Recap
“Oh, so you really do know Shen Di,” Shen Chaomu remarked casually.
Long Shiyu froze.
“Ying.”
He was so startled that he bit his own tail and was about to bolt out of bed. But the bed was warm and crowded, and he had barely moved when Shen Chaomu’s arm snaked around his waist, pressing him back into his embrace. Long Shiyu’s ears were filled with the sound of Shen Chaomu’s warm breath.
“I caught you,” the man chuckled.
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Long Shiyu hugged the tip of his tail and gnawed nervously.
Shen Chaomu forcefully pulled his tail back. “Stop gnawing,” he scolded. “What if it breaks?”
Then Long Shiyu began to chew on his hand.
Shen Chaomu quickly pulled Long Shiyu’s hand away. “What if you gnaw it off?”
When he grabbed his hand, Long Shiyu went back to his tail.
Shen Chaomu sighed in exasperation. “Stop biting your tail and explain to me what’s going on,” he demanded. “Why didn’t Shen Di die?”
Shen Di was the most famous dragon-slaying hero. Before Shen Chaomu appeared, he was the undisputed number one talent in the family’s history. His era was hundreds of years in the past, and like all the younger generations, Shen Chaomu grew up listening to his heroic deeds.
A secret of the dragon-hunting family was that many dragon-slaying heroes didn’t truly die. Their spiritual power was preserved by the dragon’s alchemy circle, and they lived forever in the trial hall on that island. Only those with the same bloodline could see them. Usually, they only experienced long darkness and endless loneliness. Not everyone was willing to remain in the world in that form, and Shen Di was one of them. His ashes were buried in the east of the island—where the sunrise could be seen first.
How could such a person still be alive?
“I really don’t know,” Long Shiyu insisted. “I was just talking nonsense. I don’t know Shen Di at all…ahhh, don’t shake me!”
After being dragged by the dragon’s horn and shaken, he began to bite his tail nervously, staring at Shen Chaomu without speaking.
Shen Chaomu rescued the tail from the dragon’s mouth and grabbed it. “If you don’t answer, I will confiscate your tail,” he threatened.
Long Shiyu was about to reach for his tail again, but his wrist was also captured.
“Good,” Shen Chaomu said. “Now answer my question.”
The princess seemed a little unhappy.
After a long silence, Long Shiyu hesitantly said, “I, uh, I met Shen Di once before.”
“Only once?” Shen Chaomu pressed.
Long Shiyu looked sincere. “Yeah…ah, don’t shake me!” Seeing the princess’s face grow darker, he hurriedly added, “Okay, okay, we’ve met a few times, we’ve met a few times.”
Shen Chaomu frowned. “What did he tell you? Did he ever attack you?” The Shen Di he knew was always active on the front lines, dealing with strange beasts, especially dragons, decisively and ruthlessly.
“Nothing,” Long Shiyu said in a low voice. “He didn’t tell me anything.”
“He didn’t attack you?”
“No.”
Shen Chaomu was dubious. After all, if Shen Di at his peak did his best, even the first generation of dragons would struggle to survive. Perhaps even the old dragon king would be forced to fight—though after so many years, there was no telling how Shen Di’s strength had changed. But to severely injure the sky settlement to this extent, he must still possess some of his past glory.
“Then why can you judge that the strange beast riots on other planets were all caused by him?” he asked.
“I guessed.”
“Do you think you’re lying to a three-year-old?”
Long Shiyu just “Ying”-ed in response.
He tried to climb out of bed again, but halfway through, Shen Chaomu caught him by the tail and dragged him back.
Shen Chaomu pressed him into his arms and smiled. “You don’t even want your nest anymore? Didn’t you just invite me to sleep together?”
Long Shiyu grumbled and squirmed, trying to escape the princess’s grasp, but was pinned down again and again.
Finally, he said aggrievedly, “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you a little bit. The last time I saw him was in Cassandra, but it wasn’t face-to-face. I only saw a projection.”
“What does he have to do with Cassandra?” In a flash, Shen Chaomu seemed to realize something. “He’s obsessed with the sky settlement. Is Wilpan’s awakening related to him? Were those mercenaries obeying his orders?”
Long Shiyu nodded in his arms. “He’s always been obsessed with studying strange beasts.”
“What about the siren?”
“Not sure. But he also sent mercenaries to Bei En.”
Shen Chaomu was speechless. The respected hero, their ancestor, wasn’t dead. He was connected to the church and various strange beasts, hiding in the shadows all this time. If it weren’t for the unique corrosive spiritual ability, the mantises’ wounds revealing the family’s fighting style, and Long Shiyu’s admission, he would have dismissed everything as mere coincidence.
