The Fallen Merman

Bai Chunian had a severe headache and his temples seemed to be splitting. He suddenly felt like he was falling in his dream. He woke up abruptly, subconsciously wanting to hug the omega in his arms, but there was no one beside him.

“Rimbaud?” Bai Chunian slowly got up, rubbed off the dried water stain on his eyelashes, and sat dazedly on the bed for a while. 

The iron railing headboard was melted by the high-temperature electric current, and there were only a few half-dead blue jellyfish remaining in the fish tank beside the bed. Rimbaud wasn’t in the room.

Bai Chunian didn’t take off his clothes last night before he slept and his hair was sticking up in a mess. He pulled on his slippers and walked out of the bedroom. He went to the living room, the study, and the gym room, but didn’t find anyone. The house was quiet.

He started rummaging through the house looking for Rimbaud’s invoices and certificates.

He pulled out all the drawers in the house, turned them upside down, lifted the carpets and sheets, and searched every corner where documents could be hidden.

The entire room was filled with panicked pheromones coming from the glands. Bai Chunian’s eyes were bloodshot, and even though the air-con was set at a very low temperature, there was still a layer of sweat dripping off of him.

“Did they get taken away?” Bai Chunian sat paralyzed on the messy carpet, absent-minded. His hand fumbled for his phone and he gave Rimbaud a call.

The sound of the dial tone sounded seemingly harsh in the silent room. When the muffled ringtone of another phone sounded from the messy blanket, Bai Chunian’s face slowly reddened.

“You are. Looking for this?” 

Rimbaud was hanging upside down from the balcony’s ceiling, his tail wrapped around the clothesline, and he was indifferently flipping through the folder in his hands. Inside it contained the invoice and certificate.

Bai Chunian suddenly sat up. He followed the sound and looked towards the balcony. Rimbaud let go of his tail and fell to the ground, his tailbone supporting his body as he stood at the balcony door.

The alpha stood up, walked over with weary footsteps, and stood in front of Rimbaud with his hands dangling and looking at him haggardly.

Rimbaud rudely raised the folder and swatted Bai Chunian’s face with it, causing him to stumble two steps back and almost losing his footing. Rimbaud sat at the balcony’s coffee table, calmly supporting his head with his hand as he stared at the alpha’s distressed state, and patted the ground beside the chair with his tail. 

For a split second, even Bai Chunian was stunned by this inexplicable imposing manner. He raised his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth to see if it was bleeding. “What do you mean by this? Do you really think you’re a king? Do I have to kneel down, too?”

After he finished speaking, a fishtail curled around his neck, yanked hard, and the alpha was pulled over by the neck. He was forced to kneel on the floor, his face buried in the fins of Rimbaud’s lower abdomen.

Rimbaud had already re-wrapped the moisturizing bandage that was almost torn apart last night, covering all the bite marks except for the ones on the neck. His palm rested on the alpha’s head and he released soothing pheromones. There were also bloody teeth marks on his fingers.

Bai Chunian grabbed his fins, pulled the omega off the chair, and flipped over to hold him down. Powerful oppressive pheromones overwhelmed Rimbaud. Rimbaud held onto Bai Chunian’s back and attacked his glands’ sensitive nerves with high-level oppressive pheromones. His sharp nails penetrated the skin of the alpha’s back, scratching out light red bloody marks. 

However, what he released were still soothing pheromones not mixed with oppression. The light and gentle musk rose fragrance neutralized the pungent smell of alcohol in the room. Like an invisible pair of hands, he gently soothed the alpha’s trembling arched back.

“You hit me.” Bai Chunian buried himself in the hollow of Rimbaud’s neck. His voice choked up, “I haven’t—since I was born until now, I’ve hugged only you. How can you not be angry at all? Is reproducing offspring something very normal for you? Then what are we exactly? Roommates? Colleagues? Fuck buddies that can leave with our luggage at any time and never see each other again?”

