Fang Bihe has been on the verge of a breakdown these past few days. She moved in with Mei Yanlan and Xiao Cheng just to stake her claim, and has even started dropping obvious hints to Mei Yanlan that she and Xiao Cheng are in a romantic relationship.

“Come to think of it, Cheng used to chase after me for a long time. I wonder if you remember that, Yanlan? He was the school’s notorious bully back then. Since I said I liked guys with good grades, he started studying hard, and his grades shot up overnight. He was so devoted and pitiful that I almost gave in to him several times.”

After being forced to listen to the sounds of Mei Yanlan and Xiao Cheng’s intimate moments that night, a raging fire burned within her chest. She viewed Mei Yanlan as an enemy, wanting nothing more than to stab her heart mercilessly and make her suffer.

It was progress of a sort, after all. Not long ago, she hadn’t given Mei Yanlan—a woman who seemed as ordinary as they come—a second thought. Now she realized Mei Yanlan was a hidden gem with some real skills—at least when it came to pleasing men. How despicable!

Mei Yanlan, however, listened as if hearing a story from a novel, asking with genuine interest, “Then why didn’t you end up with him?”

“I was in love with my ex-husband back then. My eyes were blinded; I couldn’t see his good qualities.” She stirred the coffee in her cup, looking quite dejected.

At this point, any woman in Mei Yanlan’s position would feel uneasy. Her eyes were blinded back then—but what about now? Has she seen the light and regretted it? Does she have other intentions toward my husband?

Mei Yanlan couldn’t really be that stupid, could she? Fang Bihe thought with a dark sense of satisfaction. Before the wedding, she’d been quite worried that Mei Yanlan would figure out her relationship with Xiao Cheng—fearing she wouldn’t be able to trick her into having a child. Now, however, she was eager for Mei Yanlan to find out as soon as possible, so she could watch her break down and suffer.

Mei Yanlan grabbed her hand and said gently, “You don’t need to dwell on the good times just because you’re suffering now. Xiao Cheng loved you deeply when he was young, yet look—he ended up marrying me. That just goes to show how worthless the past is.”

Fang Bihe felt as if she’d been punched in the gut out of nowhere. She stared at Mei Yanlan in shock. Was she doing this on purpose? Was she striking back? What was even more infuriating was that she couldn’t come up with a single powerful retort to counter that statement! It was as if she’d been knocked out in one blow!

Yet Mei Yanlan, wearing her black-rimmed glasses, looked sincere, as if she were really comforting her from the bottom of her heart. In other words, she meant every word she said.

That made her even more furious! Fang Bihe’s hand, which Mei Yanlan was holding, clenched into a fist.

“What do you mean the past is worthless? You don’t know shit! Xiao Cheng has waited ten years for me, remaining faithful all this time. He only married you to get you pregnant. Once you’re pregnant, he’ll move in with me, and as soon as you give birth, he’ll kick you out. How is that worthless?!”

She screamed inside her head, but had to hold it in. After all, it had come to this—sunk costs meant she had to make Mei Yanlan get pregnant and bear her child before she’d be satisfied.

“It seems your marriage is very harmonious. I assume you haven’t been using protection. Could you already be pregnant? Why don’t we go to the hospital and get checked?” Fang Bihe said.

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Are you worried the time frame is too short? Don’t worry—hospitals can now confirm as early as the second day whether a fertilized egg has successfully implanted in the uterus.”

Mei Yanlan gave a somewhat ambiguous smile and said, “What I mean is, I think it’s about time to be pregnant."

Over the past couple of days, Xiao Cheng had started feeling under the weather. When she went to the office to bring him lunch, his assistant told her he’d thrown up several times that morning and hoped she could take him to see a doctor. As he said this, the assistant’s eyes darted away, and his cheeks flushed.

In his eyes, Xiao Cheng had once been the epitome of self-restraint, aloofness, a workhorse, and a workaholic—but since their marriage, those labels had begun to crumble one by one.

Since their marriage, Mei Yanlan had been coming to bring Xiao Cheng lunch every day. He couldn’t stop her or send her away—she seemed to have no sense of shame. And since she was so persistent, no one else could stop her either, so they simply let her into his office. Then Xiao Cheng was like a lamb caught by a wolf, completely at her mercy.

It wasn’t the first time the assistant had walked into the office after Mei Yanlan left, only to find the boss scrambling to tidy up the messy desk—his flushed face, slightly swollen lips, eyes that seemed a bit moist, and his slightly damp, messy bangs…

Huh!

Now he finally understood: when both the boss and his wife were present, he had to listen to her—after all, the boss had no authority or ability to resist her.

Since the boss insisted it was just a minor ailment and refused to take medicine or go to the hospital, he had told Mei Yanlan that he never in a million years would have imagined that, in the end, his wife wouldn’t take him to the hospital but would instead buy him a pregnancy test.

“You said… what?” Xiao Cheng stared at the pregnancy test in front of him, completely stunned. Was he going crazy, or had Mei Yanlan lost her mind?

