Morning light broke through the dawn, and the surroundings gradually brightened.

“…How did you end up here?”

When he heard this sentence, Yu Bai sensed that the other party’s mental sea seemed to darken just a little.

It was a sign that his mood had slightly worsened.

He didn’t understand what Fu Linyuan was asking, but he could clearly feel the emotional shift.

So Yu Bai instinctively smiled at him.

But this method, which had always worked before, didn’t seem to be effective this time.

Fu Linyuan’s brows furrowed even deeper.

The little sea creature squatted on the ground, covered in blood and grime, his already slender frame curled up into a small ball. Even though it wasn’t clear where he was hurt, the sight still evoked a strong sense of pity.

The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds until Fu Linyuan spoke first.

“Where are you hurt?”

From his tone, Yu Bai guessed what he meant, and quickly shook his head, then pointed at the two Punk Star people lying on the ground nearby, indicating that the blood on him belonged to them.

Then he couldn’t help but gesture animatedly, trying to tell Fu Linyuan how those two had followed him, tried to grab his hair, and got angry when he dodged.

They tried to make a move, and then he beat them up.

Fu Linyuan glanced over and identified from their clothing that they were star pirates.

The two lying on the ground had bruised faces, utterly unrecognizable, their exposed blue skin covered in deep purple contusions from heavy blows, and they were barely breathing.

It was hard to imagine what kind of brute strength had caused such destruction in such a short time.

Fu Linyuan’s gaze paused, returning to the figure still crouched on the ground.

The surroundings fell quiet again for a few seconds, then a slightly low voice sounded, carrying a touch of indiscernible emotion.

“Well done.”

Yu Bai understood this sentence.

It was praise!

So the little mermaid’s eyes lit up, and he smiled again.

Dawn streaked across the sky, and in that moment, the brilliant light illuminated those blue eyes.

It inexplicably reminded one of a dazzling sunrise over the boundless sea.

“…Alright,” Fu Linyuan didn’t seem curious about why he had acted. “Let’s go.”

Yu Bai understood this sentence too.

So the little mermaid stood up happily and tried to follow him.

But maybe because he had been squatting for too long, or maybe because he got up too quickly, Yu Bai suddenly felt both his legs lose all strength the moment he straightened them. As a field of golden stars burst in front of his eyes, he lost his balance and fell forward.

Then he crashed into a rock-hard chest.

Yu Bai’s nose was hit so hard it hurt a little.

The sour sting in his nasal cavity made him squint slightly, and a thin layer of moisture immediately welled up in his eyes.

The man who caught him also paused for a moment.

Just as he was about to let go, he heard the person in his arms draw a sharp breath.

So the words on his lips changed into:

“What’s wrong?”

Yu Bai pointed at his own leg.

His legs suddenly felt so strange.

It was as if something was crawling over them—or like countless fine needles pricking him without end.

Especially the right leg—it was not only numb and itchy, but also intensely painful. The flesh of his calf felt like it was being twisted into a knot by someone tugging hard on it.

The little mermaid panicked.

He hadn’t used much mental power when beating up those two strange guys just now.

Even ten more of them wouldn’t have been a problem.

But now, his legs suddenly felt so strange, as if they were about to transform back into a fish tail at any moment.

Fu Linyuan lowered his head, and with just one glance, he understood what was going on.

Probably from squatting too long—he had a cramp.

But the little mermaid who had just taken down two strong punk guys barehanded seemed to be experiencing this for the first time. Surprise, helplessness, and a hint of fear filled his watery eyes, making him look like a pitiful little creature who had unexpectedly run into trouble. It softened the heart without warning.

With eyes lowered, the man’s voice carried an almost imperceptible gentleness.

“Don’t move.”

He half-carried and half-guided him to sit on a nearby low piece of broken wall, squatted down, and rolled up the right leg of his pants.

The exposed section of calf was pale and straight, the ankle delicately outlined by gauze. At the moment, the thin muscle of the calf was tightly knotted, occasionally twitching involuntarily.

This was Yu Bai’s first time experiencing something like this.

The strange and unfamiliar pain in his leg made him panic a little. He instinctively clutched the fabric on Fu Linyuan’s shoulder.

“Hang in there…” Just before reaching out, Fu Linyuan paused, then softly added, “It might hurt a little.”

Before he finished speaking, warm fingers pressed against the cool skin and began to apply pressure in a steady rhythm.

It hurt!

The extremely sensitive nerves doubled the pain, and Yu Bai gasped several times, his fingers nearly wrinkling Fu Linyuan’s clothes.

It really hurt…

Unable to help himself, the little mermaid bit his lower lip and closed his eyes. His thin back trembled slightly — he felt like crying from the pain.

