The Lazy Merman

Bai Ling would’ve never imagined even in his wildest dreams that one day he would ride Izsu Paraiso and act recklessly.

This time, he didn’t need to take a deep breath beforehand and pinch his nose to hold it. The merman had equipped him with an oxygen tank, which was strapped to the curve of his streamlined waist.

It was like being attached to a torpedo.

The oxygen tank’s casing was covered in peeling, mottled paint, making it look more like an unexploded artillery shell unearthed from a battlefield.

Bai Ling couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it, reminiscing about the glorious years he spent firing cannon on desolate planets.

“Little friend, hold on to the handles. Don’t go poking the engine,” Yu Chen reminded him, feeling those claw-like fingers rubbing against his waist.

Bai Ling huffed a laugh, intentionally poking the man’s lower back with a finger. “You dare to tell me to ride you and now you’re afraid I’ll take you apart?”

A merman’s form is different from a human’s. Though their scales are incredibly hard and impenetrable, the soft flesh in the gaps are highly sensitive; designed to feel the ocean’s flow and minimize resistance while swimming.

After poking it twice, Bai Ling clearly felt the fish tail stiffen and harden. The old man turned his head, and with his eyes hidden in the shadows, he showed a half-smile.

“If you poke me again, we aren’t going anywhere,” Yu Chen’s voice rose slightly.

Bai Ling sheepishly withdrew his hand, trying his best not to imagine what the man would do if they didn’t go anywhere.

The merman’s spine floated on the water’s surface. If one observed closely, they would be able to see the shape of the vertebrae protruding like a keel.

Merfolk bones are sturdier than a human’s. Through the white, satiny skin, Bai Ling could clearly trace the rise and fall of every single vertebra. They seemed heavy and ancient, like the feeling you had when gently stroking the rings of an old tree.

People said that one can tell a merfolk’s age by their spine.

A young merfolk vertebrae aren’t fully formed and are soft, hardening during adolescence. At the peak of middle age, the bones can pierce through the back, forming fan-shaped, streamlined dorsal spines.

The more ostentatious the shape, the better the genetics and the stronger the body, making them highly popular during mating season.

But this old fish’s back was smooth; there wasn’t a single spine.

Terrible thoughts flashed through Bai Ling’s mind for a moment. Perhaps the old fish was once captured by his political enemies, locked in a water dungeon, and had his spines pulled out one by one? Or maybe he was so old he had osteoporosis, and like a bird losing its flight feathers during stress, he woke up one morning and found they had all fallen out?

Bai Ling was the type who had to get to the bottom of everything. Resting his chin on Yu Chen’s shoulder, he frowned and asked directly: “Where are your spines?”

Yu Chen smoothly answered him, “I tucked them away.”

Bai Ling let out a sigh of relief. As long as they weren’t pulled out. He lowered his head to search again. “Tucked where? In your belly?”

Yu Chen tilted his eyes slightly. “You seem very interested in my anatomy?”

Bai Ling spoke with righteous conviction: “Of course. Didn’t you ask me to do ‘repairs’? To be responsible, it’s normal to understand the internal structure. Usually, I’d even ask for the blueprints.”

Yu Chen couldn’t help but laugh. The little bird was never stingy about showing how much he cared. He was a generous child.

Yu Chen put on the helmet brought by the AI, straightened his back, and twisted his waist to check the seal of the oxygen mask on the little bird riding his hip one last time.

Then, his voice boomed out like a steam whistle at the harbor:

“Hold onto my neck tight. The ship is departing.”

Bai Ling hurriedly pressed his chest against him, unable to suppress his excitement. Right before the final immersion into the water, he joked: “Wow, this must count as first class, right?”

The merman corrected him: “No. This is the child safety seat on a private boat.”

Bai Ling burst into the most cheerful laugh since his regression. He now knew why the old fish had prepared oxygen for him. His vision sank into the water, and the roar of bubbles filled his ear canal. After a long while, he realized he was still snorting through his noise.

…Ah.

Am I getting a bit too carried away?

Warm breath hit the diving mask’s goggles, and because of the ice-cold water, a thin layer of mist soon condensed on the lens.

Bai Ling licked the transparent cover and the water droplets gathered on the tip of his tongue, making him taste a sour-sweetness tinged with bitterness.

