CH 92

TL: Hua

It has to be said that the two men in black who came to assassinate Greni and kidnap him were ridiculously weak.

After knocking down the man who carelessly exposed his back to close the window and easily strangled the other man’s neck, Ji Mingjiang thought with a heavy heart.

Damn it, this is… so disrespectful to him!

What’s up with them? Is it because his performance during live broadcasts is not unique enough, or is his skiing posture not cool enough?

Even if they look down on him, how can they be so careless and indifferent to a mermaid like Greni, who survived human experiments and was able to escape in a starship when others were unprepared?

The dissatisfied Ji Mingjiang was completely unaware that because Greni, who had appeared in his live broadcast room in the past few days, was personally stamped by him as “disable,” Grepa and the Federation relaxed their vigilance and only sent a few people with decent skills to carry out the task.

Thinking that his live broadcast for so long might not have any effect at all, Ji Mingjiang couldn’t help but use some more strength in his arms around the neck of the person in front of him.

He sneered and said through gritted teeth, “Trash, I don’t think you can laugh at others. Your situation is no better than him…”

“Uh uh…”

The squeezing feeling in the throat became more and more intense, as if the oxygen in the chest was being squeezed out. The man in black couldn’t help but gradually loosen his strength in the hand holding the knife. Then, as the knife that was originally used to pierce Granny’s chest was about to fall to the ground, Ji Mingjiang easily took it into his hand.

The sharp tip of the knife that carried the scent of wind, snow, and frost from the time he had just spent outside gently traced across the man’s face. Ji Mingjiang looked into the horrified eyes of the person in his hand and finally felt happy again.

Perhaps this is the law of conservation of energy – happiness will not disappear; it will only be transferred from one person’s face to another person’s face.

When he was happy, he naturally lost interest in continuing to threaten the hostages.

Ji Mingjiang used the back side of the knife to pat the opponent’s face, which was as white as the big white wall that had just been painted with putty, with a hint of teasing in his tone.

“Relax; I’m not going to kill you now. Of course, if you keep shaking, there’s no telling if you’ll get a few cuts on your face.”

“Now, follow me honestly to the next room and tell me your plans for tonight.”

After saying this, Ji Mingjiang put away the knife and then forcefully led the man he caught towards the door.

Because of the height difference between the two, the man in black who was being strangled was forced to lift his feet off the ground by Ji Mingjiang. Only when his insteps were stretched hard could his toes reach the ground.

Ji Mingjiang brought the foreign criminal to the door in a semi-suspended manner. After operating a few times at the entrance of the nursing room, the door that had not moved much earlier was quickly pulled open from outside.

The lights in the corridor were still on, and a tall man appeared in front of the man in black, who almost fainted.

Clarice rarely appeared in major news, but the overly conspicuous golden eyes on his stern face are enough for people to recognize him.

After he came to his senses, this time he really did roll his eyes and faint completely.

“You……”

“Shh——”

Ji Mingjiang directly interrupted what Clarice had not finished saying. He glanced at Greni, who was slowly floating over behind him, and those little mermaids, who had probably heard something but were already asleep and didn’t want to open their eyes at all. Then he pointed to the black thing by the window and said in a lowered voice, “There is another one over there. Take him to the next door and be gentle.”

Leiden nodded.

Facts have proven that as an emperor who has received formal training and has been honed on the front line for many years, although he looks very big, if he wants to, he can also walk so silently that no one will notice.

At least in the current environment, which is so quiet that he can hear the breathing of the school of fish in the room, if Ji Mingjiang doesn’t try hard to listen, he really won’t notice Clarice’s footsteps as he walks.

The man by the window was struck on the side of the neck by Ji Mingjiang and fainted. When Leiden lifted the man up, he felt that he was holding a heavy and rotten thing in his hand. He couldn’t help but frown in disgust.

“Then we’ll leave for the other room. The door won’t be closed here. If anything goes wrong, call me immediately.”

“Don’t worry, there are patrols guarding outside; nothing will go wrong.”

After Ji Mingjiang finished speaking, Leiden also briefly explained the current layout outside. After seeing Greni nod, the two of them left the nursery one after another.

