Mary Sue Chapter 29: Attention!

Translated by J.

Editor: Addis

 

“It’s fine even if you were trying to signal something to me.” The admiral reached out and held Ye Xi’s chin with his fingertips, as if Ye Xi was an enticing piece of ripened fruit, and forced Ye Xi to look up into his eyes. The admiral’s intense dark eyes held a reflection of the youth before him, a youth whose face was as bright as the moon rising over the deep, murky ocean. However, his appreciative reverie was quickly replaced by ruefulness, “I would gladly help you fulfill your dream.”

Ye Xi, who had not yet mastered the art of reading facial expressions, raised his spirits and prepared to rake in experience points. However…

The admiral rubbed his somewhat callused thumb over Ye Xi’s scrumptious, ruby-red lips and watched as they moulded around his kneading fingers like flower petals. Then, he withdrew his hand and sighed as he lamented in a low voice, “But unfortunately, I’m a sworn bachelor.”

Ye Xi watched him with heartfelt disappointment. He asked, “But why?”

What the fuck?! In a Mary Sue world, why are there male extras who would want to stay single at all?

The admiral smiled and shook his head, avoiding the question. He continued in a serious tone, “I can help you leave this island. In my country, you will have the freedom to choose your own spouse, where any type of coercion into a marriage made against your will is illegal. As a soldier, I have a responsibility to protect you…When the time comes, would you like to leave with me?

Ye Xi immediately nodded in a frenzy, “Of course I would. But how do you plan to get off this island?”

No wonder he became an admiral, even the way he asked me to elope was highly original. Saying he’s a sworn bachelor must be some kind of a ruse.

Maybe the system is just trying to raise his difficulty level. If the assassin was worth 40,000 experience points, then this sworn bachelor might be worth 50,000…

Ye Xi plotted unashamedly in his mind, cheerfully calculating what level Shen Xiulin and he could reach with the additional points.

“I sent an SOS to the naval headquarters before my ship sank.” The admiral interrupted Ye Xi’s scheming and retrieved a small device from his wet uniform pocket. He shook the device in his hand, then with a calm expression that radiated trustworthiness, he continued, “This is a military-grade signal device. Though it was damaged while I drifted at sea, since this is the only island in the vicinity, my location shouldn’t be too hard to determine. My fleet should arrive within a few days and I will take you with me when the time comes. In the meantime…as a safety precaution, I don’t plan to meet with your infamous fiancé. If I’m going to take his betrothed away from him, I don’t want him to be alerted to that fact beforehand.”

Ye Xi nodded his head like a hen pecking grains of rice off the ground, “You’re right. Before help arrives, we shouldn’t alert him of your presence. This is a fairly secluded area, if you don’t leave the cottage, no one should find you here.” To prevent the admiral from changing his mind, Ye Xi again emphasised what a controlling, possessive lunatic Huangfu was, that whenever he saw his fiancé with another man, he would go berserk with thunder, lightning and hurricane winds. It was really unnecessary to provoke him.

It’s not slander if it’s true. Ye Xi mused with a clear conscience.

“Uh, I forgot to ask you.” Ye Xi did not actually care, but to show that he did, he asked a rather unoriginal question, “So how did you end up on this island? Were you in a shipwreck?”

The admiral vaguely hummed, then explained, “I was in the process of capturing an S-class fugitive – a dangerous character wanted by over a thousand nations, when I encountered a wild storm at sea…so that’s what happened.”

In a saccharine voice, Ye Xi immediately fake sobbed and expressed how scary the storm must have been. Then with a face full of phony worship, he madly praised the admiral for his brave and indomitable spirit in his battle against the storm, as well as the fact that he remained undefeated by this ordeal when he drifted to the island. Ye Xi successfully stroked the admiral’s ego and received a ‘satisfied smile’ and ‘hair tousle’ x1, along with a bunch of affection points.

Ye Xi examined the cottage as they conversed. The cottage was rather small and had only two storeys, with each storey not exceeding 100 square metres¹. By Mary Sue standards, the cottage seemed so puny that it would not even be considered a dorm room. However, it had all the necessary amenities, including a full set of kitchen utensils and fresh water from the tap. The male extras should not have any trouble living here for a few days.

“It’s time for me to…” Believing he had chatted enough with the admiral, Ye Xi planned to become acquainted with the next male extra. He was about to farewell the admiral when he received three knocks from the cottage door.

Ye Xi’s immediate reaction was that Shen Xiulin had followed him here, but something felt a bit off. According to Shen Xiulin, he would only receive Ye Xi’s location after the system released a quest to capture Murong X, and he would not have Ye Xi’s location at other times…There was no reason for him to be here, but just thinking about the jealous chief executive was super scary indeed.

When the admiral calmly opened the door, Ye Xi was sheepishly trying to squeeze himself into the cabinet under the kitchen exhaust fan, as if his wife had caught him red-handed with a mistress.

The admiral stood aside while he held the door open. An enormous deep-sea king crab dropped its large claws and sidled in with a tappity-tap.

