Norman returned to the palace from the military headquarters at noon and had lunch with An Jin before he left. After lunch, An Jin took a nap. He woke up after an hour’s sleep and swam twice in the garden pond with a gentle wag of his tail to wake up from his drowsy state.
He returned to the mermaid room, opened the terminal menu screen, and ordered snacks and pastries.
Around two o’clock, he received a message from Joseph that Ling Ling, Rui Rui, Gu Gu, and Bubbles had arrived at the palace.
Soon, the four mermaids were led to the mermaid room by the butler.
“An An!” The four mermaids, all in form, quickly ran to the pool and squatted in rows on the shore, looking at An Jin with shining eyes.
An Jin looked at their delicate and distinctive faces and sighed at the good mermaid genes. He floated on the shore, greeted them with a smile, and reminded them, “If you can’t hold on, come into the water.”
Gu Gu and Bubbles were unmated, and needed to maintain their shape by spending spiritual power all the time. He remembered clearly that before his spiritual power upgrade, at most, he could maintain legs for a little more than an hour, and at that time, his spiritual power was a little higher than Gu Gu’s.
Gu Gu blinked his green eyes, looking expectant and hesitant. “But An An is Aisa fish, so we staying together in the pool is not very good?”
Bubbles, hand on his belt, could not wait to take off the pants. While listening to Gu Gu, he paused and tilted his head. “Oh, right, the teacher said to keep a distance from the opposite sex and not be abrupt.”
An Jin had no words. The opposite sex?
Well, in terms of mermaid status, they were indeed of the opposite sex. He looked at the faces of Gu Gu and Bubble; they were handsome. Looking at their clear and pure eyes, they really had the mentality to keep a distance from girls at all times.
In his eyes, both Gu Gu and Bubbles were good friends of the same sex. He was worried and asked, “Can you keep your shape?”
Both of them shook their heads in unison and looked distressed.
Gu Gu looked at Rui Rui enviously. “I want to find a mate too.”
Bubbles shouted, “I want one too!”
An Jin reminded, “You can’t find a mate just for the sake of random deformation, you have to like them yourself.”
He swam to the corner with his back to them. “We first watered it, and the spiritual power consumption was too much, and we did not feel comfortable. We are friends, just getting along with each other as before.”
“An An, good!” Two voices came at the same time, quickly, and several times in quick succession into the water.
Gu Gu said, “An An, we’re good.”
An Jin turned his head, but saw four jump into the water, all wearing Rabe Star clothing, short-sleeved, medium-length, and with the upper body only revealing their arms.
An Jin’s heart was also relieved to face the mermaids wearing clothes; he was more comfortable. He swam back and Ling Ling floated in front of him, looking curiously at his abdomen.
Ling Ling reached halfway back. “Is there a baby?” He looked down at his belly. “It doesn’t look different.”
An Jin patiently explained, “There is a baby, but it’s still small, it will only be visible in a few months.”
His expression froze for a moment at the thought of his belly bulging out, but it quickly returned to normal. He was already prepared for it.
Ling Ling said enviously, “Oh, I want to have a baby too.”
Rui Rui wrapped his arms around him from behind and said firmly, “Let’s go for it!”
Gu Gu looked at An Jin’s belly next to Rui Rui. “An An’s baby will be super cute, and I’ve seen the little mermaid that was just born!”
Bubbles, next to Gu Gu, agreed. “Yeah, Yi Yi is so small at three months, and he must be even smaller at birth, so it’s definitely fun.”
An Jin looked at the four pairs of expectant eyes, some crying and laughing. He explained, “Not sure if the baby will be human or a baby mermaid yet.”
At that moment, his terminal lightly rang; the snacks and desserts were ready, and he had the chef deliver them to the mermaid room.
“Wow! It smells so good!” The three smelled the scent and scurried to the shore, lining up in a straight line to look at the door.
An Jin took Ling Ling to the shore. The chef put four identical meals in front of the mermaid customers, while An Jin had only a fruit platter and juice in front of him.
Ling Ling pointed to the grilled chicken wings. “Did An An give us all the goodies? This is for you.”
An Jin waved his hand and refused. “No, I don’t like to eat anything too greasy when I’m pregnant with my baby.”
The mermaids were puzzled, they didn’t want to say no to such delicious food!
Gu Gu swallowed a cookie. “It’s too good! If only the food in the cafeteria was this good.”
An Jin finished a piece of apple. “How many meals do you eat in the school cafeteria?”