Elwyjev mbeivc’a ecvfgrajcv atf vloofgfcmf jcv mbccfmalbc yfakffc atfrf kbgvr ja jii. Lf bcis atbeuta atja atf jiqtj gfjiis kjcafv atlr lcnblmf nfgs wemt, ab atf qblca atja tf kjr jybea ab ub mgjhs. Lf jiwbra jaf Elwyjev jilnf ijra cluta.

Dea fnfc lo tf vlvc’a xcbk wemt jybea tewjc rbmlfas, tf mbeiv tfjg ogbw atf qgfrlvfca’r rfglber abcf atja atf lcnblmf jcv atf mfgalolmjaf kfgf ilcxfv ab tlr ogffvbw. Qtfc atf qgfrlvfca tjcvfv atf obivfg ab tlw, tf rbifwcis lcragemafv, “Tbe wera xffq la kfii. Gbc’a tjcv la bnfg ab jcsbcf. Ljnlcu sbeg gluta ab ogffvbw lc sbeg bkc tjcvr lr wbra rfmegf.” 

The alpha was clinging to his body, heart beating extremely fast. Rimbaud increased the concentration of his soothing pheromones, his palm rubbing Bai Chunian’s head.

The oppressive pheromones Bai Chunian released were getting weaker and weaker, gradually dissipated by the light musk rose fragrance; the gentle scent enveloped and soothed him. He couldn’t help but arch into the hollow of the omega’s neck again. He was momentarily immersed in the gentleness, unable to think let alone control his glands. Thus, two snow-white, fluffy, and pitifully drooping ears popped out of his black hair.

The sensitive lion’s ears were touched by ice-cold fingertips, and they hurriedly flicked and disappeared.

Bai Chunian raised his head, the corner of his eyes were red, and he softly whispered with a bit of embarrassment, “You didn’t see anything.” 

Rimbaud’s serious and indifferent face suddenly couldn’t hold back. He giggled and rubbed Bai Chunian’s hair. “Nalaei mo. (Little cutie/little devil)”

Bai Chunian sat up, his back facing the merman as he sat in the mess and pulled at his hair in confusion. “Tsk.”

The files had been scattered on the floor when they were fighting. Bai Chunian noticed the invoice that drifted beside his hand, picked it up, and glanced at it.

“…A photocopy…?” 

Confused, Bai Chunian picked up the certificate from the ground and looked at it. It was also a photocopy.

A golden freebird medal fell out of the folder and Rimbaud’s name was engraved under the medal.

Like the Alliance Medical Association’s red cross and feathers and the Alliance Anti-Explosives Squad’s crossed submachine guns, a golden freebird was the symbol of the Alliance Secret Service.

Bai Chunian picked up the medal, his eyes wide open. “What does this mean?” 

“I’m too lazy to explain.” Rimbaud climbed back into the fish tank and lazily sank down to catch up on his sleep. He didn’t sleep well at all last night. The little lion was too noisy—curling up beside him, shivering and talking in his sleep. Rimbaud had to coax him on his side and use pheromones to appease him. It wasn’t until the middle of the night that the alpha’s high temperature became too unbearable that he had to climb into the fish tank to cool down. Then he hung on the balcony’s clothesline to cool off and slept.

Bai Chunian lied beside the fish tank, reaching in to fish him out. “I was worried you’d be unhappy so I came back especially for you. Don’t sleep, I haven’t seen enough of you yet.”

Rimbaud released two blue jellyfish perfunctorily.

Bai Chunian lay down beside the fish tank for a while, then got up in a fit of anger and went to the kitchen to cook. In order to punish the merman, he made a table of vegetable dishes. Not even a piece of meat was included. 

When he brought out the dishes, Rimbaud looked at him while lying on the edge of the fish tank with his chin resting in his hand, his tail leisurely swaying outside the water.

Bai Chunian: “Come out ah. Or are you waiting for me to feed you?”

Rimbaud twirled the wet hair on the nape of his neck. “You’ve grown now. You ought to feed me.”

