Chapter 66: The child likes to dawdle, like a puppy acting like a spoiled child...
The mermaid politely declined the invitation to go to the bathroom.
He patiently explained that it was not because he didn't want to, but because of hygiene considerations. The bacteria floating in the air might make people sick.
Bai Ling taunted, "I've never seen you be so particular before."
The mermaid raised her hand and asked the waiter for a cup of black tea. She turned her head and asked softly, "When was it before?"
Bai Ling originally wanted to say, in the previous life, I dragged you to fool around in that shabby rental house full of mold.
But he glanced at the other party and was not sure whether the mermaid knew about his rebirth. After all, he had known Mr. D since he was fifteen, and had signed a guardianship agreement when he was seventeen. At this age, they were no longer strangers to each other.
As his former guardian, it sounds quite reasonable that the merman would feel guilty for him.
Bai Ling thought it over again and again and decided not to bring up the matter of rebirth for the time being.
He himself didn't understand the reason yet, and he was afraid that it was just a pipe dream. Once it was exposed, the mermaid would turn into a bubble and disappear along with the world.
He can't afford such heavy consequences.
Regardless of whether it was real or a dream just before death, Bai Ling decided to settle down and set sail again.
Bai Ling thought about it and said casually, "Before... when you pressed me against the bathroom tiles and forced me to do an 'inspection'."
After saying that, he curled his lips, recalling the way Yu Chen pulled out his index finger and slowly licked the remaining liquid.
Dirty thing!
Yu Chen was unaware of it. He picked up the delicate little teacup and blew his breath, causing ripples on the crimson water surface. "So it was that time."
Bai Ling put his fist on the table: "That's right, you ate all the bacteria in your mouth."
The mermaid said in an elegant voice: "It's okay. You've eaten a lot of my bacteria."
Eating bacteria... Bai Ling's heart trembled. The other party wouldn't know that he had swallowed his things, right?
He rolled his Adam's apple and denied it expressionlessly: "That's not the case."
The mermaid held the small silver spoon between her long fingers, stirred the tea, and took a sip, as if tasting some delicacy:
"But I can eat fresh bird's nest every day."
Bird’s nest?
Bai Ling was confused. Bird's nest is the saliva of the swiftlet, that is, bird's saliva. Bird... saliva...
His face suddenly turned red and his heart beat fast, remembering the rumors he had heard before. It is said that spouses who live together for a long time will become more and more alike. This is because frequent kissing leads to the exchange of bacterial communities, which has a convergent effect on the personalities and behavioral habits of both parties.
Bai Ling didn't know what was wrong with his brain, and blurted out, "Is it delicious?"
Yu Chen tilted his head slightly, his deep green eyes reflecting a faint light, and he said softly: "It tastes very good."
Looking at the bird again, it had buried its hot face so deeply that the tips of the hair on its forehead were about to fall into the black tea.
After paying the bill, the boss gave me a handful of mint almond candies with a smile.
Yu Chen changed hands and put the candy into the bird's pocket, but unexpectedly, he touched something thin. The bird's body trembled slightly, and it looked at the ceiling as if nothing had happened, trying to hide its guilty conscience.
Yu Chen smiled helplessly and said to the boss, "I just passed by the corridor and saw a photo of me. Would you mind selling it to me?"
The boss said enthusiastically, "Those were taken by my grandfather and uncle for fun when they were running the store. Many regular customers have received photos since then. Which one do you want? I'll take it down and give it to you."
Yu Chen pinched the photo with two fingers and took it out from Bai Ling's pocket.
The boss leaned over from behind the counter and tilted his head to look at it: "This one...it only shows the side view. Are you sure you want it?"
“Yeah, the kids like it.”
As soon as Yu Chen finished speaking, he felt slender fingers poking into his palm, rubbing against it like a puppy acting coquettishly.
He suddenly closed his palms and caught the finger like a bird in a cage.
Bai Ling was startled, his shoulders trembled suddenly, he looked back and mouthed to him sullenly:
Let go of the children...
Yu Chen looked nonchalant, but his hands clenched even tighter.
"But in our store, there are conditions for getting the photo," the boss smiled and bent down, opened the counter and took out an old camera, "You have to take another photo to make up for it."
Ten minutes later, they were walking on the wet cobblestones.
Bai Ling touched his pocket and found two films placed close to his body. The reason there were two photos was because the mermaid bought a copy of the new photo from the boss and gave them to him as well.
Both Lao Yi and Xiao Yi are yours.
The mermaid said so gently.
