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Chapter 24: Who Touches Who Hits Who
When the waiter saw An Jin, he greeted him, “Hello, please come in, what would you like to eat?”
An Jin turned his head, his eyes shining brightly at Norman.
The waiter followed his gaze and smiled. “So you are a friend of Team Leader Tang. What kind of food do you like? I can help recommend.”
Norman said, “Let’s start with the braised fish nuggets and look at the menu for the rest.”
He walked over to the teenager and his sleeve was pulled by the teenager. An Jin pointed to the nearest table with the braised fish nuggets with an expectant look.
A smile flashed in Norman’s eyes. “I’ve already ordered it.”
An Jin pursed his lips in embarrassment, silently wrote down the name of the dish, followed Norman to the empty seat in the corner, and the two sat down side by side.
Norman clicked on the electronic menu on the table. “Order what you want to eat.”
Worried that the teenager would not understand, he pointed to the pictures of various dishes. An Jin saw the pictures and his eyes lit up. When he earned money, he must treat Norman back!
He did not order unfamiliar dishes, ordering steamed fish, spicy lobster, and also scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Thinking that there were only two people, he did not continue to order and pushed the screen towards Norman.
Norman added a star animal meat and a soup, and clicked OK. He asked the teenager again, “How did you learn interstellar?”
At that moment, someone at the next table said loudly, “Boss, another order of sliced pork. Delicious!”
An Jin’s head turned away and then back to Norman. “Delicious!”
Even the tone of voice was similar to that person’s.
An Jin thought to himself that the best way to make it seem reasonable that he could talk the first time he entered the holographic world was to let Norman know that he was very good at learning to talk.
Norman had asked this question twice and the teenager hadn’t answered, so he couldn’t help but guess that the teenager didn’t understand. But from the teenager’s response, it was likely that he would listen to someone and then learn.
Norman looked at the teenager, who was sitting in a chair, with both hands on the table top. He looked obedient and coquettish, with his eyes staring straight at the promotional dish chart on the desktop, looking innocent and cute even though his looks were ordinary. If the little mermaid had not entered the holographic world with him, he would never have thought, when he saw the teenager, that the teenager was actually a mermaid.
An Jin noticed his measuring gaze and turned his head to look at him, his head tilted slightly to the right to express his confusion.
Norman suddenly thought of something and asked, “Why don’t you like that tavern?”
An Jin’s cheeks puffed out, and the two hands on the table folded and shook gently, stating the main case and making sure he heard every word.
“Someone, trying to touch my hand.” He hesitated for a moment, not continuing to explain what happened after that; after all, that was a long paragraph.
As a young mermaid entering the holographic world for the second time, the language skills should not be that strong. He said this in a broken sentence, but every word was accurate.
Norman understood what was going on almost immediately.
Little mermaid had no money, went into the holographic world and could not change the image, and the little mermaid looked very delicate. He knew very well the virtues of certain people in the holographic world. His eyebrows knitted up sharply. “Remember the ID?”
The people in the holographic world could change their appearance, but not their ID, which was unique to each person’s wrist terminal.
An Jin blinked and looked confused. What is an ID?
Norman grabbed his left hand and flipped his wrist, revealing a number. “This is your ID.”
An Jin was surprised; he hadn’t even noticed.
Norman saw the situation and did not ask. The little mermaid obviously did not remember.
His hand was slightly harder, and when the little mermaid looked up at him, he said seriously, “In the future, if someone touches you, you hit him!”
He said this and lowered his eyes to look at the little mermaid’s slender fingers. The round nails, pink and tender, were not aggressive at first glance. His eyes continued to move down and landed on the little mermaid’s feet.
I wonder if there was any change in strength after the tail became two legs, and if it could beat others.
He let go of the teenager’s hand, moved his chair to the side, pulling the two apart, then extended his right leg and set it not far in front of the teenager.
He looked at the teenager. “You, kick me.”
An Jin was speechless.
Norman saw the teenager stay still and kicked his right foot with his left foot. “Kick one.” He pointed to the teenager’s right foot and then pointed to his own. “You, kick me.”
An Jin was sure he had just heard correctly and kicked gently as he asked, feeling that he had kicked an iron plate.
“Harder.” Norman tapped lightly on the table, then increased the force. “Harder.”
An Jin looked at him, and his eyes suddenly curved into the shape of a crescent moon and the corners of his mouth curled up. Although Norman always looked serious, he was actually more attentive than many people.
From the time he met Norman, Norman always made him understand various meanings with his actions, just like now.
The appearance of a serious demonstration made him feel warm and cute.
Norman saw the teenager suddenly smiling, looked at the desktop and tapped it again, making a thud sound. “Like it?”
An Jin saw his misunderstanding and shook his head. “No,” he pointed to Norman’s foot, “kick?”
Norman nodded. “Harder.”
An Jin tried a kick with some force first, and Norman’s foot didn’t move at all. Norman told him to use his maximum force.
An Jin took a deep breath and kicked hard at Norman’s right foot, and the two feet collided with a dull thud.
Norman’s foot was knocked back a little, An Jin’s foot was carried forward, and because of the force used, his body was also carried forward by inertia, and he fell forward. An Jin was completely unprepared and could not hold his body steady, so he subconsciously closed his eyes to meet the pain.
Norman’s long hand fished, lightly caught the teenager, and he looked down. The teenager closed his eyes, a smile in his eyes.
