Chapter 52#

The Innocent and Naive Fool#

— Second World · Side Story —

Although confined to his room, seemingly restricted in his freedom and means of contact with the outside world, as the former Imperial Crown Prince, Lu Xing still received the news immediately after the little mermaid passed away.

But it was different from what the messenger had expected.

Upon learning of Lin Xiaodong’s death, Lu Xing’s first reaction was: absolutely impossible.

Gu Xi would never let anything happen to Lin Xiaodong, he thought with certainty.

He had clearly told the other party the solution, so how could such an absurd and ridiculous thing happen?

Lin Xiaodong must be lying to him.

Lu Xing reached this conclusion with great confidence; a personality of extreme conceit lay hidden within him, and he had always been deeply convinced of his own judgment. He even gave serious thought to why Lin Xiaodong would do this and what role Gu Xi played in it.

But his calm composure was soon shattered by the series of messages that followed.

The military had publicly disclosed the crimes committed by the royal family against the mermaids one by one?

This was normal, Lu Xing thought; with the little mermaid whispering in Gu Xi’s ear, the arrival of this day was only a matter of time.

Gu Xi would step down as Marshal in three months?

This did catch Lu Xing somewhat by surprise. In his imagination, Gu Xi was not the type to easily cast off the burdens on his shoulders, unless he believed his physical and mental state was no longer fit for that position. But the mother bug had clearly been destroyed, hadn’t it?

The place where he was confined was very close to the military headquarters. Hearing the faint sound of funeral music coming from outside, Lu Xing closed the window tightly and pulled the curtains shut with force, but such a deceptive act could not hide the immense panic in his heart.

Lu Xing stood by the window, stood dazed for a long time, then walked to the table and poured himself a cup of hot tea to calm his nerves.

However, because his wrist trembled uncontrollably, most of the tea spilled out.

Watching his pretense of composure, Lulu, who had been standing at the door for a while, let out a cold laugh.

She asked, “Lu Xing, who are you performing this hypocritical act for? Xiaodong is already dead.”

Bang!

Lu Xing slammed the cup toward her.

Fortunately, he couldn’t see and could only judge by the position of the sound; ultimately, the cup hit the tiles in front of Lulu and shattered into a floor full of fragments.

A faint flush appeared on the young man’s pale face due to anger. He stood there, holding onto the edge of the table and gasping for breath twice before saying coldly, “Speak, what else do you want from me? I’ve given you everything you wanted. Now, I’m just a powerless blind man.”

A mocking smile appeared on Lulu’s face.

Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were bloodshot. Deep-seated hatred was suppressed in her gaze as she watched the young man: “Lu Xing, I know you have your own intelligence channels. I’m only here today to ask you—at that last meeting, what exactly did you say to Xiaodong?”

“Does it still matter what was said?” Lu Xing said indifferently. “And surely not, Sister. Do you really think I’d believe this joke? Instead of wasting effort playing some pathetic funeral music outside to deceive me, why don’t you call Gu Xi over and tell me directly what you want?”

“…I’m actually starting to pity you,” Lulu looked at Lu Xing, who still refused to believe the news of Lin Xiaodong’s passing, the fire in her heart surging upward. “Lu Xing, do you think everyone in this world is as despicable as you, willing to use anything to achieve their goals!”

Lu Xing stood there expressionlessly, as if he hadn’t heard her loud questioning at all.

Or perhaps he heard, but was completely unmoved.

After a moment, he suddenly gave a cold laugh. “If he’s dead, he’s dead. Everyone has to die eventually anyway.”

Slap!

Lulu went straight up and slapped him.

“Try saying one more word, you bastard!” she roared.

The young man’s head was knocked to one side, a bright red palm print appearing on his pale cheek. Long bangs that hadn’t been trimmed in a long time covered his eyes, preventing Lulu from seeing the expression on his face for a moment, but this didn’t stop her from using the most biting and sarcastic words to sting him—

Because Lu Xing deserved it.

“Lu Xing, oh Lu Xing, you plotted a thousand times, and what did you get in the end? Noah gave his heart to you, only to die alone and disheartened. Xiaodong was fortunate enough to fall in love with someone else, yet he was hurt by you again and again…” She paused and closed her eyes. “Now Xiaodong is dead too, and the mermaid race has finally gone extinct. Are you satisfied?”

After she finished, Lu Xing remained like a stone statue, standing there in silence without the slightest reaction.

“Forget it, I have nothing more to say to you.” Lulu suddenly felt it was all utterly meaningless. Just as Lu Xing said, the content of that conversation didn’t matter anymore at all.

She strode out of the room without looking back and coldly instructed the guarding soldiers, “Make sure to keep a close watch on him. Not the slightest mistake is allowed, do you hear me?”

“Understood!”

The door was closed, and the world fell back into an endless, silent darkness.

An unknown amount of time passed before Lu Xing snapped back to his senses.

He fumbled his way to the bedside, pulled out a thin piece of candy wrapper from a crevice in the bed, placed it in his palm, and gently smoothed it out. Then, bit by bit, he slowly folded it into the shape of a small rose.

Thinking of the scene back then, Lu Xing lowered his head, the corners of his lips still uncontrollably curling up slightly, but the white cloth covering his eyes gradually became stained with a patch of bright red—unknown if it was blood or tears.

When he handed that piece of candy to him, he thought, the little mermaid must have had a mischievous grin on his face, right?

Lu Xing sat quietly by the bed for a while, holding the candy-wrapper rose.

Before the cleaners came to tidy the room, he secretly hid a piece of broken porcelain under his pillow, then calmly awaited the arrival of the night.

Goodnight, his little rose.

The moon is full on the fifteenth, the tides rise and fall.

