“I can finish you right now.”

[The Imperial Sovereign’s Office]

Kaide entered through the door, his tentacles tangled in a disorganized mess, looking dazed and thoroughly defeated. He gazed toward that throne which rightfully belonged to him; it stood completely empty, isolated from its surroundings. Is my happy home, my beautiful life, about to end just like this…

“Has Your Majesty thought it through clearly?”

A sudden, ancient voice snapped Kaide back to reality in an instant. At this moment, Kaide had sobered up by seventy percent, and the Swordfish Grand Duke’s warning echoed in his ears with rising clarity:

“I warned Your Majesty long ago. That merman cannot be left alive.”

Kaide’s expression was anxious, his posture indecisive: “But… he counts as my blood uncle after all, even if distant… and I have a prior agreement with him.”

The corners of the Swordfish Grand Duke’s eyes wrinkled heavily, bearing a look of exasperation: “Your Majesty is simply too weak, which is why you are being bullied.”

Kaide agreed with a touch of distress: “I am indeed an excessively merciful Sovereign.”

The spines on the Grand Duke’s arms bristled one by one, his aged, cloudy eyes locking onto him: “Therefore, in my view, Your Majesty ought to display true grit and forcefully make an example out of that merman. Let him recognize his true predicament and regret his actions completely, returning the scepter to you, The Great King, the legitimate ruler of the New Empire.”

Just then, Heinz knocked and entered. As the number one favorite minister, his entries and exits from the Sovereign’s office had always been unimpeded. At this moment, he merely bowed slightly to the two men present before stacking the documents on the desk on his own accord.

Neither of the two men present paid him any heed. In the ideology of the seafolk, betas didn’t count as real people, and a jellyfish beta was worth less than the plastic trash bin tucked beneath the desk.

However, they had no idea that within the intelligence department, a phrase was widely circulated: The most brilliant infiltration is to join the enemy.

Heinz adjusted his tie, completely openly eavesdropping on state-level secrets.

Kaide asked: “To give Izu Paraiso a lesson, should I deploy the royal guard?”

Grand Duke: “Your Majesty is so merciful, how could we let your holy name be tarnished? A filthy matter like this is best handled by this old servant.”

Kaide recalled something, his spine shivering as his face betrayed terror: “But a pureblood merman cannot be killed. If he discovers we did it, will he return to seek vengeance upon us?”

The Swordfish Grand Duke finally bared a smile: “Rest assured, Your Majesty. I naturally possess a method to ensure he never returns.”

Heinz raised an eyebrow, growing thoughtful. Able to kill a pureblood merman… only a blood relative of a pureblood merman can do that. And the existing Merfolk of the Empire were entirely wiped out in a massacre ten years ago. Could the Grand Duke be hiding another merman?

Heinz lowered his head, tracking his reflection in the tip of his polished leather shoes. His expression appeared humble yet amused. Two Sovereigns, one old, one new, were about to turn on each other; into whose hands would the future of the Empire fall?

Things were finally getting interesting.

Waking up in the morning, the sky outside was gloomy, a chaotic expanse of greyish-white laced with heavy, fluffy snow that obscured the azure sea, forming the sole backdrop of the floor-to-ceiling panoramic window.

Bai Ling rose from the bed, inexplicably feeling entirely devoid of strength, his limbs limp and burning hot. Did I get a kidney deficiency?

…No, the one who indulged his desires last night wasn’t him at all.

Clutching his leg, Bai Ling forced his brain to turn, attempting to deduce the cause. Just then, the small robot rolled over, carrying the box for his new prosthesis, humming a little tune. Its camera swiveled.

Huh? The Mechanical Little Bird’s complexion looks rather poor today.

With a feverish flush painting his face, Bai Ling braced one foot against the bedside, looking thoroughly exhausted as he tightened his own screws. No. 24 screw… No. 26… hiss!

The moment the socket of the prosthesis came into contact with the cross-section of his limb, a piercing, throbbing ache blasted straight to his brain. It felt like a current of electricity surging through his spine, making him gasp from the pain.

Expressionless, Bai Ling wordlessly looked down.

