MERFOLK SURVIVAL RULES CHAPTER 27.1

Chapter 27 part 1

It was only a matter of time.

But now, because of his mistake, Zuo Yinwan had become his woman.

Xiao Mo felt incredibly frustrated.

Zuo Yinwan sneered. “What do you think Boss Ouyang will do when he finds out?”

Xiao Mo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a long moment, he looked at her steadily. “What do you want my help with?”

That was his concession. Zuo Yinwan released his chin and clapped her hands lightly. “It’s nothing too difficult. You can handle it. Next time Ouyang goes to the Silver Sea Empire, bring me along.”

Xiao Mo frowned. “You want to go?”

“Of course, I do.” Zuo Yinwan’s eyes were cold as she recalled the past. “Before that little merman came to the Underground City, Ouyang and I were on decent terms. After he showed up, Ouyang stopped taking me on missions. As his brother, you should know that.”

Xiao Mo looked at her. “Xia Yi and the boss are already together. You should give up.”

“What did you say?!”

Zuo Yinwan couldn’t believe it.

“The day after they got back from the starship, Keda spread the news everywhere. It seems to be true, especially since the boss didn’t deny it this time.”

Zuo Yinwan’s eyes reddened. Her nails dug so deep into her palms that blood dripped onto the floor.

Xiao Mo said, “Your hand is bleeding.”

“None of your business.” Zuo Yinwan turned and stalked away in her high heels. She refused to believe it. How could Ouyang actually fall for that little slut fish!

At that moment, Xia Yi was browsing a forum in the Underground City on his holoscreen. The news that he and Ouyang were together had spread like wildfire over the past few days.

The entire East Zone knew.

Naturally, there was a thread insulting him, calling him a “little slut fish,” a shameless seducer, and even exposing his identity.

In the thread, someone mentioned he was a black merman, but thankfully, no one said he was a natural golden merman. That brought him a small measure of relief.

Keda had warned him not to reveal his special identity, or it would bring trouble.

“Ouyang, they’re all calling me a little slut fish,” Xia Yi complained, snuggling into Ouyang’s embrace. “They’re bad people!”

Ouyang Xiaoli couldn’t help but smile.

He ruffled the little merman’s hair and said in a low voice, “What’s there to be angry about? They’re just jealous. It’s the petty mindset of small-minded people.”

“You’re not going to help me?”

The little merman puffed out his cheeks and glared at him.

“Of course, I’ll help.” Ouyang Xiaoli lazily glanced at the forum discussion.

The people of the Underground City were bored. With little entertainment, they loved to gossip. He’d always known about it but never cared, since it never affected him.

“Do you want me to teach them a lesson on the StarNet, or should I just round them up?”

With that, Ouyang Xiaoli sat up and activated the holoscreen on his wrist, projecting it onto the wall. He casually opened the forum’s homepage.

Xia Yi was taken aback.

He wanted Ouyang to teach them a lesson, but did he mean becoming an internet troll like the ones from ancient Earth?

Those keyboard warriors did nothing but eat, sleep, and argue online over the smallest things, each convinced they were right. Most of them were just angry, frustrated people, crushed by life and psychologically twisted, who could only find pleasure in tearing others down. They were cowards, too, never daring to say such things to people’s faces, hiding behind their screens like rats, using other netizens as their emotional dumping ground.

The image of the handsome, powerful Ouyang doing that was just… wrong.

Could such a handsome man even be a keyboard warrior?

“N-no, it’s okay,” he mumbled. Xia Yi knew, deep down, that the people insulting him were just doing it because they liked Ouyang so much and saw him as a rival. It was an inevitable consequence of being with Ouyang.

If it weren’t him, it would be someone else.

“Hm?” A virtual keyboard appeared in the air. Ouyang Xiaoli’s fingers were poised to type when he heard the little merman’s words.

