An Ming was stunned, allowing the mixed-blood dragon’s tail to coil around his waist, letting himself be manipulated at will.
The ice-cold pheromones were released wantonly, making his heart race and his mind wander.
Seeing that the little mermaid didn’t react, LAN pressed his lips thin. The dragon tail loosened for a moment, and the fluffy tip drilled back into An Ming’s hand. The tassel of fur brushed back and forth against the back of his hand, trying to get the little mermaid’s clenched fist to open so it could slide inside.
Subconsciously guided, An Ming gripped that naughty tuft of fur.
The fur was smooth, soft, and fluffy like the round velvet rabbit tails sold in stores.
Before he could get enough of the sensation, the tail twisted and continued through his palm, and the skin of his palm immediately felt a completely different texture.
Cold scales, like those of a snake.
Because it was the tip of the tail, the scales were extremely fine softer and more flexible than expected gently rubbing back and forth along the little mermaid’s fingers.
The icy chill from his fingertips jolted An Ming awake for a moment.
“Ma… mark?”
Heavens, what was he doing? He was playing with LAN’s tail… This was terrifying; it seemed to be a scene that had occurred in his dreams…
When he woke up then, he had faced the predicament of being unable to retract his fish tail.
“Yes, mark me.”
LAN murmured in a low voice. Beyond the constant flicking of his tail, his body shallowly embraced the little mermaid, burying his head lightly in the crook of the mermaid’s neck, sniffing deeply.
Slightly damp hair fell against the side of the little mermaid’s face, earlobes, and shoulders, bringing wave after wave of itchiness.
An Ming swallowed. The way LAN looked now was too enticing. He had shed his majestic and cold outer shell, completely exposing the softness of an Omega.
The tail was still rubbing against his hand, as if pleasing him, acting spoiled, and… seeking comfort.
Yes, comfort.
If LAN really was Lan Feng… An Ming didn’t dare think too deeply. Just the words the guards had spoken were shocking enough; whatever dark past LAN had endured must have left his heart riddled with holes.
An Ming could not refuse a LAN like this.
He didn’t want to refuse, either.
What he didn’t want to admit was that he had always found LAN “delicious.”
“O-okay.” An Ming swallowed, his hands shaking slightly.
An Ming was incredibly nervous about what was about to happen. In his previous life, as a normal and healthy male, he had discussed this kind of knowledge with his classmates and roughly knew how things were done.
But in the ABO setting, there was apparently something called “knotting.” Otherwise, it couldn’t be called a complete process.
Whether it was the vague knowledge from his past life or the extremely meager understanding of the settings in this life, An Ming knew nothing; he was completely unfamiliar.
To him, this was entirely uncharted territory.
He clumsily grabbed the mixed-blood dragon’s waist through the bathrobe, feeling the faint abdominal muscles beneath his hands, realizing he had no idea how to proceed.
“H-how do I do it?” An Ming asked the question with a sense of shame.
As an Alpha, he didn’t want to lose face by asking his Omega.
But he truly didn’t understand at all!
Asking now was better than asking when the arrow was on the string and ready to fire!
LAN stopped sniffing and raised his peerless face, his brows furrowing slightly.
“Haven’t you done it once already?”
An Ming: “…?”
LAN seemed to realize something. “Don’t worry… I won’t force you to perform a complete marking.”
“I was just a bit impulsive because the last one has expired. Even though you’ve been by my side, surface pheromones are far from enough for me.”
He brushed his damp hair aside, revealing the full, swollen gland. “Be good, Mingming. Give me a temporary mark.”
An Ming: “!”
He had misunderstood!
…What a huge misunderstanding, ahhh!
An Ming wished he could pry open the floorboards and crawl inside. If he could burrow into the earth, he would bury himself deep.
“Oh…” An Ming licked his lips, quickly becoming embarrassed again.
Sensing that he was being too slow, the dragon tail swept up around his hand, the tassel reaching his lips and brushing against them.
“Hurry, Mingming.”
“You refused on the ship. Are you going to reject me again?” LAN’s voice was low and slow, faintly revealing impatience and a hint of grievance.
“Ah? No!” An Ming hurriedly pressed his lips against it. Because he was half a head shorter, he had to stand on his tiptoes.
“Wait.” The dragon tail swept over again, stopping him. “Sit down.”
The long, slender tail rested against his neck, and LAN took his hand. The two moved to the edge of the bed. LAN sat down first with his back turned, lowering his head again, assuming a submissive posture like a prize waiting to be plucked.
An Ming: “…”
His fish tail was about to come out…
He shook his head and secretly pinched his thigh hard. Control yourself! An Xiaoming! Don’t lose face in front of LAN!
More importantly, don’t let him discover the secret of the fish tail!
An Ming forced himself to be ascetic, kissing the spot with a focused mind.
Just as he was about to bite, LAN turned his head slightly and said, “Can you touch the tail?”
