CH 80.1

Translate by Hua

A galaxy away, the Federation.

“Still no results?”

Half of Abbot Wilson’s face was completely obscured by the light brain screen. From the perspective of the person who came to report, only a portion of his chin and straight corners of his mouth could be seen.

“Yes, Mr. Chairman1Chairman here refers to a speaker of a legislative assembly..” Lowering his head respectfully, the visitor took out a stack of reports that the institute had just given him from the space button and handed them to Abbot Wilson’s hand, which had just been stretched out from behind the screen.

“This is the result that the institute has worked overtime in the past few days to provide. They selected twenty mermaids as experimental samples, conducted controlled tests, and tried all common and uncommon stimulating methods and drugs, yet not a single one of them showed any tendency to change form.”

After briefly summarizing the contents of the thick report, the short and thin man shut his mouth tightly and stopped making a sound. In the office that was large enough to accommodate several departments, there were only two light and heavy breathing sounds and the rustle of Abbott Wilson flipping the paper.

“Snapped!”

Ten minutes later, when the man’s legs were a little sore from standing, the document he had just handed over was slammed on the table with a crisp sound, and the snow-white papers were scattered everywhere.

“A bunch of useless things.”

Hearing the chairman’s calm voice utter extremely derogatory and angry words, the thin man’s head hung lower. He didn’t dare look at Abbot Wilson’s expression at this time, nor did he want to think deeply about the end of the group of researchers who hadn’t given any results. He’s just a messenger anyway, and Abbott’s anger couldn’t reach him no matter how high it rose.

As he expected, after a few “clatters” on the table, Abbott Wilson spoke again, and the words that came out of his mouth made him breathe a sigh of relief.

“Okay, you have nothing to do here. Go out and call the Minister of Foreign Affairs over.”

“Wait.” When he had already pulled the door knob and was about to walk out, Abbott Wilson suddenly stopped him. His tone expressed volume. Although he couldn’t see his face clearly, it still made the man tremble all over.

“After you get out, you have to know what to say and what not to say. I will only emphasize this once.”

“Yes, yes, Mr. Chairman, of course I know.” The thin man bowed repeatedly and assured.

……

“Chairman, what can I do for you?” Five minutes later, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose tie was still a little crooked, knocked on the door and walked in.

The headache-inducing scent of perfume drifted to Abbot’s nose with his vigorous movements, and it was also mixed with a hint of sea smell. He frowned and said with some disgust, “Andrew, What did you crawl out of again? Do you need me to remind you that this is a workplace during working hours?”

“Sorry, sorry, I’ve been too busy these past two days and want to relax. Don’t worry, chairman, I won’t delay your work.” Andrew sniffed his collar and cuffs and found that the smell was indeed a bit strong. He patted his clothes and showed a flattering smile.

“You’d better be.” Casting a warning look, Abbot Wilson canceled the privacy mode of the light brain, waved to the somewhat absent-minded Andrew, and said, “Come and take a look.”

On his screen was Ji Mingjiang’s live broadcast room. A weird mermaid with top-notch looks was walking side by side with the emperor of the Empire. Abbot then clicked on the barrage. It was full of Empire people’s horrible and meaningless remarks about beauty.

After failing to obtain any useful information, Abbott turned on the shielding setting again and gestured to Andrew, whose eyes were looking straight, to carefully observe Ji Mingjiang on the live screen. “See anything?”

“He’s indeed a beauty. Clarice’s new favorite? I haven’t heard of it before. It has been rumored before that this emperor is a war machine and has no personal thoughts except fighting. Are we going to snatch him away to threaten Clarice?”

Having just crawled out of the passionate land, Andrew’s mind was filled with nothing but depravity. He has a temperament that is compatible with both men and women. At this time, after being completely attracted by the elegant silver-haired beauty, he was even more unable to comprehend the deep meaning of Abbott Wilson’s words.

“Idiot, if your mind is still so unclear, I wouldn’t mind changing the Minister of Foreign Affairs!”

Casually picking up a document on the table and smashing it on his head, Abbot’s eyes scrutinized Andrew, whose eyes were still a bit sluggish. While sternly scolding him, his mind was really thinking about the feasibility of replacing him.

But now the temporary promotion process is not finished, and he can’t trust others to handle some key matters. Although Andrew sometimes slips up, he has a lot of handles in his hands, which are safer to use than those who are simply more efficient…

As his mind was spinning, Abbot quickly calmed down his expression, put aside the idea of replacement, pointed at Ji Mingjiang’s face, and said, “Don’t you think he looks familiar? This is a mermaid named Ji Mingjiang that has recently become popular in the Empire. Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“Oh, it turns out it’s him…” Andrew suddenly realized—no wonder he looked familiar.

After looking at the time and his own schedule, Abbot Wilson interrupted Andrew’s words and said quickly: “The Orfield family that has been in contact with us has been seized. That useless thing, Bisnar Orfield, was also sentenced to death. It was also because of this incident that Ji Mingjiang and the mermaid named Kiro were found to be abnormal.”

