Xie Sen and his four companions walked into the Youhai lobby and were heading towards the elevator when Ximai and four armed security guards stopped them and asked them to cooperate with the investigation on suspicion of theft.
The four of them had been prepared and were very cooperative, allowing Ximai to take him away.
Xie Sen originally thought that they would go to the local police station or something like that, but unexpectedly, Ximai took them directly to a lobby on the 87th floor.
The hall was very large. On the right side was a set of white leather sofas. Sitting on them was a man in a blue shirt. He was very handsome, with blue hair and eyelashes. Xie Sen was stunned for a moment, wondering, was this made-up or natural?
His gaze was too obvious. Lanny raised his eyes and looked at him indifferently. Xie Sen subconsciously smiled to express his friendliness. This man must be a high-ranking official in Youhai.
"Prince." Ximai bowed to Lanny.
Lanny waved his hand casually, signaling him to leave.
Ximai's face was tense and he stood there without moving. In his opinion, these four people were weird and their strength was unfathomable. It was too dangerous for Lanny to meet them alone.
Lanny glanced at him and said, "Get out."
Ximai had no choice but to leave the hall and wait outside the door.
"Please sit down." Lanny glanced at Xie Sen and the other three and said lightly.
Xie Sen and the other three looked at each other. Lanny's attitude was too friendly and too calm, which made them more alert. The four sat down opposite Lanny and waited for him to speak.
Lanny looked at them one by one, pointing out their identities each time he looked at them: "The Long family, the Bai family, the only plant-type beast master, the flying lion beast master who severed ties with the family, everyone from Brandt Star, you stole the treasures of Youhai, are you provoking me?"
Xie Sen blinked his eyes and said innocently: "Stealing? There may be a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Lanny snorted. "Do you think Youhai can't find evidence and can't do anything to you? Let's not talk about evidence. As long as you don't throw away the stolen things, if you are found to have lost items in Youhai when you leave the country, according to the laws of Bruce Star, you can be thrown directly into the Sea of Death."
Xie Sen suddenly felt guilty. Xiaoyin was born on Bruce Star, so it might not want to leave. But it was different for the giant crocodile beast and the giant bear beast. They were captured and brought to Bruce Star, so they might choose to leave with them.
If you take them with you when you leave the country, Lanny will search them and find them every time.
Xie Sen remained calm: "Go ahead and search, we don't have anything from the Youhai."
Lanny stared at him, frowning slightly: "Don't tell me you stole things just to throw them away."
Of course not! There was no way to say this, so Xie Sen was silent for a moment.
Maine stared at Lanny: "What's your purpose?"
Since Lanny could think of searching them when they leave the country, he could have just kept quiet and waited for them to leave before taking action. However, he did not do that, but chose to sit in the hall with them. He must have had a purpose.
Lanny glanced at him, called up the picture the search team sent him, zoomed in on the screen and turned to them: "How did you escape?"
The photo was taken from a bird's-eye view. There was a blue whale as big as a hill next to a large reef in the sea. Apart from that, there was no one else. Lanny then switched to another photo. The blue whale had not yet approached the reef, and there were four small human figures on the reef.
Comparing the two photos, it seems that after the blue whale approached the reef, the four people on the rock were eaten.
Xie Sen didn't expect that the appearance of the blue whale would create such an illusion. He finally understood why the two aircraft withdrew. It turned out that they thought they were eaten by the blue whale.
"Wow! It looks even bigger now!" Long Teng's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but sigh.
Bai Jiao pinched his hand, not using much force, but enough to make him feel the pain. He immediately reacted, turned his head, smiled at Bai Jiao, and shut up.
Xie Sen probed: "Are you just trying to satisfy your curiosity? If I tell you how we escaped, will you stop doubting us?"
"Of course not," Lanny said, "I'm not doubting it, I'm sure it was you who stole it."
The four of them remained silent, determined not to admit it, as they had agreed on it on the way.
