The Fallen Merman

Those Bai Chunian look-alike corpses fell from the container that was devoured by the Kraken, floating alone on the surface of the sea.

A group of killer whales circled that part of the sea, lining up in an orderly manner. They used their smooth foreheads to support the corpses below the ocean’s surface, slowly pushing them in front of Rimbaud. 

Rimbaud knelt down on the side of a reef at the bottom of the sea, and took the first corpse. He gently placed his hand over the corpse’s eyes and said with a low voice, “Blasyi kimo. (Bless you)”

A blue-light jellyfish drifted over the corpse, turned into light, and merged with the Bai Chunian look-alike as one. The corpse gradually turned into white sand and drifted down to the reef below, forming a piece of orange-red coral.

After the helicopter took away the real Bai Chunian, Rimbaud gave each of the homeless corpses a sea burial. The corpses would nurture the reef, and in turn the corals would become their tombstones.

After burying the last corpse, the bottom of the sea gained a gorgeous carpet of orange-red corals. Rimbaud laid down amongst them to rest, raising his hand to look at the memorandum carved on his forearm.

Rimbaud scratched away the sand from the first and second scars little by little, causing the wounds to rapidly regenerate, restoring the original smooth and unblemished appearance of his skin.

But he left the third one. He extended his sharp nails and made the carving of the word deeper.

Bai Chunian’s injuries were not severe, and the infection did not spread, but the headquarters still picked him up.

It was the first time he flew in the President’s private plane. The warm lighting in the bedroom felt comforting, and there was also a double bed in the room, covered with a soft silk quilt. 

With an anti-inflammatory infusion needle stuck into the back of his hand, he laid on the bed, feeling bored. His mouth was particularly bitter, so he checked the bedside drawer for some sweets.

There really was a small square box inside. Bai Chunian took a look at it and saw that it was a box set.

“……” Bai Chunian sat up against the bed and looked deeper into the drawer.

There was a full drawer set. 

“Ohhhhh.” Bai Chunian touched his chin with an understanding look on his face. He immediately shut the drawer and pretended that he had seen nothing.

A doctor in a white uniform came in, checked the remaining dose of the medicine in the infusion bag, and sat down to check on the condition of the healing wound.

Ugbofrrbg Itbcu kjr atf meggfca tfjv bo atf PYC Zfvlmji Crrbmljalbc. Lf tjv Z2-ifnfi ugffc lns uijcvr, qbrrfrrlcu atf A1 jylilas Gfabzlolmjalbc, jcv atf Z2 jylilas Lfjilcu. Llr rajaer lc atf Ciiljcmf kjr bcis yfibk Tjc Tl.

“Isn’t the President being too fussy inviting you here? I thought Han-ge would come to pick me up.” Bai Chunian propped himself against the head of the bed, rotated his completely healed left hand and raised his clenched fist to show Professor Zhong. “It’s alright, as long as the injury can heal, it shows that the inflammation has resolved. My body is more accurate than any device.” 

Itbcu Jjlylcu rja bc atf fvuf bo atf yfv, gbiifv eq Djl Jtecljc’r mibatfr jcv mtfmxfv tlr kbecv. Ktf kbecv kjr mbwqifafis tfjifv, ifjnlcu bcis j ojlca rmjg. Ktf vbmabg atfc mtfmxfv tlr fsfr jcv tjcvr, mtfmxfv tlr rqlcf jcv glyr ogbw abq ab ybaabw, jcv kjr gfilfnfv atja fnfgsatlcu kjr cbgwji.

“It’s still better if I come and check for myself, otherwise, you’ll hurt yourself by jumping around, and it will be even more difficult to treat.”

Bai Chunian rested his head lazily on his hand: “En. Rest assured, I’m not reckless.”

“You? Not reckless?” Zhong Caibing laughed. “I heard that both the treasures of President Bi and President Lu were stolen away to the special training base. No one except you is capable of that.” 

