OVPBM 17

Chapter 17 – Top-Tier Merfolk Bloodline

Lu Yunwan’s voice was like fine sand drifting across Chu Xuanzhou’s heart. A tingling numbness seeped into his bones and rushed to his fingertips, turning into an almost imperceptible tremor.

“It is part of love… Your Highness, the more people love something, the more precious they find it, and the more reluctant they are to share it.” Lu Yunwan murmured softly, gently cupping Chu Xuanzhou’s cheek with one hand.

The cold pad of his finger slid beneath the corner of Chu Xuanzhou’s eye. For a dazed moment, every patch of skin touched by Lu Yunwan felt as if it had been seared by fire, burning hot.

Chu Xuanzhou subconsciously wanted to avoid his gaze, yet he could not resist indulging in such dangerous tenderness.

It was like an addiction.

Lu Yunwan’s eyes lowered and fell upon Chu Xuanzhou’s fingers.

He had not used much force just now, yet the youth’s skin had still flushed a faint red.

“Does Your Highness’s hand hurt?” Lu Yunwan carefully lifted Chu Xuanzhou’s right hand, as though the one who had stepped on it moments ago had not been himself.

The youth’s fingers curled slightly in reflex. After a brief pause, he lowered his eyes and said in a soft voice, “A little…”

The bones and skin of a merman were far stronger than those of ordinary beings.

Chu Xuanzhou’s hand did not truly hurt. He simply found himself inexplicably craving more touch and more tenderness.

Lu Yunwan smiled and gradually tightened his grip on Chu Xuanzhou’s right hand. “Your Highness, this is a small punishment, and also a gift I am giving you.”

Words once spoken by the Regent echoed again in Chu Xuanzhou’s mind.

‘Learn to enjoy pain.’

Clad in splendid robes, Lu Yunwan slowly lowered his head and, with incomparable reverence, pressed a light kiss onto the back of Chu Xuanzhou’s hand.

The light and heat released by the burning star, after traveling across hundreds of millions of miles of space, enveloped the two of them together.

That afternoon was impossibly serene.

* * *

Ahhh!

When Lu Yunwan returned to his bedroom that evening, he immediately buried himself beneath the covers.

After the rush of adrenaline subsided, he could not help but begin to doubt himself. Although the original host had been exactly this kind of person, was he being a little too perverted?

But with so many eyes across the Empire watching him, there had been no better choice…

He rolled over and lay flat on the bed, staring out the window.

Like Earth, Planet Cangrui had only one moon.

It was the middle of the month. The silver disc of the planet stole all the brilliance of the surrounding stars. For a fleeting moment, Lu Yunwan almost felt as though he were back home on Earth.

He could not help but sigh. Sitting down on the carpet at the foot of the bed, he began flipping through and organizing the documents left behind by the original host, page by page.

Thanks to the intensive memorization of materials not long ago, Lu Yunwan had already gained a relatively comprehensive understanding of the Empire.

He discovered that although some examples were outdated, overall, the documents and laws left behind by the original host were already incredibly thorough.

Lu Yunwan could not help but tighten his grip on the papers.

He wondered whether, in the depths of midnight, the original host would ever look back on those past years and imagine another possible life.

Just then, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

If he were to bring up the matter of the “Uniform Sentencing Act” again, the aristocratic faction that had previously coexisted peacefully with him would certainly launch fierce retaliation.

But as the saying went, ‘After I die, let the flood rage.¹“我死后哪管洪水滔天。” This idiom means: “After I’m gone, I don’t care what disasters may come.” It originates from a French expression famously attributed to Louis XV’s mistress (“Après moi, le déluge”). In Chinese, it expresses reckless disregard for consequences as long as one personally avoids harm. It implies: “Let chaos come after me. It won’t matter because I won’t be around to face it.”’

In any case, he was destined to fake his death and slip away… So why not put it back on the agenda before leaving?

It seemed worth a try.

The moment the thought formed, Lu Yunwan’s optical-brain suddenly began to flash. A red-highlighted message appeared before his eyes.

An accident had occurred at Song Feiyan’s laboratory.

Without wasting a second, Lu Yunwan tossed aside what he was holding, threw on a heavy coat, left his residence, and boarded a small aircraft heading straight for the laboratory.

“Your Excellency the Regent! Five minutes ago, the instruments suddenly detected abnormal data and shut down. Song Feiyan is currently checking to determine where the problem lies.”

In the corridor outside the laboratory, the staff member whom Lu Yunwan had assigned to Song Feiyan hurried alongside him, rapidly reporting the situation inside.

“Mm. How is His Highness?” Lu Yunwan asked the instant the hatch door opened.

The staff member hesitated, not yet speaking, when Song Feiyan’s voice came from the other side of the laboratory. “He’s in the nutrition tank.”

Only injured test subjects were sent there.

As he spoke, a stretch of deep blue entered Lu Yunwan’s field of vision.

The “nutrition tank” in the Planet Cangrui laboratory was the largest in the interstellar realm.

It spanned a full fifty meters square and was nearly five meters deep, like a secluded spring embedded beneath the ground.

Song Feiyan stepped away from the light screen and walked over to Lu Yunwan.

Frowning, he said, “During the experiment, Chu Xuanzhou’s merfolk bloodline showed signs of awakening. But a few minutes later, the optical-brain crashed, and he was injured.”

The stronger a merfolk’s bloodline, the more formidable their physical constitution.