The lamplight outlined his profile, moving and ambiguous, his eyes misty.
“Touch it.”
An Ming: “…”
At this moment, their posture was LAN sitting with his back to him, while he sat close behind LAN, one hand supporting LAN’s left shoulder, the other naturally resting on the bed.
…It was also very convenient to slide it forward and touch the tail.
Unlike the thin, soft, and nimble tip, the upper part of the tail was much thicker and tougher, with larger scales and increased hardness. The base of the tail was as thick as a wrist; because it was closer to the torso, An Ming could better feel the pulse throbbing beneath the scales.
…The tail in his hand became a hot potato.
So hot he wanted to drop it immediately, yet he was reluctant, wanting to “eat” it.
The temporary marking took only half a minute. An Ming learned without a teacher, quickly sucking away the Omega’s pheromones and then injecting his own.
The clear, scentless Alpha pheromones were like a pool of summer night rain, rapidly soothing the Omega’s dry symptoms.
LAN didn’t move, his back heaving as he waited for the tremors of the post-marking afterglow to pass. An Ming felt as if he had just finished a giant bowl of ice cream; his whole body was cool and refreshed, and all his pores were completely open. Even though it was a cold night on the planet Heitan, he felt this chill brought him immense satisfaction…
The night was deep, and the surroundings were quiet.
Through the window, one could hear the faint bustle of the Fire God Festival a few streets away.
“Sorry, Mingming. I didn’t let you have a good time playing,” LAN said suddenly.
His dragon tail had been retracted, and the wide-open bathrobe was tightened again.
His aura had also returned to a calm and composed state.
The scorched, out-of-control performance from just now seemed like a mere hallucination to the little mermaid.
But he had called him Mingming. Three times.
No one had called him that except his brother.
“Ah… it was alright.” An Ming’s face was hot. He could feel that the intimacy lost earlier had been re-established.
And it was even more intense.
“Come here,” LAN said again, opening his arms at the same time.
Eh? An Ming had originally sat a bit further away, but his breathing, which had just calmed down, turned hot and chaotic again.
“What? Even though we’ve already marked, we can’t have a hug?” The corners of LAN’s lips dipped slightly. After the events at the bar tonight, this hint of a smile appeared particularly heartbreaking to An Ming.
“We can.” An Ming hesitated for a moment and moved over. He already had similar thoughts and was willing to give LAN warmth.
He just hoped LAN wouldn’t do anything else he couldn’t handle.
Fortunately, this time LAN only embraced him quite simply.
After the pheromones were retracted, the chill turned into warmth; LAN’s chest was calming.
An Ming rested his chin on LAN’s shoulder, and LAN rested his chin on An Ming’s shoulder.
Big hands were pressed against each other’s backs.
The sides of their legs were tightly pressed together.
Breaths rose and fell by their ears.
So warm… An Ming thought. Clearly, LAN was the one who needed comforting, yet he himself felt as though he had found a harbor.
In the vast universe, two planets from different parallel worlds met and moored beside each other.
After hugging for a long time, the mixed-blood dragon’s voice rose like a dream in his ear.
“LAN is not my original name. It is only my external code name as the leader of the Justice Army.”
“Lan Feng is my true name.”
As expected, An Ming thought. It really is so.
He wasn’t surprised at all.
He just hadn’t expected LAN to tell him this tonight. He had thought that their current relationship was still far from the point of baring their souls.
LAN not only needed him but also trusted him deeply.
LAN continued his narration: “My father is a Dragon Alpha, and my mother is a Human Omega. Because I am a mixed-blood, I cannot fully transform into a dragon. My mother was worried I would appear as an outlier among the dragons, so she took me back to the human home planet and raised me there.”
“The former Human Emperor, Estel, was my uncle. He spent more time with me than my father did. Under his strict guidance, I rose from an ordinary soldier to the position of General.”
“Unfortunately, in the subsequent interstellar war, I failed to protect him. I let him down.”
“I didn’t just let him down; I let everyone down. The Dragon Race is warlike by nature, cruel and fickle even more so than the Zerg. But not all dragons are evil. Like my father, Lans, who was a strict but righteous dragon. I originally intended only to punish the Dragon Emperor who had committed heinous crimes; I didn’t want to harm innocent dragons.”
“However, in the end, I failed to save the entire Dragon Race, and I failed to protect my uncle… I even caused the deaths of my parents…”
“I chose self-exile.”
Hearing this, An Ming’s heart wrenched painfully.
“Heh…” LAN suddenly let out a low laugh. “Do you know why I didn’t choose to just die?”
An Ming opened his mouth but couldn’t speak. He only pressed hard against LAN’s back, making the hug tighter.
“Because I don’t deserve it.”
“I don’t deserve relief.”
LAN buried his face deep in the little mermaid’s neck, remaining motionless for a long time.
An Ming was saddened by this and whispered words of comfort, yet doubts grew in his mind.
