CH 144

“Can I do that? You won’t think it’s dirty?” Bai Chunian laid his head against his.

“You can.” Rimbaud cupped his cheek and taught him. “Sometimes when I say ‘No,’ you don’t have to stop. You can’t leave me if I get angry, you need to come over and hug me like this.” 

“Mn.” Bai Chunian seemed to have received great encouragement and made his move, red-eyed and red-cheeked.

Rimbaud’s fishtail was translucent; after lifting his fins, the thing inside could be vaguely seen. Bai Chunian lowered his head and kept staring.

Rimbaud rarely felt embarrassed. After living for so many years, he was actually shy from being stared at by an alpha younger than him. It was a bit humiliating.

Alphas took time to release, and Rimbaud had become somewhat overwhelmed compared to when he guided him with ease in the beginning.

But Bai Chunian’s learning ability was powerful—after comprehending what Rimbaud said by analogy, he leaned on the merman’s body and wouldn’t let go. Rimbaud gradually couldn’t control him anymore.

Bai Chunian looked as if the chain collar was confining him, but in reality, he was slowly gaining the initiative.

Bai Chunian lifted Rimbaud’s slender arm, pressed down, and flipped him over. His lips faintly brushed against Rimbaud’s nape, inhaling the light fragrance of his pheromones.

His hand went around Rimbaud’s waist and fumbled to find the end of the bandage wrapped around his upper body. He untied the knot and loosened the bandage. 

Rimbaud caught his hand. “Don’t remove it, my back has a scar.”

“I know, I’ve seen it before.” Bai Chunian easily held both of Rimbaud’s hands in his right hand and used his nimble left hand to take off the bandage on his body.

Bai Chunian’s movements were very gentle, but Rimbaud found that he couldn’t break free at all. His strength was as unfathomable as that shown in the fight just now.

Normally, Bai Chunian was just used to being suppressed by Rimbaud and liked to submit to him, but in fact, his strength was much higher than that of Rimbaud. However, Bai Chunian left the muzzle chain in his hands, letting him control the beginning and end of this passionate union of love and desire at any time. 

The bandage fell onto the sand, and Rimbaud revealed his back which hadn’t seen the sunlight in a long time.

His back was full of mottled claw marks. Even though the old wounds had healed, the remaining dark-red patches couldn’t be removed. His scars formed a ghoul face design—the symbol of exile in merfolk language.

“You’ve been wronged.” Bai Chunian lowered his head and kissed his nape. “Your clansmen misunderstood you. Even I misunderstood you before and took revenge.”

“It’s in the past.” Rimbaud raised his head and breathed softly. “You’re still young. You can change.” 

“I’ll help you forget.”

“Frlcu Cccltlijaf?”

“Frlcu atlr.” Djl Jtecljc gjlrfv tlr tjcv, qgfrrfv vbkc bc atf yemxif bc atf yjmx bo atf wehhif, jcv qeiifv jqjga atf ibmx. Ktf mjuf atja mbcolcfv atf yfjra’r affat jcv ibkfg pjk kjr gfwbnfv, jcv bcis j cfmxijmf gfwjlcfv bc tlr cfmx.

Lf qertfv Elwyjev’r rtbeivfgr vbkc, ibkfgfv tlr tfjv, jcv tlr mbjgrf abcuef ilmxfv Elwyjev’r mbiv ktlaf rxlc ecali la aegcfv gfv. Elwyjev mbeivc’a tfiq yea rilutais agfwyif, jcv tf yla tlr uijcv. 

His canines sunk into the fragile skin, and dense brandy pheromones poured in. The fragrance of intoxicating wine spilled out, diffusing in the surrounding air.

“Oh!” Rimbaud’s fingertips dug into the sand, struggling involuntarily. Pain and numbness simultaneously poured into all of his limbs and bones.

Rimbaud’s back gradually showed a fiery red line. As more and more doses of pheromones were injected into his glands, the lines continued to spread like a flowing magma, bright golden flames burning on his snow-white skin.

The lines of the burning flames connected with each other and gradually formed a lion mark. It covered his entire back, covering up the previous dark ghoul face scar. 

“I’ve marked you. It’s permanent, so it can’t be removed.” Bai Chunian kissed him passionately.

The mark left by Bai Chunian was brightly colored; there was a shimmering gold within the fierce red. It was just as passionate as his love and desire.