“Tsk! How can you call it stolen when it is the job of a secret agent?” Bai Chunian patted his thigh in defense, but suddenly paused, leaned over to Professor Zhong, and asked slowly, “I heard that you have a young alpha in your family, and their grade is not low as well. Are they interested in the special training base?”

“My Xia Naichuan just started junior high school,” Professor Zhong couldn’t help but laugh again. “His father watches him very closely, and the child is terribly tired.”

“You’re quite concerned,” Professor Zhong teased.

“I need to be concerned.” Bai Chunian quickly calculated, “There are no more than ten children that can be immediately picked and used by the special training base right now.” 

“So sometimes in the past I would be filled with rage when I trained them. Like, why are these kids so stupid? But after some time, I realized that the group of hard-working little suckers were actually kind of cute.”

“I think, things like um… me? What if one day I’m gone, I have to leave behind someone that can be used as the President’s subordinates.”

After he finished rambling, he suddenly fell silent, leaned on the head of the bed, and stared down at the infusion needle in the back of his hand in a daze.

“Eventually we will all disappear from the world.” 

Bai Chunian lowered his eyelashes, casting a shadow on his face under the light, “Just like a scrapped gun.”

Professor Zhong sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him. He could sense the depression that had been there since Bai Chunian was carried onto the plane.

During years of research on experimental subjects, Professor Zhong found that some subjects would have very delicate emotional changes. Their brains would reject simulated scenarios such as accusations, misunderstandings, and abandonment. They were completely different from robots that rely on computer programs to direct fixed behaviors and simulate expressions. They would be even more sensitive than humans when their brains went through sophisticated changes.

Lazily lumping all experimental subjects into one category and ignoring the humanity of some of them was too arbitrary. It’s very unscientific. 

“The President has already left for Westminster to attend the international conference, and he can’t leave there for the time being.” Professor Zhong stood up, “He instructed me to do something.”

He lightly placed his warm and slender hand on top of Bai Chunian’s hair, ruffled it, and said with a light smile, “He asked me to do this, and to also tell you that you are unique.”

Bai Chunian’s back froze, and he cleared his throat uncomfortably, “I see.”

Professor Zhong pulled out the needle for him, slowly walked out of the bedroom, and closed the door. Before leaving, he glanced inside through the entrance. He saw Bai Chunian had covered his head tightly with a quilt and wrapped himself up as tightly as a cocoon on the bed. 

When the private plane landed, the nurses in charge of taking care of Bai Chunian wanted to push him down on a stretcher, but Bai Chunian refused. He put on a coat and alighted from the plane on his own.

A Porsche was parked outside the airport, and Han Xingqian was sitting in the driver’s seat, reading the latest medical journal.

Bai Chunian opened the rear passenger car door and climbed in, “You’re here humming leisurely while making the Professor pick me up himself. You may not feel guilty about it but Laozi is.”

Han Xingqian shut the magazine, leaning his arm on the steering wheel, “President’s orders, I can’t say anything about it. It’s already kind of me to free up time to come pick you up. ” 

“Free up time?” Bai Chunian just noticed that there was someone sitting in the co-pilot seat. Taking a closer look, he saw that it was Xiao Xun sitting on the seat.

Bai Chunian got out of the car immediately, gave a middle finger to Han Xingqian through the glass, and mouthed, “You animal.”

Han Xingqian drove slowly beside him, lowered the window, and pushed up his glasses’ frame lightly, “Let’s go.”

In the cool evening, Bai Chunian held on to his jacket as he walked against the wind. He turned to ask him, “Why did you bring him out?” 

“To do some things adults should do.” Han Xingqian tapped the steering wheel lightly with his fingertip.

“Aiyo.” Bai Chunian felt like his ears were dirty when he heard it.

Xiao Xun explained hurriedly, “Han-ge took me to the Alliance Police Station to change my ID card. Having the identity of the Greyhound family is inconvenient, so…”

Han Xingqian raised his eyebrows and looked at him, “What else could it be?” 

