The child nodded and went to the counter to get some small tools. "These tools will be very useful if you have to camp outdoors during your travels."
"Thank you."
You're welcome. Have a pleasant trip!
Meng Shuo resignedly packed everything into the large bag and then carried it on her back.
Ruan Mingchu looked at Meng Shuo with surprise and suspicion. When did Meng Shuo, who used to lie down and never stand, become so diligent? There must be something wrong.
"What are you looking at? I want to carry it on my back." Meng Shuo was embarrassed and angry at being stared at.
Ruan Mingchu shrugged. "Then I'll have to trouble you with the journey."
What does it mean to "strike the snake while it's on the stick"? This is exactly what it means to "strike the snake while it's on the stick"—a single sentence can determine your job for the next few months.
Meng Shuo opened her mouth but didn't say anything, inwardly cursing her past foolishness.
As the two walked out, they encountered a boy dressed entirely in black. The doorway was only so wide that one of them had to give way.
Ruan Mingchu stepped aside and pulled Meng Shuo to the side.
The boy in black stopped in front of Ruan Mingchu, staring at his silver hair with disgust and a fierce look in his eyes.
Most of the mermaids on the street had black hair, and Ruan Mingchu thought they were just not used to seeing her own silver hair. To Ruan Mingchu's surprise, the boy in black actually had his men shave his head.
"How dare someone openly use such despicable colors in Obsidian City! Shave his head off and kick him out of the city!"
That wasn't all. The young man in black glanced at the bag on Meng Shuo's back and said, "This shop actually sells things to these lowly people. Smash the shop and kick the owner out of the city."
His two subordinates looked troubled. Although Obsidian City favored black, there was no explicit rule prohibiting mermaids of other colors from coming.
If someone with silver hair pulls out another person's hair, throws them out of the city, and smashes the shop that sold them things, tomorrow political enemies from other cities will complain that their city lord is discriminating and causing division.
But the young city lord is in a particularly bad mood today, and if we don't go along with him, who knows what kind of trouble he'll cause.
After a brief moment of hesitation, the young man in black felt betrayed!
"Fine, fine, you two are doing great! You think my words don't carry any weight? I'll have Grandma teach you a lesson when we get back!"
The black-clad youth's face contorted with rage.
Ruan Mingchu, an onlooker: What a delicate and sensitive heart.
Ninety percent of teenagers who have gone astray like this will be brutally beaten by society when they grow up, and Ruan Mingchu has no interest in being the one to help them grow.
Ruan Mingchu glanced at the terrified child. He couldn't bear to see such a cute, well-behaved, and capable child suffer because of him.
A [Small Space] skill was used to capture the black-clad youth and his two henchmen. Ruan Mingchu glanced at the child again and left with Meng Shuo.
The child, unaware of the black-clad youth's identity, mistook him for an rude and unruly guest, and was subsequently dealt with by Ruan Mingchu.
She's beautiful, capable, and rich.
He watched with envy as Ruan Mingchu and the other man left, then carefully took out the silver fish coin from his pocket and kissed it.
For the next month, Mom won't have to worry about her medicine.
As soon as they stepped out of the store, Ruan Mingchu asked Meng Shuo to go buy something.
"White dye, the inferior kind."
Meng Shuo immediately understood what Ruan Mingchu was trying to do, and it has to be said that it was really despicable.
But he likes it. Black is utterly ugly! Gold and blue are clearly the most beautiful colors in the world!
Meng Shuo, unusually willingly, paid for a ten-kilogram bucket of white paint for the walls.
Meng Shuo thought Ruan Mingchu would knock someone unconscious, splash white paint on them, and throw them into some corner.
I never expected Ruan Mingchu to go even further.
He led the man out of the city to a grove of trees and tied him to a tree.
The boy in black had just been taken into a small space, where the boundless darkness made it hard for him to breathe.
This was the first time he had ever felt such wonderful sunshine.
Lost in the boundless darkness, unable to feel the passage of time, the boy in black felt as if an eternity had passed before he was finally released.
Are we saved?
No, the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Ruan Mingchu's silver hair.
What bad luck!
The boy in black rattled off threats quite smoothly: "You're finished! Do you even know who I am? You dare to kidnap me? My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents will never let you get away with this!"
Ruan Mingchu smiled and asked in return, "Do you know who I am?"
The young man in black was dazzled by Ruan Mingchu's smile. After regaining his senses, he became even more furious and embarrassed: "Who do you think you are to be worthy of my acquaintance!"
“Yes,” Ruan Mingchu laughed, “who do you think you are that I’m worthy to know you?”
The young man in black hadn't expected that Ruan Mingchu was waiting for him there, and he was instantly consumed by rage. If looks could kill, Ruan Mingchu would have been torn to pieces by him.
What angered him even more was yet to come.
Ruan Mingchu opened the lid of the paint bucket, and a strong, foul odor immediately filled the air, making people nauseous and gagging.
He picked up the cheap brush that the shop owner had kindly given him, swirled it around in the paint bucket a few times, lifted the brush, and the disastrous liquid splattered back into the bucket, splashing onto the wall.
The boy in black sensed something was wrong. "W-what do you want to do?"
