The mermaid cub held in the arms of the youth was very close and dependent on the latter. Even though the youth had taken him out of the pool, the little mermaid with the ice-blue tail no longer panicked from the fear of leaving the water . Instead, his tail seemed to lightly sway in joy as he nestled in the youth's embrace.
「Papa~」
「Papa—」
When with the youth, the mermaid cub really liked to utter these two syllables, probably in order to attract the attention of the parent.
And the youth holding this little mermaid responded patiently every time. After answering, he would also lift his hand and touch the little mermaid's soft blond hair, or lightly touch the ice-blue scales on the small tail.
When the mermaid cub slapped his tail on him, the youth would often even take the initiative to move his hand over and let the little mermaid's tail gently slap the palm of his hand.
This mermaid cub was so, so… cherished and doted on.
"Ting-ting-ting."
A tinkling sound. When the small and beautiful spar fell to the ground, a gentle sound was issued as it hit the floor.
The round spar bounced a few times due to the force when it fell to the ground, and finally rolled to a stop in the open space around him.
Although there was no expression on his face, the transparent tears that appeared on the adult mermaid's cold face were nevertheless real. This sudden scene dumbfounded nearly everyone in the hall.
They couldn't believe it.
This scene was too shocking for those who knew how callous the mermaid was when dealing with the enemy… even his allies were treated with the same indifference. Some of the soldiers present were now stunned, their mouth foolishly agape.
What kind of situation was this?— Confronted with this situation which was abnormal to a certain extent, the young man who had previously been accused of being noisy now completely restrained his carefree attitude and became vigilant.
Perhaps he had underestimated the intruder because the person had already been captured; moreover, once he learned it was a human, he had not taken him too seriously. Now it seemed the intruder had enough weight on him to make them treat him with caution.
But as the young man prepared to personally detain the intruder, he heard the mermaid, not far away, say something he did not expect.
"Release him."
Azure eyes fixedly reflected the person in front of him. This exceptionally good-looking adult mermaid said this in a cold voice to the two soldiers who were restraining the youth.
"This…" Facing this sudden shift in situation, the two low-ranked soldiers hesitated and did not immediately carry out the order.
The second the two of them hesitated, the crackling sound of ice burst forth in the silent atmosphere. The two soldiers were completely frozen by colorless and transparent ice crystals from their wrists to their elbows. The extremely low temperature caused their bodies to freeze in place and they instantly lost consciousness. As a result, they passively released the arms of the youth in front of them.
On this ark battleship, apart from the nox still sitting in the master seat, the mermaid, who behaved abnormally in the hall at this moment, was the second in command.
Therefore, even if the other behaved abnormally, as long as Ya Yi in the master seat did not speak, no one else dared to question it at this time.
To use a mental ability to read memories, although it was not an offensive ability, it would still somewhat affect the person who passively endured the mental ability's probing.
He sensed his release, but Xie Luan was currently still a bit dizzy.
This wave of dizziness made the scene in Xie Luan's field of view a bit dim, making him really want to just close his eyes and rest.
However, Xie Luan could still see the mermaid who was standing in front of him and gazing at him with those azure eyes. There were little wet traces at the corners of the mermaid's eyes that hadn't yet completely dried, Xie Luan couldn�����t help but recall the mermaid cub in his arms at that time and the scene of golden beads falling.
The little mermaid had heard Zarard's words and thought he would not want him. At that time, he truly spoke for the first time, shouting 'Papa' and his falling tears pitted-pattering as he cried for him.
There had been two wet traces left on the delicate little face of the mermaid cub. The azure eyes had become moist, and the eyes were also slightly red, looking especially pitiful and adorable.
When the cub cried, you had to coax him, and when the cub grew up and golden beads fell… Then you still had to coax him.
He tried hard to blink, and before his field of view went completely dark, Xie Luan raised his right hand and placed it on the nearby mermaid who only looked at him but did not call out to him.
He could feel the warmth coming from the youth's palms. The indifferent mermaid slightly froze once again. He could not move, he could not resist the youth's touch.
It turned out that having his hair stroked by the youth was like this… In the memory he read, he saw the scene of the youth stroking the short light golden hair of the little mermaid. Now that he had experienced it himself, he finally knew what kind of feeling it was.
It was a feeling as warm as the heat transmitted through his palms. A warmth that you couldn't bear to part with.
