Did you arranged for someone to lead them to their respective quarters to rest.
“Do you find it strange?” Wennisi asked Shiyu.
“If I remember correctly, the High Priest of the mermaid clan previously said that the Deep Sea Colossus had awakened prematurely and time was of the essence.”
Shiyu slowly reviewed the situation, questioning, “Now the schedule for the trial has changed it’s completely different from what he said initially.”
It almost seemed like…
“Deliberately stalling for time.”
At the same time, Wennisi arrived at the same conclusion.
“Mhm.” Shiyu raised his brows slightly; this was also his exact thought.
Stalling for time—could Diyou have some objective that could only be achieved by dragging things out?
Mermaid Island only experienced daytime and nighttime, and when they arrived earlier, it had already been dusk.
By the time everyone reached their respective rooms, night had truly fallen.
Shiyu’s and Wennisi’s rooms were right next to each other.
Just as Shiyu was about to head into his room, Wennisi called out to him.
“Be a good boy tonight.”
With that, he turned and walked into his room.
Wennisi’s words sounded like a simple piece of advice, but Shiyu felt there was a deeper meaning behind them.
He let out a soft, non-committal hum.
Shiyu considered himself rebellious.
Ordinarily, he might not have gone off to stir up trouble tonight, but after Wennisi’s heartfelt admonition, everything was different.
Vampires naturally possessed a sense of security in the dark.
They never lost their way in the shadows; in fact, the most primitive vampires hunted and moved about precisely at night.
Late at night, Mermaid Island sank into a deep, serene stillness.
Unnoticed by anyone, a wooden door with pink seashells pasted along its frame quietly cracked open.
A tiny, snowy-white dumpling of a creature slipped out from the gap, unfurling its wings to fly at a low altitude.
It flew swiftly, like a drift of fresh snow gliding through the air.
【 Wow, baby, you’ve already mastered flying!】
【 You’re just too amazing! 】
Hearing Lanyin’s praise, the white fluff atop the little bat’s head twitched upward, and its big, round eyes narrowed in pleasure.
The joints of the little bat’s pale pink wings bent, and it actually executed a full barrel roll in mid-air before continuing its flight.
Unlike before, when he used his bat form clumsily climbing and dropping erratically.
he could now fly with complete ease.
Flitting past the dwellings of the mermaid clan, he finally reached his destination.
In the silent, pitch-black night, a certain spot was unexpectedly illuminated with a bright glow.
The solemn daytime sacrificial altar shone as bright as day in the dead of night when everyone else was resting.
Shiyu flew silently behind a tall, cylindrical stone pillar, successfully concealing his tiny, unassuming form.
The sacrificial altar was entirely surrounded by ancient, mysterious spell formations that formed a circle converging toward the center. Right there stood a high platform holding a tray.
At this moment, however, the tray was not empty as it had been during the day.
Inside the tray rested a piece of pure white…
Bone?
Shiyu’s eyes widened instantly as he stared fixedly at the object.
Before Xie Mo, the blood hunter, had realized he wasn’t a spy among the blood hunters, Xie Mo had shown him a rough sketch of the mermaid clan’s sacred artifact obtained from within vampire intelligence sources.
When that scroll was unrolled, the drawing depicted precisely a single rib bone.
A mermaid’s rib bone.
So, this was the sacred artifact of the mermaid clan?
Could it really be this coincidental that he had stumbled upon it so easily?
Shiyu looked at the sacrificial altar doubtfully.
It looked completely different from its daytime appearance.
If the sacrificial altar earlier had merely resembled a solemn sculpture, right now it seemed infused with a certain kind of power, as if it had come alive.
The spell formations surrounding the altar emitted a faint golden glow, and countless golden runes surged from all directions toward the mermaid rib bone in the center.
The mermaid rib bone had previously looked like an ordinary piece of bone, but as the golden light converged inside the tray, that single rib suddenly lit up, radiating a brilliance far more dazzling than the surrounding altar.
There was only one person around the altar: Diyou.
His attire was different from usual.
Dense, ancient characters were embroidered stitch by stitch across the long sleeves of his black and gold robe.
These characters bore a striking resemblance to the runes surrounding the sacrificial altar.
As the altar radiated with light, Diyou closed his eyes devoutly.
Performing a unique blessing ritual of the mermaid clan, he bowed respectfully toward the rib bone at the center of the tray.
Or rather, he was bowing to the sacred artifact.
Following his gesture, a gust of wind kicked up around the sacred artifact, blowing Diyou’s golden hair as if it were merging with the golden light itself.
