“!!!” An Ming was completely frozen. His eyes uncontrollably followed the tip of the tail as it moved, finally pinning his gaze onto a certain spot, staring fixedly.
“Damn it!” LAN cursed. The bath towel in his hand was quickly wrapped around his waist, and the tail vanished in a flash.
“When did you get back!” he growled in a low voice.
An Ming finally snapped out of it, belatedly covering his eyes. “Just now!”
Ahhh, what on earth did he just see?!
“Why wasn’t there a single sound?” LAN said crossly.
Since when had his alertness become so poor?
An Ming parted his fingers slightly. Finding that everything that needed to be covered was covered, he finally lowered his hands and said aggrievedly, “I was afraid of waking you up.”
“…” LAN was speechless.
“Then why did you leave the door open while showering!” An Ming was also indignant.
“…I should have been able to hear you when you came back.” LAN frowned.
The two of them stared at each other.
“Get out now,” LAN said finally. “I’m changing.”
“Oh, oh.” An Ming hurriedly left the bedroom, proactively closing the door behind him.
His heart was thumping wildly, and the images from a moment ago kept flashing in his mind.
To distract himself, he let the small dining cart waiting outside enter and piled the gifts on the floor.
The living room had a wall-sized bookshelf with several empty cubbies. An Ming sent the cart away and began running back and forth, arranging the small desk lamp, the mechanical gun, the small ichthyosaur pendant, and other items onto the shelves.
By the time LAN emerged, the gifts were mostly organized.
LAN had changed into a black, tight-fitting combat suit that hugged his tall, well-built frame. He adjusted his gear as he walked; it looked like he was heading out.
He glanced at the small pendant An Ming had just placed but said nothing.
An Ming stood awkwardly by the bookshelf, waiting for LAN to leave.
LAN reached the main door but turned and stopped.
“An Ming,” he called out.
“Huh?” the little merman replied.
“Come here for a moment.” His tone had softened considerably.
“Oh.” The little merman went over.
Standing by the reinforced alloy door that had been recently repaired, LAN looked at the obedient little merman, and his gaze subconsciously softened. “Are you getting along well with everyone?”
“Mhm.” Recalling the scene from lunch, a warm current surged through An Ming’s heart, and his eyes crinkled into a smile.
“That’s good.” LAN followed with a slight curve of his lips.
But he quickly turned serious again. “The place we are arriving at shortly is a fire-system planet. The environment is much harsher than Mimas-1 where I found you. Not only is the climate extreme, but there are also Sandworms.” ①
“Sandworms?” An Ming heard of them for the first time.
“A type of giant worm with immense destructive power,” LAN explained briefly. “Therefore, the Phoenix will remain stationed above the planet this time, and we will head down in small warships.”
“We?”
“Yes, the others and I,” LAN said. “I can’t let my brothers take all the risks alone.”
“Risks?” When the little merman heard this word, his expression changed instantly, his brow furrowing deeply.
For some reason, this crumpled expression amused LAN. He said jokingly, “It’s not that serious. The daytime temperature on this planet is above 200°C; it only drops below 100°C at night. We’ll hurry to finish the survey tonight and I’ll be back on the Phoenix before dawn.”
An Ming nodded solemnly. “Then, I wish you a smooth mission.”
“Right. If anything happens, find Number Nine. You can try to reach me too, but I might not respond promptly.”
“Mhm.”
“Well… see you later?”
“Yeah, see you later!”
The little merman looked at the hybrid Dragon-Omega with a beaming smile, seeing him off.
LAN’s steps faltered. He remained still, looking back at the little merman.
The little merman was slightly shorter than him, with a very small, fair, and delicate face. Currently, he was looking at him with a slight smile. Furthermore, the air reminiscent of the freshness of spring filled LAN’s nostrils, proving more effective than his daytime nap.
LAN rubbed the bridge of his nose with his knuckle.
The little merman wondered why he hadn’t left yet. He tilted his head and blinked. “…Is there something else?”
“Yes, there is,” LAN mused. “I didn’t mean to yell at you just now.”
“Eh?” An Ming was a bit dazed, then realized he was referring to that “just now.”
Did he yell? An Ming had been too busy being shocked to notice LAN’s embarrassment.
“Hah, that was my fault. I’ll definitely knock next time,” the merman said.
LAN’s brow twitched slightly. “Why would you knock on your own room?”
“Oh.” True.
“I’m just not used to it yet,” LAN reflected on himself. “Very few people see me in my dragon form. However, since we are already in a partner relationship, it is inevitable that I cannot suppress my nature during the marking process, so—”
“We still need to understand and accept each other’s various states.”
“Huh?” Various states? Was he talking about the tail?
Did LAN mean that in the future, when he bites, he would manifest his tail?
The images the little merman had just managed to suppress resurfaced and began to shift on their own. A thick fish tail and a slender dragon tail touched; the dragon tail coiled around the fish tail, while the fish tail pressed back against the dragon tail…
An Ming: “!”
The little merman’s expression became… complicated, leaving the hybrid dragon somewhat puzzled.
