TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 2

The mermaid’s palm showed no sign of the rough wrinkles that usually come from being submerged in water; instead, under the sunlight, it had a translucent, smooth texture. Yu Su propped himself up with his elbow and looked at the waves about six or seven meters away from him.

He was, after all, an adult merman. Although the wave had washed him ashore, it hadn’t pushed him too far. From the looks of it, as long as he made a little effort to flap his tail, he could probably swim back to the sea.

On the way back, he could pick another piece of white coral to distract A Ning. If he did that, his accidental stranding would remain a secret, unnoticed by anyone…

With this thought, Yu Su finally gathered a bit of energy, but his expression still involuntarily showed some frustration.

“I just used seaweed mud on my tail this morning…” Less than two hours, and all that effort had been wasted.

And to make things worse, seaweed doesn’t offer any sun protection.

Yu Su, almost sun-dried into a salted fish, drooped his head, feeling dejected.

Though things were unlucky, he still had to get back home. He raised his hand to comb his wet hair behind his head, but immediately felt the sticky yellow sand and mud smear onto his nose.

Yu Su: “…”

Bad luck.

Though he didn’t live as meticulously as a female, he was still deeply influenced by his species’ genes. From the inside out, he was a little fish who loved beauty, and this dirty, messy state was simply unacceptable.

Frustrated, Yu Su reluctantly moved in a new direction, then awkwardly floundered toward the sea.

The seabirds circling above probably had never seen such a scene before. They dipped lower as they flew past him, their wings sending gusts of hot wind his way.

Yu Su raised his slightly curled lashes and muttered, “Hey! It’s bad enough you’ve dried me out under the sun, now you’re going to come and blow dry me too? That’s too much.”

The seabirds, of course, didn’t understand him, but they sensed his intention to shoo them away. After calling out a few times, they flew off toward the turtle group.

“I used to wonder what sunbathing felt like,” Yu Su grumbled, “but now I can tell—there’s nothing fun about it… It’s not comfortable at all.”

His hand brushed the incoming waves as he quickly scooped some water and splashed it on his face. He felt a slight relief, but the coolness didn’t bring much comfort. Instead, the heat inside him grew stronger, spreading from his chest to the tip of his tail.

Yu Su had no choice but to pause, glancing back. His tail looked fine, but his fin filaments seemed lackluster.

But it was okay. Once he got back to the sea, everything would quickly recover.

He tried to ignore the discomfort, gathering his strength to move further into the water.

This time, he was determined to rest and recuperate properly when he returned—quietly lying in his small shell bed and taking care of his tail membrane.

The sound of the waves filled his ears, and he noticed that the seabirds, who had been so noisy earlier, seemed to be arguing among themselves now, their chattering growing louder. After a few seconds, they took flight in a large group, heading out to sea.

It didn’t seem like just internal fighting. It almost felt like they were fleeing from something.

Yu Su, half-submerged in the water, instinctively pressed his ear against the thin waves to listen.

The sound of the water was accompanied by the faint rustle of the turtles climbing onto the shore from the nearby cove.

Everything seemed normal.

Yu Su flicked the tip of his tail, but strangely felt a slight stiffness. It was as though his tail wasn’t responding.

Had he been out of the water too long, making his tail stiff from the sun? Yu Su mustered all his strength and finally managed to move forward by half a meter.

That half meter caused him to stumble and tumble headfirst into the water. Fortunately, as a merman, he didn’t feel discomfort, but the sounds he had faintly heard earlier now came through much clearer in the water.

“Hmm…?”

What was that sound??

Yu Su lifted his head from the water and looked around. The beach, which had been bustling earlier, had quieted down without him realizing. The seabirds were all gone, and only the humble, sturdy sea turtles continued to come ashore.

His heart inexplicably raced, and he tried to clear the noise from his mind, listening more intently.

Step by step, the sound of sand sinking into the ground reached him. It wasn’t something a turtle would cause—this sounded like something leisurely walking.

Walking… walking??!

Yu Su’s mind buzzed as an alarm went off. A terrible premonition surged through him.

In a state of heightened tension, his eyes even began to redden slightly. The sound was growing closer, and the more he heard, the more frightened he became, wishing he could bury himself in the sand right then and there.

But his tail had completely stopped working. Not only was it immobile, but the shallow water near the shore had no soothing effect. A prickling, stabbing pain started to spread from his waist to the tip of his tail, like a thousand needles.

Unable to focus on listening anymore, Yu Su gasped, startled. Suddenly, something small and white splashed into the water.

Yu Su froze. Had he… cried from the pain?

No, he hadn’t cried even when he was shedding scales as an adult!

The series of sudden events left Yu Su’s mind in a complete fog. Based on the rhythm of the steps, even if he had a propeller attached, he wouldn’t be able to make it back to the sea in time.

But that wasn’t the most hopeless thing.