Diyou murmured incantations under his breath words in a language Shiyu couldn’t understand.
Accompanied by his chanting, the wind grew increasingly fierce, gradually swirling outward toward the perimeter of the altar.
Shiyu’s heart skipped a beat as his snowy fluff was blown into chaotic tufts by the surrounding gales.
The wind seemed to possess a consciousness of its own, sweeping directly toward Shiyu’s position.
He hurriedly scrambled down from the nearest cylindrical stone pillar, distancing himself from the sacrificial altar.
Sure enough, the power of the wind originated from the altar and remained confined within its boundaries.
It could not extend beyond the perimeter of the stone pillars supporting the altar.
Shiyu let out a breath of relief.
Fortunately, Diyou still had his eyes closed, and the divination prophecy was still ongoing.
The speed of his chanting grew faster and faster, and the melodious, superior voice characteristic of the mermaids gradually became laced with panic.
【 The divination ritual is supposed to take place before the mermaid courtship period, but its purpose is to confirm the timing of the courtship period and predict the outcome. 】
【 Didn’t it say the divination predicted tomorrow was suitable for holding the courtship ritual? 】
Lanyin had picked up on the problem.
Indeed, Diyou had explained to the blood hunters during the day that this year’s courtship ritual timing was the result of the divination prophecy.
Then why on earth was he secretly performing divination in the dead of night?
“Could it be that Diyou hasn’t performed any divination at all, and bringing forward the courtship ritual was entirely his own idea?”
Shiyu’s premonition had come true; his and Wennisi’s suspicions matched this reality precisely.
Diyou was deliberately stalling for time.
Finally, the fierce wind within the sacrificial altar subsided, and the dazzling golden light gradually faded away.
Seizing the opportunity, Shiyu quickly flew back behind the tall stone pillar.
He saw that the sacred artifact inside the tray had dulled in color, reverting to an unremarkable mermaid rib bone.
Was this truly the sacred artifact of the mermaid clan?
In truth, he had always maintained a degree of skepticism toward the scroll provided by the blood hunter.
“Cough… cough cough”
A bout of violent coughing erupted from the center of the altar. Diyou couldn’t help doubling over until he spat a mouthful of fresh blood.
Shiyu’s brow furrowed in astonishment.
“Lanyin, does the mermaid High Priest’s divination require coughing up blood?”
If that were the case, wouldn’t every annual divination heavily deplete the High Priest’s life bar?
Lanyin looked as though it wanted to transform into a pink ball of light and shake its head frantically.
【 No, it doesn’t! No, it doesn’t! 】
【 Divination is both the duty and the ability of the mermaid High Priest. It’s not like a wizard’s divination, which requires sacrificing a part of oneself just for a chance at a result. 】
【 Diyou’s symptoms look an awful lot like the result of a backlash. 】
Lanyin said perplexedly: 【 Under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t be like this. 】
A sharp sense of impending danger flashed through Shiyu’s mind.
Diyou’s expression was deeply complex, resembling someone making a difficult decision completely unlike the mermaid High Priest who had been chatting amiably with Zhou Qi.
He stood before the altar for a long time, facing that single mermaid rib bone.
He murmured softly under his breath.
“Is it really impossible to change it?”
Only a long, drawn-out silence answered Diyou.
Seeing that the divination had concluded and unable to fully understand Diyou’s words, Shiyu nevertheless guessed something from the context.
Since it was a divination, there must have been an outcome.
“If Diyou wishes to change it, then this divination result is most likely unfavorable.”
【 Baby, you don’t think his prophecy is about this trial between the blood hunters and the mermaids, do you? 】
【 (＃°Д°) 】
It wasn’t that Lanyin had an overactive imagination, but what kind of bad news could possibly be associated with the mermaid clan’s courtship ritual?
The single variable was the prematurely awakened Deep Sea Colossus.
The direction pointed to by this prophecy was glaringly obvious.
“It’s a possibility.”
Shiyu’s snowy figure flashed swiftly through the darkness.
The door was pushed open a fraction of an inch, and the tiny bat darted inside at lightning speed.
The door clicked shut once more.
Just as Shiyu wanted to thoroughly analyze the situation with Lanyin, a knock at the door interrupted him.
Suppressing his movements, Shiyu nonchalantly and swiftly transformed back and changed into his sleeping robe.
“Lanyin?” he tested calling out in his mind, but received no response.
Lanyin had lost connection again.
The knocking was very soft, quiet enough not to wake anyone else in the surrounding rooms.
Except for the occupant of this very room: Shiyu.
