Hey! Control Yourself! - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: People Will Die

That night, Shen Ji lit a bonfire outside the cave, preparing to sleep on the ground. The mermaid’s red eyes watched him from beneath the cave’s overhang.

In the wild, Shen Ji kept his mental perception active. Occasionally, while focusing intensely on scanning his surroundings, he would suddenly bump into a pair of teary, deviant eyes, giving him a start. To avoid falling into any more of those cunning, perverted “plays,” Shen Ji refused to speak to him.

“Shen Ji, I’m scared sleeping alone,” Sheng Lu spoke first, unable to help himself. His pitiful act looked convincing enough—if one could ignore the upward curve of his lips.

Shen Ji kept his eyes shut and simply didn’t respond.

Sheng Lu gazed deeply at Shen Ji’s gland. Ever since he had smelled Shen Ji’s pheromones in the lab, he had been madly attracted to that scent. The aura surging from the Enigma’s feverish pulse was like fresh snow kicked up by a galloping elk, or a rainbow appearing after a violent torrent. Just a tiny bit of that grade of pheromone was enough to saturate every cell in his body, leaving him numb with pleasure.

At the thought, Sheng Lu couldn’t help but let out a soft pant.

“Close those man-eating eyes of yours,” Shen Ji muttered without opening his eyes. If he didn’t speak up, he felt he’d be “eye-fcked” by this fish, then skinned and eaten whole.

“A mermaid’s eyes can’t eat people, but the mouth can.” Seeing him finally speak, Sheng Lu smiled and opened his mouth.

Shen Ji turned his head away. He shouldn’t have given this deviant the time of day; the moment he paid him any attention, Sheng Lu was ready to escalate things into a one-sided sex session.

Sheng Lu propped himself up with his hands and slowly scooted closer, leaning against him. His heavy tail picked up some dried grass from the ground. Leaning against the young human and gazing at the sky, he was suddenly reminded of the free, calm, and gentle feeling of roaming the ocean during his youth.

“Shen Ji, this must be what you humans call ‘happiness,'” he said softly.

His sudden sincerity and sentimentality made Shen Ji open his eyes. However, given that the mermaid’s credit rating was currently in the negatives, Shen Ji didn’t answer. Silence fell, and the two eventually drifted off to sleep.

Stars filled the sky, and massive celestial bodies moved slowly above the forest as the warmth of the fire gradually dimmed.

In his sleep, a slight noise echoed. Sheng Lu gripped his hand tightly. “Something’s coming.”

Shen Ji opened his eyes. Several pairs of beastly eyes were staring at them from behind the red mist. Two fierce silhouettes lunged from the forest to attack. Because the distance was so short, Shen Ji didn’t have time to identify them; he simply used his mental threads to strangle the beasts.

The carcasses slammed into the ground, torn apart, blood flowing everywhere. Only then did Shen Ji see clearly—they didn’t look like wild beasts. These creatures had shiny fur and nameplates around their necks. They looked more like large animals raised by Gaya humans, similar to the giant pet dogs kept by interstellar humans.

Were they hunting hounds from the Great God Cult? The forest had been peaceful since the large ships left a few days ago; had they returned?

Just then, whistles sounded from the woods, followed by several single-person flight shuttles. These shuttles were lightweight, designed for forest maneuvers, but their crystal fuel consumption was massive and the price tag exorbitant. Even after several trips to Gaya, Shen Ji had rarely seen such shuttles.

The shuttles circled above the dead hounds before landing. Several well-equipped, glamorous young men jumped down, carrying hunting rifles. It seemed they weren’t from the Great God Cult, but rather rich playboys out for a hunt with their hounds.

Shen Ji relaxed slightly. Seeing their hounds lying in pieces, the men froze in disbelief.

“D*mmit! Which bastard killed my Bok Sheep-Dog?”

“Ah! And my Ice-Wolf Lynx!”

“Viscount Beolan, it’s that guy,” another man said, turning to spot the fire in front of the cave and the two figures behind it. He was quick to curry favor.

The man called Viscount Beolan said coldly, “Let’s go.”

The group raised their rifles and slowly approached the fire. As the light illuminated them, a beautiful mermaid tail immediately caught everyone’s eye. Gasps of amazement rang out in unison.

“That’s a mermaid…”

“It really is a mermaid.”

“Weren’t mermaids extinct long ago?”

A mermaid in the forest, with a handsome face, beautiful long hair, and a dreamlike silver-blue tail—the impact left everyone stunned for a moment.

Viscount Beolan was the first to react, looking at Shen Ji. “Did you kill my Bok Sheep-Dogs?”

The black-haired, black-eyed man sat by the fire, motionless until this moment. He finally looked up and said, “They attacked us first.”

“They attacked you? You could have hidden, but you shouldn’t have killed them. Do you have any idea how much a grown Bok Sheep-Dog is worth?”

Hearing this, Shen Ji suddenly laughed.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing because… what you said makes a lot of sense.”