So, the one who knocked on the door earlier – was a crab…

Ye Xi immediately withdrew his leg from the cabinet and resumed his poised composure as the admiral glanced his way, then stared at the crab without blinking.

The admiral slightly curved one side of his mouth as he threw the door wide open and beckoned his hand in invitation.

At that, all sorts of sea creatures scrambled inside. A lobster carrying an abalone on his back shuffled in on its eight little legs, while a salmon flapped its way to the admiral’s feet with immense difficulty before taking its last breath. A row of fleshy crabs made an orderly line as they each held a sea urchin in their claw; and a sea turtle slowly crawled into the room carrying an octopus and mussels on its back, then hastily crawled back to the sea once it had dropped off its cargo…

“It’s dinnertime.” The admiral clapped his hands and commanded, “Attention!”

The sea creatures that could move on their own immediately shuffled into a straight line. Even the boneless octopus stood up straight for a moment, then flopped over to one side with its large head resting powerlessly on its eight little tentacles, looking rather pitiful.

Ye Xi watched the plump, delicious-looking sea creatures with a sense of helplessness and deep-seated sorrow.

The admiral thoughtfully removed a tub from one of the cabinets. One by one, he collected the sea creatures into the tub, then dumped them into the kitchen sink and turned on the tap. He commanded, “Take a bath.”

The sea creatures obediently began to wash themselves…

“Do you find it amusing?” Smiling, the admiral cast Ye Xi a quick glance, then explained, “I was born with the power of the ocean. I can control any creature that lives in the sea.”

Ye Xi swallowed back his drool rather pathetically, then eagerly asked, “Can you make them jump into the saucepan by themselves?”

The admiral chuckled, “I can, would you like me to?”

Tears trickled inside Ye Xi, his eyes growing moist as if he was about to cry. He asked in a shaky voice, “No, that would seem…t-too cruel to me.”

That’s right! It would be too cruel for Ye Xi to watch lively little sea creatures jump into a saucepan and turn into delicious seafood, when he had not eaten a proper meal in several days. To be allowed to watch, but not be able to eat any, would send his cravings into overdrive.

However, the admiral would never have guessed that was what Ye Xi meant by ‘cruel.’ He thought the kind-hearted youth could not bear to witness the act of killing. As he watched Ye Xi almost drooling to the point of crying, he felt a slight sting in his heart. He could not help but caress Ye Xi’s face, then comforted in a gentle voice, “Don’t be sad, I won’t kill them in front of you.”

Ye Xi nodded morosely, then lamented, “Why did we have to meet under these circumstances…”

This is a system bonus for free, all-you-can-eat seafood buffets!

It would’ve been super awesome having a friend like the admiral back in the real world. Not only can I eat delicious seafood whenever I want, I can quit my job and open a lavish but affordable seafood buffet restaurant!

Meanwhile, upon hearing Ye Xi’s words, the admiral became lost in his own thoughts for a split second.

He’s right, if I didn’t have the blood of the Kraken coursing through my body; if I didn’t become violent and bloodthirsty on the night of the full moon; if I had met the little master under different circumstances…wouldn’t that be marvellous?

But…none of that is possible.

The admiral sensed his steely resolve was at risk of softening, so he gritted his teeth and dismissed the fantastical notion.

“Sigh, it’s probably best that I leave now.”  Ye Xi looked longingly at the seafood, then headed for the door. He turned around and said to the admiral, “I’ll visit you again when I get the chance.”

“Alright.” The admiral waved his hand. The bachelor of thirty years lit the stove to distract himself from his yearnings for love. Before Ye Xi closed the door, the admiral impatiently reminded him, “Don’t come over tomorrow night, I have business to attend to.”

Ye Xi nodded docilely, “Okay.”

Of course I’ll be coming over tomorrow night. I’m counting on you going mad so I can conquer you, buddy.

Once Ye Xi had left the admiral’s cottage, he sprinted towards a second cottage less than twenty metres² away. He switched on the lights and found His Highness the Prince lying unconscious on the carpet as expected.

Ye Xi ran his hand through his hair, then cleared his throat before calling softly next to the prince’s ear, “Wake up.”

The prince immediately woke up as expected.

Disoriented, the tall, handsome golden-haired man felt around on the floor, then got up from the carpet. As a prince who was raised in a royal palace, even the act of getting up from the floor – normally a somewhat clumsy act, was made to look graceful.

“You’re awake.”

I heard people who can’t see usually have an acute sense of hearing. Ye Xi mused.

He garnered his sweetest and softest voice, “Don’t be scared, I mean you no harm. I found you unconscious on the beach, so I rescued you.”

The prince’s dazed expression quickly turned into a steady composure. He followed Ye Xi’s voice and turned around to look in his direction, then revealed a polite and courteous smile. In a thick foreign accent, he praised stiffly, “Indeed, how could a gentleman who possesses such a lovely voice be a villain? I am grateful for your generous assistance. May I enquire into our current whereabouts?”

So Ye Xi repeated what he had told Admiral Moqi, including who he was and what a deranged lunatic his fiancé was.

…

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Huangfu villa, Shen Xiulin waited anxiously for Ye Xi’s return, “Ah-choo!” ³