Chapter 101: Chapter 101: The Mermaid’s Reverse Scale
"What’s wrong, Ms. Zhi Zhi?" Luther asked, looking in the rearview mirror.
Yu Zhizhi clutched the carrot with both hands. She mumbled, "N-nothing..."
’Are you sure? Am I really not pregnant?’ she asked the system in her mind.
The system’s reply came back: ’Yes.’
’But why? We clearly mated that day...’
’This pertains to the core of the main storyline. The host is requested to explore it on their own.’
Yu Zhizhi froze.
She almost began to suspect that being carried to the bathroom by Yusen that day had just been a hallucination.
’Just what part of it had gone wrong...?’
’Or... did they not actually mate?’
’But the Mermaid had differentiated.’
’Besides, the memory of her body wouldn’t lie to her...’
The next day, Yu Zhizhi’s back was sore and her legs were weak, and the red marks left on her body—all of it proved she had indeed mated with the Mermaid.
...For an entire night.
Yu Zhizhi lowered her head. She thought for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. It seemed her only option was to ask Yusen.
She sighed softly and looked out the car window at the vast expanse of white snow rushing past. Her hands were still cradling the half-eaten carrot.
Luther had been observing the Rabbit Clan Lady’s expression and noticed that she seemed to have a lot on her mind.
’She’d been perfectly fine before.’
’What could have happened so suddenly?’
Yusen turned his head to look out the other window. He sat in his seat, propping his chin on one hand, his ice-blue eyes betraying no emotion.
Only occasionally would he find himself unable to resist searching for the little female rabbit’s figure out of the corner of his eye.
The snowmobile stopped outside the wooden cabin’s yard.
Luther helped carry everything into the cabin.
Yu Zhizhi, holding the chain, led Yusen inside.
She saw Luther standing in the yard, talking to a Beastman at the command center on his walkie-talkie. She vaguely overheard words like "Array" and "Wizard."
"Yusen," Yu Zhizhi said suddenly, "should I take off your chain?"
After entering the house, upon hearing the little female’s voice, the Mermaid slowly crouched down, placing his hands on his knees—
’At this height, she should be able to remove the iron collar easily.’
Yu Zhizhi moved closer, found the lock at the back of the chain, pinched the release mechanism, and gave it a sharp pull. The collar came undone.
A twinge of pain shot through her thumb, and her rabbit ears drooped slightly. Yu Zhizhi looked down at her reddened fingertip.
But Yusen smiled.
’What a delicate, clumsy rabbit.’
He straightened up, took the chain from Yu Zhizhi’s hands, and placed it in the storage cabinet under the coffee table.
"What were you thinking about on the way back?" the Mermaid Youth couldn’t help but ask.
The little female was terrible at hiding her emotions. Any normal Beastman could tell she had a lot on her mind.
"Ms. Zhi Zhi." From the doorway, Luther turned off his walkie-talkie. "We have guests coming today, so I need to prepare in advance. We’ll all be next door. If you need anything, just call for us."
The young Guard Team member’s gaze swept over the Mermaid.
’The Mermaid had been listless the entire trip, seeming to have no extra energy.’
However, starting today and until Louis returned, there would be "guests" in the cabin next door, twenty-four hours a day without a break.
This would serve both to guard against the Mermaid going berserk and to test Louis when he returned.
Back on the train, when Luther learned that Louis had left on his own, he had already become suspicious of him.
’Louis might be trying to avoid detection.’
’There’s a high probability that a dangerous species has parasitized his body.’
Yu Zhizhi smiled and replied, "Okay~"
She watched Luther leave.
Gently closing the door, Yu Zhizhi mentally rehearsed what she wanted to say. She turned and slowly walked over to the Mermaid, who was sitting on the sofa.
"I..."
The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask.
Seeing the little female’s face gradually turn red, Yusen didn’t press her. He leaned back against the sofa and casually picked up a book.
Yu Zhizhi took a deep breath. "I... I was just..."
Her hands were clenched lightly, her palms damp.
