OVPBM 11

Chapter 11 –  Gripped by the Neck and Pressed into a Pool of Blood by Chu Xuanzhou

After saying that, Lu Yunwan lightly patted Chu Xuanzhou on the shoulder and slowly left the grand hall, only reappearing half an hour later.

Beneath the wave-shaped dome hung tens of thousands of crystal lamps, like stars that had fallen to the seabed.

The Regent removed his mask and stood at the very center of the banquet hall, preparing to deliver a speech on behalf of the Empire to the entire interstellar realm.

The moment he took his position, the crystal lamps lit up to the sound of an organ, and a curtain of water poured down from the dome, crashing with a roar before shattering into fine spray. 

Cold blue mist enveloped him, washing away the garish, brilliant colors. Lu Yunwan looked like a dark red poppy sealed in ice.

Dangerous, cold, and distant.

“It is a great honor to stand here today, representing the Empire and the Imperial family, to look back on the past together with everyone…” A faint smile rested at the corner of his lips. His gaze moved unhurriedly across the crowd, every breath and blink refined to absolute elegance.

Whether they were guests in the hall or viewers watching the live broadcast, everyone held their breath.

They could not help but admire the breathtaking scene before them, yet everything about “Lu Yunwan” reminded them, at every moment, of the danger he represented.

Lu Yunwan knew this, but he did not care.

The Regent placed both hands lightly on the poppy-shaped podium and calmly summarized the past year.   

—Unlike others, Lu Yunwan never read from a script on a light screen. He always spoke freely, composed and unflustered, as though he had been born with an innate ability to inspire trust and loyalty.

“In Stellar Year 3612, the Empire’s territory expanded to the Greisi Star System, adding 293 habitable planets. For this, we must thank the following legions…”

Lu Yunwan precisely named each legion, even calling out soldiers who had rendered distinguished service.

He spoke effortlessly of the customs and landscapes of more than two hundred planets.

At this, disbelief appeared on everyone’s faces.

…Just how did His Excellency the Regent manage this?

The final note of Lu Yunwan’s voice lifted slightly, like a crescent silver moon, and in the next second hooked everyone’s wandering attention back.

Standing not far away, Chu Xuanzhou saw that whether people hated him or loved him, all eyes were focused on Lu Yunwan. He was destined to stand apart.

Five minutes later, the speech ended.

Amid thunderous applause, Lu Yunwan slowly let out a long breath.

Damn, that scared me to death! Why is there even a waterfall?

To keep up the original host’s pretentious facade, Lu Yunwan had stayed up day and night memorizing figures for several days straight.

Now, the moment he closed his eyes, he could sketch out the Empire’s territory in his mind.

Yet after all that preparation, no one had warned him that this year’s banquet hall included a waterfall installation.

…Lu Yunwan’s lifelong reputation had nearly been destroyed in the instant the water splashed down!

“Your Excellency the Regent, your eloquence is as impressive as ever.” While Lu Yunwan’s thoughts were running wild, Duke Pei Hanji gently extended his hand toward him.

He suddenly lifted his gaze. “For a moment just now, I thought I had gone back to my days at the military academy more than ten years ago. Even then, you were already as dazzling as you are now.”

In 《 The Merfolk Empire 》, Lu Yunwan and Pei Hanji were said to be the same age and long-standing rivals.

But Lu Yunwan truly had not known that the original host and Pei Hanji were apparently… classmates?

“Why does Your Grace suddenly think of that?” he replied casually.

The moment he offered Pei Hanji the ceremonial supporting gesture, the other man said, “You have not emphasized human contributions the way you did back then for a very long time.”

This answer was not what Lu Yunwan had expected. In the original work, the original host, described as “more merfolk than merfolk,” had actually praised humans?

Yet on second thought, it did not seem entirely surprising.

Aside from the original host, a complete anomaly whose mental power was maxed out, humans in this world generally possessed mental power about twenty percent lower than that of merfolk.

However, nearly all of the original host’s confidants were human.

Toward his own kind, perhaps he had not been as cold as people believed…

Pei Hanji’s words made Lu Yunwan curious about the original host’s past for the first time, curious about the stories 《 The Merfolk Empire 》 never told.

* * *

The second half of the banquet began.

The lights in the hall dimmed once more, and people put their masks back on, resuming the revelry from before.

According to Lu Yunwan’s understanding, compared to the latter half, what he had just witnessed was merely an appetizer.

Since he wasn’t truly a pervert after all, Lu Yunwan decided to take the protagonist and get out of this accursed place as fast as possible. 

“Ah!”

At that moment, a scream rang out from the south side of the banquet hall. Immediately after, the crowd erupted into sudden commotion.

What happened?

A sense of unease rose instinctively in Lu Yunwan’s chest.

He tightened his grip on his cane, straining to search for Chu Xuanzhou’s figure in the darkness.

