“…Twenty-five billion!”

“…Thirty billion!”

“…Thirty-three billion!”

The bidding price for the merfolk was rising at a staggering pace.

Meanwhile, the scar-faced man was still waiting outside Box 203.

He didn’t quite understand—if the boss had already confirmed the location of the goods, why had he instructed him to wait until the end of tonight’s auction if the other party didn’t open the door?

But the boss always had his reasons.

So with no response from inside, the scar-faced man obediently followed orders and waited quietly in the corridor.

Inside the box, Duke frowned when he heard the knocking. “Boss, this…”

But before he could finish, he saw Fu Linyuan press the button beside him again, seemingly casually, and then tap the confirmation to raise the bid on the screen that popped up.

The host on stage grew even more excited: “Forty billion! Guest No. 203 has bid forty billion!”

Duke: “…”

He took a deep breath and reminded in a low voice, “Head office probably won’t…”

…approve reimbursement for this amount.

Besides, wasn’t the Marshal always opposed to—

“I know,” Fu Linyuan interrupted his thoughts. “This part will come from my personal account.”

Duke knew that merfolk blood contained components that could suppress mental breakdowns, and he also knew that the Marshal’s spiritual sea had deteriorated to an alarming degree.

But up until today’s operation, the Marshal had shown no interest whatsoever in the merfolk auction.

Even after several of his subordinates had taken turns trying to persuade him, he seemed entirely indifferent.

Thinking of this, Duke couldn’t help glancing at Yu Bai, still curled up asleep on the sofa.

He seemed… different from other merfolk.

If communication were possible, could they maybe… ask for his help voluntarily?

As if sensing his thoughts, Fu Linyuan’s gaze remained fixed on the display platform below. “…When he wakes up, ask for his home planet’s coordinates. If he wants to go back, take him.”

Duke: …???

He looked at Yu Bai in disbelief and asked, “Boss, you’re planning to… send him home?”

Did he hear that right?

The Marshal was going to spend tens of billions, and then just release him?

Fu Linyuan frowned and shot him a glance: “Got a problem?”

Duke sheepishly rubbed his nose: “…No, Boss, no problem at all.”

The bidding had already reached fifty billion.

“Fifty billion! Any bids higher than fifty billion?”

Coincidentally, the bidder still raising the price was from Box 207—

It seemed they were determined to win the merfolk.

At such a high price, many other bidders had already withdrawn.

Fifty billion.

But the guest in Box 207 wasn’t ready to give up—they raised the bid by another five billion.

“Fifty-five billion!” The host was so excited, his face had turned red. “Guest No. 207 has bid fifty-five billion! Any other offers?”

Fu Linyuan remained expressionless and casually added another ten billion.

Sixty-five billion. The bidder in Box 207 seemed stunned.

They went silent for a full minute before adding another five billion.

Fu Linyuan added another ten billion.

This time, the opponent went completely quiet.

“Eighty billion once! Eighty billion twice! Eighty billion thrice! Sold—! Let us congratulate Guest No. 203…”

Only then did Fu Linyuan withdraw his gaze from the stage below, calmly instructing Duke to go ask the person still waiting outside what he wanted.

Yu Bai was woken up by Duke.

To be exact, he woke up while Duke was wrapping his ankle in bandages.

The little mermaid was naturally very resistant to human contact.

But the human with brown eyes in front of him was the one who had appeared earlier in the projection.

Fu Linyuan knew him.

So Yu Bai suppressed the instinct to kick the man away and instead sat up slowly.

“You’re awake?” Duke had no idea he’d just narrowly escaped a kick. He put the remaining bandages back into the medical kit and said, “Your right ankle is pretty badly sprained, but our comm—our boss already applied medicine. Try not to walk much for a few days and you’ll heal soon…”

He spoke quickly, and Yu Bai didn’t understand a word of what he was saying.

Looking around, he realized he was back in the same suite as before.

But this time, there were no handcuffs restraining his wrists.

Seeing Yu Bai stay silent, Duke recalled that the merfolk in front of him might not understand what he was saying.

Scratching his head, he tentatively called out the name the Marshal had given him: “Xiao Bai?”

?

Yu Bai looked up, tilting his head in confusion.

What do you want?

His clear, watery blue eyes looked up with a hint of childlike innocence and bewilderment.

Even knowing that the creature before him was a merfolk — violent and not very intelligent — being looked at with such an innocent gaze still made Duke unconsciously soften his tone and begin gesturing as he spoke:

“We’re about to leave Tarl Star. Do you remember where your home planet is? The boss bought your freedom and asked me to take you home.”