The men exchanged glances. A place like the Red Mist Forest was rarely visited, especially at night; they only dared enter because of their superior equipment and hounds. Logically, they shouldn’t underestimate someone who could kill two large hunting dogs.

However, looking at Shen Ji—short hair, unarmed, living in a cave, they assumed he was just a mountain hunter with some mental strength. With rifles in their hands, they felt they had nothing to fear.

“Don’t you know mermaids are rare animals protected by law?” the blonde man beside Beolan said sternly.

Shen Ji couldn’t be bothered to deal with them; he knew exactly what they wanted.

“Imprisoning a mermaid privately carries a sentence of at least ten years,” Viscount Beolan said, looking at Shen Ji with righteous indignation.

Meanwhile, Sheng Lu’s deep, mysterious eyes watched them with feigned helplessness, making Beolan’s heart race. At this point, the two hounds didn’t matter; the mermaid was the ultimate prize. He had truly struck gold, finding a mermaid in the forest—and this one was a masterpiece among masterpieces. Look at that tail, his pheromones were likely at least S-grade.

As a Viscount, he had never understood the appeal of mermaids, looking down on nobles who fought over mermaid glands at auctions. But now, the mermaid before him piqued his interest immensely.

Being a loyal lackey, the blonde man understood the Viscount’s intentions perfectly. He looked at the mermaid and said, “Please don’t be afraid. Our Viscount will rescue you and take you back immediately.”

Sheng Lu lowered his head, hiding behind Shen Ji in a panic, peeking at them with timid eyes. “There’s no need to rescue me… people will die.”

“You’re too kind.”

That gaze was like poison, fueling incurable fantasies. In the eyes of these playboys, he was so innocent that he immediately triggered the possessiveness and protective instincts of the Alphas. Beolan even changed his mind; he decided that after he’d had his fun, he’d give the mermaid a somewhat legitimate status to prevent him from being snatched by the Great God Cult. Well, for that alone, this mermaid should serve him with eternal gratitude.

Just looking at the mermaid’s fair, handsome face, his bare upper body, and his shimmering tail, Beolan felt a surge of lust; even his pheromones began to leak slightly.

Seeing Shen Ji unmoved, Beolan lost his patience. He frowned and aimed his rifle at Shen Ji across the fire. “Alright, if you don’t want us to take you to court, hand over the mermaid.”

“No, don’t worry about me… if you provoke him, he’ll kill you,” Sheng Lu said, trembling as he looked at them, his words adding fuel to the fire.

“You’re saying he will kill us?” Viscount Beolan hefted his rifle boastfully.

“Yes… you will definitely die a very miserable death.” Sheng Lu turned his face away, his shoulders shaking as he struggled not to laugh out loud.

The men thought he was just terrified. They were convinced of their victory, completely missing the cold, dark smirk in the mermaid’s eyes.

Shen Ji finally spoke: “Is there anyone else?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are there other people in the forest?”

“Does it matter? It only takes one bullet to send you to the afterlife,” the blonde man sneered.

“So, there’s no one else.” That saved him some trouble.

Beolan suddenly looked at Sheng Lu, adopting a gentlemanly tone. “Please move back, lest I accidentally injure you when I fire.”

As he spoke, Sheng Lu caught the faint scent of his mating pheromones and felt a wave of nausea. He leaned against Shen Ji, smiling at the Viscount with sincerity. “Forget it… there’s really no need for you to give up your life for this…”

Beolan was annoyed; he felt he was being completely belittled by the mermaid. He aimed at Shen Ji and pulled the trigger, but suddenly broke into a cold sweat. Something had jammed the trigger; no matter how much force he used, there was no mechanical click.

Shen Ji stood up and said, “Having trouble aiming? How about I step closer.”

Beolan immediately realized this man was extraordinary. He tried to retreat, but an invisible force blocked his path, leaving him unable to move. He stared at Shen Ji in terror. The blonde man tried to shoot, but before he could aim, a mental thread pierced his skull. He collapsed silently, dead.

The other two lackeys tried to run, but after barely ten steps, mental threads pierced their chests, leaving them dead in the shadows.

In the firelight, Beolan caught a glimpse of the threads binding his body. The realization hit him. “Wait! You… who are you!?”

In Gaya, those who could manipulate mental threads were few and far between, let alone at this scale. Legend had it that only members of the Shen family could do this.

Shen Ji said, “Do I have to give my name to kill you?”

Beolan’s pupils shrank. He looked behind Shen Ji to see Sheng Lu sitting by the fire, a smiling, pathological curve to his lips. “Like I said… I warned you people would die.”

Beolan looked back at Shen Ji, pleading, “No! Please!! I am a Viscount of Country D… my status might be nothing to the Shen family, but I have money! I can give you money! Don’t kill me! Please!”

Shen Ji said, “I’m killing you. You can try to hide.”

Beolan’s eyes widened as he finally understood why Shen Ji had laughed earlier. By the time he processed it, he had met his end with a bitter smile.