An Jin calmed the angry mermaids, gathering all of them in a circle in the water and leaning close. He asked Rui Rui, “Do you remember exactly what happened then?”
Rui Rui wrapped his arms around Ling Ling’s waist, the red blood in his eyes still not dissipated, and he wrinkled his brow as he recalled, “I wanted Ling Ling to see me looking handsome, so I let my two-legged beast take me to take care of my hair. After my two-legged beast left,” Rui Rui’s tone rose angrily, “the two-legged beast who took care of my hair, took advantage of my inattention and zapped me.”
He said this and tilted his head, exposed his neck, pointed to the side of it, and then rested his chin on Ling Ling’s shoulder.
“I got hot, extra hot, like I was in heat, and then a two-legged animal pushed a mermaid in and they put me and the mermaid in the pool.” He hummed softly. “The mermaid was fascinated by me as soon as he saw me, pestering me to mate with him. I only had Ling Ling in my heart, so of course I wouldn’t take care of him; he was too annoying, and I beat him up. The two-legged beast was scared and wailed and got the mermaid away. I wanted to teach the two-legged beast a lesson, but my head was confused and they zapped me again. My head was especially confused and hurt, I just wanted to see Ling Ling. I yelled at my two-legged beast to take me to Ling Ling, and the stupid two-legged beast didn’t understand me and took me to the hospital, and I got stabbed again and woke up and didn’t remember until just now.”
He looked at An Jin. “You’re great!”
An Jin understood through his words how those people did it.
There were single rooms as well as double rooms in the nursing rooms, and because mermaids were very sensitive to sight, the mermaid center and mermaid hospital only have surveillance in the walkways, not in the rooms.
This also gave the bad guys a chance to strike.
However…Rui Rui was an intermediate upper mermaid, and his breeder status must not be low, so his care room should be a single room. He asked what Rui Rui’s room looked like and verified his suspicions.
If this was so, and they were sending the mermaid to a single room that already had a mermaid, such behavior was very unreasonable and could easily attract attention. But the fact that no one noticed that something was wrong, meant that the security department, too, had bad people.
An Jin’s face became more serious. Obviously, many people were tempted by the huge profit that mermaids represented.
He pondered for a moment and looked at the mermaids who were even more furious at hearing the details. “This has definitely happened more than once, and we need to find a way to stop it from happening again.”
All the mermaids looked at him with bright eyes, and Ling Ling asked, “An An, how are we going to do that?”
“First, we have to remind ourselves of this every day and not forget about it, then we have to collect evidence and catch all those bad guys; they deserve to be punished.”
He originally planned to buy a batch of monitors to install on mermaid hairpieces and lend them out to collect evidence. But on second thought, certain areas might have surveillance detection. In the case they were detected, it would lead to big trouble.
And with one person being responsible for so many monitors, it would be easy to make mistakes. In the process of investigation, it was likely that this kind of thing would still occur when there were only mermaid’s monitors, which could not stop things from happening.
He looked at the mermaids who were looking at him with bright eyes. They were simple and obedient, and he suddenly had a sense of responsibility. He was currently the only mermaid who could understand interstellar and mermaid language, and the mermaids were very close to him, and he should do something about them.
He was human by nature, but now, he was also a mermaid.
He looked around and said, “You guys play for a while. I’ll go to the tree house and make some arrangements, and I’ll talk to you later.”
He went up to the treehouse via the teleportation belt and sat down in the corner against the wall, his tail flattened. He sensed to make sure the place wouldn’t be seen by anyone and there was no surveillance nearby, opened the terminal, and contacted Norman.
He first sent a message to Norman: [Are you free now? I want to communicate with you.]
Norman received the message, and his expression unconsciously softened, but at the same time could not help but worry.
The little mermaid should be playing in the entertainment area now, why would he contact him suddenly? It was a good thing that the content of the message sent by the little mermaid did not seem to be urgent.
He looked to the reporting Captain Joseph. “Continue to monitor the caretaker, and take care not to arouse suspicion.”
“Yes.” Seeing that His Majesty had already been distracted, Joseph wisely withdrew.
But his heart was very curious, who sent a message to His Majesty, His Majesty’s expression was actually so soft! He deeply suspected that His Majesty was in love.
But, His Majesty liked the little mermaid right? Joseph was confused and couldn’t understand.
Joseph left, and the door automatically closed. Even if no one would suddenly push the door open, Norman still cautiously opened the terminal, locking the door.