…Damn it. No wonder it hurts like hell; my leg is swollen.

The violent dismantling with a screwdriver last night, followed by a soak in the bath, had caused this rotten bone to immediately make a fool of itself. It was inflamed.

The small robot’s sensor swept over him, delivering a faithful broadcast with a beep: “Internal cavity overheating, temperature 44.7°C. Requesting confirmation: shall we cancel today’s itinerary?”

Bai Ling instinctively turned his head to look at the opposite side of the bed. Unsurprisingly, it stood completely empty; the merman only slept with him for the first half of the night, spending the other half soaking in his pool.

Today was the finals of the Mecha Tournament, the focus of millions of eyes, he couldn’t possibly withdraw at the eleventh hour. Besides, performing while ill was nothing new to him. In the past, even when his leg swelled up like a bucket, he could still stomp on the throttle until the engine roared, annihilating eight enemy camps without breaking a sweat.

Bai Ling believed he was perfectly capable.

The small robot, however, stated: “As a responsible steward, I must report the damage condition of the Mechanical Little Bird to the Master exactly as it is.”

To hell with exactly as it is!

Bai Ling grabbed its antenna in one swift movement, lowering his voice dangerously: “Don’t you dare tell Yu Chen. If he goes crazy, both of us are finished today.”

AI: Warning: enemy nuclear strike detected inbound—

Someone leaned against the cold doorframe, the sharp lines of his jaw lifting as he so softly declared, “I can finish you right now.”

Bai Ling: “……”

Twenty minutes later, Bai Ling was forcefully escorted into the clinic.

Little Woodpecker came over to examine him. Taking one look, he saw a fever cooling patch stuck onto the white bird’s forehead. It was one of those customizable patches, and upon it were written five bold, sweeping words:

[I BITE. DO NOT APPROACH.]

Little Woodpecker: “…Did you stick that on yourself?”

Bai Ling lifted his eyes to glare at him, his tone ice-cold: “Obviously not.”

Seeing him messing around with his terminal, apparently filling out a complex application form for a tournament name change, Little Woodpecker asked curiously: “What are you changing your name to?”

Bai Ling kept his head down, and the cooling patch suddenly fell plop right onto his screen. Expressionless, he picked it up, obediently stuck it back on his forehead, and then, using every ounce of rebellion in his bones, gritted his teeth and read:

“[Anti-Authoritarian Element, Down with Imperialism]”

Little Woodpecker wiped the sweat from his brow: “…Well, it’s certainly got a ring to it.”

It just carried a distinct flavor of national grievance and personal vendetta.

A moment later, the authoritarian element himself pushed the door open, using his title as guardian to forcefully remain in the room and accompany his ward during the consultation.

The moment the wavy-haired merman arrived, the simply decorated consultation room instantly felt sumptuously grand. If you added two more mirrors, it could easily pass for an interstellar Palace of Versailles.

Bai Ling shielded the corner of his eye with his hand, entirely refusing to be enticed by the luxury and decadence of “Imperialism.”

Dr. Woodpecker, proving himself to be a man well-accustomed to grand spectacles, quickly composed himself and asked standard protocol: “Have you consumed any unusual food within the past 24 hours?”

Bai Ling pondered for a moment. He hadn’t eaten anything weird, right?

Yu Chen crossed his long legs. “He consumed a significant amount of protein.”

Bai Ling: ?!

Bai Ling: “Nonsense! I didn’t swallow it at all!”

Yu Chen slowly turned toward him, a deeply meaningful curve at the edge of his lips: “I was referring to the milk.”

Bai Ling: “…Right. I was talking about the milk too.”

Author’s Note:

Here we are! A bird’s normal body temperature is around 39°C to 42°C, so a little bird’s high fever would be much higher.

The Old Merman teaches you how to pry open the Mechanical Little Bird’s mouth and make him an obedient bird:

• Step 1: Place a cup of hot milk by the door.
• Step 2: Prepare a blanket. It needs to be massive, large enough to pin the bird down inside it.
• Step 3: Afterward, buy a gemstone mine to coax the bird.

See? Isn’t it simple? Go ahead and give it a try~