Long Shiyu accidentally discovered that Lu Shanhuai also enjoyed playing Fight the Landlord.
The revelation came when he was dining at a restaurant, and he heard the familiar game music emanating from Lu Shanhuai’s terminal. Intrigued, he took a look.
Quadruple the stakes.
And Lu Shanhuai won.
Their exchange of contact information enabled them to see each other’s rankings in the game. Long Shiyu was initially unaware of this, and only learned of it after Lu Shanhuai, post-game, lamented, “Your score is so tragic. C’mon, I’ll teach you how to play this game!”
“Oh,” Long Shiyu replied.
Thus, Lu Shanhuai proceeded to demonstrate and played three or four games with Long Shiyu. While playing, he explained strategies for analyzing the situation and guessing opponents’ cards.
“…But here,” Lu Shanhuai furrowed his brows, “I don’t know what his remaining two cards are. It could be problematic if they form a pair.”
At this stage of the game, each player held only two or three cards. It was a pivotal moment.
Just as Lu Shanhuai was pondering what to do, he heard Long Shiyu say, “He didn’t play a single card in the previous few rounds. He should have a pair of jacks in his hand. Your teammate has an ace and an 8.”
Lu Shanhuai was taken aback.
He turned to Long Shiyu and asked, “You actually memorize the cards when playing?”
“What do you mean by ‘memorize’?”
“Keeping a record of all the cards that have been played,” Lu Shanhuai said as he played a card. “I never bother with that. Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to remember it.”
“I see,” Long Shiyu replied, “I thought everyone would memorize it.” His excellent memory allowed him to recall every game clearly.
…Nevertheless, even with this ability, he had lost quite miserably before. He probably hadn’t quite figured things out yet.
This time, Lu Shanhuai emerged victorious once more. The farmers defeated the landlord.
Lu Shanhuai returned to the main menu and asked, “Sister-in-law, you must be a top student, right?”
“No, I’ve never attended school,” Long Shiyu replied truthfully.
Dragons lacked a comprehensive education system. Even parents would abandon their offspring once they were capable of self-sufficiency. However, all dragons were inherently able to read and speak Draconic.
“That’s a shame,” Lu Shanhuai remarked. “Perhaps you’re a genius with a photographic memory.”
“I’m not interested,” Long Shiyu replied, still focused on Lu Shanhuai’s terminal screen. “Are you going to continue playing?”
“Do you want to form a team? There are four-man matches.”
“Sure.”
The golden light returned to the ancient oil lamp and the match records were updated once more.
He consistently placed first.
Meanwhile, Shen Zhaomu sighed lightly. Just as he was about to pack up and leave, a piece of rough paper fell from his backpack.
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.
“Ktgbcf bo Szbalm Jgfjaegfr” tjv yffc kglaafc bc la gfqfjafvis. Lf’v erf rb wemt obgmf bc rbwf bo atf ragbxfr atja atf qjqfg kjr cfjgis abgc.
Dea jijr, tf jikjsr mjwf yjmx ab atf rjwf defralbc: Qtb fzjmais lr atf bcf bc atf atgbcf?
Vtfc Itjbwe rabgfv atf qjqfg jkjs klatbea vlrqijslcu jcs fwbalbc jcv bnfgtfjgv j mbcnfgrjalbc bearlvf atf agjlclcu gbbw.
“Have you seen the person Shen Zhaomu brought back?”
“Yes, I have. I heard Qin Shi say that he’s planning to take him along on a mission too,” the man sneered. “Seems like he’s no longer interested in the chief position.”
“That’s right. I heard that Shi… Shiyu hasn’t even awakened his spiritual power. Taking him on a mission would be a death sentence.”
“Isn’t there a saying that heroes often fall under the charms of a beauty? Tch, but with that appearance, even a straight man like me can’t resist.”
“Initially, I thought the other contenders for the chief position couldn’t compare to him, but now…”
Shen Zhaomu slung his tactical backpack over a shoulder, opened the training room door, and stepped out. His coat displayed the emblem of a lion with wings on its back fighting a dragon — the emblem of the dragon-hunting family passed down through the ages.
