Chapter 55: Homosapiens

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Norman and Mu Chen left the mermaid center and headed to the military headquarters.
The two hover cars arrived at the parking lot one after the other, and Mu Chen quickly caught up with Norman.
Thinking about the previous scene, he couldn’t help but laugh.
He did not expect that Norman would ask if he was better looking than a mermaid! The question was so serious.

Norman lightly asked, “So funny?”

Mu Chen held back his laughter.
“No,” he said and still laughed away.
“I haven’t congratulated you, you actually got An An!”

“I haven’t caught him yet.”

Mu Chen waved his hand.
“An An’s reaction showed that he obviously likes you.
I’m pretty sure you’ve almost caught him.”

Norman’s eyes shone brightly.
“Really?”

“Of course,” Mu Chen said, “the main characters in the movie are like An An, blushing.”

Norman thought it was silly that he almost believed Mu Chen’s judgment as a single dog.
The little mermaid has always been very shy! But…the corners of his mouth rose unnoticeably for a moment, and the little mermaid thought he was handsome!

The two arrived at the office building, and the four army chiefs met.
Four people came from the direction of the training ground, with sweaty hair and rolled-up sleeves, a look that said they had just trained.

“His Majesty,” the four saluted.
Norman nodded.

After greeting each other, Garrett asked Mu Chen, “Have you seen Big Red…Rui Rui? Is he okay?”

“Much better than you, a single dog.
He is holding Ling Ling, the beauty, in his arms so comfortably.” He wondered, “It’s just a morning without seeing him, you’re too worried, right?” He looked odd.
“An An said, and you should have seen that Rui Rui and Ling Ling are prospective mates.
You can’t fall for Rui Rui, there will be no results.”

Garrett’s broad slap hit Mu Chen’s shoulder so hard that Mu Chen stumbled.

Garrett shouted, “Nonsense, Rui Rui is my little buddy.
I just found him in the morning, but he was taken away by the little white boy, I’m worried…”

He hadn’t finished his sentence when the second army chief gave him a sharp whoop on the back of the head.
His head fell forward violently, and he looked up angrily and was about to start cursing when he glanced at the svelte figure coming out of the corner, mute.

A few muffled laughs came from his side, and he didn’t need to look, he knew that a few of his fellow officers were gloating.

Xie Li propped up his gold-rimmed glasses, his detached gaze glancing lightly and quickly past Garrett to Norman.
“Your Majesty.”

Norman nodded.
“Thank you, Captain”

When Norman continued to walk forward, Xie Li also raised his steps and walked away.

Garrett looked back three times, scratching his ears and kicking his feet.
He bumped Mu Chen with his shoulder.
“Eh, you say, did the little white boy just hear me?”

Mu Chen rolled his eyes.
“You are so loud, what do you say?”

The second army chief laughed.
“This question, certainly also heard.”

Garrett’s expression stiffened.
“Little…Captain Xie should not be angry! He is very pale!”

“This time, when you need your mecha fixed, Captain Xie won’t take responsibility for destroying it.
Pray that Captain Xie acts like an adult.” Mu Chen said.

When Garrett heard about the mecha, he got even more anxious.
“Big deal! I’ll let him call me Big Old Black!”

“They’re not always willing to do that.
They’re all civilized people in research, they don’t use the same foul language as you do, and besides, you’re trying to take advantage of people by being so neat, right?”

“Nonsense!” Garrott retorted loudly.

A few people talked and laughed and went back to their offices.

There was a meeting of the military department at three pm.

“Your Majesty, according to our investigation statistics, after contact with An Jin, mermaids became more fond of singing, singing every morning and evening.
The soldiers who keep mermaids in the military department, their spiritual sea state is very good recently.”

“An Jin’s influence on mermaids is huge, and he speaks interstellar and mermaid language.
I propose to recruit An Jin to the military department, so that he can discuss with mermaids and let mermaids sing more songs to provide maximum spiritual force.”

“I think we can ask An Jin to ask the mermaids to be willing to sing more.
We used to coax mermaids by relying on what we saw.
Since we can communicate through An Jin, we should ask directly and clearly.
It is mutually convenient.”

Norman listened to their discussion before speaking.
“I’ll talk to him.”

