Chapter 60: The Mermaid is Pregnant

Chapter 60 The Mermaid Is Pregnant

Lu Feng's brows were tightly furrowed. Ever since the mermaid incident on the forum, his authority had taken a nosedive in a short period of time.

Before he could even explain, the mutant beasts seized the opportunity to launch an attack, catching Lu Feng completely off guard.

Due to his diminished authority, the losses in that battle could be described as devastating.

Afterward, the mutant beasts pressed harder, showing signs of overwhelming Lan City in one fell swoop. Even someone as formidable as Lu Feng found himself greatly distressed by the situation.

But he didn’t want to explain.

He didn’t want to lie and say Wen Yanzhou was merely an acquaintance. He didn’t want to lie and claim he had no relationship with Wen Yanzhou. He refused.

Even though he knew it was necessary to stabilize morale.

He also couldn't bring himself to explain to everyone that Wen Yanzhou was different from the mermaid on the battlefield, no way to explain that Wen Yanzhou stood on humanity’s side.

Doing so would only make everyone think he had lost his mind.

He could only opt for radio silence—addressing no rumors and avoiding Wen Yanzhou.

He hoped Wen Yanzhou wouldn’t see the rumors either. At least until he resolved everything, he didn’t want Wen Yanzhou to know he was disliked by humans.

Thinking of Wen Yanzhou, Lu Feng’s brows relaxed slightly. What was he doing now? Without a Light Brain, he must be terribly bored. Wen Yanzhou had been placed in a signal-jammed room. Since he couldn’t visit him, Wen Yanzhou would surely hold it against him.

In a few days, Lu Feng thought as he gazed at the land ahead, once the battle situation stabilized and the mutant beasts eased up a bit, he would go explain everything to Wen Yanzhou.

"General, the battlefield has been cleared. The number of casualties is within expectations, and the mutant beast elites have suffered heavy losses."

Zhang Chuan entered with the battle report, a rare sense of relief on his face these days.

Finally, some good news. Over the past days, Lu Feng had reorganized the troops, steadily rallying everyone’s combat strength through repeated engagements, and had finally dealt a heavy blow to the mutant beasts.

"Good." Lu Feng wasted no time. "Tell everyone to remain vigilant and be ready to launch a surprise attack at any moment."

Striking while the iron was hot was humanity’s best chance to counterattack.

"Yes!"

Lu Feng pulled out the map again, carefully studying the patterns and text. The battle reports playing in his ears repeated over and over. Before long, he took out his Light Brain and issued combat orders.

The full-scale assault would begin in two hours.

Lu Feng would lead the vanguard for this assault. This was the best opportunity—the perfect moment to breach the mutant beasts' defenses and crush the enemy.

Lu Feng couldn’t afford to miss it, even if the decision was risky. If they failed to deliver a fatal blow, the mutant beasts’ counterattack would be frenzied.

Lu Feng’s mecha, "Holy Sword," had been scheduled for repairs and was still stalled in a nearby city. The mecha he was using now was another one he had previously used in Lan City. Together, they stood at the very front of the formation.

"First squad, flank from the left. Everyone else, on my command." Lu Feng narrowed his eyes, staring at the territory occupied by the mutant beasts ahead.

"Yes!"

Amid the sound of mecha activation, one squad had already departed.

Soon after, Lu Feng saw the signal he had hoped for: "Operation proceeding smoothly." He leaped onto his mecha.

"Engage."

Fortunately, just as Lu Feng had anticipated, the mutant beasts, fresh from a crushing defeat, never expected Lu Feng to follow up with another heavy blow so soon.

The attack was too sudden. By the time Xiang Yifeng woke from his sleep, Lu Feng’s army had already stormed through.

He had just regained consciousness when he saw the overwhelming human forces and his old rival—Lu Feng—standing before him, seemingly out of nowhere.

Xiang Yifeng’s eyes burned crimson, filled with shock. "You… how did you…"

They never thought Lu Feng would press the advantage so soon. He had assumed Lu Feng would need time to regroup after such a battle.

Unfortunately, he still couldn’t figure Lu Feng out. Many years ago, Xiang Yifeng had lived under Lu Feng’s shadow, and today was no different.

"It was you who exposed Wen Yanzhou’s identity," Lu Feng stated.

That report—Wen Yanzhou had undergone testing in the main city to investigate the Flying Snake. With his clearance level, he had full access to such documents.

At the time, no one had reason to suspect him. It was likely he had already copied all potentially useful files, waiting for the right moment to use them.

Lu Feng stepped closer to Xiang Yifeng, looking down at him from a superior position. "You’ve already lost."

"Surrender now, and it’s still not too late."

Xiang Yifeng held an extremely high position among the mutant beasts. All human border defenses had been leaked by him to the mutants. To a certain extent, this war could be said to have been instigated by him.

But Xiang Yifeng’s eyes were bloodshot, completely deaf to Lu Feng’s words, lost in his own world. "Lu Feng! Lu Feng…"

This couldn’t be real. It was just a minor defeat—how could Lu Feng counterattack so decisively?

Crawling away, still unwilling to accept defeat, he could only watch as the mutant beasts outside struggled to hold their ground, overwhelmed and fighting a losing battle.

"Surrender." Lu Feng stood behind him, his voice devoid of emotion. "Only by surrendering now can we minimize the losses."

A Red Spider, surrounded by three mechas, was already injured from the morning and powerless to resist such an onslaught. It retreated step by step, weakened and defeated.

Xiang Yifeng finally caught his breath, turning to look at Lu Feng with a twisted, terrifying expression.

Lu Feng’s ideal scenario was to persuade Xiang Yifeng to surrender willingly. Although he currently held the advantage, the margin for error was extremely slim. He couldn’t afford to give the mutant beasts even the slightest chance to mount a successful counterattack.

