Su An'an's entire body went rigid. The mermaid's long tail fin was already coiled tightly around her legs, his cold scales scraping harshly against her skin.
His ice-blue hair and ear fins had turned pitch-black. His searing hot, thin lips traveled downward, stopping to bite and tear at her collarbone as if he meant to rip her apart and devour her.
"Lan Cangming, snap out of it!" She struggled, trying to push against his chest, but he grabbed her wrists and pinned them forcefully behind her back.
Forced to arch backward, her fragile, elegant white neck resembled that of a swan struggling for its life in a desperate situation.
A low, hoarse cry escaped the mermaid's throat as his sharp canines suddenly pierced her neck. The scent of blood instantly made his pupils constrict into black vertical slits—a precursor to complete degeneration.
43 seconds... 42 seconds...
Su An'an's heart seized.
The mermaid's overgrown black nails were pressed against her heart, yet his other hand was sensually caressing the soft flesh of her waist. Violence and lust fused in the depths of his eyes into an eerie blue flame.
"I'll... break you..." he murmured indistinctly. The base of his fin was shockingly hot, and the force with which it coiled around her grew stronger and stronger.
'Let me go! I don't want to die!'
Terror filled Su An'an's face. An intense will to survive exploded like a clap of thunder in her sea of consciousness, and two spiritual power tentacles, like tender green sprouts, burst forth.
28 seconds... 27 seconds...
Su An'an frantically drove her spiritual power tentacles.
Green light spread from her forehead through her long hair, transforming into a delicate flower bud that landed on the mermaid's vein-popped throat.
The mermaid froze abruptly.
Su An'an seized the opportunity to invade his sea of consciousness. Deep within the roiling torrent of violent desire, she found a hazy blue light, like a candle flickering in the wind.
It was the mermaid's Beast Core, being eroded by the black mist of the Mandala Alkaloid.
Enduring the intense pain in her own sea of consciousness, Su An'an used her spiritual tentacles to part the black mist and gently caress the trembling light.
Lan Cangming's blood-red pupils constricted. He suddenly bit down viciously on her throat, yet the force pinning her lessened slightly.
19 seconds... 18 seconds...
"Relax, relax!" Su An'an trembled as she poured more spiritual power into the Beast Core.
Finally, the blue light of the Beast Core flared, and the scales on the mermaid's neck made a sound like shattering glass.
3... 2... 1—
The instant the countdown hit zero, Su An'an plunged a light green syringe into the side of the mermaid's neck.
The mermaid's ink-black hair instantly faded back to ice-blue, his ear fins regained their pearlescent luster, and his violent red eyes gradually returned to their original cyan.
"Let go!" she pounded on the arm wrapped around her waist like an iron band.
Lan Cangming's eyes were hazy. He unconsciously buried his face in the crook of her blood-stained neck, his fish tail still wrapped tightly around her calves.
In the distance, Ying Jiuyao transformed into a White Tiger and pounced like a bolt of lightning, striking Lan Cangming's back with one claw.
Already extremely weak, Lan Cangming was swatted into the sea by the blow. His ice-blue blood seeped into the water, congealing into delicate flakes of frost as it spread.
Ying Jiuyao shifted back to his human form and scooped up Su An'an, checking her over anxiously. "Are you okay?"
"So cold!" Su An'an's lips were purple as she hugged her arms, shivering uncontrollably.
"Damn that Frozen Fish!"
Ying Jiuyao looked at the purple, bruised bite mark on her neck and raised his tiger claw, about to tear the unconscious mermaid apart.
"Stop!" Su An'an grabbed his tiger claw tightly.
"What, you feel sorry for him?" Ying Jiuyao's right hand, which was wrapped around Su An'an's slender waist, tightened. He chuckled sarcastically. "So protective? Did you not get enough of him? Or did I interrupt something?"
If Su An'an had dared to nod, he would have immediately shoved her into the sea to keep the Frozen Fish company.
"I just barely managed to save him! If you injure him and someone finds out that I... that I drugged him, what will I do?" Su An'an lowered her voice, afraid of being overheard.
'Lan Cangming's life is directly tied to my status as a Princess. Absolutely nothing can happen to him.'
Only then did Ying Jiuyao recall that Su An'an had been audacious enough to give Lan Cangming a Forbidden Medicine, causing him to go berserk.
"Lucky for you, it was just this stinking fish you drugged. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?"
Su An'an shivered and couldn't help but sneeze.