“When we slept in the same bed and I hugged you too tightly in the middle of the night, you would be scared in your dreams and would mumble that it was hot. I know it’s not because you don’t like me, but you were recalling sad things.” There was a drop of blood on Bai Chunian’s canine. He hugged Rimbaud tightly from behind, and the hot body temperature wrapped Rimbaud’s body. “Forget about the lava, just think I’m hugging you.”

A black pearl rolled from the corner of Rimbaud’s eye and landed in the sand, and then more pearls came streaming down. 

Thanks to a pod of dolphins in the Pacific Ocean, the news of the king bestowing his own body to someone shocked all five oceans overnight. The entire ocean clan was overjoyed and shocked, and everyone celebrated and spread the word.

The afternoon sun was blazing and blinding. Bai Chunian woke up from a deep slumber then raised his arms to block the sun in front of him.

He suddenly snapped out of it, sitting up and looking all around. He noticed that there was only a lone coconut tree next to him—Rimbaud was gone.

Some fine scratches were left on the bark of the coconut tree. Bai Chunian touched those marks and found that his hands were not quite the same as before. 

He couldn’t pinpoint the specific changes, but it felt like his fingernails became a bit more slender, and the gun calluses on his fingers had disappeared.

He walked to the edge of the water, looked at his face reflected in the water’s calm surface, and was stunned.

In the past, Bai Chunian had been in a state where he didn’t feel that there was anything special about his appearance because his aesthetics and human aesthetics had not been well integrated. Moreover, most of the experimental subjects had almost the same type of appearance, so Bai Chunian didn’t feel that there was anything special about him.

But it was different now. Although there were no obvious changes in facial features, when combined together, he was so handsome that even Bai Chunian could tell. 

“Ah, this. How come?” Bai Chunian rubbed his own face; his bone structure seemed to have undergone fine-tuning.

He tried using his J1 ability, Bone Armor, and discovered that his own power seemed as if it had been purified. The energy consumed to unleash a whole body Bone Armor was only half than it was before.

“…Where did Rimbaud go?”

He looked around for a long time, then suddenly touched the collar on his neck and was suddenly comforted. He sat down and waited at ease. 

One hour later, Rimbaud popped out of the water, shook his wet blond hair, jumped out of the water, and sat on the island.

He carried a large scallop under his arm and another on his shoulder. It took a lot of effort to lift the two big guys up because the shell was slippery and round, and it was difficult to hold them.

He was bare-chested. The fire-colored lion mark on his back was still gleaming, it was like engraved lava.

Rimbaud made a sharp knife from hydrated steel, skillfully pried open the edge of the shell, dug out the shell meat, and cut it into small pieces. 

Suddenly his waist was tightened, and a pair of strong alpha arms wrapped around him. Bai Chunian clung to him from behind, hugged him into the gap between his legs, lowered his head, and kissed his hair.

“I’m cooking, move it, don’t bother me.” Rimbaud turned his tail and used an empty shell to scoop up some seawater, then placed it on the hot sand to let it dry up and make some salt.

“Mn, no, I want to cuddle.” Bai Chunian put his chin on Rimbaud’s shoulder and clung close to him. He grumbled, “Why didn’t you wear anything before going into the water?”

“There’s no one looking in the sea.” 

“There’s fish looking. All the fish are watching. Even a turtle just swam by. The damn old man looked at you so many times. Fuck.” Bai Chunian took out the washed and sundried bandages and wrapped them back on Rimbaud’s body. “Quick, put these on. Your skin will get damaged from the sun later. I bought so much sunscreen for you, but you always refuse to apply it.”

“…” Rimbaud pushed away Bai Chunian’s face, which was pressed up beside him. “You’re so clingy today.”

“How?” Bai Chunian’s lips nestled against the gland on his nape, where he had marked with many bite marks, kissing it. “Hey, I have something to talk to you about.”

Rimbaud lowered his eyes and used the hydrated steel knife to spread the dried salt water onto the diced shellfish meat. “No, you did it too many times. I’m still swollen, and my waist also hurts.” 

“…I wasn’t going to…”

“What is it, then?”

“This.” Bai Chunian raised his head and hooked up the collar on his neck. “Is it useful for you to normally have it? If not, I’ll keep it for you.”

