Chapter 41#
The Innocent and Naive Fool#
Lin Xiaodong hadn’t been back on the starship for even half a day before a piece of explosive news came from the Central Star.
—Lu Xing killed all one hundred and four nobles who were protesting in front of the palace gates.
According to the account of the sole survivor, Earl Lian, the Imperial Guards followed the orders of this madman and shot everyone they saw, killing indiscriminately. Blood flowed like a river and corpses littered the ground in front of the palace gate. Even his own biological sister died there.
The man’s eyes were blood-red, and he painfully expressed to the reporters who came to interview him that he would definitely avenge his sister and make Lu Xing pay with blood!
“What… what are these nobles doing? Internal strife at a time like this?” Even the adjutant couldn’t understand Lu Xing’s brain circuit, “Don’t they value their lives?”
Gu Xi silently looked at the position of the Central Star marked on the star chart. As the host of the mother worm, he could naturally sense the brainworms in Lu Xing’s brain that were excited because of the bloody slaughter and wanton release. It was just that the other person’s mental power was much stronger than that of ordinary people, and he couldn’t easily control them.
“Don’t worry about them,” Gu Xi said, “Although these selfish guys will sooner or later destroy themselves, we must strike first before they drag innocent people down to hell with them.”
He gave Lu Xing a week to consider.
Either hand over the control of the Star-Destroying Cannon and take the initiative to abdicate, or wait for the army to pressure him to step down. Gu Xi believed that any normal person would know how to choose, but as for Lu Xing, he couldn’t see through him from the beginning, so he decided to remain vigilant and wait and see for the time being.
When he returned to the room, the little merman was sitting by the porthole of the starship, gazing absently at the stars and sea outside.
Gu Xi’s heart moved, and he walked to his side.
If he remembered correctly, Valentine’s Day was coming in a few days.
The man’s gaze deliberately lingered for a moment on the rose earring on Lin Xiaodong’s earlobe, and then he forced himself to look away, saying calmly: “When the matters here are over, I have a gift to give you.”
“Hmm?” Lin Xiaodong turned his head with great interest, “What is it?”
“It’s a secret.”
The little merman pouted unhappily: “Tsk, so mysterious.”
Gu Xi smiled and sat down beside him: “Tell me about what happened during this time.”
Lin Xiaodong glanced at him sideways: “I can tell you, but are you sure you won’t get angry?”
“Am I that kind of person?”
I think you are.
With a skeptical attitude, Lin Xiaodong weighed his words and briefly explained how Lu Xing invited him on the Star Network, took him to the Rose Garden, and then went to the palace for the evening banquet. Of course, he omitted many details he thought unnecessary.
The result was…
“I’m not angry,” Gu Xi sat in his seat, arms folded and expressionless as he repeated, “I’m really not.”
The little merman clutched his shoulder, widening his eyes to look at him for a long time. The man’s expression was stiff, and even his eyebrows didn’t move, but he still insisted over and over that he was “not angry.”
“Tsk tsk tsk,” Lin Xiaodong sighed inwardly, “a jealous man is really terrifying.”
He hadn’t even mentioned that Lu Xing had combed his hair. If Gu Xi knew that, wouldn’t a nuclear bomb explode on the spot?
System: “…………”
“Don’t be angry anymore.” The little merman approached Gu Xi pleasingly, wanting to kiss his lips, but he was dodged by the jealous old man with a cold face.
But if Lin Xiaodong were that easy to deal with, he wouldn’t be Lin Xiaodong.
The little merman didn’t stop and actively moved closer. His warm chest pressed against Gu Xi’s cold uniform buttons, and the uncomfortable feeling made him frown. He lowered his head and reached out to unbutton the man’s uniform one by one. His smooth long hair brushed against the skin, bringing a faint itch.
But throughout the process, Lin Xiaodong’s expression maintained a state of primitive innocence. He seemed to be seriously studying the next steps, and even deliberately stopped at a loss halfway through unbuttoning, patting his tail a few times somewhat anxiously, looking just like a cat in heat that only knew how to rub against its owner’s ankles when uncomfortable.
