The Little Mermaid Fell for the Jiaoren 92

Chapter 92: Meeting

Si Jisheng did not let Deng Xi stay in the lounge by himself, but instead led him to the reception hall.

Deng Xi sat on the sofa where he had sat the last time he had come, preparing to obediently wait for the little mute to finish his work.

Si Jisheng poured a cup of water for Deng Xi and instructed in a low voice, “Don’t run around.” He then said to the adjutant on the side, “Watch him.”

The adjutant patted his chest. “Roger.”

He had been busy all night yesterday and had not rested well. He had received the Marshal’s order this morning that he could rest for half a day. He had been inexplicably confused before he went to sleep. When he woke up and came to the military headquarters, he heard the secretary-general say that the Elder had been waiting for a whole morning, and his face had turned green.

The adjutant grinned, and his molars were all showing.

So satisfying.

Deng Xi nodded his head and watched as the little mute walked towards the thick and tall conference room door. He lay on the back of the sofa and curiously looked into the door. His blue eyes instantly widened.

Beside the conference table sat a familiar figure in a black cloak. The side of his face that was exposed under the cloak was an old face.

Deng Xi watched as the door closed with a “thump,” shutting the little mute and that bad guy in together. He anxiously got off the sofa and was about to run over.

The adjutant quickly stopped him. “Ancestor, please don’t run around.”

The Elder had not come by himself today.

Besides the people from the military, there were also many members of the Council of Elders that the Elder had brought with him in the reception hall. They were young, in suits and leather shoes, and were waiting outside the conference room door.

The Marshal’s meaning was nothing more than not wanting Deng Xi to get close to them. It was hard to guarantee that these people, after being angered by what had happened yesterday, would do something.

Deng Xi pursed his lips, looked at the adjutant, and then at the closed door. After a long while, he finally nodded his head sullenly and sat back down. “William.”

He was calling the adjutant.

The adjutant sat down on the other side of the sofa, observing his surroundings from time to time, and said, “Don’t worry, the Marshal will be out soon.”

That was not what Deng Xi wanted to ask. “If he’s with that bad guy, will he be in danger?”

The adjutant was stunned for a moment. “What bad guy?”

Deng Xi pointed at the inside of the door. Afraid of being heard saying bad things about others, he said in a small voice, “It’s that one, the very, very ugly, wrinkled human.”

The adjutant’s face was strange, and he looked like he wanted to laugh but was trying his best to hold it in. “The person opposite the Marshal?”

Deng Xi nodded his head in a daze.

The adjutant held back his laughter. “He can’t beat the Marshal. Don’t worry.”

Deng Xi imagined the Jiaoren’s powerful strength and only then felt at ease. He was very worried and would look back from time to time, very anxiously.

The adjutant thought of a few topics in his mind, wanting to distract Deng Xi. He let out a low cough, not knowing what to say, and said casually, “How do you know the Elder, that bad guy?”

Deng Xi recalled and stopped paying attention to the door. “Before, when I was in the ocean, I accidentally used his comm to make a communication to that bad guy.” He would not lie and clumsily recounted the scene at that time. “That bad guy said at that time that he could give me a lot of star coins, but he wanted me to—”

The adjutant interrupted, “He wanted you to kill the Marshal?”

The adjutant’s expression was exceptionally sharp and looked a bit scary. Deng Xi moved back a little before he tentatively nodded his head.

With a “thump,” the adjutant slammed the table and cursed in a low voice, “We’ve been too nice to these bastards.”

Deng Xi didn’t understand what those two words meant. He watched as the adjutant stood up and walked towards the door, and said in surprise, “Wait a minute!”

The members of the Council of Elders heard the “slamming of the table” from this side and all looked over. Deng Xi braced himself and lowered his voice. “Aren’t we not allowed to go over?”

The adjutant did not show any fear and also looked back at them one by one before he sat back down.

The adjutant’s emotions could not be calmed. He said resentfully, “Do you know why you met the Marshal at that time?”

Deng Xi nodded his head. “I know.”

The adjutant was stunned. “The Marshal told you everything?”

Because there were too many proper nouns, Deng Xi repeated them one by one, slowly.

The little merman didn’t know much.

The adjutant lowered his voice. “Actually, that war back then didn’t have much to do with the Marshal. Even if the Marshal had lost consciousness, the hundreds of thousands of people would not have been completely annihilated by the enemy just because there was no command, and not even a single body was left.”

“It was because the soldiers’ mechs had been tampered with and had exploded one after another in the battle, killing countless people.” His tone was heavy. “But now, there are still many people who put the blame on the Marshal.”

“You’ve seen the star network. You should also know what kind of baseless accusations the Marshal is carrying.”

Traitor, deserter, countless.

Deng Xi vaguely realized, “Was it that bad guy who did it?”

The adjutant’s hand was itching. He took out a cigarette, didn’t smoke it, and held it in his mouth without nodding or shaking his head. He said ambiguously, “If the second half of that video could be released…” He trailed off, not knowing why he was telling these things to Deng Xi, who didn’t understand anything. He sighed heavily. “Anyway, there are not many good people in the Council of Elders. Who knows how many things he was involved in back then.”

The adjutant got up and went to the French windows to calm down.

Deng Xi hugged the pillow and sank into the sofa, sullenly, not knowing what he was thinking. Soon, he put down the pillow and went to get the ice water that the little mute had poured for him.

He was not thirsty and had been holding it in his hand without drinking.

