Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Shark Pearl Can Decide My Life and Death

Lan Yin’s head snapped up. "How do you know..."

"Don’t worry about how I know," Ao Wu said with composure. "I just need your answer. Are you leaving, or not?"

"If you agree to leave, I can lend you a hand. It would save you from that... thing inside you getting out of control."

’Yu An has other Beast Husbands besides him?’

’It doesn’t matter. He’ll deal with them one by one until he’s the only one left by the Female Master’s side.’

"Heh," Lan Yin scoffed. "What makes you think I’d believe a word you say? Whether or not I can suppress it is for me to decide!"

"So you’re not leaving, then?"

"I’m not."

Ao Wu’s lips curled into a smirk. "Very good. With me here to protect An’an, she certainly won’t get hurt. Your Zaizai, on the other hand... I can’t say the same."

"Of course, for An’an’s sake, I’ll make an effort to protect him. But when that time comes, don’t expect me to be courteous to you."

Lan Yin paused, but did not reply.

The room was too well soundproofed, and with the sound of the water, Yu An hadn’t heard any of their conversation. But when she emerged, she saw that Lan Yin’s expression was grim.

’It was like he’d been... pissed off.’ 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Ao Wu, however, lit up the moment he saw her, his face blooming into a wide smile. "An’an, where are you sleeping tonight? The bed in my room is incredibly comfortable~"

"I’ll just sleep here," Yu An said, giving him a gentle push toward the door. "It’s getting late. Go get some rest."

"Oh."

Ao Wu left, looking disappointed.

’But there’s no hurry. There’s always tomorrow.’

After drying her hair, Yu An lifted a corner of the covers and settled into one half of the bed.

"Let’s get some rest. Oh, right, let me see if my superpower can help you recover faster."

’She had only bandaged Lan Yin’s wounds, not used her superpower to heal him. She only had so much of it, and she had to save some for herself in case of a crisis.’

Lan Yin gave a slight nod. He was still wondering how the treatment would work when Yu An suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"Is... is this necessary for the treatment?"

There were no lights, leaving the room pitch-black. Lan Yin felt his entire body grow hot, as if he were burning up.

Yu An spouted nonsense with a perfectly straight face. "You wouldn’t understand. The treatment is most effective this way."

"Oh," Lan Yin said in a low voice. "Then... then this is fine."

’It’s not like they’ve never hugged before. If it means getting home sooner, he can endure this.’

Yu An was content. She mentally urged Lu Lu to hurry up and secure the fragment, thinking that there probably wouldn’t be many more opportunities for such intimate contact with Lan Yin in the future.

Lu Lu replied with a wry laugh, ’I’m on it, I’m on it! But this isn’t nearly enough time. You need to create more opportunities for intimacy. If all else fails, just take him by force. The contract isn’t broken, so he’s still your Beast Husband. What’s wrong with sleeping together?’

Lu Lu said it all with such brazen confidence.

Yu An was speechless. "..."

Exhausted from the long day, she lay on the large, soft bed, and it wasn’t long before she started to feel drowsy.

Drifting in a state between sleep and wakefulness, she heard Lan Yin say unexpectedly, "Yu An, I have something I want to give you."

"Hmm? What is it? Gold or Silver?"

Yu An, who had been dreaming of sitting on a mountain of gold, was snapped wide awake by his words.

Lan Yin was silent for a moment. "Neither. It’s a pearl."

Yu An: "???"

"No, thank you," she said with a hint of disdain. "I already have a huge pile of them. Xiao Yu gave them to me."

The little guy was quite sentimental; he could cry a whole basin of pearls just from hearing the story of the Little Merfolk.

"It’s not that kind of pearl," Lan Yin explained. "It’s a Shark Pearl, from us Merfolk. It determines whether we live or die."

Yu An’s eyes shot wide open. She sat up and reached out to feel Lan Yin’s forehead.

Just as Lan Yin was wondering what she was doing, he heard her mutter to herself, "He doesn’t have a fever... Why is he talking nonsense?"

