MRG Chapter 3: Merfolk Expert

Translator: Kii

Editor: EllieKit

Knock, knock, knock.

Mu Chen was awakened by a heavy knock at the door.

Tap, tap.

Quick footsteps came from a distance. He could practically imagine the scene of many people gathering in front of his door.

Mu Chen’s long eyelashes trembled, and he dazedly half-opened his eyes, attempting to pull his scattered mind together from the beautiful dream of catching fishes just now.

What slowly came to view was the soft bed beneath him and the shark in his arms with teeth marks on it—Mu Chen fell into a brief contemplation.

No wonder he couldn’t swim fast nor was he able to bite the fish just now…

Creak.

At this moment, the palace door was pushed open by someone.

Through his still somewhat blurred vision, Mu Chen saw many unfamiliar faces, and countless gazes competed in looking through that gap of the door.

Those gazes landed on him, as if sizing up something strange.

This reminded Mu Chen of that cold, slimy feeling of being entangled in seaweed, which made him feel nauseous.

He didn’t like that feeling of being watched by people.

The little merman half lowered his eyes, his cold gaze staring back at them.

The leading man looked a bit fat. He was wearing a white uniform and smiling as he tried to communicate with Kuina. “Hello, we are from the Royal Biological Research Institute. We are here today to do a comprehensive check-up of that little merman.”

Kuina held onto the door, obviously not willing to let those people in. “I didn’t receive any notice about this. Could this be His Majesty’s…”

“This is His Majesty’s order.”

The Royal Iron Guard at the side unfurled the imperial edict sealed with wax and spoke in a cold tone that left no room for doubt.

“Yes, we specially came over under the order of King Jorah. I forgot to introduce myself, I am Groke, the head of the Royal Biological Institute…” The fat man smiled as he nodded, gesturing to the tall and skinny man with thick-framed black-rimmed glasses beside him, introducing him, “This is Dr. Kole, he’s the best researcher we have at the Institute.”

It didn’t seem like Kole was listening to the director at all, not willing to say even a single polite pleasantry. He treated everyone around him like air, his gaze went straight over the crowd to try to get a good look at Mu Chen.

The director slightly smiled to cover up the awkwardness; it seemed he was used to Kole’s indifference. He turned toward Mu Chen and waved his hand. “This must be that little merman, right? He’s really beautiful. Of course, you don’t need to worry, all the check-ups today are just for the health of the little merman. We are sincerely happy for Prince Light…”

Beautiful?

How could he use such a superficial word to describe the little merman?

Kole furrowed his brows in displeasure.

Of course, if they could do something as stupid as handing over the precious merman to the prince who only knew about mechas, what else couldn’t they say?

If it weren’t because he could see the merman today, he wouldn’t come to this damn palace. It was so stupid that it was suffocating.

Kole walked toward the bedroom on his own, but saw that the little merman had already got off the bed. The other party was holding a shark doll, also looking at him with an inquiring gaze.

The moment their eyes met, Kole’s sight seemed to be fixed in place. All that was left in his eyes was the merman’s silky silver hair, sparkling blue eyes, and flawless facial features.

Too perfect…

He finally saw with his own eyes the thing that he had been researching for half his life.

Kole’s breathing became erratic, and his Adam’s apple moved up and down. This…

This is simply a work of art created by God.

He subconsciously stretched out his hand, wanting to touch Mu Chen’s silver hair, but the latter avoided him.

Mu Chen knitted his brows. “Who are you?”

If he were in the water now, this person would’ve been scratched by his fins.

The little merman looked at the person in front of him in doubt.

Kole’s facial features were actually quite well-defined. The white coat made him look somewhat thin, but his extremely unnatural, stiff expression made him seem like a neurotic oddball who had become that way from years of reading academic papers. Not to mention the strange fervor that shone through the thick, stiff lenses of his glasses.

Under Mu Chen’s question, Kole couldn’t think of anything fitting to say at the moment; even his usual corny jokes didn’t help.

His lips twitched, his eyes still remained firmly fixed on Mu Chen, as if trying to read the other’s expression.

Furrowed…furrowed eyebrows, does…does it mean he’s not happy?

A moment of defeat flashed through Kole’s mind.

But he still looked cute…

The baby merman was very cute.

Merfolks were indeed the most perfect creatures in the world.

Kole felt his face getting hot as the little merman looked at him with increasing doubt. He laughed stiffly and said something that he thought was very funny, “You probably haven’t read the academic papers I published in academic journals, have you?”

Mu Chen, “?”

He went directly behind Kuina.

The most effective way to solve communication problems was to refuse to communicate.

