Chapter 38
Hidden behind the wall, learning that Ouyang Xiaoli was going to sell him, Xia Yi’s small face turned pale. He even forgot how he got back. Upon returning, he sat on the sofa, trembling slightly, his hands and feet ice cold.
Keda was puzzled. “What’s wrong with you?”
Xia Yi shook his head, pressing his lips tight.
It must be because he ate too much and was disobedient that Ouyang wanted to sell him…
But, on the night Ouyang fished him out of the sea, he had heard Tang Si and the others discussing whether to sell him.
The corners of Xia Yi’s eyes were red with grievance.
His brother had once warned him not to easily trust humans. Humans lie, they deceive; they are symbols of hypocrisy and shamelessness.
He hadn’t cared at the time.
Brother… where are you? Wuwuwuwu, Xia Yi misses you. Where are you? I don’t want Ouyang anymore, I just want Brother, Brother.
Xia Yi’s tears fell.
He kept his mouth tightly shut, daring not to cry out loud, only shedding tears quietly. He was afraid of causing Ouyang and Keda to dislike him. If they sold him to someone very fierce, would he be beaten to death…?
He missed his brother so much, wuwuwu.
“Xia Yi!” Keda saw Xia Yi’s shoulders shaking violently and was frightened. He asked hurriedly, “What’s wrong? Why are you crying so sadly? Be good, don’t cry. You can tell Brother Keda anything. Are you hungry? I’ll go cook some potatoes for you right now.” Saying that, he got up to go to the kitchen.
Xia Yi shook his head.
He immediately wiped his tears dry and smiled sweetly, afraid of making Keda hate him.
“No, no potatoes. Xia Yi isn’t hungry.”
“Really?” Keda was worried.
“Mhm, mhm.”
Xia Yi nodded immediately.
He couldn’t eat potatoes anymore. It was all because he ate too much—he had nearly finished all of Brother Keda’s potatoes—that they wanted to sell him.
Xia Yi had heard his brother say before that there was a creature on Ancient Earth called a pig. Humans would fatten them up first, then slaughter them for meat.
His situation now was pretty much the same.
Maybe if he ate a little less, Ouyang and Keda would change their minds. The possibility was very small, but Xia Yi could only hope.
Ouyang Xiaoli came out of the bathroom and saw Xia Yi’s red eyes. He paused, looking worried, but restrained himself from going over.
Forget it.
Don’t let him get in too deep.
Xia Yi had a simple nature and didn’t understand love, yet he had done those things to him. He really was a beast.
He should send him back.
The deep blue sea was where Xia Yi belonged.
One morning, Ouyang Xiaoli communicated with Tang Si and the others, planning to go to the surface and take the red-tailed merman along.
He had already found out Suo Er’s residence and made a deal with Suo Er’s father.
As long as the other party handed over the access card to the Empire’s classified area, he would safely rescue the man’s only precious son from the North Zone Boss and send him back to the surface.
Suo Er, the red-tailed merman, had been staying at Tang Si’s house these past few days. Drinking the vomit-inducing nutrient solution every day, his face was pale. To avoid eating the nutrient solution, he had even tried to bang his head against the wall to die!
Fortunately, Tang Si discovered him in time.
At Ouyang’s place, Keda watched with worry as Xia Yi drank a small bag of nutrient solution. Xia Yi had been drinking it for almost two hours.
The bag was still half full.
Xia Yi felt extremely aggrieved. He wiped his tears and continued drinking the nutrient solution. He couldn’t be picky, otherwise, he would be sold like a pig.
But the tears fell anyway.
Keda was anxious. “Xia Yi, if something is on your mind, you can tell Brother Keda. If you don’t want to drink the nutrient solution, Brother Keda will make potato soup for you. Don’t worry, Brother Keda has plenty of potatoes.”
Xia Yi sniffled.
He shook his head with red eyes and refused.
Keda sighed.
Suddenly, the optical computer on his wrist lit up. Keda looked down and saw it was Zuo Yinwan. Ever since their conflict last time, they hadn’t spoken. He didn’t know why the Boss suddenly let Zuo Yinwan back into the team; anyway, he really didn’t have good feelings toward her.
But he frowned and answered it anyway.
