Four hours ago, at the Undertakers’ base.
The other members of the Undertakers had all temporarily left. Long Shiyu sat on the soft sofa, and the half-white-haired man in front of him burst into tears, saying, “My king, I knew you would definitely come back.”
Long Shiyu tried his best to recollect, asking, “Who…are you?”
The other party wiped his tears away and replied, “My name is Will. When you saw me before, I probably had not been able to transform into human form yet. My true form is a Black Thunder Turtle.”
Long Shiyu thought for a moment and said, “I still have no impression…”
It had been so long, and it was indeed rare for an exotic creature to recognize him. Most of them were probably long-lived races like turtle-like beasts.
Will explained, “Do you remember the black-backed turtle standing in the corner of the crowd during your coronation? It was on your left.”
This brought back some memories.
Back then, when he first ascended the throne, all the beasts had come to see him. The ground below was packed with ferocious beasts that bowed their heads, but all he wanted was to go back to sleep.
However, that black-backed turtle was so big that several small turtles had to carry him in. This event left quite an impression on Long Shiyu.
Long Shiyu commented, “So that was you.”
“No,” Will smiled shyly, “I was one of the little turtles carrying him underneath.”
Long Shiyu didn’t know what to say to that.
“In short, I’ve stayed here for a long time, even before this place became a city,” Will continued, tears welling up again. “I’ve been waiting and hoping for your return. It seems that totally is finally the day.”
Will wiped his tears. “But… why won’t you let me inform the believers?”
“Well,” Long Shiyu yawned, “There’s just no need for that. I’m leaving soon, and I don’t want others to know. And just ‘Shiyu’ will do; I don’t want to arouse anyone’s suspicion.”
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. I came here with someone else.”
Will sighed deeply, “It seems that I can’t follow in your footsteps after all. Your fame should spread across the stars. How I hope to see you return to the throne one day. As long as you are willing, the Undertakers shall lay all their resources at your feet.”
He was so excited that he couldn’t contain himself, but Long Shiyu was not interested in it at all. He was still very hungry and asked, “What is there to eat here?”
“There’s lots, there’s lots,” Will immediately reassured. “I’ll ask someone to prepare it for you right away… though the things we can make here are not very exquisite… Speaking of which, there is a large auction tonight, and the best cook in Kassand will be there.”
Long Shiyu’s eyes immediately lit up, “Can I go to that auction?”
“Of course. I’m still the second-in-command here.” Will vowed, “I will definitely invite you over with the highest courtesy. Coincidentally, the boss here will also be at the auction tonight, so I’m afraid I’ll have to excuse myself for a while.”
So, four hours later, Long Shiyu met the so-called boss and happily embraced him.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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As they descended the steps behind the iron gate, Shen Zhaomu whispered in his ear, “What on earth is going on?”
“I came here to get food. They told me there was a lot of good food here.”
Shen Zhaomu: “…”
He took a deep breath.
“Explain everything to me later.”
After walking down the steps and passing through several doors, their field of view abruptly widened.
The auction house, which could accommodate thousands of people, was packed with attendees. The lights on the seats were dim, making it hard to see each other clearly. The auction table in the center was brightly lit. Looking around, they saw guards hiding in the dark next to the beautifully carved pillars.
This was known as the Bill Hoya auction.
It was one of the most famous underground auctions in Kassand, known for its safe and stable transactions. Local forces, large and small, as well as mercenaries from other places, would auction rare treasures here. Even some hunters and interstellar police would make a special trip. After all, it was the perfect place to sell stolen goods.
In Kassand, people didn’t care where things came from.
The same applied to treasures.
Li Yang had a private room here. Originally, Will was discussing matters with him in the box today, talking about how to continue developing the gambling industry on that street. However, after taking a few glances at Long Shiyu, he realized that…
The King and that person seemed to know each other. They even seemed to be on friendly terms.
As a result, Will immediately put the negotiation aside and watched Long Shiyu follow Shen Zhaomu into the room. After waving goodbye, he led the black-robed people to the other side.
That being said, Will was still extremely jealous and dissatisfied.
That man was just a mere human. What right did he have to be so close to the king?
Long Shiyu followed Shen Zhaomu into the room.
In that opulent room, skins of wild animals were laid out on the carpet, the sofa seats were made of red velvet, and the walls were decorated with Ukiyo-e style patterns depicting all sorts of things: humans battling evil beasts, sirens singing on rocks, a giant dragon coiled around an ancient castle, dragon whales of the abyssal depths and resplendent phoenixes soaring in a sea of fire.
This artistic style was particularly popular in the early Star Sea Era. After all, when humans first entered the Interstellar Federation, history was an epic of constant battles to the death with exotic beasts.
Some beasts became extinct, some learned to compromise with humans, and some never surrendered, hiding their fangs in the darkness.
Not all exotic beasts were like dragons, where each individual had intelligence comparable to that of humans. Generally speaking, exotic beasts that were not sapient were much easier to deal with.
There was top-notch service in the private room. They only needed to operate the menu to summon a robot to deliver food and drinks. From the moment he came in, Long Shiyu couldn’t stop ordering.
It took a while for Long Shiyu to finish ordering his food. By the time he was done, the auction still hadn’t started. It was only then that Long Shiyu remembered to explain to Shen Zhaomu why he was here.
