Chapter 2427: Plot

zu an had been wondering how he was going to talk to the mermaid queen without hurting her too much, but he was stunned as soon as he heard what she said. it seemed his imagination had gonea bit too far.

the mermaid queen grinned when she saw his reaction. she'd already guessed what he was going to say before he even spoke. that was why she'd immediately changed the topic to seize the initiative. she'd had way too many men around her over the years, so she was very familiar with this kind of conversation. and while dealing with all of those men, she couldn't offend them, but neither could she let them take advantage of her. if she didn’t have any tricks up her sleeve, how could she survive?

she initially hadn’t wanted to use these kinds of methods, but she knew that if she didn’t do anything, this person would likely completely disappear from her life. she would never be able to see him ever again. she didn’t want that, so she'd decisively chosen to carve open a different path.

if he didn’t want to get too close to her, she would just talk about some other matters. judging from their earlier interactions, she keenly sensed that he seemed to have been paying special attention to the peacock princess.

“let’s talk inside.” the mermaid queen took the chance to invite him in. her previous palace had been sliced in half by mojard’s blade, but peach had already brought the others off to the side to prepare a new place for her.

zu an did care about the peacock princess, and didn’t want to be outside where everyone could see and hear everything. he thus nodded and followed her in.

“queen’s… young master, this is some coral pearl tea that the queen stored away for many years because she was reluctant to drink it…” peach offered up a cup of tea to zu an as if she was presenting a great treasure.

the mermaid queen coughed lightly and immediately interrupted her.

this lass really knows how to embarrass others.

peach stuck out her tongue. when she presented the tea, she stood behind the queen with a big smile.

zu an didn’t refuse peach's good intentions and gave the tea a sip. he immediately felt a refreshing sensation, and even the fatigue of rushing all the way here seemed to fade quite a bit. at the same time, the mental exhaustion he felt from fighting that fierce battle and even his vitality were quickly recovering.

“indeed, this is good tea.” zu an nodded in praise. “thank you, queen. thank you, lady peach.”

peach had a huge smile when she heard that. the queen’s husband is praising me!

the mermaid queen thought to herself, at least this lass knows my intentions and is trying to rope him in. but she didn’t show it, and instead returned to their earlier topic.

zu an replied, “a bit earlier, i used my divine sense. the peacock princess wasn’t in the four way palace.”

“you should’ve left behind a few of them to interrogate so we would have some ways to find out the peacock princess’ whereabouts.” the mermaid queen sighed.

zu an shook his head. “this is something mojard personally took care of, so his subordinates likely don't know much. besides, i can roughly guess what mojard is planning.”

“oh? what is he planning then?” the mermaid queen blinked. the other party seemed to be quite familiar with mojard. she had no basis for that thought beyond just a feeling, though. after all, it should have been the first time those two met.

zu an sighed in amazement. it was no wonder why so many powerful individuals had been toyed with by the mermaid queen. if she looked at someone with her large, beautiful ,and enchanting eyes and a keen expression, how could an ordinary man refuse any of her requests?

either way, he hadn’t been thinking of hiding the information anyway, so he said, “i’ve been trying to figure out one thing this entire time. if he came here to form an alliance with the ocean races, why did he use that other head emissary while hiding this entire time?”

the mermaid queen was a bit stunned. she thought about it for a moment before saying, “that’s right… that was a bit strange. the dragon king was already frightened badly, so even if it was just an ordinary emissary, he would still decide to side with the monsters. there was indeed no need for mojard to… hmm. could it be that he received news that the fiend races were also trying to form an alliance with the ocean races, so he concealed himself to find a chance to act?”

“i don’t believe so. if that really had been the reason, the monster emissary wouldn’t have died.” zu an shook his head. “besides, the monsters hold the absolute advantage right now. with his status among the monsters, it would have made more sense for him to do all of this with great fanfare. if the fiend races had known he was present, they wouldn’t have resorted to the path of assassination.”

the mermaid queen was smart herself. with that reminder, she suddenly thought of another possibility. “that’s right, hiding quietly among the emissaries is a bit strange. if it wasn’t for the sake of an alliance, was it to target our ocean races?!”

“that’s right. judging from my deduction, he didn’t come to form an alliance, but rather the opposite. he came to break up the alliance,” zu an said gravely.

“but… that can’t be, right?” even though the mermaid queen didn’t feel the slightest bit of goodwill toward the monsters, this suspicion was still largely outside of her estimations. “he shouldn't have any motive to do that. if the ocean races sided with the monsters, that would only bring them benefits. why would he want to stop that?”

“i have two guesses.” zu an raised his finger before explaining, “the first is that there are actually differences in factions even among the monsters. the ones who proposed the alliance might be from the monster lord’s camp, while the incestuous king has never been on good terms with the monster lord. perhaps he didn’t want his rival’s achievements to increase further.”

“what? the incestuous king and monster king don’t get along?” the mermaid queen was overwhelmed with shock. they really knew too little about the monsters and didn’t have this key piece of information.

but she quickly realized that the monsters were also intelligent beings, so they would have similar weaknesses as any other people. whether it was the ocean or fiend races, they weren’t unanimous in their beliefs. there were too many similar examples.

but why does this man know so many higher-level secrets? could he also be one of the monsters?

but that shouldn’t be the case. there's no way he could fake that hatred for the monsters. besides that, mojard clearly doesn’t know who he is.

mojard is the third-in-command of the monsters. there's no way he wouldn't be aware of someone as strong as this man in the monster world.

“of course, there is a second possibility too.” zu an paused for a moment before continuing under her astonished expression, “perhaps the monsters never intended to make you rely on them. they only wished to use an alliance to appease your group before finding some way to exhaust the ocean races’ power.”

“how could they exhaust our power?” the mermaid queen felt that both possibilities seemed likely. however, regardless of which one it was, the monsters were definitely up to no good.

“if it were me…” zu an thought for a bit before saying, “it would be best if your ocean races were used to fight against the fiend races. not only would the last of the latter’s forces be depleted, your side would also receive great casualties. then, you would be completely powerless to go against any of the monsters’ orders.”

the mermaid queen was a bit confused. “even though the dragon king doesn’t have much confidence, he’s definitely not an idiot. he should understand the concept of risking too much. he might continue to give lip service, but he definitely wouldn't truly fight against the fiend races.”

she'd already come to understand the dragon king quite well over the years. even though she didn’t like his way of doing things, she had to admit that he was quite competent.

“he wouldn’t under normal circumstances, but what if mojard had successfully driven a wedge between the fiend and ocean races?” zu an asked coldly. “for example, by borrowing the hand of the captured peacock princess.”

“are you talking about that evil ritual?” the mermaid queen shivered.

“that’s right. i didn't know about the peacock princess’ situation at first, but the remaining formation energy i found in the four way palace seemed to be of the brainwashing type,” zu an said gravely. “but after synthesizing all of the information i collected, i've concluded that mojard probably used that ceremony to temporarily control the peacock princess.

“think about it. if the peacock princess ended up harboring hard feelings due to the alliance request failing, and then caused all manner of trouble for the ocean races, such as killing a few important figures, what kind of reaction would the ocean races have?”