“Tell An An to tell the mermaids that I’ll agree to any condition as long as he’s willing to sing for me.”

“Just keep singing in the morning and evening like they have been doing lately.”

—

In the afternoon, when Norman went to pick up the little mermaid, he noticed that the little mermaid’s eyes were very bright and kept looking at him, as if he was eager to say something.
He was tickled by the little mermaid’s blue eyes.
“What’s wrong?”

When he got into the hover car, An Jin told him the idea of making a translator, and then asked with an expectant face, “Can it be made?”

Norman nodded.
“Yes,” he said, rubbing the little mermaid’s head, “It’s important for humans to understand the mermaids.I’ll have the tech department make it as soon as possible, but I need your help.”

“I’ll try to help!”

Norman told him about the meeting.
“With the translator, they can communicate with the mermaid themselves, they don’t have to bother you all the time.”

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An Jin smiled.
“I’m happy to help, it’s no trouble.”

After dinner, Norman received a reply from the technical department, and he passed a document to the young mermaid.

“This is the technical department’s data collation.
Translate the most frequent daily words and phrases into mermaid language and after that, just give it to me.”

“In addition to these, after that there will be the rest of the content.
I also need you to translate, but the first thing we need to do is make the translator.
Any future content can be added with a system upgrade.”

An Jin clicked on it and looked at it, but an embarrassed look surfaced on his face when he saw the back.

Norman asked, “What’s wrong?”

An Jin said embarrassed, “I don’t know some words.”

Norman immediately remembered that the little mermaid had been watching literacy videos every day, and compared to the average human beginner, the little mermaid was already learning much faster.
But this document contained a lot of words, so it was normal that the little mermaid couldn’t recognize all of them.

Norman’s eyes flashed brightly.
“It’s okay, I can teach you.”

He was thinking about how to spend more time with the little mermaid, and it would be perfect to teach him how to recognize words.

An Jin’s eyes lit up, but he hesitated for a moment.
“Will it take you away from your work?”

“No,” Norman said, “I just finished eating, so I can take a break and start again later.”

An Jin nodded, tail flicking from side to side.
“I want to go for a slow swim in the garden, do you want to take a walk after dinner?”

Norman nodded.
“Yes, see you in the garden.”

He got up and walked out of the mermaid room.
An Jin’s tail flicked and he walked through the gorgeous passageway to the garden pond.

The stars had just faded and the stars had not yet risen into the sky, and it was the most comfortable time of the day.
An Jin lay on his back, wagging his tail lazily and swimming slowly in a circle.
Norman walked slowly back and forth along the path not far away, his eyes often falling uncontrollably on the little mermaid.

An Jin, who had been eating for a while, turned over and faced the water, then paddled away with his hands and quickly swam to the shore.
Resting his hands on the edge of the shore and looking at Norman who was walking slowly, he said, “I want to go in and record.”

“Come then.”

An Jin went back to the mermaid room, and shortly afterwards Norman came in.

An Jin floated on the shore, opened the terminal file, and was about to press record when he saw Norman crouching, frowned, thought about it, and said, “Let’s go to the living room, wait a while.”

He swung his tail and swam to the steep slope at the corner of the pool, his tail turned into his legs.
Because the fishtail dress was too tight, his legs were bound so he bent down and folded the hem up a little.

Norman knew that the little mermaid’s tail could become legs, but it was the first time he saw the change process with his own eyes, although only for a moment, his breath still couldn’t control the slight stagnation.
The little mermaid bent over, and the T-shirt hem moved up, revealing a slim white waist, cold white leather in the light, almost a little shaky.

His waist was narrowed and extended to the sides below, and his hip bone was very obvious under the close-fitting fishtail skirt, and because of the bending posture, his hips were more upright.

Norman abruptly averted his eyes, but then saw the little mermaid’s folded fishtail skirt and exposed section of calf, and his eyes darkened slightly.
An Jin was unaware that his simple actions were provocative, and even with the skirt folded, he could only take small steps and walk slowly up the bank.

He felt very glad that he had secretly practiced walking before, otherwise he might have needed Norman’s help even for such a short walk.
After walking ashore, without the resistance of water, his feet movements suddenly became much easier.
He walked to the mobility scooter, and his feet turned back into a tail.
He turned his head to Norman and said with a smile, “Go to the living room.”

