Mary Sue Chapter 57: The proud admiral and his flirtatious rogue (Part 1)

Translated by J.

Editor: Addis

 

Under the cover of night, a majestic cruise ship was making its voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

It was an enormous ship, several times larger than a small island. However, under the will of the eldest Young Master Murong, it managed to float on the surface of the ocean against the laws of physics.

The ship was tall enough to pierce through the clouds. Consisting of 108 levels, each level was lit up like daylight. The lights on the ship were so dazzling that it had the appearance of a floating dragon palace¹. If someone stood on the observation deck on the very top floor and looked down, they would see…

Absolutely nothing apart from dark clouds, alright? Not only would it be hard to breathe, it was also very cold. Plus, they would run the risk of airplanes crashing into them. Thus nobody would ever go up to the observation deck.

Meanwhile, a birthday party was being held on the cruise ship to celebrate the eldest Young Master Murong’s 28th birthday. The Murong family heirloom was also due to make an appearance at the birthday banquet tonight – a 30,000-carat black diamond named ‘The Heart of the Murongs’.

Nobody knew why a black diamond was named The Heart of the Murongs. It was almost as if someone was making a mockery of the Murong family’s black heartedness…

However, ten days before the birthday party, the eldest Young Master Murong received a warning letter from the mysterious cat burglar Tuoba X, who wrote in the letter that he would come to ‘retrieve’ the Murong family heirloom at exactly 11PM on the night of the birthday party.

Considering the invitations for the party had already been sent, it would have been extremely humiliating for someone like Young Master Murong to cancel the party because of a warning letter. So, the party went ahead as planned, but with heightened security. In addition to increasing the number of security guards by many folds and subjecting every guest to strict identity checks, Young Master Murong also sought the protection of Admiral Moqi from the Royal Navy.

This was because everybody knew that Admiral Moqi had lost his treasured medal of honour to the cat burglar on Prince Louis X’s cruise ship. Since that day, Admiral Moqi had been tracking the burglar around the world, and swore an oath that he would reclaim his medal no matter the cost.

Since the admiral’s earlier boisterous attempts to capture Tuoba had all failed, this time round, he led a small team of his most elite soldiers and infiltrated the party disguised as guests…

The party proceeded smoothly. Before long, it was time to unveil the treasure. As the second hand on the clock gradually approached the number ‘12’, all the lights in the banquet hall were suddenly extinguished. A stirring, majestic piano solo reverberated throughout the room as spotlights swiveled around with bright beams before finally fixing on the centre of the stage.

As a trap door opened, a display cabinet constructed from tempered glass slowly rose from below the stage. Inside the display cabinet, an enormous black diamond the size of a human’s head proudly glinted under the scorching rays of the spotlights, emitting an enigmatic glow. Complex yet delicately cut facets reflected the radiant gleam that the diamond was bathed in. It was so beautiful that it had captivated the attention of everyone who gazed upon it.

While all the guests were transfixed by the black diamond’s enchanting glow, a nimble shadow emerged from the crowd. As he leapt through the air, as light as a bird, he ripped off the face mask and hood that disguised his identity, revealing his head of flagrant red hair. Winking provocatively with his cat-like eyes, he revealed a charismatic smile at the bodyguards who crowded around the display cabinet.

No one actually saw him move, all they heard was a deafening explosion accompanied by the clattering of broken glass flying in every direction. In the very next instant, the mystical black diamond had shifted into a pair of pale, lean hands. The bloodless hands with long, slender fingers formed a direct contrast to the colour of the diamond. The pose of him holding the diamond was as aesthetic as an oil painting from the hands of a master…and that was the last recollection the guests and bodyguards had of the diamond, as well as its thief, before the mysterious burglar vanished like a 3D projection that had been cut from its power source.

In truth, he did not actually vanish. It only seemed that way because his actions were faster than the human eye could see.

In the same instant the display cabinet had shattered into pieces, a few shadows jumped out from the row of guests closest to the cabinet. They also moved at a speed that was almost too fast for the human eye to see. Arriving in front of the cabinet, they lunged at the empty space left behind by the burglar, before turning to chase after him along his direction of escape.

