Cub Raising Association

CRA Chapter 81 – part 1

I’m here

When the youth touched his forehead with his fingertips, the warmth clearly transmitted to his forehead made the mermaid, who hated physical contact, stiffen up .

But it was not annoying .

Whether it was his hair or ear fins from before, or being gently touched on the middle of his forehead like now, he didn’t hate it .

Xie Luan also sensed the mermaid’s reaction . Before speaking to him, Xie Luan raised his hand a little more and placed it on the other’s head .

Unlike the short hair of the mermaid cub in Xie Luan’s memory, the hair of this adult mermaid was much longer, but the soft blond hair still felt the same to the touch .

From that exceptionally beautiful face, Xie Luan could easily match it to the delicate appearance of this mermaid when he was a cub .

The little mermaid had a pair of azure eyes, they were just like the blue ocean, so very beautiful .

Perhaps it was simply a subconscious action for the youth, but Gale felt a sense of comfort from the youth touching his hair .

Just as if he was also valued and loved by the other .

“Can’t say it?” Xie Luan paused his hand and slowly said this after having waited a long time for him to answer .

The tone Xie Luan used at this time was no different from a parent who was coaxing a cub to tell him the truth, although the person himself was not aware of this .

The soft comforting strokes on his head stopped, the mermaid with no expression on his face subconsciously moved the ice-blue fins beside his ears slightly .

“I used a dagger, to remove it . ”

This answer rang particularly clear in the quiet room . Due to their race, mermaids’ voices were generally very pleasing to the ear, but this could not change the fact that what the other said was a painful thing . .

Xie Luan’s body went rigid, he couldn’t respond for several seconds .

It was not that his brain didn’t respond . Xie Luan clearly understood what the other was saying, but it was precisely because he understood, he froze like this .

It had not been forcibly removed by others, the mark on the forehead was something the mermaid himself did not want .

They deliberately abandoned the cub on land, out of water . Their way of handling it made Gale understand that his so-called family did not wish for him to survive, but he nevertheless lived .

To abandon him when he was found to have a defect, and once again wanting to exploit him when he was found to have other worth . Everything about this family disgusted Gale .

However, the Houdie family already no longer existed, it was destroyed by his own hands .

If there was something about that family deserving of any nostalgia, it was only after reading the memories of the youth .

「They both love you . 」

A gentle voice told him, no... it was telling the “self” in the other world .

He hadn’t allowed the mermaid cub to experience unpleasant things related to that family, the cub still didn’t understand anything . The owner of this voice was like a big sheltering umbrella, blocking all the outside wind and rain for the mermaid cub .

And afterwards even let the cub know that his parents loved him .

To be loved .

What kind of feeling was this... Through the memories of the youth, he saw that his other world’s self was loved . Nevertheless, Gale, who resided in the current world, still couldn’t truly experience it through these memories .

But just as he was thinking about it like this, a sudden hug made this cold mermaid’s expression blank for a moment . After he managed to recover, he didn’t know what he should do .

If he didn’t move, would the youth continue to hold him a bit longer... Because of this thought, the mermaid was still motionless, even now .

He spoke of using a sharp weapon to cut out a layer of skin and flesh in a light tone, as if it was nothing . Even if it was a simple sentence without much added description, Xie Luan still felt a dull pain in his chest when hearing it . Then a kind of sour and astringent feeling .

In this world line where he wasn’t present, had anyone been good to this little mermaid? Did anyone love this cub? Just thinking about it like this, that sourness seemed to gradually spread from his chest to Xie Luan’s throat, blocking his throat as well .

“Gale be good . ”

As soon as he felt he could use his voice, Xie Luan’s hand once more touched the soft blond head of the mermaid . When petting his hair this time, he couldn’t help using a part of his spiritual power, similar to humming a lullaby to soothe a cub .

Hearing these three words, the originally motionless mermaid seemed to be stunned for a second, and his eyes widened slightly .

He accepted the comfort without resisting . It was also at this time Gale clearly sensed that the youth who held him actually possessed a large amount of spiritual power .

At the same time he also understood that Xie Luan must completely lack defense against him, otherwise, with this level of spiritual power, he would not have been able to so easily read the memories of the other earlier .

“Pa...” He only made a weak sound just like the cub had when he was unable to speak at first . For this mermaid with azure eyes, the word he wanted to say now also required great effort .

“...Papa?” This name, could he also call him that?

He wasn’t sure about this . When the mermaid uttered these two syllables, his low voice was a little hard to hear .