Then, he dialed the little mermaid’s communication.
An Jin picked up almost immediately and said in a special whisper, “Norman, is there anyone with you?”
“No.” Norman subconsciously lowered his voice as well. “Are you not comfortable talking?”
“No,” An Jin resumed his normal way of speaking, only his voice was a little lower than usual, “I have something very important to tell you.”
In a soft voice, An Jin, extra serious at this point, told Norman about Rui Rui’s experience.
After that, he followed up with his own speculation, “The nursing department, the hospital, and the security department in charge of surveillance, all must have bad guys, and there is probably a complete mermaid trading chain behind the scenes, involving a lot of people.” He put on a small face. “I want to gather evidence and find all the participants, all of them! They will be punished, right?”
Listening to the little mermaid’s analysis, Norman realized deeply that the little mermaid had indeed matured mentally.
“They broke the Siao law, of course they will be punished. Don’t worry, my people are already investigating this matter and will soon have the results.”
An Jin was reassured that he believed Norman’s words. He said, “I also want to help. They have not revealed the horse so far, and must be very cautious, interlocking. Your investigation may not be very easy, and the longer it takes, the more harmed mermaids there may be.”
Norman was surprised. “How do you want to help?”
An Jin said, “Those people are under the care of the nursing department. Some mermaid breeders send the mermaids to the care room and leave, giving them the opportunity to do so. Similarly, it’s likely that there’s something similar on the hospital side, perhaps in the inpatient unit or the physical therapy room and so on, because there’s no surveillance in the room, giving them an opportunity to take advantage of it.” He asked, “Do your people have a way to quietly install monitors in the mermaid center and in the various rooms of the mermaid hospital?”
“Yes,” Norman said, “but the mermaids are very sensitive to listening to the surveillance equipment. If they find out, they will destroy it, but if they can’t destroy it, they will keep making trouble and will draw attention to it.”
An Jin said, “It’s okay, I will tell them to put up with it for a while, and even if they are being watched, they will pretend not to know.”
Norman was surprised. “Are you sure they won’t reveal themselves?”
An Jin thought about it. “They can do it, but I’m not sure if they will forget. In case anyone forgets and finds something wrong in the surveillance, arrange for someone to take care of it immediately, is that okay?”
“Yes.”
An Jin said, “Me and the mermaids will help too.”
Norman listened to the serious tone of the young mermaid’s voice and a smile flashed in his eyes. “How can you help?”
“Try to make all the mermaids behave as usual.”
“That’s very important, An An is great.”
His voice was low and magnetic, and he spoke with a smile. An Jin felt inexplicably itchy in his ears and a little embarrassed, so he whispered goodbye and hung up the communication.
Norman looked at the disconnected communication, the corners of his mouth curved slightly, and contacted Joseph. “Come to the study with Iroh.”
As the young mermaid said, the mermaid mating case involved many people. He was not sure whether the military department was also involved, so he decided to let the royal escort investigate the matter.
Joseph and Iroh soon came to the study. Norman instructed the two to secretly install surveillance at night and said seriously, “Once installed, make sure to keep an eye on the surveillance at all times to ensure that the mermaids are safe.”
Joseph hesitated for a moment. “Mermaid sense will make a scene.”
“Do not worry,” said Norman, “check yesterday when the head of the five armies sent his mermaid to the mermaid center: who were the nursing staff who received him, the people in the monitoring room at that time, and which was the last mermaid to be examined by the doctor. Find out, all closely tracked.”
Joseph was a little surprised; His Majesty’s intelligence was so fast.
But on second thought, thought that since the mermaid involved belonged to the head of the five armies, His Majesty would know that these people and the case were involved.
Norman said in a deep voice, “This matter is very extensive; there must be quite a few buyers for the private purchases of mermaids, and finding their identities will not be simple. Before the collection of evidence, do not reveal the wind.”
“Yes.”
—
An Jin closed the terminal and left the tree house. He was going to dive, however, after looking at the height, he went down from the conveyor belt. He gathered the mermaids again and told them there would be surveillance in the nursing room and all over the hospital after tomorrow and told them to bear with him. “If we gather evidence, we can catch the bad guys,” he said in a hushed voice, “and maybe rescue some of the mermaids who are being kept in secret.”
