MRG Chapter 32: Reunion After a “Long” Separation

Translator: Bamboo

Editor: yuki_shuichi

In the quiet banquet room, Light sat on a leather sofa and a soft chair. There was a plate of exquisite meals in front of him, which the Government Affairs Office ordered the kitchen to make specially for him.

Next to the dinner plate were the leather gloves he had taken off. He had just arrived from the base.

Light obviously had no intention of eating right now. He just sat there, looking at the small ripples in the porcelain cup in a daze, and looking up at the electronic clock from time to time.

He should not visit the military academy at this time, both emotionally and logically.

But…

Light reached out and adjusted the position of his tie. He still wanted to see Mu Chen.

In the past two weeks, they had not even made a video call. Mu Chen’s physical training period was unexpectedly busy, and he seemed to be squeezing time just to send him messages.

Although Mu Chen always liked to play tricks on him in the palace and was a somewhat “crafty” mermaid, this was an extremely strict military academy after all, and Light was still worried about him.

Just as he was thinking, “knock! knock!”, a sound came from the door.

Light immediately stood up from his seat, with a serious look on his face.

The next second—

Mu Chen pushed open the door. After seeing the person standing in the center of the room, he was stunned for a moment. His blue eyes immediately lit up, like a dog that sees its owner come home. His eyes were moist, as he quickly walked over and hugged Light, “Gege… why are you here?”

The last syllable was stretched out and sounded coquettish.

Before Light could come back to his senses, he was hugged by the other party. He felt the familiar scent lingering on the tip of his nose. He frowned in hindsight because the moment Mu Chen came in, he could clearly see the hair scattered on his forehead and the blood stains on the corners of his lips.

But at this moment, because Mu Chen held him so tightly, he couldn’t free his hands to check on the other party’s condition.

The other party’s soft hair rubbed against Light’s neck, but Mu Chen’s haggard face kept popping up in his mind.

“I miss Gege so much…”

“It’s only been two weeks, but it feels like two years…”

“Did Gege come here specially to see me?”

But every word Mu Chen spoke, Light could taste some sadness and pain from his apparent calmness like a bullied puppy silently licking its wounds in the dark. Even when he saw him, he still showed a sunny smile and told the other party, “I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Thinking of this, Light’s fingertips hanging by his side became more and more clenched. He was usually so smart in the palace that he refused to suffer any losses. How could he become so stupid as soon as he entered the military academy and be bullied like this?

After a moment, Mu Chen finally let go of his arms. He took a step back, but Light pinched his chin.

Light didn’t squeeze very hard and avoided the opponent’s injuries. He just held Mu Chen’s chin to prevent him from moving away.

Mu Chen’s face looked thin, but in fact his chin was still fleshy. His cheeks bulged slightly when he was pinched like this. He blinked and looked at Light with some confusion.

Light looked at the dried blood carefully and asked, “What’s going on?”

Mu Chen’s eyes dodge, “It’s nothing… I just accidentally touched it when I was doing physical training just now.”

Light let go of his chin, but his eyebrows did not relax.

He could be clever towards him, but even ghosts wouldn’t believe what he would say. Who would go out for physical training at ten o’clock in the evening?

According to Mu Chen’s past personality, he would deliberately pretend to be aggrieved even if he was not injured. If he had really been hurt, he would have been wronged in front of him by now.

There was probably something fishy about his wound.

Seeing that Light was paying attention, Mu Chen reached out and wiped the blood from the corners of his lips as if unintentionally. As soon as he raised his hand, the other party noticed the more ferocious metacarpal bones.

Seeing the other party’s expression becoming more and more gloomy, Mu Chen simply took Light’s hand and walked inside, “What are you standing for all this time? Sit down and talk, Gege.”

However, as soon as the two sat down, Light found that Mu Chen’s eyes couldn’t help but glance at the food plate in front of him.

On the tray in front of him was a cup of steaming black tea and a few delicate-looking sandwiches.

The meals at the military academy have always been relatively simple, and they were basically just enough to fill them up. Regarding the taste, it was extravagant. Moreover, each meal needed to be completed within the specified time, which was especially harsh for new students.

Mu Chen had a very picky taste when he was a child in the palace. He would not eat bread without hazelnut paste for breakfast. He must eat seafood for lunch and dinner. It must be freshly caught, and the cooking heat must be appropriate—it couldn’t be even a bit overcooked. A few requests were nothing to the royal chef. Even if he wanted to eat king squid, someone could catch it for him on the spot.

