Chapter 43#

The Innocent and Naive Fool#

Lin Xiaodong was originally full of expectations, but after hearing the system say it had only updated the world background database, he immediately lost all interest. He gave a very disappointed “oh” and said nothing more.

“There’s still half an hour left,” the little merman looked up and said to Gu Xi, “shall we go?”

“Okay.”

As Gu Xi spoke, he suddenly leaned down. Lin Xiaodong thought he was going to kiss him and hurriedly pushed him away righteously: “Not now, I have to sing soon, I have to protect my voice.”

But in reality, Gu Xi just lowered his head and gently blew away the hair fragments on his shoulder.

Besides that, he did nothing.

“What were you thinking?” A smile appeared in the man’s eyes. He reached out and scraped Lin Xiaodong’s nose, picked him up from the bathtub, dried his tail, and coaxed the pouting little merman for a long time before he felt better.

Their live broadcast this time was still in audio-only format because Lin Xiaodong himself was unwilling to show off, and Gu Xi didn’t want to expose his treasured baby to the eyes of all the people in the galaxy.

However, to achieve the maximum effect of alleviating the people’s anxiety, Gu Xi first gave a speech at the beginning.

During this time, Lin Xiaodong stood beside him.

From the moment the adjutant, who served as the temporary director, announced the start of the broadcast, the little merman’s large silver-white tail immediately attracted the attention of nearly ten million bullet chats.

“A merman! It’s the first time in my life I’ve seen a living merman!”

“He’s so cute and beautiful, he’s my favorite young boy look!”

“I declare these the clearest and brightest eyes I’ve ever seen in my life, as clean as a baby’s.”

“I don’t understand, why those royal perverts had the heart to lay a hand on such a face? Are they still human?”

“He’s the only one left of the merman race… truly the last merman in the world.”

“The last orphan of a civilization and a thousand-year-old race, this pain and loneliness makes one want to cry just saying it out loud.”

“He’s looking at the camera! Baby, mommy really feels for you, sob sob…”

Noticing something, the little merman tilted his head and gave a faint smile to the camera.

This immediately triggered a crazy flood of bullet chats.

However, among these bullet chats, there were also many nonsensical gibberish, abuses and curses filled with malicious wording, and sentences intended to incite conflict.

Some of these were internet trolls deliberately hired by Earl Lian to cause trouble, and others were anti-social individuals who had completely lost hope in life and the whole world due to the influence of brainworms and were lashing out.

But Gu Xi had already considered that this situation would occur and specially arranged a whole information unit to block and process these bullet chats to ensure the smooth progress of the live broadcast.

Among them, the information unit also conducted detailed investigations into the addresses and information of those who attacked Lin Xiaodong’s identity most fiercely.

Gu Xi’s speech was very short, with three main points:

First, the Empire is no longer the Empire it used to be. The Crown Prince committed regicide and parricide, the royal family is declining, and the nobility is corrupt;

Second, the military is the people’s military and will definitely fight to the end to defend the people’s interests;

Third, they will do their best to solve this brainworm crisis.

Regarding the last point, in fact, they not only discussed the content of this live broadcast during the meeting that day, but Xu Feng also proposed a more critical and bold topic, with the theme of—

The feasibility of controlling the activity of brainworms by controlling the mother worm parasitized in Gu Xi’s body.

But once this hypothesis was proven correct, it meant that Gu Xi could no longer suppress the mother worm and even needed to allow it to devour his mental power.

In that case, if he wasn’t careful, he might…

After finishing the speech, the man thought calmly. He glanced at the little merman standing beside him, and his expression unconsciously became a bit gentler.

“It’s your turn,” he said softly, his large hand on the little merman’s shoulder. “Don’t be nervous, I’m always behind you.”

Lin Xiaodong met his gaze.

“Yes.”

Many quick-handed viewers took advantage of this moment to press the screenshot key. In the picture, the tall man in a silver-black military uniform lowered his head, his gaze at the little merman deep and affectionate.

The two stood side by side, and behind them was the huge floor-to-ceiling window of the starship hall. The brilliant galaxy flowed slowly in the background, and a fleeting comet streaked a dazzling long white shadow across the screen.

The starlight across the sky witnessed a love that spanned tens of millions of light-years.

The next second, the live broadcast screen was closed.

In the dark and cold universe, a soft and beautiful melody rang out.

The little merman gently hummed an ancient ballad. The singing, as clean as a child’s voice, echoed in space, and all listeners unconsciously relaxed their bodies, immersed in this ethereal and beautiful melody.

In a daze, they seemed to have come to the merman star, where birds sang and flowers were fragrant. They witnessed that fairyland where the lake water was like a mirror and the green grass was like a carpet. The beautiful mermaids, with carefree smiles, dove freely and happily into the clear and transparent Lake Garan, their songs echoing on the shore for a long time…

But Lin Xiaodong didn’t notice that Gu Xi, who had walked to the corner of the hall, began to turn pale.

This was natural.

The brainworms were weakening and dying, which would naturally affect the host of the mother worm.

Xu Feng wanted to step forward to support him, but was fixed in place by a look from Gu Xi.

Don’t come over, the man mouthed.

Now was a critical moment, and he didn’t want to disturb Lin Xiaodong.