He didn’t understand.

It was clearly not the little mute who had done something wrong, so why was everyone scolding his little mute? The culprit was hiding in the dark, as if he had not been affected in the slightest.

It was too unfair.

Why?

Hundreds of thousands of people, Deng Xi thought. Even at its most prosperous, the merman clan did not have hundreds of thousands of people.

So many living lives had just disappeared.

Deng Xi knew that every human would have their own family. Then, would those who had lost their families be very sad and heartbroken? And then vent their anger and hatred on the little mute?

He picked at his hands, a little confused.

He thought of the injuries on the little mute’s body when he had fallen into the ocean, his speechless vocal cords, and his silver fish tail that had been motionless in front of the group of great white sharks.

And the words he had said to him had to be repeated many, many times before Deng Xi could hear clearly what the little mute was saying.

In the three years that he had not seen the little mute, the little mute’s treatment must have been very painful, for his little mute to have turned back into a great hero in the eyes of humans.

So amazing.

But why did such an amazing person have to suffer so many baseless and indefensible criticisms?

And that treatment pod that was like a torture device.

Deng Xi inexplicably felt like crying again, but the little mute was not by his side, and no one would comfort him. He could only drink the water in small sips and use the stimulating coldness in his mouth to hold back his tears.

He seemed to be unable to help the little mute with anything and could only cry.

Deng Xi buried himself in the pillow.

·

In the conference room.

The Elder took off his hood. “It’s really difficult to see the Marshal.”

Si Jisheng was calm and composed. “I was too busy last night.”

The Elder thought of how he had been woken up by a phone call last night and had been restless until now, all because of the military’s big move in the middle of the night. He gritted his back teeth in hatred and said with a smile that did not reach his eyes, “Isn’t the military being a little unkind? Pushing the Empire to the forefront and being criticized by the entire galaxy. The documents that the Interstellar Alliance sent to our Council of Elders this morning have piled up like a mountain.”

He couldn’t be bothered with any alien convention.

But once the new gene drug was popularized and aliens were no longer discriminated against, then the public would no longer look at the Marshal’s racial identity with colored glasses, and the military would be trusted by the public again.

At that time, the Council of Elders would be suppressed by the military again.

The three parties were all working for their own interests, including the royal family. Three years ago, it was not just to balance the Council of Elders and the military. The military had been weak for many years, and the leverage that the Council of Elders had left behind after the trial conference had always been in the hands of the royal family.

The royal family’s council had been quite arrogant these years.

The Elder’s eyes were gloomy. The Council of Elders could not have another enemy.

Si Jisheng asked in return, “What does the Elder mean?”

The Elder said with a chuckle, “This is not my meaning. After a unanimous discussion by the Council of Elders, we believe that this convention must at least be approved by the Alliance before it can be implemented within the Empire.” The wrinkles on his old face were all squeezed together because of his smile. “I have had a specialist look at the report on the new gene-suppressing drug. The efficacy is not stable, and not everyone can fight against their instincts.”

“Marshal, you are too rash.”

The Elder supported himself with his cane and tapped it on the ground. A deafening sound echoed in the empty conference room. He hummed and lectured, word by word, “This is how young people do things. They don’t consider the whole picture and are in a hurry to see results. At that time, when the convention is implemented, if an alien who has taken the medicine but still cannot control their instincts kills a normal person.”

The old voice was earnest. “Marshal, are you going to have to spend another three years on psychotherapy?” He sighed and shook his head. “That won’t do. In my opinion, you, like Gran, still need to be tempered for a few more years.”

“He is also the same. He will cry whenever he makes a mistake. He is already an adult, but he still has to have the Duke of the Gran clan go and apologize to you.”

“But you are different. If you make a mistake, you have to bear it yourself.” After all, he had no relatives.

Si Jisheng’s expression did not change in the slightest. He was even still flipping through the documents that had piled up from his absence from work this morning. He said unhurriedly, “The popularization of the convention still needs time, enough time for the gene-suppressing drug to be improved again.”

He paused for a moment, and his silver eyes slowly raised. “But, of course, you have to bear the consequences of your own mistakes, right? Elder.”

The sharp gaze was as if it could see through a person, and it instantly made the Elder’s heart skip a beat. He seemed to think that the Marshal had discovered something. He swallowed, refusing to admit that he had shown his fear, and said in a firm tone, “Then the military will not care about the Alliance?!”

Si Jisheng narrowed his eyes slightly. “Are you saying that a…” he paused for a moment, thinking of an adjective, “drowning dog that can only beg and wag its tail, which begs the Empire to send supplies every year to support the extermination of the Zerg?”

The Elder was instantly at a loss for words, his lips trembling a few times, so angry he couldn’t say a single word.

Si Jisheng slowly leaned back against the back of his chair. “How the other galaxies are is not my business, and whether they implement this convention or not has nothing to do with the Empire.” His voice was deep, and his tone was cold. “I only need to see that within the Empire, aliens and normal people can coexist peacefully.”

“As for the Interstellar Alliance, they had better pray that in their respective galaxies, those aliens will not unite and launch a political coup, and in the end, beg the Empire to provide gene-suppressing drugs and implement the convention.”

“The military has been silent for three years. When did the Empire also become a drowning dog that needs to look at others’ faces?”

The Elder’s face was a mixture of green and white, and he gritted his teeth. “You!”

Si Jisheng made a gesture of invitation. “You can leave.”