CH 25

TL: Hua

“Marshal Chen, what happened?”

After returning to the military headquarters, Chen Yuanchuan’s adjutant asked curiously when he saw the rare seriousness on his usual carefree chief’s face.

This morning, the marshal seemed to be looking for His Majesty to discuss the replacement of the garrison galaxy. Is the transfer order coming down so soon?

Chen Yuanchuan shook his head. Remembering what he saw when he left the palace, he didn’t know what expression to make for a moment.

After the inexplicable and comforting voice suddenly came out of His Majesty’s light brain, Chen Yuanchuan saw Clarice cut off the voice in the next second, then got up and prepared to send him out.

The two of them were walking through the courtyard corridor to get to the main hall when he faintly heard what sounded like someone playing in the water in the lake next to him. When he turned his head to see if it was the teenager who had just sent that message, he was met with a pair of dark, shiny eyes.

Then came the sight of the fishtail that hadn’t landed in the water and the conspicuous sliver head.

A little familiar.

Then he gave his majesty a look.

Isn’t this the mermaid you asked me to try to match?

Is it okay to snatch your subordinate’s mission? Fortunately, though, he has been worrying about this since he came out of the matching center yesterday.

Chen Yuanchuan suspects that his emotions may have been a little too obvious, so that Clarice also sensed it. In the next second, he called an attendant to come over and take him out.

When he was about to turn the corner, Chen Yuanchuan saw Clarice walking towards the mermaid from the corner of his eye.

Ha, man will be man.

“It’s okay, the transfer order has not been issued yet, and it will take several more detailed discussions before it can be finalized.”

After answering his question, Chen Yuanchuan collected his thoughts and walked steadily towards the cafeteria with the adjutant.

His Majesty isn’t the unreasonable and unfeeling existence rumored by the public, but he wondered if he could use this incident as an opportunity to change the image of His Majesty in the hearts of the people…

Hiya, this is so annoying. Their majesty is perfect and good at everything, but he’s too lazy to deal with these external image problems about himself, which is why they’re so worried about him.

After sending Chen Yuanchuan away, Leiden turned around and strode towards the mermaid, who had given him too many surprises in the past two days.

To be honest, he didn’t expect that this mermaid could really speak human language after one morning. After all, when he started handling government affairs, arguing with various old people, and listening to reports from different subordinates, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to have someone teach Lance how to use the light brain.

Originally, he thought it would take a whole morning. If this mermaid was smarter, he might have successfully bound the light brain. Then in the afternoon, he would teach him some steps so he could begin his learning.

But unexpectedly…

“What have you learned?” He squatted down with rare interest and asked with downcast eyes.

Ji Mingjiang patted the drowsy deer under his hands, and after it went away, he raised his head to look at Clarice and waved three fingers in front of him.

“I have already collected three sets of clothes. Some simple daily conversations should be fine. If it’s more complicated, it may take two days more.”

The lingua franca spoken from the mermaid’s mouth has a unique sense of rhythm, and coupled with the mermaid’s own clear voice, this language that he has spoken for more than 20 years made Leiden feel a little strange at the moment.

Somewhat surprised by the amazing learning speed of the mermaid in front of him, Leiden took a deep look at him before saying, “Then you go ahead; I’ll ask you some more questions tonight.”

After the conversation last night, his spiritual sea was in a rare peaceful state, and even the black dragon looked sluggish after waking up this morning.

Before dealing with political affairs, he went to the doctor who had been in charge of his spiritual sea, and the test result showed that there was no potential risk and that the previous manic aura in his spiritual sea was gently suppressed.

Leonard didn’t know that he had brought a mermaid back to the palace, and he was a little surprised after seeing the result of the examination.

“Although I don’t know what happened to you, Your Majesty, it seems that there are only benefits for you at present. If you can continue, maybe your spiritual sea will be completely healed.”

“Because it’s not easy to make a specific diagnosis and treatment judgment now, I can only offer a suggestion. If you want to get a more specific data comparison, you may need to wait until your manic period has passed before coming back.”