He looked at Xia Yi. “But they upset you, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you to do something so childish because of me. Let them say what they want. It doesn’t really bother me. If I don’t look and don’t listen, their words can’t hurt me,” the little merman muttered.

He said that, but after Ouyang left on an errand that afternoon, Xia Yi couldn’t resist opening the holoscreen and going back to that thread.

A dull frustration simmered inside him.

Tapping furiously at the virtual keyboard, he tore into every single one of them.

Afterward, he flopped back on the sofa, still not satisfied.

He hadn’t even used any swear words.

Xia Yi walked out to the balcony, still feeling a little down but also annoyed at himself for caring so much.

He noticed that Xiao Ya, who usually watched him from below every day, wasn’t there. He didn’t think much of it; Xiao Ya had friends, after all.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Xia Yi saw that the potato seedling, which had been so healthy before, was now wilting. The edges of its leaves were turning yellow…

Alarmed, he immediately sent a message to Keda-gege, who answered right away.

“Keda-gege, bad news! Our potato seedling is dying! I don’t know what happened, the leaves just suddenly turned yellow.”

“…What?”

Keda sucked in a sharp breath.

He valued that potato plant even more than Xia Yi did, elevating its importance to the same level as the future of the Underground City.

He rushed over in a panic.

Seeing the tender sprout turning yellow, even if it was just at the edges, pained Keda’s heart. He carefully picked up the pot.

He had meticulously cleaned the soil, removing all impurities and ensuring it was nutritious. He’d even found two earthworms in it last time, a sign of good quality.

How could the seedling suddenly be dying after just a few days?

Suddenly, Keda noticed a faint blue tinge at the edge of the soil. He froze, then realized it was residue from the Blue Bug rain. Could the wilting be related to that? An idea flashed through his mind, but it was gone before he could grasp it. He stared intently at the pot.

“Ah, that’s from the Blue Bugs last time. They look like they’re alive… Keda-gege, do you think they chewed on the roots?” Xia Yi asked worriedly.

Following Xia Yi’s words, Keda loosened the soil and pulled out the seedling. Sure enough, the bottom was covered in a light blue substance. In some places, the blue had started to turn black, causing the reddish soil to darken.

Realization dawned on Keda!

“I know! It was because of this!” Keda was so excited he was almost incoherent. “We found the reason why the soil in the Underground City and the Silver Sea Empire has gone bad! It’s the Blue Bugs! They’re the ones corrupting the soil, turning the red earth into black earth! So that’s what it was!”

Xia Yi was confused. “Huh?”

He glanced at the soil, thinking his Keda-gege’s theory might not be wrong. It could very well be the Blue Bugs.

Keda was still ecstatic. “I have to message the boss! He’ll be thrilled to hear this.”

“So this is why the soil went bad. We’ve been in the dark for so many years. God, we were so stupid. We should have figured this out sooner.”

“If we can solve this problem, the Underground City will be saved! We could become more prosperous than the Silver Sea Empire. I never would have dared to imagine this before… Xia Yi, you really are the savior of our city! This is amazing! We’ll have food to eat, fruit to eat! We’ll never have to go hungry or be so powerless again!”

Keda’s eyes grew moist.

Seemingly embarrassed, he turned away to wipe his tears, then turned back. “I’m being so pathetic.”

Keda sniffled and tried to message Boss Ouyang. After several failed attempts, he grew frustrated.

He was about to try again.

Xia Yi tugged on his sleeve. “Keda-gege, there’s no rush. Ouyang will find out when he gets back.”

He understood Keda’s excitement. The Underground City was so poor and desolate.

It was a place without hope.

“Oh, right.”

Keda said, annoyed with himself.

He’d gotten carried away.

He turned his head. “By the way, Xia Yi, do you know where the boss went?”

Xia Yi shook his head. “I don’t know. He just said he had something to take care of and left.”

Keda frowned. The boss hadn’t told him he was going out this time, but he was probably still in the city. He wouldn’t have left Xia Yi home alone otherwise.

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