The moon will still be the same moon, the sea will still be the same sea.

But in this world, the song of the mermaids will never be heard again.

The Mermaid Star had already turned into cold dust in the universe. Gu Xi could not take Lin Xiaodong home, so he carried the little mermaid’s cold body and walked step by step into the depths of the ocean.

The man looked down at the peaceful and calm face of the little mermaid in his arms, allowing the cold seawater to submerge his body.

The sunlight today was very good.

As brilliant as the smile on the little mermaid’s face when he threw himself into his arms by the shore of Lake Kalan that day.

Gu Xi couldn’t distinguish whether what spread across the tip of his tongue was the saltiness of the seawater or the bitterness of tears. The man gently stroked the little mermaid’s soft hair, propped up the back of his head, lowered his eyes, and very carefully planted a kiss on those pale lips.

In the dark, he seemed to hear a voice whisper in his ear: I like the sea.

If I die in the future, I want a burial at sea.

Gu Xi placed one last passionate red rose in the little mermaid’s arms, watching as the attachment of his life slowly sank into the cold, dark sea. At that moment, he actually felt a strong urge to follow the waves.

He wanted to close his eyes like this and return to that sunny afternoon, back to the memory of rippling blue waves and lush green grass.

But not yet, he thought.

There were still some people, some things, waiting for him—for a debt of blood to be paid in blood.

“Really?”

Count Lian, who had been imprisoned for many days, could not believe his ears for a moment upon hearing the soldier’s words. “Did Gu Xi really say he wants to help me ascend the throne and revitalize the royal family?”

The soldier said respectfully, “Yes, you heard correctly.”

“How could it be…” Although Count Lian was headstrong and opinionated, he was no fool.

However, when the soldier took out a chip card to unlock the shackles on his wrists, opened the door of the confinement room, and told him that the nobles were already waiting at the palace, a tiny spark of hope still rose in Count Lian’s heart—what if it was true?

“If I can become king,” he hurriedly climbed onto the flyer prepared for him by the military, greedily stroking the ornate decorations inlaid upon it. He even remembered to poke his head out and ask the soldier to pass a message to Gu Xi: “I will certainly commend his achievements greatly! At that time, I’ll grant Gu Xi a title…” He was about to say Marshal, but suddenly realized Gu Xi was already the supreme commander of the military, so he quickly changed his tune: “I’ll name him a Prince Regent of a different surname!”

After experiencing that agonizing torture in front of the palace gates, Count Lian was truly terrified of Gu Xi to his core.

Even on, whenever he closed his eyes, his head was filled with the image of Gu Xi crushing his fingers one by one with his boots!

The current Count Lian didn’t care whether he would have real power.

As long as Gu Xi needed him, even if it was just to be a figurehead puppet living in luxury, it would be a thousand times better than his previous life!

It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality. After tasting the feeling of controlling the empire’s supreme power, Count Lian was convinced that absolutely no one would easily give up this position unless they were a fool with water in their brain. Thus, he naturally judged others by his own standards, assuming Gu Xi’s thoughts were surely the same as his.

The flyer sailed smoothly into the palace, passing through the checkpoints with no trouble at all.

Seeing this, Count Lian’s heart, which had been in his throat, gradually settled down.

Perhaps, he thought, Gu Xi really was as his advisors had said—that he was essentially very loyal to the royal family and the nobility, but had been forced into a dead end by the old king’s repeated suspicions, and had no choice but to rebel.

“Lord Count, we have arrived.”

Looking at the familiar yet strange palace, Count Lian was so nervous his legs were shaking, and he even tripped when getting off the flyer.

“Are you all right?” The soldier piloting the flyer helped him up and asked with feigned concern. “Be careful; the other nobles are all waiting for you in the main hall.”

“How did you drive—” As soon as he regained his freedom, Count Lian began to revert to his old ways. He thought that while he couldn’t handle Gu Xi, surely he could handle a lowly soldier. He turned his head to start scolding, but upon seeing the man’s face, he immediately shuddered in terror. “How-how-how is it you!?”

“Hmm?” Xu Feng looked at him with a smile and asked back with an innocent face, “I’m the Marshal’s adjutant. We met at the palace gates back then; have you forgotten, Count?”

How could he forget!

The memories dominated by fear and intense pain surfaced in his mind again. Count Lian gave a dry laugh, though it looked worse than crying. “No, no, I’m just a bit surprised. Haha, surprised.”

He spoke stutteringly, making a random excuse to end the conversation, and fled from the man’s presence in a disheveled state.

But what Count Lian didn’t notice was that after he entered the main hall, the expression on the face of Xu Feng, who had pulled his cap low behind him, was terrifying.

“Marshal,” he stared intently at Count Lian’s retreating back as he climbed the steps, pressed the mini-communicator behind his ear, and whispered, “The last target has entered the hall. Should I begin preparations?”

Two seconds later, Gu Xi’s raspy voice sounded in his ear:

“Begin.”

“Roger!”

Xu Feng took a deep breath and released his fists, which had been clenched white.

Before starting the plan, he looked up at the sky above.

Today was sunny and bright, with not a cloud in sight, even though the weather forecast had clearly predicted moderate to heavy rain.

And if it really rained, their original plan would have fallen through.

Xu Feng believed that someone must be watching over them from above.

“Xiaodong, watch closely.”

This man, who had gone through life and death on the battlefield with Gu Xi for over a decade, still wore a carefree smile even when half his body was stained with blood, yet his eyes turned red at the thought of that smiley-face note pasted on the refrigerator.

Clearly such an obedient and sensible child…

Xu Feng took a deep breath, wiped his face hard, and said through gritted teeth, word by word:

“Watch closely as we take revenge for you.”