But now, it seemed Xiang Yifeng had no intention of surrendering.

So Lu Feng took a step back, unsheathing the blade at his side. "In that case, there’s nothing left to say."

Since he couldn’t convince Xiang Yifeng, the most beneficial course of action now was to subdue him.

Unexpectedly, Xiang Yifeng showed no fear. He didn’t even draw a weapon, a faint sneer playing on his lips.

"Lu Feng, you’re so powerful. Everything you do must be right, isn’t it?" Xiang Yifeng stepped forward instead of retreating, completely disregarding the blade in Lu Feng’s hand.

Lu Feng frowned, his wrist flicking slightly, the edge of the blade pressing against Xiang Yifeng’s skin.

"Resistance is meaningless now." Lu Feng’s voice was icy, refusing to engage with his words.

But Xiang Yifeng paid no mind, taking another step forward. Crimson beads of blood welled up on his neck.

"Lu Feng, going to such lengths for humanity—aren’t you proud of yourself, my… dear Human General?"

Xiang Yifeng let out a strange, cackling laugh. Just thinking about what he was about to say next made him almost jump for joy.

As Xiang Yifeng expected, Lu Feng didn’t press further. A trace of confusion flickered between his brows.

Xiang Yifeng's behavior was beyond abnormal; he no longer seemed human but like a madman—yet this madman was so adamant...

"Scared, my General?" A creepy smile spread across Xiang Yifeng's face. "Oh, don't be. There's plenty more to be afraid of."

For some reason, Lu Feng had an urge to stop Xiang Yifeng from continuing, even an impulse to shut him up immediately.

But the impulse felt absurd, so Lu Feng instead pulled his blade back a centimeter.

Blood from the friction stained both Lu Feng’s blade and Xiang Yifeng’s shoulder.

The sight of blood made Xiang Yifeng appear even more crazed and terrifying. "I wonder what your mother would think if she saw you now?"

"How would your Beast mother feel, watching her son raise a blade against one of her own kind?"

!

What was Xiang Yifeng saying? That his mother was a beast!

Lu Feng’s wrist trembled almost imperceptibly, yet he roared, "What the hell are you saying?"

Xiang Yifeng watched Lu Feng’s expression with great interest. "I'm talking nonsense? See for yourself whether this is nonsense."

Out of nowhere, Xiang Yifeng produced a jade pendant.

"This should look familiar, General."

Lu Feng’s eyes widened in shock. "How… how do you have my mother’s possession?"

Back then, his mother had left after giving him one last look, taking this jade pendant as she walked out.

He had never seen her since.

Switching the blade to his other hand, Lu Feng snatched the pendant from Xiang Yifeng. "Where is she?"

Xiang Yifeng was completely unbothered by the theft, even giving Lu Feng ample time to verify whether it was genuine.

"Where is she? Well, of course…" Xiang Yifeng dragged out his words, satisfied to see the growing pallor on Lu Feng’s face.

"Of course, she’s plotting to take human territory alongside these thousands of beasts."

Xiang Yifeng even leisurely pulled up his light screen and displayed an image.

There, a woman identical to Lu Feng’s mother smiled toward the camera—except her lower body wasn’t human legs but a mermaid-like fishtail.

Behind her, various beasts were at work; a red spider even held clothing made of spider silk, ready to hand it to her.

Her ears were just like a mermaid’s, but her scales were distinctly different. Xiang Yifeng explained she was a sea-dwelling beast known as—

A fish.

After more than a decade, Lu Feng saw his mother again—on the battlefield, in the beasts' territory, on Xiang Yifeng’s light screen.

She had once temporarily become a mermaid and fallen in love with his father, but their union wasn’t accepted. So eventually, she fled the palace and returned to the sea. Though parts of her body had permanently acquired mermaid features, she remained, in truth, one of the beasts.

She was a fish.

"Humans have ruled the land long enough. Isn’t it time for the beasts to have their turn? What do you think, my… human General?"

Xiang Yifeng’s voice was soft, whispered right into Lu Feng’s ear like a secret leaving no trace.

"Clang—"

Lu Feng’s knife fell to the ground.

Finally, he understood why his mother had left.

It wasn’t for lack of love—so why did she go? Because their races were different, separated by a chasm as vast as the heavens.

Forcing themselves together led only to rejection from everyone in the palace. Under immense pressure, Lu Feng’s father had to act distant from her.

His father thought they could endure, but Lu Feng’s mother had seen the inevitable end. She chose to leave.

"Mother… Mother…" Lu Feng murmured. "A beast."

His face seemed clouded by inexplicable confusion. He couldn’t comprehend it, yet somehow everything made sense.

At last, his legs could no longer support him. With a thud, Lu Feng collapsed to the ground.

"Do enjoy the present, Lu Feng—General."

Xiang Yifeng pressed a hidden button. A cloud of thick smoke billowed, and once it began to clear, he was gone.

But gradually, all the beasts seemed to freeze, slowly turning their heads in unison toward Lu Feng.

"Scratch… scratch…"

Every beast halted its movement and stepped, one by one, toward Lu Feng.

Lu Feng didn’t notice—or perhaps, he no longer cared.

Words from that day in the archive flashed through his mind:

"Mermaid genes possess fusion traits, allowing union with any similar species. However, offspring often bear defects—missing limbs, blindness, unbearable headaches."

"Some defective offspring may survive to adulthood, their suffering alleviated only by mermaid pheromones."

He was the defective offspring, the child of a human and a beast—a fish disguised as a mermaid.

Lu Feng’s head throbbed—the most excruciating pain he’d felt in years.

His arms lay limp on the ground as a beast crawled over and began gnawing at one.

Let it hurt more.