He said warmly, “Even if you are uncomfortable, you must bear with it, and pretend you don’t know anything, as usual. You don’t have to worry about safety; no two-legged beast will hurt you. If someone does to you what they did to Rui Rui, I will also know soon and will be there to help you.”
“Okay!” The mermaids answered in unison.
An Jin thought for a moment and added, “We are the only ones who know about this for now, so when you see the rest of the mermaids, make sure you remind them.”
“Okay.” The mermaids nodded hastily, and many of them whispered his words over and over again.
Ling Ling asked, “Is An An not coming tomorrow?”
“I’m going over to the hospital. I’m going to remind them that when mermaids go into the hospital and feel the monitoring, they don’t show it.”
Ling Ling said, “An An don’t worry, this side we will definitely pass on the message properly.”
An Jin was worried that they were angry in their hearts and would do something to hurt humans. “When you see two-legged beasts, act as usual; they are very smart, so you can’t let them find out that something is wrong.”
“Stupid two-legged beasts, where’s the intelligence?” Rui Rui bared his teeth.
Ling Ling’s face was clear and cold as he raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head. His head plunged forward.
Ling Ling shouted, “Idiot, if it weren’t for An An, you wouldn’t remember anything now! If a two-legged beast is stupid, aren’t you even stupider?”
Rui Rui rubbed his head against his neck, his handsome face aggrieved. “Ling Ling is so mean. I was bullied by the two-legged beast, and you hit me.”
Ling Ling tilted his head, grunted, and after a while, raised his hand and rubbed his orange-red hair.
The two mermaids were sweet and clingy, and the rest of the mermaids took it for granted and whispered about it.
“Cunning two-legged beast, usually so stupid, so it is to deceive us, so that we let down our guard against us!”
“Damn it, can’t we find mates ourselves? How dare you give us a forced pairing!”
“Two-legged beasts are so foolish! They themselves like to mate with strange two-legged beasts, so they think we like it too, ignorant and hateful.”
“……”
An Jin listened to the various discussions and felt deeply that mermaids had a very big misunderstanding of human perceptions.
One mermaid said, “An An, I’m afraid I’ll forget what to do.”
An Jin looked over. It was a purple Tek mermaid, his hair, eyes, tail, all three parts of his color were purple parti-colored, and all different.
An Jin remembered the classification of mermaids in this world and asked, “Can you remember things for a few days?”
The purple mermaid wrinkled her nose and thought back to the farthest thing she could remember from today. “Four days, but sometimes I forget when I do something else, and I forget in less than four days.”
“Me too!” There were several echoes.
An Jin thought about it, and suddenly remembered Little Silver and had a good idea. He raised his hand and nodded at the side of his white neck. “You guys can use your fingertips to nod here and think back to the time when Rui Rui was stabbed, and keep reminding, so you won’t forget.”
First, in order to remember the revenge of his broken hand, Little Silver looked at the wrist every day and remembered the revenge for half a year!
An Jin’s eyes curled. “This is my friend’s solution.” He couldn’t help but ask, “His name is Little Silver, you may know him?”
“I do,” Ling Ling said, wrinkling his brow in thought. If An Jin hadn’t mentioned it, he might have forgotten, but mentioning it, and thinking back, he remembered.
Rui Rui and Gu Gu also said they knew each other, as well as an intermediate upper mermaid.
When An Jin asked, it turned out that Little Silver had been here five days ago, and they were all there that day.
A man in the glass house looked at the mermaids in a circle. “Why do they feel like they’re meeting?”
“It’s kind of like that, but I think it’s admiring the solid-colored mermaid. In a circle like this, each mermaid can see the face of the solid-colored mermaid.”
“…seems to make some sense.”
“Better than a mermaid meeting makes sense, right? Is it hard to believe that mermaids can still communicate?”
An Jin immediately sensed the human sight; the rest of the mermaid also felt it, and bared their teeth to the shore.
The people in the glass house hastily averted their eyes, sighing that mermaids were so sensitive to the sight.
An Jin finished his business and told the mermaids to go play. The mermaids all wanted to be next to him, and he was a little helpless, saying he had something to do. He climbed up to the tree house again and told the mermaids to call him when they had something to do.
He sat in the tree house, flattening his tail and took out his holographic helmet. He wanted to see his buddies, but also wanted to exercise his ability, so he took the holographic helmet with him.
The mermaids played on their own, glancing at the tree house from time to time, feeling reassured and happy that An Jin was very close by.