Kuina blocked Kole, looking at the director with annoyance. “Director Groke, do your researchers not know the most basic manners?”

Kole’s neck flushed red at once. He was about to defend himself, but the director couldn’t watch any longer and pulled him aside. “Apologies, Dr. Kole is not good at speaking. I’m truly sorry, but can you come with us to the exhibition room on the second floor. The examination equipment is ready.”

Kuina took Mu Chen’s hand and followed the group of researchers, not forgetting to sharply comment, “Being inarticulate is no excuse for rudeness.”

……

The exhibition room on the second floor of the palace housed fossils of many rare species. The skeletal puzzles constructed on the high exhibition stand have been restored to its former majestic appearance through virtual projection technology.

As if to create a realistic effect of a closed experience, there was a giant open pool at the entrance of the exhibition room, with grid-like water pipes leading from sides to the transparent compacted bulletproof glass panels. No matter where one looked, they could see the swimming marine life.

And at this moment, an empty rectangular water tank was placed in the center of the exhibition room, surrounded by various cold instruments and equipment.

Everything was prepared for Mu Chen.

He didn’t like it…

He didn’t want to go over…

The moment he arrived at the exhibition room, Mu Chen’s rebelliousness reached its peak.

The surrounding gazes were all gathered on to him.

The gazes that carried expectation and was so heavy that it took one’s breath away gradually superimposed itself with a voice from Mu Chen’s memory—

“You are an azure-blooded merman, you are the last hope of the Atlantis Empire, so how could you disappoint me like this?”

This was a memory he least wanted to recall.

While the others were not paying attention, Mu Chen broke free from Kuina’s hand.

Plop!

He jumped into the huge pool at the entrance, his legs transformed into a long fish tail and his mesh-like fins swayed flexibly in the water.

In almost an instant, Mu Chen submerged into the pool, leaving everyone behind in the distance.

Several researchers finally came to their senses. “Director, he ran off.”

They took out fishing nets from the equipment they carried with them to catch Mu Chen.

Kole, on the other hand, was completely stunned in place. Under the sea, which was as deep and mysterious as the sea, the merman’s silver hair was flowing; the exquisite and stunningly beautiful face casted a careless glance toward them as he swam.

It’s like a God giving alms to a mortal.

Sacred and inviolable.

He dazedly thought in his head.

Zzzt! Zzt! Bzzt! The sound of electricity suddenly brought Kole back to reality from the world he was immersed in.

He turned around and rushed to the researcher fishing out the merman and grabbed the net. “Are you guys idiots? Turn off the power grid!”

He got so worked up that he nearly raised his hand at the other party.

At Kole’s reminder, the researcher turned off the power button in a flurry.

It was the prince’s merman after all; they wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences if he got hurt.

Five people and ten hands fished around the pool, but in the end, they caught nothing. Mu Chen’s speed underwater was astonishingly fast, and his silver-black tail fins at this moment seemed to be transformed into a sharp knife, disappearing from everyone’s sight in the blink of an eye.

Everyone surrounding the pool was at their wits’ end when the sound of orderly footsteps came from afar.

“What are you guys doing?”

It was a deep and serious man’s voice.

After the researchers saw who was coming, the atmosphere became quiet for a second.

“Prince Light.”

“Your Highness.”

Light came in with a few imperial guards behind him. Today he was wearing casual clothes, but his entire body was still emanating an aura that made others not dare to look at him directly.

“Who allowed you guys in?”

Grock hurried over with a smile, explaining the reason for them being here. He also dragged Kole out, asking him to explain from an academic perspective why this examination was so important.

Kole had openly mocked Light on talk shows, but seeing the person in the flesh at the moment, he was suddenly a little tongue-tied. “Hello, I…I’m…”

Light gave him a quick glance and said in ridicule, “I’ve seen your program…as well as your opinion on the engagement.

Kole’s neck turned red again, and his upper lips stiffly trembled.

Grock mediated on his behalf. “I apologize, Your Highness. Kole is usually humorous, and even more tongue-in-cheek on talk show programs like that, but I assure you he’s the best researcher we’ve got at the Institute.”

Light laughed a little. “Using ‘humorous’ is simply too modest of a description.”

“…”

Kole felt that he had forgotten how to speak, he embarrassingly pushed up his glasses and directly talked about the significance of the examination.

“Your Highness Light, a health check-up is important for merfolks. They are a very special creature. Their immune system structure is also different from humans…”

Light glanced at the fishing tools piled up cluttered beside the pool and interrupted him, “So you scared the merman away to test his reflexes? I guess this is part of the test, too?”

“Uh…”

Kole awkwardly rubbed his nose. “This is an accident, we’re trying to get him back.”