Lanny saw what Xie Sen and the others were planning. They were determined that You Hai would not admit it because he could not produce any evidence. He snorted and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Do you know how much loss You Hai will suffer because of this? Do you think I will suffer this loss?"
He operated the bracelet a few times, called up a document, and showed them the screen: "If you don't recognize what this is, I don't mind explaining it."
There was still a photo on the screen, but it was not a regular photo. The color was black and white, and the walls and the floor had turned a transparent black, but there was something else in the middle of the black. There were fingerprints on the wall and two rows of white footprints on the ground.
Xie Sen: There are such high-tech things?
He didn't know what technology was used to produce this kind of picture, but he knew at a glance that these traces were left by him and Maine on the 82nd floor.
He forced a smile: "Hahaha, this...we just heard that the security in Youhai is very strict, so we are just curious."
"Really?" Lanny raised his eyebrows. "Since we are just curious, shouldn't we return the item to its original owner?"
Xie Sen blinked his eyes and said in a negotiating tone: "Why don't you name a price? If the thing is not in our hands, we will let it go."
"Do you think I will believe this reason?"
Xie Sen said seriously, "On the Brant Planet, it is illegal to sell contracted beasts privately. Contracted beasts are our friends, and we don't want them to be bought or forced into a contract, so we took them away and released them."
"You can just bid at the auction." Lanny said coldly.
Long Teng said: "But most of the auction price will go to the contract beast dealers. They still enjoy the huge profits from selling contract beasts, and they will definitely harm the contract beasts in the future."
"The auction items were lost in Youhai, and Youhai must compensate with the average auction price of similar items." Lanny glanced at him, "The money they get will not be less."
Long Teng exclaimed: "They are so bad, you don't have to compensate them!"
Lanny sneered: "It's surprising that Long Yu's son is so naive." He folded his hands and leaned back on the sofa. "I'll give you one chance. Tell me how you escaped from Blue Whale. Hand over the things, and I can pretend that nothing happened."
He paused, then stretched out his hand, holding a piece of black fungus between his fingers. "By the way, I also need to explain how you managed to get this thing onto the camera."
Xie Sen looked at the black fungus and couldn't help asking, "Have you taken off the ones on the camera?"
Lanny: “Of course.”
Xie Sen thought of the cold-mixed black fungus and swallowed his saliva: "Give them all back to me, I can show you how to do it."
Lanny studied his expression and threw the petal in his hand to him: "Use this to demonstrate."
Xie Sen secretly said what a pity, he picked up the black fungus and held it in his hand, but if the fungus petals left the roots they would lose control, so it would be useless.
He thought about it and realized that Xiaoyin and the contracted beast would definitely not return it. He could not complete all three requests made by Lanny, so he simply did not do any of them and was not going to demonstrate. However, he also felt a little guilty. After all, their actions were illegal and did damage the interests of Youhai.
He pinched the black fungus, and an idea flashed in his mind. He leaned forward and looked serious: "Prince, why don't we make a deal!"
There was a hint of surprise in Lanny's eyes. If the four of them had not stolen the shells and the contracted beasts, and had not consigned the watermelons, he would probably have been dismissive when he heard this. But now he would not underestimate them, but instead was a little curious.
"Tell me about it."
Xie Sen smiled, his tone full of sincerity: "I have never seen a place as beautiful as Bruce. When I arrived at the space port, I saw many tourists. They all looked very happy and cheered and praised the sea."
"Grand Prince, how can such a beautiful place tolerate such terrible things? Except for the mermaids, most of the people on the planet have awakened their contracted beasts and regard them as friends and partners. Many people hate the act of selling contracted beasts. I believe that everything on Blue Planet should be beautiful, and such things should be strictly prohibited."
Xie Sen paused as he spoke. This was what he had just thought of. They could rescue two contracted beasts, but there would be countless more contracted beasts being sent for auction.
Where there is a market, there will be harm. To truly protect contracted beasts, we should start with the distribution channels.