Unrushed, Shiyu shuffled lazily toward the wooden door.
After all, for someone abruptly woken up in the middle of the night, leaping to open the door instantly would look far more suspicious.
The wooden door offered poor soundproofing.
Before Shiyu could even speak, the uninvited guest outside spoke first.
“Are you asleep?”
Wennisi’s voice was low and his tone gentle.
Without answering immediately, Shiyu pulled the wooden door open.
“It’s the middle of the night, what do you think?”
Shiyu furrowed his brows, feigning a sleepy squint and letting out a yawn, though he was genuinely tired. For a moment, sleep-induced tears dampened his eyelashes, and his long, dense crow-feather lashes half-drooped, glistening with moisture.
He looked as though he had genuinely been disturbed and woken from his slumber.
“Sorry.” Wennisi seemed genuinely apologetic, his thin lips pressed tightly together.
Lifting his sleepy eyes, Shiyu happened to lock gazes with Wennisi’s ink-black eyes.
“I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
The sleeping robe sent over by the mermaids was woven by themselves, and mermaids were accustomed to wearing cool, breezy clothing.
Consequently, the fabric of the robe was soft yet lightweight.
Case in point: Wennisi’s waist belt was currently untied, as if he had stepped out in a temporary rush.
His silk sleeping robe hung open, exposing a expanse of pale skin. Lowering his gaze, Shiyu caught sight of the stark outline of Wennisi’s lower abdominal muscles.
Raising his eyes again, he found an unobstructed view of the other man’s stern jawline, beneath which lay powerful, muscular contours along his throat and neck.
Shiyu dazed for a fraction of a second before hearing Wennisi speak in a wronged tone.
“I’m not used to sleeping in unfamiliar places. I’m afraid of the dark.”
Wennisi’s frame was tall and upright, yet the helpless, grievance-laden tone he used was a rare sight indeed.
Shiyu: “?”
Did Wennisi even realize what he was saying?
Still…
A sudden flash of realization lit up Shiyu’s eyes, and he widened them in sheer disbelief.
Fluffy.
Ears?
The words of rejection on the tip of Shiyu’s tongue stalled, and the corners of his pale pink lips curled upward involuntarily.
“Your ears…”
“My maternal grandfather was a werewolf; I carry some werewolf bloodline traits.”
Amidst Wennisi’s short, pitch-black hair sat a pair of fluffy, snow-white ears tinged with faint gray tips. At this moment, the ears were folded back and drooping limply, looking just as aggrieved as his words implied.
With their slightly rounded, puppy-like curve and twitching tips, they were enough to melt anyone’s heart.
“Can I sleep with you? We’re familiar with each other, so that way I’ll be able to fall asleep.” He spoke slowly, “I won’t disturb your sleep; just give me a tiny, tiny spot.”
A tiny, tiny spot…
Shiyu’s heart fluttered.
Wennisi looked at him with an expression of pitiful supplication.
A puppy.
Pitiful, adorable, helpless.
Ah, his resolve was crumbling.
“Mm, sure.”
Shiyu’s mouth spoke faster than his brain.
Nobody could reject a puppy especially someone like Shiyu, who adored fluffy things.
Even though Lanyin had warned him that Wennisi would sprout puppy ears during the sacrificial ritual,
this was the very first time since his awakening that he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
Hearing about it and seeing it firsthand felt completely different.
The moment the words left his mouth, Shiyu felt he had agreed far too quickly.
However, Wennisi had already slipped into the room through the half-open wooden door with a smile.
The listless demeanor from just moments ago instantly regained its vibrancy, and his ears refused to conceal his emotions.
Wennisi’s slightly curved ear tips had perked straight up, revealing pink inner ears tucked inside the snowy fluff.
Shiyu regretted it; he had caved to his soft heart far too fast.
He should have asked for a price.
Mhm…
For instance, making Wennisi let him pet his ears before agreeing.
Right now, his palms were itching, and he desperately wanted to rub those puppy ears.
“I’ll go make the bed.”
With that, Shiyu knelt halfway beside the bed, casually smoothing out the sheets he had deliberately rumpled earlier.
Unable to see behind him, Shiyu remained unaware of the deep, burning gaze Wennisi cast in his direction.
Shiyu was properly clad in the mermaid’s silk sleeping robe, the belt tied around his waist to outline a slender, graceful waistline.
His hair had grown a bit longer, faintly exposing the snow-white skin of the back of his neck.
Every movement made him look like prey trying to lure a werewolf.
Casually suppressing the canine fangs trying to grow back out, Wennisi licked his lips lightly.