Moreover, recent research had proven that the merman’s singing had a significant weakening effect on brainworms. If it was only a host in the early stage of parasitism, there was even a certain chance of recovery.

Gu Xi endured the stabbing pain in his brain, his hands clenched into fists, half his body leaning against the wall for support, his nails sinking deep into his palms.

Xu Feng dared not make a sound. He could only take a quick, worried look at him and then gestured to the medic behind him, indicating that he should be on standby at any time.

And thousands of miles away, in the palace of the Central Star.

Lu Xing leaned on the throne, his eyes closed, listening quietly to this song.

For many days, the violent and anxious impulse circling in his heart gradually dissipated. The pale young man’s lips curled up, and he unconsciously bent his knuckles, tapping the armrest one by one, humming gently along with the familiar melody.

When the song ended.

Lin Xiaodong opened his eyes and slowly exhaled.

He adjusted the rose earring and said softly into the microphone: “Lu Xing, I know you are listening.”

When he finished speaking, the number of bullet chats, which had been slowing down, instantly surged.

Obviously, the viewers, especially the people on the Central Star, now wanted nothing more than to spit on the name Lu Xing and then step on it a couple of times to get rid of the bad luck.

Lu Xing in the palace opened his eyes, and the smile on his face deepened.

“Yes,” he ignored the abusive bullet chats and answered leisurely, as if there was no vast distance between them and they were talking face to face, “is there anything, my little prince?”

“Don’t continue anymore,” the little merman’s clear voice pierced the sky and echoed in his ears. “Surrender. Give the people of the Empire a chance, and give yourself a chance. No matter what you did before, I don’t blame you, but you must admit your guilt to others… I really don’t want to see anyone else die.”

Lu Xing froze.

Then, the young man couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Hahaha… really, really… just as I’d expect you to say…”

He sat on the throne, his laughter growing louder and louder, until he was doubled over and couldn’t even straighten his back.

The attendant waiting on the side focused on his nose and heart, wishing he didn’t exist.

But while laughing, Lu Xing suddenly covered his eyes again.

He now only had one eye left, and the world he saw was half of what it used to be. And in the young man’s only remaining eye, it was now filled with tears—

“Noah, tell me, what should I do…”

The moment the live broadcast ended, Xu Feng was the first to rush over.

“Fantastic!” The man clutched the intelligence he had just received, so excited he wanted to kiss Lin Xiaodong a couple of times. However, he knew Gu Xi would definitely train him to death afterwards, and besides, he couldn’t let Lulu down.

Xu Feng thought, but still gave Lin Xiaodong a big hug: “Our mole on the Central Star just sent us news that the live broadcast was a huge success, and the crime rate monitored in real-time on the Star Network has plummeted by ninety-seven percent!”

Lin Xiaodong was somewhat drowsy for some reason: “Really? That’s good…”

He asked the system in his heart: “System, what’s wrong with me? I wasn’t like this when I practiced before.”

“Excessive mental power consumption,” the system said. “Didn’t I say that the merman’s singing contains their mental power? When you sang this song, you put in unprecedented focus, so you naturally feel exhausted. And it probably won’t be easy to recover on your own in a short time.”

“Then what should I do?”

“It’s okay,” the system said. “Didn’t Gu Xi say he would take you back to the Merman Star? You’ll be fine after soaking in Lake Garan for a couple of nights.”

Lake Garan actually has this effect? Lin Xiaodong couldn’t help but marvel.

But he was also a bit curious, where was Gu Xi?

The little merman, surrounded by everyone, looked around and finally found the man standing in a remote corner of the hall, looking over from a distance.

“How did I do just now?” He pushed through the crowd around him and walked to Gu Xi. “I… wait, why do you look so pale?”

Gu Xi slowly exhaled: “It’s nothing.”

The adjutant also came over. Looking at how Gu Xi had been hanging on, he couldn’t help but say: “Lieutenant General, you should go rest. Just leave the rest to me.”

Lin Xiaodong gave a big yawn: “Exactly, I’m sleepy too.”

Seeing that Gu Xi still hadn’t relented, the little merman narrowed his eyes and very naturally reached out his hands to the man in front of the others in the hall:

“Hug.”

Gu Xi looked at him helplessly.

“Then we’ll leave first,” he said to Xu Feng, taking Lin Xiaodong’s hand. “If there’s any emergency, remember to report promptly.”

“Understood!”

After leaving the hall, Lin Xiaodong, who had been walking beside him, suddenly asked: “What exactly is wrong with you?”

The little merman looked at him with a worried expression.

If he truly couldn’t hold on, Gu Xi couldn’t have failed to satisfy such a small request.

“The mother worm was stimulated by your singing just now, and there was a small problem.” Gu Xi brushed off the topic. “Go back to the room first. After you wake up, I’ll have them make you an ice cream cake.”

Hearing about ice cream cake, Lin Xiaodong immediately threw his doubts to the back of his mind.

“I want a large one in the shape of a yellow square!”

Looking at the little merman’s happy appearance, the corners of Gu Xi’s mouth couldn’t help but turn up.

He endured the strange feeling of the bones on his spine growing crazily and nodded.

“…Okay.”