermaid very patiently to cooperate with the doctor and not to move around anymore.
The mermaid was very cooperative, and when he saw An Jin was leaving, he hurriedly propped himself up. “Are you leaving?”
“I’m going to check on the other mermaids who were sent to the hospital with you last night. You need to recuperate well. We will see each other often after your body recovers,” An Jin said, “and many other companions who are worried about you.”
The orange mermaid then dutifully laid back down. “I’ll recover soon!”
After An Jin left, he was also very cooperative with his treatment, and the two doctors felt amazed and secretly hoped that the solid-colored mermaid would come and play at the mermaid hospital more often. It would make their job so much easier!
An Jin went to see the rest of the mermaids. The injuries were not very serious, but a few of them were clearly having psychological problems and were very depressed. An Jin patiently calmed them down, but they were only slightly better.
When An Jin left, he was even a little glad that the mermaid’s memory was bad and they would forget about it after a few days, and he hoped they would be happy to start a new life again.
After seeing the mermaids, Norman sent him to the entertainment area. An Jin tilted his little head to look at him and waved at him. Norman looked down and rubbed the little mermaid’s head. “I’ll pick you up this afternoon.”
After Norman left, the mermaids, who had been watching An Jin, swam towards him with Little Silver in the forefront.
“An An, why did you come now?”
“An An, did the bad guys get caught?”
An Jin told them that the bad guys had been caught, and also told them that some mermaids had been injured and were being treated in the hospital. The mermaids were all very angry, but were happy again when they heard An Jin say they would soon recuperate.
An Jin played with them for a while, then went to the tree house, put on his helmet and went into the holographic world to practice his ability.
After an hour, he went offline and played with the mermaids. Eventually, because the mermaids always grabbed the closest position to him and got into arguments from time to time, he cried and laughed and gathered them all together in a circle to chat.
Of course, the positions were chosen strictly according to the rules of the game, otherwise no one would be convinced.
Ling Ling wanted to be next to An Jin, and so did Little Silver. Rui Rui and Little Silver were both grumpy and almost got into a fight. Luckily, they kept their word and followed the rules of the game. They talked until their masters picked them up, and then they broke up.
An Jin returned to the palace and discussed with Norman over dinner. He decided to expose his ability to talk after the mermaid black market case was heard.
Norman thought it was a good idea and agreed.
Two days later, the military ministry announced the mega-mermaid black market case that had shocked Siao and announced a public trial. This case involved a very large number of rich and noble people, and of course most of these nobles had fallen. Their money was not enough to auction the mermaid at the right auction, and only through the black market could they buy one. Such a class of fallen aristocrats who liked to live in luxury, also wanted to make money with the mermaids.
When the case came out, Siao was shocked.
Rui Rui’s breeder, Fifth Army Chief Garrett, heard about Rui Rui, and directly rushed to the military prison to beat up the head of the black market. He was secretly glad that nothing really happened to Big Red, and very disappointed that he was not personally involved in the arrest. He took Mu Chen by the shoulders. “Admiral Mu Chen, you did a bad job. You knew that they had done something to Big Red, but you didn’t tell me. If I had been there, I would have broken his leg.”
“His leg was already broken by His Majesty.”
Garrett still felt angry and chagrined at his negligence.
Mu Chen learned from Little Silver and An An that Big Red was actually named Rui Rui, and he was able to learn that the mermaids picked their own names! He was happy that Little Silver and he had a heart to heart! Of course, he also knew very well that Rui Rui, if he knew that Garrett gave him the name of Big Red, would not be too happy.
After all, having worked together for years, he suggested to Garrett, “Why don’t you give Big Red a different name? I think Rui Rui would be perfect for him.”
“Nonsense!” Garrett grunted, “Big Red is the most suitable name for him, have you ever seen a mermaid as red as him?”
“…is an intermediate upper mermaid after all, you took it too casually, he might not like it.”
Garrett patted him on the shoulder. “He likes it a lot! Isn’t your Little Silver also named by color? If you think it’s random, change his name and call him Rui Rui.”
Mu Chen glared at him. “Bah, Little Silver is called Little Silver.”
Garrett looked at his back as he strutted away, a puzzled look on his face.
There were many other people who were as angry as Garrett. These people bought mermaids by virtue of their own ability or financial power, and were trying to make the mermaids happy and trying to make the mermaids sing, but they didn’t expect someone to hurt them! It was good that His Majesty found it in time, otherwise they may never hear the mermaids singing again.
When they thought of the consequences of this situation, they became extremely angry. It was the equivalent of taking their lives.
The whole case was open to the public: the person in charge was dealt with directly by the death penalty, and the rest of the direct participants were dealt with by the flow of crime. All the buyers either served their sentences or paid large sums of money, and Agent A would never be sold to them. The decision not to sell Agent A was made by An Jin.
When the verdict came out, everyone felt shocked because they did not expect it to be so severe. After all, mermaids were very precious, but mermaids were just a pet.
Some shouted that His Majesty was using his power to disregard the law to sentence arbitrarily and thought that all the sentences were too harsh because His Majesty was in love with the pure-colored mermaid. He shouted to appeal, and the rest of the people who were mobilized by his emotions also shouted their displeasure to appeal to the court. However, the court was very firm and there was a lot of talk among the people on Starnet about whether the punishment should be so harsh or not.
That night An Jin went live and everyone’s eyes fell wide open—the pure color mermaid actually spoke. And not just a single simple word, he could even communicate with His Majesty normally.
Norman crouched on the shore and waved to the little mermaid. “An An, come here.”
An Jin swam over with his blue tail wagging. “Did you catch all the bad guys?”
Norman replied, “Yes.”
An Jin’s blue eyes curled. “That’s great, I hope the injured mermaids get better soon too.” His cheeks puffed up as he said, showing his anger, “Little Silver said that if the bad guy isn’t caught, he’ll never sing for anyone again.” He said after a pause, “Me too.”
Although it was a line spoken in advance, An Jin finished and subconsciously went to look at Norman’s face. Of course he wouldn’t stop singing for him, Norman was different from the rest of them.
The pop-ups went crazy, what did they hear?!
Siao people were no stranger to Little Silver, who was the mermaid of Third Army Chief Admiral Mu Chen, a mid-level upper mermaid, originally hurt by His Majesty, who was also blacklisted because of him. Not long ago, His Majesty appealed and clarified the truth about Little Silver’s injury in the first place, and also let more people know about Little Silver.
[How does An An know what Little Silver said?]
[Can the pure-colored mermaid understand the rest of the mermaid’s speech?]
[Or can mermaids communicate with each other?]
[Mermaids still have anger, they are so vindictive!]
[Don’t you realize the most terrible thing? Pure-color mermaids can talk]
[And it’s a good indication that mermaids have intelligence.]
At this point, Norman looked at the live ball. “Tomorrow, An An will apply for an intelligent creature determination.”
[Oh my God, intelligent being!]
[Are the rest of the mermaids intelligent too?]
Norman couldn’t see the phantom pop-ups, but he could guess what they would say, but he didn’t give any response.
This night was destined to be a sleepless night.
After Becoming A Mermaid
