“Are you crazy!? You can’t go inside by yourself!” Qin Xia-Yu pulled Li Shen back.

“I know it’s a trap, but I don’t have any choice.”

Li Shen looked at his house from the park across the street in agitation, his eyes red and swollen. When he saw the corpses in the video, he didn’t want to believe it, but they were undoubtedly his parents.

He knew he couldn’t trust both Bai Liang and Li Ziyang, but it was impossible for him to kill someone. A girl nonetheless. He thought he would have time to save his parents if he hurried back.

“Just what is that psycho uncle of yours thinking?” Qin Xia-Yu checked the news. “Humans and mermaids are fighting everywhere. It’s just a matter of time before the situation turns into full aggression.”

“How can the police not come yet? Or did they already leave?”

“It’s already more than an hour ago. I think they already leave.”

“Miss Qin, I need you to go to the police for me,” Li Shen said. “I’ll sneak in and we’ll keep in touch through video call. If the police came here earlier, with how my uncle got to send them away, they won’t want to disturb him without any concrete evidence.”

“What are you even trying to do? Save your bodyguard??” Qin Xia-Yu stopped Li Shen again.

“And my grandfather. My uncle must’ve forced him to say all those words with me as a hostage. If we can save my grandfather and reunite with Yu and Wan Family, we can definitely fix all this.”

Qin Xia-Yu groaned and scratched her hair frustratingly, “Fine, fine! You’re the expert. Just be careful, you hear me?”

“You too,” Li Shen nodded. “Bai Lun must’ve targeted you because of your blueprint. If a human creates a machine that can purify the sea for the sake of mermaids, it’ll definitely spoil their plan. You can’t get caught!”

“I know. Let’s meet back at my place,” Qin Xia-Yu promptly left.

Li Shen returned his focus to his own objective and steeled his nerves. If Li Ziyang’s end goal was to make humans and mermaids destroy one another for Arias to thrive, there was a very high chance, he, his grandfather, and Han Wubin would be killed regardless whether they listened to his instruction or not. Their only choice was to escape and run.

He got ready to cross the street when he saw the front door open beyond the gate. He quickly hid behind a tree and saw Bai Liang and Li Ziyang entering their car. The guards opened the gate and the car promptly left the estate.

This was his chance!

After the gate closed and the guards left, he swiftly crossed the street and went to the side gate which could only be entered by a person or a bike. As he hoped, it wasn’t locked. The gardener was the one who had the key and with the chaos happening, he had prayed that the gardener forgot to lock it back.

There weren’t as many guards as the front and the rear garden. He quietly sneaked in towards the fountain and stirred out the water inside it, creating a clear splash under the quiet night. Once the guards were lured, he quickly headed to the emergency basement door connected to the outside of the house. That door was guaranteed to never be locked.

When he entered, he expected to see at least two or three people, but the corridor was completely empty. He guessed they were placed where his grandfather and Han Wubin were but he didn’t dare to let his guard down.

“Help…urgh…”

“!”

Hearing a woman’s voice, Li Shen strained his ears until he reached a non-guarded door. It was locked by a latch from the outside which was secured in place by a combination padlock. He opened the bottle of water he brought with him and used a portion of water to probe the lock from the inside to try to find the combination.

Once all the pins clicked, he successfully took off the padlock and opened the door. Seeing the woman tied to a chair, he hurriedly went to check on her.

“Miss, are you alright?” Li Shen shook her.

Not getting any response, he lifted her head and his face instantly paled. Not only the woman was no longer breathing, her skin had shriveled and dried, drained from all her moisture and blood.

“No!! Don’t eat me! I don’t want to die! Save me!!”

Startled, Li Shen looked up only to notice there was another woman inside the room, also tied to a chair, trembling in fear in the dark corner. Hearing footsteps from outside, he rushed to cover the woman’s mouth.

In the car, Bai Liang watched the scene of the live broadcast from his tablet thoughtfully. Everything had long been out of course from the original trajectory. He didn’t want to control Li Ziyang, but at this rate, he would smoothly guide Li Shen to a bad end. He expected nothing less.

Xue Liang: [Master, it’s not the time to admire Grandmaster…]

Bai Liang feigned ignorance.

It would take at least 5 months for Qin Xia-Yu to create her first purifier prototype. By that time, he wouldn’t be surprised if this country engaged in racial war. Li Ziyang’s objective was purely to have humans and mermaids clashed with one another to shift their conflict away from Arias.

What they had towards Arias was only disgust. Now that life and death were involved, both humans and mermaids couldn’t care less about genetic mutation. Rather, it would be beneficial for them if Arias took their side and tip the balance.

It was far sooner than its supposed trajectory, but any longer than this, reconciling humans and mermaids would require 5 times the labor.

Noticing Bai Liang’s look, Li Ziyang turned in askance.

“What did you send the other mermaids to do?” Bai Liang asked.

Li Ziyang checked the time and pulled Bai Liang closer by his waist, “It’s about time.”

Bai Liang focused back on the live broadcast. The views had exceeded several million and the comment section had already turned into a battlefield. If the live broadcast wasn’t streamed on multiple platforms, he was certain it would already crash.

On the screen, the person Li Ziyang set to die finally bit her tongue and killed herself. From the video’s angle though, with it not having audio, it seemed as if Li Shen was the one who caused her death. Right afterward, the broadcast ended.

Just as the people raged, demanding to know what was happening, an announcement of another live broadcast appeared. Instantly, all the viewers moved to the new channel.

The video showed an old picture of a mermaid and a voice started narrating their legends and myths. They continued to state that the image of mermaids that were commonly portrayed in movies and cartoons were all manipulated by mermaids themselves to hide the fact they were monstrous creatures. The narrator made sure to emphasize their man-eating nature.

“Their sense of superiority isn’t because of their power. It stems from their hereditary instinct that we, humans, are their prey. They look at us the same way predators look at their food. Once a mermaid captures their prey, they never let go. Li Wen-Gui, we’ll give you a chance to prove that the current mermaids have evolved from monsters to intelligent, empathetic creatures that own a heart,

“You’ve framed us of killing your family and kidnapping your grandson when he’s free enough to take human lives. Return our colleague and bring Li Shen to justice if you wish for your family’s safe return. You started this,” the narrator closed.

The scene changed to 4 separate screens, each showing a pair of people, one human and one mermaid, standing on the edge of different skyscrapers.

With how the mermaids were tied up, they were certainly the hostages in this situation. Some could recognize them as a member of the Li Family. Everyone immediately understood that the humans restraining them were the accomplices of the man who was held hostage by Li Wen-Gui.

The wind overwhelmed the audio but none of the people in the frame seemed to have any intention to speak. They could only hear the faint sobbing and pleading of the Li Family. With Li Ziyang having their children hostage, they didn’t dare speak a word of his name.

Xue Liang: [Master, this is getting out of control. We cannot just leave things as it is. Even if the ocean is purified…]

‘I know, don’t worry,’ Bai Liang lowered his eyes. ‘This is our last world…’

Sensing Bai Liang’s shift of mood, Li Ziyang carefully looked at Bai Liang, “What is it?”

“It’s nothing,” Bai Liang shook his head. He glanced at Li Ziyang and smiled, “If I say I can purify the ocean, would you like to explore the depth of our home with me?”

Li Ziyang’s heart trembled, his eyes silently dilating as he stared at Bai Liang. Taking Bai Liang’s hand, he solemnly pressed a kiss on his fingers.

“I would love to.”