The Merman Freight Elevator

 

To eat a little bird, plucking the fluffy feathers and violently eating it was the crudest method.

Yu Chen preferred to spend time carefully designing a recipe.

Time, location, conditions, and the omega’s current emotions all needed to be meticulously selected and calculated to ensure the sweetest flavor on the taste buds.

Therefore, Yu Chen ordered Uriel to send over a complete set of medical check-up data. He printed it out and worked through the meaning of every information.

He spent far more time on this than on online meetings, leading his subordinates from the 72 Pillars of the Demon Kings to wipe their sweat and ask cautiously:

“Has your health declined recently? It seems the number of times the AI represents you in meetings has increased.”

He told those old, cunning foxes trying to fish for information: “I am considering replacing one of you. Someone is leaking information.”

He tapped the armrest of his chair with satisfaction, leaving the panic and mutual suspicion to others.

When he spoke of “replacement,” it wasn’t as simple as kicking someone out of the group. Rather, it meant making that person’s existence vanish entirely from this world.

Even a centipede with a hundred legs will not stiffen when it dies.

His control over the overall interstellar situation was limited, but he could easily manipulate certain small-scale chessboards.

Of course, it was an awkward position. No room to advance, no ground to retreat.

A game that could be played out, but one where the end was visible to the naked eye—

A dead end.

Sometimes, wisdom drains the body more than ignorance.

Yu Chen pushed these thoughts, which had circled him for over thirty years, to the back of his mind. He pulled out a notebook that was both new and old.

It was old because its production date was in the last century; he remembered that when he could still see, a piece of gold gilding on the bottom right corner had peeled off.

It was new because the pages were unsoiled by a single word, still smelling faintly of fresh ink.

Yu Chen felt his way, placing a ruler against the flyleaf. He carefully turned his wrist, using the ruler as a guide in his blindness to write the first line of text.

[To my little fluffy flower, I hope you bloom fluffily in the future.]

— The Bird’s Recipe.

Knock, knock. Two polite raps sounded on the door.

The door slid open a crack, revealing a dandelion-like head of white hair. A calm voice spoke: “Hello. Can I have dinner a bit later? I need to head out for a while.”

Yu Chen wordlessly tucked the “recipe” into a drawer, locked it with the most secure lock and rolled up his shirt sleeves while he stood and asked, “Where to? Is it related to the competition?”

“Yes.” Bai Ling nodded, though a strange feeling suddenly rippled through his heart.

Did I remember it wrong?

He didn’t think he had mentioned the competition to this fish. How did he know?

I must have let it slip while I was groggy one day. Yeah, that’s it.

He quickly rationalized it to himself, watching Yu Chen stride across the ornate crimson carpet. A palm rested on his shoulder, guiding him out.

“Go down through the waterway. I have a wetsuit here; it’s temperature-controlled. Your reproductive cavity needs care; it’s best not to catch a chill.”

With a few simple words, the arrangements were made.

The AI brought the wetsuit. Bai Ling didn’t shy away from the merman’s presence; he changed directly into the tight-fitting suit, wrapping his dry clothes in a plastic bag and tucking them into a waterproof pouch.

After all, the other person was blind, and it wasn’t him who would have to endure the unbearable imagination being triggered by the rustling of clothes being shed.

However, in Yu Chen’s eyes, this behavior could only be explained by absolute trust.

Yu Chen pondered for a moment, then slowly said, “It’s so cold late at night. I’m still not at ease.”

Bai Ling feared this the most—that the man would keep him there with more nagging. He quickly advised, “Don’t worry your heart over nothing.”

“How could I not worry about you?” A little dog with scruffy fur that still hasn’t healed.

“It doesn’t have to be your heart; it can be me.” Bai Ling gave a sly smile.

Yu Chen: “?”

He chewed on the phrase for a moment before his eyelids twitched. A faint, hard-to-detect trace of mischief rose at the corner of his mouth. He spoke deliberately, word by word:

“You little brat. Trying to bait me.”

Bai Ling crossed his arms and tilted his chin at him. “Well, didn’t you just bite the hook?”

Yu Chen pressed his lips together, simmering in place as he mentally calculated countless ways to devour him. Finally, what escaped his lips was:

“I’ll walk you downstairs.”

His fingers moved to his collar. His long, slender knuckles unfastened the obsidian buttons one by one, gradually revealing the deep, rugged contours of his muscles.

Bai Ling’s gaze froze. The thought ‘Has this guy’s personality changed?’ popped into his head, but he shouted:

“If you’re walking me down, put clothes on! Why are you taking them off?”

Yu Chen gathered his lush, long curly hair, a hint of tenderness flickering in his brow. “Taking you on the elevator.”

Bai Ling stole a glance at the V-shaped abdominal muscles peeking from the edge of the shirt as the man raised his arms. “What elevator?”