How could it hurt this much…

But before the tears welled up in his eyes could fall, the nearly unbearable pain gradually eased under the rhythmic massage.

Fu Linyuan’s palm was warm. With his controlled pressure, the spasming muscle finally started to relax.

In the morning sunlight, the tall man knelt beside the seemingly fragile young boy, eyes lowered, carefully massaging his leg.

When Duke parked the flyer and stuck his head out to look for them, this was the scene he saw.

The outstanding adjutant, who had served the military for five years, once again fell silent.

…He couldn’t quite say why, but in that moment, he just felt very, very, very unnecessary.

Then he noticed something off.

Who was this pretty silver-haired boy?

Didn’t the Marshal say he was coming out to look for Xiao Bai?

…Wait…

When he got a good look at the boy’s face, Duke’s eyes widened — and then he froze.

At first, when he saw the disguise device on Xiao Bai’s ear, he assumed the other’s appearance was too strange, and the Marshal had given it to him to avoid drawing attention.

Now it seemed…

Avoiding attention was definitely the goal.

Duke couldn’t describe how he felt in that moment.

For an instant, he finally understood why, in ancient myths, a siren’s mere appearance could lure an entire fleet of sailors to willingly drown at sea.

Even with blood and grime on his face, it didn’t affect the breathtaking beauty of his features at all.

When his long lashes lowered, they cast a faint shadow beneath his eyes. His silver hair shone smoothly under the sunlight.

Just sitting there quietly, he looked like a living painting.

…Was this really the supposedly ugly little merfolk?

Duke stayed dazed for quite a while before coming back to his senses.

He ducked his head back into the flyer, touched his nose, and wisely chose to lightly tap the horn.

After the two boarded the flyer, Duke stole a glance at them through the rearview mirror and spoke up.

“I’ve got good news and bad news, Comm— uh, Boss, which one do you want to hear first?”

Fu Linyuan gave him a look.

That one glance sent chills down Duke’s spine. He shrank his neck and dropped all pretense, replying honestly, “The bad news is, our people still lost them at the warp point. They used a magnetic storm near the warp area to cover their tracks. Our tracking ship was too small and couldn’t withstand the impact, so I had to order them to pull back.”

As he spoke, his tone grew a bit dejected.

The people they had been tracking were those who had bid on Medusa at the auction.

They suspected the buyer belonged to a lab that specialized in illegal substances.

They’d been following this lead for a long time, but it had always been patchy and based on indirect evidence. It was only recently they learned the suspect might appear at this auction.

If this laboratory truly exists, then it would undoubtedly pose a tremendous threat to the Aon Empire—and to the entire Interstellar Federation.

Just judging from the Medusa they brought out this time, that much was clear.

Who would have thought… even after months of preparation… in the end, they still lost them.

Fu Linyuan responded with a soft “Mm,” his tone holding no blame: “The good news?”

“The one who just snuck into the room has been captured. He’s already been brought back to the main ship to await interrogation,” Duke said as he started the flyer. “This person appeared to be an auction house bodyguard on the surface, but we just found a… mark… on him.”

At this point, Duke couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief.

This was the first time in so long that they had caught someone suspected of being directly connected to the lab.

When he heard the final two words, Fu Linyuan’s eyes turned sharp.

Then Duke continued, “Their target seems to be…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, because his gaze shifted in the rearview mirror toward Yu Bai, who was leaning against the window, looking down.

No one knew what kind of muddy pit this little mermaid had rolled through—his coat was wrinkled and filthy, and even his face had smudges of grime.

Fu Linyuan also looked at the person sitting beside him.

The latter didn’t seem to be riding a flyer for the first time. There was no panic or disorientation from entering an unfamiliar environment — rather, his excitement and curiosity were obvious.

Yu Bai was indeed quite curious.

This was the fourth time in his two lives that he had looked down from a flying box.

Twice it had been when that big liar dragged him out of the sea in both lifetimes.

The other time was the day Fu Linyuan had taken him out of the lab in his previous life.

So this… was what it felt like to be a bird?

Looking down from such a height, everything his eyes could see appeared much smaller than it did from the ground. For the first time, Yu Bai saw the full view of the auction house.

It was a prominent, pale-colored building, with many strangely shaped sculptures embedded on its outer walls. Yu Bai stared at them for a long while, but still couldn’t figure out what species they were supposed to be.

Anyway, it wasn’t anything he recognized.

Then the flyer continued to rise higher and higher.

As the altitude increased, the sky gradually deepened in color, and the white clouds drew closer and closer to him.

Pressing against the glass, the little mermaid — who had spent most of his life in water — watched with great focus.

Completely unaware of the gaze that had silently fallen on the back of his head.

The flyer steadily approached the starship suspended mid-air.