Gu Xi leaned against the back of the chair, his originally meticulous and upright military uniform mostly unbuttoned, even the shirt inside was messed up, revealing a slender neck and distinct collarbones, giving a visual impact of abstinence mixed with temptation. But even at this point, he still made no move. Except for pressing his large hand on the little merman’s soft waist and the temperature of his body being frighteningly hot, the man’s breathing still maintained an even rhythm, and even the heartbeat in his chest remained steady and firm like a soldier’s.
Seeing Lin Xiaodong stop, he pinched the little merman’s waist punitively and asked in a deep voice: “What’s wrong?”
The little merman stared blankly at the man with a restrained expression, as if thinking about a very serious problem.
After hesitating for a while, he whispered: “There’s a big mushroom.”
Gu Xi’s brow twitched.
A surge of impulse mixed with violence and overwhelming desire swept in, as if a voice was constantly urging him in his ear to take possession violently, making the little merman’s fair and snow-white skin turn tempting red, making him lie softly in his arms and sob quietly… The man closed his eyes tremblingly, took a deep breath, and barely suppressed some extreme thoughts in his heart.
It will hurt him, he thought.
But in any case, Gu Xi couldn’t let Lin Xiaodong go today.
He leaned down, their foreheads touching. The hot breath coming towards him made the little merman blink rapidly, his eyes dodging a little. But Gu Xi grabbed his chin and didn’t give him any chance to escape.
The man said in a deep voice: “You asked for this.”
After more than a hundred days, Lin Xiaodong finally got his wish.
The next morning, he lay on the bed like a dead fish and said to the system with a satisfied face: “Ah, same packaging, same size, same flavor~”
System: “Shut up, I beg you.”
This was going way too far!
Lin Xiaodong grunted again and turned over to find that Gu Xi was still sleeping beside him. He felt a little strange; normally at this time, Gu Xi would have long since gotten up and gone to work with plenty of energy, let alone now when it was wartime.
Could it be because of his age?
He pondered for a while, and the system really couldn’t stand it anymore and took the initiative to speak: “The mother worm lives on mental power. It will magnify people’s inner desires and paranoid feelings. You’d better be careful.”
“What do you mean,” Lin Xiaodong said, “Are you saying Gu Xi’s obsession is me, and what will he do to me?”
“I don’t know,” the system replied, “But don’t forget what he did at the end of the last world. Under the influence of the mother worm, Gu Xi in this world will only do more.”
Oh oh oh, is the dark room play coming!
Lin Xiaodong immediately became excited, but soon he wilted again: with his current situation of not being able to go anywhere on the starship, how is it any different from being locked in a dark room?
“Don’t forget your side job,” the system reminded him.
That’s right!
If it weren’t for the system’s reminder, Lin Xiaodong would have really forgotten that he had a side job as a web singer.
Seeing that Gu Xi hadn’t woken up yet, he simply opened the backend to check and was instantly flooded with countless unread messages that packed his inbox — and it was a real flood. As long as Lin Xiaodong blinked, the message received a second ago would be buried under the updated prompts.
Dozens of days had passed since the last live broadcast, but even in the early morning, countless people were desperately sending him messages. Some were begging Lin Xiaodong to broadcast again, and others had already lost all hope for a live broadcast and only hoped that if Lin Xiaodong didn’t broadcast, even posting a few more songs and uploading them to his homepage would be fine. It could be said to be very humble.
Even worse, in order to hear the merman’s song again, they called him “daddy” and “mommy” very smoothly. Lin Xiaodong watched helplessly as he painlessly gained hundreds of sons and daughters, as well as countless husbands and wives attracted by his clear, soft, and cute teenage voice—
“What are you looking at?”
A man’s voice, still slightly hoarse and sleepy, suddenly came from behind.
After being parasitized by the mother worm, Gu Xi hadn’t slept soundly for a long time. It was probably because the mother worm had an innate fear of mermaids. Last night, when he was holding the little merman to sleep, it didn’t move at all and was as quiet as if it didn’t exist.
The little merman was startled.
He subconsciously turned off the light brain, feeling a bit guilty for some reason, and his eyes drifted: “No, nothing.”
Gu Xi’s eyes regained clarity. He stared at Lin Xiaodong calmly. The little merman at first tried to pretend nothing was wrong, but in only half a minute, he couldn’t hold out anymore and obediently handed him the light brain.
