ICTEUWMN Chapter 18

I’m down with a cold so updates will be sporadic this week!

[The task has been deemed a success! You even triggered a hidden branch reward for mental power therapy, and the reward is doubled!?]

Was it a subconscious… instinctive behavior?

But with the final minute of the countdown ticking away, Yu Mian could already vaguely hear movement outside the door.

Someone had come upstairs!

Even though Huo Ting hadn’t fully awakened yet, if his subordinates stumbled upon this scene of a mermaid holding hands with him in the middle of the night, it would undoubtedly cause a misunderstanding of epic proportions!

[Indeed, your actions might seriously tarnish Huo Ting’s reputation.]

The system couldn’t help but analyze the situation.

After all, it was late at night, and its host’s looks were dangerously attractive. It would be nearly impossible to explain this scene clearly.

“Excuse me, but isn’t my reputation worth protecting too?!”

Hearing the system’s mutters, Yu Mian felt indignant.

In his past life, he had been a homebody, single since birth!

[Then you’d better think of something quickly. Otherwise, the two of you will be caught red-handed holding hands.]

Yu Mian: …?

Without wasting much time, Yu Mian threw caution to the wind. He leaned closer to Huo Ting, and as if dismantling a welded joint, forcibly pried his hand loose.

“Let go! If you don’t, both of our reputations will be ruined, do you understand?!”

Yes, he was craving his mental power, but not at the cost of social death!

Yu Mian desperately tried to pry open Huo Ting’s fingers. His fishtail unconsciously pressed against the sofa for leverage, almost brushing against the other party’s pant leg.

However, just as he was breaking into a sweat, he noticed that Huo Ting seemed to sense his attempts to escape. And instead of letting go, he tightened his grip even more…

Damn it!

He swore he would never hold hands so recklessly again.

This must be punishment for leeching off his mental power.

“System! Can I transform back into a fish? Then you can just toss me back into the glass jar! There’s no way he could hold on to me like that, right?”

[Uh… that might actually work!]

Just as the door was about to be knocked on, Yu Mian made one final desperate plea.

Sure enough, with a flash of white light, the young man’s human form disappeared, shrinking into a small figure that was promptly tossed into the jar in an arc.

With a “plop”, the system even twisted the lid tightly three times for good measure.

‘It worked!’

Yu Mian was so overwhelmed with relief that he almost cried in the jar.

Really, this was a case of “the fish weeping, but only the water knowing”…

There were three knocks on the door before Secretary Hals and his team of secretaries and medics entered the room.

“Reporting!”

But when Secretary Hals saw Huo Ting’s figure on the sofa, he exchanged puzzled looks with the medics behind him.

There was no response.

This was extremely odd.

“Could he have fallen asleep?”

One of the medics whispered worriedly.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that he hasn’t slept a wink in nearly three days and nights during this mission,” Secretary recalled, his tone heavy.

While the others had rotated shifts, Huo Ting had stayed in the cockpit’s monitoring room the entire time.

The group approached the sofa cautiously.

Unexpectedly, Huo Ting had already closed his eyes again at some point, but this time, it was clear he had fallen asleep. His neck rested lightly against the back of the sofa, his long lashes casting shadows over his closed eyelids, and his face appeared unusually serene.

“Be careful as you approach. Choose someone with the gentlest mental power attribute to go over,” Secretary Hals instructed the medical team softly.

Approaching someone with a high level of mental power awakening during their sleep was extremely risky. At such times, their reactions are purely instinctual. The stronger the mental power, the more heightened their defenses would be, even without malicious intent.

So, despite being the second-highest in mental power among those present, Secretary Hals was actually more of a risk than the medics.

“All indicators are normal, but there’s something odd about his mental sea,” one of the medics reported after carefully attaching the monitoring device to Huo Ting’s wrist and analyzing the data. The medic’s expression turned strange.

“What’s wrong? There wasn’t any indication of the mental sea being involved; it was just a chest and back injury caused by the blade of a Level 2 alien beast,” Secretary Hals said, his expression growing serious.

The Federation’s treatment methods for physical injuries had already developed to a very advanced level.. Even severed limbs could be reattached seamlessly with top-tier medical solutions. However, research into the mental sea remained shrouded in mystery. Only the shallowest layers of it had been understood so far.

Therefore, an injury to the mental sea was almost always irreversible.

“There’s no injury… but there are signs of an attack or contamination. However, the state of his mental sea is the best it has ever been, it’s completely full and relaxed,” the medic explained. “I didn’t dare probe too deeply, so it’s best to conduct a comprehensive examination once he wakes up in the morning.”

“Understood. Then check the chest wound next,” Secretary Hals said, relieved to hear there was no apparent injury.

“The chest and back wounds have already been re-bandaged, and the bleeding stopped. The material used seems to have come from a home medical kit. It looks like he treated himself at home and fell asleep while recovering,” the medic looked somewhat surprised.

To everyone’s relief, there was almost nothing left for them to do.

“Really? I thought he’d been pushing himself too hard again,” Secretary Hals exhaled a sigh of relief. His eyes fell on the small bow tied into the bandages on Huo Ting’s chest. “Though… the bow on these bandages is oddly… cute.”

The tail end of the bow swayed gently in the night breeze.

“Let’s leave it at that for tonight. Thank you all for your hard work.” There wasn’t any other reason to explain this, but fortunately, everything had gone so smoothly.

Meanwhile, inside the jar, Yu Mian was in a rather gloomy mood.

“Are you sure this guy won’t remember anything when he wakes up tomorrow?” he asked.

[I was confident at first, but now who knows if he has action memories!]