The two hunters didn’t anticipate the subject of their discussion to be present. When he emerged, their expressions turned pale, and they couldn’t spit out a single word.
Shen Zhaomu had heard countless conversations like these and left without acknowledging them.
He returned to his room.
Long Shiyu was absent, most likely gone to eat again. Shen Zhaomu took a shower and, upon emerging, sat on the bed, scanning his terminal for messages.
There were few important notifications, but he did notice that two friends were playing together.
The avatars looked familiar.
Shen Zhaomu clicked on the notification and realized that Lu Shanhuai and Long Shiyu were engaged in a game of Fight the Landlord.
Shen Zhaomu: “…”
Although he had previously expressed his desire for Long Shiyu to avoid contact with others, he didn’t particularly mind the latter getting close to Lu Shanhuai. After all, even though Lu Shanhuai only boasted the physique of a commander, subduing Long Shiyu still should not be a problem.
A weak dragon like Long Shiyu wasn’t a necessary target for subjugation. His personality had been quite stable for the past few months. To be more accurate, his life only consisted of two things: eating and sleeping. Thus, Shen Zhaomu allowed Long Shiyu to move around freely under his watchful eye.
What truly concerned him was Lu Shanqing. If he had known that Lu Shanqing would be present that day, he would never have allowed Long Shiyu to go out. After all, no matter what, Long Shiyu was still a dragon.
However, now that he saw the two of them interacting, Shen Zhaomu couldn’t help but feel a vague sense of discomfort.
He attributed this feeling to the possessiveness that predators felt over their prey.
The Shen family had been battling dragons for centuries. After figuratively bathing in dragon blood and their countless battles with evil creatures, the ferocity of beasts had seeped into their souls. They were fierce and aggressive, able to roam thousands of miles just to find the tracks of their prey. They were like sharks that could detect the scent of blood, or wolves tracking down their quarry.
The sky stretched thousands of miles overhead, painted in deep blue, while the polar winds howled fiercely. Every corner of the interstellar world bore traces of their ancestors. Once they set their sights on prey, others couldn’t interfere.
But had he ever kept a dragon by his side before?
Shen Zhaomu suppressed the slight unhappiness he felt.
Long Shiyu finally returned after more than an hour.
Lu Shanhuai’s instructions had proven to be quite helpful. Long Shiyu, being intelligent, quickly grasped the essence of the game. Coupled with him offhandedly memorizing the cards played, the two of them managed to win a substantial number of beans.
In summary, Shen Zhaomu no longer needed to top up money for Long Shiyu.
All dragons possessed a unique penchant for collecting treasures (and princesses). While it might not be as grand as amassing mountains of gold and silver, the beans in the game could still be counted as wealth. The sensation of accumulating riches was immensely enjoyable, and Long Shiyu relished it.
He was in such a good mood that the tip of his tail was still swishing about even after he’d showered and flopped himself on Shen Zhaomu’s desk.
Shen Zhaomu cast a glance at him and said, “Come here.”
Long Shiyu was engrossed in reviewing the day’s results, calculating how much he had earned in each game, and couldn’t be bothered to lift his head. “It isn’t raining,” he muttered.
(Exploited man) Shen Zhaomu: “…Come here.”
“No need,” Long Shiyu replied, still absorbed in counting his beans.
In the next moment, Long Shiyu felt himself being lifted. Golden light akin to flying snow had lifted him. Shen Zhaomu used his spiritual power to move him to the bed and offhandedly tucked him in with the blanket.
Long Shiyu: “…Sob.”
He poked his head out from under the blanket. Without a single word of protest, he continued to review his results.
Soon, he felt the temptation again and opened his chat with Lu Shanhuai.
“Don’t bother looking for him,” Shen Zhaomu said from behind, “He’s probably already asleep.”
“Whoa, he goes to bed so early,” Long Shiyu remarked, reluctantly closing the chat.
Lu Shanhuai, who was watching a movie in his room, sneezed.
Long Shiyu initiated a game of Fight the Landlord on his own and swiftly became engrossed. His skills had improved significantly, and since he could memorize the cards, his win rate was impressive.