But Yu Bai only understood a few of the words.

We, leave, Tarl Star, go home.

Yu Bai wasn’t too sure what the word “go home” meant, but if he remembered right, in human terms, it referred to a place where you could sleep at night.

The brown-eyed human in front of him meant…

They were going to leave Tarl Star to go to sleep?

Thinking this, Yu Bai nodded in semi-understanding, indicating that he got it.

He actually nodded!

Recalling the interaction he saw earlier in the video call between him and the superior, Duke thought to himself.

This little merfolk really does seem smart.

Driven by curiosity, he looked at Yu Bai and asked, “Can you understand what I’m saying?”

Yu Bai did understand that sentence.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded.

Then he raised his hand, made a fist, and attempted to gesture “just a little.”

He could understand, but not much.

Duke: !

Duke: “Do you know who just saved you?”

Yu Bai nodded again.

Fu Linyuan was his friend from his previous life.

The first human who ever reached out to help him.

Duke slowed his speech: “The one who just saved you is my boss, he…”

Yu Bai listened attentively.

Oh, so Fu Linyuan’s name is pronounced “my boss.”

Duke had no idea the little mermaid had completely misunderstood. He reached out and mimed the shape of a starship in the air: “He asked me to check if you want to go home. I can take you back.”

Sleep?

Yu Bai blinked.

He wasn’t sleepy at all right now.

So he shook his head.

“?” Duke was a bit confused, “You don’t want to go home?”

As far as he knew, mermaid were a deeply home-attached species. Successful captures almost always happened near their discovered nests, using the “wait-and-ambush” method.

But Yu Bai didn’t really understand why the human in front of him kept asking if he wanted to go to sleep.

He had just woken up — not sleepy at all.

So he shook his head again, even more firmly this time.

Duke thought for a few seconds, then tapped on the smart terminal on his wrist.

A starmap was projected between the two of them.

“Do you remember where your home is?” Duke asked.

Although this wasn’t the first time Yu Bai had seen a starmap, other than the Aon Empire’s region, which looked somewhat familiar, he didn’t recognize any other areas.

That familiarity was thanks to Fu Linyuan previously introducing the Aon Empire’s territory while they were in the lab.

But unfortunately, before they could reach the main star he spoke of, the starship had already fallen apart.

Duke didn’t know what Yu Bai was thinking, and assumed he had spoken too quickly again, so he repeated the question slowly, word by word: “Do you remember where your home is?”

Duke’s voice pulled Yu Bai’s attention back.

…Why does this person keep asking where I sleep?

Feeling a bit muddled, Yu Bai pointed directly at the Aon Empire’s main star among the many planets.

Seeing where he pointed, Duke was stunned.

He thought Yu Bai didn’t understand and said, “You mean, your home is here?”

Yu Bai nodded seriously.

Duke was about to say more, but just then, a notification popped up on the terminal — he had received an encrypted message.

Probably from one of his men tracking down Medusa’s buyer that night.

Duke thought for a moment, then turned off the starmap projection and slowly said to Yu Bai, “Tarl Star is a very dangerous place.”

“I have some work to take care of right now. Stay in the room and don’t go out…” Duke originally intended to cuff the little mermaid with an electronic shackle, but remembering his boss had said the little mermaid could pick locks, he gave up the idea.

He’d just lock the door from the outside.

This was a hotel under the auction house. As long as the little guy didn’t leave, nothing should happen.

With that in mind, Duke pointed at the door and made an X with his hands: “Don’t open the door for anyone either. Stay here. I’ll come back as soon as I’m done, then we’ll figure out how to get you home.”

The ocean-blue eyes looked at him quietly for a few seconds, and then their owner obediently nodded.

So Duke temporarily left the room.

Yu Bai only understood a few of Duke’s final words.

Tarl Star, danger, don’t go out, come back.

…Was this human telling him to escape quickly?

Left in the room, Yu Bai stared somewhat confusedly at the door.

He had just heard the sound of it locking.

Duke said quite a bit, and not being sure if he had interpreted correctly, Yu Bai hesitated a little. In the end, he quietly used a wisp of his mental power to slip through the door crack and observe the outside.

The corridor was still quiet, and Duke was already out of sight.

After watching for a while and seeing nothing suspicious—

Just as Yu Bai was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly sensed someone at the end of the corridor.

That person was sneaking toward his room and soon silently stopped outside the door.

As the distance closed, Yu Bai recognized him.

It was one of the thugs who had chased him the night before.

The man was holding something.

It wasn’t until the man pressed the object to the door’s scanner that the little mermaid reacted.

With a beep of successful recognition…

The door opened.