Norman’s throat rolled and his voice darkened as he met the little mermaid’s clear blue eyes.
“Yeah.”

In the living room, An Jin used the water ability to remove the water from his body, leaving only a layer of water vapor around his tail.

The other locations were wet, but the sofa was different, and on the day of the intelligent creature determination, the robot replaced the sofa entirely.

Norman looked at the dry little mermaid and worried.
“Will it be uncomfortable? It’s okay to get wet.”

An Jin smiled and shook his head.
“No.”

His tail turned into legs and he stepped out of the mobility scooter, but he didn’t pay attention to the folded hem of his fishtail skirt, which slipped down on the way to the living room.
The bottom end became very narrow, and there was a slight height difference between the scooter and the ground.

When his right foot stepped down, the fishtail skirt immediately tightened, and his left foot felt a tug.
An Jin gave a small cry of surprise, which only started and ended abruptly when he fell into a wide, warm embrace.

The smell of clean, fresh laundry detergent was at the tip of his nose, a smell he was no stranger to; his clothes smelled the same.
He took a deep breath, his wildly beating heart easing a bit, and tilted his head, sweeping it across Norman’s stern jawline to meet Norman’s worried brown eyes.

“Thanks,” he thanked him politely.

Norman gently picked him up, then gently placed him on the couch, looking down at his legs.

An Jin’s feet subconsciously stepped back, his calves next to the couch.
“I’m fine, I just don’t have enough strength in my legs from all the exercise.”

However, after he sat down, his knees flexed, the lower end of the fishtail skirt moved up, the white ankles were exposed, and the skin above the neck of the feet was red and very conspicuous.

Norman’s eyebrows unconsciously wrinkled, his fingertips gently touching the red skin.
“Does it hurt?”

An Jin suddenly felt a warm touch on his foot, accompanied by a trace of itchiness, almost instantly from the foot to the brain; he could not restrain a stifled grunt.
His voice was originally soft, and this was low and deep, especially provocative.
An Jin’s eyes opened slightly, he bit his lower lip, and his face turned red.
How could he make that sound!

His round, pink toes were curling on the floor, and he was embarrassed and about to burst into flames.
He never knew that his feet were so sensitive.

Norman’s body stiffened slightly, his fingers quickly clenched, not daring to touch the little mermaid’s skin again, but his breathing was uncontrollably a little heavier.
An Jin immediately noticed the change in Norman’s breathing and his fingers nervously rubbed the surface of the sofa.
Panicking, his sensitive legs disappeared, so his legs instantly turned into a tail.

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He leaned back against the back of the couch, tail up, tail fins sweeping across Norman’s chest.
The tip of the tail fin was so sharp that Norman’s shirt was instantly cut, revealing a large portion of his wheat-colored chest.

An Jin was startled and leaned forward to see if Norman’s chest was injured, but the mermaid’s body was not stable when the tail was sitting without leaning on anything.
He leaned forward and fell uncontrollably to the side, Norman got up and reached out at the same time and swept the little mermaid up in his arms.

An Jin realized that his cheek was hitting Norman’s chest and moved away, but when he turned his head, the scales brushed his skin and Norman’s body immediately froze.
An Jin was worried about Norman’s body and didn’t notice that Norman was out of place.
He reached out, lifted the fabric that had been cut by the tail fin, and carefully examined Norman’s chest, and was only slightly relieved to see that there was no blood.

“I’m sorry.” He was a little chagrined and a little self-conscious.

Norman soothed the little mermaid.
“It’s my fault, I…shouldn’t have touched you.”

An Jin immediately thought of the tickling sensation running from his legs to his brain and his cheeks burned.
“It’s my problem, I reacted too much.” He found that he was still being held in Norman’s arms, and with his heart thumping, whispered, “I’m leaning against the sofa, I can sit still.”

Norman couldn’t let go for a moment.
The little Mermaid smelled like the same lime scent of laundry detergent as he did, and he wanted to hold him even tighter.
He swept his eyes over the little mermaid’s reddened ears and gently set the little mermaid upright, waiting until his back was against the couch before letting go.