“You like it?” 

“…Mn.”

“Then keep on wearing it.”

“It’s mine, then.” Bai Chunian became happy. Originally, only a black pearl was worn on his neck. The necklace was made out of the Dead Sea heart rock, and its essence existed in the form of hydrated steel. After the chain was removed, his connection with Rimbaud was severed. Thus, it turned black and looked like glittering, translucent steel.

Like a child who had received a birthday present, Bai Chunian let go of Rimbaud, went to collect dried grass, ignited it with a lighter, and started cooking. 

The two were sitting on the small floating island, each holding a roasted scallop and eating, and their legs in the clear seawater.

Many multicolored fish converged by Rimbaud’s fishtail, fighting over to eat blue jellyfish that came from bubbles stirred by his fish tail. If a fish swallowed a jellyfish, its coloring would become exceptionally beautiful, and its body would grow a bit bigger accordingly.

Bai Chunian raised his head to see four coconuts hanging from the towering coconut tree and muttered, “Do you think those coconuts are ripe? I’m very thirsty.”

“It’s ripe.” Rimbaud’s scales flashed golden, and a ripe coconut loosened and fell down, falling right on top of the thrown shell. An opening was cut, and the coconut was ready to drink. 

“Mn?” Bai Chunian picked up the coconut confusedly and poured the sweet juice into his mouth. “So sweet. It must be the sweetest out of the four.”

“Why aren’t you talking? Are you unhappy?” Bai Chunian shifted over to approach him. His ears were drooping down, looking like he had done something wrong.

“I ate the HD agent.” Rimbaud bowed his head and moved around the few remaining pieces of meat inside the shell. “There were so many of them, and I was hurrying to find you.”

“It’s ok. Besides, we already have a sample, the one taken from the Triangular Pyramid Cabin before. It’ll be fine as long as we don’t let them get it.” Bai Chunian stretched his body, put his hand on Rimbaud’s sun-dried blond hair, and rubbed it. “What new ability did you get?” 

“Koi Blessing. My luck will become very good, and it doesn’t need my intentional activation. This ability will select a fitting occasion to release by itself.”

Bai Chunian suppressed a smile. “It suits you pretty well.”

Rimbaud stuck the tip of his tail up, turned around, and asked him, “Are we on our honeymoon right now?”

“…This doesn’t count. It only counts when we’re on a trip, a long-distance trip. 

“Ok.”

The small island they were on kept floating, and they didn’t have a map. Bai Chunian also didn’t know where they had floated to, but his communicator was still working. He could contact his teammates, who had already returned to the PBB military base.

He listened to Bi Lanxing’s report. They had found survivors hidden in the pharmaceutical factory and lots of people being bought and sold, used for live experiments. He took care of the pictures and reports that night and handed them back to the headquarters. Furthermore, He Suowei had led people to capture Experimental Subject Demonic Voice Cicada alive, the one who ambushed them. They were interrogating him right now and should have information once he returned.

After contacting his teammate, Bai Chunian felt more or less reassured and put down his communicator. He saw Rimbaud sitting by the water alone, looking toward the boundless sea surface. 

He also sat over there and threw a small, dry shell into the sea. “What are you thinking about?”

Rimbaud gazed at the flat, distant sea surface and said to himself, “I don’t agree with the humans calling this planet ‘Earth.’ Just the Pacific Ocean alone is vaster than all of the land combined. There’s obviously more ocean. At least call it ‘Ocean.’ They’re arrogant, rude, and unreasonable. Also, it isn’t serene at all. The sea is easily angered. I’m still not used to humanity’s stupidity, arrogance, and superficialness after so long.”

“Stupidity produces disasters.” Rimbaud raised his hand and placed it on his broad back.

“Forget it. Let’s go back first.” 

“Mn, hold on.” Bai Chunian lifted his hand, pushed up the bottom of his tank top, and used one of Rimbaud’s fingers to draw a straight blue line on his hip bone, three centimeters long.

He drew another one shortly after, four centimeters long.

And another one, two centimeters long.

Then one more, three centimeters long. 

Rimbaud watched him attentively draw lines on himself and asked, puzzled, “Do these have a particular significance?”

“Yep. It’s the number of times we made love.”

“Why aren’t they the same lengths?”

“One millimeter stands for one minute.”