V2C137

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Ruyi pointed at the children outside and introduced them to Sumo one by one. While Sumo merely looked indifferently at his peers outside with the look in his eyes still cold, he suddenly opened his mouth to ask a question, “What is your ulterior motive in keeping them all here and training them?”

“There is no ulterior motive whatsoever…” Ruyi turned back to look at the boy in consternation, “They were all rescued by us from the slave markets of Yecheng.”

“But now that they have been rescued… why didn’t you let them go?” Sumo was looking out at the disciplined peers with a dark suspicion in his eyes, “You saved them for a purpose, didn’t you? You want to train them from a young age so that they can become soldiers of the Restoration Army and go fight for you!”

“No! It is all because they are willing to stay!” Ruyi raised her voice slightly, becoming serious, “The world is so unkind out there, the sharks can only become slaves if they go out – they don’t want to be slaves, they’d rather stay here and fight for themselves!”

Sumo sneered ironically, “What a beautiful thing to say.”

Ruyi became really angry and slammed the medicine in her hand: “Fine, you can go outside now and ask them which one of them haven’t chosen to stay on their own? Did I force them to stay? If I did, I’ll cut off their heads and offer them to you immediately!”

“…” Sumo remained silent for a moment, and appeared to have nothing to say in retort.

“Why would I want any of their heads?” Eventually, the child just muttered in a chirpy voice.

“Actually, even being here, it’s not easy for them to survive.” Ruyi looked at the group of children outside and sighed, “The most this place has ever accommodated was something around twenty children, but now there are only eleven left.”

“Why?” Sumo frowned, “Where did the rest of them go?”

“Dead.” Ruyi’s voice lowered, and her expression could not hide her sadness, “These children were on their last breath when they had been rescued, often suffering from injuries and illnesses. With the recent destruction of the Ocean Soul River due to Yecheng’s suppression of the Restoration Army, we are very short of medications and have had a hard time finding a physician. It was three days ago that Xiao Yao died of a deteriorating lung disease. That poor child, after his death he was still subjected to…”

Here she paused, her face turning slightly pale: after that child died, his body was taken by the elders to be a substitute for Sumo, so that the head of the guards could behead him and go back to his orders.

“What happened after he died?” Sumo sensed her mood shifting sharply and frowned.

“He died for the Sea Kingdom.” Ruyi let out a long sigh, “Such a good boy.”

However, hearing such words, Sumo’s whole body shook and his voice sharpened, “Do you think it’s glorious? To ask a child to die for your Sea Kingdom?”

The look in his eyes sent a cold shiver down Ruyi’s spine and her heart sunk: yes… this child she had once watched growing up was now a different person! No wonder the elders were so on their guard against him and were determined to do whatever they could to alter his mind.

“You’re resisting us, aren’t you? Sumo? And you don’t like the Restoration Army.” She looked at the child next to her and tried to keep her tone as soft as possible, “Why? We are all from the same race as you… Aren’t we a thousand times better than the Kongsang people out there who have been oppressing and enslaving us for generations? Why do you insist on considering us as enemies?”

“One of the same race?” Sumo suddenly sneered, pointing to the barbed wire on the courtyard wall and the bars on the gate, “Is there a kinsman who would lock one of their own in a metal cage like that?”

The child glanced at her, with a voice full of hostility, “Back in the Abyss of Cangwu, I already said I didn’t want to be any kind of Ocean Emperor! And yet, you still managed to trap me here!”

“But, the Dragon God has identified you as our Ocean Emperor.” Ruyi looked at the child’s hardened face and sighed, “We had a hard time finding you, can we really just let you go like that? You know, the Kongsang people out there are looking for you too. In case you fall into their hands, it would be…”

“Nonsense!” Sumo shouted impatiently, “I don’t want to be your Ocean Emperor!”

“How can you say that?” Ruyi frowned, “Do you know how long we have been waiting for the Sea Emperor to be reincarnated? A long seven thousand years…”

She spoke with great emotional intensity, but there was nothing but a scorn in Sumo’s eyes: “Seven thousand years? But did you ever ask me if I was willing?”