He thought of what Leonard said this morning and all the normal news from the special agent sent to the federation to investigate the mermaid.

After discussing it with Rowlett, Leiden decided to talk to this mermaid again. If he could understand the common language, today’s conversation might go more smoothly.

Upon hearing this, Ji Mingjiang hesitated a bit, possibly due to the influence of the overlord system day after day and year after year; he had not been too fond of sharing a room with people who were in the same strong position as him before.

In his previous life, as the president of the Ji Group, he was just a misfit at some business receptions. When he was at the bottom of the sea before, it was Ryan’s gentle and generous character that made him stay with the humpback whale colony for such a long time.

But now… Thinking of the outrageous situation in which he suddenly became a minor and the fact that the emperor Clarice didn’t show any dictatorship in front of him, Ji Mingjiang finally nodded.

After seeing that he agreed, Leiden planned to get up and leave, and he didn’t forget to remind the mermaid before leaving.

“It’s only half an hour before lunch; don’t forget to go back to eat.”

His meal!

Then it suddenly occurred to Ji Mingjiang that he could already speak, and at first glance, Clarice didn’t seem to appreciate the mermaid foster guide very much, so wouldn’t he be able to…

“Wait! Clarice!” He slammed the water’s surface and stopped Leiden, who was just about to leave.

Seeing his pale golden eyes look over again, Ji Mingjiang said without changing his expression, pretending that this was a very ordinary request: “My meal should not be ready yet; can I have an extra serving of rice?”

“…”

Leiden had expected the mermaid to ask for something after learning the common language, but then he heard these words.

A question mark slowly emerged in his eyes. Even if he didn’t know much about mermaids, he still knew from common sense that mermaids have weak stomachs and cannot eat human food.

How could a mermaid make such an outrageous request?

“No.” He immediately rejected this sentence like a conditioned reflex, but seeing the suddenly gloomy face in front of him, Leiden’s lips twitched, and he had a little headache.

Is it finally here?

Legend has it that every mermaid match will experience the daily plot points of mermaids throwing tantrums and making unreasonable demands, and he thought he was lucky enough to come across a mermaid who hadn’t set this plot point.

“Your digestive system and stomach are very fragile. Eating human food will make you sick or even die. Didn’t you get full marks in the course on mermaid habits when you were in the mermaid foster center?”

Feeling that he can still remedy the situation, Leiden, who doesn’t want to coax and can’t coax a mermaid who is in a bad mood, explained, but it seems that he said something inadvertently that shouldn’t be said.

Sure enough, the next second.

“How do you know I got a perfect score in that class?”

Ji Mingjiang squinted his eyes and looked at Clarice against the sunlight.

Even if the report card is sent to the parents, it should be the report card of the courses he studied after he was “adopted,” right?

“…I asked for it from Oddo.” It was indeed from him, but it was just a bit early.

Ji Mingjiang didn’t know about this episode; he thought it was the report cards that Clarice had asked for specifically after taking him away.

The first time this majesty saw him, his face was full of repulsion and indifference, but he unexpectedly made a small move behind the scenes.

Ha, human.

I didn’t expect you to be this kind of emperor.

Ji Mingjiang thoughtfully skipped the topic: “It’s okay, you can see that I’m much stronger than other mermaids, so my stomach won’t be as fragile as theirs.”

Seeing his insistence, Leiden sighed, and compromised: “After I find a doctor to examine your body and he says you have no gastrointestinal problems, I’ll give you some food.”

Guessing this was the biggest concession the other party could make, Ji Mingjiang had no choice but to nod his head and take a step back himself.

“Then give me a few more small silver fish for lunch today; seven or eight of them aren’t enough.”

This request is reasonable, although it seems that his appetite is a bit big. Leiden nodded slightly and quickly left this place where he is apt to get into trouble.

Half an hour later, Ji Mingjiang returned to the indoor pool along the pipeline again. He was satisfied to find 15 small whitebait neatly stacked on the large plate by the pool.