Little mermaid in human form was still timid.
An Jin opened his eyes and saw that he was holding Norman’s arm, almost hanging on Norman’s arm. His face flushed red, and he hurriedly let go and took a step back. When he moved, the pain in the front bone of his calf came. “Hiss…”
He drew a breath, and his eyes immediately floated a layer of watery mist.
Before the apocalypse, he was a spoiled young master, especially afraid of pain, but his parents did not like him to cry. He was not a delicate character, rarely crying out, but physical tears, he could not control. He hurriedly looked at Norman’s leg, his voice slightly hoarse and softer. “Do you hurt?”
He really did not think that the strength of his foot was so strong that he could hurt Norman with a kick.
He was in so much pain, Norman was afraid that it would not be easy.
Norman was slightly stunned, he had never been asked this question by anyone since he was in high school and had suffered countless injuries in training and competition conquests. He looked at the teenager’s slightly red eyes, with obvious concern in his eyes, and he was silent for a moment before saying, “It doesn’t hurt.”
He grabbed the teenager’s slender waist with both hands and easily lifted him up and gently put him back into the seat.
Before An Jin could react, he was back in his chair. He tilted his head and looked at the small mountain of Norman in front of him, suddenly understanding Norman’s aesthetics. He pointed to Norman and then to himself. “Can it be the same?”
“Yes,” Norman squatted down and pulled up the teenager’s pant leg, “but the amount of force and tolerance is related to me.”
The little mermaid’s tail was strong when it became a foot, but it was still delicate.
From the warm touch one An Jin’s feet, he felt some itching. He unconsciously shrunk his feet, and his ear tips reddened.
Before the apocalypse, except for Nanny Zhang and Grandpa Gardener, he rarely had close contact with people, and after the apocalypse, everyone was wary and kept their distance. He did not feel very comfortable, especially because Norman’s presence was very strong.
Norman gently pressed his leg bone to make sure it wasn’t broken and said reassuringly, “It’s a small injury, it’ll heal soon.”
If it was too serious, he’d have to take the little mermaid offline.
In the holographic world, including the spiritual sea being seriously traumatized, physical injuries and spiritual sea loss would automatically recover after going offline, and did not affect reality’s physical condition.
Norman got up and said to the teenager seriously, “From now on, whoever touches you, you kick whoever you can’t win against, and get offline.”
He said this and then taught the little mermaid how to get offline.
An Jin then noticed that on his panel, there was a small blue dot and a “parent” sign where Norman was located.
Seems to be a bit better than “owner”.
“Are you ready to eat?” The waiter asked as he approached.
Norman nodded, then he bent down, gently lifted the teenager, put him on his left arm and walked to his left.
An Jin hurriedly held his shoulders, his eyes glued to the table. “Eat!”
He was in a bit of a hurry. The waiter had started serving food. Norman wasn’t going to take him out of the holographic world because he was injured, was he? He hadn’t had a good meal in over two years and didn’t want to give up this opportunity!
Norman laughed softly, his voice low and magnetic. “Do not rush.” He walked to the left corner of the sink and put the teenager down. “Follow me.”
He put his hand under the thin tube on the wall, and a second later, a drop of hand sanitizer fell into his hand.
An Jin did as he was told and followed his hand under the faucet to catch some water, then rubbed his palm, washed his hands carefully, rinsed them off, and blew them dry.
Norman’s attention was on the teenager, who had the most ordinary face and was imitating his actions seriously, which somehow made him feel cute. He praised, “An An is so smart.”
An Jin was a little embarrassed. He was not a real mermaid, so he would be weak to receive such a compliment.
When they returned to the table, An Jin was immediately attracted by the dishes on the table.
The spicy lobster was in a big bowl of red. The steamed fish had a knife on its back, and the flesh was white and tender at the opening. He swallowed silently and turned his head to look at Norman.
Norman picked up the chopsticks and handed him a pair. “Learn from me.”
Once again, Norman was amazed at how quickly An Jin learned. Within two minutes he was using the chopsticks.
An Jin ate very happily, and although each dish had a slight bitter taste due to impurities, the ingredients and the dish were so rich that the bitterness of the impurities was simply ignored by him.
Compared with the food of the apocalypse and the food without any seasoning from before, it was already very delicious. He ate until he couldn’t eat at all before he stopped and touched his bulging stomach, secretly regretting that he wasn’t the king of big appetites.
The thought of coming back to the holographic world later made him happy again.
Norman saw his satisfied face and asked, “Do you like it?”
An Jin quickly nodded. “Delicious!”
“What else do you want to do?” Norman asked.
An Jin still had pain in his feet and didn’t want to walk, so he shook his head.
Norman then chose to go offline, and the scene changed in front of them at the same time, back to the bathroom.
Norman took off his helmet and helped the little mermaid to take his off and handed it to the robot on the side.
An Jin hurriedly reached out. “Ah!” He had to enter the holographic world later.
Norman looked at him. “An An.”
An Jin blinked and tilted his head. “Huh?”
He wasn’t going to reveal that he could talk in reality for now; he had to watch Norman’s next move.
Norman knew that he could speak interstellar in the holographic world, would he let someone study him out of curiosity?
An Jin was a little nervous.
Norman watched the little mermaid’s reaction. If the mermaid form couldn’t speak interstellar, could he understand him?