The mermaid, who had grown up, also had soft blond hair. After Xie Luan stroked it twice, he moved his hand down to the mermaid's ear fin at the side.
In the humanoid form, the fins on both sides of the cheeks near the ears were the characteristics of the mermaid race. It was also a place that only people close to them could touch.
The beautiful ice-blue ear fin quivered slightly when Xie Luan touched it with his fingertips.
As his field of view became darker and darker, Xie Luan had to squint his eyes slightly.
Normally, you couldn't see any expression on the delicate face of the mermaid cub. But from the little mermaid's lightly swaying tail and the cub's eyes when gazing at him, Xie Luan could at once tell if the cub was happy.
In the same way, Xie Luan's ability also applied to the now grown-up mermaid in front of him.
He should be a little happy, right?
The moment he finally relaxed a bit, Xie Luan's field of view completely plunged into darkness.
After Xie Luan regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a soft bed.
This was not the treatment of an intruder.
He was not locked in one of the ark battleship's many phase cells. Xie Luan sat up from the bed and knocked his knuckles against his forehead. He wanted to make himself more clear-headed.
Xie Luan was no longer someone who knew nothing about abilities. Recalling what happened before he fell unconscious, he could more or less guess that Gale had most likely read his memories using a mental ability.
A series of things happened too abruptly, Xie Luan had too many things he needed to ponder over, so many he didn't even know from where to start.
Xie Luan was now certain that he had been transported to another world line because he had touched the saen race's large clock, and this parallel world line was set in the future decades later.
According to what Xia Zuo had said, this was one of the futures doomed to lead to destruction… He didn't know what the specific path for the future of this world line was like now. Before losing consciousness, Xie Luan saw what could be considered a large-scale army crops on the ship, this ark battleship seemed to have become a real fortress of war.
"Beep."
The sound of successful verification to the room's door. The clear beep fell, then, a second later, Xie Luan saw the door being pushed open.
The one who came in was a certain good-looking adult mermaid. The mermaid was carrying food in his hands and directly walked over to Xie Luan after entering the room.
From the time when he was still just a cub, the little mermaid had looked very delicate. As the parent, Xie Luan had naturally tried to imagine what this mermaid cub's appearance would be like after he grew up, and now he by chance was able to see it ahead of time.
He had not grown up awkward or unpleasing to the eye at all.
Not only had he not grown up awkward, he even looked better than when he was a cub. It was the kind of beauty that surpassed gender.
The food he carried over was placed on the bedside table. Xie Luan did not take it. He sat on the edge of the bed and patted next to him, motioning for the mermaid who brought him the food to sit down.
He did not speak, he did not make any sound. The cold expression on his face was like a fixed mask, but the mermaid with azure eyes did really sit down next to him as requested.
He still hadn't shared the memories he read with the others, he only told them that he would explain later. Gale had first arranged a comfortable living environment for the youth in front of him.
The memories read from the youth's mind ranged over the span of a year, prior to that only a blank could be seen.
At the very beginning of his memories, Gale saw the youth walk up to the gate of a dilapidated cub raising branch and take down the job flyer posted on the rusty iron gate.
This was the place where the youth's memories began, and, at the same time, it was also the place where everything in the two worlds began to differ.
In this world, there was no one who would intentionally work hard to clean up the small pool for him. Who, when he found out that the cub was afraid of leaving the water, would afterwards make sure he could immerse his whole body into the water. A man who would then even apologize in a soft voice because he felt he had not given him a good enough living environment.
But for a mermaid cub who had been living in a small wooden barrel until now, such a small pool was already equivalent to the sea.
There was no dissatisfaction.
This was a world line without him. He didn't know what the cubs in this world had experienced. In Xie Luan's heart, there was one point he had been hung up on from beginning to end.
"Why is there no mark here?" He had been concerned about this since earlier. Xie Luan raised his hand and touched the forehead of the mermaid next to him, at this place, there originally should have been a pale golden mark.
From the moment it appeared, the mark of the Houdie family would accompany each mermaid cub throughout their life, and would not disappear even as the cub grew up.
Why did he not have it…?
______________
SxQ: here's a bit more:
Translator's note:
*Revives*
\\\\٩(๑❛ワ❛๑)و ////
Gale's tears.
(o￣∇￣)=◯)`ν゜)･
K.O.
....
SxQ: So cute lol.