The school was a school affiliated with the Mermaid Protection Association, the campus was in the original association, and the environment was perfect for fish. Mermaids were intelligent creatures that had a country, and the existence of the conservation association was not as meaningful as before. The association changed to a mermaid school and also asked the principal of the new shellfish school for advice.
Bubbles said, “Only breakfast and dinner are eaten at home.”
Gu Gu added, “If Viman is home, the same as Bubbles; if he is not home, I will all eat in the cafeteria.”
An Jin remembered Viman, the light interstellar superstar, Gu Gu’s original “master.”
Rui Rui gnawed on a chicken leg. “We have discussed with Garrett, later baked fish at home and brought to school to eat, and Ling Ling does not have to spend spiritual force to maintain shape. Can purify enough fish to eat every day.”
Gu Gu looked envious and blinked his big green eyes. “I must find a mate soon,” he said, sighing sadly, “but Siao mermaids all know each other and I don’t want to be mated to any of them.”
An Jin couldn’t help but laugh, suspecting that their usual movie watching wasn’t helpful.
Bubbles took a bite of his cupcake, his purple eyes narrowing in enjoyment. “You can find a human. See, An An’s mate is a human.”
“You don’t think they look ugly bald?” Gu Gu turned and looked at him.
Bubbles, tail up, twisted his head to look at the eyes, realized that now was the tail, and his head turned back. “Hey, I think the shape is good-looking, after getting used to it, bare is also good.”
Gu Gu blinked his eyes and head a little. “Good point. But the school knows it is limited, and it seems to pay attention to Siao matchmaking news. If not, later I’ll go to Rabe Star to participate in matchmaking.” He looked at An Jin. “I heard that it will be convenient to travel between Siao and Rabe Star in the future, is that right?”
Gu Gu smiled happily. “Then it’s decided! Great, there are so many options! I’m sure I can find a mate.”
Bubbles echoed, “I’m sure I can find a mate too.”
An Jin reminded uneasily, “Although the planting of pure plants has started now, pure plants and A agent are not yet popular, the song of mermaids is still very attractive to humans, so you should pay attention. Do not be cheated.”
Gu Gu replied, “An An don’t worry, we are smart, not to be cheated.”
Bubbles waved his fist. “If he dares to cheat us, I will definitely make him look good.”
An Jin thought about it, the mermaids’ IQ was not low, and they had learned a lot of common sense to prevent deception. Now, they were not limited by their tails, but also had strong combat power, so he was reassured. He drank juice, chatted with them, and talked about future plans.
Ling Ling looked recognized. “We are ready to take the spring exams after, read high school, and then go to college.”
Gu Gu nodded, his green eyes shining brightly. “We’re going to be art students in high school, and Viman was helping us with music lessons, so we want to enter the Imperial College of Music!”
An Jin was happy for them and encouraged them. “I’m sure you’ll get into the school of your choice!”
He had gone to college and was not looking forward to it. After the apocalypse, he was more interested in living a peaceful and comfortable life. His current life had almost been counted as his dream life, but there was still some beauty in it.
After all, now every time he ate, he had to personally remove the impurities. If he went out, he had to remove the raw material’s impurities in advance and come back to eat a delicious meal.
He now very much hoped that the research team could soon study the absorption of beast cores to remove impurities. Until then, he could only try to purify the soil and seeds in order to allow the Institute to plant more pure plants.
The mermaids stayed until five o’clock and left, agreeing to come on holiday later.
In the evening, after An Jin and Norman finished their dinner, Norman walked around the pond, and An Jin followed his lead, slowly circling the pond to eat. Afterwards, they returned to the bedroom and sat side by side on the sand, while An Jin translated technical documents and Norman read military documents.
An Jin concentrated, recognizing many words, and when he encountered a word he didn’t know, he asked Norman, who always explained it clearly to him.
“An An,” Norman said, taking An Jin’s shoulder, “it’s break time.”
An Jin scanned the time, he had been looking at the screen for exactly forty minutes straight. He obediently moved his eyes away from the virtual screen and relaxed his eyes.
Norman was tickled by his good behavior and kissed him on his soft cheek and talked to him about business. “The emissaries from different countries wanted to meet, but they were rejected, and they wanted to buy pure seeds.”
After An Jin returned to Siao, because purifying the soil consumed too much spiritual power, he continued to sell pure seeds to the outer planets, and the seeds he purified every day were provided to the Plant Research Institute.
