The Fallen Merman

Translator: Als

Translation Checker: Carolin 

Editor: Aury & Shark

Proofreader: babymew

In the bedroom, Rimbaud electrocuted a mercenary who had dared to break in and turned them into ashes. For unknown reasons, there was an electricity leakage in the pool inside the bathroom. Bai Chunian didn’t believe in such coincidences, and the note he just found from the bathroom cabinet was also worth thinking about.

The note left by the missing writer said, “Water is the only food in this hut, good thing it’s not poisoned, I’ll live for a few more hours.” This shows that the missing writer drank the water in the bath, but he could still leave a note and was not electrocuted, indicating that the water in the pool wasn’t charged yet, because at that time, 324 hadn’t seen Rimbaud’s ability to discharge electricity. 

Moreover, 324 had a fight with the major of the Storm Special Forces three years ago and gave Major an injury he couldn’t recover from even until now. As an alliance agent, Bai Chunian had conducted detailed investigations into the military forces. He knew each military commander’s differentiation ability—the panther alpha major of the PBBw Storm Special Forces that He Suowei mentioned before, his J1 ability was Gravity Manipulation.

“You’re right.” En Ke told the truth about the specifics of File F.

Special Operations Weapon No. 324

Invisible Stalker

Status: Mature Omega

Appearance: Petite body, only 1.6m tall, with a long and curly chameleon tail, large eyes, and eyes that can rotate 360 degrees without dead angle.

Differentiation ability: “Man in the Mirror”, mimicry-type ability, 324 can quickly imitate any differentiation ability shown in front of him, but the power will be reduced by half.

The study found that Invisible Stalker is an extremely egotistical subject, and he’s even obsessed with his own name. 

Invisible Stalker was an experimental subject bred to screen for logical and intelligent humans, but it didn’t have the desired effect. He would create all sorts of strange escape rooms and puzzles. He would admire and reward those who could work out the answers, whereas those who couldn’t would simply become his food. This way, people with low intelligence were filtered out.

But apparently, this experimental subject’s filtering efficiency is too slow, and solving his puzzles requires too much perverse thinking. Human society doesn’t need this useless defective experimental subject.

Location of last sighting: The incinerator of the 109 Research Institute.

“Only these?” 

“P bcis abbx atfrf akb vbmewfcar.”

“Glv tf frmjqf yfobgf tf kjr fzfmeafv… cb kbcvfg cb bcf’r rffc tlw yfobgf.” Djl Jtecljc weaafgfv ab tlwrfio, qlmxlcu eq atf kbbvfc wbq qbif tf’v pera erfv ab rjnf atf akb fifmagbmeafv wfgmfcjglfr bc atf ugbecv. Ktf wbq qbif yfmjwf nfgs tfjns. Obbxlcu mibrfis ja lar wjafglji, la tjv mtjcufv ogbw j kbbvfc qbif ab j tjgv lgbc.

En Ke smiled sarcastically, “This is your ability. He learned it. He caught you when you crushed my gun. It seems that 324 is watching us in this room.”

Bai Chunian was unimpressed: “Imitating my J1 ability has no point if it’s weakened by half.” 

“Hmph.” En Ke coldly lifted the corner of his mouth, “But mine does.”

Bai Chunian was keenly aware of a stream of pheromones being released from the back of En Ke’s neck. Just as En Ke activated his J1 differentiation ability, a bullet penetrated from the back of his head. Blood splattered, En Ke’s eyes were wide open, and after his body stiffened for a while, he fell limply to the ground without a breath.

Rimbaud retrieved his mini submachine gun and blew on the hot muzzle.

Bai Chunian patted the photocopy in his hand: “Tsk, this isn’t going to be easy. Although his differentiation ability was interrupted just now, it’s still activated.” 

The copied information was recovered from the mercenary corpses. When he flipped through it roughly, it was a list of mercenaries from the Red-Throated Bird organization, with a brief record of each individual’s differentiation abilities.

The woodpecker alpha named En Ke was marked on the list. His J1 ability was “Vibration Piercing”. Although the specific explanation wasn’t included there, whether it was vibration or piercing, if an experimental subject capable of being invisible imitated the ability, the consequences would be unimaginable.

They didn’t know why this group of mercenaries would carry this kind of obviously pirated information. Generally speaking, only traitors would steal their own organization’s list for their employer. Unfortunately, they failed to take this opportunity to ask the employer’s identity.

But since the list of members of the Red-Throated Bird was intercepted, this trip was a big gain. 

Bai Chunian squatted down, pulled out the last tissue paper and covered the face of En Ke’s corpse, smiled lightly, revealing the tips of his tiger teeth: “I really want to crush your head.”

Bai Chunian calmly squatted in front of En Ke’s body and began to search. He slowly replicated En Ke’s fingerprints and put them in a plastic bag, took out a Submariner Rolex watch from his pocket and wiped it on his shirt: “A mercenary wears such a good watch. It’s not broken. It’s seven o’clock, just like the watch on the wall. ”

En Ke also had a few limited-edition Cohiba cigars in his pocket. Bai Chunian unceremoniously picked them out one by one and put them in his trouser pocket. Finally, he took off the sapphire ring on the thumb of the corpse, put it towards the light to see the color, and made sure that it was all cleaned. After standing up, he kicked the corpse: “Remember to bring cash next time you go out.”

When he finished searching, the merman was sitting on the beast fountainhead. He’d been waiting for a long time, tail hanging down the edge of the pool, long fins fluttering in the water. 

