Chapter 39#
The Innocent and Naive Fool#
When the Queen tremblingly led the little merman out of the bedchamber, she saw the horrifying scene of the monarch of a nation clutching his shoulder, kneeling on the ground in pain, and hissing as he drew in cold air.
In front of him, Lu Xing’s finger was still hooked around the trigger.
Half of his body was splattered with his biological father’s blood; large patches of bright red bloomed on the snow-white silk, making for a startling image. The Queen took one look and covered her mouth, her face pale as she swayed on her feet.
But Lin Xiaodong noticed that the smile on the young man’s face had never been more real or heartfelt.
Lu Xing tilted his head and asked very politely, “Imperial Father, what did you just say you wanted?”
The old King struggled to lift his head and glared at him, stammering incoherently, “You… you…”
He never imagined that Lu Xing would be so bold, so reckless!
This was inside the palace; as the Crown Prince openly murdering the King, had he not considered his own end!?
“I can’t hear you,” Lu Xing sighed.
He raised the muzzle. This time, he aimed at the old King’s forehead. Seeing this, the old King couldn’t help but tremble all over, even losing control of his instincts and losing his bladder in public. “You—don’t do anything rash! Son, let’s talk this out. I’m your father!”
As he spoke, he also reached out to the Queen in the distance, his panicked eyes looking like they had seen the last ray of hope.
“Queen! Save me! Save—”
Lu Xing didn’t wait for him to finish.
He stepped forward and kicked the old King over, pressing a knee hard against the man’s chest and jamming the hot muzzle into the old King’s mouth.
“Mmm! Mmm-mmm!”
The old King struggled desperately but couldn’t break free from Lu Xing’s control.
“Don’t think I don’t know,” the young man was smiling, but the gaze fixed on him was hollow and cold. “Project 086, hmm? You and my dear uncle had long planned for me to ‘die of illness’ in secret, didn’t you?”
Noticing the old King’s terrified expression, he said gently, “Father, don’t look so scared. I’ve simply struck first. Since you were heartless enough to secretly plot the murder of your own son with outsiders, you should have been prepared for me to commit this act of insubordination, shouldn’t you?”
“Mmm-mmm… no… please…”
Seeing the old King still trying to beg for mercy, Lu Xing stood up, his face gradually returning to its expressionless state.
“Farewell, Father,” he said coldly. “Though you don’t deserve to be a father at all.”
But a second before Lu Xing pressed the trigger, a slightly cool hand pressed down on the back of his hand.
He looked up and saw the little merman watching him with a worried expression, gently shaking his head at him:
“Don’t.”
Lu Xing froze.
Actually, he had noticed his mother and the little merman standing in the distance long ago, but he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge them—or rather, he didn’t know how to face them.
“…You’re actually pleading for him?”
But he truly didn’t understand Lin Xiaodong’s intention. The young man gave an incredulous laugh and said sarcastically, “To be this kind, you really are hopelessly stupid. He’s the murderer who killed your entire race!”
These words sounded remarkably familiar. Lin Xiaodong looked down at the old King on the ground.
The other seemed to treat him as a life-saving straw; though pinned to the ground and unable to move or speak, he desperately sent “rescue signals” to Lin Xiaodong with his eyes.
The little merman said softly, “I know. But he is the King. Extrajudicial punishment cannot convict him.”
“Ding, Good Person Card +1.”
System: “A reminder, this Good Person Card belongs to Lu Shengzun.”
Lin Xiaodong kept his head down, a barely perceptible curve touching the corner of his lips.
The old King, who had been staring closely at the expression on his face, suddenly felt a premonition of disaster in his heart.
Lu Xing frowned, wanting to say something more: “But…”
“And,” Lin Xiaodong interrupted him directly. The little merman reached out and very gently wiped the blood from the young man’s cheek, appearing not to care at all about Lu Xing’s previous betrayal and abandonment. “He is also your father. So…”
“—No matter what, it shouldn’t be you who does it.”
His voice fell.
Accompanied by a gunshot, Lu Xing’s eyes widened in shock.
He stared blankly at the little merman who had pressed the trigger for him, his gaze slowly moving down to fall on the old King’s gruesome eyes, which were open in death.
The young man seemed even more unable to believe this fact than if he had done it himself. But quickly, the little merman’s tearful face dispelled the doubts in Lu Xing’s heart. He thought Lin Xiaodong was still the same as before—kind and innocent, unable to bear hurting anyone.
—Right now, he looked as if he were in ten thousand times more pain than if he had been hurt himself.
“I… I’ve avenged you all…”
The little merman sobbed, staring down at his blood-stained hands, his body trembling uncontrollably.
Lu Xing’s heart instantly wrenched into a knot.
He reached out, wanting to pull Lin Xiaodong into his arms, but immediately realized his own hands were also covered in blood. In that moment of hesitation, a figure strode over from behind and completed what he had wanted to do a step ahead of him.
“…Who are you?”
Lu Xing glared at the person. The face was an ordinary one, looking very unfamiliar.
