“Perky? It’s butt was perky?” Si Nan shivered at the sound of the wooden railing breaking, glancing at Si Xuanyang’s expression with caution, realizing belatedly how reckless his question had been.

“Yeah, he was only wearing a sheer veil, so you could see everything clearly,” Yu Sen explained seriously, with an innocent and calm tone.

“Oh… why was he only wearing a veil?” Si Nan stared straight ahead, not daring to look at his younger brother’s expression, cursing the shameless mermaid in his mind repeatedly. “How disgraceful; at least cover up with some fish scales!”

“He wanted to seduce me! Of course, being naked is the best, why cover up with fish scales?” Yu Sen’s face was almost splitting with laughter.

“!!!”

Si Nan’s heart skipped a beat, and an alarm went off in his mind. He quickly looked at his jealous younger brother.

Indeed, Si Xuanyang’s face turned dark, and in the dim light of the cabin, he looked even more gloomy and irritable, like a ticking time bomb, as if ready to explode and take everyone down with him.

“Hmm?”

Si Xuanyang was so angry that he couldn’t even speak, standing still, his gaze cold and fixed on the person in front of him. Despite the simple posture and the single syllable he managed to squeeze out of his throat, Yu Sen felt a sense of impending storm, as if last night’s sea wind was wrapping him in a tight embrace, leaving him breathless.

Suddenly, Yu Sen felt breathing becoming much more difficult.

He finally realized the danger and thought to himself that he must have been out of his mind to provoke him. He hurriedly wrapped his arms around Si Xuanyang’s neck and lightly pressed a kiss on his tight lips, like a soft feather brushing against them, evoking a sense of longing.

Then he explained slowly, “Mermaids use this method to make people sink into illusions. The person next door must have died this way. Since I wasn’t tempted by his seduction, I could naturally get out of the illusion smoothly.”

His voice wasn’t stammering or deliberately softened, but it carried a natural weakness of being sick. His upper body was leaning onto Si Xuanyang, with his warm, thin neck pressing against him, and his gaze soft like a newborn animal, reflecting an unawareness of dependence and intimacy.

“I told him to get lost! And I even kissed you in front of him. Really, I’m not lying.”

Yu Sen held him, feeling Si Xuanyang’s arm around his waist instinctively tighten, trying to pull him into a tight embrace. However, due to the injury on his waist, a sharp pain shot through, causing his body to tremble involuntarily, and he let out a muffled groan, supported by Si Xuanyang.

That arm tensed for a moment, then slowly moved from Yu Sen’s waist to his shoulder blades.

Si Xuanyang took a deep breath, holding him close, and muttered into his neck, “Sorry, I hurt you again. It’s my fault for not controlling myself.”

Yu Sen was being carefully held, blinking in a daze. Although he didn’t understand why this confrontation ended the same way as usual—with Si Xuanyang’s apology—it didn’t mean he wouldn’t cleverly take advantage of the situation.

“It’s okay, just a minor injury,” Yu Sen thought for a moment and added, “Don’t worry, that sea demon didn’t even touch me.”

“Hmm…” Si Xuanyang slowly released him, held the back of Yu Sen’s neck, kissed his pale lips, and spoke in a vague tone, “It doesn’t matter if he touched you, as long as you weren’t hurt. Anyway, next time…”

“Next time what?” Yu Sen asked, puzzled.

Si Xuanyang fixed his gaze on him, his hand sliding down to tightly grasp Yu Sen’s wrist.

“—Next time he appears, I’ll cut off his hand.”

Yu Sen: “…The sea demon is very strong. Don’t do anything rash.”

Si Nan, having watched the entire scene, swallowed nervously, knowing that for his younger brother, cutting off a hand was a real possibility.

He shivered three times inside and began to think hard about whether he had had any overly intimate physical contact with Yu Sen since they started dating.

Then, he had a heart-stopping realization—there probably was.

If one touch could lead to hand-chopping, what about hugging or leaning on each other…

Would Si Xuanyang dismember him!?

It seemed the villa was no longer safe. After some careful thought, Si Nan resignedly decided to move back to the old residence as soon as they returned. Although Mrs. Shu was fierce, she wouldn’t resort to killing her own son.

As for Si Xuanyang, he might very well do something to his older brother.

Si Nan sighed in sorrow: He couldn’t hug or cuddle with Yu Sen anymore; he was still young and didn’t want to die young.

…

After tidying up, they left the room together. The door to the adjacent room was wide open, and the sea breeze from the unclosed window blew into the room and then into the corridor, carrying a natural scent of seawater.