[Try holding his hand recklessly again next time, and you’ll see how serious this is!] the system retorted mercilessly, crushing his mood further.

“…I was wrong! I’ll never greedily touch him again!” Yu Mian wailed, feeling like rolling around miserably in the water.

[Well, at least you managed to double your task rewards this time, even if it was an accident. You’re safe for the next 14 days!]

The system was quite pleased as it reviewed the backend notifications. The host’s first daily task had gone unexpectedly well.

“So, does this mean I have to keep doing anonymous good deeds just to cover my fees for the light brain and aquarium?” Yu Mian asked.

[In a way, your summary is very accurate,] the system was amused by Yu Mian’s strangely accurate understanding.

“Ugh, I just hope this guy treats me better from now on,” Yu Mian sighed before his attention turned inward.

“But his mental power is so strange—it’s so slow to absorb,” he mused. His own mental power had always been a golden ball of mist, but now faint red glows had appeared within it. They shone brightly, but the red hue within it felt uncomfortable.

[That’s an extremely advanced form of mental power, though it’s been contaminated.]

[The strength of this power is enough for you to transform legs… but the side effects are unknown. You’d need more of it, though; the current amount is still insufficient.]

“Wait, this stuff is that powerful!?” Yu Mian exclaimed, excitement overtaking his confusion.

He had long found his fishtail beautiful but inconvenient. If he could transform legs, he could finally explore the interstellar world outside.

[…Why do I feel like you’re planning something outrageous again?]

The system felt uneasy as Yu Mian’s gaze once again burned brightly as he looked toward Huo Ting.

“Suddenly, I feel like shaking hands is too risky. Why not try patting his shoulder next time?” Yu Mian suddenly felt that life had hope.

[???]

—

The next morning, Huo Yan, having barely slept through the night, rushed downstairs for breakfast, only to find his cousin missing from the table.

“Where’s my cousin?! Don’t tell me he’s still sleeping in? I’m going to look for him!” Huo Yan exclaimed, setting down his bowl and preparing to bolt.

Before he could leave, Madam Inas grabbed him. “Do you think your cousin is like you? Huo Ting left for the research institute first thing this morning.”

“What… he’s working this early again?” Huo Yan muttered, sulking as he sat back down.

‘Wait, no, this is good news.’

‘That means I can go to the study and see Yu Mian!’

“I don’t know what happened. He looked to be in a rush,” Huo Dong recalled the events of the morning and sighed softly.

However, Huo Yan’s mind had already flown to the study, and he didn’t pay attention to any of this.

In the study, Yu Mian was browsing the web.

“This is strange, I can’t find any information about this Huo Ting,” Yu Mian muttered.

After the unexpected boost in mental power the previous night, Yu Mian had planned to learn more about Huo Ting to target him better, so it’s easier to gain more benefits next time. But to his surprise, there was nothing to be found on the vast star network.

[If you’re searching on the star network, it would be better to just ask Huo Yan directly. I’m sure that kid would be more than happy to tell you everything. But as for public information, this falls under confidential matters. How could you find anything like that online?]

Otherwise, wouldn’t enemy forces be able to easily find it too?

“This guy is this mysterious?” Yu Mian propped his chin in his hand, flicking his fish tail thoughtfully.

“Then where did he go early this morning? Though there’s no detectable issue, I still feel uneasy…”

Yu Mian kept thinking about it. When he thought of how Huo Ting woke up early in the morning, looked at his palm in silence for a long time, and then went out, he still felt a little unsettled.

[Theoretically, as long as you complete the task, the world’s rules will ensure that the plot for the next 14 days will not force you out. But how this will be implemented, no one really knows.]

“…Why does that make me feel even more uneasy?”

Yu Mian tapped his fish tail on the carpet, silently praying that Huo Ting didn’t discover anything unusual.

Once he had gathered enough power to grow legs, he wouldn’t be greedy anymore!

And if the other party had any conscience at all, he should realize he meant no harm!!

[Right, you mean no harm; you just covet his mental power…]

“That’s nonsense!”

Yu Mian immediately flushed and tried to deny it.

Beep beep beep—

Just then, a long-awaited message came through the star network.

[The editor has accepted your friend request!]

Does that mean he could officially sign the contract and start the updates!?

Yu Mian straightened up in surprise, realizing that his two friend requests had finally been approved by Huanyu Reading Platform.

[Editor Crispy Shark: Hello! I’m Editor Crispy Shark. Are you the author Fish Soup Noodles!?]

[I’m really sorry for the delay in approving your request. But I’m so happy you chose Huanyu! I personally love your work and characters so much—I follow your updates every day!!]

After reading the enthusiastic message from the editor, Yu Mian couldn’t help but smile.

[Fish: When you say “personally”, does that mean there are internal disagreements at Huanyu? Is that why it took a few extra days to approve?]

In fact, Yu Mian had already considered this issue.

Theoretically, once the signing request had been sent to him, it shouldn’t have taken this long to approve. Something must have delayed the process.

Given the editor’s unintended disclosure, Yu Mian had a vague suspicion.

[Editor Crispy Shark: !!!]

Yu Mian’s message really startled Crispy Shark, also known as Shaxs.

This author was indeed very perceptive.

In fact, even when Yu Mian had first published his updates, it had already caught the attention of the editorial department internally.

After all, the customer service line had been overwhelmed after the sudden hiatus, which had unwittingly helped raise the profile of this novel at Huanyu’s headquarters.

However, whether to sign “Contract Marriage”—a novel considered unconventional—had caused quite a stir and mixed reactions within the editorial department.