Those possessing the most top-tier bloodlines could even survive in environments of absolute zero and withstand attacks from quantum weapons.

—From this perspective, perhaps it was not entirely unreasonable for them to call humans fragile.

Just like his mental power, Chu Xuanzhou’s bloodline had never awakened.

But there were many merfolk like this, so Song Feiyan had never paid it much attention.

Lu Yunwan nodded and stepped forward to the edge of the “spring.”

He slowly bent down to look below. At that very moment, a pair of violet eyes appeared beneath the water’s surface and locked onto his gaze.

The merman hidden beneath the water had pupils narrowed into slits like needles, his eyes devoid of the slightest trace of emotion.

A stray spark of tension caused Lu Yunwan’s palm to clench.

He saw that Chu Xuanzhou’s legs had already been replaced by a black fish tail.

Not only that, black-violet scales had grown across the youth’s shoulders, wrists, and even his forehead.

Merfolk were oceanic creatures suspended somewhere between humans and beasts.

In that moment, he shed his human facade and returned to his true bloodline.

At a glance, Lu Yunwan could tell that the top-tier merfolk bloodline within Chu Xuanzhou was showing clear signs of awakening.

Most merfolk gradually awakened their bloodlines during childhood.

During that period, they would avoid provoking other creatures. They would even instinctively display their weak and vulnerable side to confuse their opponents or seek assistance.

Chu Xuanzhou was long past childhood, yet the instincts of his species still drove him, at this moment, to lift a hand from the water and gently grasp Lu Yunwan’s wrist.

Hiss—

So cold!

After transforming their tails, they became true cold-blooded creatures.

Chu Xuanzhou, who had soaked in the water for quite some time, carried a piercing chill with him.

And Lu Yunwan, who spent all day wrapped in thick clothes and gloves, feared the cold more than anything.

His hand jerked, seeking escape from Chu Xuanzhou’s hold. But when he saw the helpless expression on the youth’s face, Lu Yunwan forced out a faint smile and said gently, “Your Highness, do not be afraid. I will stay with you.”

After speaking, he wrapped both hands around Chu Xuanzhou’s fingers, attempting to warm his skin.

“Lu Yunwan, get away from him!” Song Feiyan suddenly shouted. “Do you know what he wants to do right now?!” His eyes were filled with terror.

What? Wasn’t he asking for comfort?

“You said you would stay with me…” Chu Xuanzhou’s voice was swallowed mostly by the water. By the time it reached Lu Yunwan’s ears, only a faint murmur remained.

Before he could figure out what Chu Xuanzhou meant, an irresistible force yanked at his wrist.

His world flipped upside down in an instant.

A massive splash crashed against the edge of the pool. A dark shadow suddenly loomed before his eyes.

By the time Lu Yunwan realized what was happening, his body had already been dragged into the freezing, bone-chilling water by Chu Xuanzhou.

Damn it! Lu Yunwan remembered.

One of the basic facts of the interstellar era: the awakening of merfolk bloodlines was not a pleasant process. They would instinctively seek help from surrounding creatures.

One manifestation of that plea for help was clinging tightly to whoever was nearby.

Being clung to by the protagonist was not the problem. The problem was that he was underwater right now!

This self-destructive behavior certainly fits the persona of a madman, but what if he actually died here?

While Lu Yunwan’s thoughts spiraled wildly, the merman had already locked him tightly in his arms.

The strength was immense, as if he meant to embed him into his very bones.

The nutrition tank was constantly maintained at minus ten degrees. The moment he plunged into the water, the omnipresent icy liquid stabbed at his human body like countless needles.

Lu Yunwan began trembling uncontrollably. His hands, already completely powerless, could not even grasp Chu Xuanzhou’s arm.

He had been dragged into the territory of a cold-blooded creature.

The laboratory’s cold light filtered through the liquid and scattered across the bottom of the pool. Chu Xuanzhou saw that the coat had been swept open by the shifting water. Having rushed to the laboratory in the middle of the night, Lu Yunwan was dressed in black silk sleepwear, the gentle fabric lifted and buoyed by the water.

He was like a drop of ink falling into water, as though he would dissolve the very next second.

Downward.

Downward.

Chu Xuanzhou held him and sank toward the bottom of the pool, acting on pure impulse.

At this moment, he was conscious.

He knew that humans could not live underwater, nor endure extreme cold.

Yet he could not overcome his instincts. He depended on Lu Yunwan, dragging him down together into the depths.

Water surged into Lu Yunwan’s nose and mouth, forcing its way into his body. The air in his lungs was mercilessly expelled.

Lu Yunwan’s mind grew hazy.

He wanted to close his eyes and simply sink to the bottom.

But at the very instant they reached the depths together, a powerful will to survive, along with the surge of strength that came when a creature neared death, forced Lu Yunwan to open his eyes.

To hell with it!

He hooked his arms around Chu Xuanzhou’s neck and smiled at him.

In the next second, Lu Yunwan used all his strength to kick against the bottom of the pool, borrowing the momentum to press his lips against the merman’s icy lips.

There was oxygen there that he needed.

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  “我死后哪管洪水滔天。” This idiom means: “After I’m gone, I don’t care what disasters may come.” It originates from a French expression famously attributed to Louis XV’s mistress (“Après moi, le déluge”). In Chinese, it expresses reckless disregard for consequences as long as one personally avoids harm. It implies: “Let chaos come after me. It won’t matter because I won’t be around to face it.”