They had left in a hurry the previous night and hadn’t paid much attention to the ship’s interior. Now, as they looked around, they found that the 17th or 18th-century ship had a unique charm.

Although many parts looked old and decayed, unlike modern steel ships, the wooden and copper elements had a more rustic and substantial aesthetic. Plus, being a pirate ship, the ship’s body itself seemed to exude a fierce and brutal aura.

Walking through such a ship, it felt like a pirate with an eye patch might suddenly appear from any corner, wearing a distinctive leather hat.

However, upon reaching the dining room, they didn’t encounter any crew members, let alone pirates.

But it was worth noting that the food on the ship wasn’t bad. It was much better than the last time at the opera theater, and even included a whole roast pig for breakfast. It was clear that the pirate captain knew how to enjoy life and plunder effectively.

Yu Sen’s head was still dizzy, and his body temperature remained high. Though he wasn’t nauseous, he really had no appetite.

However, Si Xuanyang’s gaze remained fixed on him, like two silent reprimands. Yu Sen could barely stand it and managed to eat some light food to fill his stomach.

…

After finishing their meal and searching for clues all day, they realized their understanding of the ship’s owner had been quite off.

Not only was he good at plundering—he was a downright greedy money hoarder.

Yu Sen had previously wondered why, despite the ship’s large size, the crew’s quarters they stayed in were not big, and only a four-person room. It turned out that the other rooms were used to store the stolen treasures!

According to their knowledge of typical medieval pirates, they had fixed islands to hide their treasures, wines, and supplies. They would periodically sail to these islands to either take or store items, rather than piling everything onto the ship, which was unsafe and unnecessary.

This meant that the treasures filling the rooms were stolen from various coastal raids during the ship’s voyages.

To amass so much in one go was astonishing in its greed.

The items in the rooms showed that the pirate captain accepted all valuable things: sparkling jewelry, gold coins, finely crafted swords and guns, European furniture, exquisite mechanical watches and music boxes, and crystal bottles of rum…

There were even elaborate corsets and perfumes used by women of the time, suggesting that many beautiful women had been aboard, handled and admired like precious gold and silver jewels.

It seemed that even the negative rumors about pirates didn’t affect this capricious and greedy captain, who remained just as greedy when they encountered those beautiful sea demons.

Eventually, the sea demons subdued them.

Yu Sen and his group’s task was to liberate the pirates on this ship.

But the crucial question was, what exactly constituted liberation?

They hadn’t seen a single pirate yet.

…

The ship was quite large with many rooms. They examined everything thoroughly and only finished exploring the upper deck around three or four in the afternoon.

While sunset came later at sea, the temperature dropped quickly. Yu Sen had been moving around all day, stopping and starting, and even though Si Xuanyang had been supporting most of his weight, he was still groggy.

Si Xuanyang had several times tried to take him back to the room to rest, but Yu Sen insisted on continuing. The cold wind made him feel weak and dizzy, unable to discern directions.

Si Xuanyang, frustrated, unceremoniously picked him up, ignoring the curious looks from others, and wrapped him warmly before carrying him back to the room.

And by the way, he also brought back a bottle of alcohol.

On a pirate ship, there was no shortage of alcohol.

Yu Sen knew that he had lost consciousness for a short while. At that time, the scene in front of him spread into a black circle, and even the hand he had been using to hug Si Xuanyang’s neck unknowingly fell away.

He had no idea when he entered the room or when he was carried to bed.

He was aware that this was due to low blood sugar and wasn’t too worried. When he opened his eyes, Si Xuanyang was sitting beside him, staring at him with a heavy gaze, bloodshot eyes, softly calling his name.

Yu Sen managed to force a smile, reached out from under the blanket to touch Si Xuanyang’s face, and noticed the bottle of alcohol in his arms. A glimmer of spirit appeared in his weak eyes as he gave a feeble smile.

“…What? You want to drink alcohol in a place like this?”

Si Xuanyang glanced at the bottle, his fingers slipping into Yu Sen’s loose sleeve, rubbing his warm arm, and explained softly, “There’s no medicine on the ship. I want to use the alcohol to wipe your body and cool you down; otherwise, you’ll feel worse.”

Wipe his body? Yu Sen blinked dully, his mind a bit foggy. “Then… Do I need to take off my clothes for you to touch me?”

Si Xuanyang, rarely amused, leaned down and kissed Yu Sen’s warm, honey-like lips. With a serious nod, he coaxed gently.

—“Yes, it won’t hurt. If you let me take off your clothes, I’ll be more gentle.”

^[1]Author’s Note:

Tsk, tsk, tsk, so clingy and sticky.