Bai Ling repeated this sentence several times in his mind, and his chest felt warm. A gust of cold wind blew over, ruffling his eyelashes. The mermaid's black cashmere coat opened, covering him at once and pulling him into her hot bosom.
Ah... so comfortable.
Bai Ling hunched his shoulders, with his cheek pressed against the other's collar, really like a fledgling bird suffering from wind and rain, hiding in the wings of its parent bird and falling into its gloomy embrace.
The real power is not desire, but control.
He treats you like a child, not because he looks down on you, but because he has the ability to do so.
Bai Ling found it hard to resist such indulgence.
People knew nothing about Isupareso, and Bai Ling knew nothing about it either. But as he spent day after day with this man, he discovered that he seemed to be just like him, a person full of contradictions.
No one could have imagined that Isu Paraiso would appear in a barbecued pork chop restaurant in a civilian area.
It’s not that it’s impossible, it’s just... this really doesn’t fit in with the old emperor’s iron-blooded and majestic image.
Yu Chen noticed his surprise and said calmly, "You seem to have some minor problems."
"No... I just didn't expect that you would come to a place like this to eat." And we became a regular customer.
The cold wind stopped, and Yu Chen naturally reached out his hand and adjusted Bai Ling's scarf, making sure his ears were covered inside so that they would not be frozen.
“I used to come here often.”
Bai Ling's pupils slightly opened, knowing that the "before" he was talking about was when the old empire still existed.
"I walked along this street to see if there were any fewer customers in the stores and if people could still afford to eat meat. I think you should know that the Empire imports tens of thousands of ships of fresh meat from the Federation every year. I have to make sure that the price I negotiated at the Interstellar Alliance hearing is not much different from what is sold in the market."
Bai Ling took his arm and walked up the slope together, "What if the difference is big?"
Yu Chen whispered: "If the difference is too big, it means that there are rats and termites in my regime. Next, I have to work hard to find these people as soon as possible and decide on the backup candidates within a day. At the beginning, I did it smoothly, but after a long time, they learned to hide."
The powerful people in the ruling class do not welcome a strict monarch.
This is the same in every dynasty.
When the powerful realized that as long as Isuparezo lived, money-grabbing and abuse of power would be severely punished. They will secretly unite and form a powerful force, stand against the monarch, oppose him, isolate him, and obstruct him in everything.
Therefore, in comparison, the powerful prefer monarchs like the tyrant Cade, and are very happy to get along well with the tyrant and mingle with him.
Just like Gram.
The swordfish Gram dared to act so recklessly and semi-publicly "select a concubine" in the legion, not only because he was a childhood friend of the tyrant, but also because his family background was unshakable -
Duke of Swordfish. The governor of the underwater super-city "Poseidon" in name only and the true master.
When Bai Ling was a child, he had roughly learned the history of the Mermaid Dynasty in textbooks.
Throughout the entire 400-year period of the Mermaid Dynasty, in 273 BC, the relationship between the monarch and the powerful was in a delicate balance. It can be said that each of them performed their duties, or that they did not interfere with each other.
From a geographical perspective, it is difficult for the Mermaid Dynasty to form a unified centralized power.
There are a total of twenty-six planets in the territory. Except for the capital planet, most of the planets are barren and harsh, and require the lord to take the lead in reclamation and layout of infrastructure. In this way, the local lords will inevitably form a deep-rooted power, and with the addition of titles and rewards, they will gradually become powerful people who guard one side.
This situation is very similar to the power structure of European countries in the Middle Ages on ancient Earth.
It is a country within a country, with dukes and earls each having their own fiefdom and great autonomy. They paid taxes on a daily basis, supported the monarch in times of war, and methodically devoured the country at a sustainable rate.
When Yu Chen took over, he glanced at the treasury bill - a negative number.
Look at the dukes standing under the throne, each of them is as rich as a country.
The old dukes gave a polite yet contemptuous smile to the young mermaid who had just ascended the throne. That's very explicit.
Little mermaid, your grandparents can't do anything to us. If you'd better be sensible and lie down as soon as possible, we can still give you some face and let you continue to sit on the throne.
Yu Chen knew that under the current situation, the Mermaid Dynasty would collapse financially within twenty years, the central government would declare bankruptcy, and the entire country would fall into chaos.
What he took over was a complete mess.
As a monarch with a wealthy family, he could have easily protected himself, fled overseas with the royal assets, and lived a luxurious and wealthy life.
But Yu Chen insisted on revitalizing this stagnant pool.