But this was a military academy, and life was destined not to be as comfortable as in the palace.

Light was worried that Mu Chen wouldn’t be able to adapt to this harsh life, and he still has these concerns now.

The plate of sandwiches in front of him was something that a mermaid would never look at normally, but at this moment Mu Chen showed extremely strong interest in it.

Light pushed the tray towards the other party, “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah.” Mu Chen nodded, then grabbed a sandwich and took a big bite, his cheeks bulging.

He obviously looked like he was devouring his food, but his face was unexpectedly cute, which made Light feel distressed.

He poured a glass of water and handed it to Mu Chen, “Eat slowly.”

“Yeah.” Mu Chen held the sandwich in both hands, and a strand of hair scattered on his forehead fell on his eyes, and he blinked because of itching.

Light stroked away his broken hair. Seeing how quickly he ate, he couldn’t help but ask, “Are they not letting you eat?”

Mu Chen, “It’s not that…”

As soon as Light felt relieved, he heard the other party saying, “Only occasionally.”

Light frowned. “Occasionally what? Occasionally they don’t feed you?”

Mu Chen, “Occasionally let me eat.”

Light was stunned for a moment, and his face instantly turned ugly.

Of course, if he observed carefully, he would find that Mu Chen was not thin at all. After all, he could always find opportunities to slip into the sea and eat free buffets. But the problem was that not only Light couldn’t calmly observe the people in front of him, but he also couldn’t take off his own super thick filter.

At this moment, in his “beauty” filter, Mu Chen had lost at least ten pounds.

It has only been two weeks and he had lost ten pounds… wouldn’t he become like a piece of paper after four years of studying?

Mu Chen swallowed the sandwich and gave Light a childish smile, “Gege, it’s okay. They said these are the rules of the military academy. If I want to integrate into this group, I have to learn to adapt to these rules…”

Light’s eyelids twitched. “…”

What kind of rule was this to withhold meals everyday?

Learning to adapt?

This was obviously someone who was being bullied and thought it was the right thing to do.

……

It was a rare visit to the military academy for Light, and Mu Chen behaved like a big, sticky dog throughout the whole process. After eating, he talked to him for a long time and didn’t go back to his dormitory until nearly 11:30.

If it weren’t for the fact that the other party would have to get up at around five o’clock the next day, Light would have wanted to stay with him for a while longer.

After bidding farewell to Mu Chen, Light called the senior officer who had just received him over with a gloomy look.

Campus bullying was common in military academies, but judging from the fragmentary information that Mu Chen just gathered, the senior students have gone too far, and this matter couldn’t be tolerated.

The senior officer of the Government Affairs Office was a somewhat balding middle-aged man. He just received a call from a freshman saying that there was a fight in the warehouse, and he rushed to deal with it immediately.

After writing notes with Xavier for nearly an hour, the admiral called him over for questioning in a tone that could not be denied. As soon as he heard the other person’s cold tone, he knew that Light was getting angry.

At this moment, facing Light’s stern expression, the officer’s eyebrows almost knitted together. After asking Light for some basic information, he nodded repeatedly.

“General, what you said is true. The phenomenon of bullying new recruits does exist. I just ordered someone to investigate because letting senior students take charge of physical training is not a good thing.”

“As for the system of instructors, there had always been some inequalities in the First Military Academy. As you know, we are trying our best to improve this system.”

Light had heard this kind of polite rhetoric many times. He stared at the person in front of him with a serious look, “Where are those people who bully the freshmen? It is right to improve the system, but the school already gave up on pursuing the bullying incident that just happened?”

“No, it’s not that…” The officer wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, “I’m just afraid they can’t be questioned now.”

Light frowned. “Why?”

Should the school still condone and protect these bullies?

“Because…” The officer’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down, “Because they are still in a coma.”

Twelve seniors took advantage of their authority to beat up two freshmen. Some of them illegally carried controlled knives but were eventually beaten into coma. No matter how you look at it, Mu Chen and Xavier were acting in legitimate defense, and no matter how one would investigate, only the seniors would be held accountable, but…

Recalling the messy scene in the warehouse, the officer’s eyelids couldn’t help but twitch.

Wasn’t it a bit too brutal?