It is illegal to sell contracted beasts on Brandt Star, and the military has been cracking down on the black market. The last time he was captured, the military solved a contracted beast trafficking organization, and Contract □□ Yi was unable to recover on Brandt Star.
But since they cannot sell them on Brandt Star, they may come to Bruce Star to sell them. Bruce Star is a special planet. The native mermaids do not have contracted beasts, so there are no laws to protect contracted beasts. For contracted beast dealers, it is undoubtedly a treasure land.
Lanny's eyes moved slightly. "As far as I know, making a contract is a sacred thing. Beast owners are eager to make a contract, but they can't find a contracted beast. The Youhai auction of contracted beasts has satisfied their wishes. Those who can bid have good family backgrounds. Beast owners treat their contracted beasts well. This is a good thing, not a bad thing."
Xie Sen looked at him in surprise. He thought Lanny cared more about profits, but he didn't expect Lanny to say such words, as if to say that everything on Bruce Star was beautiful.
He said seriously: "That's not the case. Contracted beasts have high IQs. They are individuals with independent thoughts."
He thought for a moment and said, "You can think about it from another perspective. I heard that the mermaids can transform into human and animal forms. If there is a mermaid beast master who forces you to form a bond with him, and you have to follow him in everything you do and obey his actions, but he treats you well, would you be willing? Would you be happy?"
Lanny's face darkened: "No one can drive a mermaid," he said coldly, "I don't like this empathy... I don't want to."
Xie Sen said: "Look, that's how it is. Contracted beasts just can't communicate with humans using language, but their IQ is not inferior to that of humans. Forcing a contract to be signed may even cause the contracted beast to be injured, which is a very bad thing."
"Yes," Long Teng said, "If they have the ability, the contracted beast will willingly obey the beast master. There is no need to force a contract."
Lanny thought mysteriously, and after a moment he said, "If the sale of contracted beasts is banned, Blue Planet will lose a lot of wealth."
Xie Sen thought, as expected, the question of profit was raised. He was prepared: "This is the deal I mentioned. If you don't sell the contracted beast, you can sell something else, something that everyone will like."
"You mean watermelon?" Lanny asked.
Xie Sen said: "This is just one of the ways. Don't underestimate the profit from food. After you have tasted the watermelon, you will definitely find a huge business opportunity. Of course, watermelon can be excluded from the transaction."
"You want to exchange watermelon for shells and contracted beasts?" Lanny burst his thoughts.
Xie Sen smiled and said, "I think it's worth it. In your eyes, shells and contracted beasts are actually nothing, right? You can try it now and judge whether what I said is true."
Lanny looked at him calmly without saying anything. It was really nothing, otherwise he wouldn't be so polite. The reason why he didn't just have them arrested, but chose to meet them, was because these things were not as important to him as satisfying his interests.
He sent a message with his bracelet, and soon, Ximai came in with a watermelon and put it on the coffee table in the middle of the sofa.
Xie Sen smiled, took out a fruit knife and cut the watermelon in half vertically, then cut it into pieces, picked up a piece and handed it to Lanny: "Eat the red flesh, the black ones are the seeds, spit them out."
He couldn't help but promote it: "In addition to eating it this way, you can also squeeze it into watermelon juice. Just imagine how wonderful it would feel to soak in the sea and drink the juice!"
Lanny took it and sniffed it subconsciously. The faint sweet fragrance rushed into his nose. His eyes lit up slightly. He took a bite and chewed it casually twice. The sweet juice filled his mouth and made him salivate.
His eyes brightened, he finished a slice of watermelon, wiped his hands and asked: "Growing conditions?"
Xie Sen thought for a moment and said, "Dry land, is there any dry land on Bruce?"
Lanny: "There is only dry land on the island, and the area is very small, but it doesn't matter. Bruce has resource stars, so we can try to plant."
Xie Sen smiled and said, "So, you agreed to my deal?"
