Cang Lan looked up at his youngest son. He didn't really want to interfere in the younger generation's affairs, but this concerned the Sea Clan, and he was torn between the Sea Clan and his son.
Moreover, he wasn't clear about Bai Cha's attitude. As it stood, Bai Cha didn't seem to have any particular feelings towards him, so he didn't dare to speak rashly.
Cang Liu, however, didn't say much, only looking down indifferently, as if implicitly agreeing with Bai Cha's questions. In fact, he would have answered Bai Cha truthfully if asked. He was loyal to her.
"Before using the compass, one must make an oath to heaven and earth, pledging a vow related to the revitalization of the Sea Clan for it to be effective. He pledged to lead the Sea Clan out of the sea's confines," Cang Lan sighed. "Otherwise, the soul will be cursed by the鲛珠 (Jiao Pearl). If one dies, they can only be reincarnated as a 鲛人 (Jiao person) to continue the vow until it is fulfilled."
"What if they don't die?" Bai Cha seized on the crucial point.
"Neither alive nor dead, neither old nor immortal," Cang Liu said in a low voice. "Unable to see the sun, unable to return to the sea, to be worn down by the heavenly laws on land until one's spirit is extinguished."
After Cang Liu finished speaking, not only Bai Cha, but even Xiang Nan and the others were stunned.
What was the difference between this and having only one chance? Unable to see the sun but unable to return to the sea, staying on land but unable to see the light, being a 鲛人 (Jiao person) unable to return to the sea, and moreover, having one's spirit worn down – what was the difference from torture?
"So, will you be wiped out? Did the Sea Clan encounter some great disaster?" Bai Cha stroked her chin, thinking for a long time but couldn't figure out what event was significant enough to warrant such a drastic measure. She felt that if Cang Liu was taking such a risky approach, the only possibility should be that the Sea Clan was in trouble.
Cang Lan covered his face. Bai Cha's reaction was exactly the same as his own. The first reaction he had when he heard his son had used the compass was whether the Sea Clan was in some great disaster.
"Uh, not really..." Cang Lan's expression became even more awkward. He was truly embarrassed to tell a guardian of a nation who had disregarded life and death that his son's time travel was for personal reasons. He felt his son would be looked down upon.
Bai Cha's deeds, let alone in her previous life, Bai Cha had heard a lot about even in this life. Hearing that Bai Cha's ultimate fate also made him sigh. Compared to Bai Cha, his son's ambitions were so small that he felt ashamed to even speak of them.
To put it bluntly, it was just a matter of romance between a man and a woman; saving the Sea Kingdom was just an incidental matter.
"I'll explain the rest to you tomorrow. You should rest today."
Just as Cang Lan was in a dilemma, Cang Liu interjected. Cang Liu was speaking to Bai Cha, and his direct concern was evident to everyone. Cang Lan was dumbfounded, not understanding why his foolish son suddenly became so bold. Lucifer frowned unhappily, but seeing Bai Cha's calm and indifferent expression, he could only suppress his displeasure.
"You brat, can't you just be straightforward? How can you give without being seen?" Cang Lan was about to go crazy. If not for so many people present, he really wanted to tap his son's head to see what was inside.
"Do you expect them to be telepathically connected to you! Even if they were, you should at least make a move!" Cang Lan was frustrated with his son's lack of progress. "If you don't make a move, who will be connected? If I had been as hesitant as you when I was pursuing your mother, it would have taken me three thousand years to even lay an egg!"
Cang Liu glanced at Cang Lan, then pulled him and turned to leave. Cang Lan's breath caught in his chest, unable to go up or down. He could only watch Bai Cha's bewildered expression and sigh heavily.
Cang Lan was taken away by Cang Liu. Bai Cha stood thoughtfully at the door for a moment before taking Lucifer into the room. Xiang Nan also followed. After Bai Cha entered the room and turned on the coral lamp on the table, he silently closed the door.
"What?" Bai Cha turned to look at Xiang Nan, who was leaning against the door behind her, and asked, "You've been hesitant to speak since we arrived."
"What are you going to do?" Xiang Nan crossed his arms.
On land, he always wore thick, loose long-sleeved shirts and pants, with a high collar covering half of his face, and messy black short hair obscuring half of his eyes. This time, after going into the sea, his pants were still cumbersome and loose, but his top was only a vest for comfort.
Xiang Nan had a sickly appearance, like a dying patient on the verge of death. Although he moved quickly most of the time, he gave off a weak and sickly impression.
Lucifer had always thought Xiang Nan was a frail and sickly youth. Now that Xiang Nan had changed into a vest, he realized that although Xiang Nan was thin, he was quite well-built. He could see bulging muscles when he crossed his arms.
This time, Xiang Nan's high collar was down, revealing the lower half of his face. His nose was handsome, but there were two ferocious horizontal scars on the sides of his mouth, as if someone had torn his mouth horizontally from the corners of his lips all the way to behind his ears, savagely destroying the jade-like face in front.
"You had Meng Qinghuan swap missions with me to warn him, didn't you?" Xiang Nan looked at Bai Cha indifferently. "You sensed something was wrong with him from the beginning, so why didn't you stop him? He always listens to you, and he'll change if you tell him to."
Silence filled the room. Bai Cha leaned against the table, her expression unreadable. After a long while, she tapped the table and said to Lucifer.
"Set up a game of chess," Bai Cha pulled over a chair and sat down. "Xiang Nan, you go first."
Xiang Nan sat down opposite Bai Cha. This time, Bai Cha didn't give him the white pieces to go first but gave him the black pieces.
"This time, one of your knights can only defend," Bai Cha said.