Thus, "gloomy" disappeared from everyone's sight, and was replaced by the invisible, silent and omnipresent Iso Paraiso. In just fifty years, he forcibly promoted the centralization of monarchy, suppressed the vassal kings and lords on the planet, and firmly grasped the throats through which those rats and termites breathed.
From then on, he worked hard day and night and did not dare to rest for a single day. Because if he is not careful, this country, this big ship, may capsize in his hands.
He wants to use everyone, but he can't fully trust anyone.
It sounds absurd and does not fit people's fantasy conception of the profession of interstellar emperor. But if you peel off the miraculous prosperity of the old empire that seemed to have resurrected from the dead for more than a hundred years, you will find inside it cruel reality, endless corruption, and the blood of Isupareso.
Bai Ling was silent for a long time after listening to this, and then asked quietly: "Why do you insist on doing this?"
He probably guessed the answer, it should be for ideals, the cause of his ancestors, or the sense of responsibility to save the people.
But Yu Chen smiled softly, and said in a calm tone as if the past was like smoke: "Because I am an extremely conceited person."
"When I first ascended the throne, some people secretly predicted that I would become the king who would lose my country."
He exhaled slowly, his tone becoming slightly lighter: "The last emperor, the king of a fallen nation, what an ugly title, I don't want it."
Bai Ling stared at him blankly, as if through these slightly willful words, he saw the young and spirited mermaid from a century ago.
Xiao Yi, Xiao Yi... didn't want to be the last emperor, but in the end, his country was destroyed due to exhaustion.
Once so powerful, but when faced with the torrent of fate, he was defeated.
Bai Ling's breathing was unstable. He took a step forward, and grasped the mermaid's clothes with his bony knuckles, his fingers turning white with force. He raised his chin and stared at Yu Chen closely, with an excited and unclear light flashing in his eyes:
"You are not the king of a fallen nation."
"With me here, you will become the master of revival."
Yu Chen looked at the falcon with sharp claws and teeth but sincere and brave, sighed softly, leaned down and embraced the other's body that was trembling with excitement, and said solemnly in a voice like the low hum of an organ:
"It's not me, it's us."
The cobblestone road, which has been polished smooth by the footsteps of people over the years, reflected shadows after the rain. A gust of cold wind blew past, lifting a corner of the scarf high and blowing away the golden hair.
The empire ruled by Isupareso was once known as the "Golden Age".
On the scarf, the white feathers stood firm in the wind.
Yu Chen thought unconsciously, perhaps, this corrupt and hopeless country will usher in a new era——
Silver Age.
·
As night fell, a cold, silvery moon rose. It is shaped like a sickle, hanging low in the dark blue night sky, as if the god of death had cut a hole in the sky and was gazing at the continent through it.
In the unlit cockpit, the Army Air Force was also looking down at the earth.
In fact, anyone who can drive a mecha to the edge of the atmosphere will find it difficult to resist the temptation to overlook the country. Especially after nightfall, the lights of thousands of homes are bright and dazzling, like a pool of golden water poured into a plate in the dark. The lights move, outlining the shape of the continent bit by bit.
It's like a leaf.
Full, finely serrated leaves.
If you zoom in, you will see that those regular teeth are actually densely packed ports. Take a submarine and you can instantly dive to 600 meters below the sea, safely and calmly pass through the sea storm belt and reach the back of the planet.
The hometown of the ocean tribe, the underwater super city "Poseidon".
Lu Hang just came back from there.
The day before yesterday, after a large-scale search by the secret police, the body of Major General Gram was finally found.
Although they are called "remains", in fact only a few pieces of skull are left. The black market doctors were stubborn and no one was willing to reveal where the remaining organs and viscera had gone.
However, Lu Hang also knew that those young and fresh organs must have flowed back to the upper class and were put into the stomach of some fat old aristocrat who needed a kidney transplant.
After all, these days, the only people who can come up with a large sum of money are that group of people.
Major General Gram, the "man-eating" man, was eventually eaten by his own kind.
Faced with such a result, Lu Hang neither sighed nor sympathized, but felt troubled instead.
Because their monarch had a sudden whim and insisted on holding the funeral at the vice-state level. Unfortunately, Lu Hang's team was selected to become a part of the honor guard, and they transported the coffin to Gram's hometown with music and dance all the way.
After returning, the deputy captain was still humming with great interest:
"When the suona sounds, parents raise us in vain; when the bow of the boat tilts, Satan smiles. Our Gram Shao, go to that hell, bend down, bend your knees, and get kicked down by that old man - ah! Who hit my head?"
The deputy captain covered the back of his head with his hands, looking ferocious as he prepared to settle the score. When he turned around and saw that it was Lu Hang, he immediately fell silent.
