While Qi Hanyi was thinking hard about how to end this ridiculous marriage, Su Su still ate and slept comfortably every day.

There is still a week left before the next time he needs to take the mermaid medicine, and Su Su counts the dates carefully every day.

Next time, next time I will be able to successfully transform into a human being!

Although he was happy to have enough fish to eat and to be able to browse online forums, Su Su still wanted to have a chance to see the real human world.

After all, I'm here.

On the fifth day after Qi Hanyi arrived home, he received news from his subordinates that Qi Xingli had returned to the main house.

Qi Hanyi immediately set off for the main house, ready to talk to her grandfather again about not marrying a mermaid.

When he arrived at the main residence, Qi Xingli had already changed into home clothes and was sitting in the tea room talking with several visiting officials.

Qi Xingli is nearly seventy years old, but he looks heroic, intimidating even without being angry, and he is well-maintained. If you ignore his half-gray hair, some people would believe that he is in his forties.

He had the usual tall stature of the Qi family, and his eyes were fierce and sharp like an eagle. The officials who came to visit him all unconsciously put on an attitude of respect and obedience in front of him.

"Master." Qi Hanyi stopped at the door.

Qi Xingli glanced at Qi Hanyi without any surprise: "Here she comes."

But he just greeted him and seemed to have no intention of entertaining his grandson and future heir.

Qi Hanyi's official position was too high, so the officials who were originally sitting and drinking tea stood up one after another to greet him.

"General Qi."

"Yeah." Qi Hanyi responded simply. He could never learn the hypocrisy and flattery among civil servants.

Qi Xingli didn't greet him, so he just stood quietly at the door waiting, his eyes that could freeze a person scanning the people in the room, like a large air-conditioning storage, making people shiver for no reason.

Soon, the officials in the room could no longer hold back. They didn't know what the conflict between the grandfather and grandson was about, but they understood that when King Yan fought, the little devils suffered. They couldn't afford to offend anyone on both sides, so they all found excuses and left.

The tea room became empty, with only Qi Xingli sitting alone on the main seat, silently confronting Qi Xingli who was standing outside the door.

Qi Xingli picked up the teacup and drank slowly. Qi Hanyi stood outside the house, waiting motionlessly.

Qi Xingli glanced at him with his peripheral vision. Qi Xingli was dressed very neatly as usual, standing straight, like a sword in its sheath, waiting for the moment to strike.

Yes, this is the look of his most satisfied heir. Unfortunately...

Qi Xingli finally spoke: "Why, do you want to cancel the engagement?"

"Yes. I won't marry a mermaid." Qi Hanyi said bluntly.

Qi Xingli put the teacup back on the table and said, "Why? The princess of the Mermaid Kingdom is not pretty enough. You are not satisfied with her."

"No. I just don't like mermaids." Qi Hanyi said.

"If you don't like it, just kill it." Qi Xingli deliberately misinterpreted his words: "Ask the Mermaid Kingdom to send another one tomorrow, as many as you want, until you are satisfied."

Qi Hanyi heard the threat in Qi Xingli's words and pursed her lips: "You know very well that this is not what I meant. I don't like mermaids as a race, and I don't want to marry them. No matter how many mermaids there are, I will never be satisfied."

Qi Xingli snorted coldly and said in a deep voice: "But this is what I mean."

The murderous intent in his words was almost undisguised, as if he meant that if Qi Hanyi refused to marry him, he could kill all eligible mermen in the Mermaid Kingdom.

Seeing Qi Hanyi remained silent, Qi Xingli said, "I know you have resentment in your heart. It doesn't matter, you can vent your resentment. As for the mermaids, you can kill them as many as you want, until you no longer hate them and are willing to marry them."

Qi Xingli slammed the table vigorously and said, "But I only have one heir."

Qi Hanyi's eyes moved slightly. He could hear the determination of his grandfather. He was threatening him, but if he insisted on not marrying the mermaid, these threats might become reality.

Mermaids are important to humans, but not that important. As long as they are not killed to extinction, new mermaids will grow up soon. As the Minister of Defense of the Empire and a general who has fought for many years, Qi Xingli does not care much about human lives, let alone the lives of mermaids.

