Strict possessiveness

Bai Ling’s delicate eyelashes trembled, and he looked at him with a hazy gaze.

The merman resembled a sculpture eroded in the cold night, with his eyebrows and eyes slightly lowered, his sharp jaw cast long shadows, and the small lamp held between his bony fingers quietly glowed, shrouding his face in a hazy, ancient light.

Bai Ling subconsciously reached out and brushed the “fog” from his eyes.

After a while, he realized that what was blurry was not Yu Chen, but his own burning hot eyes.

Bai Ling tremblingly said, “Hello… It’s a pleasure to meet you, very nice…”

This greeting seems somewhat odd in the current context.

Like a mechanical bird stuck in a cassette tape, after its battery was completely depleted and the main chip nearly burned out, it was finally freed from its anxiety. At this point, all it could do was express loyalty according to its programmed instructions.

Yu Chen couldn’t help but kiss his forehead, which was soaked with cold sweat, and smoothed his thin spine with his palm. “Poor child… quickly spit out the medicine.”

The merman stroked his tense, throbbing Adam’s apple, gently rubbing the area around his throat through the thin skin, indicating that he should spit it into his palm.

Bai Ling couldn’t help but look at his hands.

This time, the interlaced palm lines were not visible. The hand was wrapped in a black lambskin glove, and when brought close to the nose, the pungent smell of animal leather could be smelled.

Bai Ling was bewitched into opening his mouth, and a bitter taste of alpha pheromones slid down his lips, wetting his gloves.

Yu Chen pulled out a handkerchief from his chest, wiped himself casually, and stuffed the pills and handkerchief back into his pocket.

He collected the omega’s saliva, leaving not a single trace at the scene and not letting other alphas even smell it.

Bai Ling had no idea how possessive this was.

He just stared at the bluish vein peeking out from the cuff and edge of the glove when Yu Chen raised his hand, and murmured, “Why are you wearing gloves? Can you take them off?”

“You don’t like it?” Yu Chen’s palm touched his forehead, covering the sweaty hair.

“I don’t like you being tied down.”

The merman’s heavy breathing paused for two seconds. He lowered his eyes and curled his lips, feeling the restraint that had been locked deep in his heart for so long roaring and trying to break free of its cage.

Wearing gloves to prevent skin contact is necessary to avoid exacerbating omega addiction symptoms.

But for Bai Ling, it was an obstacle preventing him from venting his instincts.

As Yu Chen touched his forehead, Bai Ling, as if possessed, bit the edge of the glove.

Yu Chen’s breathing became noticeably heavier, but Bai Ling was completely unaware. He tilted his head back and struggled, and the tightly bound gloves were ripped off by the raptor’s sharp beak. Long fingers immediately replaced the uncomfortable leather and landed on Bai Ling’s cheek.

He released his fangs, letting the glove fall into his palm, and expressionlessly pocketed it as a trophy.

“It’s mine.”

Yu Chen frowned slightly. This willful little bird, does it even know what it’s doing?

The little bird, controlled by the nest-building instinct, had no sense of reason, and persuasion was useless, so Yu Chen decided to take back the gloves directly.

But as soon as he made a move, the little bird grabbed his wrist and put his hand in his hair.

Yu Chen immediately understood what this meant.

On this planet, the juvenile birds that have not yet fully differentiated haven’t fully developed their wings. Although they look grown up, they still linger in their nest, seizing every opportunity to snuggle up to their parents and ask their elders to preen their feathers.

Unlike cats and dogs, birds do not rely on their sense of smell to distinguish relatives.

A baby bird only recognizes who treats it well as its mother. This is the origin of the chick effect, an instinct ingrained in its DNA.

Since the last century, the Empire has taken in refugees from across the Milky Way on a large scale, 70% of whom are underage orphans. In the absence of care, guardians have become a necessity to convey emotional value in place of relatives.

Bai Ling should have asked his guardian for a pat.

But now she’s clinging to him…

Yu Chen sighed softly, ruffled his hair, and ran his fingertips across his soft scalp, carefully combing it.

The little bird bit his lip in a flustered manner, so comfortable that he unconsciously stood on tiptoe, his breathing even carried a slight nasal sound.

But Bai Ling forgot that his prosthetic knee was shattered, and the remaining steel structure was insufficient to support his weight.

With a “crack,” the steel shinbone bent, scattering more gear parts all over the ground.

Bai Ling instinctively hooked his arm around the merman’s neck and tightly held onto him to maintain his balance.

“…Could you please help me up so I can pick up the pieces?” Bai Ling said softly.

Yu Chen wrapped his arms around his waist and moved his lips as if to say something. But the little bird bent down deftly, his soft belly against his arm, and casually picked up the fragments piece by piece.

Yu Chen asked, “Have you picked everything up? Is anything missing?”

“Two boards broke off, but it’s okay. We can just go to the repair shop and find some old plastic to put them back together. Don’t worry.”