Not long after finishing the meal, His Majesty the Emperor, who had originally planned to come over tonight, walked in with a breeze under his feet.

Ji Mingjiang looked at him suspiciously. Just as he was about to ask something, he saw Clarice make a silent gesture at him, and after saying something to the light brain, a familiar floating screen suddenly appeared in front of Ji Mingjiang.

Looking at the screen that suddenly appeared, Ji Mingjiang was deep in thought. Then it should be the private mode that he didn’t get to try. It can prevent other people from hearing the conversation.

After figuring out what happened, Ji Mingjiang turned his attention to the screen in front of him.

Then he saw Carrie’s figure.

No wonder Clarice didn’t let him speak out just now. Even if he has a strong learning ability, it’s a bit outrageous to master the common language in a day and a half after leaving the mermaid center. It’s still necessary to hide it from Carrie.

So, what about the translator? Where did he leave the translator?

The fish tail gently pumped the water, and just as Ji Mingjiang’s eyes swept across the countertop from all sides, a slender and warm hand gently buckled the translator back to his ear fin.

After becoming a mermaid, he’s unsure whether it’s because of the mermaid blood or because he soaked in the water all day, but Ji Mingjiang’s body temperature is much lower than that of ordinary humans.

And because Leiden’s beast form is a black dragon, the blood in his body was boiling hot all year round, and his body temperature was several degrees higher than that of ordinary people.

When the two collided, both of them froze for a moment, and it was Carrie’s voice on the other side of the screen that drew their attention back.

“Lance? Xiao-Lan-Ce–, are you listening?”

“Yes, yes.” Seeing Carrie’s worried expression, Ji Mingjiang quickly pressed the translator to answer.

“How have you been these two days? Are you used to it? His Majesty…” Carrie looked around before asking in a low voice, “Is His Majesty treating you well?”

Ji Mingjiang said with some helplessness, “Very good; His Majesty’s temper is actually very gentle.”

“…”

Carrie also knew whose light brain she was contacting, and after confirming that everything was okay with the minor mermaid whom she’d been worried about, she didn’t say anything more and hung up the communication after telling Ji Mingjiang to take care of himself.

Only then did Ji Mingjiang take off the translator and intend to return the light brain to Clarice, but…

Where is he?

Looking at the empty room, Ji Mingjiang once again realized how diligent his majesty is.

He just left the light brain here?

He didn’t know what Clarice was doing during the time when he disappeared. When Ji Mingjiang finished his food and planned to continue his chibi character dress-up, this person reappeared from nowhere.

“Your light brain.” After hanging up the communication, Ji Mingjiang put the light brain on the aisle in front of him that was piled with toy shelves, which was not convenient to walk over, and when he saw Clarice was standing at the doorway, he threw the light brain to him directly.

Seeing him reach out and grasp the light brain firmly in the palm of his hand, Ji Mingjiang raised his eyebrows, and his interest in this majesty suddenly became stronger. But before he found a way to turn his fishtail into human legs, he didn’t need to think too much about it.

Seeing that Clarice had no intention of turning around and leaving immediately, Ji Mingjiang caught a glimpse of the row of toy shelves next to him from the corner of his eye and suddenly remembered his doubts from yesterday.

“By the way, do you know what’s going on with this pile of toys?” Ji Mingjiang pointed to the packed boxes and shelves at the side.

How childish! Even if he’s under age, he’s still 16 years old, not 6 years old. How could he have given him so many children’s toys?

Last night, he slapped those toy balls and ducks back into the box one by one after surfing them. He liked the clean and refreshing water better.

Leiden glanced at those cute and childish toys that Rowlett had bought in the short ten minutes after knowing that he had successfully matched the mermaid.

What does what Rowlett did have to do with him?

Even if he was urged by Rowlett to throw these toys into the water with his own hands in the end, it has nothing to do with him.

Looking at the mermaid in front of him, who has a curious yet slightly disgusted expression, Leiden explained without changing his face: “It was prepared for you by Rowlett after he knew you were coming. Mermaids will take their favorite toys with them when they leave the foster center, but after asking Oddo and the keepers in your room that day, they all said that you don’t have any favorite toys, so Rowlett, who likes little cubs, arranged these for you.”

