Chapter 25#
The Innocent and Naive Fool#
“Y-you’re awake?”
The little merman carefully lifted his head, only then realizing that Gu Xi had woken up.
But he quickly remembered that Gu Xi couldn’t hear him speak, so he very gently pushed against the man’s chest, signaling him to let go.
His movement was small, but Gu Xi acted as if he had been burned by fire, abruptly releasing his grip.
Lin Xiaodong looked somewhat pathetic. Merfolk, of course, had no need for clothes, so he had been bare-chested since the first time Gu Xi saw him.
But after the struggle just now, his originally fair skin was covered in gray dust, and his lips had been bitten raw by the man. However, the little merman wasn’t angry at all; he just licked his own lips, climbed up from the ground with his head bowed, and pointed at Gu Xi’s wound, indicating that he was going to change the dressing.
Gu Xi said hoarsely: “I’m sorry.”
The little merman shook his head and even proactively reached out to hug him, indicating that he didn’t mind at all.
Seeing his sensible and obedient appearance, the man’s heart felt as if it had been suddenly squeezed.
He managed to prop up half his body and fished out a golden medal from the discarded black military uniform, placing it in Lin Xiaodong’s palm.
“This is,” he took two deep breaths, his chest heaving violently for a while before he forced out the rest of the sentence, “this is something very important. Although I’ve forgotten, my intuition tells me it’s absolutely crucial. If I die, you give it to the people who come looking for me. Please.”
But to his surprise, the merman just glanced at it and refused directly.
“With me here, you won’t die,” he told Gu Xi with his mouth, spreading out the uniform and covering the man with it.
The light inside the tent was dim, but the starlight from the night sky illuminated the determined expression on the little merman’s face.
Gu Xi stared for a few seconds, some deep and obscure emotion seemingly brewing in his dark eyes.
After a moment, the man lowered his eyes and took back the badge.
“Alright,” he said.
Late at night, Lin Xiaodong slept lightly beside him, keeping watch in the tent all night.
But the lack of medicine meant Gu Xi had to rely on his own physical stamina to pull through.
Fortunately, the latter half of the night was relatively calm, and no major problems occurred for the time being.
It wasn’t until dawn that the System reminded a drowsy him: “Wake up, time to go scavenge the trash.”
Hearing this, he shook his heavy eyelids and let out a pained groan: “No…”
Other people were “Little Girls Gathering Mushrooms”; when it was his turn, he became a “Little Merman Scavenging Trash.” The difference in treatment was just too much!
Lin Xiaodong embarked on his trash-scavenging journey with a sour face. The fire from yesterday hadn’t been fully extinguished, and there was no hope of anyone coming to help put it out. So he could only seize those few minutes when the starships dumped trash, finding today’s food in the gaps before the flames spread to the pile—otherwise, he’d have to go hungry.
After a busy day, he finally managed to find two pieces of black bread and a can of spicy seafood that had expired two weeks ago.
Gu Xi definitely couldn’t eat the seafood can now; it would irritate his wounds. So Lin Xiaodong polished it off on the spot.
The remaining two pieces of black bread he planned to bring back; he had to let the patient fill his stomach too.
Lin Xiaodong entered the tent, woke Gu Xi, took out a piece of black bread and handed it to him, and sat nearby, staring eagerly as he ate.
Before Gu Xi had even taken two bites, he heard a rumbling sound from the little merman’s stomach.
He looked up wordlessly to see Lin Xiaodong’s old face turn red as he awkwardly touched his flattened belly.
It was too spicy; he had a bit of indigestion.
But the man thought he had given all the food to him. He opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing. He just tightened his jaw and broke the black bread in his hand into two halves.
One half was handed to Lin Xiaodong, and he kept the other for himself.
Because he knew if he gave it all to him, he would definitely be refused.
As expected, after a brief hesitation, the little merman quickly took it.
But he didn’t eat it. Instead, he gestured and said: “Can’t eat anymore? I’ll keep it for you for when you’re hungry later.”
“I’ve already eaten, really!”
He promised solemnly, but his stomach soon let out another rumble.
The black bread was dry and hard. Gu Xi lowered his eyes, chewing with difficulty, his fingers gripping the bread turning slightly white from the effort.
“System,” Lin Xiaodong couldn’t help but ask, “with that expression, he couldn’t have misunderstood something, could he?”
System: “Clearly, Gu Xi always has a filter for you, no matter when.”
“…Does he?”
Lin Xiaodong really didn’t feel it.
Black bread could fill the stomach but couldn’t provide nutrition. Gnawing on it normally was fine, but it certainly couldn’t provide any help during a severe injury. This was specifically shown in Gu Xi’s complexion, which didn’t look much better after eating, and his lip even got a cut from the crust of the bread.