The intention was to reassure him, but Yu Chen felt more anxious after hearing it.

Bai Ling silently tugged at the straps binding his thighs, concealing some facts without any remorse.

There’s no need to say too much and make the other person worry. As a merman of deep-sea nobility, being imprisoned in the Cold Palace is already pitiful enough. Running down to find him in the cold of the night, perhaps he was also afraid of the dark and the power outage?

No… Yu Chen can’t see in the first place.

If he’s blind, why is he carrying a lantern?

Bai Ling asked whatever came to mind, but Yu Chen’s answer deeply touched him:

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to see my face in the dark and won’t want to come with me.”

“I do!”

The moment he finished speaking, both of them froze in surprise. Bai Ling twitched his lips and turned his face away, wondering what strange thing he had just said; it sounded like he was making some kind of vow…

Yu Chen chuckled softly, his voice tinged with an indescribable pleasure: “Alright, leave it all to me.”

He took the parts directly from Bai Ling and put them all into his pants pocket.

Bai Ling blankly stared at him as he stuffed part of his prosthetic limb into his bulging pocket.

It was as if he had personally handed over his shattered self to him.

Yu Chen unbuttoned his black camel hair coat and draped it over Bai Ling’s shoulders. Then, he turned his back, bent halfway at the knees, and gently said, “Come on, I’ll take you away. With my current mental strength, I can only suppress them for a limited time.”

Bai Ling did not shirk his responsibility; wounded soldiers on the battlefield should obey orders and coordinate the evacuation without hindering the process.

Moreover, he has already destroyed 80% of the guard robots, and the others have been moved to a secure location. If he stays here, he’d become a sitting duck and incite more alphas to rebel.

Bai Ling knew from their first encounter that Yu Chen’s mental strength was exceptional, but seeing him crush twenty or so alphas under his feet was still quite shocking.

Merfolk bloodlines naturally possess a multidimensional advantage in mental strength.

It is said that merfolk can see human brainwaves, and based on this, they have even evolved the ability to capture electromagnetic waves in the air.

During the first industrial revolution on ancient Earth, merfolk mastered the method of interpreting electromagnetic waves and eavesdropped on the music from nearby human base stations, holding dance parties on the seabed.

In short, they are all a crowd who come with their own “FM radios”.

Moreover, they can mimic and transmit frequency bands, intercepting signals in the air, with a much wider transmission and reception range than a mobile base station.

Theoretically speaking, if a merfolk is strong enough, then their wireless “wifi” could cover the entire planet.

Bai Ling heard his middle school history teacher describe it this way.

At the time, he had a peculiar fascination with the incomparably powerful Izsu Paraiso, so he raised his hand and asked, “So that’s how those milk carts move? They connect to merman Wi-Fi and start singing loudly.”

The history teacher didn’t mock him; instead, he meaningfully looked at Bai Ling and said:

“This is just a bold conjecture, but in reality, it is almost impossible to do with the physical body. Unless this merman is so obsessed with power that he doesn’t want to live anymore and is willing to burn his lifespan to control the world.”

Perhaps Izsu Paraiso ruined himself in this way, beyond salvation.

Bai Ling rested on Yu Chen’s shoulder, lost in thought.

Actually, he used to be quite hopeless, thinking about becoming Izsu Paraiso’s little slave or something… and to repay the life-saving grace, he enthusiastically joined the army, enlisted, and wanted to squeeze into the Emperor’s personal guard to see for himself what that old man looked like.

Looking back now…

Well, he might also have the common problem of mecha mercenaries: admiring the powerful.

But none of that matters. “I’ve grown up… I’ve gotten rid of my bad habits…” Bai Ling murmured to herself.

Yu Chen slightly raised his chin and asked with a smile, “What bad habit?”

Bai Ling said calmly, “It’s alright to tell you, I used to have unrealistic fantasies about Izsu Paraiso.”

“And now?”

“I’ve changed my mind now, I won’t fall for that old man's tricks again!”

“I will never be obsessed with him again!” Bai Ling angrily hugged Yu Chen’s neck, rested his head on his shoulder, secretly picked up a strand of golden hair to grind his teeth, and said firmly:

“But rest assured, I will ensure your safety from now on.”

Yu Chen turned his back to him and the corners of his mouth quietly softened.

No wonder… he raised this little bird himself.

Yu Chen suddenly slowed down and stopped halfway. They had just passed through a dense formation of robots, and a few steps ahead was the group of dazed alphas.

Yu Chen handed the lamp in his hand to his little bird and told Bai Ling:

“Take this lamp and let it light our way.”

Bai Ling always felt that those words held a profound significance.

But at that moment, he couldn’t dig any deeper to find their full meaning.

All he knew was that on this night, a merman carried him, wounded from battle, and they moved slowly forward through the darkness.

The little bird held the lantern, becoming the merman’s eyes.

And the merman carried the bird, becoming his legs.

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M1zushi:Tomorrow’s chapter will be uploaded at the same time as today~~