Xiao Xun choked, his face turning red and then white.

“I’ll go back to the base on my own.” Bai Chunian waved his hand to let them go first, but before leaving, he leaned on the open window and instructed: “Don’t spoil the sniper I managed to get in. You bastard, you’re a no good person.”

Han Xingqian laughed, closed the window, and disappeared into traffic.

Bai Chunian wandered around the port. There was a night breeze, causing goose bumps to appear on his skin. He wrapped his coat tighter, crouched on the pier, and fished out the cheap lighter and cigarettes he just bought. His hands were cold and stiff. It took a few attempts before he managed to light the flames. Taking a smoke, he stared at the reflections of the lights hanging from a nearby moored ferry. 

He actually had accumulated millions of savings that were sitting around doing nothing. He owned a villa and had sports cars that were placed in a secluded place to accumulate dust, but he just liked to live in an apartment complex where two families were crowded onto one floor. He liked listening to the old man whistling while walking with his bird as he went downstairs from the other side of his door, and he liked going to the crowded wet market to pick what he wanted to eat on that day. Those trivial days that people complained about were all things he couldn’t see and yearned for while growing up in the observation box.

As the cigarette ashes fell into the water, Bai Chunian lowered his head, looking at his own reflection reflected in the water. He stared at the reflection of the snow-white fish bones on his ears. The black ore loomed dark blue in the darkness, moving rhythmically like it was breathing or pulsing.

He reached out his hand and drew a smiling face on the surface of the water. Drying his hand on his shirt, he stood up.

It’s already good. Be grateful. 

In the early morning, there were already people training at different venues in Greenfly City. When the sun was shining the brightest, students assembled at the shore, and everyone had packed their bags and was ready to go.

Today was the start of the end-of-year assessment. The live assessment would be broadcast simultaneously to the headquarters, so the seniors in each department could see each student’s performance.

Bai Chunian came back by ferry, just in time for the trainees’ departure. He changed into his Instructor’s uniform and got off the boat, casually draping his coat over his shoulders.

The other instructors were already there, each admonishing the students in their class. When they turned and saw that Bai Chunian was back, they looked at him with indescribably complicated expressions. 

“What are you looking at me for?” Bai Chunian was quite puzzled, “I’m back from my business trip.”

When the students saw Instructor Bai return, they did not dare to breathe, standing up straight and gazing at each other, speechless.

Bai Chunian looked at his watch. His throat was dry, so his voice was a bit husky, “What, you were hoping that I would die outside?”

He took out a pair of sunglasses and walked down the line of trainees with a hand in his pocket. As he passed he reached out to adjust Firefly’s hat and pull up Lu Yan’s collar. 

“All of your eyes are shining with a sneaky look. What’s the matter? Why are you guys so happy?”

“If you mess up this year’s assessment, think of what will happen to you, do you hear me?”

Clownfish stood as straight as a pencil and lifted his chin vigorously at Bai Chunian.

Bai Chunian, with his hand still in his pocket, walked towards him, “I say, what is your problem?” 

“Instructor, behind you, behind.” Clownfish said with a small voice. Bai Chunian frowned and squinted at him.

“There’s fucking nothing behind me.” Bai Chunian glanced over his shoulder and saw nothing out of the ordinary, so he leaned against a rock as tall as a human behind him and said, “Cheer up, no matter what happens, remember to remain calm, do you hear me? ”

“Yes!” The trainees replied loudly.

“Yes, Instructor.” 

A deep, magnetic voice answered softly close to his ear.

The blue tail of the merman was wrapped around the rock Bai Chunian was leaning against. Hanging upside down, he crawled down the rock until he was clinging beside Bai Chunian like a lizard.

Bai Chunian froze instantly.

Han Xingqian sat in front of an armored car and peeled sunflower seeds, “He came last night and made a search of every dormitory. It was a total mess.”