"You are threatening me." Qi Hanyi said, "But I hate mermaids. Whether they live or die has nothing to do with me. I don't care. I will not marry a mermaid. This is my answer and I will not change it."

"Okay, let's start with the one in your house." Qi Xingli raised his hand and called over several Qi family guards: "Go, bring the mermaid princess here. I want to ask her how she made our General Qi so unhappy."

When Qi Xingli said this, a silver-white little shark with bared teeth flashed before Qi Hanyi's eyes.

That mermaid, as the first marriage partner, was an imposter. If he was discovered by the grandfather, he would surely die.

"Wait!" Qi Hanyi said as the guard walked out of the door, "He didn't make me unhappy."

"Is that so? Since there is no unhappiness, just get along well with each other. Don't make a fuss about breaking off the engagement right away. I have always praised you for being stable, but how come you become like an impulsive and naive child now that you are older?" Qi Xingli dragged out his voice, as if waiting for Qi Hanyi's statement.

"Yes." After a long time, Qi Hanyi closed his eyes.

After Qi Hanyi left, the old housekeeper refilled Qi Xingli's pot with new tea and asked curiously, "Master, how do you know that the young master will definitely compromise with this arrangement?"

"I'm not 100% sure. But he wants to break off the engagement, and since he can't find anyone here, he naturally has to go back and meet the mermaid."

"Since he wants to break off the engagement, he will naturally promise the other party some conditions. Han Yi values ​​his promises, and he has had a hard life since he was a child, so he is especially likely to remember the kindness of others. If the mermaid princess is willing to help him, he will not watch me kill someone."

The old butler complimented: "You are still amazing."

Qi Xingli looked at Qi Hanyi's departing back and sighed. There was no happiness on his face. "What's so great about that? If I really had a way, I wouldn't force him like this."

Qi Hanyi had a nightmare that night.

As usual, the dream began with the woman sitting at the bow, screaming like a madman: "I hate you! I hate you! Die, let's die together..."

Then he was dragged and fell into the freezing cold sea water.

The water was overwhelming him, and he was being dragged down, sinking. He couldn't escape, couldn't break free.

At first, I just felt cold and dark, and then there was a burning pain in my lungs as the oxygen ran out.

The suffocating feeling returned. My consciousness began to blur.

"Bululu——" A large string of bubbles appeared in his vision, and the silhouette of a silver-white shark overlapped with the one in his memory. The shark was much larger than in his memory, and rushed towards him with its mouth wide open.

Are you going to be eaten? This is a good way to get rid of it.

Qi Hanyi closed his eyes.

But--

He began to ascend, his collar caught. The shark actually saved him.

"Ha!" Qi Hanyi opened his eyes and took a deep breath. Oxygen rushed into his nose and he came back to life. His vision was restored, and the beach, reefs, and sharks disappeared without a trace.

He lay on his bed at home, his heart beating fast and his body still numb from suffocation.

He got up from the bed and opened the blackout curtains in front of the French window. The moonlight was bright, just like the night he woke up on the reef.

Qi Hanyi opened the window. The late summer evening breeze was already a little chilly, but Qi Hanyi seemed not to feel it. He was only wearing a single piece of clothing and standing barefoot in front of the window.

He lit a cigarette.

If someone who knows him sees him, he might be a little surprised. After all, in the eyes of others, Qi Hanyi is a robot who doesn't smoke or drink and only cares about work.

But Qi Hanyi actually smokes, and he has been doing so for many years.

He doesn't have a smoking habit and doesn't smoke in front of others.

This thing is not good and will harm the body. He knows it.

Qi Hanyi takes good care of his health. He is the heir of the Qi family that his grandfather expects him to be, and he has the obligation to take good care of his health.

Only sometimes, when I’m awakened by a nightmare during the night shift and don’t want to go back to the suffocating dream, I’ll use the pungent smell of a cigarette to confirm that I’ve returned to reality, as I’m doing now.

That was his memory, which, after being broken down by time, had long been reduced to blurry fragments that reappeared in his dreams over and over again.

The shark at the end was different from what he remembered. The shark in his memory was a little smaller than that one. It was only about one meter long and was struggling to drag itself through the water.

