Sorry, I Know I Was Wrong

He shouted and immediately tried to pull Cang Leng back onto the sofa.

But Cang Leng shook off his hand.

"Don't worry. I can control myself."

"This is insane!"

His kindness had been taken for ill intent. Yun Jin's face turned pale and flushed with anger, and he gave up on Cang Leng altogether.

In truth, he just had a bad temper, but his concern wasn't unfounded. The others were also uneasy at the sight of Cang Leng's mutation, afraid he would lose control and frighten the guide.

Mo Xiao was also ready to restrain him at a moment's notice.

Some guides did have a special preference for merfolk, but they generally only liked merfolk Spirit Bodies that were rational and controllable, not sentinels who had mutated into merfolk themselves.

Mutation meant a sentinel was about to lose his mind, so no guide would accept a sentinel in his mutated merfolk form, no matter how beautiful he was.

The esteemed guides valued their lives more than anyone. They would never allow an aggressive creature to remain at their side, not even their favorite sentinel.

Cang Leng understood that, of course, but this was all he had to offer.

His shimmering purple eyes slowly opened. In an instant, Xin Lan sensed a powerful surge of spiritual power rippling around him.

Violent and dangerous.

At the same time, the other four immediately sat up straight, ready for a fight.

But Cang Leng merely blinked, and those mysterious, alluring purple slit pupils instantly turned into innocent, harmless round ones again.

"Miss Guide, please forgive my rudeness. My Spirit Body is rather unusual. Although we share our five senses, it has a very distinct mind of its own, so I don't want to entrust something this important to it. I would rather show you my advantages myself."

He smiled faintly. His hazy purple eyes remained innocent, but he now had an enchanting aura unique to merfolk.

"Miss Guide, I'm not as capable as Chi Ming, and I can't care for you as attentively as he can. But as you can see, I can remain rational after partially mutating. So, if you wish, I can stay in this form and serve you alongside my Spirit Body. You'll get twice or even four times the pleasure."

Well, damn.

Who would have thought Cang Leng looked so dazed on the outside, yet was so wild underneath?

He's even more uninhibited than that free-spirited little bear Wu Xi.

Xin Lan was a little more interested in men with contrasting sides.

So she obligingly said, "Oh?" and encouraged him.

"Tell me more?"

The others, who could also offer multiple portions of pleasure: !

Cang Leng! What happened to staying rational? Do you even know what kind of outrageous things you're saying? You're going to corrupt the innocent Miss Guide!

Yun Jin was already holding his forehead, unwilling to listen any further.

Wu Xi sprang to his feet and clapped a hand over Cang Leng's mouth.

"Miss Guide, you'll find out about these things sooner or later. It's better not to listen right now."

Cang Leng was rational, but that rationality came at the cost of some of his human emotions.

So not only was he unashamed, he was proud of it.

He didn't understand why Wu Xi had covered his mouth. He believed Miss Guide would experience these things for herself sooner or later, so it made no difference whether she learned about them now or later.

If anything, the others were making a fuss over nothing.

In his partially mutated state, he easily pried Wu Xi's hand away and took another two steps toward Xin Lan.

"Miss Guide, you may not know this yet, but merfolk are rather special..." (deleted)

His explanation was very direct. He didn't even blink an extra time out of guilt or embarrassment.

But with his entire upper body mutated into merfolk form, he was full of their unique, mysterious charm.

His voice in particular had sounded merely pleasant and suited to singing before, but now it naturally held a more seductive, enticing quality.

It was as tempting as a siren whispering in her ear, drawing her into enthrallment.

This was a passive ability unique to merfolk. It had no effect on contaminants or other species, but it worked very well on humans.

Especially lustful humans with weak willpower.

The four on the sofa watched Cang Leng draw closer and closer to her while Xin Lan, seemingly unaware, stared fixedly at his face, deep in his thrall. Their expressions varied, but none of them rose to stop him.

After all, the fact that Xin Lan could be charmed by Cang Leng in his half-merfolk form showed that she wasn't a strong-willed person, and might even be quite lustful.

