Qiao You looked at Helian Jue seriously, and after a long silence, said word by word, "I can not go, but my brother must be safe."

"Little Fish only has her brother now."

Qiao You's voice grew softer and softer, especially the last sentence, which sounded like a gentle murmur. Helian Jue understood why Xiaoyu always emphasized that Xiaoyu only had her brother...

A carefree and happy little fish suddenly suffers an accident, losing her father, mother, and clansmen. She is forced to come to a strange place and must always keep her identity a secret, because if others discover her identity as a mermaid, she will surely face death.

Helian Jue suddenly remembered that Prince Weiss was also there the day he went to the Spirit Pet Pavilion to pick up Xiaoyu. What if... what if Xiaoyu chose this person that day...

Not daring to think about it further, Helian Jue quickly pulled his wandering thoughts back and silently recited in his heart: Little Fish can only be mine.

"Brother will always be with Xiaoyu," Helian Jue promised.

He and Xiaoyu only have each other left.

The two stayed quietly in the ship's cabin for a while before Helian Jue prepared to take Xiaoyu back to the lounge.

"Let's go back." Helian Jue extended his hand to Qiao You.

Qiao You, supporting himself with Helian Jue's hand, tried to stand up. Whether it was because he had been sitting for too long or because he hadn't transformed into human form in a long time, his legs gave way. If Helian Jue hadn't caught him in time, he might have fallen.

"What's wrong?" Helian Jue asked with concern.

Feeling ashamed of himself, Qiao You mumbled, "My legs are numb."

Helian Jue couldn't help but laugh out loud, picked Qiao You up horizontally, and teased, "Is my little fish tired?"

Qiao You wrapped her arms around Helian Jue's neck, humming and whimpering to assert her presence. After a minute, she couldn't help but ask, "Brother, am I heavy?"

Helian Jue went from holding the person with both arms to holding them with one arm. "They're not heavy. If you give me three more little fish, I can hold them all."

Qiao You was displeased, staring at Helian Jue with her big eyes, "Brother, do you want any other little fish?"

"Brother only needs to raise this little fish in his arms." Helian Jue looked at the delicate features in front of him, trying to restrain himself, but still gently kissed the strands of hair on her forehead.

Because of Helian Jue's affectionate gesture, Qiao You was happy again. He generously stopped focusing on the mistakes in Helian Jue's words and leaned closer to Helian Jue. It was so nice that his brother was willing to be his legs!

Back in the lounge, Qiao You sat barefoot on the edge of the bed and found an old-fashioned object—a military sand table—which he played with with great interest.

Helian Jue, like a concerned old father, took a pair of clean socks from the side and helped him put them on. "Brother has something to take care of. Wait for me in the lounge."

Qiao You let Helian Jue manipulate the sand table, focusing intently on doing so. "Good!"

Little Fish had something to play with right now, so she wasn't too bothered by her brother's departure, especially since she had just snuggled up with him.

As Helian Jue left, he patted Qiao You's head and said, "Be a good boy."

Qiao You didn't even look up, just nodded twice, clutching the planet model in his hand, wondering where to put it.

Helian Jue had already reached the door when he still looked back, but Qiao You didn't notice him at all. He said in a doting tone, "You little ingrate."

The door to the lounge opened, and Helian Jue strode out. The moment he stepped out of the room, his expression instantly changed, transforming into that of a cold, arrogant, and powerful Crown Prince of the Empire.

Qiao You started by sitting cross-legged, then moved to lying down, and finally moved to the bed to play, soon filling the bed with playthings.

More than two hours later, Qiao You was lying face down, which caused his hands and legs to go numb. At this moment, he remembered Helian Jue and said, "Brother, rub them for me."

Qiao You called out to Helian Jue, but there was no response. He called out again, "Brother?"

Only then did Qiao You realize that he was the only one in the lounge. He said, "Brother is busy."

Qiao You's happy mood instantly plummeted. The sand table game he had been so engrossed in had lost its appeal, and he began to feel disappointed again.

Being in the universe, one cannot feel the passage of time at all; one can only know how much time has passed by looking at the time on the quantum computer.

"well!"

This was Qiao You's 32nd sigh. When he was a little fish, he could play with his tail for a long time, but now he couldn't play with his legs!

Qiao You lay flat on the edge of the bed like a salted fish. In the middle of the bed were the things he had just finished playing with. He had to work hard to make room for them.

The signal on the computer is bad, so I can't call Su Xia. I can only play some games.

But Qiao You had no patience for these kinds of games and didn't like playing them. After thinking about it, he finally came up with a way to pass the time.

Qiao You slid off the bed, leaning against the edge. With a thought, her straight, fair legs transformed into a silver-blue fishtail, exactly like the little mermaid's, only enlarged.

Beneath the silver-blue fishtail, there were tattered pieces of fabric... oh well, I forgot he was wearing his brother's pants...

Qiao You bent down and hugged the tail, beginning to examine the scales on its tail carefully.

A somewhat soft scale was found at the tip of the tail, unlike the other hard scales.

"Hmm." Qiao You counted the time on his fingers. If he wasn't mistaken, he should have about a month and a half left before he turned 18.

However, the age of adulthood for mermaids is not calculated entirely by time, but rather by the shedding of the first scale on their tail.

Qiao You patted the softened scale and muttered, "It must be you."

His mother had instructed him to carefully collect the shed scales.

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