An Jin inclined his head to look at Norman and mused, “What if we don’t sell them and don’t let Siao become a target?”
Norman raised his eyebrows and spoke with a calm but confident voice, “They won’t dare to make a move against Siao.”
An Jin said, “Then we won’t sell.”
Before the star beast wave, the more pure vegetables were planted, the more A agent would be available to support the military department during the star beast wave. And the rest of the planets also have seeds.
The pure seeds that he used to exchange to the planets at the beginning, with the current cultivation technology, were also almost ripe. One seed at that time, but after maturity, the quantity was multiplied many times.
Norman’s attitude was firm that An Jin would not sell pure seeds, and the emissaries of the stars were dissatisfied. Each star would have a batch of plants harvested; they originally thought that the price of seeds would drop, thinking that An Jin simply did not want to sell.
The group of emissaries discussed and expressed their willingness to raise the price, but it was still rejected. The messengers were dissatisfied and had no choice but to leave Siao. They secretly suspected that An Jin could not make evolution seeds after his pregnancy.
When Norman heard these suspicions, he did not care and told the military department to keep an eye on the messenger group to prevent any unsuspecting people from taking advantage of the opportunity to stay in Siao. After An Jin explained his attitude to Norman, he had to think about the Emissary Corps, and apart from purifying the soil and seeds, he spent his time mainly on translating documents.
After he finished translating the documents from the technical department, he hand translated the documents given to him by Mu Chen. There were just too many specialized vocabularies, and he learned while translating, which was rather slow.
In the afternoon, he watched two hours of instructional videos and went to the back garden to relax, floating on his back in the water, and wagging his tail leisurely.
He received a video communication from Little Silver when his terminal rang softly. He was a little surprised, after all, Little Silver usually texted him. He immediately connected and saw Little Silver soaking in the bathtub, wearing a Rabe costume and smiling brightly. An Jin saw a scratch on his cheek and asked with concern, “Is it hurt?”
Little Silver touched his cheek. “Yes, I was caught by a thief accidentally,” he grunted, his silver eyes shining brightly. “The thief was kicked away, beaten badly, and taken away by the police.”
An Jin asked and learned that it was Little Silver who did the right thing when he saw it and loosened up. “Little Silver is great.”
Little Silver smiled proudly, but after a while, his smile was curbed, and he scratched his head, a little embarrassed. “An An, I’d like to ask for help.”
An Jin prompted, “Go ahead.”
Little Silver asked expectantly, “Are you available from five to five-thirty every afternoon?”
An Jin nodded. “Yes.”
Little Silver said, “Then how about chatting with me at this time every day?”
An Jin couldn’t help but think wrongly, but seeing Little Silver’s clear eyes, he couldn’t help but worry for Little Silver. “Is it not a good time on Rabe?”
“It’s fine,” Little Silver replied, “but I’m studying super fast, and I’m getting ready to take my exams for high school this week.”
An Jin saw that he was not aggrieved and wanted to talk to his friend, so he was relieved. “Sure, just contact him if you want to talk.”
Little Silver leaned forward and sat upright. “An An is great. Can An An speak interstellar when we talk? Please explain it to me in mermaid.” He paused. “I’m just starting to learn, so I may not speak it well, but it’s awesome! I’ll be able to learn soon.”
It dawned on An Jin that Little Silver was talking to him as if he were a foreign teacher!
“Okay.” An Jin agreed to come, and he was very happy.
Little Silver wanted to learn the interstellar language, which meant Little Silver wanted to come back to Siao!
Little Silver excitedly kept expressing his gratitude, took the translator from his ear, and carefully put it away. He looked at An Jin and blinked his silver eyes. “An An.”
These two words were spoken in interstellar, not quite accurate, but for a beginner, it was good enough. An Jin then talked to him in interstellar as well.
When Little Silver was a beginner, he only used simple words. Any that he didn’t understand, An Jin promptly translated into mermaid language and then said the relevant sentences in interstellar.
Little Silver’s expression was different from his usual appearance.
Half an hour later, Little Silver put on the translator. “Thank you An An, I’m sure I can learn much faster this way! Watching videos is too slow.”
The two agreed to contact each other from five to five-thirty, and hung up the communication.
Little Silver opened the contact interface, his finger hovering at the top for a moment. He thought about it. I can’t let him see that I’m not fluent in speech!
Little Silver’s silver eyes blinked rapidly, quickly giving An Jin a message.