Seeing the man’s lips stained with a weak and beautiful crimson, Lin Xiaodong involuntarily swallowed. He subconsciously leaned in, sticking out his tongue like a small animal, instinctively wanting to lick the wound for him.
…And take the opportunity to “grope” him.
Gu Xi’s breathing hitched.
But unlike a few days ago, the man didn’t push away the little merman in his arms this time. Instead, he indulged him in a posture of tacit consent, even reaching out proactively to gently stroke his head.
The System lamented deeply: “It seems true that when the body changes, the host’s IQ and bottom line also change.”
Lin Xiaodong: “Now that’s where you’re wrong.”
System: “What?”
Lin Xiaodong said as a matter of course: “When did I ever have a ‘bottom line’?”
System: “…………”
Shameless!
Because there was no medicine, for several consecutive days, Gu Xi had been running intermittent low fevers, and the healing speed of his wounds was terrifyingly slow.
The little merman didn’t mind at all, still doing his best to care for him, finding food, helping him wipe his body, and even singing to him: “Once you’ve healed, you have to work and scavenge trash for me. No cheating, hear me?”
The man lay pale on the ground, looking at him with his head turned. After a long while, he gave a soft “Mm.”
However, things didn’t go as planned. Three days later, Gu Xi developed a high fever again.
This fever lasted for a full day and night. Looking at the man on the bed whose high fever wouldn’t subside and who couldn’t even be fed water, Lin Xiaodong felt he couldn’t go on like this.
He had to take Gu Xi into Garan Lake.
Although he didn’t know the principle, whenever merfolk fell ill, they were treated by soaking in the lake water.
This lake contained some kind of magical element that could purify filth, improve immunity, and even accelerate wound healing.
But Garan Lake was surrounded by an invisible barrier preventing outsiders from entering. Only humans who had obtained a merman’s recognition could pass through this barrier. Lin Xiaodong didn’t know what this “recognition” actually referred to, but fortunately, there were previous experiences to draw from—
He needed to pull a scale from his tail and have Gu Xi ingest it.
System: “The nerves on a merman’s tail are very dense. Are you sure?”
“I can’t just watch him die,” Lin Xiaodong said. “But are you sure just doing this will let him pass through the barrier?”
“The records say that’s how Lu Xing entered,” the System said. “And after ingesting a scale, even ordinary humans can converse normally with merfolk.”
“Lu Xing again.”
Lin Xiaodong couldn’t help but frown.
It seemed this human Crown Prince was definitely one of the key characters in the plot.
Actually, he was also quite puzzled. Logically, after such meticulous care these past few days, Gu Xi should have issued a Good Person Card long ago, right? But there wasn’t even a fragment. Was it because he died early in the original world line and wasn’t a key character at all?
He couldn’t verify it now, so he could only keep the question in his heart. He grit his teeth, pulled a scale from his tail, and with a twisted face, stuffed it into Gu Xi’s mouth.
It hurts like hell!
The unconscious man swallowed it instinctively. Seeing this, Lin Xiaodong immediately propped him up on himself, dragging Gu Xi step by step toward Garan Lake.
Sure enough, this time he was no longer rejected by the merfolk’s sacred lake. After a faint ripple emanated around them, they successfully passed through the barrier.
Night fell.
Gu Xi, lying on the bank, had his fingers twitch. He slowly opened his eyes.
First, he felt his abdomen; his body was intact, as if he had recovered his health overnight. The man blinked, seemingly a bit confused by his surroundings, and looked ahead.
But when he saw the scene before him, Gu Xi even thought he was still dreaming.
Under the shimmering starlight, the windless lake surface was smooth as a mirror.
This silent and subtle balance was broken in an instant by a silver merman bursting out of the water.
The merman had his back to the shore. With a toss of his head, his ink-black hair reaching down to his waist poured down like a waterfall, winding and floating on the water’s surface.
Not noticing the gaze from the shore at all, Lin Xiaodong closed his eyes and casually brushed his wet hair back with his hand.
The young merman tilted his slender neck, red lips slightly parted, exhaling a breath of contentment. His snow-white back traced a perfect arc. Amidst the swaying long hair, one could even vaguely glimpse two shallow dimples on his slender waist.
The whiteness was dazzling.
Gu Xi couldn’t help but think: that waistline, he could exactly circle it with two hands.
Pressing his thumbs into those shallow dimples… just right.
Water droplets splashed, falling into the Garan Lake, which was as brilliant as a river of stars at night, rippling out circle after circle.
System: “Look behind you.”
Lin Xiaodong’s movement paused.
He turned around and was not surprised to find that Gu Xi had indeed woken up.
“You’re awake? How do you feel?”
“…………”
“Why aren’t you speaking?”
Lin Xiaodong asked several times, but the man just stared straight at his face without answering. Clearly the wounds on his body should have been healed, yet his breathing rate was still abnormally fast.
He tilted his head, completely baffled.
Is this… another fever?