He sneered, and his carefully groomed beard trembled up and down as he spoke. “They outwardly say that mermaids are supposed to be able to shift freely between the two forms, but it’s too much of a coincidence. A situation that hasn’t arisen in hundreds or thousands of years suddenly has two instances, both of which are related to Clarice. It would be truly absurd if there weren’t some conspiracy behind this.”

“We haven’t come up with anything on our end. I need you to contact Grepa Orch and find a chance to catch these two mermaids for me. If it doesn’t work, just one will do. Sending him to the Empire has left him idle for so long, so it’s time for him to move.”

All the matters were handled by his subordinates, so Andrew, who hasn’t paid attention to any news about the Empire recently, was dizzy by Abbot Wilson’s long words. However, with the warning he had just received, he dared even less to show any abnormality, so he had to nod and bow all over again to respond.

Anyway, in a nutshell, it’s just to contact Grepa to catch two mermaids. If the cause and effect are unclear, it won’t have a significant impact. It’s more important to keep his position.

“Okay Chairman. I have written it all down and will inform him right away.”

“Get out.”

This matter is fine as long as the message was conveyed properly, and it doesn’t require Andre to have any outstanding working ability. Therefore, although he was still dissatisfied with him messing around during working hours, Abbot finally just waved his hand and signaled this man wrapped in an unpleasant odor to get out of his office.

After the door was closed again, he clicked on the live broadcast room and continued watching, his fingers making irregular sounds on the table.

Watching the interaction between the two, Abbot’s attention this time shifted from Ji Mingjiang to Clarice, who was wearing a funny hat. He twirled his beard and let out a sneer, his eyes full of anticipation and mirth.

“Even you can’t avoid worldly affairs, Clarice. I’m really looking forward to your expression afterward.”

***

“What’s wrong?”

Just after he finished hanging the small sign with the red rope, Ji Mingjiang turned around and saw Clarice frowning. “The words on it faded so quickly?”

“No.” After carefully wrapping the red rope around the branch and tying a knot, Leiden bent his fingers and rubbed the tip of his nose. “My nose was a little itchy just now, and I felt like sneezing.”

The camera ball was still a bit far away from the two of them at this point, so Leiden didn’t have to care about his image, as he said to Ji Mingjiang next to him.

His breath, which was warmer in comparison to the surrounding environment, directly hit the ear fins that were pointed upward. While the owner of the ear fins still had no expression on his face, the light blue ear fins, which looked even more translucent in the sheet of ice and snow, lifted up and down as if they couldn’t stand it, and then curled themselves up under Leiden’s gaze.

“…” Although Clarice was so close to him when he spoke just now, and his burning breath did make him take a step to the right, Ji Mingjiang still didn’t understand why his ear fins were moving so much.

Could it be that the ear fins of a mermaid are parts with independent thoughts, just like a cat’s tail?

After being speechless for a moment, Ji Mingjiang touched his chin and looked at Clarice with suspicious eyes. “Sneeze… You don’t have a cold, do you?”

After receiving a firm denial from the other party, Ji Mingjiang clapped his hands and said firmly, “Then someone must be scolding you.”

“…”

It was not entirely unreasonable. Thinking of the dead Bisnar Orfield, Leiden suddenly felt that what Ji Mingjiang said wasn’t impossible.

Now the other members of the Orfield family who were not sentenced to death and the Federation people who learned of his death must be really cursing him in their hearts.

After hanging up the sign, the two went inside to burn incense for the god enshrined in the temple and then walked out on time at half past nine.

The time they went back happened to be the time when most tourists got up. There were many more people on the street than when they first came. The thick and flat snow on the roadside was also covered with a series of messy and muddy footprints. There is no beauty left in it.

Along the way, he chatted with the audience about a lot of topics. Feeling that today’s live broadcast time is almost over and there’s no scenery to see, Ji Mingjiang said goodbye and then prepared to go off the air.

“Don’t be like this. I still remember the live broadcast, even when I’m traveling. I’m already very dedicated to my job.”

Looking at the barrages that filled the screen accusing him of fishing every day, Ji Mingjiang raised his eyebrows and said as if he were dissatisfied.

[But today is only an hour and a half! ]

[You just have to live broadcast more if you want to travel. Cub Jiang, your live broadcast is not work; there’s no such thing as working overtime! ]

[Those anchors who live broadcast all day long will come over and beat you when they hear your words of dedication! ]

“There really is nothing to live broadcast for you now.” He was about to reach the door of the villa, and it was hard to continue. Ji Mingjiang helplessly took the camera ball and turned it around, recording the black and white muddy snow. After giving them a look, he said, “Let’s stop here for today. I’ll find a suitable scenic spot to continue tomorrow. I promise!”

He remembered reading on his light brain that there were a few good ski resorts here, so tomorrow he’d let the audience, who had just accepted that he’d grown two legs, enjoy his nimble skiing form.

It should make sense that a mermaid who had gotten legs for two days would learn to ski…

That must be the case.