An Jin went into the holographic world and found a remote location to practice his ability. He was able to gather twelve water arrows at the same time, each of which was extremely powerful, and when he shot them out, the trees in front of him fell in a row.
In An Jin’s mind, the water arrows disappeared five meters in front of the formation of a powerful water tornado; grass and shrubs were swept into it, and the trees whose roots broke before their trunks were also pulled out by the suction, breaking the soil.
An Jin found that the water tornado caused a lot of noise. When the water tornado was about to exceed the height of the tree canopy, he withdrew the ability, and grass, tree branches, and debris fell to the ground, raising dust.
A tall, light wall of water steeply appeared in front of An Jin, blocking all the dust.
After the dust fell to the ground, An Jin withdrew the wall of water and looked at the empty land in front of him, his eyes shining.
The stronger the ability, the more secure he felt.
As long as he was strong enough, even if he was a pure color mermaid, coveted by many bad people, he was not afraid, but also dared to boldly go out on the street alone.
A lot of caution and prudence were derived from not being strong enough.
In the face of great strength, a lot of worries were not enough to fear! He practiced for about an hour, and because of the intense training, he only had one-fifth of his spiritual force left, so he did not continue and went offline.
Removing his helmet, he snapped to three pairs of bright eyes, and shrank back, startled. He blinked, saw the owners of the eyes, cried and laughed, and put away his helmet.
Ling Ling’s platinum eyes shone with curiosity. “An An, what were you doing?”
The red blood in Rui Rui’s eyes had receded, and red eyes swept over his body too. “Where did you hide your stuff?”
Gu Gu cupped his face, his green eyes streaming. “An An, you’re amazing!”
An Jin looked at the three curious baby mermaids, took out the helmet, and explained a bit about the holographic world. The three tried to wear it, only to hear the mechanical reminders, felt very bored, and were not interested.
An Jin showed his terminal space demonstration again, but also opened the terminal, and showed them a cartoon. He went back to the home page and set the screen mode to shared mode. “Do you guys remember how the cartoon was tuned out?”
Ling Ling raised his hand and pointed to the cartoon software. “Here.”
Rui Rui and Gu Gu spoke at the same time. “Yes, Ling Ling is right.”
An Jin thought to himself, the mermaid IQ is really fine, the biggest problem was poor memory.
Ling Ling gazed at An Jin. “An An, why do you know the two-legged beast toys?”
“…It’s not a toy.” An Jin briefly introduced the terminal, then explained, “I can understand what the two-legged beast says.”
Rui Rui asked, “Two-legged beasts can also talk like us?”
Gu Gu’s green eyes were full of amazement. “Gosh, An An, you are really too smart.”
An Jin couldn’t help but be curious as he called out “Rui Rui” in interstellar, and then asked in mermaid, “What makes you think a two-legged beast can’t talk? He should call your name every day, right?”
Rui Rui shook his head. “No such shout.”
An Jin was surprised and after thinking about it, he said in interstellar, “I am your master.” He switched to mermaid and asked, “What about this one?”
The three articles nodded in unison and Ling Ling said, “That’s what they say every day when they pay tribute.”
Rui Rui asked, “Aren’t these the words to pay tribute to food to please us?”
Gu Gu nodded, agreeing with Rui Rui, then looked at An Jin suspiciously. “What does that mean?”
“…” An Jin thought if he were to translate the words, the three mermaid feeders may have a bloodbath tonight.
He did not translate, but asked, “Before this sentence, it should address you.”
“Addressing?” Gu Gu’s big green eyes blinked “Not calling us master?”
“No, you will learn it, they say it differently.” An Jin said.
Ling Ling opened his mouth, his voice was ethereal and cold, very nice, but the words came out very awkwardly. “Bag Gold.”
An Jin’s eyes lit up, mermaids were able to speak interstellar language, although Ling Ling said it not very clearly, but it was indeed the pronunciation of interstellar language.
Rui Rui recalled for a moment before he said in a very raw tone, “Bag Roar.”
Gu Gu said, “Wittle…Bean.”
All three finished, all together surprised. “Huh, two-legged beasts address us differently!”
An Jin was curious. “You usually have not learned two-legged beast’s speak?”
“Of course we don’t learn two-legged beasts! Not to mention that the speech is all awwww, so stupid,” replied Rui Rui.
Ling Ling nodded. “I also only remember the phrase that two-legged beasts repeat every day.”
Although Ling Ling said he couldn’t remember any other words, An Jin was sure that the mermaids could speak interstellar.