“This… Your Excellency the Regent…”

The young merman wearing the cherry-pink mask from earlier appeared out of nowhere. He suddenly grabbed the hem of Lu Yunwan’s clothes, his eyes unfocused as if he were drunk. “Help… Help me… please.”

As he spoke, he struggled to stand, trying to hook an arm around Lu Yunwan’s neck.

Lu Yunwan: !!!

Ahhh! Don’t come any closer!!!

He suppressed the urge to jump away on the spot, frowned, and said in a low voice, “Get lost.”

The Regent’s words were like a bucket of icy water poured straight over the young man’s face.

Fear filled his eyes, yet he still did not let go of Lu Yunwan’s clothes.

Only then did Lu Yunwan notice… truly worthy of a racial talent. Even this young man was a little taller than him!

Lu Yunwan let out a cold laugh and forcefully pinched the young man’s chin. “Take your hand away. Don’t dirty my clothes.”

His black eyes were empty, devoid of the slightest emotion.

That cold, indifferent gaze finally pulled the young man back to some semblance of reason. He loosened his grip on Lu Yunwan’s clothes, then collapsed heavily onto the ground.

In front of Lu Yunwan’s eyes, the young man’s long, slender legs suddenly transformed into a smoky pink fish tail.

Holy shit!

Lu Yunwan finally understood. The young man was not drunk. He had suddenly entered his migratory period!

…If that was the case, then the chaos in the hall was related to this as well?

As if answering Lu Yunwan’s doubt, in the next second, a warm liquid splashed against his cheek.

The stench of blood followed.

A few meters away, a merman had torn open a servant’s chest with his sharp nails. Even the blood flowing all over the floor failed to restore his sanity, instead making him even more excited.

“Re… Regent, Your Excellency, it’s… Miliuya…” Amid the ragged breathing, the pink-tailed merman gave a weak reminder.

Hearing this, Lu Yunwan finally understood what was happening here.

Just like Chu Xuanzhou’s father, there were countless merfolk in this world who chose to indulge in desire and become its slaves.

“Miliuya” was an aphrodisiac. It could induce merfolk into their migratory period, causing them to completely lose their rationality.

As early as several years ago, it had been banned by the Empire due to its excessively powerful effects.

But even so, countless merfolk could not resist its temptation, secretly purchasing it on the interstellar black market.

…This time, the trouble was enormous!

Migration among fish was inherently a group behavior, and they were extremely susceptible to influencing one another.

That meant that the thousands of merfolk currently in the hall would all be affected by Miliuya and by each other, sinking into their most primal desires.

—Killing desire. Sexual desire.

Lu Yunwan used his optical-brain to summon his subordinates, ordering them to take away the merman in front of him. Then he split up with them to search for Chu Xuanzhou.

No way! The protagonist absolutely cannot be allowed to get hurt!

In the banquet hall, the dying screams of merfolk intertwined with obscene sounds.

On one side, blood flowed like a river. On the other, the atmosphere was suffocatingly erotic.

Blood, bodily fluids, and overturned red wine mixed together, producing a nauseating stench.

Lu Yunwan held his breath, searching for Chu Xuanzhou’s whereabouts amid the chaos.

During this time, countless merfolk who had lost their reason tried to approach him, only to be directly forced back by Lu Yunwan’s mental power.

He stepped over blood and severed limbs, passing through merfolk drowning in lust, like an Asura walking out of hell.

Finally, in a corner of the hall, Lu Yunwan saw Chu Xuanzhou lying in a pool of blood.

His silver-white long hair had been stained a pale red by blood. His body was covered in gore, and even his eyes could no longer focus… The toxin of Miliuya could cause severe hallucinations, both visual and auditory, in merfolk.

The concentration of Miliuya in the hall was unbearably high. At this moment, Chu Xuanzhou was clearly no longer able to see his surroundings.

But fortunately, amid the misfortune, Chu Xuanzhou’s legs had not transformed into a fish tail.

As expected!! I knew it. The protagonist’s willpower is strong. Even without having awakened his bloodline or mental power, he actually endured it!

Lu Yunwan could not help but let out a sigh of relief. He quickly walked over, without thinking, intending to help Chu Xuanzhou up.

What he did not expect, however, was that after losing his hearing and vision, Chu Xuanzhou became incomparably vigilant.

At the very instant Lu Yunwan bent down to help the protagonist up, the other suddenly reached out and clamped a hand tightly around his throat.

“Ah—”

Cold fingertips pressed against the artery in his neck, and a spike of pain shot through Lu Yunwan’s back, forcing a cough from him.

The merman’s strength was brutal and overwhelming.

By the time he came back to his senses, Lu Yunwan’s world had flipped upside down in an instant.

He was gripped by the neck by Chu Xuanzhou and pressed down into the pool of blood.