“Keda, hurry to the Starstone Market! Something happened to the Boss!” Zuo Yinwan’s voice sounded very anxious.
“What happened?”
“The Boss is injured!”
Keda’s heart skipped a beat, but then he thought of what the Boss said this morning. “Why is the Boss at the Starstone Market? Wasn’t he escorting that red-tailed merman to the surface…”
Zuo Yinwan immediately interrupted him. “There was an accident. Hu Lao’er somehow found out the Boss had a Silver Sea Empire merman here. Anyway, the situation is urgent…”
“Okay, I’m coming right now!”
Keda hung up the signal and ran out the door.
Although he was in a hurry, Keda didn’t forget to turn back and instruct Xia Yi before leaving, “Don’t open the door. You must wait until I come back to open it.”
Xia Yi glanced at him.
Before Xia Yi could speak, Keda had run off without a trace.
A few minutes later, Zuo Yinwan appeared outside the door. The facial recognition issued a warning sound again.
“Xia Yi.”
“Do you want to return to the sea?”
Zuo Yinwan’s voice was very light, her smile gentle and amiable, her tone carrying a coaxing quality.
“I can help you.”
Xia Yi knew he shouldn’t trust Zuo Yinwan. He had heard Brother Keda say that Zuo Yinwan liked Ouyang, so she targeted him. But thinking of Ouyang saying he wanted to sell him, he suddenly felt disheartened. Rather than being sold to an old man, he would rather return to the sea and never see Ouyang again.
“How will you help me?”
Xia Yi asked in a low voice.
A strange smile appeared on Zuo Yinwan’s face, her expression becoming even more gentle.
In a cold, damp, and dark cave, a beautiful golden merman lay silently on the icy ground. There was a shallow puddle of water on the floor, dripped from the top of the cave. Consequently, the cave had a chilling coldness, and a breeze blew gently from the other end…
Xia Yi moved uncomfortably, a feeling of weakness spreading through his whole body.
He slowly opened his eyes.
“Awake?” Zuo Yinwan looked down from above at the disheveled, beautiful merman.
Xia Yi panted for a while before his consciousness gradually cleared. Seeing the surrounding environment, his pupils constricted with panic and unease.
He wanted to speak but found tape over his mouth, and his hands were bound behind his back.
His legs had turned into a golden tail.
The surrounding water had a faint smell of the sea; as a merman, Xia Yi could naturally smell it. He vaguely guessed he had been brought to a place with an ocean. A small hope rose in his heart—as long as… as long as there was the sea, he had a high chance of escaping!
Humans weren’t good at swimming.
But Xia Yi could swim very fast!
“Do you think Ouyang will come to save you?” Zuo Yinwan tore the tape off Xia Yi’s mouth, her eyes flickering slightly as she parted her thin red lips. “…Have you ever considered that this was all Ouyang’s idea? He was the one who asked me to sell you to the Silver Sea Empire.”
“Impossible!”
Xia Yi shouted loudly.
His eyes were red. “It’s clearly you, bad woman, plotting something! No wonder Brother Keda told me not to believe your words. You said you’d help me return to the sea, but you were lying to me!”
Zuo Yinwan sneered. “Whether you believe it or not, this was all a plan formulated by Ouyang. He told me to use lies to trick you. In the Silver Sea Empire, you will be auctioned for a very high price. Then the Underground City will be saved. This is why Ouyang kept you for so long. Do you still not understand?”
She walked up to Xia Yi and crouched down, reaching out to gently lift the merman’s chin. “Poor little merman, to still believe in men even at this stage.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. You’ve been shamelessly clinging to Ouyang all this time. Ouyang got tired of you long ago. He felt looking at you even once more would dirty his eyes. But he has always been soft-hearted, cold-faced but kind-hearted, and would never embarrass someone to their face.”
Zuo Yinwan’s voice was airy.
Xia Yi pursed his lips tightly, telling himself not to believe Zuo Yinwan’s words.
But his mind couldn’t help but recall Ouyang’s cold and distant manner toward him.
Once, Xia Yi accidentally touched Ouyang’s hand, and Ouyang quickly avoided it, as if… he was something dirty.
Thinking of this, Xia Yi’s nose stung terribly.
