OVPBM 3
by MochiChapter 3 – Lu Yunwan Decides to Fake His Death and Disappear
This was the Regent’s residence, and Lu Yunwan’s men were everywhere.
Chu Xuanzhou knew better than anyone that he could never kill the man and live.
But just now, he had seen an intense spark of interest and anticipation in Lu Yunwan’s eyes.
Chu Xuanzhou understood immediately. Compared to a corpse, someone who actually dared to lay hands on the Regent would provoke Lu Yunwan far more.
He decided to gamble.
The merman endured the searing pain and slowly tightened his five fingers.
Lu Yunwan’s neck was instantly squeezed, yet the suffocating sensation did not make him tense. On the contrary, it made him excited.
After only a short ten-odd minutes together, Chu Xuanzhou had already caught the deliberately exposed obsessive side of him and took advantage of it.
As expected of the protagonist! Too clever, too perceptive!
Lu Yunwan could not help showing a gratified smile. He kept his eyes shut and slowly opened his arms.
The black-clad men froze where they were, biting down hard as they dared not step forward.
With the strain of his muscles, the wound on Chu Xuanzhou’s left arm burst open again.
Scarlet blood surged from the torn flesh, ran down his arm, slid across Lu Yunwan’s pale skin… and finally disappeared beneath the black silk collar.
All color drained from Lu Yunwan’s face. He looked like a beautiful porcelain figurine, innocently waiting for fate’s verdict.
Chu Xuanzhou felt that just a little more force and he could shatter him.
A tingling sensation crawled up his spine, overwhelming the pain. Unfamiliar emotions surged into Chu Xuanzhou’s mind.
Bang—!
The next second, his wounded arm dropped heavily. The merman, who had lost too much blood, ultimately could not kill Lu Yunwan.
The quantum cable binding him recoiled, and with no strength to brace himself, he crashed hard into the pool of blood on the floor.
“Your Highness, you are more interesting than I imagined.” Lu Yunwan gently stroked the newly formed violet marks around his throat, then bent down and lifted the boy’s chin with his fingers.
“Trillions of people across the interstellar realm hope every day and night that I die, but all they can do is pretend to show respect or curse me uselessly in secret. Only you dare to choke my throat.”
Lu Yunwan’s voice carried a faint rasp, tinged with amusement.
It hooked across Chu Xuanzhou’s heart again and again. He knew he had gambled correctly.
Chu Xuanzhou’s gaze fell on the other’s neck.
Although he had failed to kill the Regent, the effort he put in had still left savage marks on Lu Yunwan’s skin.
Chu Xuanzhou bit down on his lip. Only now did he realize that he had truly come close to killing the man before him.
“I… I’m sorry…” After a long silence, Chu Xuanzhou spoke with difficulty.
With his mental power still unawakened and without having gone through exile and the blackening, Chu Xuanzhou really did reflect on his words and actions once he calmed down, just as the novel 《 The Merfolk Empire 》 described.
Lu Yunwan shook his head and asked, “Why is Your Highness apologizing?”
Chu Xuanzhou lowered his gaze, his lashes hiding those strange violet eyes. His face looked especially pure. “I shouldn’t have hurt you…”
“No.”
A slender index finger pressed against Chu Xuanzhou’s lips, stopping the words he had yet to finish.
“You shouldn’t apologize to me for this,” Lu Yunwan said as he brushed his fingertip over the bite mark on Chu Xuanzhou’s lower lip. “You should apologize to yourself for not succeeding in killing me.”
Chu Xuanzhou’s lips trembled.
I’ve finally pulled it off! Noticing the protagonist’s reaction, Lu Yunwan secretly gave his own acting a thumbs-up.
But lost in his theatrics, he didn’t notice the pair of violet eyes beneath those thick lashes. They were impossibly calm, even containing a trace of calculation and assessment.
The book had written that merfolk could survive under any harsh conditions. Their adaptability was astonishing.
But what the book did not say was that “harsh” did not only refer to the natural environment.
As an illegitimate son of a royal family without mental power, anything could become Chu Xuanzhou’s weapon for survival, including showing weakness.
He had long mastered this weapon to perfection. It was only natural.
“Your Highness, let us make a deal.” Lu Yunwan leaned down again and spoke beside Chu Xuanzhou’s ear.
Just minutes ago, while Chu Xuanzhou was choking him, Lu Yunwan, the master of time management, had already mapped out his future.
Even the original host, that thousand-year-old fox, had died miserably at Chu Xuanzhou’s hands. How could he, of all people, survive?
Other than quickly siding with the protagonist, he had to fake his death and run away with enough money to last ten lifetimes before the protagonist fully grew in power.
Wouldn’t it be nice to live as an ordinary man whose only problem was having too much money?
Lu Yunwan remembered what was written in the novel clearly. In this empire ruled by merfolk, humans had always been oppressed and discriminated against.
Only after Chu Xuanzhou ascended the throne would anything change.
Therefore, for the sake of his future life, before faking his death, he still had to help Chu Xuanzhou smoothly claim the crown.
“A deal?” Chu Xuanzhou slowly lifted his gaze and looked at Lu Yunwan.
All across the interstellar realm, everyone knew that no one ever gained an advantage from Lu Yunwan.
Whenever he offered a deal, he never lost.
Chu Xuanzhou’s gaze held an instinctive resistance.
But just as Lu Yunwan straightened up, ready to spill the nonsense he had just concocted, an unexpected interruption struck.
The dim cell suddenly blazed with light. A harsh beam burst through the hatch that had suddenly opened, shining onto Lu Yunwan’s bloodless face.
