Ornato gave a slight shake of his head. His blue eyes were as calm and fathomless as the sea in a thick fog, completely unreadable. "I'll come back for you after the reception ends."
In the blink of an eye, Ornato vanished from where he stood.
Through the original owner's memories, Yuxing had long known that aliens possessed all sorts of supernatural abilities, but witnessing it with her own eyes was still a first.
Enthusiastic and eager to learn, Yuxing asked, "Can I learn that kind of magic?"
Quinn crossed his arms, his legs naturally apart. "Magic?"
"Invisibility is an innate ability of the Alpha Royal Family. It's not actually invisibility—they just change color to match their surroundings."
"Water is an indispensable invisibility tool for them, as well as the medium that lets them travel thousands of miles in a flash."
"Forget about you, even I can't learn it."
Yuxing stroked her chin in thought.
Tentacles, color-changing... the more she heard, the more it sounded like an octopus. But what kind of octopus had countless tentacles and could travel thousands of miles in a flash?
I'm an honest person! Don't lie to me!
Quinn glanced at the girl under the tree shade. "Are you taking this person with you?"
Only then did Yuxing remember the girl. She hurried over, placed her finger horizontally beneath the girl's philtrum, and made her diagnosis after three seconds. "She seems a little bit dead."
Quinn's ears twitched slightly. Faint breathing reached his ears. After pondering for a moment, he said, "What does the person in question say?"
Yuxing turned her head to eye the corpse. "Well, the deceased's emotional state is currently stable."
The girl let out a soft cough.
Yuxing was startled. "The deceased has come back to life!"
Quinn: "..."
Let me ask you, is there any possibility that the person wasn't dead?
The girl weakly propped herself up and knelt before Quinn. "Wu Duoyan kowtows in gratitude to Your Excellency the Admiral for saving my life."
Yuxing leaned forward. "What about me? What about me?"
Wu Duoyan replied with a sincere tone, "Thank you too."
Yuxing was instantly satisfied.
Wu Duoyan looked at Quinn, her voice carrying a sobbed tone. "Holt built a large-scale hunting park illegally on his estate and has been wantonly torturing and killing humans. So far, it has led to the tragic deaths of dozens of people. Please, Your Excellency the Admiral, deliver justice for us!"
The girl was so emaciated she was entirely skin and bone, the joints of her elbows and knees protruding sharply, paired with a body covered in scars—it was a horrific sight to behold. Her waist was so slender it looked as though it would snap the next second.
Clearly weak and frail, yet no matter how she was worn down and tormented, she had never accepted the injustice of fate, nor had she simply submitted to it.
She raised her head and prayed to the heavens like a withered tree thirsting for the irrigation of rain.
Yuxing sighed inwardly.
Based on the original owner's understanding, most aliens were absolute perverts—which was precisely why she wanted to seize the initiative.
Don't let the fact that the owner she chose was reputed as a tyrant fool you; she knew Ornato wasn't a pervert—at the very least, he hadn't harmed her.
Wu Duoyan gave a bitter smile, her words dripping with blood. "There are still people suffering in the hunting park. I beg Your Excellency the Admiral to save us!"
Quinn leaned his back against the tree trunk. He braced his left leg on the ground and bent his right leg against the tree trunk, his posture casual. He felt not a shred of pity for Wu Duoyan's miserable state.
Rain beat against the surface of his black military boots, making a pattering sound—a sound as cold and hard as his heart.
His task was to protect the Royal Pet. Everything else fell outside his scope of concern.
Wu Duoyan's heart gradually sank to rock bottom. She had thought her resistance and her plea for help could win a righteous verdict.
Facts proved that the Beastmen stood high above; after all, they were not of the same race.
What should she do? What on earth should she do?
Yuxing tilted her umbrella toward the girl. "Why didn't you try asking me for help?"
Wu Duoyan looked at Yuxing with hollow eyes.
Yuxing fell silent for two seconds, then began pitching herself.
"Alright, my identity as a human indeed lacks persuasiveness."
"But I can transform!"