If Cang Leng could become Xin Lan's exclusive sentinel this way, then so could they.

"Miss Guide, you seem interested in my ear fins. Would you like to touch them?"

Cang Leng also seemed to think victory was in his grasp.

His round, innocent purple pupils had already transformed into mysterious, seductive slits, and every word he spoke carried an entrancing lilt.

Since he still hadn't been stopped after coming to Xin Lan's side, he even smiled and bent down, bringing his face close to hers.

The distance between them rapidly closed, and Cang Leng's gaze grew more dangerous and aggressive as success neared.

But just as he was about to touch the tip of Xin Lan's nose, she suddenly raised her hand without warning and slapped him, despite looking completely entranced.

At the same time, a surge of spiritual power even stronger than his during his mutation struck straight at his Mental Landscape with the force of a thunderbolt.

"Argh-"

Caught completely off guard, Cang Leng screamed and fell to the floor. The scales and ear fins that had appeared during his mutation vanished in an instant, as though someone had forcibly rubbed them away with an eraser, startlingly fast.

No one had expected this to happen.

The people on the sofa all widened their eyes. Even the usually composed and proper administrator's pupils widened slightly in surprise for a moment.

But he quickly concealed his emotions, his expression growing more grave.

If he wasn't mistaken, Xin Lan had just attacked Cang Leng with spiritual power, an ability he had never heard of...

Looking at Cang Leng rolling around on the floor in pain, clutching his head, Yun Jin asked in confusion, "Miss Guide, what's wrong with him?"

Although the idea was absurd, he still thought that Cang Leng's sudden agony had to be Xin Lan's doing.

Wu Xi's mouth also fell open in shock, but he couldn't make a sound.

Ahhh!

What's going on?

Did Miss Guide just attack Cang Leng with her spiritual power?

It had to be! That was her spiritual power. He'd felt it not long ago when she purified Chi Ming!

But wasn't a guide's spiritual power only capable of purification and soothing? How could it attack a sentinel?

He'd never heard of such a thing in his life!

Chi Ming was also stunned, but what he felt more at that moment was regret and panic.

He should have known. Lanlan was neither lustful nor weak-willed.

He had underestimated her and hoped to get lucky.

So... would she blame him?

Apart from Cang Leng, who was in unbearable pain, the others all shared the same suspicion and looked at Xin Lan with shock or gravity.

Xin Lan said nothing, and didn't even shift from her position against the sofa.

She hadn't so much as glanced at Cang Leng, yet he continued clutching his head and screaming.

The sound was truly grating.

After all, sentinels were often seriously injured fighting contaminants and were tormented daily by their rampaging spiritual power. Their tolerance for pain had long surpassed that of ordinary people.

Yet Cang Leng, who was roughly the same rank as them, was crying out in such agony, as though he were being cut to pieces, as though he were being subjected to death by a thousand cuts, unable to endure even a second of it.

It was terrifying.

Wu Xi rubbed his arms and sat back down on the sofa, relieved that Xin Lan had treated him mercifully and full of pity for Cang Leng.

Ah!

If only he'd known Miss Guide had such a powerful attack! He would never have dared grab her hand so rashly. Fortunately, Miss Guide hadn't punished him like this.

Five minutes later, Cang Leng's screams gradually weakened.

Xin Lan finally ended his punishment with a yawn.

Yun Jin rushed over and checked Cang Leng's breathing. "Hey! How do you feel? Are you still alive?"

Cang Leng was drenched in sweat and panting heavily, unable to say a word. He looked like a dying fish washed ashore by the waves.

The pain had left him dazed, but even so, he could tell who the spiritual power rampaging through his Mental Landscape belonged to.

So, once he had recovered a little, he immediately struggled over to Xin Lan's feet.

"I'm sorry, Miss Guide. I know I was wrong."

His seductive voice had turned hoarse and grating, and his expression was pale and vulnerable.

Xin Lan looked down at him for a few seconds, then slowly curved her lips.

"Really? What did you do wrong? Tell me more."