After Teasing the Crazy Mermaid, He Actually Deceived Me into Marriage - Chapter 5

Si Tang picked up the food and sat on the stone bench to eat, her gaze fixed intently on the stone door as she chewed.

A faint glimmer of daylight seeped through the cracks along the edges of the heavy stone door. Si Tang’s eyes swept over a pile of “junk” left behind by Fan from his spellcasting search for medicine the day before, and suddenly, her eyes lit up.

If she wasn’t mistaken, among the clutter was a pry axe.

Si Tang quickly swallowed the fish in her hand and eagerly stepped forward to sift through the pile. Sure enough, it was a pry axe.

That meant, using the principle of leverage, she could use this pry axe to open the stone door.

A spark of hope instantly ignited in Si Tang’s eyes.

Three uneventful days later.

Fan Yi, arriving with dinner, pushed open the stone door. His gaze first settled on Si Tang, who was sitting on the stone bench, watching him with an expectant expression.

Hmm, she’s been fairly manageable. And she doesn’t look like she’s on the verge of death anymore, unlike a few days ago.

Fan Yi approached gracefully, holding a trident with two sea fish skewered on it. His expression was light, suggesting he was in a good mood.

He leisurely came to sit before her, placing the sea fish to the side. The fish must have just been skewered, as their tail fins were still twitching slightly. Droplets of water splattered into the air, only to be blocked by an invisible force just before they could land on his robes.

The next moment, flames flickered to life on the ground, casting a golden reflection onto the dark hem of his robes. His features were as exquisite as a painting, exuding an inexplicable allure.

“You’re here,” Si Tang immediately straightened her posture.

“Mhm,” he replied nonchalantly, his gaze drifting to the trident beside him as he said lightly, “Go grill the fish for the human.”

Si Tang blinked slightly. One moment she was wondering if he was talking to her, and the next, she heard a ding sound. The trident, with the sea fish still skewered on it, obediently moved toward the fire and began grilling the fish automatically.

Throughout this, Fan Yi remained with his eyes lowered, not making a single move, as if he weren’t the one controlling it.

“You. were talking to it?” Si Tang stared in astonishment.

“Obviously?”

Si Tang stared in amazement at the trident. Divine artifacts have spirits, she thought, feeling as if this world truly was a fantasy novel.

The trident couldn’t speak. Now, it had grievances but no way to voice them.

Who would have thought that one day, it, a divine artifact of the Sea God, would have to grill fish for this human!

Unheard of! When it returned to the higher realm, it would complain to the Chief God! Lord Fan Yi didn’t treat it like a treasure, what kind of deity didn’t cherish their artifacts? Aside from actual combat, most were afraid of damaging them. Who would use them to grill fish?

But then, Lord Fan Yi had been a living menace since birth. One day, he’d wield it to churn the seas, the next, ride it to summon thunderbolts, stirring up chaos in Atlantis and treating it like a beast of burden. The only break it got was when the lord went missing in the dimensional rift just three hundred years after his birth it had enjoyed a mere decade or so of vacation.

Life after that had been anything but peaceful. No wonder Lord Zeus punished him with confinement all the time!

Who would have thought? When the master committed a crime and was punished, the divine artifact would suffer by association. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be stuck in this godforsaken sea with him! Between divine punishment, exile, and imprisonment, the worst part was the unbearable marine pollution. Heavens, they had to stay here for a hundred years.

It missed the spiritually rich Atlantis of World 0003!

Of course, Si Tang couldn’t hear the divine artifact’s lengthy, internal grumbling.

The air grew quiet for a few seconds. Si Tang stole a glance at him, not forgetting the mission she had to carry out today.

“Um. I was wondering, aside from me, did anyone else survive that shipwreck?”

“Are you worried about them?”

Siting pursed her lips, her voice softening slightly. “Of course.”

“They’re all dead.” His tone was devoid of emotion, pausing briefly before revealing a hint of disdain. Tang: “…”

Her gaze lowered slightly. Just then, the trident floated over with a grilled fish, considerately skewered on a wooden stick. Looking at the fish, Si Tang finally realized who had prepared the previous two grilled fish skewers.

She took it and instinctively said, “Thank you.”

With Fan Yi’s permission, the trident wagged and swooshed out of the cave, sinking into the sea.

“These past few days, I haven’t heard any sounds from ships. Is this place off the usual route?” Si Tang inquired subtly.

“Human, drop your little tricks.” Fan Yi sneered, his deep blue eyes seeming to see right through her. “For now, staying by my side is the safest. If you take even one step out of this cave, the next time we meet, you’ll be a corpse, dead from thirst or starvation.”

Si Tang remained silent.

She knew perfectly well that even if she escaped the cave, surviving and returning would be nearly impossible.

That was why she couldn’t act rashly just yet. She needed to wait for the perfect opportunity.

After finishing the fish in her hand, under Fan Yi’s gaze that made her feel like a pet, she casually remarked, “With so many people dead, there should be a search and rescue team coming, right?”

Upon hearing this, Fan Yi tapped his fingers idly on his knee, his tone lazy and unabashed as he replied.

“You mentioned it, there actually was a search and rescue team scouting nearby just now. But this place is too far off the shipping route; the chance of being washed ashore here is one in ten thousand. They left quickly.”

Perhaps it was the confidence of a god.

Si Tang lifted her head slightly, her eyes lingering on his mesmerizingly beautiful face for a moment, actually analyzing the meaning behind his expression.

But she saw nothing.

He might have been careless, or perhaps he had been flying around and hadn’t noticed the recently burned branches on the shore, the ones she had left before meeting him.

Si Tang let out a soft “oh,” but her mind was racing.

Generally speaking, if a search and rescue team had come ashore on this island, they would have noticed the branches she had burned days ago.

It was highly likely that they had left to gather reinforcements, as two or three people would struggle to search the entire island.

And tonight would be the best time to escape.

Thinking this, Si Tang felt her blood stir with excitement a reaction to seeing a glimmer of hope.

Seeming to sense the human’s emotional fluctuation, Fan Yi lifted his eyelids slightly to glance at her.

Humans were such strange creatures; their thoughts and emotions were fascinating subjects worth studying.

For instance, right now, Fan Yi was quite curious about what this human was thinking.

So, the Sea God focused his mind, intending to probe her inner thoughts.

Si Tang was silently rehearsing her escape plan in her mind when she suddenly heard a faint, surprised sound in the air.

She looked up toward the source of the sound, unsure what had startled this fish.

She only saw him staring at her with a strange gaze.

As if he had encountered an incomprehensible puzzle.

“You don’t believe in gods?”

Si Tang heard the other party suddenly say this.

A flicker of confusion crossed her face. “Believe in gods?”

She had always been a materialist. Even though recent events had completely shattered her worldview, the idea of worshiping deities. If gods were truly reliable, would she have ended up on the verge of becoming a god’s dinner?

“What a pity.” He let out a low sigh tinged with regret, his tone carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.

This was the first time he had taken interest in a human’s thoughts, only to discover they weren’t a believer.

In his remaining three hundred years of memories, humans seemed to universally worship deities. So much so that the endless stream of prayers in his ears had constantly disturbed his peace.

Yet after being exiled to this world, such voices had significantly diminished.

“An interesting new era.”

Si Tang heard him continue speaking. Of course, she had no idea what strange thoughts were going through this fish’s mind.

Fan Yi studied her for a long while, looking at her no differently than he would his own pet. Unable to discern anything particular, he simply thought there would be plenty of time ahead – he had ample opportunity to study this human.

He left shortly after.

Meanwhile, Si Tang stared at his departing figure, clenching her fists tightly.