“Here, let you touch my tail,” the little merman looked at him eagerly, “I didn’t do anything bad.”
This little fool, his guilt from doing something wrong was written all over his face. As soon as he felt guilty, he used this trick.
But Gu Xi just fell for it, and it worked every time.
The man glanced at him, said nothing, took the light brain in his hand, and while browsing through the netizens’ comments, stroked the smooth and beautiful silver-white tail, making the little merman extremely comfortable, and even made a cat-like purring sound from his throat.
There was no way around it; the nerves on the merman’s tail were too dense, and he didn’t actually want to be like this.
Ten minutes later.
“Finished reading?”
“Finished reading.”
Gu Xi’s expression was as usual, but the hand holding the light brain turned white from excessive force, and the tempered assembly shell of the light brain even began to make an unbearable creaking sound under his amazing grip.
Lin Xiaodong’s eyes widened.
What kind of monster strength is this!?
“I didn’t do anything bad,” the little merman pouted and said aggrievedly, “Although a small number of humans are bad, there are also innocent ordinary people and good people among them. Didn’t you tell me this? I just want to help them.”
“I know,” Gu Xi let go of his hand and rubbed his temples, “This is my problem.”
He couldn’t stand it. Just thinking about Lin Xiaodong being watched by so many people during the live broadcast, being talked about, even being simply loved… just thinking like this, Gu Xi had an urge to destroy everyone.
He knew this thought was extreme. The mother worm absorbed a large amount of mental power from the brainworms to grow, which inevitably carried some of the host’s emotions. Perhaps a single one was very small, but gathered together, it was a flood of emotions enough to drive a person mad.
To resist these emotions, Gu Xi had to maintain a firm will and reason at all times.
But in some aspects, his thinking was inevitably affected.
“…I’m going to work first.”
In the end, Gu Xi chose to temporarily avoid the problem.
Lin Xiaodong watched the man’s hurrying back and nodded in agreement: “You’re right, System, he’s indeed very wrong.”
He thought he would be bored in the room all day after Gu Xi left, but less than two hours after the man left, Xu Feng took the initiative to come to the door.
“We just had a meeting,” the young adjutant said with a grin, leaning against the door, every pore of his body writing “I’m not serious,” and he didn’t look like someone who was about to be a father at all. “How about it, pretty little baby, are you willing to sing a song for us?”
Lin Xiaodong glanced at him: “Who are you?”
Who is your “little baby”? Did Lulu agree?
Seeing the little merman turn his body and face him with his tail, Xu Feng hurriedly said: “I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Let’s talk business. You know the situation on the Central Star. Although those nobles deserve it today, the people are innocent. So during the meeting this morning, several of us suggested to Lieutenant General Gu that we hope you can conduct a public live broadcast for the entire galaxy, using your song to soothe the people’s emotions.”
Lin Xiaodong said in surprise: “Gu Xi agreed?”
“The few of us finally persuaded the Lieutenant General to agree, but he said he must ask for your opinion.” Xu Feng remembered Gu Xi’s dark face in the conference room this morning and couldn’t help but sigh, “You didn’t see his expression, it was so scary.”
But he soon became serious again and added: “But I can also understand the Lieutenant General’s feelings. Xiaodong, I know humans owe you a lot. If you are unwilling, it’s okay.”
Lin Xiaodong didn’t speak.
The little merman just lowered his head and stared at his tail. Xu Feng couldn’t see his expression from his angle.
He was anxious, but still tried to say in a calm tone: “Xiaodong, in my personal name, I beg you to save my compatriots. Please!”
After the man finished speaking, he bowed deeply to him.
For a long time, there was no response.
A layer of despair gradually rose in Xu Feng’s eyes. He closed his eyes, and his Adam’s apple rolled once: “I understand. I’m sorry, I’ve disturbed you.”
True, humans not only wiped out the merman race but also didn’t reflect at all, intensifying their dumping of garbage and unscrupulously occupying the last pure land on the Merman Star… Even if all this was done by the nobles, it was still a sin committed by humans themselves.
Facing the race of his enemies in crisis, how could Lin Xiaodong agree?
He straightened up and prepared to leave with a gloomy look, but heard the little merman’s soft voice from behind:
“Are you sure that the whole of humanity will hear my voice?”