The bright lights in the corridor shone unobstructed into the dark room. The sudden, dazzling light made Greni, who had already adapted to the current brightness, squint his eyes in discomfort. The little mermaids sleeping next to him also turned over impatiently.

He moved some distance to the side, blocking part of the light from the front, and then lay down leisurely by the pool. He couldn’t help but wonder about the situation of the two people in the room next door.

In another empty and bright room with only two chairs, the interrogation didn’t go as smoothly as Greni imagined.

After all, of the people they need to question now, one of them was knocked unconscious by Ji Mingjiang, and the other one also passed out briefly due to the shock or the lack of oxygen.

“…”

“You scared our target into fainting.”

After realizing that no matter what, he couldn’t wake up the person he had just strangled, Ji Mingjiang squatted on the ground, turned his head, and said quietly to Clarice with an expressionless face.

“But I think he fainted mainly due to a lack of oxygen.”

Having already shouldered countless false accusations, Leiden naturally and quickly threw back the brand new claim to Ji Mingjiang.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I paid attention to my strength. Of course, although he had difficulty breathing, he didn’t faint from lack of oxygen. Your guess isn’t logical at all.”

“Then it’s logical to assume that he was frightened and fainted just when he saw me?”

“…”

Fortunately, just when the two of them were about to start a repeated scapegoat around the topic of “Who caused this guy to faint?” the guy who was knocked unconscious by Ji Mingjiang at the beginning let out a muffled grunt and slowly lifted up his eyelids.

Noticing the movement in front of them, the two stopped bickering like schoolboys, but in the end, Ji Mingjiang gave Clarice a meaningful look.

It’s like saying, “See, the one I knocked out woke up, and the other one hasn’t. If you didn’t scare him out of it, what else could it be?”

“Ah.”

Without any difficulty, he got the meaning expressed in Ji Mingjiang’s eyes. In response, Leiden sneered, not wanting to argue with this mermaid anymore.

***

Taka, originally a bottom feeder in the Federation with a basic university degree and an ordinary family that most people generally have, smoothly entered a company that was affiliated with the government to work after graduation. Because his parents are both veteran employees of this company, the company’s seniors also take good care of him, and he seems to have a very smooth and happy life—originally.

But this peaceful life that could be seen at a glance was shattered the day the stupid boss tried to run away with the money.

Because of the temporary lack of cash flow and the desire to threaten the boss to pay back the money, his parents stood on the roof of the company, and then they lost their footing and fell.

The people of the Federation are all a group of guys who only care about money and business, especially those who are bosses in the Federation. The death of his parents didn’t cause a ripple in the heart of that idiot boss. All the messages he sent were like rocks sinking into the sea. When he didn’t get a reply, Taka became angry and let evil thoughts corrode his mind. He planned for several months to kill the boss.

From then on, he ushered in a turning point in his life; he originally thought he would be sent to trial and then reunited with his parents, but he was secretly recruited by a department in the Federation that was usually unknown to outsiders and was ready to perform any tasks at any time.

Coming to the empire to assassinate and abduct two mermaids was the first mission he received.

Of course, it might be the last one now.

After all, it seemed like he was at another turning point in his life.

That was Taka’s last thought before he passed out.

In fact, when he and his companion, that guy called Savi, climbed through the window and entered the room where he had already determined that there would not be any danger, Taka’s heart was surging with an ominous foreboding, but what he never thought was that this foreboding, which was so puzzling to him, would actually come true—he felt an extremely fast attack suddenly coming from behind him, and he had no possibility of dodging it.

The warm, swollen, and persistent pain on the side of his neck reminded Taka of what happened to him. Therefore, as he struggled to open his eyes and saw the two people squatting and standing in front of him—more precisely, one person and one fish—his heart still trembled, but he was not too surprised.

The dazzling light made him squint, and a glint of water overflowed from the corners of his eyes. After his eyeballs adapted to the current light, he shifted his gaze to Clarice.

“I didn’t expect that just killing a mermaid who escaped from the Federation could make the Emperor of the Empire spend most of the night squatting in a small, dark room.”

He rolled his aching neck and said sincerely, “And he even spared my life. This is a bit different from the rumors I heard before.”

“…”

“?”

