Chapter 8: “Yu Yan… Let Me Out.”

When Yu Yan grabbed him again, You Fuzhou was prepared, but he still stiffened for a few seconds.

However, his attention quickly shifted elsewhere.

Before he could even ask how Yu Yan planned to show him, everything around him suddenly changed.

Somehow, You Fuzhou found himself standing on a small, flat boat adrift on an endless sea. The sky was overcast with clouds, casting a dim pallor over the surroundings. Waves churned everywhere, yet the spot where he stood felt utterly stable—no matter how massive the towering waves rose nearby, he sensed no danger at all.

The scent of the sea was distinctive, thick with moisture and carrying an overwhelming pressure like mountains crashing down. It didn’t match Yu Yan’s presence at all.

For a fleeting moment, You Fuzhou wondered what Yu Yan’s Guide Pheromone smelled like.

But he immediately quashed the thought.

Asking that would be straight-up sexual harassment… Why did he keep having these rude, self-sabotaging ideas about Yu Yan?

You Fuzhou couldn’t figure it out.

Just then, he felt a ripple beneath his feet. A vast shadow emerged from the depths, drawing closer. The next instant, as if on instinct, he looked toward the sea’s surface. Amid the surging spray, a colossal Megalodon burst forth, gliding right over his head. Its shadow engulfed him completely, looming like a mountain about to crush down.

Like a dolphin, the Megalodon twisted its body mid-leap, giving You Fuzhou a clear view of its enormous form and the stunning layered hues of its scales before plunging back into the water.

The spray from its dive drenched him head to toe. You Fuzhou’s eyes widened—not from embarrassment, but from awe at how cool and dazzling Yu Yan’s Spiritual Body was.

He loved it…

So majestic.

It matched Yu Yan’s build perfectly.

You Fuzhou stared fixedly at the shadow gliding across the sea, lost in a daze.

At that moment, the Megalodon resurfaced at the stern of the boat, peering up at him.

You Fuzhou crouched down and watched as it opened its jaws, revealing pristine white fangs.

Teeth that could snap a Sentinel in half with one bite.

He couldn’t help imagining what Yu Yan would look like if he underwent Spiritual Materialization with shark teeth like those—his already sharp features would gain even more ferocity.

You Fuzhou thought it would be beautiful. So beautiful that his heart raced a little, and he quickly shoved the idea aside.

The Megalodon, now poking its head out of the water, shook its head. Despite its imposing presence, the gesture was adorably cute as it gently nudged the boat.

The boat drifted forward a bit from the nudge. You Fuzhou inexplicably understood its intent, but he clenched his fists, holding back. “This isn’t right…”

He murmured, “I did pay attention in class…”

A Guide’s Spiritual Body was even more sensitive than a Sentinel’s.

There was a saying: if you could capture a Guide’s Spiritual Body and control it, you’d have total dominion over the Guide, inside and out.

Of course, Spiritual Bodies could be controlled.

A cage formed from mental power could trap one. Sentinels’ Spiritual Bodies often joined in combat—physical harm in the real world didn’t affect them, but mental attacks could injure them severely, requiring a Guide to heal.

A Guide’s Spiritual Body was even more intimately linked to its owner. You Fuzhou knew that touching one was no different from touching the Guide themselves.

Guides could sense it faintly.

He knew the Megalodon was inviting him to pet it, but he couldn’t.

It was the same as petting Yu Yan!

The Megalodon nudged the boat again, pushing it forward another bit.

Knowing this was Yu Yan’s Spiritual World, You Fuzhou said helplessly, “Yu Yan… let me out.”

The Megalodon ignored him, stubbornly stretching its head out and continuing to nudge.

After a brief standoff, You Fuzhou had no choice. He raised his hand and gently placed it on the Megalodon’s head.

It was cool to the touch, a bit slick and fleshy—soft yet firm, an indescribably unique sensation.

Seeing how pleased the Megalodon seemed, You Fuzhou pet it again.

The creature then opened its mouth wide, baring its shark teeth at him.

They were dazzlingly white and sharply beautiful.

Somehow sensing it wanted him to touch its teeth, You Fuzhou drew back his hand. “Yu Yan.”

His earlobes burned red, the heat rising to his face. “If you don’t let me out right now, I’ll assign two extra teachers to drill into you what it means for Sentinels and Guides to keep proper distance.”

Yu Yan: “.”

He wasn’t scared. Dealing with those Guides was easy for him—not only relaxing, but enjoyable. They were friendly, fun, and he could subtly glean info about You Fuzhou from them.

Yu Yan just found You Fuzhou’s threat adorable.

Like a kid telling an adult, “If you don’t listen, I’ll give you extra homework.”

…As if any adult would fear that?