An Jin collected his mind and tried to look calm.
He opened the terminal file without looking at Norman.
“I’m starting.”

“Okay, ask me if you don’t know.” Norman said.

An Jin nodded his little head, turned on the recording, and started to translate the technical department’s file.

The first part was simple, mainly pronouns such as you, me, and him, etc., arranged in order from difficult to easy, from daily high frequency words.
An Jin watched instructional videos every day, and he knew all the simple words in common use, but not the more complicated ones.

After almost half an hour, he needed to ask Norman from time to time, and Norman patiently answered the questions, and he learned them and translated them as he went along.
He found that the speed of recognizing words in this way was even faster than watching videos normally.
He was a little happy that this was equivalent to recognizing and translating at the same time.

After an hour, Norman said, “Take a break.” He got up and poured a glass of warm water for the little mermaid.

An Jin took it, took a sip, and with arched eyebrows said, “Thank you.”

Norman looked to his tail.
“Want to go back to the mermaid room for a break?”

An Jin shook his head and said, “Can you raise your right hand?

Norman lifted his right hand, An Jin ran the power, and a cloud of water vapor surrounded Norman’s right hand.
Norman almost immediately felt the air around his hand moisten, and he looked to the little mermaid tail.

An Jin said, “As long as I have spiritual power, I can stay on the surface of the water without feeling uncomfortable.”

Norman dropped his heart.
An Jin took two more sips of water, looked at Norman with his glass of water, and took two more small sips.
An Jin froze for a moment as Norman held his hand out in front of him, his blue eyes showing a hint of confusion.

Norman said warmly, “Don’t force yourself if you don’t want to drink, give me the glass.”

An Jin shyly handed over the glass of water and was about to say something when Norman said, “No need to say thank you.”

An Jin was slightly flabbergasted.
Looking at Norman’s back as he put the glass of water on the coffee table, his heartbeat inexplicably became fast, and he felt very sweet and warm.
Norman really knew him well, and with Norman, although his heartbeat was always out of control, he was very safe.

His beautiful blue eyes blinked, and his eyes flashed with a trace of thought, is he too conscious of Norman…?

Norman put away the water cup and sat down again next to the little mermaid.

An Jin hastily pulled back his thoughts, pursed his lips, wanting to ask Norman how he was sure he liked him, but was too embarrassed to ask.
He said, “I’ll go on then.” Norman nodded his head.

At nine-thirty, Norman stopped the little mermaid from continuing the recording.
“Rest first, we’ll record tomorrow.”

An Jin glanced at the time.
“It’s still quite early.”

Norman didn’t agree and said seriously, “You should rest early, sleep early, and wake up early for good health.”

An Jin saw Norman’s concerned eyes and didn’t want to refuse Norman’s kindness, so he nodded and decided to record tomorrow.

An Jin was about to turn his tail into his legs.

Norman said, “I’ll carry you,” and without waiting for the little mermaid to refuse, he added, “Your feet are hurt.”

An Jin whispered back, “It’s not hurt, it’s just a little red.”

“Then I’ll check it first?”

An Jin’s tail unconsciously backed up a bit, he shook his head and reached out.
“Please.”

Norman’s eyes flashed a smile, it seemed that the little mermaid’s feet, indeed, were very sensitive.
He reached out and gently pinched the little mermaid’s waist and placed the little mermaid on the mobility scooter, waiting for the little mermaid to grip the handle before removing his hand.

Back in the mermaid room, An Jin entered the water, left hand on the bank, and right hand waving.
“Norman good night, see you tomorrow.”

“Good night An An.”

—

After Norman left for the military in the morning, An Jin went to the holographic world first to clear the impurities of the kebab, and after he got offline, he opened the sea documentary.
He pressed record and read the subtitles while following the voice synchronized translation into mermaid language.

The content explained in the documentary was not part of the common language, and the mermaids wanted to watch the documentary most now, so he wanted to translate it in advance.

At noon Norman returned from military headquarters, had lunch with the young mermaid, and sent the young mermaid to the mermaid center.
As soon as An Jin entered the recreation area, he noticed that there were more mermaids today and more humans in the glass house.