His tears fell, landing quietly pitter-patter into the puddle, splashing shallow water. Grief rose from within Xia Yi.
He was just deceiving himself.
He had heard Ouyang say with his own ears that he wanted to sell him, and that everything would be up to Zuo Yinwan. His tone was so indifferent, as if he were just talking about an object. So heartless, so cold.
Xia Yi lowered his head, despondent.
Having achieved her goal, Zuo Yinwan was very satisfied. Just then, several middlemen who frequently smuggled between the Silver Sea Empire and the Underground City arrived. They walked up to Xia Yi and stopped.
One man saw the golden merman and was so shocked he couldn’t calm down for a long time. “Is the Boss really willing to sell such a precious merman to the Silver Sea Empire?”
“It’s a bit of a pity!”
“This is a f*cking golden merman!”
None of them knew that this was actually all Zuo Yinwan’s idea. Zuo Yinwan said it was the Boss’s will, and they all believed it without a doubt. After all, people like them couldn’t get close to the Boss. If they could do something for the Boss, maybe a reward would come, maybe they could even get a small merman.
Greedily, they began to dream.
Zuo Yinwan looked a bit impatient, staring coldly at these people. “Don’t delay things. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll find someone else.”
“We’ll do it, we’ll do it!”
“Sister Zuo still has such a big temper, haha. Us brothers just haven’t seen the world much, but we definitely won’t delay the matter!”
“Leave this to us.”
Xia Yi was disheartened. He no longer held any hope for Ouyang. He had thought that if he ate less and was well-behaved, Ouyang wouldn’t sell him. He was too naive, too trusting of people.
He deserved to be sold like a pig.
Afterward, Xia Yi was drugged and stuffed into a sack by these men, just like when Zuo Yinwan had drugged him before. He completely lost consciousness.
At this time, Ouyang Xiaoli, Xiao Mo, and the others had quietly arrived near the trading point.
Suo Er’s father paced back and forth at the trading location. He looked anxious, but his eyes occasionally glanced unconsciously toward a concealed spot.
Ouyang Xiaoli narrowed his eyes.
He stopped Tang Si, who was planning to go straight up, and lowered his voice. “Something’s wrong.”
Tang Si stopped. “What is it?”
“That old fox.” Ouyang Xiaoli couldn’t help but curse in a low voice. He turned to Xiao Mo and said, “I’ll go meet that old man first. You watch the people. If you notice anything wrong…”
Xiao Mo suddenly said, “I’ll go.”
Ouyang Xiaoli stared at Xiao Mo, waiting for him to give a convincing reason. However, Xiao Mo just smiled relaxedly. “I run fast. Even if an emergency really happens, I can make it back. Boss, let me go.”
Ouyang Xiaoli remained silent.
Tang Si, who had been silent on the side, also spoke up. “Boss, let Xiao Mo go. His speed is the fastest among the three of us.”
“We’ve explored for so many years and finally found planet db-762. Boss, you can’t have an accident now.”
“Let Xiao Mo go.”
After thinking it over, Ouyang Xiaoli nodded.
Xiao Mo’s eyes lit up instantly.
The blood in his body came alive.
Xiao Mo was very vigilant. He took the access card from Suo Er’s father but didn’t release Suo Er. This was Silver Sea Empire territory; as soon as Suo Er left his side, he would be blasted to smithereens by hidden laser cannons. So he signaled the Boss, indicating they could leave. As long as he confirmed the Boss and the others were safe, Xiao Mo was confident he could return to the Underground City unharmed.
Ouyang Xiaoli understood Xiao Mo’s meaning. He frowned; after surviving life and death together for so many years, he was never one to leave a brother behind.
But as it stood, not dragging Xiao Mo down was the greatest help he could offer.
Ouyang Xiaoli could only leave first.
As he passed silently through the street, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of those middlemen from the Underground City carrying a sack and slipping away.
He paused in his steps.
He couldn’t help but take a few more looks.
Occasionally, people from the Underground City wanted to buy things from the Silver Sea Empire. At such times, the smugglers living in the caves of the Underground City would provide convenience because they were very skilled at evading soldiers.
Seeing these people, Ouyang Xiaoli just assumed someone from the Underground City had asked them to buy some large item.
He didn’t take it to heart.
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