’For some reason, it felt incredibly hot, as if her face was constantly sweating.’
A flicker of amusement passed through Yusen’s deep, ice-blue eyes.
’What a silly rabbit.’
’She came inside and forgot to even take off her coat and scarf. She’s about to pass out from the heat.’
He stood up, positioned himself in front of Yu Zhizhi, and reached out to unwind her soft, cream-colored scarf, loop by loop.
...Yu Zhizhi froze for a moment.
’Her mind was so preoccupied with the main quest that she’d completely forgotten how warm it was inside the cabin.’
’No wonder she was feeling hotter and hotter.’
Combined with the embarrassing question she couldn’t bring herself to ask, her face and palms were covered in sweat.
Yusen undid the top button of her coat. Yu Zhizhi quickly said, "I can do it myself."
But the Mermaid Youth grabbed her wrist. "Don’t move."
He unbuttoned the little female’s thick coat, one button at a time, revealing a light-colored long dress underneath. As he gently peeled the coat off her, the scent of jasmine and milk on the little female could no longer be contained.
It wafted slowly through the air in front of the fireplace.
"Speak," Yusen said, looking down at her. "While I still have some patience."
Yu Zhizhi couldn’t help but touch her rabbit ears. She looked up at the Mermaid, who was more than a head taller than her, and spoke shyly.
"Th-that day... did we, did we... mate?"
The last word was almost inaudible.
Yusen stared at her intently. "We did."
"Then why..."
He saw a flicker of confusion in the little female’s luminous eyes:
"Am I not pregnant with a Mermaid Baby?"
Yusen finally understood her unusual silence during the trip.
A smile played on his lips, but a chilling coldness lurked in his eyes. "You want to have a Mermaid Baby?"
The little female rabbit nodded slowly.
She pressed her lips together slightly, a rose-colored blush spreading across her face.
Yusen looked at the delicate little female before him, his tone mocking. "So all that fawning you did, again and again, it was all for this?"
’He was holding back.’
’Holding back the urge to strangle her right then and there.’
’To think she was harboring such a scheme, wanting to have a Mermaid’s child, and even daring to say it out loud—’
’Was she truly not afraid of death, or did she think he wouldn’t have the heart to kill her?’
"No, no, no!" Yu Zhizhi shook her head repeatedly. "I, I—"
’Actually...’
’Yusen wasn’t wrong.’
’Her main quest was, in fact, to become pregnant with a Mermaid Baby, so she desperately wanted to win Yusen’s favor.’
’Fawning... there was nothing wrong with calling it that.’
This left Yu Zhizhi’s rebuttal weak and powerless. In Yusen’s eyes, the little female’s reaction only confirmed his suspicions.
He gritted his teeth, his eyes turning grim. His anger made his Mermaid features more pronounced: his fin-like ears became more distinct, and transparent, pale blue scales began to spread from his cheekbones down to his neck. The youth’s handsome face looked more and more like a sea demon from the legends, one who specialized in bewitching young maidens.
Yu Zhizhi could feel the shift in the Mermaid’s aura. The warmth in his eyes had dropped to nearly zero.
Panic surged in her heart.
She involuntarily leaned in and wrapped her arms around his. "It’s not just because of that. I just... I want to be good to Sensen..."
The little female looked frail and trembling. She spoke in a soft, gentle voice, offering a clumsy defense:
"Sensen, please don’t misunderstand. I... I don’t have any other motives. I just want to be with you..."
Yusen’s expression wavered slightly. The frost in his ice-blue eyes seemed to recede a little, though his face remained tense, his gaze locked firmly on the little female’s porcelain-white face.
’I want to be good to Sensen.’
’I just want to be with you.’
’She was so good at coaxing people.’
Shy and timid, soft and sweet, she clung tightly to his arm. The feeling of her soft body pressed against him caused the Mermaid’s breathing to grow shallow.
’Perhaps... she was telling the truth.’
Who would dare to touch a Mermaid Clan’s reverse scale, other than this silly rabbit right in front of him, her eyes tinged red, looking so pitiful?