“I said you’re pregnant. Preliminary estimates suggest it might be twins—or even triplets,” Mei Yanlan said.

Seahorses are fertile creatures; the sight of a seahorse dad giving birth is practically like watching a jet fighter take off. However, the seahorse demon clan isn’t quite as fertile. A single litter is usually no more than two or three. After all, the more powerful a creature is, the harder it is for them to reproduce. Still, compared to other Atavist humans, the Seahorse Clan is still considered quite fertile.

Xiao Cheng stared blankly at Mei Yanlan just as Fang Bihe sent a message, asking if Mei Yanlan was pregnant. Ever since what Mei Yanlan had said that day, she’d been eagerly anticipating it and urging him to take Mei Yanlan for a checkup.

Right, if anyone were to be pregnant, it would have to be Mei Yanlan—how could it ever be him? He’s a man, after all. Was she joking?

Just then, Mei Yanlan said, “There’s something I haven’t told you. Actually, I’m an atavist.”

She paused for a moment before adding: “I have some blood from the Seahorse Clan, you know.” Xiao Cheng’s phone slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor with a sharp clang.

He looked completely devastated. How strange—hadn’t he been hoping for a pregnancy all along? Why was it so hard for him to accept when it happened to him? Mei Yanlan thought with a smile as she pulled the vibrating phone out of her bag.

“…Where are you going?” Xiao Cheng couldn’t believe Mei Yanlan was actually getting up to leave. “Where are you going at a time like this? Don’t you need to explain? Huh?”

“Be a good husband, honey. I have some last-minute work to do. I’ll be back soon~” Mei Yanlan pinched his chin, kissed his cheek, and walked away, swaying her hips like a scumbag who’d just had his fun and was walking out, completely ignoring the hysterical pregnant wife behind him.

……

Cuihu Blue Prison was the Atavist prison in Yunjin Prefecture. Everyone locked up there was an Atavist criminal, and most of them carried some kind of riot-prone impulse in their blood—the animal side left after awakening.

So if things were not watched carefully, the prisoners would break into riots because of gang fights inside the prison. Every time that happened, people died—from the prisoners themselves to innocent prison guards.

Putting down that kind of riot was always troublesome. If high-tech weapons were used, even more people usually died, because weapons made for Atavists were all powerful and deadly. But doing nothing was not an option either, so the prison always asked the Tribunal Division for help and requested that Qiu Fa send strong Atavists to suppress things by force.

This time, the warden was also waiting eagerly for Qiu Fa to arrive.

The warden and most of the prison guards had already pulled back outside. Police cars surrounded the whole prison perimeter. From where they stood, they could vaguely feel the violent Atavist power surging inside the prison, along with the sounds of fighting and screams.

When a black sports car came racing in, the warden hurried forward in excitement. But he quickly came to his senses—wait, that couldn’t be Qiu Fa. There was no way he could afford a car like that.

Then the car door opened, and a clear jingling sound rang out.

A pair of black high heels touched the ground. A charming woman with a cascade of red waves stepped out of the car. A red tear mole at the corner of her eye seemed to glint strangely. A gold ornament curved beneath a succubus-like horn, with three little bell-shaped charms hanging from it that gave off a crisp sound.

“Hello. I’m Mei Yanlan, No. 1 Special Operative of the Tribunal Division Special Forces,” Mei Yanlan said with a smile. A strange charm washed over the people present, and both men and women blushed and could not look away.

“H-hello…” the warden stammered, shaking her hand.

“The Director said there were people here who needed to be put down? And there’s also some death row prisoner called the Brain Eater who can be killed, right?” Mei Yanlan licked her bright red lips. The curve of her mouth looked mad and wicked, as if she were waiting for some kind of wild feast.

Into a prison that no guard dared enter at that moment, Mei Yanlan walked slowly in on high heels, swaying her slim waist, her thin red tail flicking behind her. The bells chimed softly in the air.

The closer she got, the more she could feel the violent Atavist power in the air, and the bigger the smile on her face became.

“…So the legendary No. 1 is a woman,” the warden muttered. Looking at the hand a beauty had just shaken, he wondered whether he should avoid washing it for the rest of the day.

“Warden, can she really handle it alone?” one prison guard asked worriedly. This was a men’s prison filled with vicious male criminals, and at that moment all of them were out of control. It was hard not to worry when someone as slender as Mei Yanlan was walking in there alone.

“You don’t need to worry. Every Special Operative in the Tribunal Division Special Forces is a killing machine. And this is No. 1.”

This unit was unusual. The lower the number, the stronger the person. No. 1 was the most mysterious of them all. She had never appeared openly before, and people said that anyone who ever saw her died—because she only handled death sentence missions.

And this clearly wasn’t the kind of job she usually did. There was confusion on the warden’s face as he said it. Why would the long-hidden No. 1 suddenly show herself now?

He didn’t have time to stay confused for long before a violent noise from inside the prison made him jump. Something had smashed through the ceiling and flown up into the sky. Was that… a head?