These were things never mentioned in the original book; he hadn’t even known LAN and the Human Emperor were related by blood.
“The Dragon Race… what crimes did the Dragon Emperor commit?” An Ming asked, sensing this was important.
“Unpardonable crimes,” LAN replied. “He had always been a madman. One day, he suddenly announced to the entire galaxy via the star-net that the Mermaid Race was an inferior species, all Mermaid Alphas were pariahs, and Mermaid Omegas were commodities for entertainment. Then, he unilaterally launched a war against the Mermaid Empire.”
“The Mermaid Race is kind and beautiful, excelling in art and medicine. Their mental power levels are generally not high, and they quickly retreated step by step. Seeing their empire on the brink of collapse, they sent out calls for help to the Humans and the Zerg.”
“Thus, the most comprehensive interstellar war in history broke out.”
Although An Ming wasn’t a native mermaid, hearing this made his anger flare up.
LAN straightened up, gently gripping the little mermaid’s shoulders to look him in the eye. “I’m sorry. On behalf of my father’s side, I apologize to you and the Mermaid Race behind you.”
The fire in An Ming’s heart flickered, and he immediately asked the next question.
“Since the Dragon Empire has already fallen, why is life still so difficult for the Mermaid Race?” He had looked up many materials on the star-net and was very aware of the terrible status quo of the Mermaid Race. The various encounters on Heitan Planet where he was mistaken for a Mermaid Omega also made him very displeased.
“The greedy will always exist,” LAN sneered. “Although Mark is also my uncle, compared to his brother Estel, they are worlds apart.”
An Ming frowned deeply. “The guards are following his orders, searching everywhere for Mermaid Omegas.”
Looking at it this way, what was the difference between Emperor Mark and the dead tyrant Dragon Emperor?
“Once certain situations are formed, they are very hard to change. Currently, the entire galaxy regards Mermaid Omegas as noble playthings; no one realizes these beautiful creatures possess the same dignity as they do. This isn’t just a matter of rescuing one or two; it requires a long-term plan to change the entire status quo.”
“Mark condones these crimes, and now he is participating himself. But I won’t do anything to him for the time being.” LAN looked at An Ming. “My time is limited. I must hurry and do more important things according to the plan.”
Time is limited? An Ming was confused, but he understood the rest instantly.
The “more important thing” was to establish a brand-new empire.
The decaying Mark and his Human Empire would bring about their own destruction. Kind and honest creatures would voluntarily leave the humans and join LAN’s kingdom.
An Ming perked up. “You can do it, LAN.”
He said with total conviction: “I am willing to realize this ideal with you.”
The little mermaid’s serious expression and tone finally made the mixed-blood dragon laugh.
“Thank you, An Ming.” He pinched the little mermaid’s nose. “But you don’t need to work hard. I can support you for a lifetime.”
After saying this, he seemed to think of something, and his gaze dimmed.
An Ming said huffily, “Hmph? Let your Alpha be a moocher? Don’t look down on him; he’s very capable!”
“Oh?”
An Ming raised his eyebrows, forcefully hooking the mixed-blood dragon’s chin, and said, “Just the fact that I can withstand your demonic pheromones makes me very capable.”
LAN froze for a moment, then laughed. “True.”
The little mermaid snorted.
The two looked at each other face to face, and An Ming couldn’t help but nudge him again.
He could feel that after the comfort and the confession, LAN’s mood had clearly improved.
Sure enough, the big bad dragon grabbed the little mermaid’s hand and gave it a playful, forceful squeeze.
“Ouch!” the little mermaid cried out in a fake alarm.
“A small punishment for your provocation.” Despite the words, the strength became gentle again, turning into a massage.
An Ming tried to pull his hand away.
The big bad dragon gripped tightly again, not letting the little mermaid escape his palm.
An Ming narrowed his bright blue eyes.
Suddenly he pushed forward and then jerked back, using a circuitous tactic to execute a “golden cicada shedding its shell” escape move!
To his surprise, the big bad dragon’s reaction was incredibly fast. The moment the little mermaid broke free, the hungry dragon pounced back!
“Ah!” The two of them tumbled together, looking like they were about to fall from the edge of the bed to the floor.
While the inn had wooden floors covered with carpets, if he let the little mermaid fall like that, with the weight of a full-grown SSS-level Omega pressing down on him, what would happen?
Mid-air, the mixed-blood dragon’s agile body flipped, acting as a cushion, allowing the little mermaid to land steadily on top of him.
“Hahaha…” An Ming couldn’t stop laughing, completely unaware that their posture had become him straddling LAN, with both hands pressing against the firm chest.
Because he was trembling with laughter, his fingers moved along with it, like a kitten’s claws scratching.
LAN’s waist and hips shifted, trying to move out of position.
The little mermaid hadn’t reacted yet. He reached out and punched the pectoral muscles a few more times with a winner’s posture, saying, “I declare, I win!”