“I—” Bai Chunian sighed deeply. He picked up the bowl of rice and scooped some vegetables, then sat next to the fish tank. He lifted the chopsticks and stuffed it into the mouth of the lazy merman who didn’t do any of the work. 

“The passenger pigeon’s child is his and his husband’s. They have nothing to do with me.” Bai Chunian muttered.

“I only… went to make sure.” Rimbaud lazily answered.

“You don’t mind at all?” Bai Chunian asked with disappointment.

“I mind.” Rimbaud said, “I bestowed him with looks, health, and talent. He didn’t have…your smell…so…I didn’t give…talent.” 

“What’re you talking about?” Bai Chunian was still depressed, picked up some rice and stuffed it into Rimbaud’s mouth. “Forget it.”

After coaxing Rimbaud to sleep, Bai Chunian made an excuse to go back to the Alliance building, knocked on the door of the president’s office, and asked what was the situation with Rimbaud’s medal.

Yan Yi sat on the swivel chair, his back facing the office desk, then he turned around and removed his massaging eye mask. “You ran back from the island just to ask this.”

Bai Chunian looked away uncomfortably. “You know just how important he is to me.” 

Yan Yi still told him the whole story.

On the day he handed over the original copy of the invoices and certificate to Rimbaud, Rimbaud returned the documents intact and was willing to join the Alliance on behalf of the merfolk community in the Caribbean Sea region. This stack of documents was counted as his sincerity.

After days of voting at executive meetings, the Alliance approved his application. After awarding him with the golden Freebird medal, Yan Yi bowed to him.

Bai Chunian couldn’t believe it, putting his hands on the desk. “He isn’t leaving anymore?” 

“At least he’s willing to join an organization for someone.” Yan Yi didn’t draw a conclusion for Rimbaud either, “Well, not entirely. In the future, when we enter the Caribbean Sea region, we’ll have a strong community of merfolks convoy. At the same time, when they’re attacked, we must also send assistance without reservation. This is a mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.”

“What right does he have to represent the community…” Bai Chunian was stunned, “Is he really a king?”

Yan Yi: “He proved his leadership status to the executives, but it involved confidential info from the meetings, so I can’t tell you how he proved it. You should understand ba.”

It had always been a rule of the Alliance meeting that the confidential information of the meeting wasn’t allowed to be shared except with those who participated in the meeting that day, so Bai Chunian could no longer inquire further. 

In fact, this was already enough.

Bai Chunian couldn’t describe his current mood, whether it was joy, relief, or both.

“You came at the right time.” Yan Yi picked up the folder next to his hand and handed it over to him. “There was a biochemical attack in Enxi City last night. There were severe casualties and the mayor asked for ours and the military’s help. The PBB military already dispatched an advance force to investigate the situation. However, there aren’t enough special agents staying in the Alliance right now. You go pick a few capable special trainees from the training base and escort the Medical Association members to go rescue along with the Anti-Explosives Squad.”

Bai Chunian casually flipped through the documents, “Any leads?” 

Yan Yi shook his head. “At present, the investigation report sent by the PBB unit only stated that the source of the attack was a special operations experimental subject numbered 408.”

408—according to the coding rules of experimental subjects found in the triangular pyramid cabin, 4 represented virus-type glands, 0 represented lack of mimicry, and 8 represented one of his base abilities: plague.

“Need me to go?”

“Not at the moment. PBB has already sent the Storm Forces to go. You would be under suspicion of stealing credit if I send you now. We should first avoid suspicion.” 

“Ugh, how complicated.” Bai Chunian thought it over, “There really are some good trainees recently. I’ll notify them when I go back. The reward must be agreed upon first. When they come back, they’ll be full-time members and will enter my search division.”

Yan Yi smiled. “Looks like they’re all strong children.”

“If there’s nothing else, then I’ll leave first.” Bai Chunian put away the documents, “I’ll go to school to visit your son. I heard from Passenger Pigeon that he was bullied recently.”

Yan Yi frowned, “He should learn how to solve things by himself when he encounters trouble.” 

