MRG Chapter 6

Translator: Onlyfornovels

Editor: Agneya

In the spacious bedroom, the atmosphere was so quiet that one could hear a hair pin drop.

Light lay on his back in bed, motionless in the position for about a quarter of an hour, yet sleep was far from his mind.

This was the usual pattern of his insomnia—closing his eyes for hours, enduring until the early morning hours when he would briefly doze off and then wake again.

But today was somewhat atypical because there was a merman lying beside Light.

Sleep was crucial for young ones in their growth period, and Light understood this well. Therefore, he tried not to make any sudden movements that could disturb the merman, even though his habitual sleeping posture could be described as rigid as a soldier standing at attention.

Today, however, it was several times quieter than usual.

Perhaps, the atmosphere was akin to the tensity of an undercover mission.

At this moment, the room was deathly silent. Light shifted slowly… he’d guessed the merman should be fast asleep by now.

Just as he turned his head, there was a rustling sound from the other side of the bed.

Similarly wide-eyed, Mu Chen looked at Light. “Your Highness, you can’t sleep?”

“…”

In the darkness, Light stiffly grunted in response.

He hadn’t made any sound, so how did the merman perceive it?

Being discovered awake was even more bothersome than the insomnia itself.

Light had heard that mermans were very sensitive to spiritual energies, and their songs had a healing effect on spirits.

Furrowing his brow slightly, he suddenly felt a bit apprehensive that the next thing the merman might say was, “Your Highness, shall I sing you a song?”

Singing a song was definitely not going to help him.

The worst thing than being found unable to sleep is when the other person kindly offers a suggestion, only to find out it’s of no help at all.

There was a “creak, creak” sound in his ears, and the little merman seemed to be shifting towards him.

Light realized he had drifted off a bit.

The next moment,

Mu Chen, “Your Highness, I know a way to fall asleep quickly.”

Light’s eyelids twitched. “What?”

Please don’t let it be singing…

“Rolling…”

There was the sound of someone rolling back and forth on the bed.

Mu Chen held the little shark in his arms and rolled around on the bed, “Whenever I can’t fall asleep, I just roll around a few times like this. When I get tired of rolling, I fall asleep.”

The amplitude of the little merman’s rolling increased the more he spoke, as if he was using the mattress as a swing.

There were no rails around the bed, and Light was a little worried he might fall off. Before he could finish saying “Be careful…”, he heard a loud “thud!”

“Ouch…”

Mu Chen’s painful cry sounded from the bedside floor .

Light immediately turned on the light with his smart brain, got up and leaned over the bed’s edge. He saw Mu Chen sitting on the floor, rubbing his forehead. He must have fallen quite hard just now, but fortunately, he had a plushie in his arms that cushioned the impact to some extent.

Light couldn’t help but feel like laughing himself to tears at Mu Chen’s attempt to teach him how to fall asleep quickly but instead rolling onto the floor. However, seeing the little merman’s pitiful state, he felt a pang of pity.

“Did the fall hurt?”

“No.” Mu Chen climbed back onto the bed, shaking his head. His fair forehead now looked flushed, slightly swollen.

“Wait a moment…” Light instructed the robotic assistant to fetch a medical kit.

He often bumped into things during training, so a few basic first aid supplies were always kept handy in the room.

“It’ll get better soon.”

The merman’s unique azure blood was quite miraculous for all kinds of wounds, and even injuries tended to heal much faster than ordinary people.

Saying this, Mu Chen buried his chin in the shark doll, his eyes still a bit red from the recent shock. Although he was clearly trying to conceal his embarrassing actions, there was an unmistakable sense of grievance in his demeanor.

“Ice will make it hurt less.” Light took out an ice pack from the medical kit.

He wrapped the ice pack in a towel and gently applied it to Mu Chen’s forehead, ensuring it wouldn’t freeze the merman’s skin.

The moment the towel touched his forehead, a refreshing coolness spread through the area around his eyebrows, instantly easing much of the pain. Mu Chen hugged the little shark and obediently let Light hold the ice pack against his forehead, occasionally peeking at him with his eyelashes lifted towards Light.

After a few minutes, Light confirmed that the marks on Mu Chen’s forehead had completely subsided before turning off the lights again.

In the darkness, the two lay back in bed, and the atmosphere restored its former tranquility.

Tick, tock, the seconds passed by. Just when Light thought Mu Chen must have fallen asleep,

“Your Highness.”

“Mmm.”

“I’ll give you Sharky. Maybe holding it will help you fall asleep quickly.”

“… ”

Light, “No need.”

“Just hold it…”

Mu Chen’s voice trailed off.

In the serene atmosphere, Light felt a warm lump curl up next to him, with a plush toy in between.

It must be the “Sharky” Mu Chen mentioned.

Light didn’t think he could fall asleep holding onto “Sharky”.

But then, a childish voice rang in his ear, “If you can’t sleep, I can’t sleep either. Now Sharky won’t be able to sleep either.”

“If Sharky can’t sleep, it won’t have enough energy the next day, and without energy, it won’t be strong, and if it’s not strong, it might get bullied…”

Light, “Give it to me.”

“Hmm?”

“Sharky, give it to me.”

“Here.”

He was handed a plush toy. Light, whose fingertips were calloused from years of piloting mechs, ran his fingers over the dorsal fin of the shark plushie, holding it in his arms like handling a timed bomb, his posture extremely rigid.