“Oh, by the way, I am here today because…”
“Don’t talk about it yet,” Shen Zhaomu interrupted him. “We’ll talk about it when we get back.”
Kassand was really chaotic, especially in a place like the Bill Hoya auction. Even though his psychic power could ensure that there would be no eavesdropping, he was always extra cautious—a necessary quality for a hunter.
“Okay,” Long Shiyu agreed as he focused his thoughts on the delicacies that would soon arrive.
After the two beautifully crafted side dishes were served, the auction officially began. The host, wearing a mask, walked onto the stage, his well-fitted clothes exuding an air of dignity. Words poured out of his mouth…
But Long Shiyu didn’t listen to a single one of them. His focus was on when the next dish would be served.
It was only when the host lifted the red cloth, revealing the first item to be auctioned, that Long Shiyu’s attention was drawn.
It was a sparkling, dazzling rose-purple gemstone, radiating a fantastical color under the lights.
Long Shiyu’s eyes were immediately fixed on it.
Gemstone.
Shiny, good stuff.
It had to be said—evil dragons only desired two things in life: treasure, and princesses. That gemstone was immensely alluring. Long Shiyu sat up straight and stared intently at the stage.
“…Three million.”
“Three and a half million.”
“Three point six million.”
This gemstone was rare, and people kept bidding on it, causing the price to soar.
The final transaction price stopped at 5.5 million. When the hammer fell, Long Shiyu felt disheartened.
The gem went to someone else once again.
As Long Shiyu reluctantly watched the gem being taken away, he was suddenly pushed back onto the sofa by his shoulders. Shen Zhaomu half-hugged him and laughed softly, saying, “Don’t look at it; they are all stolen goods. If you’re really interested, I can bring you to places where you can buy them through proper channels.”
Long Shiyu, unable to get that gemstone out of his mind, kept on the lookout for the next auction item. However, he was rather tired today and couldn’t help but yawn.
Shen Zhaomu pushed him back again, saying, “Be good, I’ll buy a few for you to play with after we get home. Sleep for now. The items I’m waiting for haven’t arrived yet.”
“I can’t fall asleep…” Long Shiyu still felt regretful. “Why don’t you tell me some bedtime stories?”
Shen Zhaomu: “…That’s beyond my abilities.”
“Sob.”
“…Alright, let me think about it. What kind of story do you want to hear?”
“A princess story.”
This posed a challenge for Shen Zhaomu.
In his life, there had never been such a thing as a “bedtime story.” The Shen clan’s training was strict, and it was common for children to be left in the wilderness to spend the night. During such times, his siblings would tell supernatural stories to pass the time.
But if he told Long Shiyu a supernatural story, he would probably not be able to sleep that night. The naive dragon would likely be frightened and curl up into a ball, holding his tail in his mouth.
Among the members of the alliance, there were friendly races other than humans, and they had many princesses. Shen Zhaomu began to recall the princess stories he had heard during his journeys.
After a long pause, he began, “Once upon a time, in a distant galaxy, there was a lark princess of the beastmen tribe. She was very beautiful and charming. But she had been plagued by nightmares for many days, so the association dispatched us to help her resolve the problem.”
Long Shiyu listened with interest.
“However,” Shen Zhaomu recalled the situation at the time, “they discovered the nightmare too late. Before our team could get there, she died in her sleep after strangling herself due to the nightmare. There were horrible bruises left on her body. So, the moral of the story is that when we encounter problems, we should seek help from the Hunter Association in time.”
Long Shiyu: “…”
Shen Zhaomu looked at the expression on the young man’s face and realized something was not right. He quickly added, “Let me tell you another story.”
Since he didn’t have much experience regarding princesses, he began to recount the stories he had heard from others.
After some thought, he continued, “Once upon a time, in a distant galaxy, there was a girl living in a swamp. She was very beautiful and charming. Legend has it that she was an escaped princess from a lost kingdom. She often baked cakes for the locals.”
Long Shiyu became excited once more.
“But soon, people discovered frequent disappearances in the swamp. They raised funds and invited interstellar mercenaries to come over. They eventually discovered that the girl was an exotic beast. Every full moon, she would turn into a werewolf and eat people in the swamp. In the end, the mercenaries killed her and burned her body to prevent the spread of the werewolf virus. People were relieved and erected a monument for the mercenaries.”
Long Shiyu: “…Sob”.
He was truly on the verge of tears.
Shen Zhaomu thought he had told an exciting story, but he soon realized the situation had worsened.
Realizing that he should just shut up, he resolutely pressed Long Shiyu’s head against his chest and said with a guilty conscience, “Don’t listen anymore, just go to sleep.”
Author’s Note:
Today’s chapter is about the battle between the amazing storyteller Shen Zhaomu and the sobbing dragon.
One cutesy sob a day: 2/1
Thank you for the chapter! ❤
Shen Zhaomu needs to invest in some picture books with the gemstones
A dragon overlord this cute…that must be a crime! 🤭🤣🤣
Yeah, the possessiveness of a hunter towards his prey; yeah sure. By the time our super-duper overpowered princess realizes what is going on, he’ll be so hooked he probably won’t even be that angry at Long Shiyu for keeping things from him 😅
He wants princess stories ☺️