This seems to be his pheromones.

A small window was licked clear in his blurred vision, allowing him to see the merman’s hair drifting and dancing in the water.

To let Bai Ling’s body adjust to the water pressure, Yu Chen didn’t swim very fast at first. Once they rounded the bend of the deep-water bath and formally entered the waterway, he picked up the pace while maintaining a steady undulation.

As they descended deeper, the faint light from above gradually vanished, plunging them into a claustrophobic darkness.

Due to past unpleasant experiences, Bai Ling was actually somewhat resistant to narrow, dark spaces. However, after so many years in his previous life, that fear had faded significantly. He only experienced slightly cold hands and feet and some emotional discomfort.

He could endure it for a few minutes.

Suddenly, the merman slowed down and reached up to press a button on his helmet.

In an instant, a faint, soft light bled into the darkness. It wasn’t bright, but it was enough to dispel the unease hidden in the depths of his heart.

Bai Ling instinctively clung tighter to the merman’s shoulders. Like a moth to a flame, he desperately yearned to bring himself closer to the light. Then he rested his face against the mask and closed his eyes.

A faint light shone through the thin eyelids, proclaiming its existence.

He didn’t leave.

He was still here.

It was as if he had returned to that quiet, ordinary night, where an old-fashioned truck with glowing headlights clattered up a slope, carrying him toward a warm, distant shore.

---

To his surprise, the merman did not smack the valve open with his tail and shove him out as he had during their first encounter in the waterway.

Bai Ling noticed him swimming into an inconspicuous branch.

The diameter here was narrower, and the space significantly shrunk. For a large merman with a tail and fins exceeding three meters, he had to hug the pipe walls and slow his speed to prevent Bai Ling’s head from knocking against the passage.

A small, rusted iron door blocked their path. Yu Chen crushed the iron lock hanging from it with a single squeeze. As he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, dark red rust bled into the water.

After passing through this small underwater door and swimming for about ten minutes, the change in water pressure became palpable. Bai Ling felt himself being pushed upward by the current behind him and in less than two seconds, the merman brought him to the surface.

“Hopefully, the power supply system here hasn’t been eaten away by moths yet.”

Yu Chen was next to him, but Bai Ling couldn’t hear him clearly; a persistent buzzing echoed in his ears. By the time the side effects of the dive subsided, the merman had already caught him by the waist and lifted him from the water onto dry ground.

Yu Chen felt along the wall from memory and found a small, dust-covered switch.

Click.

Light filled the room. Bai Ling blinked, pulled off his diving mask, and surveyed the small, deserted room. It looked like an underground laundry room where a protagonist might escape in a horror movie.

It was crudely finished with a single layer of putty on the walls and some carts in the corner containing nothing but decomposing cardboard boxes. There was, however, a cabinet against the base of the wall; it wasn’t some gold-inlaid royal-made item, but rather quite plain.

It was from this wood-stained cabinet that the merman pulled out a long cloth, unfurling it in his hands to wrap around his waist.

The merman stood with his back to him. Bai Ling accidentally caught a glimpse of that tall, model-like physique. His eyes brushed over the taut waist and hips, and what he saw made his eyelids jump and his earlobes burn. He silently ground his teeth.

“Hungry?” Yu Chen’s ears were incredibly sharp.

“…I’m alright.” Bai Ling lowered his head, found a clean spot, and began changing his clothes.

“The valve over there connects to the bay outside the palace. At this temperature, the coastal surface has already frozen; it wouldn’t be easy for you to climb ashore. If you went through the main gate of the Palace Tower, you’d easily be caught by surveillance.”

“So if you want to go out, this path is more secure.”

As Yu Chen spoke, he tightened the cloth around his hips. His bony knuckles brushed through his wet hair, casually raking the long, dark-damp curls like a languid lion. He walked toward Bai Ling with long, muscular legs.

A wave of heat traveled from Bai Ling’s cheeks to his toes. He turned his head away and his hands shook so much he could barely pull on his sweater.

In the past, when he was stationed in the ICU due to injuries, he often heard the nurses joking around during shift changes about which alpha in which ward was more handsome or which beta was more of a gentleman.

The most common description they used was “overflowing with pheromones.”