Lanny: "There are tens of thousands of contracted beasts, and you only use one kind of fruit. I'm at a disadvantage anyway. But I won't pursue the matter of shells and contracted beasts."
This was the result that Xie Sen wanted most when he was invited here, but now he had a better idea and was somewhat dissatisfied with this result.
"I think you should think more about the deal I mentioned. Watermelon is just a kind of fruit. When people travel, besides seeing the scenery, the most important thing is to eat. Although seafood is delicious, you will get tired of it if you eat it continuously, and it is too light."
Lanny raised his eyebrows. "You mean, there are other foods? As far as I know, edible food is very scarce on Brant."
Xie Sen laughed, "Of course there are other plants," he said, glancing at the time, "Lunch time is almost over, how about we eat one by one? I'll let you taste something different."
The five people moved to the 57th floor. Unlike the 56th floor, the 57th floor had both scattered seats and private rooms. Lanny directly booked a luxurious private room.
Xie Sen ordered two hotpots, and the waiter brought all the seafood. When he was about to close the door when leaving, Xie Sen stopped him: "Don't close it, leave it open like this." Otherwise it would be difficult to breathe later.
The waiter looked at Lanny, who nodded.
The seafood slowly cooked in the pot and its fragrance grew. Xie Sen bought a medium-spicy pepper, turned it into powder and sprinkled it evenly into the hot pot in front of him. Soon, the spicy aroma wafted out.
Long Teng was eating seafood that could be eaten raw. He looked up and swallowed his saliva: "Asen, did you add chili? It smells so good!"
Xie Sen nodded. The spicy taste was magical. Just the smell made people's appetite grow. He looked at the red soup in the pot and was quite impatient. However, he was worried that it was not cooked yet, so he could only wait patiently.
Lanny didn't care. He picked up a scallop, let it cool aside, and then ate the scallop in one bite. The next moment, his face turned red, his eyes also turned red, and his lips were as red as if stained with blood.
Xie Sen thought to himself that this was not good. Although it was medium spicy, mermaids were used to eating light flavors. If they suddenly ate spicy food, medium spicy might be considered extremely spicy to them.
"If it's too spicy, why don't you try rinsing it with water before eating?" he suggested.
Lanny looked at him with red eyes, drank a sip of water, picked up another scallop without hesitation and ate the meat.
Xie Sen watched him eat one meal after another and knew that he liked it very much, so he felt relieved. If he liked it, there was room for discussion.
Long Teng couldn't help himself and stretched out his chopsticks, but Bai Jiao grabbed his wrist and said, "We will get sick if we eat half-cooked seafood."
"Wow! Don't eat it, it's not cooked yet!" Long Teng could only retract his hand and stare at the spicy hot pot. Seeing that there was less and less seafood in the pot, he hurriedly covered the hot pot with his hand and stared at Lanny.
Lanny drank several mouthfuls of water. Because it was too spicy, his eyes were wet: "It doesn't matter." No matter what kind of seafood, the mermaids can eat it.
A long time ago, when mermaids could not transform into humans, they could not eat hot food. But after they were able to naturally transform between human and animal form, everything was fine.
Bai Jiao pulled Long Teng's hand away with amusement. Lanny continued to eat. Bai Jiao used a spoon to scoop some seafood from the clear soup pot into the spicy pot: "If it's not enough, add more later."
Long Teng immediately laughed and looked at Bai Jiao with a bright smile: "You are so nice and smart."
Xie Sen complained: "You are the one who is stupid."
Maine picked up a scallop, took a look at it, and immediately put it on Xie Sen's plate: "It's cooked, ready to eat." Xie Sen turned his head and smiled at him, "You eat too."
Long Teng pouted and was about to refute Xie Sen's words, but seeing this, he stopped refutation and started eating quickly.
The aroma grew stronger as it cooked, wafting out from the private room. After ordering the food in the room opposite, the waiter opened the door and prepared to leave, but the aroma that hit him made him pause.