Yu Yan thought it was hilarious, but he played along and released You Fuzhou.

Any more teasing, and he’d push too far.

Besides…

You Fuzhou had already petted his head.

You Fuzhou’s vision snapped back to reality, where he immediately met Yu Yan’s eyes—bright and shimmering like a galaxy, utterly captivating.

Yu Yan was still holding his hand. You Fuzhou wanted to pull away but hesitated to do so abruptly.

He didn’t want to hurt Yu Yan’s fragile heart again.

Yu Yan had stressed multiple times how “clean” he was, afraid of being rejected.

Though You Fuzhou felt “clean” or “dirty” wasn’t the right way to describe a person in this context, he respected Yu Yan and wanted to be considerate.

Better to avoid unnecessary pain.

He hadn’t saved Yu Yan just to kick him while he was down or watch him wallow.

So, despite his burning face, flushed ears, and tense muscles, You Fuzhou spoke first. “Can you let go now?”

Hearing that, Yu Yan couldn’t resist. His voice soft and perfectly pitched with vulnerability, he said, “Do you hate physical contact with me that much?”

You Fuzhou: “…”

He took a deep breath, at his limit. “You’re a Guide, and I’m a Sentinel…”

Yu Yan murmured, “But sometimes soothing requires embracing each other.”

You Fuzhou’s mind exploded at the mere image of holding Yu Yan. He couldn’t utter a word.

Hugging Yu Yan to save him was worlds apart from casual contact outside of combat!

Yu Yan found teasing You Fuzhou endlessly entertaining. How could there be such a pure Sentinel? Was it because he was young? The Empire was full of Sentinels his age who’d already been with plenty of Guides.

And relations between Sentinels and Guides weren’t unusual anyway.

The old eras were millennia gone; the interstellar age had lasted just as long. People nowadays didn’t take such things too seriously. As long as it wasn’t reckless, illegal, or disease-ridden, happiness came first.

Someone like You Fuzhou? Yu Yan had never seen it.

All that potential, yet so innocent— a couple of flirty words and he was smoking from the ears… The more he looked, the cuter he got.

Knowing when to stop, Yu Yan released his hand and changed the subject. “This fish tank will be big enough.”

You Fuzhou hesitated. “But I saw it huge in your Spiritual World.”

“That’s because it’s my Spiritual World.”

Yu Yan tilted his head. “It’s a manifestation of my mental power, so of course it’s massive—maybe even bigger than real ancient Megalodons. Outside my Spiritual World, it shrinks.”

He gestured. “Normal size is about two meters long.”

That was plenty.

Yu Yan grinned. “A tank that big could let it out for fresh air—and fit me too.”

The words sounded odd. You Fuzhou slowly formed a question mark in his mind. “…?”

Seeing his confusion, Yu Yan blinked in surprise. “You didn’t know?”

You Fuzhou fell silent. “Should I… know something?”

Yu Yan looked genuinely shocked. “I’m a Half-Mermaid. Half Mermaid blood in my veins. That’s why my foster parents raised me in a tank as a kid.”

You Fuzhou: “???”

The bombshell left him reeling. “Wait… Aren’t Mermaids reproductively isolated from humans? They can’t have offspring, right?”

Yu Yan hummed faintly, lowering his gaze with precision-tuned vulnerability. These things meant nothing to him anymore, but he wielded them expertly to draw out You Fuzhou’s sympathy. “The Yashe Empire loves experiments like that—for rarity and novelty, to auction off at higher prices.”

He was a lab creation.

A success after countless failures.

You Fuzhou’s brow furrowed. “Where’s that lab?”

Yu Yan glanced at him, not daring to admit he’d destroyed it. He just murmured softly, “I don’t know… I didn’t escape on my own—someone helped me. By the time I have memories, I was already in the slums.”

It wasn’t the full truth.

Yu Yan still remembered stepping out of the tank, legs forming for the first time—treading on the corpses of so many failed experiments.

Blood had stained his feet red, but by then, he’d become a numb, deranged monster.

“Then you…”

You Fuzhou had a ton of questions, but he held back, not wanting to reopen old wounds.

However, when Yu Yan looked at him, those beautiful, pitch-black eyes always carried a hollow, lightless emptiness from most angles.

It reminded You Fuzhou of the auction house, of Yu Yan caged and adorned like a gilded canary.

Those people—the empire’s nobles, those repulsive creatures—had treated Yu Yan like a doll, a mere object to toy with.

You Fuzhou clenched his fists, rage searing his heart.

He felt he had let them off far too easily. Their deaths had come too swiftly. And undoubtedly, some had survived that explosion.

Back then, he should have bound them all, left them to despair in the blasts and sea of flames, forced them to feel the suffering of countless souls like Yu Yan, manipulated at their mercy.