At the forefront of the pursuers was Admiral Moqi in disguise. To capture Tuoba, he specifically underwent speed training over the past few days. Of course, he was still no match for the burglar whose speed was almost inhuman, but the admiral had the advantage of placing boobytraps along Tuoba’s potential escape routes.

Moqi stowed the boobytraps’ remote control in his coat pocket. The control had only two buttons, ON and OFF, it was very easy to operate. Though there were several tens of thousands of boobytraps hidden all over the cruise ship, the control would only trigger the closest one, thus making it possible for one of the pursuers to operate it in person. This was Moqi’s new invention and the first time he had put it to use. The device’s only downside was that it might interfere with the coordination between the pursuers.

With the device in one hand, Moqi closely followed the burglar while continuously pressing the ON button to trigger arrows, small explosives, snare traps and iron cages that fell from the ceiling… Although Tuoba moved like a ghostly apparition, it was impossible to avoid every single one of the motley of traps. Finally, upon smashing into a suddenly closing cabin door, Tuoba winced as he gasped for air, then stopped to rub his injured nose. He turned around and pitifully batted his eyes at Moqi, pouting, “Aiyah, that really hurts.”

“Serves you right.” Moqi bit out through gritted teeth as he pinned Tuoba against the wall like a ravenous wild animal, afraid that once again, the burglar would slip through his fingers like a wet fish. Moqi tensed his entire body while he firmly pushed himself on top of Tuoba. Apart from the burglar’s left hand which held the skull-sized diamond in the air, there was not a single gap between their bodies.

“Whoa, you’re coming on so strong.” Tuoba revealed a flirtatious smile as he winked at Moqi. Speaking with a seductive voice that was slightly hoarse, “You’re hugging me so snugly, it’s making me hard.”

“Shut up!” Roared Moqi. Full of masculine allure, his stern, handsome face was only a few centimetres from Tuoba’s face.

Tuoba bit his lower lip with a gentle hum, “Hmm, I’m already hard. What do I do now?”

This bastard has no fucking sense of shame! Admiral Moqi, the old virgin, cursed in his head as he blushed.

“I won’t let you get away this time.” Moqi shook his head, trying to dislodge the inappropriate thoughts that were forming in his mind.

As he glowered at Tuoba with furious eyes, he savagely shoved Tuoba against the wall with one hand, then swiftly handcuffed the burglar’s right hand to his left wrist before withdrawing his communicator to report his position, “The target has been acquired, we’re located below deck on…”

However, before he could finish, Moqi’s mouth was blocked by something soft, warm and slippery. The moment it touched his lips, Tuoba’s unique scent became stronger and provocatively took over the admiral’s senses. The enchanting scent combined with the gentle sensations from his lips captivated Moqi’s entire heart and soul.

From the other end of the communicator, “Admiral? Which level are you on? Admiral…”

After a few seconds’ pause, Moqi violently shook his head. As he panted for air, the admiral rudely bellowed with a flustered face, “What are you doing?!”

After his medal of honour, the thirty-year-old virgin’s carefully guarded first kiss had also been stolen.

The ocean’s surface suddenly roiled and churned. Savage waves rolled in one after another from afar, each towering above the next. The almost full, silvery moon near the horizon suddenly hid behind dark clouds, leaving the ocean as dark and murky as a hellish abyss.

It seemed His Admiralship, who possessed the power of the Four Seas, was not happy, which meant a tsunami was about to be unleashed.

Tuoba arched one side of his brow and stated plainly, “I only wanted to distract you, you don’t have to take it so personally.”

Moqi exclaimed with bloodshot eyes, “You…!”

His first kiss was stolen from him for such a nonchalant reason.

Meanwhile, the waves grew ever more savage, revealing His Admiralship’s deep displeasure inside.

While Moqi was distracted, Tuoba threw the black diamond onto the floor, then gently shook his left arm. A paper-thin self-adhesive bomb slipped down his sleeve and into his palm. Before Moqi could react, Tuoba slapped the explosive onto the cabin wall next to him. As he withdrew his hand, he curled up his entire body inside the admiral’s embrace.