The strange pain in his tail finally drew his full attention. He turned his head and saw the golden scales around his waist slowly disappearing, and where his fish tail should have been, the skin was gradually being covered by cold, white flesh.

Yu Su was completely stunned now. His eyes widened in shock, and his pale lips parted slightly in disbelief.

His… his tail…

—

“Not going back yet… just like that.”

“I brought the new injection; it should last for a while.”

“Pheromones? Doesn’t matter, anyway… hmm?” Chi Yanxing stopped in his tracks. On the other end of the phone, a cautious “Hello?” sounded.

Chi Yanxing’s voice, as usual, was indifferent: “Something came up. I’ll hang up now.”

This beach was his private property. He’d only visited twice over the years, and on one of those rare occasions, he’d encountered an outsider.

Looking at the figure, it seemed to be an Omega.

Chi Yanxing took a couple of steps forward and saw the person half-submerged in the sea, wrapped only in a thin layer of white gauze. The waves had dampened the fabric, clinging to their body and barely covering the essential parts.

…

“Who are you?”

Yu Su didn’t hear the deep, cold voice clearly—or perhaps he didn’t want to. The environment around him had become completely irrelevant. This poor merman was on the brink of a breakdown.

At an angle where Chi Yanxing couldn’t see, one white pearl after another fell into the sea.

Yu Su’s shoulders and back trembled slightly, and his whole body felt off.

Chi Yanxing waited for a while but received no response. All he could see was the Omega’s cute, slightly tilted back of the head, and it looked like the person had white hair.

“There’s no doctor here.”

Yu Su ignored him completely.

Finally, Chi Yanxing sensed something was wrong. He took a few steps forward, crouched down, and with one hand, turned the nearly drowning Omega over.

At the moment he saw the Omega’s face, Chi Yanxing froze for a brief second, something he had never done before.

It was an unbelievably delicate and refined face, so beautiful it didn’t seem real. A pair of crystal-clear eyes, like water-washed gems, were set under slightly furrowed brows. It was as if the most perfect shade of blue from the ocean had been condensed into these eyes. Just this one feature alone struck at the heart, leaving a deep impression.

And the hair he thought was white was actually a faint gold, so pure that under the intense sunlight, it reflected white.

Chi Yanxing had never seen an Omega like this before.

It was as if he was a deep-sea fairy.

–

Yu Su, completely giving up on trying to respond to the stern human questioning, blankly stared at his… legs. The moment he looked at them, his eyes instantly reddened again.

Yu Su gritted his teeth, holding back the sobs, his face breaking as he stammered, “Legs… legs…”

He, a mermaid, had only gone ashore once, and now he had grown a pair of legs—!

“Legs?” A voice, seemingly unaffected, asked, “What’s wrong with your legs?”

Yu Su couldn’t care less about the human in front of him. His voice was growing fainter, “Can’t… can’t move them… they’re so ugly…”

His beautiful tail, the most beloved scales in the entire ocean, had completely vanished!

Chi Yanxing, after taking in the initial shock, looked up at the sweeping ocean waves. He didn’t know if it was because he was standing in the place closest to the source of his pheromones, but he felt more relaxed than he ever had in all these years.

Even his tolerance for this strange and incomprehensible Omega had increased.

“This place is very desolate.”

Yu Su, confused, uttered a soft “ah,” before he suddenly felt a dry, warm hand slip past his knee, while the other arm went around his shoulder. With a gentle force, the human lifted him up.

Forced into a higher perspective, Yu Su quickly called out, “Hey—wait!”

Chi Yanxing lowered his gaze, looking at the person in his arms. Drops of seawater fell from Yu Su’s body, soaking his side and spreading over his shirt.

As if unaware of the situation, he continued casually, “And there are shark schools in this area. An Omega shouldn’t be here.”

Before Yu Su could argue, he unexpectedly locked eyes with the human. In that instant, his mind seemed to explode. The sharks, the Omega—nothing mattered anymore. Only a cool, familiar, and oppressive scent drifted toward his nose.

“You… you…” Yu Su stammered.

“I?” Chi Yanxing asked, his voice casually responding.

Yu Su swallowed nervously, finally focusing on the man’s sharp, chiseled face. The sea breeze tousled his originally neat black hair, and two strands hung lazily over his forehead, perfectly overlapping with his strong brows. Together with this overwhelming aura of “deep-sea power,” it made Yu Su feel a bit dazed.

He closed his eyes, suppressing his instinctive admiration for beautiful things. After a long pause, he said with a distracted tone, “You smell… like the sea.”

So comfortable.

Coupled with that face, it was far more pleasant than the waves crashing against his body.

His newly formed legs were sensitive and slender, and Yu Su distinctly felt the other’s grip tighten. Those sharp eyes, like a storm hidden in the sea, locked onto him.

The Alpha’s tone turned slightly odd, “You… can smell my pheromones?”

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