Come to think of it, his and the mermaid’s body structure was, by and large, the same, and it was normal for him to be able to speak it and for the rest of them to speak it.
In the afternoon, the masters picked up their mermaids and took them home. An Jin was carried across the room by Norman and said goodbye to his little friends, and he tugged on Norman’s sleeve.
Norman looked down at the little mermaid. “What’s wrong?”
An Jin blinked, worried about being overheard, and leaned close to Norman, saying in a breathy voice, “Slow down.”
He said it very quietly, his voice soft and slightly slurred, and the faint airflow spilled over Norman’s shoulder, and his body tensed slightly for a moment. He held the little mermaid and slowly turned around.
An Jin tilted his head and looked at the little ones’ keepers, straining his ears to hear the keepers speak.
After hearing clearly, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
It turned out that Ling Ling’s “Bag Gold” was Big Gold, Rui Rui’s “Bag Roar” was Big Red, and Gu Gu’s “Wittle Bean” was Little Green.
Siao people gave their mermaid names too casually!
He wondered what the reaction of the mermaids would be if they knew the meaning of the names given to them by humans. He couldn’t help but think of Little Silver, whose name coincided with the human’s name!
Back in the hover car, An Jin floated on the surface of the mermaid car, fingers on the edge of the container, and curiously asked Norman, “Why did you name me An An?”
Norman’s expression froze for a moment and he couldn’t help but regret that if he had known he would be attracted to the little mermaid, he would have looked up the Siao dictionary and given the little mermaid a serious name.
Looking at the little mermaid’s pure and clear blue eyes, he didn’t hide. “It was Hornád who picked it; he said you are very quiet and your name An An is affectionate.”
An Jin thought, how coincidental, and his eyes curled. “I like that little name.”
His clear blue eyes were half-curved, as if they were filled with starlight, bright and beautiful, and Norman couldn’t help but raise his hand and rub his hair. “That’s good if you like it.”
Speaking of names, An Jin talked about his little friends Rui Rui and Ling Ling again, a little angrily. “They went too far, Rui Rui was almost forced to do something wrong to Ling Ling, but luckily Rui Rui held back.” The more he said, the angrier he got. “They actually gave Rui Rui an injection that affected his memory, and when Rui Rui forgot Ling Ling, although Ling Ling didn’t say anything, it was obvious that he was very sad.”
Although Norman knew that mermaids could communicate with each other, it was the first time he had heard that mermaids also had mates, and he couldn’t help but feel a little novel.
After meeting the little mermaid, his spiritual sea near riots filled up with health, his spiritual level rebounded, and the little mermaid was like a beam of light shining into his dismal future. Not only that, the little mermaid also let him reacquaint himself with the mermaid, as if taking him into a new world.
Norman’s eyes moved slightly, his eyes swept over the little mermaid’s slightly puffy face. “Do you know what mate means?”
“Of course,” An Jin replied subconsciously.
He and Norman looked at each other, and he suddenly realized the meaning of Norman’s question. The corners of his mouth curved lightly. “You do not believe that I have matured mentally!” He grunted softly. “Liar.”
Norman’s eyes flashed with laughter and he rubbed the little mermaid’s soft hair.
An Jin’s eyes blinked rapidly, his long eyelashes like butterflies spreading their wings, and he sank back into the water, his head below the tank wall.
Norman’s smile deepened and he bent down to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry, I made a mistake because you hadn’t learned interstellar very soon, and you were so innocent, I thought you were very young at heart.”
“And now?” An Jin’s head tilted, inquiring.
“An An has really become an adult.”
An Jin was satisfied and smiled. “In a few days, I’ll get my adult ID card!”
He thought for a moment. “Can you ask Mu Chen and Little Silver for me if they are available? I’m looking for Little Silver.”
Norman contacted Mu Chen. “About meeting tonight?”
An Jin nodded. “Live streaming later today.”
After making sure Norman and Mu Chen had a date, An Jin went online and bought a mobility scooter and a miniature walkie-talkie.
The author has something to say: Thank you for your support (*  ̄3)(ε ̄ *) Yesterday that chapter was a bit buggy, in order to save the cuties time so as not to rewatch, here it is, bug: when investigating why red mermaid is difficult, when mentioning mermaid, should be called Big Red _(:з”∠)_ people and mermaid have language differences, mermaid’s name, people should not know (*^▽^*)