When he was eighteen, Light piloted a mech for the first time and destroyed twenty-eight Zerg military fortresses.

And at twenty-six, Light “possessed” his first stuffed toy, borrowed from someone else.

It felt strange.

Then… suddenly something grabbed Light’s arm, warm fingers pressing against the back of his hand. Mu Chen leaned in close, snuggling tightly against him.

Light’s left hand stiffened for a moment, and the merman whispered softly, “Can I be closer to Sharky?”

“…”

Light: “Okay.”

Mu Chen nestled his head on the soft pillow, finding a comfortable position. He closed his eyes contentedly. “Goodnight, Your Highness.”

“Goodnight.”

Light held a shark plush in his right hand and had a merman plush “hanging” on his left hand. Meanwhile, he himself remained frozen in place.

Soon, from beside him came the steady and rhythmic sound of breathing. The sleeping merman seemed to think of himself as Sharky, clinging to Light like a koala bear.

The merman carried a faint fragrance reminiscent of a gentle post-shower scent, yet subtly different from the usual.

With his eyes closed, Light could almost smell the sea breeze mixed with the scent of gravel.

He also envisioned the vast expanse of the ocean. The tranquil sea surface had a kind of all-encompassing vastness, and in this moment, all of his complicated thoughts unraveled and floated away. His mental state, once tangled like a messy ball of yarn, seemed to be lifted and smoothed out slowly.

Unbeknownst to himself, Light slipped into a deep sleep.

A dreamless night passed.

……

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

The smart alarm roused Light, and the glaring sunlight through the curtains made him frown slightly.

Unlike the typical fatigue like after training, Light woke up feeling refreshed and clear-headed, as if he had gotten ample rest.

He stared at the “9:00” displayed on the smart alarm and paused for a moment…

Did he sleep that long?

Memories of last night’s events slowly flooded his mind. Light couldn’t recall how he had eventually fallen asleep, but remembered the serene and tranquil state of his mind vividly.

Light glanced at the sleeping merman beside him. Could it be that Mu Chen had helped him organize his mental energy?

Light furrowed his brow slightly at this thought. Professional mental therapists who had undergone specialized training often experienced varying degrees of backlash due to his mental abilities, let alone Mu Chen, who was still a growing merman.

What if his unconscious mental energy inadvertently harmed Mu Chen?

At this moment, Mu Chen’s eyes were tightly closed, long eyelashes casting shadows beneath his eyes, his slightly puffed cheeks tinged with a hint of blush, unusually quiet.

Light tentatively called out to him, “Mu Chen…”

There was no response from him.

Light used the back of his hand to gently touch Mu Chen’s cheek. It wasn’t hot, rather a hearty warmth, yet there was no sign of him waking up.

Mu Chen’s condition worried Light. He immediately activated his smart brain and summoned Kole from the Royal Institute of Biological Research.

In about fifteen minutes, Kole hurried over, his lab coat billowing in the wind nearly tripping him up, his glasses askew on his nose.

“You mean you had the merman help you organize your mental energy?” Kole frowned, pulling out a measuring device from his bag.

“Many people have a misconception about mermans, thinking they have magical healing powers for assisting mental energy, like listening to merman songs can heal mental energy. However, there’s no scientific basis for that. The effectiveness of healing mental energy in a person is inevitably linked to their own mental capabilities. The reason for such rumors is because centuries ago, the mental power of the first-generation mermans was so strong that they could command all marine life. But by the last generation of mermans, this ability had decreased exponentially…”

As he placed the measuring device on Mu Chen’s wrist, it suddenly emitted crackling sounds “Ztt, Ztt,Ztt,” and the pointer began to shake violently.

Immediately after, ”Beep! Beep! Beep!” an alarm sounded.

Kole paused, “I can’t detect his mental energy.”

“Could the device be malfunctioning?” He scanned the detector in Light’s direction, and after a slight sway, the pointer stopped at the “SSS” region.

“The equipment seems fine, how could this happen?” Kole muttered to himself, “…It’s also possible that this equipment is not suitable for merfolk.”

With that said, he took out a stethoscope and a bunch of health diagnostic tools from his bag and started using them.

Throughout the entire process, Mu Chen showed no signs of waking up.

Unable to hold back, Light asked, “What’s wrong with him?”

Kole withdrew the stethoscope. “There’s nothing wrong. It’s just that the nerve cells in the cerebral cortex are producing an inhibitory effect.”

Light, “?”

“Um, that means…” Under Light’s frosty gaze, Kole rubbed his nose, “He can’t be awakened because he’s in a deep sleep.”

Light, “…”

He looked at the little merman’s face that was still partially buried in the soft pillow. Was it just that he hadn’t woken up yet?

It seemed that he had sensed the foreign movement. After a few minutes, Mu Chen’s eyelids finally twitched.

He squinted his eyes, holding Sharky, and sat up crookedly from the bed, looking perplexedly at the pair surrounding him…

What’s going on?

Too sleepy to completely open his eyes, Mu Chen weakly asked, “What’s wrong?”

Light sat down beside him and asked, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

The little merman half-lowered his eyelashes and fell into deep thought.

Uncomfortable? Was there anything?

Seems like a bit.

Facing Light’s concerned expression, the little merman nodded hesitantly.

Light frowned. Was it indeed a problem due to last night’s mental grooming?

Then—

He heard Mu Chen complain, “I’m so hungry.”

Hungry enough to eat a whole shark, how is that not considered uncomfortable?