The result obviously didn’t turn out well.

Light looked around the room, then picked up the old shark doll that had fallen to the ground and no one cared about it, and walked over to the pool.

He calmly looked at the deep water, as if looking for something.

Kole, “Merfolks are sensitive to smell. If you stand so close, I’m afraid you’ll scare him away…”

But before he could finish speaking, a series of small splash sounds were heard on the water surface in the distance, and a silvery fin was moving rapidly toward the edge of the pool.

Immediately afterward, a little merman jumped out of the water.

Kole rubbed his own eyes. “?”

Did he see right?

Mu Chen laid beside Light’s feet. He gazed at the researchers in the distance, who were at a loss of what to do with him, with nothing but smugness in his heart. However, the moment he looked at Light, he deliberately lowered his eyes with an aggrieved look. “Your Highness…”

“These people want to capture me.”

“But they can’t catch up to me.”

As he said this, he proudly lifted his tail.

Light was wearing a relatively casual white today, with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, which made his waist slimmer and legs longer.

He squatted down to loom at Mu Chen. “How did they catch you?”

Mu Chen went close to his ear and said something quietly.

From a distance, Kole’s heart thumped as he saw the scene and remembered the merman’s treatment toward him.

This merman…wasn’t afraid of Light? And even took the initiative to talk to him?

He felt an overwhelming sense of defeat.

Kole calmed himself down as he took a step forward, spreading out his hands toward Light. “I assure you I absolutely won’t hurt the merman. I’ve been researching this species for almost twenty years, so I know how precious this merman is. The examination can be terminated at any moment if you feel that there are any problems.”

After he finished listening to Kole’s words, Light pondered for a few seconds before looking at Mu Chen. “Are you okay with doing an examination?”

Mu Chen asked, “Then while I get an examination, will Your Highness…stay?

Light, “I will, I’ll accompany you.”

The little merman smiled at Light, then secretly looked at Kole, as if saying “Let’s see if you still dare to act cocky now.”

Kole, “?”

He was about to suffocate—the merman can actually smile at Light?

Kole felt more and more upset. He couldn’t think of any part of Light that could win the favor of the merman; except his looks which were still barely passable. However, no one would get close to him with his temperament.

Moreover, this person doesn’t even know anything about merfolks!

He himself was the most knowledgeable about merfolks in this entire world.

He had published nearly twenty academic papers related to merfolks. He was a word-recognized expert in biology.

So why won’t the merman get close to him?

He really wanted to be close to the merman…

But of course no one knew what he was thinking right now.

Light stood back up and asked, “Do you need so many people for an examination?”

Grock waved away the other researchers. “Only Dr. Kole and I will stay.”

As he said this, he hinted at Kole to quickly begin and move the little merman to the center tank as soon as possible.

Kole tried to get Mu Chen to jump in by taking out a bunch of various colorful coral pearls and gold and silver jewelry from his bag, and introduced, “Merfolks like shiny things.”

His expression behind the glasses became inexplicably confident. He glanced at Light from the corner of his eyes, thinking, ‘Now you realize you know nothing about the habits of merfolks, right?’

For such specialized matters like interacting with merfolks, it was better for him to do it.

However, facing this bag full of sparkly treasures, Mu Chen only floated motionlessly on the edge of the pool, his beautiful blue eyes revealing a puzzled look.

If he just jumped in like that, would he really not get stabbed to death by the things inside?

Seeing that the merman had no reaction whatsoever, Kole waved the bag around incessantly, but the other party retreated farther and farther away from him. His own smile slowly froze.

Light stood beside the pool, looking expressionlessly at Kole, with only the slightly wrinkled eyebrows revealing a hint of doubt.

The atmosphere turned dead quiet for a while. Light asked Grock for a towel and walked up to Mu Chen. “I’ll carry you over.”

“Okay.”

The merman, who was impassive just now, immediately sat up on the edge of the pool with a wave of his tail and naturally extended his hands toward Light.

Light used the towel to wrap it around Mu Chen, held him by the tail, and picked up the wet merman.

Mu Chen wrapped his hands around Light’s neck and leaned against his shoulder. The light, fresh scent of cedar came from the tip of his nose, smelling very good.

He watched as water droplets on his hair kept dripping and soaked Light’s clean white shirt, his voice sounding a bit guilty as he said—

“Your Highness, it seems I wet your shirt.”

“It’s fine.”

Light didn’t mind.

He carried the merman toward the tank. When they passed by Kole, only one thought remained in the latter’s mind.

What a beautiful tail.

The scales are very beautiful.

Why does the merman like that person who doesn’t know anything, why does the merman like him, why why why…