Was the little merman unwilling?
It seemed his request was a bit excessive.
“I apologize, I overstepped,” LAN quickly changed his tune. “In the future, I will make full preparations for every marking and ensure I do not offend you.”
“Oh…” It went in one ear and out the other as An Ming was stuck in his own imagination, unable to extricate himself.
LAN’s expression remained solemn as he continued his guarantee: “I am grateful for your help. To reiterate, although we live together, no transgressive behavior will ever occur. I only need your external and oral pheromones; I will not force you into a permanent mark.”
“Furthermore, the injection of oral pheromones will only happen very occasionally.”
“Mhm, okay…” the little merman replied haphazardly.
“Then… I’m going.”
“Bye-bye,” the little merman said dismissively.
Once the First Commander of the Phoenix finally departed, An Ming returned to the sofa with floating steps and sat down.
He felt that LAN had become less cold and had said so, so much to him, but he couldn’t remember the specifics. He only remembered “tail, tail…”
Ah!
It took the little merman a long time to finally clear the strange junk from his brain.
Then he realized that tonight, he wouldn’t have to share a bed with a certain hybrid Dragon-Omega.
Eh?
His mood immediately became light and cheerful.
Relaxed, the little merman realized his throat was dry. He stood up to pour himself some water.
Walking to the open dining area, he keenly noticed that the number of cups by the water dispenser had become two. One was light blue, which he had been using these past few days; the other was dark grey, which LAN seemed to have brought here for the first time during the interrogation.
It had been taken away before, but now it had reappeared.
Lost in thought, An Ming left the water cup and entered the bedroom.
Sure enough, in the small walk-in closet against the wall, besides the clothes Number Nine had altered for him, there was a large amount of standard military uniforms. Most were complete sets, ranging from daily wear and formal attire to training gear and combat suits…
An Ming entered the bathroom again.
In the vanity cabinet, the towels and bathrobes had also become pairs, and a few small glass bottles had been added. One bottle was already half-used; he picked it up to read the label: [Omega-Specific Suppressant (Extra Strength)].
An Ming: …Tsk.
He had been reminded: he only didn’t have to sleep with LAN tonight.
For the next few hours, An Ming didn’t go out again, curling up on the sofa to play mini-games on his light-computer.
Later, he felt the sofa wasn’t comfortable enough and crawled onto the bed.
Perhaps because he hadn’t rested well the night before, had woken up so early, and had spent the whole day touring the ship, the little merman started nodding off while playing. Eventually, he fell straight asleep.
He didn’t even see the short message LAN had sent over.
In his sleep, the Omega scent from the sheets and bedding seeped into the merman’s dream bit by bit, accompanying him as he soared to his heart’s content… There were tails, seawater, and hot breaths in the dream…
The little merman had a very, very tiring dream.
By the time he opened his eyes again, more than ten hours had passed.
An Ming looked at his watch through bleary eyes and was instantly wide awake!
He remembered LAN mentioning he would return before dawn.
A whole night had passed; LAN could return at any moment!
He wanted to jump off the bed to wash up he couldn’t let LAN see him still sleeping like a log only to find, to find…
Eek?!
Where are my legs?!
An Ming whipped off the thin quilt. A silver-blue caudal fin gave an excited flick, nearly flipping over to smack the little merman in his own head.
An Ming: “…” He hadn’t touched water!
He hadn’t even had time to wash up last night!
The fish tail… why did it come out on its own!!!
An Ming was even more panicked now. In his agitation, the caudal fin snapped open violently, stretching tight.
The little merman’s face immediately fell into a look of despair.
What to do, what to do?
An Ming tried his best to calm himself.
Ever since his legs turned into a tail after touching water in the shower, the nightly baths over the next few days had been extremely time-consuming and laborious.
He had to find the right angle and slowly drag himself into the bathtub so that the moment his legs touched water and transformed, he wouldn’t lose his balance and tumble into the water.
Once he was seated firmly, he would begin washing. The upper body was familiar, but the lower body… he had never washed his legs or feet again.
Every time he finished, he had to laboriously bend his waist, drain the water, and sit in the empty tub for over half an hour, constantly giving himself psychological hints before he would transform back into legs.
…It was exhausting every single time.
An Ming wanted to complain so much: did all mermen have this trouble? Washing as a merman was just too damn troublesome!
But why, right now?
In the absence of water, the fish tail had manifested anyway.
An Ming was completely dumbfounded.
He had just accidentally seen LAN’s tail yesterday; he really didn’t want to be seen by LAN in return today.
Seeing each other once was enough…
An Ming wanted to cry but had no tears. With no other choice, he could only stroke his large tail with his hand, muttering to himself: “Be good, change back, okay~”
But he soon discovered something even more terrifying.
Below his chest and abdomen, where the soft human skin met the smooth fish scales specifically at the site of the original lower abdomen there were two scales that were large, soft, and pale.
The little merman had noticed them before and even tried to pry them, but it hurt quite a bit.
But at this moment, they were tilting up on their own.