Yu Chen said casually, “The Merman Freight Elevator.”

Piece by piece, a body as perfect and robust as a marble sculpture was unveiled. Bai Ling struggled to keep his mind from wandering:

“Why call it a freight elevator?”

“Because,” the merman smiled as he glanced sideways, “I am very big.”

“My physical form is massive.”

As he spoke, he stepped barefoot onto the edge of the pool and leaped with an agile, powerful bound. In that instant, water surged toward the heavens. Foaming, crashing waves hit the pool walls with an ear-piercing impact. A silver-blue tail with metallic sheen appeared, its massive size occupying nearly half the pool.

The merman swam over, resting his pale, powerful arms on the pool’s edge. His golden hair spilled magnificently over the rippling muscles of his back. The cold light plated him in a layer of quicksilver, his sharp, handsome silhouette cutting through the air like the prow of a ship riding the waves in the sea.

Bai Ling’s face flushed red as he looked away, only to steal another glance from the corner of his eye.

Yu Chen brushed back his wet hair, revealing a smooth forehead. Fins, thin and structured as iron wire gauze, rippled in the water as if conveying a signal.

Bai Ling stood dazed in the distance, his heart hammering wildly and his breathing fell into disarray.

The merman beckoned him with a long finger. His lips, as red as if they had just tasted blood, curled into a dangerous smile. Like a Medusa from legends, he used a rich, melodic bass to seduce the passing captain:

“Ride on me, Birdie.”

---

Author’s Note:

Old Merman: (Hooks finger) (Seducing) Ride on me.

Birdie: Where’s the coin slot? I’ll ride for half an hour first.

Old Merman: Ride for half an hour, get eight hours free.

Birdie: ? Won’t the owner lose money? By the way, can you sing that kind of song (Gestures)?

Old Merman: ? What song?

Birdie: The kind from the rocking rides in front of convenience stores. “Daddy’s daddy is called Grandpa~”

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M1zushi: idk why author used medusa instead of other mythical creatures.
it may be related to this?
wkipedia: Hugues Duroy de Chaumareys was a French naval officer, the “incompetent and complacent” captain of the frigate La Méduse when it ran aground off the coast of Mauritania on 2 July 1816 and circa 151 people died.

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JJwxc comments:

1º:

The Bird Paradise has added a new safety escape attraction: the Mermaid Freight Elevator. Maximum capacity is 1 person per ride.

Important Notes: Due to congested passageways, riders should face each other while riding the elevator to ensure they are within the elevator’s monitoring line of sight and avoid collisions.

For your safety and the safety of others, please cross your legs firmly against the back of the elevator and bear the friction between your hips and the elevator’s scales and fins as it moves forward until you reach your destination.
2º:
I finally figured out where that strange sense of déjà vu came from. The old man and his empire are just like the Bolsheviks.

Putting aside political stances, the Soviet Union back then was a great nation, with rules and regulations that both restricted and protected people. Everyone was striving for their country and their home, truly basking in glory.

But then, in a sudden upheaval, their homes were gone. They didn’t die from foreign invasion or natural disasters; it was a man-made catastrophe, quietly annihilated by conspiracies and intrigues. Last night they were looking forward to tomorrow, but the next morning they woke up to find nothing left. Even their past, everything they had fought for, was instantly negated. The powerful tyrants feasted in their high positions, while they were powerless to stop it.

The little white bird’s love for the old merman isboth accidental and inevitable. Like a caged bird longing for its old forest, no little bird wouldn’t love its original home—its birthplace, the starting point of its connection with this world. It was once so powerful and beautiful, but now it only exists in the memory of its birth. So when the little white bird saw the old fish, carrying the scent of decaying sea breeze, its DNA stirred [not really]. It simply remembered its original haven, and then it realized that the person inside was still the same person who had sheltered it from the storm. Falling for it was inevitable.

Returning to that feeling, you can search for “[The Last Captain of the Red Navy].” I remember there’s a video montage; that feeling of “I am a remnant from the old times. There is no ship that can bear me into the New Era,” the helplessness in the face of changing times, is enough to break anyone’s heart.

Therefore, the little bird’s return this time is also an inevitability within accident. An accident led him to discover that there was still a necessary solution to save his homeland here.

Reply: Help, sister’s analysis is exciting…… Indeed, the temperament of the “emperor” in the old  fish is very complex, and it is different from that of ordinary rulers. The heavy and deep feeling he gives people does not look like an ordinary “person” at all, but some kind of national force that carries the will of the people. His high spirits and loss and downturn are closely combined with the fate of the country, rather than indulging himself like the stinky octopus.
When the bird first saw it, he described the old man as an old warship. It’s an instinctive nostalgia for the legitimate soldier who defends his country…… In his previous life, he worked hard to save the country, and in this life, he workshard to warm the old man. His original intention and actions have never changed.