"Otherwise you'd freeze to death."
Ying Jiuyao grumpily pulled her closer, scooped Lan Cangming up in a net, and flew toward the hover car on the shore.
"There are clothes under the seat. Hurry up and change!" Ying Jiuyao opened the hover car door, tossed Su An'an inside, and stood guard outside.
Su An'an lifted the seat and found it filled with all sorts of sexy slip dresses, complete with various erotic accessories and even a row of pink lubricant.
Holy crap!
'The White Tiger acts like he hates the original owner, but he's secretly this kinky?'
"What's with that look?" Ying Jiuyao noticed her strange expression through the window and cursed, "If it weren't for the Empire's marriage laws, who the hell would prepare this stuff?"
The Empire's marriage laws stipulated that a Beast Husband's vehicle must be stocked with his Female Master's personal items to facilitate intimacy at any time.
Su An'an gave an awkward smile and rummaged around until she found a relatively modest, poofy purple slip dress.
She held up the dress and glared at Ying Jiuyao, flustered. "Turn around."
"Tch, who'd want to look at you anyway?" Ying Jiuyao turned around, crossing his arms over his chest.
Su An'an quickly stripped off her wet clothes, then suddenly caught a glimpse of Ying Jiuyao's tense back in the rear-view screen.
His muscles bulged beneath his tight, black combat suit, and his furry beast ears kept twitching backward, as if he wanted to sneak a peek but didn't dare.
"Are you changed yet?!" Ying Jiuyao's Tiger Tail slapped impatiently against the car window.
"I'm done." Su An'an had hastily thrown on the purple slip dress. The moment she opened the car door, a cry like a clap of thunder rang out. "Marshal, what's wrong with you?"
She saw a tall, powerful Octopus Beastman with slightly dark skin and four tentacles under his arms, frantically shaking Lan Cangming.
Lan Cangming's handsome face grew even paler, and he looked extremely fragile.
Ying Jiuyao stood with his arms crossed, his tiger tail swaying pleasantly. He looked like someone enjoying a good show and hoping for more drama.
"He needs to lie flat!" Su An'an hurried to stop him, accidentally brushing against one of the octopus's tentacles.
The Octopus Beastman instantly froze like a statue, his bronze skin blushing from his earlobes all the way to the suckers on his tentacles.
Ying Jiuyao's tiger tail CRACKED against a reef, shattering it. He glared viciously at the Octopus Beastman. "Exposing your tentacles in front of a female is a violation of military regulation thirty-seven! You want me to help you pull them off?"
The Octopus Beastman's face went pale with fright, and he quickly retracted the four tentacles from under his arms.
He stole a glance at Su An'an's delicate, beautiful face. The poofy purple slip dress looked both innocent and cute on her, yet also held a trace of allure.
'I can't believe the Princess, who is rumored to enjoy torturing her Beast Husbands, is actually so gentle.'
The Octopus Beastman secretly extended two tentacles into his pocket and quickly typed out an encrypted message on his communicator: *All units of the Water Clan Fleet, listen up! I repeat! The Princess is super in love with our Marshal! If anyone says another bad word about Her Highness, I'll shove him into the Electric Eel Pool!*
*For real?*
*I've got a picture to prove it.*
The Octopus Beastman sent the photo he had secretly taken.
In it, the gentle, beautiful female was standing on her tiptoes, wiping grains of sand from the unconscious mermaid's forehead.
*The Princess is so gentle! If she hadn't bravely jumped down to calm the Marshal just now, we might have all been beaten to death by him in his rage.*
*But I heard the Princess's spiritual power is only F-Level. How could she possibly calm our SSS-Level Marshal?*
*Maybe the Princess has some... special techniques...*
"What are you grinning so foolishly about over there?" Ying Jiuyao felt inexplicably annoyed looking at the blushing Octopus Beastman. He whipped the unconscious Lan Cangming with his tail. "Aren't you going to take your Frozen Fish home?"
"Yes, sir." The Octopus Beastman quickly hoisted his Marshal onto his back, preparing to take him back to the warship.
Just then, a low humming sound came from the sky as a pitch-black warship slowly bore down on them.
Painted on the warship's exterior was a dark emblem of a black dragon coiled around a Blood Sword, dripping with what looked like a curse from Hell itself.
"Damn it, why is he here?"
Ying Jiuyao's pupils contracted, and he abruptly pulled Su An'an behind him.