But judging by his attire, was he one of the Imperial Guards he had left outside just in case?
“Your Highness, the nobles have arrived outside the palace after hearing the news and are demanding an explanation from you.” The Imperial Guard tightly held the trembling little merman in his arms, speaking to him with a grim face. “The business at hand is more important now. Leave this side to me to handle.”
Hearing this, Lu Xing frowned.
He looked at Lin Xiaodong in the man’s arms with some hesitation, then finally decided to go and deal with that group of restless nobles first.
“A few of you stay and clean up. The rest of the Imperial Guard, follow me!”
After Lu Xing’s figure disappeared from view, Gu Xi finally relaxed his body slightly. He pursed his lips tightly and silently wiped away the tears from the little merman’s face. Then he pulled a handkerchief from his chest and meticulously wiped away the blood from the little merman’s hands.
Lin Xiaodong grabbed his wrist.
“You,” the little merman looked up at him, the corners of his eyes red. His voice, fresh from crying, sounded soft and pitiful. “You don’t blame me? I’m a murderer who should go to hell…”
Gu Xi shook his head.
Instead, he held the merman’s tail even tighter. “If you put it that way, I’ve been on the battlefield for so many years; the number of people I’ve killed is certainly not less than you. When the time comes, we’ll go to hell together and keep each other company.”
The little merman both cried and laughed, and in his lack of attention, a shiny snot bubble popped out. “Is that the same?”
But seeing him smile again, Gu Xi also smiled.
“The same,” he said. “If I say it’s the same, it’s the same.”
He didn’t pay any attention to the old King lying dead on the ground. He stood up, carrying the little merman in a bridal carry. Lin Xiaodong didn’t bother to keep acting and simply and openly looped his arms around the man’s neck, his tail swaying comfortably in his arms.
The Queen watched their intimate posture, her mouth falling open in surprise.
But in the end, she only sighed. “It’s for the best. Even being with an ordinary person is better than being with Lu Xing.”
Lin Xiaodong thought that for a son to make his own mother sigh like that, he must have failed pretty badly.
“Where are you taking me?” the little merman asked.
Gu Xi: “Let’s leave here first.”
With such a major event happening in the palace, one didn’t need to think twice to know a storm was coming. Once the Central Star was under lockdown, it would be difficult for them to leave.
After getting onto the flight vehicle, Gu Xi stared at the rose earring on the little merman’s ear. He expressionlessly reached out to take it off, preparing to throw it out the window, but Lin Xiaodong stopped him. “Don’t.”
The person who gave it isn’t a good thing, he thought, but the thing itself is a good thing. It’d be a shame to just throw it away.
System: Are you trying to say a tongue twister here?
Gu Xi’s movement paused.
The man didn’t know what he had imagined, but the atmosphere around him suddenly became much gloomier.
Particularly, as he noticed Lin Xiaodong appearing somewhat uneasy and frequently looking back, the irritability in his heart surged even more violently.
He suppressed the violent impulse and asked in a raspy voice, “You’re not willing to come with me?”
“What?” Lin Xiaodong turned his head in surprise. “Of course not! I just feel…”
He hesitated, quickly glanced at Gu Xi’s current face, and whispered, “It’s one thing to take me away, but is it really okay to just take someone else’s body along too?”
Gu Xi: “…………”
He had almost forgotten this wasn’t his own body.
And so, the flight vehicle stopped suddenly in a deserted alley halfway through. Lin Xiaodong looked around furtively, threw a “corpse” out of the vehicle onto a pile of trash bags in the corner, and then quickly scurried back to his seat to continue the escape.
Fortunately, this flight vehicle was unmanned; otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have reached his destination.
On the outskirts of the capital city, the long-awaiting adjutant let out a long sigh of relief when he saw the flight vehicle land successfully. “My little ancestor, luckily you’re alright.”
“When did you guys get back?” Lin Xiaodong asked him.
“Just last night… wait a minute, you can talk?!”
Xu Feng was startled. Lin Xiaodong pointed to his rose earring. “Its contribution.”
“There shouldn’t be a tracker in it, right?” Having worked in the military for many years, Xu Feng’s nerves in this area were very sensitive. He immediately had the equipment perform a full check. Only after finding no abnormalities did he feel at ease. “Who gave this to you?”
“Lu Xing.”
“Lu—” Xu Feng choked. He stared at Lin Xiaodong for a while with an incredulous gaze mixed with the kind of admiration that said ‘as expected of you’. He shook his head and said, “No wonder the Lieutenant General’s heart rate has been too fast these past few days. So it was because of this.”
Lin Xiaodong felt a bit like laughing for some reason. “How is his health now?”
Xu Feng pondered for a moment. “Not as bad as imagined, but certainly not good either. Anyway, this isn’t the place to talk. Follow me back to the starship first. I’ll tell you slowly on the way.”
But before leaving, he took one last look in the direction of the capital, his voice suddenly turning deep:
“The next time we come back, it will be a fight to the death.”