After listening to it, Ji Mingjiang understood that Rowlett seemed to be the old man with white hair and a beard he saw that day, so it was much more reasonable. Although they didn’t know each other before, even though their races are not the same, loving the younger generation seems to be something that some elderly people never get tired of.

but……

“I’m 16.” Ji Mingjiang looked at Clarice with black lines on his face and said, “I’ll be an adult in less than two years.” Don’t coax him like a child! What do you mean by cubs!

Leiden understood what he meant, nodded slightly, and said, “It’s useless for you to tell me these things; Rowlett won’t listen.”

“If you have nothing to do, you can continue to study. If you need anything, you can send me a message on the light brain.” As he spoke, Leiden suddenly froze for a moment and added, “Don’t send voice; typing or voice-to-text are all fine.”

He is going to the military headquarters for a meeting in the afternoon to arrange for the cadet competition and recruit training in the near future. At that time, other than the marshal, the general will participate in the meeting as well. If his hand slips and clicks on the voice at that time…

The current senior officials of the military department who are about the same age as him are only Chen Yuanchuan and two other generals, the rest are his parents and grandparents’ generations.

He already guessed what messy thoughts Chen Yuanchuan had speculated this morning. This subordinate of his always has a strange brain circuit, but if those elders’ brain circuits were to be influenced by Chen Yuanchuan as well, what would he do?

Thinking of this, Leiden instantly felt that his request was extremely reasonable and important.

After seeing the mermaid in front of him nod, he left the room with a sigh of relief.

After watching Clarice leave,Ji Mingjiang didn’t care about his inexplicable words just now and reopened the learning section of his light brain.

He should be able to finish this language study after climbing another four or five steps.

Although he has realized how careless and unreliable the translator is after serious study, it has given him a certain language foundation.

As for Interstellar Common Language, the pronunciation is different from Chinese, and the grammar is a bit like a combination of Chinese and other languages. Although it is a bit strange, he has mastered a lot of languages in his previous life, so it is not difficult.

He was going to ask Clarice for a normal version of the light brain after he finished his studies, and there should be some software on it to help him understand the current trendy industries. At that time, he can choose to develop a side job for himself. If he can successfully use the knowledge he has acquired in his previous life, he may soon be able to pay off the price of two light brains.

After all, the spiritual counseling he provided to Clarice should correspond to the daily conveniences that the other party provided him. There is no saying that doing spiritual counseling from time to time would make the other party cover his lifetime expenses.

And, more importantly, with his own money, he can also change his costume, and then he can go to the holographic game field to experience the battle scene of the mecha starship!

Thinking of this, Ji Mingjiang’s eyes brightened a lot.

The afternoon was slowly spent studying. In the room that seemed a little empty because of an oversized pool, there was only the sound of tails hitting the water from time to time.

When the sunlight changes from bright golden to warm red, skims past the growing plants and rippling lake water, and slowly pours into the indoor pool through the transparent floor-to-ceiling window, it dyes a layer of reddish light on the silvery white hair of the mermaid.

Ji Mingjiang changed the villain, who had climbed another ladder, into a Star Pirate costume this time.

Ji Mingjiang gently tapped his finger on the star pirate version of himself standing in the cloud, and then he saw the little villain jump up angrily and hit the place where he just touched as if he were about to shoot something.

After finding that there was nothing there, a trace of dissatisfaction appeared on the white and tender face with half an eyepatch. Immediately afterwards, Ji Mingjiang saw his chibi villain pull out a laser cannon twice as big as his body directly from behind him.

Then a dazzling laser shot out, directly turning the section of the sky-reaching ladder in front into a stream of white smoke.

Ji Mingjiang silently withdrew his fingers, but the bottom of his eyes were vaguely excited.

So violent! I love it!

This segment is a little Easter egg that Ji Mingjiang just discovered this afternoon, probably inspired by the saying that learning is like sailing against the current, you either advance or retreat? It’s just that the developer of this model may have added a sentence later: there’s no retreat but only a dead end.