’Giving his life to her for no reason at all. He just keeps giving her worthless stuff.’

Lan Yin gently pulled her hand away. "I don’t have a fever, and I’m not talking nonsense. I’m giving you the Shark Pearl to put your mind at ease."

He lowered his gaze. "This way, you won’t have to worry that I might turn on you at some point."

"I don’t want it," Yu An refused adamantly. "We have a contract. You can’t hurt me even without the Shark Pearl."

"You should keep something so important for yourself."

But Lan Yin paid no mind to her refusal. He opened his mouth slightly, and a blood-red orb appeared. Before Yu An could react, it flew straight into her mouth.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH—"

Yu An clutched her throat, her face a mask of disbelief. "You... You..."

Lan Yin slowly let out a breath of relief. "It’s all right. The Shark Pearl won’t affect you in any way. Now, my life or death depends entirely on your will."

"Then you can just die!"

Yu An’s face was a picture of despair. "You actually fed me something you spit out of your own mouth!"

’She was a bit of a germaphobe, okay?!’

Lan Yin: "..."

Since things had already come to this, and it was impossible to get the Shark Pearl out, Yu An had no choice but to accept it.

’Oh well. It wasn’t like she was the one losing out on the deal.’

Determined to get home sooner, Yu An went all out, healing half of the internal injuries Lan Yin had sustained from using his Talent Ability in a single night.

The consequence was that when she woke up the next day, she looked completely drained and so weak that she nearly fell when getting out of bed.

"Are you all right?" Lan Yin asked, rushing to steady her. "Don’t move. I’ll carry you."

Yu An waved him off. "I’m fine, I’m fine. Just a little hungry."

Before the words were even out of her mouth, Ao Wu’s voice drifted in from outside the door. "An’an, are you up? Breakfast is ready."

Yu An called out in reply. After tidying herself up a bit, she and Lan Yin opened the door and went out.

Ao Wu was standing at the door, beaming. "Come on, I’ll take you to breakfast."

Yu An’s expectations were high, but when she saw the enormous table laden with raw meat and fruit, she fell into a contemplative silence.

"On second thought," she said, turning away decisively, "I don’t feel that hungry anymore."

’No matter how exquisitely it was plated, it couldn’t change the fact that it was still raw meat!’

In the end, Yu An took out some food she had made and stored in her personal dimension, and the three of them had a quick bite.

It was Ao Wu’s first time tasting Yu An’s cooking, and his reaction was identical to the other four’s.

He was stunned. Utterly and completely stunned.

When he heard they needed to rely on Lan Yin’s Talent Ability, Instant Teleportation, to return, Ao Wu offered his spiritual power to assist him.

"That’s wonderful," Yu An said with a sigh of relief, unable to wait. "Let’s go back right away."

’She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but the Exile Grass seemed to be taking effect. It was best to return to the exiled land as soon as possible.’

Ao Wu nodded, wrapped his arm around Yu An’s waist, and the Cloud Beast carried the three of them into the sky.

It was only then that Yu An got a clear view of the entire island.

’Such a beautiful estate. It’s a shame for it to be abandoned here.’

Ao Wu seemed to sense her thoughts. "An’an, do you remember what I said? That this is your home now."

Yu An nodded blankly, not understanding what he meant.

Ao Wu’s lips curled into a smile. He stretched out a hand, and the island rapidly shrank until it was a palm-sized decorative object.

He placed the miniature island in Yu An’s palm. "You can keep it in your personal dimension. That way, you can take it out and expand it to live in whenever you want."

A sudden thought struck Yu An. ’If she encountered more frenzied beasts, could she just take out the island and crush them to death?’

’That wasn’t a bad idea at all.’

With that thought, she casually tossed the miniature island into her personal dimension.

Just as she was about to speak to Lan Yin, Yu An suddenly felt a violent turbulence in her personal dimension, and her head began to throb painfully.

She saw the worried expressions on Lan Yin’s and Ao Wu’s faces. Their mouths were opening and closing as if they were saying something, but she couldn’t hear a single sound before she blacked out completely.