He narrowed his eyes. Before he even saw who it was, he heard a loud string of curses.
“Lu Yunwan! You traitor, did you drag laozi1It is a colloquial first-person self-reference meaning “your father / yours truly / me” wwith an implied stance of seniority or authority. It is overwhelmingly associated with anger, confrontation, swaggering dominance, and emotional outbursts. “Laozi” can also be used playfully among friends, self-mokingly or performatively. here to attend your funeral?”
A brown-haired man, face bruised with fresh colors, staggered in as Lu Yunwan’s men shoved him forward.
Who is this now? Just how many people had the original host captured?
Lu Yunwan went blank for a second, then began deeply questioning his life choices.
The man spotted him and cursed even louder. “Traitor! Heard you almost died. Can’t even pilot your mech anymore, serves you right!” He burst into hearty laughter as he spoke.
Before Lu Yunwan could figure out what he meant, one of his subordinates jammed a gun against the man’s jaw. “Shut up!”
He finally went silent.
At that moment, Lu Yunwan caught sight of the gray lab coat the man wore and the line of small text printed on the chest: Imperial University of Science and Technology, Song Feiyan.
…Truly, misfortune never comes alone2“屋漏偏逢连夜雨” literally means “When the roof is leaking, it just has to be an all-night rain.” It is an idiom meaning misfortune piling upon misfortune, or bad luck coming all at once. It describes a situation where something goes wrong and then more problems immediately follow..
Song Feiyan, an authoritative figure in the field of mental power research. In the novel, he was captured at the very beginning for publicly cursing Lu Yunwan. Not until dozens of chapters later would the protagonist rescue him, after which he became one of the protagonist’s strongest allies.
Song Feiyan’s hatred toward Lu Yunwan was no less than Chu Xuanzhou’s.
In the original novel, he had personally said that even if the protagonist refused to kill the Regent, Song Feiyan would gladly do it himself.
Lu Yunwan had long since grown numb to this.
…The tactic of acting obsessively for love only worked once. What should he fabricate next?
His eyes swept rapidly across the room before finally landing on Chu Xuanzhou.
If he remembered correctly… 《 The Merfolk Empire 》 had briefly mentioned that Chu Xuanzhou had once contacted Song Feiyan anonymously, trying to find a way to awaken his mental power.
Lu Yunwan understood.
He knew exactly what to do!
Whether he could shake off the blame for illegally capturing Song Feiyan was one thing, but he refused to be hated for nothing.
Since the man had already been captured, he might as well make use of him.
Lu Yunwan walked over to Song Feiyan and lightly tapped the quantum gun with his finger. His tone was lazy, almost careless. “So, Professor Song is here to be buried with me?”
“You really dare to kill…” Song Feiyan swallowed the rest of his words halfway.
Clearly, Lu Yunwan really dared.
Lu Yunwan’s finger hovered over the quantum gun’s trigger. Just one gentle pull, and Song Feiyan would never open his mouth again.
Everyone held their breath.
But in that instant, Lu Yunwan suddenly felt as if he were being observed by some lurking beast.
His finger paused. He almost pressed the trigger.
Before he could think further, a weak voice sounded near his ear. “Your Excellency the Regent… I agree to the deal you mentioned earlier.”
Silver hair, stiffened by dried blood, clung to the merman’s cheeks, yet he didn’t look the least bit pitiful. “I hope you will not… cough… kill Professor Song.” Chu Xuanzhou lifted his head with difficulty.
“Your Highness still hasn’t asked what the deal is.” Lu Yunwan hesitated in tone, though his finger had already left the trigger.
This was exactly what he had been waiting for!
For Chu Xuanzhou to ascend the throne smoothly, his mental power had to awaken. And Song Feiyan happened to be an expert in that field.
Lu Yunwan’s goal had been to scare the man, then wait for Chu Xuanzhou to lower his head and plead. After that, he could naturally “spare” Song Feiyan. After all, the protagonist would never give up even the slightest chance to awaken mental power.
“That isn’t important,” Chu Xuanzhou said.
“No.” For once, Lu Yunwan’s expression turned solemn. He looked deeply into Chu Xuanzhou’s eyes.
He ignored Song Feiyan, the man still staring down the barrel of a quantum gun, and he ignored his subordinates, who watched him with fearful reverence.
Lu Yunwan smiled at Chu Xuanzhou, a smile bright and innocent in a way he had never shown.
Even Chu Xuanzhou felt a sharp jolt from it.
For the first time, he found himself genuinely curious about what Lu Yunwan was about to say.
Lu Yunwan leaned close, lowering his lips to Chu Xuanzhou’s ear. His voice was like a silver hook, carving ruthlessly into Chu Xuanzhou’s heart.
Right now, Lu Yunwan looked like a madman who lived only for thrills.
“The deal is for you to stay by my side and learn how to kill Lu Yunwan.”
“To kill Lu Yunwan, Your Highness doesn’t lack strength. You lack power.”
“Power can grant Your Highness every wish, including… sending Lu Yunwan to the execution ground with your own hands.”
The pool of blood on the ground reflected in Lu Yunwan’s dark eyes. With his treacherous proposal, he resembled the serpent in Eden, enticing Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
Chu Xuanzhou’s heart pounded wildly.
𓇼 ˚｡⋆ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞⋆｡˚ 𓇼
Author’s Note:
A short extra scene full of flags:
“Will the Regent change his mind?”
Lu Yunwan (brimming with confidence): “Never. ( ‵▽′ )ψ By the time he has the ability to do that, I will have long since run away!”
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