Bai Ling failed to differentiate in his past life, and since even the strongest alphas in the Empire became a pile of scrap metal after he blasted them, he could only ever smell burnt rubber. He had no idea what kind of alpha could be described as “overflowing with pheromones to the point where you want to lay an egg after two glances.”

But this old man before him was giving him a vivid lesson.

“…Fuck,” Bai Ling cursed with a trembling voice.

Even the act of draping a piece of scrap cloth made this man show such grace and breathtaking beauty.

It was a testament to his conscience that he didn’t use this face to go out and bewitch the masses.

Yu Chen touched the bag on the ground with his toes, bent down, and casually took out a small, crammed down jacket from it. He shook it out and patted the down filling to make it fluffy before handing it to Bai Ling.

Bai Ling eyelashes trembled as he took it, zipped it up, and wrapped his scarf twice around his neck.

Since Yu Chen couldn’t see, he reached out to feel. His sharp eyebrows frowned, though his tone remained gentle: “This won’t do. You have to tuck the ends of the scarf into the jacket so the wind won’t blow it off.”

He tucked the ends in for the little bird, bundling him up tight.

It looked like a parent bird patiently preening a fledgling’s feathers before its first flight.

Out of some unidentifiable impulse, Bai Ling stood on his tiptoes. Looking at that high forehead and deep-set eyes, he quickly raised his arms. It looked exactly like a fledgling asking for food

“Hmm? Want a hug?” Yu Chen gently squeezed the bird dumpling.

He truly was a bird dumpling now. Once the white down jacket was on, his slender waist vanished, and he felt like a pawpaw when squeezed.

The bridge of Yu Chen’s firm nose pressed against the bird’s forehead, lingering intimately for a few seconds before pulling away. Yu Chen gently rubbed the bird’s head.

“I’m wet, I can’t hug you. If you get wet and go out into the wind, you’ll freeze.”

Bai Ling instinctively replied, “Getting wet by you is better than being blown by the sea wind.”

Yu Chen softly refused him, “Still no.” Letting the kid catch a cold wasn’t his style.

Then, Yu Chen led him to the cluttered corner, brought him into a gap, and found a wall.

Various long pieces of wood were messily nailed to the base of the wall, seemingly hiding something. Yu Chen bent down and, in a few swift motions using his fingernails as screwdrivers, stripped the wood away and gave the section a push.

Whoosh~ a gust of cold wind swirled past their ears.

Bai Ling looked out at the deep blue sky in shock, then turned back to the merman. “What is this? A secret dog hole in the palace?”

The merman’s expression became reminiscent, as if recalling some past event. He chuckled low: “Since a puppy is crawling through it now, I suppose it can be renamed a dog hole.”

“Hmph.” Bai Ling poked his abs twice but didn’t deny it.

He thought back to the merman taking the cloth from the cabinet and looked at the dust in this small room. An idea flashed in his mind, and the words tumbled out:

“This… this isn’t a hole opened by Xiao Yi, is it?”

Yu Chen raised his brows in surprise, slowly repeating, “Xiao Yi?”

Bai Ling: “…”

Crap! It was all because those two in the dorm were always talking about “Lao Yi” this and “Lao Yi” that in the group chat, saying “Lao Yi’s ghost” was coming for them. It had turned into a verbal habit, and he had just substituted it based on the context.

Bai Ling’s face went blank as he quickly changed the subject: “They’re still waiting for me over there, I’m leaving.”

He crawled out of the half-height hole and looked back. The merman was still there, unmoving.

Bai Ling couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you going back?”

Gold hair cascaded down against the opening as the merman revealed half his face, his lips curled in total indulgence. “I’ll wait for you right here.”

Bai Ling unconsciously rubbed his palms together. “You’re really not leaving?”

“Really.”

His long, curly hair fell loosely over his shoulders. Perhaps because he had just soaked in cold water, the merman’s face was slightly pale. For a split second, Bai Ling felt an overwhelming urge to lean in and kiss him—to kiss him until he regained his rosy color.

Good things should be saved for after I get back.

Bai Ling convinced himself, stepped out, and closed the door. When only a crack remained, he said in a tough, firm voice, “Properly wait here for the child to return.”

The merman replied cheerfully, “Dad knows.”