The guests in the private room's eyes lit up: "Wait, don't leave yet, what's this smell, give us some too."
The waiter was stunned: "Sorry, I don't know."
"Go to the kitchen and ask. No matter what it is or how much it costs, just order one portion. This smell is so tempting. I wasn't hungry at first, but the smell makes me want to eat."
"My mouth is watering and I have no control over it!"
"Me too. God knows I hate eating the most!"
The waiter ran to the kitchen in a daze. The chef glared at him and said, "What's new? Isn't it the same every day? There's no difference except more salt or less salt."
"No," the waiter said quickly, "It's a real fragrance, not the smell of salt. If you don't believe me, you'll know once you go out. The whole room is filled with fragrance."
The chef walked out, saying, "How is it possible that I don't know what I cooked?" After a while, "Oh my God, how can it smell so good!"
He followed the aroma to the private room. A customer saw him in uniform and grabbed him, "What are they eating? Bring one portion as well. Hurry up. I'm so greedy."
The chef thought to himself, how would I know? He soothed him, "Go back to the private room and wait." After fooling the guests, he went all the way to Xie Sen's private room.
Seeing Lanny, he was stunned, glared at Xie Sen and the other three and scolded: "How dare you bully the eldest prince!"
"Get out." Lanny wiped his mouth and said lightly.
Xie Sen's mouth twitched: "How did we bully him?"
"Even the eldest prince is crying." said the chef angrily.
Xie Sen looked at Lanny. His eyes were wet and red, and his face was also red. He really looked like he was crying. He lowered his head to hold back his laughter.
Lanny's face turned cold: "Who's crying?"
The chef panicked like a Muggle in an instant: "No, no... no one." He glanced around. Although the other people were in better condition than Lanny, their symptoms were similar. He looked at the place where the spicy smell came from on the table and decisively changed the subject. "There are many guests who want to eat this. Prince, how is it made?"
Lanny looked at Xie Sen, who shrugged. Lanny said, "New products are under research, not for sale."
The chef left reluctantly, and used the excuse given by Lanny to deal with all the customers who were waiting for food.
Some customers were so greedy that they ran to the door of the private room and asked, "Brother, can I have a seat?"
A minute later, the man was taken away by Ximai's men. Ximai stood at the door and looked at Lanny worriedly. Lanny glanced at him and said, "Go out. Have someone guard you three meters away."
Ximai stared at him for a while, making sure that he was not crying and was in a normal mood. He then stood guard three meters outside the door and stopped any guest who wanted to approach.
The five people were very satisfied with the meal, but the other guests on the same floor were in great pain. It was really torture as they could smell the food but could not eat it.
Back on the 87th floor, Lanny ate another piece of watermelon. The blush on his face gradually faded away. He drank a sip of water and asked, "What did you just put in there?"
Xie Sen opened his palm, with a red pepper in the palm of his hand: "The pepper was medium spicy just now. Different peppers have different spicy flavors. You can grind it into powder for seasoning, just like what you did just now, or you can make food. There are many ways to eat it."
Lanny reached out to take it, but Xie Sen pulled back his fist and said, "Now, what do you think of the deal I mentioned?"
"It's worth considering, but plant research is a long process with uncertain results. Can you provide seeds and exact planting methods?" Lanny asked.
Xie Sen said, "Sure." He glanced at the calendar and was stunned. It was already the 20th. He didn't know how the apartment and the contracted beast's residence were progressing. He decided to find time to ask later.
As his thoughts turned, he looked at Lanny and said, "In half a month, the Brandt Star pepper will be available. If you don't believe me, I can send you pictures of the growing peppers right now."
Lanny pondered for a moment and was about to say something when Ximai walked in with a tense expression: "Prince, I just received an urgent report that the blue whale has entered safe waters and is moving quickly to the east. The sea monsters in the Death Sea have gathered at the edge and are not moving for the time being."
Lanny's face changed: "Stop the blue whale as soon as possible," he said coldly, "no matter what means."
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