Ji Mingjiang’s eyes turned twice between Clarice and the defeated general in front of him, and a question mark slowly appeared above his head.

“Did you make a mistake?” He interrupted the man with a confused tone, “I knocked you out, not Clarice. And you’re indeed not important enough for him to wait for a few hours in the nursery room.

What……”

After Ji Mingjiang spoke, Taka was a little confused at first, but after realizing what Ji Mingjiang meant, shock finally appeared on his feigned calm expression.

Are you kidding? With the strength of that palm, you told him it was the mermaid who struck him? ? ?

If that’s really the case, why did the task details he received initially focus on that mermaid named Greni??? Did Grepa ask him to come and die?!

“Okay, stop talking nonsense.”

Ji Mingjiang stood up and interrupted him impatiently, “I’ll ask, and you answered. Don’t waste anyone’s time.”

Taka wanted to laugh when he heard this. He really wanted to ask, “Why are you so confident that I will cooperate with you and answer your questions honestly?” However, when this idea first came into his mind, the tiger in his spiritual sea suddenly howled anxiously, and a sense of crisis rushed to his head!

The next second, the salty smell of the sea suddenly lingered on the tip of his nose. At the same time, he could clearly sense that a sharp mental power was suspended close to his sun.

The person who did all this looked at him with a serious smile and said in a very soft tone, “You decide for yourself whether you want to take the initiative to speak. Of course, if you don’t tell me, I have many ways to make you speak. Think about it carefully before giving me an answer.”

In the room with the constant temperature system on, a drop of cold sweat slowly seeped out of Taka’s forehead. He could feel that what Ji Mingjiang said was true.

That mental power can definitely pierce his spiritual sea!

After just a moment of superficial hesitation, Taka glared fiercely at the unconscious Savi, envying his brainless companion for the first time, and then nodded his head very swiftly under Ji Mingjiang’s gaze.

“Just ask; I will tell you everything I know.”

The corners of Ji Mingjiang’s mouth curled upward a little wider. He withdrew his mental power a certain distance and said in a very relaxed tone, “That’s right. If you cooperate a little, you won’t be sentenced to death straight away here with us.”

“Okay, let’s answer each item one by one first.”

He walked back to Clarice, took out a recording device and a paper notebook from the space button, and said, “Your name, age, nationality, occupation, and the purpose of coming to the Empire, which is your mission, is there anyone else outside waiting to respond to you, who is the superior responsible for contacting you, and how much information do you know about him? That’s all for starters.”

“…”

Looking at Ji Mingjiang’s skilled posture and complete tools, Taka couldn’t help but fall into deep doubt.

This mermaid… is really weird. What did he do before?!

However, although he was complaining desperately in his heart, for the sake of his own mental health and life, Taka still answered Ji Mingjiang’s questions one by one in a very cooperative manner.

“Taka, 31, a non-staff member of the Federation’s secret department. This mission is to kill Greni, who falls into your hands and may leak Federation secrets, and then to capture you and Kiro Clarice, who are currently known to be able to shift freely between human and mermaid form.”

In the quiet room, the sound of Taka’s statement and the rustling of Ji Mingjiang’s pen tip and paper while recording filled the entire space.

Sensing the sudden gloominess on Clarice’s face when he heard Taka’s last sentences and the furious black dragon in his mind, Ji Mingjiang patted his arm and gave him a few symbolic words of comfort. The small piece of mental power that had been placed in his spiritual sea also rushed to the black dragon’s face very perfunctorily, lifting its four edges and symbolically patting the dragon.

“?”

Taka was shocked when he noticed the interaction between the two and subconsciously slowed down when he stated the facts of his crime.

Then he resumed his normal pace of speech under the reminder of Ji Mingjiang’s mental power, which was once again approaching.

“There are three people who are responsible for meeting us outside.” There are three people outside who are responsible for picking us up, located on several trees outside the mermaid center. According to the plan, one person should be on the first two trees on the left and one person on the first tree on the right. You can send someone to find them.”

He took a deep breath, knowing that after he told all of this, if the news spread back, it would be regarded as a complete betrayal by the Federation.