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As soon as they saw An Jin, the humans’ eyes immediately lit up, and one anxious person quickly ran to An Jin.
“An An, please help me ask what my mermaid wants, I’m so blinded by the yelling.”

“My family too, please help ask.”

Norman’s eyebrows furrowed as he stepped in front of the little mermaid and warned, “Back up, keep your distance.”

The humans hurriedly backed up and looked at An Jin expectantly.

An Jin said, “I’ll ask for you.”

He jumped into the pool and was about to ask when a mermaid got angry and said, “An An, is my two-legged beast bullying you? I will teach him a lesson!”

“Damned two-legged beasts!”

Quietly shaking his head, he explained, “They told me to ask you, what do you want?”

“I wanted the translator! I want to see the documentary.”

“I want it too!”

“An An, is the translator ready yet?”

An Jin shook his head.
“It will be ready in a couple of days, but I have translated part of the documentary.”

He conveyed the mermaids’ request to the humans, who were surprised for a moment, then drifted off when they thought of the mermaids watching the video yesterday.
They quickly placed their orders, exclaiming, “It’s great to be able to communicate.”

When An Jin finished being a sounding board, he looked over at Norman, who was still standing on the shore, and met a pair of deep brown eyes.
He asked in a whisper, “Do you have anything else to say to me?”

Norman admonished, “Don’t talk to strangers, and contact me if you need anything.”

An Jin nodded his little head.
“Okay.”

Norman rubbed the little mermaid’s hair.
“See you this afternoon.”

After Norman disappeared, An Jin swam to the middle of the water and was immediately surrounded by the mermaids, who asked about the translator.

“Damned two-legged beast, when he can understand me, I will teach him a lesson!”

An Jin met a pair of bright eyes and suddenly thought that if there was a translator, the mermaids would suddenly find out that the humans were treating them like pets and would be very angry.
He thought about it in case there was bloodshed and decided to tell the mermaids in advance.

He asked, “What do you see the two-legged beasts as?”

“Tamed pets!”

“Yes, I am the master of the two-legged beast.”

“The loser who pays me tribute!”

Only after the mermaids’ responses had diminished did An Jin speak again.
“The two-legged beasts pretty much…see you the same way.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

Little Silver was the first to react.
“Damn two-legged beast, does he treat me like a pet?”

“I will challenge my two-legged beast! I’ll show him what I’m made of! I’ll show him who’s worthy of being his master!”

The humans sitting in the glass house suddenly received many fierce looks from the mermaids, and after being baffled, they hastened to rush the order to the terminal manufacturer: Hurry up!

The mermaids’ patience was really bad.

An Jin waited for the mermaids to vent their frustration and then said, “You and the two-legged beasts see each other as pets because there is a big cognitive difference between each other and you don’t understand each other.
With the translator, you can learn more about the two-legged beasts.
It will also allow the two-legged beasts to learn more about you and to stop seeing you as pets.”

He went on to talk about his identification of intelligent beings, explaining the difference between intelligent beings and pets.
“After you have learned about humans, it is up to you to decide whether you will identify as an intelligent being.”

“I want to identify!” exclaimed an orange mermaid.

An Jin remembered him and was a little surprised and happy.
“You’ve recovered?”

This was a mid-level mermaid saved from the mermaid black market.

The orange mermaid nodded.
“I’ve recovered,” he grunted angrily, “My scales haven’t grown back yet.”

An Jin said, “Health is most important, the scales will surely grow back soon.”

Listening to the mermaids talk about intelligent creatures and pets, he said, “With the translator, whether you want to continue your current life or change, you make your own decisions.”

The mermaids looked forward to the translator more and more.

Not all of the humans stayed in the glass house, so only some of the mermaids got their new terminals.
An Jin taught them how to use it while the rest of the mermaids watched.
After An Jin taught them patiently three times, all the mermaids learned how to turn on the player.

After thinking about it, he exchanged communication with the mermaids and told them how to contact each other.
“If you have any problems, you can contact me anytime.”

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The next moment, An Jin’s terminal rang.
Tapping on the message list, there was a string of communications, all from the mermaids.

“I’ll definitely keep An An’s contact information in mind,” the mermaids said.

An Jin cried and laughed, answered the first communication, and chatted with the mermaid face to face while using the terminal, demonstrating how to use it.