Bai Chunian walked to the door and waved. “It’s a generation gap, a generation gap.”

He purposely didn’t drive a car and took the subway to Ampheia Military Academy. Today was the second day of the advancement exam. When he arrived, the testing for the combat subject had just finished. The examinees came out of the exam room in groups of threes or fours all battered up.

Because he looked very young, he took advantage of the students coming in and out of the school gate in twos and threes and mixed in among them, with no one noticing him. However, he attracted the attention of many omegas. They gathered together and whispered, “Which class is that A from? Does he have a partner yet? Does he not usually go to class? He’s so handsome yet how come no one knows him?”

He strolled into Lu Yan’s exam room. Lu Yan was arguing with an alpha at the door, surrounded by students watching the excitement. 

Bai Chunian squeezed in and first saw the results of the combat exam on the electronic screen of the exam room. Lu Yan’s name was suprisingly written in first place, with a score of 329, which led to a gap of more than 100 points with second place. The scores below second place were a bit closer together.

One should know that the full score of this exam was only 330.  The number of consecutive wins, the number of seconds to win, and the combatting skills each account for 110 points. Lu Yan got deducted one point for the number of seconds to win because it took him 11 seconds to KO the opponent in one of the rounds. When Bai Chunian asked about Bi Lanxing’s score at the training base previously, Bi Lanxing said that his highest score was 248.

A harsh sarcastic remark interrupted Bai Chunian’s train of thought. The alpha who was arguing with Lu Yan said contemptuously, “Acting all smug just because you got first place. Did you pass yesterday’s sniper exam though?”

There was no way Lu Yan could bear it, “With which eyes do you see me being smug? I admit that I’m not good at sniping. And? Did you get first place in the sniping exam? Won’t you also be complacent if you got first place?” 

Bai Chunian could also tell this alpha wasn’t trying to persuade Lu Yan but just wanted to piss him off. He didn’t think twice before poking at Lu Yan’s sore spot, “Just look at you, there’s not a single injury on your body throughout the whole exam. Everyone knows that your father isn’t someone to be trifled with, so they won’t hit you at all. With this score you got and how fake it is, who knows just how many gifts the proctor received from your dad.”

Lu Yan’s eyes were red with anger, and just as he was about to retort, an alpha’s inverted triangular back blocked his view. Bai Chunian stuffed his hands in his pockets, slightly bowed as if provoking him, and said to that alpha, “His father is famed and well-respected. Who’re you? Who knows you? Who knows your father? Your own life isn’t good, so why don’t you hurry up and jump off the roof so you can get reincarnated again.”

“Shit, another suck-up of Lu Yan.” The alpha sneered.

Bai Chunian: “Wow, it can’t be that you want to suck up to him but he doesn’t let you?” 

“Fuck, you…”

Bai Chunian: “You guys even fight over a crappy little exam. At your guys’ level, it should be considered a pass if you don’t get injured, you know. Do you think it’s normal to be battered up after a combat exam? Isn’t that too trashy? I’m not just targeting you either. I think everyone here is trash.”

The alpha trembled with anger and a piece of paper fell out of his pocket.

Bai Chunian picked it up and looked at it. It was the alpha’s admission ticket with his name, age, and star rating of the most recent ATWL exam written on it. 

“23 years old, oh an upperclassman. You repeated for two years but turned around and ridiculed others for skipping a grade. That doesn’t seem right.” Bai Chunian was surprised, “You failed the ATWL exam ah. No way no way, it can’t be that you can’t even pass such a simple exam, right?”

The alpha took back the admission ticket and pointed at Bai Chunian’s nose in exasperation: “How many stars did you get if you’re so awesome?”

Bai Chunian smiled, revealing his canine, “Apologies, I have 10 stars. Moreover, I don’t have a father.”

He took out a card from his pocket, threw it on the ground, then picked it up: “Hey, what’s this? Oh, it’s my ID.” 

Bai Chunian shook his ID in front of the alpha’s eyes: “Oh my god, why is it like this? I’m actually 19 years old!”