Xiang Nan was naturally no match for Bai Cha in chess, just as he rarely guessed Bai Cha's thoughts. Normally, even when he made the first move and attacked, his win rate was only fifty percent, let alone this time when he was at a disadvantage and restricted.
This time, Bai Cha didn't seem to be holding back either. In less than half an hour, she had forced Xiang Nan into a corner.
Bai Cha stopped her move and rotated the chessboard. This was something she often did, switching the chessboard to train the opponent's adaptability. However, this time, Bai Cha didn't continue.
"People who lose their courage cannot charge into battle. I can only know that you are fighting, but I cannot cure your mental illness," Bai Cha's voice was faint, her criticism of her own successor was ruthless. "I don't object to his feelings for Yun He, but to be timid because of it, I have nothing but disappointment to say."
Xiang Nan was silent. When Bai Cha had asked his knight not to attack, he had already guessed most of it. Once a piece on the chessboard could not advance and retreat with the main force, the entire chessboard would become hesitant, and they would be helpless against a powerful opponent. The king and queen needed pieces that were brave, forward-moving, and flexible, not a knight with selfish intentions.
"Does Yun He know about this?" Xiang Nan's voice was muffled, as he diagonally moved his white bishop three squares on the chessboard.
What surprised Xiang Nan and Lucifer next was that Bai Cha did not make a move directly. Instead, she directly removed the hesitant knight from the game, abandoning the "selfish" piece.
"I don't know," Bai Cha said, continuing her move. "Last time, you all know what happened when I went back. Your report was much more aggressive than others."
Everyone knew about the time Bai Cha rushed back overnight to deal with the undercover spies, was questioned, and then returned overnight. Bai Cha specifically wrote this action into a report and sent it to everyone as a test, requiring everyone to write their opinions and detailed reasons.
This was equivalent to homework. Bai Cha often did this, and she would carefully grade each piece of homework, writing her opinions and points of conflict. Of course, no one could escape a "full marks in red" under Bai Cha.
Even Xiang Nan's highest record was finding three inappropriate points by Bai Cha, and many were directly sent back as unqualified.
Especially Lang Mo, it proved that he was indeed not good at thinking. Almost every time, the entire piece was in red, and he was sent back every time, getting used to the circles.
This time, however, Xiang Nan's submitted homework was not marked in red, not a single one. Xiang Nan was even unsure if Bai Cha was satisfied or had not graded it at all.
"Almost everyone's answer to me was to de-escalate the situation and hold steady, even Li Rong suggested conserving strength, finding weaknesses, and waiting for the opportunity," Bai Cha said, leaning back in her chair, seemingly absentminded. "Why was your opinion to resist fiercely, strike at the vital points, and cripple them?"
Generally, such homework required stating the reasons. This time, Xiang Nan's reason was only one: all paths lead to death, so it's better to break the cauldron and sink the boats.
It was very aggressive and very brief, contrasting sharply with the lengthy dissertations of others. However, it was precisely because it was too aggressive that it seemed like the passionate lines of a teenage chuunibyo. It felt like Xiang Nan had written it with anger.
"We have been yielding all along. Aren't we almost cornered now?" Xiang Nan stopped his chess move. He had been forced into a checkmate by Bai Cha again. This time, Bai Cha had exposed her queen to gain an opportunity for checkmate. A move too late, he was cornered and unable to respond.
"Continue speaking," Bai Cha took Lucifer's water cup and took a sip. This water cup was specially made, similar to drinking utensils used in space. The light black tea inside still made her feel more comfortable.
"The fact that Lord Ye Feng yielded and was killed already explains a lot. We must take the initiative to seek survival, otherwise, staying complacent is like boiling a frog in warm water. We will repeat the same mistakes," Xiang Nan gritted his teeth and said everything he wanted to say. He touched the scar at the corner of his mouth, his eyes fierce. "It was because of my yielding that I was taken for experimentation."
He was just an ordinary child before, happy and pure. However, his talent for training insects, which he displayed from a young age, attracted the attention of some people. They used his family as threats and him as an experiment.
The experiments were cruel, almost driving him to despair. His parents did their best to send him out, and he also used all his strength to escape. After he finally met Bai Cha and was rescued, when he returned, his home, that laboratory, had already been leveled to the ground.
He could choose not to seek revenge. The Shadow Executor's duty was to be impartial, but he definitely did not trust the ugly faces of those who claimed to be for the people while clearly not caring about them.
"Have you considered one thing, even so, there is nothing we can do?" Bai Cha shook her head helplessly.
"What?" Xiang Nan didn't understand. He had always known that he was different from Bai Cha and that his thinking was not comprehensive enough, but sometimes he still didn't understand Bai Cha's actions.
"Did you write down the report I gave you?" Bai Cha leaned back in her chair, tilting her head up to let the low chair back massage her neck, which was uncomfortable from looking down for too long. As she tilted her head back, she leaned against something hard.
Judging by the touch, it felt like... abs?
Bai Cha was startled. When she opened her eyes, the man's gentle, exquisitely sculpted features looked somewhat dreamlike in the sea. He was looking down at her and smiling faintly.
"If Master's neck is uncomfortable, I can help massage it, but if you use the chair back to replace it, it might actually injure your neck." Lucifer smiled and placed Bai Cha's head on his body. His body temperature was warm, even in the cold sea. He reached out and, with just the right amount of force, massaged the pressure points on Bai Cha's neck.
Suddenly, Bai Cha felt a pang of guilt. She always felt she had done right by this world, but she seemed to have paid too little attention to the people behind her, often not even noticing Lucifer's presence.
Lucifer was like her shadow, handling all the miscellaneous matters for her so that she didn't have to be distracted. Every time Bai Cha thought she was alone, when she turned around, he was there.