Lu Hang looked serious. He pointed at the streetlight above his head and mouthed: "There are surveillance cameras up there."
The deputy captain was unhappy: "We've already eaten the banquet dishes, why not make up a catchy rhyme?"
Lu Hang smiled bitterly and said, "That also depends on who pays your salary."
The deputy captain muttered quietly: "If I change my employer one day, I will definitely tie a loud speaker to the satellite and sing every day.
There are still many victims of Gram in the legion. In addition to those who were persecuted because of their beauty, there are also unlucky guys like the deputy captain who came from a humble family and were maliciously demoted simply because he did not want to go along with Gram.
Therefore, the deputy captain had good reasons to hate Ge Lan.
Lu Hang was a cautious person. He patted his teammate on the shoulder and reminded him, "Don't say these things outside in the future."
As for the reason, they all understood.
Deducting wages is a small matter, but losing your head is a big matter.
The flight back from the bottom of the sea was a long journey, and the group of young boys who had just reached adulthood were already starving, and they clamored for Lu Hang to treat them to a meal.
Lu Hang's family was wealthy, so he didn't care about that little bit of money, and agreed with a smile.
The deputy captain complained: "You are too indulgent to them."
Lu Hang paused, which was unusual for him. “I didn’t indulge people like this before. Someone asked me to treat them, but I refused.”
"Then what?"
“And then, he didn’t fly back.”
Crashed? The deputy captain was stunned and wanted to ask something, but Lu Hang waved his hand and refused to say more.
The alpha with a 98% mental stability rate actually has a sad past...
The deputy captain glanced at Lu Hang, and the other man looked normal again. He stroked his chin and thought:
It doesn't cause stress. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing?
The team members have been stationed on a desolate alien planet for a long time. It is not easy for them to return to the capital planet and rest for half a day. They insist on trying the local specialties.
They set their sights on a barbecued pork rib restaurant that was rated as one of the top ten best restaurants in the city.
Lu Hang parked the mecha and took a group of noisy, looking-around little alphas with him. Suddenly, he had the illusion that a primary school teacher was taking the kids on a spring outing.
The terrain in this area is undulating, and many streets and alleys require going up and down hills. Turning into a slightly dark alley, a dozen young and old guys were walking shoulder to shoulder in it, which immediately narrowed the road.
Lu Hang was walking at the end, and he had just taken two steps forward when the people in front stopped moving.
Lu Hang stretched his head and asked, "Why don't you leave?"
Although the alpha in front was tall, he looked uneasy when he turned back, like a mouse seeing a cat, with a sad face:
"Captain Lu, I don't dare to go forward. I'm scared."
The deputy captain stepped out from the middle and started to curse: "What are you afraid of? What is there to be afraid of? Is there a ghost ahead?"
Alpha shrank back, stuttering, "There is a terrible smell."
Due to the nature of male animals, alphas have subtle reconnaissance radars for each other and can sense each other's breath from a long distance.
To make an analogy, it is like a Husky and a German Shepherd taking a walk in a neighborhood. They can show their teeth to each other in advance even if they are fifty meters apart.
Deputy Captain: "You brag about being a super S-class soldier everyday, but now you're scared when you're just taking a walk on the street. This is a civilian area, not a wild planet. What kind of monsters are you going to run into? Are you going to leave or not? If not, I'll kick your ass—"
The words stopped abruptly, stuck in his throat.
The deputy captain felt the breath instantly, as if his genetic natural enemy had appeared and the desire for survival in his DNA was activated. He stood there frozen with horror on his face, not daring to move a single hair.
He was still lucky. Those alphas with low mental stability had their legs shaking and had to hold on to the wall to avoid falling down in disgrace.
"Excuse me." A low-temperature, mellow voice.
To Bai Ling it sounded gentle and polite, but to this group of noisy young alphas it sounded absolutely threatening.
They were in the way.
Suddenly, everyone jumped around like zombies and stood in a row against the wall to make a wide enough path.
When the other party passed by, they felt itchy and wanted to secretly take a look at the face of the alpha with a terrifying aura. But as soon as the eyes made contact, the brain began to sound distracting white noise.
They secretly exclaimed, this is a high-dimensional mental attack type boss with a built-in shielding device! I suddenly felt panic and fear, fearing that the other party would be unhappy and my brain would explode.
And judging from the posture, there was a young man wearing a scarf being escorted on the other side. He must be a guardian protecting his child...
Everyone looked away and looked elsewhere. At this moment, they heard Lu Hang's hesitant voice:
"Are you... [Shop for Rent]?"
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