Shen Chaomu didn’t fully believe Long Shiyu’s words. Not because he didn’t trust him, but because no one could guarantee there weren’t other misunderstandings. After all, this was still unimaginable. He had to verify it himself.
“I told you all this, so just forget about it and go to bed,” Long Shiyu mumbled, still regretting his slip of the tongue. He tried to turn away, but Shen Chaomu’s hand on his lower back pressed him firmly in place.
“Don’t go,” Shen Chaomu whispered. “I haven’t finished asking my questions. If it’s really Shen Di, it’s impossible that he’d let a dragon run around in front of me. What’s your relationship with him? Why didn’t you mention him before? Are you…covering for him?”
“No relationship,” Long Shiyu said. Shen Di actually wanted to kill him, but various factors had piled up, and by mistake, neither of them could do anything to the other. He wouldn’t tell the princess any of this.
Shen Chaomu’s eyes darkened, and the hand pressing on the back of Long Shiyu’s neck gently rubbed a few times. He interpreted this as a cover-up for “Shen Di.” He’d never seen Long Shiyu hide anything like this before, and the young man had only admitted it reluctantly after being caught. It made him feel a little unhappy.
Although he no longer classified Long Shiyu as “prey,” the young man’s unease stirred his long-dormant hunter instincts. The emblem of the dragon-hunting family was a lion fighting an evil dragon. Now, Long Shiyu was nestled in his arms, warm and soft, with dragon horns and a big tail that felt wonderful to the touch. The young man’s waist was slender and pliant beneath his hand, the curve perfect for gripping tightly.
The family affliction seemed to be acting up, and a certain impulse took hold of him. Just as a male lion liked to pin its prey with its paws, he wanted to press down on the prey in his arms. This kind of purely suppressive action would make him feel better, wouldn’t it?
In the end, Shen Chaomu resisted this urge. It was a lapse in control; he didn’t even know how he could have such a crazy thought.
Perhaps because they were huddled together that night, neither of the restless individuals suffered from insomnia. However, Shen Chaomu had an absurd nightmare. He dreamed that one day, Long Shiyu would happily take Shen Di’s hand and appear before him, saying, “Let me introduce you, this is my princess!”
Shen Chaomu woke up with a start. Long Shiyu was still sleeping soundly in his arms, mumbling something in his sleep.
I must tell Long Shiyu someday that there’s no such thing as a male princess.
Early the next morning, Black Sickle appeared at the entrance of the cave, his wings rubbing and making noises: “The griffins have calmed down. We will send you away. Dragon, remember to let us see that person.”
The clouds and mist rose on the glacier, carrying them away.
…
The Yermak broke through the thick ice and headed towards the Damocles Bridge, escorted by a fleet of warships. With the heavy icebreaker leading the way, the investigation proceeded much more smoothly. The hunters who had approached from the waterfall and the bridge earlier that morning had already joined forces, and the Yermak continued its advance. They expected to break through the ice in this area within five hours.
Song Qianqian had been napping on the ship and was woken by the sound of footsteps on the deck. Checking the time, she saw it was time for her and Li Jianchun to disembark. The icebreaker had reached the target area and begun operations. The hunters on board would disperse and continue searching for the skeletal mermaids’ lair among the nearby glaciers and sea.
The few pieces of good news lately were that Shen Chaomu had found the siren’s castle, the clues from within had been uploaded to the database, and Uther, miraculously, hadn’t lost contact. Following the last group of rioting skeletal mermaids, he had destroyed a large bone nest.
Ten minutes later, the snow combat convoy set off, its wheels leaving deep tracks on the icy surface. It was still the eternal night, and even the starlight seemed diminished today, making the glacier appear incredibly dark and menacing.
Song Qianqian was again partnered with Li Jianchun. He drove, and she took the passenger seat. The glaciers here weren’t flat, but formed strange, undulating hillsides. The car swayed as its bright yellow lights illuminated their surroundings. Having learned from their last experience, the teams remained close, within five minutes of support distance from each other, and never strayed far from the Yermak.
Looking out the window, Song Qianqian could still see the massive icebreaker passing by, surrounded by floating chunks of white ice.
In the silence, Li Jianchun spoke. “Was there another icebreaker here before?”
“Yes,” Song Qianqian replied. “Another heavy icebreaker from the same shipyard. But it sank. It’s at the bottom of the sea, near the shipyard. I believe…it was called the ‘Pied Piper.’” She looked towards the distant sea again. “It was all a long time ago. After all, the Land of Eternal Night hasn’t been open to tourists for more than fifty years.”
The vehicle traveled onward. Then, a red dot appeared on the map displayed on the in-vehicle screen.