The merman bent down, patted Bai Chunian’s face with the muzzle of the loaded mini submachine gun, and said in a soft and low voice: “I, I can’t get down.”

“Sit for a while, this is for you.” Bai Chunian squatted on one knee under the merman’s tail and smoothly fished out the sapphire ring he picked up from the corpse from his pocket. He pinched up the translucent blue tail tip, carefully passed through the center of the circle, and let the ring stick on the two small fins at the bottom of the fishtail.

Rimbaud cocked his tail and took a small glance at the new jewelry: “Piece of junk.”

“Next time I’ll get you a more expensive one, little princess.” 

When he came, the miniature communicator he picked up from the ladder moved. The electric current sound ran through the headset, and the sound gradually cleared. He Suowei’s voice reached Bai Chunian’s ears:

“Please reply when you receive this, please reply when you receive this.”

Bai Chunian: “Got it, got it. Captain He’s voice sounds so characteristic. It gives out a feeling of handsomeness that doesn’t quite match your face.”

He Suowei: “ Fuck you, if it weren’t for your lover boy who doesn’t understand human words, I wouldn’t want to tell you a fucking word. ” 

Bai Chunian: “Where are you?“

He Suowei: “In the dining room where I just came in, fuck. When you were in the bedroom just now, we went up the stairs and wanted to see if the door was still there. The door was there, but as soon as we stepped out, the door began to narrow, and the speed was quite fast. As soon as the door narrowed, we couldn’t go back. I quickly took off a communicator and threw it to you, then the door was completely closed.”

Bai Chunian: “You’re wearing a watch, aren’t you? What time is it?”

There was a brief silence from the communicator: “Our watches malfunctioned as soon as we came in, and it kept showing two o’clock in the afternoon. ” 

Bai Chunian squatted on the ground and looked at the Rolex watch in his hand: “All three of you have watches that read 2 p.m?”

He Suowei: “Well… In fact, it was only early morning when we came in. Has a lot of time passed already before we knew it?”

Bai Chunian: “Just now when I saw you, didn’t you say that you went down the stairs for half an hour? How did you know it was half an hour?”

He Suowei: “Because when we came in, there was a clock hanging on the wall. I saw the minute hand go half a turn.” 

Bai Chunian: “? Isn’t it a painting, a chameleon painting.”

He Suowei: “? It’s a watch. The dial has twenty-eight numerical scales, from one o’clock to twenty-eight o’clock. This is the first time I’ve seen such an alien design.”

Bai Chunian: “Why didn’t you say so earlier.”

He Suowei: “Such a big watch, it’s even facing the door, but you can’t see it? Still need me to tell you? 

Bai Chunian: “Why’re you so aggressive?”

He Suowei smoothed his breathing, and the He brothers helped the captain pinch his hands and rub his temples from both sides.

“Okay, let me tell you my guess.” Bai Chunian said, “First, each room has the same specifications and the room I’m in is a cube with the same length, width and height. I’ve already measured it with Rimbaud’s tail, and they’re all the same case from what I see in all the rooms I passed.”

“Second, the rooms can be translated and the speed is very fast, but we’re affected by the gravity manipulation ability imitated by 324 and we can’t feel the sense of weightlessness. This is based on the statement of the group of mercenaries that both you and we encountered. The bedroom we were in just now moved in a certain direction. That’s why you guys were locked in the dining room, and then the other door of the bedroom would be connected with the door of the parlor room where the mercenaries were located. That’s why they could come in..” 

He Suowei: “You guys met mercenaries?”

Bai Chunian: “Third, the wallpaper in different rooms have different colors. The dining rooms and bedroom are red and the bathroom and parlor are blue.”

He Suowei: “I’ve only seen red ones so far.”

Bai Chunian: “Fourth, the time shown on our watches will automatically adjust according to the different rooms we enter. We’re now in the bathroom and all the watches in here, including the electronic watches on the wall, as well as the watches worn by the mercenaries all show 7:00 a.m., but in the last bedroom it showed 8:00 p.m., which is 20:00.” 

“The head of the mercenaries explained that the watch they saw in the parlor showed six in the morning.”

He Suowei looked at his wristwatch: “Then I’m in the dining room. The watch was two in the afternoon, so it’s fourteen o’clock.”

“Mhm.”

He Suowei thought for a while: “According to what you said, the rooms are all cubes, which can move back and forth, and have colors. Isn’t that a Rubik’s cube? Twisting it and turning it around.” 

Bai Chunian: “I know you think so. Everyone will also think so. However, there are three problems. A normal Rubik’s cube is calculated as 3×3. When rotating, it requires a sphere space with a diameter larger than the Rubik’s cube itself. The area, soil, and terrain of Red Maple Mountain don’t meet the underground space requirements for making spheres.

The second problem is that any rotation requires an axis, so the door you see must first become fan-shaped or irregular-shaped, and then become a gap before disappearing. It didn’t slowly narrow. Slowly narrowing must be a translation.”

“The third question is, if each room corresponds to a number displayed by a clock, why does the watch you see when you enter the door have twenty-eight dials? We all know that a 3×3 cube only has 27 pieces.”

He Suowei: “What’s wrong with one more piece, I’m happy to have one more piece. So since you found so many clues, what conclusion have you come to?” 

Bai Chunian: “324’s brain circuit can’t be explained by common sense, there must be something wrong with him.”

He Suowei: “Thank you, I really wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t said it.”