Qi Hanyi still remembers how hard it tried to save him, how it repeatedly tried to push him onto the rocks, and how it tried to survive. Thanks to it, Qi Hanyi regained his faith to live.

Qi Hanyi was not surprised that the negotiations with his grandfather during the day had failed.

But he didn't intend to give up.

The compromise in front of the grandfather was just a delaying tactic to make the grandfather believe that he had given up on sending the mermaid away. In fact, he planned to send someone to secretly send Su Su back to the sea tomorrow morning. After that, he could just say that he had not yet split up and was not in a good position to come out and see people, which should delay the matter for a while.

After that, it depends on Xiang Chen's research speed on mental recovery treatment. He will use his authority to provide the other party with financial and human resources. As long as the research results are completed, he can talk to Grandpa again.

The communicator lights up.

It was Qi Hanyi's adjutant Jian Cheng who called.

His tone was somewhat excited, and his speech speed unconsciously became faster: "Sir, there is a new clue about the leak of Zerg intelligence."

Qi Hanyi put out his cigarette, collected his thoughts, and returned to his usual calm and capable demeanor: "Go ahead."

"We tracked down those Zerg disguised as humans and found that they were able to pass the regular identity checks of the space station because the Defense Agency tampered with the data of the three people during the review."

"Following this clue, we investigated the people in the Defense Bureau's Audit Department. There was an audit specialist named Chongzhou who had a hidden account with A-level authority. Every two months, a large amount of money from Liberty Island would be deposited into his account. We suspect it may be related to this incident."

"A-level authority." Qi Hanyi repeated word by word. This is the authority that only high-ranking officials have. An audit specialist can only get C-level authority at most.

If the authority is granted by someone else, then the granter must have S-level authority.

There are no more than one hundred S-level authority holders in the empire, all of whom are prominent nobles and important figures in charge of one side of the empire.

And now, there may be a traitor hiding here who is in collusion with the Zerg.

No wonder it had not been discovered before. Generally speaking, the investigation authority for such incidents would only be given A-level. If I hadn't been worried and specially granted Jiancheng S-level investigation authority to conduct a secret investigation, I would not have been able to discover this clue.

"Keep an eye on this account first, don't make any surprises." Qi Hanyi knocked on the French window with his knuckles. "Since they have S-level authority, their purpose is not just to steal intelligence. They must have other plans."

"Yes!" the adjutant replied, and then said angrily: "These people are so short-sighted that they actually betrayed their own planet for the sake of temporary benefits!"

"Is this just a family matter? If the Zerg really succeeds in invading, all humans, no, all creatures on the planet will suffer. No matter who they are, do you think you can escape?"

"It's not that they don't know, they just don't care." Qi Hanyi said indifferently. He had seen how crazy people could act when twisted by hatred, so he was not surprised that something like this would happen.

"Also," Qi Hanyi added, "Send someone to Freedom Island to check on Chongzhou and see if he has been to Freedom Island before. You should do this yourself and keep it secret so that no one can find out."

"Yes." The adjutant continued, "Sir, there is one more thing. It's a coincidence. When we were investigating Liberty Island, we found that someone else had recently looked up these materials, so I took the opportunity to find out. It turned out to be the head of the family's people. They were looking into the marriage, and it seems that the two guys who attacked the Qi family guards and pretended to be them to pick up the bride were also from Liberty Island."

It's quite a coincidence.

But Qi Hanyi doesn't believe in coincidences.

Qi Hanyi wondered if the two events were related. Otherwise, why was the timing so perfect, when the marriage was in trouble, he left here because of an emergency mission.

Su Su said that the other party was planning to take off his clothes. Does this mean that the other party also planned to disguise as a mermaid and sneak into his house? He was away for quite a while, and if a spy really sneaked into his house, he could do a lot of things.

If you think in this way, the appearance of Su Su may be a key step to disrupt the other party's plan. He may be able to use the other party's trick to keep Su Su by his side and wait for the other party's next plan.

However, he had already promised Su Su that he would send him away when he found the chance. Now he asked him to stay and cooperate with his investigation. Would he be willing?