The bomb went off two seconds later. With a loud bang, a large hole formed on the external cabin wall, big enough for a person to squeeze through, leaving the admiral covered in flying debris.

While Moqi was confused and disoriented, first from the kiss and then the explosion, Tuoba nimbly slid his toes under the black diamond and kicked it back into his arms. Once the diamond was firmly in his grasp, the burglar stepped sideways before leaning backwards into the hole on the cabin wall. Pulling forcefully with his right hand, he used his weight to drag the admiral off the ship with him. Chained together by the glinting cold handcuffs, they fell into the eerie black sea together.

While the admiral shouted at the top of his lungs to attract attention from people above deck, the burglar grabbed onto the black diamond for dear life. But the cruise ship was simply too enormous, making the two of them seem like two small ants underneath an elephant’s foot. Their voices could not reach the ship at all, and were in turn swallowed by the ferocious tsunami that assaulted them in waves, until Moqi could no longer hear his own voice.

As a gigantic wave rolled towards them, Tuoba closed his eyes and held his breath. He clung tightly onto the diamond in his arms, while Moqi tightly clutched the burglar who held the diamond. Next, icy seawater overcame all of their senses as they fell into a world of darkness…

The only thing one could be grateful for was that due to the size of Young Master Murong’s cruise ship, the tsunami could not even reach the top of the ship, let alone sink it. Once the people on the ship’s deck noticed the signs of a tsunami coming their way, they immediately hid inside the ship’s cabins. Apart from the admiral and the burglar, no one else was injured or went missing.

So, for the second time, the admiral was swept away by his own self-manufactured tsunami onto a small unnamed island…

However, what was different from the time he was saved by that black-hearted little master was that the island Moqi and Tuoba landed on was completely deserted. The island was made from swathes of black rocks. There were no signs of life anywhere, not even grass grew between the cracks in the rocks.

The tide swept the two drifters against the shore. When they rubbed against the sharp, coarse gravel on the beach, they immediately woke up from a state of semi-consciousness. Tuoba looked down at the black diamond in his hand and revealed a smile of satisfaction, “Hehe, success.” Then he tossed the diamond onto the beach like it was trash. Half-closing his eyes, Tuoba uttered out of boredom, “Now that it’s mine, I can throw it away.”

Moqi angrily glowered at Tuoba as if wanting to swallow him whole, “So you steal things just to throw them away?”

“Why else?” Tuoba stroked his chin and examined the gigantic black diamond with disdain, “What else can I do with this thing? Oh, right! It can crack walnuts with it.”

Moqi almost fainted from disbelief.

“Where’s my medal of honour?” Tuoba finally had nowhere else to run this time, so Moqi took advantage of the hard-won opportunity to interrogate him.

“Your medal of honour?” Tuoba arched his brow as he stroked his chin with a wry grin on his face. He replied in a soft voice, “I left Your Admiralship’s medal back at home. I threw it under my mattress, then slept on it every day.”

“You…!” Moqi grabbed Tuoba’s collar and forcefully yanked it a few times.

“That’s what you get for chasing me everywhere!” Tuoba complained with a knot in his brow, as if the admiral was the one at fault here.

Moqi took a deep breath to control his impulses of wanting to murder Tuoba right there and then, “Give it back.”

Tuoba revealed a gleeful smile, “I’ll give it back if you say something nice to me.”

Moqi grew silent, as if searching his brain for something nice to say. However, even after his face had turned red and puffy, he did not manage to find anything to say at all.

“Sigh. Tell me,” Tuoba poked at the admiral’s tensed arm and asked in a provocative tone, “Why did you hold onto me so tightly when that giant wave hit us?”

Moqi’s jawline twitched as he replied in a cold voice, “I was afraid that if you had been killed, I wouldn’t be able to get the stolen goods back, of course.”

Tuoba briefly examined Moqi’s expression with a perceptive gaze, as if he could see through the admiral’s heart. Curving his eyes, the burglar broke into a chuckle, “Really? Not because I was the first one to kiss you and you couldn’t bear to see me die?”

“What nonsense!” The old virgin bellowed with a guilty conscience.