……

The ship bound for Bohai Prefecture lifted off from the dock.

Whenever passengers walked past that booth, they could not help glancing over, and all of them reached the same conclusion: this father and son had definitely just had a fight.

Who the hell is his father?

Mo Weiwei thought viciously, his face drawn tight. That expression had never changed since the moment he was told he had been dismissed.

Fired was fired. Who cared? And besides, I never admitted I was your employee anyway. That was all just you forcing it, he thought, trying to keep up a bit of dignity and put on an act that he didn’t care at all.

“How much does your boss pay you? I’ll give you double. How about you come work for me instead?” he suddenly said to Tao Ze.

“Where exactly would you get that kind of money?” Tao Ze replied. Inwardly, he kept sighing, worried about how that couple would treat Mo Weiwei once he returned home, and whether they would lock him back in the cage again.

“There are plenty of ways to get money. Tell me how much you want, and I’ll get it for you.”

“None of those ways are legal. I’m telling you now, don’t do that kind of thing. Do you think no one will find out? You’re looking down too much on this country’s institutions,” Tao Ze said at once in a stern tone.

“Hmph. You don’t need to worry about me,” Mo Weiwei said angrily. If Tao Ze was just going to dump him back there anyway, what was the point of saying any of this? Whatever he did, whatever happened to him, Tao Ze wouldn’t know about it anymore.

Tao Ze didn’t say more. He started checking the weather in Bohai Prefecture instead and kept talking—don’t go along with your parents anymore, you clearly have the ability not to live in a dog cage, why let them bully you, even parents have no right to treat a child that way, and your clothes are in this suitcase, and so on. The more he talked, the redder his eyes became.

For all these years, Tao Ze had been running around over what happened to his daughter. He had always been alone. During this time, living with Mo Weiwei, looking after him, taking him around to see places—even if it was tiring—meant he didn’t have time to think about the painful things from the past. Now that they were suddenly parting, he found it hard to let go.

Mo Weiwei was affected by Tao Ze’s feelings. A strange ache rose in his nose. He had never felt anything like this before in his whole life, and it only made him feel uncomfortable and lost.

The ship entered Bohai Prefecture Dock No. 3, and they got into a taxi.

The closer the car drew to home, the more strongly that unfamiliar feeling churned in Mo Weiwei’s chest. But something seemed stuck in his throat, and he couldn’t say a word.

His pride kept him from lowering his head, even though this whole standoff had started because of his own childish temper.

And he was also angry at Tao Ze. Tao Ze had just obediently thrown him away like baggage and brought him back here.

That feeling reached its peak when the taxi stopped on the road outside the familiar old apartment building.

Mo Weiwei got out angrily, snatched up his luggage angrily, and said darkly, “That’s enough. Just take me here. We’re never going to see each other again anyway.”

Tao Ze looked at him and reached out as if to rub his head, but Mo Weiwei dodged. Tao Ze could only sigh and say, “Take care of yourself. Don’t get hurt. You have the ability. If you really want to live freely without being controlled by anyone, you can do it.”

Then Tao Ze really did get back into the car and leave.

……

Not long after, word came that the riot at Cuihu Blue Prison had been put down, and the Brain Eater had been executed early on the spot by the Atavist operative sent in to suppress it.

The trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain had failed. New trouble showed up soon after, but even this time they still failed to draw Qiu Fa away from outside the little Bubble, because Mei Yanlan alone was worth ten people.

And that was why Mei Yanlan came home very late that day.

It was already past 1:00 a.m., but Xiao Cheng hadn’t gone to sleep yet. His desk was covered with pregnancy test sticks—probably a whole box’s worth—of various brands, along with some pregnancy test strips, every single one showing two lines. The open computer screen displayed an encyclopedia entry on seahorses.

“Are there really seahorse clan in the world? How could such regressed humans exist? What’s wrong with humanity? Why would they even go so far as to harm seahorses? Don’t they have any moral boundaries?” Xiao Cheng shouted in despair after learning from his well-informed friend that seahorse clan actually existed.

His friend was stunned: “What’s wrong? Did the seahorse clan offend you?”

Even though they were best friends, Xiao Cheng couldn’t bring himself to tell him right now that there was a high probability he was pregnant. Besides, he felt like he’d been tricked into marriage—Mei Yanlan had never once mentioned that she was a seahorse atavist. But he simply couldn’t say those words out loud; it was too ironic.

“I’m going crazy…” Xiao Cheng sat on the sofa, clutching his head. Just then, Fang Bihe called again, having been unable to reach him all day.

Right now, Fang Bihe was the last person Xiao Cheng wanted to hear from, so he quickly hung up and turned off his phone.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly realized that Mei Yanlan had never come home this late before. Every time he got off work, she was there—her eyes and heart were only for him, and it seemed as though her whole day revolved around him. But why, after she told him today that he was pregnant, did she come home so late?

…Wait a minute, could she have run off?! Did she get him pregnant and then run away, not wanting to take responsibility?