“I’ve learned! Must repeat it every day!”

“I’m so worried I’ll forget!”

Quietly, he showed them how to use memos.
“You can record the things you need to remember in the memo, and then listen to it when you have time, so you can just remind yourself to listen to the memo every day.”

“An An is so smart!”

An Jin heard the compliment and shook his head, it’s not really that he’s smart, he just knows more.

In the afternoon, when the humans came to pick up the mermaids, the scene was extraordinarily lively.

“Stupid two-legged beast, actually treating me like a pet!”

“When you can understand me, I’ll teach you a lesson!”

“I want a terminal!”

Garrett looked at Rui Rui who waved his arm at him with a bewildered look.

Xie Li asked An Jin directly, “An An, what do Rui Rui and Ling Ling want?”

An Jin replied, “Terminals.”

He again conveyed the mermaid’s thoughts to the rest of the humans, without, of course, repeating the mermaid’s harsh words, but only reassuring the mermaids that they should not attack the humans.

—

The hover car arrived at the palace and Norman sent the little mermaid back to the mermaid room.
Seeing the young mermaid’s pensive face, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

An Jin said, “The mermaids are very smart.
With the translator, they can learn human knowledge and understand the world, but they have a bad memory.”

Speaking of this, he suddenly thought of something and told him about the inheritance he felt as an adult.
“The mermaids should all be like me, with the same memory as humans, and be able to change legs as adults.”

Norman was surprised and thought to himself, No wonder the mermaids were all so close to An An.
He didn’t doubt An An’s words, and even thought that it made more sense; the mermaids’ attitude towards An An was unusual.

The mermaids were not docile creatures, even among each other, and were prone to quarrels and fights, but were very obedient to An An and well behaved in front of An An.
Moreover, there were many kinds of interstellar intelligent creatures, and racial heritage was not uncommon.

“It is likely that the expedition brought back the mermaid genes from the mermaid planet.” After a moment of thought, he said, “The memory of the mermaids and the rest of the changes, there are two possibilities: genetic loss or mutation.”

“That’s what I thought!” An Jin hesitated for a moment, but put his thoughts into words.
“My changes are the same as shown in the inheritance, does this mean that my genes are intact? I’m afraid of being studied,” he pursed his lips, “but I can provide blood for the researchers to study the differences between me and the rest of the mermaids, if only we could find a solution to the mermaid’s memory.”

He thought of Norman’s identity.
“It would be better if the mermaids, like me, had a high IQ and could provide spiritual power for hire, than erratic singing.” He looked at Norman expectantly.
“Do you think that would work?”

“Yes, An An is very brave.”

The little mermaid had been cautious, from the initial fear of exposing his speech, to the later fear of exposing his legs, all for fear of being studied.
Now to be able to propose such an idea, it was clear that it took courage.

An Jin was slightly relieved.

Norman said, “I will contact Dean Yuna to set up a high-secret research team to study your and other mermaid genes.”

An Jin nodded, his eyes full of anticipation.

As he was talking, Norman’s terminal rang.
He picked up and Mu Chen’s voice came through.
“Your Majesty, ask An An for me, what does Little Silver want to do?”

“Stupid two-legged beast, I want An An’s contact information, I want to talk to An An!” Little Silver roared.

When Mu Chen’s words ended, Norman turned on the external playback.

An Jin heard him clearly and explained to Mu Chen, “Little Silver wants my contact information.” He then reassured Little Silver, saying, “I have to translate tonight, so I may not be available to talk, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Little Silver quieted down.

Mu Chen thanked him and hung up.

The next moment, Norman’s terminal rang again; he frowned and connected.
Garrettt’s loud voice came.
“His Majesty, please ask An An to translate for me, what does Rui Rui want?”

Xie Li’s voice came through for a moment, and Garrett added, “And Ling Ling.”

Rui Rui’s and Ling Ling’s voices soon came through, asking An Jin to communicate again.

An Jin calmed the couple with words of reassurance and left his contact information with Garrett.

Within half a minute of hanging up the comm, Norman’s terminal rang again.
He looked at the second army chief’s private comm number and hung up.
He had a pensive face, after the translator was done, those mermaids should not always look for his little mermaid to chat, right?!