In the fourth game, he encountered a challenging situation that required a gamble.
“Play ”three-of-a-kind”,” a voice advised from beside him.
“Oh, you’re still watching,” Long Shiyu remarked as he followed Shen Zhaomu’s suggestion and played his cards.
“Yeah,” came the man’s low-toned response.
As expected, the opponent had to fold, allowing Long Shiyu to smoothly finish his cards. Turning to Shen Zhaomu, he inquired, “How did you know to play like that?”
“I just took a guess.”
Long Shiyu decided to quit the game, no longer interested. He lay down and wrapped himself up in the blanket.
“I thought you wouldn’t know how to play this old game.”
“I can handle most board and card games. I’m the one who taught Lu Shanhuai how to play.”
In fact, Shen Zhaomu was skilled at chess, cards, and strategy games. He would always win by a landslide, regardless of whether his opponents were his classmates from back when he was still in school, or his colleagues, now that he had joined the association. Later, as his reputation spread, no one dared to bet against him.
Regarding strategy, Lu Shanhuai, despite his exceptional talent as a commander, still scored lower than him in the command courses and simulated warfare exams that they’d taken. His eventual choice of becoming a full-time hunter was solely due to personal reasons.
“Is that so?” Long Shiyu was a bit surprised. “I couldn’t tell.”
“Why wouldn’t you be able to tell?”
“It’s nothing,” Long Shiyu smiled. “It seems there’s a reason they call you Brother Shen.”
The man didn’t respond and turned off the light. “Go to sleep.”
Long Shiyu slept peacefully, breathing softly and didn’t fidget at all.
When he slept, he would slightly curl up. His back was turned to Shen Zhaomu and he bared his fragile neck without reservation. His dragon horns were hidden within his soft black hair, and his tail dangled from the end of the blanket to the floor. The silver scales shimmered beautifully, and his presence was as soothing as the wind in the wilderness.
Only then did Shen Zhaomu feel the subtle unhappiness fade away.
He still maintained absolute control over his prey.
There was just one thing… It was late at night, and everyone was asleep. This was the perfect time to hold his prey close, stroke his tail, and rub his horns…
…Shen Zhaomu began to despise himself for his pervertedness.
The next day, Shen Zhaomu was occupied with work, so he placed a spiritual mark on Long Shiyu and allowed him to go out.
Throughout the day, Long Shiyu was like a particle adhering to the principle of brownian motion — he seemed to move randomly, meandering through various locations without a clear pattern. Shen Zhaomu’s terminal records pinged incessantly with expenditures, all related to food.
Grilled squid, pork bone ramen, takoyaki steak.
Hot and sour soup, roast duck, beef and rice with fried onions.
There was no stopping him.
Shen Zhaomu began to seriously ponder how much it cost to care for a weak and helpless dragon.
Towards evening, Long Shiyu finally settled down in one location for an extended period.
It was a bar.
Shen Zhaomu had been going through documents, but he couldn’t help but furrow his brows when he realized this.
However, the curfew he’d set for Long Shiyu was nine o’clock in the evening, which was still quite some time away.
So he suppressed the subtle unhappiness and continued with his work… until a notification from the association popped up on his terminal.
Mental fluctuations characteristic of a succubus had appeared in the city center.
The location indicated was the liveliest and busiest bar which Long Shiyu just so happened to be at.
Author’s Note:
One cutesy sob a day: 1/1
…I suspect Long Shiyu is hiding from the Raiju thing because he’s their king, but he doesn’t want to deal with the other alien beasts and just spend his time with Shen Zhaomu…
Thank you for the chapter!
Thank you for the update!!
I’m sure it’s just the usual predator prey dynamic, ML… definitely… for sure…
Thanks for the update 🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for the chapter 💖
Naurrr this is so amazing why did I have to find this so soon why dudnt I find it when it was completed 😭
Same…. the we’re too good at finding cute and good novels early that now we’re suffering. ( *´д)/(´д｀､)
ML don’t call yourself a predator ಥ‿ಥ. It’s weird
Dragon lord is so cute but who is top and who is bottom here??
Oh no Shen Zhaomu thinks he’s a molester 😄