Absurdity

No one knew how long it had been. Even Chi Li himself had not noticed that when the pheromones released by Si Jinyan touched his skin, they no longer caused a stinging pain.

A violent pain suddenly tore through Chi Li's lower abdomen, forcing his consciousness awake.

Chi Li opened his eyes and met a pair of golden eyes.

No matter how many times he saw them, Chi Li was still startled by the sudden chill of terror.

His heart skipped half a beat.

No one knew how long Si Jinyan had been watching him. Seeing Chi Li awake, Si Jinyan, as he had countless times before, leaned close and gently pressed his face against Chi Li's in comfort.

The pain continued and intensified with Si Jinyan's movements. Chi Li wanted to stop him.

Si Jinyan's golden eyes stared like a beast's at Chi Li's neck, stretched taut in pain, while dark currents churned in his gaze.

"You..." Only when he spoke did Chi Li realize how hoarse his voice was.

But before he could finish, the words were stopped in his throat.

Si Jinyan sealed his lips.

Unable to break free, Chi Li could only endure the pain until his consciousness blurred once more.

Inside Bai Qi's estate, a servant was reporting to him.

Bai Qi's expression remained calm. After listening, he nodded.

Having received Bai Qi's orders, the servant met with the butler, Yuan Ru, before the Emperor could reach Si Jinyan's residence.

At the last moment, Yuan Ru still chose to accept the servant's proposal. Without receiving orders from Si Jinyan, he made the decision on his own to release Chi Li, who had been imprisoned in the residence, playing a crucial role in Chi Li's escape.

After standing there for a while, the servant recalled the bullet made from scales that had struck Chi Li's body in the end and could not help asking, "Will he really be all right?"

The servant knew Bai Qi did not truly want Chi Li dead, so Bai Qi had specifically instructed him to aim carefully.

The bullet only needed to graze the edge of Chi Li's heart and trigger the connection between the scales and Si Jinyan.

Bai Qi seemed to be in a good mood today. He answered, "Unlike humans, whose hearts are their most vulnerable place, that is not the case for merfolk."

Bai Qi slowly said, "A merfolk's most important scale grows pressed against the soft heart. With that scale's protection, the fragile heart is no longer a merfolk's weakness."①

The Merfolk Core could not fall into Yao Di's hands.

That scale was now inside Chi Li. A human body might limit how much of the scale's power could be brought out, but Chi Li was no longer as fragile as an ordinary person. Even if a bullet grazed his heart, he could hold on longer and would not immediately face the threat of death.

Perhaps even Chi Li himself had not noticed that after the scale merged with his heart, it gave him not only greater recovery and vitality than others, but also speed and offensive ability.

Bai Qi had once guessed that one possibility for Chi Li not noticing anything unusual was that the scale had already been inside him long ago.

After saying all this, Bai Qi looked at the chessboard that had been set in motion again and murmured, "There is still a long road ahead."

The servant respectfully said, "Mr. Bai is so clever. He will surely obtain whatever he wants."

When Chi Li regained consciousness again, he was lying on a blanket made of animal hide. The cave was so quiet that he could hear water droplets falling.

Chi Li called Si Jinyan's name, but no one answered.

He had even been dressed. Chi Li noticed a small communicator placed beside him.

It had probably been left by Si Jinyan as well.

Chi Li picked up the communicator and examined it. This model could block tracking signals, but it displayed only one number. Because of access restrictions, he could only use it to contact that single number.

He got up and walked around the cave. The cave he was in was not large.

Chi Li went outside to look around, but he still did not see Si Jinyan. Or rather, the mountain forest was so silent that it seemed he was the only living person there.

It seemed Si Jinyan had indeed found an extremely hidden place.

Chi Li's body still ached after everything that had happened, especially behind him. The discomfort made him frown slightly and made him even less willing to recall what had happened over the past few days.

Chi Li returned to the cave, sat on the blanket, and considered what to do next.

His mind was too muddled for him to accurately estimate how many days had passed since he left Si Jinyan's residence.

But it had certainly been no less than a week. Si Jinyan had trapped him here, and for over a week, they had been absurdly doing the same thing.

This was truly insane.

Chi Li could not help cursing inwardly.

He did not even know where he was.

Holding the communicator, Chi Li lowered his gaze and stared at the only number.

Si Jinyan had left it behind.

It implied that Chi Li should contact this number once he woke up.

After so much had happened, could he still trust Si Jinyan?

Chi Li did not dial the number. Instead, he put the communicator away first.

He decided to scout the area outside the cave.

Yet ten minutes after leaving the cave, Chi Li discovered something even stranger: the entire mountain forest was so silent that not even a bird could be heard.

There was no sound of a river, no birdsong. Even the wind passing through the branches carried a bone-chilling silence.