But just like he saw when reading his memories, no matter how low and weak the little mermaid‘s voice was when he said these two syllables, the youth who heard the call would always immediately respond .

“En . ”

Xie Luan quickly responded, and added warmly, “I am here . ”

CRA Chapter 81 – part 2

Afterward, as if to confirm something, Xie Luan listened to the mermaid repeatedly calling out, “Papa, Papa!” several times . Although he was obviously already fully grown, Xie Luan felt like he was seeing a particularly insecure little mermaid .

He lowered his head and lightly pressed against the youth’s shoulder . Because he was no longer a cub, the mermaid could not nest in the youth’s arms, he could only get as close as possible like this .

The ice-blue fins beside the mermaid’s ears moved lightly . After observing for a bit, Xie Luan came to the conclusion that this should represent a happy mood, just like when the cub moved his tail .

Stroking the soft blond hair while sitting in this position, Xie Luan found that the mermaid who leaned his head on his shoulder seemed a little sleepy . The light swaying of his ear fins gradually slowed, but the mermaid was still trying hard to keep his eyes open .

“Go to sleep . ”

Xie Luan coaxed, making his voice soft .

Although his shoulder was a little sore from being leaned on and pressed against, Xie Luan had no desire to push him away at this moment .

Waiting for the mermaid to close his eyes, Xie Luan lightly hummed the melody of a lullaby .

In this way, the mermaid would be able to rest well, right?

Enduring the sore feeling in his shoulder, Xie Luan didn’t make any big movements .

Soon falling asleep in the peaceful environment created by the youth, Gale had a dream .

In his dream, he had been living in a small wooden bucket . Occasionally, when the water in the bucket needed to be changed, he would be severely rebuked for thrashing his tail in distress and making the caretakers’ clothes wet .

The first cub raising branch he stayed at was forced to shut down within a few years due to a lack of money .

The conditions of the branches he later transferred to were also similar, he was only given a small wooden bucket to stay in . At those branches, there wasn’t normally anyone who would specifically come over to see him .

There was no way for him to move around at will, the mermaid cub who still couldn’t speak stayed quietly in the small water filled wooden bucket . The little mermaid was slowly growing up . Finally, one day, the time to shed his scales came, and the first scale fell .

The little mermaid instinctively grasped the first scale and carefully put it away, he wanted to give the first scale to a parent for safekeeping . And so the mermaid cub began to wait .

But no matter how much he waited, that long awaited person never came .

Gradually, he stopped waiting .

He felt like he had a long dream . When Gale opened his eyes, he could still feel a soft touch on his head .

“Woken up?” Hearing this warm and relaxed voice, Gale’s mind became very clear at this moment .

It was not a dream, what happened was real, yet the reality he was actually experiencing now was truly like a dream... It was so beautiful that there was a kind of surreal unrealness .

The ark battleship was currently moving through space . Xie Luan was not only arranged to live on this battleship, but also received the right to move around freely on this ark battleship .

The freedom included the right to access places that were established as restricted areas .

The right to freedom of movement, the soldiers on the ark battleship heard that it was approved by their commander himself . With this development, the soldiers on this battleship were now all somewhat astounded .

Especially the dozen or so low-ranking soldiers who had pointed their guns at the youth in the beginning; all inevitably became a little nervous the moment they heard of this .

He was obviously an intruder, so why was their second-in-command and commander, both, all of a sudden attaching such special attention to the intruder?? And this kind of significance was also not the kind placed on the enemy... The read memories could only be shared with one person a day . Today, Gale had just shared the memories with the expressionless nox sitting in the master seat, hence the current situation .

Having received the right to move around freely, Xie Luan left the room, at last walking through the hallways without having guns pointed at him by the soldiers .

On this ark battleship was an entire huge legion . Whether it was the ark battleship or the legion itself, both possessed the ability to destroy a planet .

The former did indeed half-destroy a planet soon after, and the half-destroyed planet was Hailumite .

Xie Luan walked past halls filled with soldiers . When he reached the third hall, he began to see many muka soldiers appearing in it .

The adult muka at the head of the muka army was particularly tall, and the forearm seemed to have suffered a serious injury in the past . Although it had healed, there was still a distinct trace left on the hard shell .

The small black mark on the tip of the muka´s injured left forearm was close to a diamond shape . It was impossible to see if you didn’t look carefully, but Xie Luan was very familiar with this mark .

“Nick . ”

Even though he knew the muka cub’s name may not be Nick in this world, Xie Luan still breathed the name in a low voice at this time .