"My second identity is the king's pet. Think about it—can the king's pet be an ordinary pet?"
Wu Duoyan re-evaluated the compatriot before her.
There was a unique temperament about her compatriot—purer and quieter than an orchid on the edge of a cliff, yet more enticing than a meticulously tended rose.
Most people considered being kept and enslaved a disgrace, yet the compatriot before her could calmly acknowledge it and even turn the identity to her advantage.
Slick, yet not worldly-wise.
This was a quality many people lacked. In this man-eating world, perhaps only by being like this could one survive.
Yuxing was rarely a warm-hearted person, but Wu Duoyan reminded her of her best friend—a dimpled girl who was likewise stuck in a quagmire yet struggled desperately.
Regrettably, she had appeared too late; her best friend had closed her eyes forever, falling on the third day after the arrival of the apocalyptic world.
Yuxing was silent for two seconds, then extended her hand toward Wu Duoyan.
"My name is Yuxing."
"Trust me once. Will you entrust your suffering to me?"
A gentle breeze swept past, lifting the curly hair at Yuxing's temples, blowing away Wu Duoyan's sorrow and lighting up her world that had been gray for over a decade.
At this moment, Wu Duoyan did not yet know that in the future she would countless times thank her past self for placing her hand in the palm of hope.
Quinn had a bad premonition. "What are you trying to do?"
Yuxing put on a profound look, imitating her owner's expressionless demeanor. "Giving the Holt Family a little live-streamed shock."
Quinn didn't understand, but he knew he couldn't let her run wild. He just opened his mouth to stop her when Yuxing earnestly advised:
"Brother Dog, how many years have you been an admiral?"
"Don't you want to advance in your career?"
"There's a giant mountain blocking your career path ahead. Even if it can't be toppled, can't it be drilled through?"
"Refusing to make progress simply won't do."
"Listen to me, I'll take you to new heights!"
This time Quinn understood: the Royal Pet wanted to stir up trouble.
He hadn't felt a sense of anticipation in many years. For some reason, today he suddenly felt his blood boiling.
Your Majesty, your pet is about to fly to the heavens!
He tried to stop her, but failed!
Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Let's hear it."
Yuxing held an impromptu three-person meeting on the spot.
After the meeting concluded, Quinn's understanding of the Royal Pet was refreshed once more.
Wu Duoyan breathed heavily. "What can I do?"
Yuxing pressed the restless girl back down. "You? Rest up and watch the show."
Quinn turned around to report his mental journey to the King. After receiving the King's approval, he escorted Yuxing back to the palace.
*
Inside the palace, Quinn leisurely shook the rainwater off his shoes and reminded her, "The premise of this operation is obtaining the King's consent."
Yuxing retorted, "With the Marshal overthrown and you taking his place, would the King still disagree?"
Quinn smiled meaningfully, gesturing for the leopard-eared maid waiting on the side to take Wu Duoyan to the medical pod.
Walking over to the windowsill, Quinn lit a cigarette with a metal filter. He turned his head, his emerald-green eyes watching the Royal Pet's retreating figure as it grew more distant, slowly exhaling a puff of white smoke from his mouth.
The leopard-eared maid returned. "Your Excellency the Admiral, smoking is forbidden in the palace."
Quinn smiled ambiguously, leaning in close to the maid and turning on the charm. "Can you just pretend you didn't see it?"
The maid didn't speak, staring straight at him.
Quinn raised his hands in surrender and stubbed out the cigarette. Whenever he got nervous, his nicotine addiction would flare up—an old habit.
And the culprit who had made him nervous was currently searching for her owner's whereabouts.
Following the maid's directions, Yuxing arrived at the terrace outside the ancient castle.
The sky was gloomy, dark clouds pressing down heavily.
A fierce gale swept across the terrace, fluttering her hem and blowing away her umbrella, forcing her to face the torrential rain head-on.
Looking rather bedraggled, Yuxing retreated under the eaves. The rain blurred her vision, making it impossible to determine whether Ornato was here.
The maid wasn't lying to her, was she?
What was Ornato doing out here?
Swimming in the heavy rain?