“Coordinates have been sent,” Lu Shanhuai’s voice announced in the tactical channel. “Spiritual energy fluctuations detected here.”
Could it be the siren? Song Qianqian sat up straight. The coordinates were the closest to their convoy, less than two kilometers away.
But in the next second, new data arrived, and Lu Shanhuai added, “The spiritual energy readings are chaotic, and individual strength is low. It can be confirmed that it is human.”
“Why are there other people here?” Song Qianqian murmured.
She wasn’t the only one with doubts; other hunters were also surprised. After they had crossed the Damocles Bridge, the outpost had completely blocked the road.
Unless it was someone who had arrived before them.
The unknown mental force seemed to have discovered them as well, and suddenly changed direction, approaching Song Qianqian’s vehicle at high speed. The hunter teams quickly converged, and Li Jianchun turned, attempting to distance themselves. Though their speed was no match for their pursuers, it would buy them some time.
Song Qianqian opened the sunroof and stood, setting the heavy sniper rifle on a specialized stabilizer. The undulating ice sheet hindered her view, and even though the opponent’s convoy was displayed on the thermal imager, she couldn’t get a clear shot.
“Damn it,” she cursed. “It’s always like this. I’m a sniper, but I never get a decent opportunity.”
She put the sniper rifle back in the car and, with some effort, retrieved a massive weapon from the equipment box in the back—a heavy machine gun. After a muffled thud on the car’s roof, Song Qianqian set up the gun.
Three minutes later, the car flew over a small rise, and they finally saw their pursuers. The opposing convoy was menacing. The first thing Song Qianqian saw was Augusta’s crazed eyes. He had injected himself with the blood of strange beasts, and the bestial impulses surging through him brought immense power and brutality. It was the same for every mercenary; the signs of beastization were obvious.
The moment they appeared, their characteristics were recorded and analyzed, and their identities were relayed to every hunter. They were all notorious mercenaries, especially Augusta, who always seemed to appear wherever there was chaos. Both the Star Police and the association had a hard time with him.
Rushing at the front was a snow jeep. The mercenary in the driver’s seat had terrifying, inhuman eyes, gleaming like a predator’s in the car’s headlights.
Li Jianchun gripped the steering wheel with one hand and, with the other, retrieved two throwing knives. Imbuing them with sharp mental force, he chose the perfect moment to throw. The blades, accompanied by a terrifying whooshing sound, attacked the vehicle.
Startled, the mercenary jerked the steering wheel. The jeep skidded several times, but he managed to avoid the knives that had been aimed at his throat.
The mercenary convoy continued to approach rapidly.
“They’re all lunatics,” Song Qianqian snarled, her fingers tightening on the trigger of the heavy machine gun.
As their vehicle crested another slope, the angle perfect for firing, Song Qianqian saw a cloud of mist floating overhead. She wasn’t the only one who noticed it; the mercenaries did as well. Such a large cloud was abnormal, swirling with immense spiritual energy. All parties temporarily slowed their advance, watching the phenomenon warily.
Li Jianchun glanced at the cloud but, seeing nothing unusual, focused on driving. Song Qianqian, with her exceptional eyesight, murmured, “Jianchun, I might be crazy…” She paused, then continued, “Otherwise, how could I see Brother Shen and sister-in-law flying in the sky?”
A second later, a golden spear fell from the clouds. Shen Chaomu descended, oil lamp swaying beside him, and in the blink of an eye, his spiritual energy had pierced several vehicles. He didn’t target the people inside, only disabling the cars.
Then Long Shiyu appeared. He wore his fluffy down jacket, moving slowly across the ice like a small, determined dumpling, trying to keep up with Shen Chaomu.
In the next moment, a sturdy, dark figure leaped from the skylight of a pursuing vehicle like a panther, the heavy off-roader sinking with the force of his jump. It was Augusta, wielding his arc double knives. He wore only a short-sleeved shirt, the boiling blood of the strange beast rendering him impervious to the cold and imbuing him with fearsome speed and strength. The muscles in his arms were taut, veins bulging like grotesque tree roots, crackling with lightning-infused spiritual energy.
He swung his knives directly at Long Shiyu’s neck.
“Sister-in-law!” Song Qianqian shouted in alarm.
Shen Chaomu had already turned, and golden catkins surged toward Augusta like a tidal wave.
“Come on!” Augusta roared.
Long Shiyu met Augusta’s charge with an uppercut, sending him flying. He flew for more than ten meters.
Shen Chaomu, Song Qianqian, and Li Jianchun stared, dumbfounded.
Shen Chaomu finally broke the silence with a cough. “Your sister-in-law,” he explained, “may, um, have a little bit of strength.”
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