As Ruan Mingchu approached, he kept trying to shrink back, but there was a tree trunk behind him, so he couldn't retreat.
Ruan Mingchu gave an innocent smile, but what she said was anything but innocent: "What am I doing? Isn't it obvious? I want to help you change your clothes."
As he spoke, white paint was smeared onto the black-clad youth, immediately leaving a mottled white stain on his black clothes.
The boy's eyes widened in horror; this was his favorite piece of clothing! Coupled with the pungent smell, the boy's eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
Even though Ruan Mingchu had seen a lot in his life, he had never seen anyone so arrogant and vicious yet with such a poor mental capacity.
He's acting like he's done something heinous, when all he did was swipe his phone once.
Seeing this, Meng Shuo, who was eager to try his hand at the game, gave the unconscious boy the middle finger. Damn it, he hadn't even touched the bucket of paint yet.
Meng Shuo looked at Ruan Mingchu: "Can I continue playing?"
Ruan Mingchu tossed the brush back into the paint bucket. "Whatever."
A wicked laugh escaped from Meng Shuo's mouth.
When Meng Shuo finished painting the black-clad boy and his henchmen white, he felt extremely pleased.
He stepped back a few paces and examined his work, feeling that something was still not quite right.
Ruan Mingchu calculated the time; it was about an hour.
He snapped his fingers, and a cloud of white mist suddenly appeared before the boy. When the mist dissipated, a life-size ice mirror stood before him.
The boy must have been very happy to see his own face as soon as he opened his eyes.
Meng Shuo clapped his hands in praise, saying that it looked much better this way.
He gave Ruan Mingchu a thumbs-up, truly impressed.
Meng Shuo placed the paint bucket at the boy's feet, so that he could see the tool that had hurt him with just a glance down, and kick it over if he was unhappy.
Oh, how considerate he is!
The grove where Ruan Mingchu brought the boys and the others was located in the north and south of Obsidian City, respectively, while Mu Yu and the others were in the same grove.
When he and Mengshuo returned to the grove of trees where they started, it had been exactly one hour since they left.
The thought that Mu Yu might be waiting for him made Ruan Mingchu unconsciously curl up the corners of his mouth.
He never expected that the aircraft was completely empty, not even a rabbit.
Ruan Mingchu frowned as he checked the aircraft's monitoring system; data retrieval would take some time.
Meng Shuo fanned the air in front of his nose with his palm: "Other mermaids have been here and released strong, foul-smelling pheromones. This smell is awful, absolutely awful."
Seeing Ruan Mingchu's unpleasant expression, he added fuel to the fire: "I already told you to mark Mu Yu, and now look what happened! It must be Mu Yu's human scent that attracted the mermaids, who then kidnapped him."
Ruan Mingchu rolled her eyes when she heard this: "You think Mu Yu is like you? He's not a weakling."
Meng Shuo choked, unable to find a rebuttal; he truly couldn't defeat Mu Yu.
But I still have to salvage the situation: "There are countless powerful characters among the mermaids!"
“Oh,” Ruan Mingchu replied dismissively, “it’s just that you’re missing from the group.”
Meng Shuo: Damn, how can this person have such a sharp tongue?
He completely forgot that he was the one who started the trouble.
After a few words, the aircraft's monitoring data was brought up. Ruan Mingchu dragged the timeline to the end and then moved the progress bar backward.
Fifteen minutes ago, three drunk mermaids discovered the flying machine but were chased away by Mu Yu.
Ten minutes ago, Mu Yu voluntarily left the aircraft. He looked pale as he left, but it was clearly not because he was forced to leave due to danger.
Ruan Mingchu breathed a sigh of relief.
"You stay here and guard the aircraft. I'm going to find Mu Yu." Ruan Mingchu's tone was not one of discussion, but of command.
Meng Shuo plopped down in a chair. "I wouldn't be willing to go even if you asked me to."
As he spoke, he angrily opened his backpack to rummage for snacks, but the most likely snack was compressed biscuits. Meng Shuo still tore off a pack and put it in his mouth to chew.
Ruan Mingchu didn't care about Meng Shuo's temper at all. He followed the direction Mu Yu had left in, and his mental energy surged forward at an even faster speed.
It didn't take long for Ruan Mingchu to spot Mu Yu and Tu Aotian and Men Hao sitting on his shoulders.
And following Mu Yu were three disheveled humans, around seventeen or eighteen years old, two boys and one girl.
Ruan Mingchu roughly understood what had happened, and he quickened his pace towards Mu Yu. Waiting where he was or returning to the aircraft would have been far better options; this stretch of road to Mu Yu was completely unnecessary.
But Ruan Mingchu instinctively chose to see Mu Yu as soon as possible. He didn't think about why, nor would he; it was all just a matter of following his heart.
Mu Yu was always faster, but the three people behind him were supporting each other. They had no shoes, and their feet were covered in mottled bloodstains, so they couldn't walk very fast.
This caused Mu Yu to always fall far behind them and then stop to wait for them.
As the agreed time drew ever closer, Mu Yu grew increasingly anxious, wondering if Ruan Mingchu would be upset and upset if she returned to find all three of them gone.
But he couldn't just abandon the three of them. If he really had, why would he have left the spacecraft to rescue them in the first place?