Because after climbing to the very top, as long as you click on the dressed villain, he will take a series of actions to completely destroy the ladder behind him.

For example, in the first level, the clothing that Ji Mingjiang saw as somewhat mixed should be set as a priest’s uniform. After clicking on the golden and shining little Ji Mingjiang, the scepter he was holding would be smashed to the ground.

Then a series of halos spread out around the bottom of the scepter, and the ladders that touched the halos would turn into flickering white lights and dissipate in the air.

The costume for the second level is a brown bear jumpsuit. The face of the character is directly wrapped in the complete face of the brown bear. After putting it on, click on the little bear version of Ji Mingjiang; the overly detailed brown bear head will open its mouth and roar, and the sound waves will spread out in a circular arc, shaking the ladder into pieces.

Later, there will be an elf version of Jimingjiang who will wrap the entire ladder with plants and then sink out of the screen interface.

The little monk Ji Mingjiang was sitting cross-legged in Kasaya1 when a phantom of a Bodhisattva appeared behind him, and a man holding a vajra appeared beside him, staring at him, and shattered the ladder.

…

But after looking at these sets, Ji Mingjiang’s favorite is the star pirate Ji Mingjiang. After all, the laser cannon looks really eye-catching!

After quitting the study area, Ji Mingjiang was reluctant to part with it. If the study package that the system gave him at that time had such Easter eggs, he felt that he might be able to learn those things five years earlier.

But no matter how reluctant he is, it’s time to eat.

Ji Mingjiang looked at the time. There was still half an hour until dinner time. He could now move around in the pool for a while; after all, his tail was still a little stiff after not moving all afternoon.

He doesn’t know what Clarice will say to him tonight.

Thinking of this, Ji Mingjiang decided to take back what he said on the first day. The emperor seemed to be a little idle. Why did he want to chat with a fish as soon as he knew he could talk? There was no one else in the palace who could chat with him?

…

Dinner was another 15 small whitebaits.

After mentioning to Clarice that he wanted to eat rice today, Ji Mingjiang looked at the fish in front of him, and the names of the dishes jumped out of his mind one after another.

Boiled fish, sauerkraut fish, sweet and sour fish, squirrel cinnamon fish, fish-flavored shredded pork…ah no, there is no fish in the fish-flavored shredded pork.

The sudden break brought by the fish-flavored shredded pork pulled Ji Mingjiang back to reality from the fish menu. In front of him was only a plate of pure, natural, and original fish.

“Help, I really want to eat rice with fish soup…”

Resignedly cutting open the belly of the little whitebait in front of him to remove the bone, Ji Mingjiang wailed softly.

Even during the last period of his life spent in the ward, his mouth was never so dull.

“… What fish soup with rice? How did you know so many human meals?”

Clarice had already opened the door and come in at some point. The quality of this door is top-notch. There’s no noise when it’s opened.

And the sound of Ji Mingjiang’s muttering thoughts covered the sound of human breathing, so he didn’t notice Clarice’s presence until he heard the sound of footsteps.

Looking up, Ji Mingjiang bumped into the helpless eyes of Clarice.

“The doctor has already made an appointment for tomorrow. Didn’t I say that I would give you food after the examination? Why are you in such a hurry?”

Ji Mingjiang glanced at him and didn’t hurry to speak, but handed over the little whitebait that had already been deboned.

“Try; you should be able to eat what I can eat.”

“How is it?” Ji Mingjiang asked after seeing that Clarice hesitated but still swallowed the fish that was too small for him.

“It’s not bad; the taste is fresh and sweet, and the meat is firm and tender. The fish recommended by the Mermaid Center generally tastes good.”

“Ah, that’s true, but it doesn’t have any flavor other than the faint aftertaste after swallowing it?”

After seeing Clarice nod his head, Ji Mingjiang looked at him and said quietly, “I’ve been eating this for a month.”

“Why don’t you change your food for the next month to this taste as well?”