Ji Mingjiang glanced at Clarice and saw that he was typing something on the communicator with his head lowered. He withdrew his gaze, nodded to Taka, and said, “I understand. Continue talking. Talk about your superior.”

“I……”

Unexpectedly, Taka, who had been very cooperative just now, was hesitating and couldn’t spit out a single word for a long time.

Ji Mingjiang’s eyes gradually became dangerous. Just when he really considered whether to use mental torture to extract a confession, he saw Taka’s expression full of guilt and said, “I don’t know either.”

“Ha?”

Ji Mingjiang laughed angrily.

“Is it possible that your mission was to fall from the sky and hit you on the head? Why are you saying you don’t know?”

Aware of it, no, it cannot be said to be aware of it. After all, the emotion on Ji Mingjiang’s face is now so obvious that even those unscrupulous little fish cubs can see it.

After receiving Ji Mingjiang’s dissatisfaction, Taka defended himself quickly: “No, no, no, of course I know that the person who gave me the task is Andrew, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but all he told us was to come to the Empire to cooperate with the mission, and the one who is commanding and giving the specific orders is another person.”

Seeing Ji Mingjiang’s softened expression, Taka’s heart dropped again. After organizing his words, he explained: “I only know that the superior who specifically directs our actions is within the Empire. We don’t know the specific information, but…”

“But what?”

Ji Mingjiang, who is very easy to talk to as long as people cooperate, asked patiently.

“He said before that after the mission is successful, including himself, we will have other people to take over, and we will go back to the Federation directly. So we agreed on a time… to meet in the suburbs before three o’clock in the morning.”

Taka said hesitantly.

“Before three o’clock in the morning…”

Ji Mingjiang subconsciously glanced at the time displayed on his light brain.

Isn’t that half an hour later? !

Meanwhile, Taka was still explaining honestly: “It must be getting late now too; it was almost two o’clock when Savi and I came over. After not hearing from us for almost an hour, I’m not sure if the man will still honor the appointment.”

After grinding his teeth, Ji Mingjiang and Clarice looked at each other, then looked back at Taka, who was staring at him eagerly.

“I know. Give me the device you use to contact the other party.”

“It’s in the pocket.” Taka, whose hands were tied behind the chair, turned his body sideways and spoke very cooperatively.

Opening the other party’s communicator, sure enough, the person whom Taka simply noted as “1” sent several inquiring messages twenty minutes ago. After receiving no reply, he sent a question mark ten minutes later.

“There’s no need to reply now; let’s go straight there.”

Leiden, who hadn’t ignored the dialogue between the two even after sending and receiving messages earlier, made his decision after reading it.

“There is a high possibility that the other party will still go back there to take a look.”

After all, if it was him and his own subordinate suddenly lost contact, he would definitely go to the place where both parties had agreed to confirm it before making plans.

And even if that wasn’t the case, they could have sent another message or just dialed the communication and located it.

“Then let’s go.”

Ji Mingjiang naturally had no objection.

“Wait… wait!” Seeing them putting things away and getting dressed, Taka panicked. He scurried frantically in his chair, the legs of the chair he brought with him hitting the floor with a constant screeching sound. “What about me? What should I do?”

“Be quiet!”

The doors of this room and the nursery room where the mermaid was located were not closed. Ji Mingjiang turned his head and scolded sternly.

After seeing that Taka had finally calmed down, he took a few steps forward, faced the other person’s frightened eyes, and struck the knife again at the same spot where he had been knocked unconscious last time.

“You……”

Damn, this crazy mermaid won’t go back on his word and throw him away after using him, right? He’s not going to die, is he? !

Before the words were out of his mouth, Taka fainted again with a heart full of horror and anger.

The moment he fainted, Ji Mingjiang, who had just learned the name of another person from his mouth, saw that Savi, who had been unconscious for the whole time next to him, suddenly woke up.

But probably scared by his behavior just now and by Clarice, who happened to be standing in front of him, the guy let out another shriek and fainted with both eyes rolled back in his head. Ji Mingjiang and Clarice didn’t even have time to ask anything.

“…”

“He must have been very sleepy to fall asleep like this, right?”

Ji Mingjiang asked with some difficulty.

If he didn’t comfort himself like this, he would really be sad because of the Federation’s contempt.