Ruyi frowned, “Don’t you want to be our emperor?”

“Why do I have to say yes? I’m not one of these fools out there that you have trained as warriors!” A hint of disgust surfaced at the corners of the child’s mouth as his words turned sharp and mean, “You adults, who are incapable of reclaiming your country by yourselves, but always want to force your ambitions on us!”

“…” Ruyi froze, choking on her words for a moment.

For a long time, she considered fighting against slavery, gaining freedom and rebuilding the Sea Kingdom as the highest goal in her life, sacrificing everything to do so, assuming that all her people were as determined and unwavering as she was, but now it was the first time she had witnessed such a rebellious child!

And this child, of all people, was their Ocean Emperor.

Ruyi looked at this gloomy and unruly child and murmured, “But you are our hope in the reinstatement of our nation…”

“Don’t pin your hopes on others!” Sumo got annoyed, “I said I don’t want to be any sea king! Let me go!”

Seeing that he was determined to go, Ruyi couldn’t help but lower her head, “Why, do you absolutely have to go to that Kongsang person? The head guard also said that Zhu Yan princess has now gone to the Imperial Capital for her big wedding… You have long since become a liability! She and her clan, they don’t want you anymore!”

“Nonsense!” Sumo clenched his fist, “My sister is looking for me! Look!”

Such a categorical tone silenced Ruyi for a moment. She lowered her head and looked at the paper crane cupped in the child’s palm, her eyes altering in silence – yes, that bloodstained paper crane had a spiritual power attached to it, and appeared to have traveled from a distant land. That noble girl from Kongsang, who had married far away in the Imperial Capital, had really not forgotten this little slave, and was still searching for Sumo’s whereabouts, even finding her way here!

Was such persistence a blessing or a misfortune for this child?

Ruyi looked at the paper crane, a thousand thoughts whirling through her mind, and let out a long sigh: “The elders told me to keep a good eye on you and persuade you to change your mind – but I grew up watching you and I also know your temper… if I keep locking you up, you will definitely go insane or die. You will never give in, will you?”

“Never!” Sumo nodded, gritting his teeth.

“You are the child of Yu Ji, so how could I bear to see you die?” Ruyi sighed and seemed to have finally made up her mind as she whispered, “Since you really want to see her before you die, then I’ll fulfill your wish…”

Sumo trembled for a moment and caught a deep breath, “Really?”

“Really.” Ruyi nodded, “If you want to leave, then go.”

“…” The child became silent for a moment and somehow appeared to be moved, glancing at her carefully and asking in a murmur, “Which way do I have to go?”

“Over there.” She pointed to the well behind the courtyard, “Under this well, there is a stream of water leading to Mirror Lake, which was originally used as a secret escape route for us – if you are strong enough and not afraid of death, you might be able to swim all the way across Mirror Lake to the Jialan Empire and find that sister of yours.”

The child stopped talking, and his fists started clenching and releasing incessantly, as if he was pondering over things.

“You… are not lying to me, are you?” Sumo lifted his eyes and looked deeply at Ruyi, with eyes full of doubt, “Auntie Ruyi, are you telling the truth?”

Ruyi remained silent for a moment, but still nodded, “Of course it’s true.”

“Good then!” Sumo made up his mind in a split second, “I will leave now.”

“No, you can’t leave just yet. The elders are gathered here,” Ruyi whispered, “I’ll go and scout around to see when the elders will be leaving to return to the Mirror Lake camp – once they’re gone, I’ll have Yan Shi and the other kids’ attention diverted, and then you can leave.”

Sumo looked at her and finally nodded, “Thank you… Auntie Ru.”

For the first time, a certain soft reliance appeared in his voice, as back in the distant days of his childhood.

“No need to say thank you. You are the child of Yu Ji…” Ruyi lifted her hand and gently stroked the child’s long soft aqua blue hair and sighed, “The hearts of the people cannot be flipped around… even if you are our Ocean Emperor. What good would come of it if you can’t truly fight for the Sea Kingdom? So, I decided to let you go instead.”

Yet, despite the words on her lips, there was a peculiar flash of light in her eyes.

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