Facing Alfonso, Sander had no ability to resist. Whatever the other party told him to do, he had to do.

If he showed protest, people would use magic to physically force him to act.

It was better to obediently comply.

Sander had just had blood drawn and had no strength left in his body. He struggled to extend his hand and take the potion Alfonso handed him.

The black liquid sloshed in the bottle, occasionally forming strange shapes, as if the liquid itself was alive.

Sander was already accustomed to taking this potion. Unlike his initial terror, he tilted his head back and poured the black liquid down his throat.

Afterward, he tightly closed his mouth, his expression pained.

Although he was used to this potion, that didn’t mean he liked it. Especially after drinking it, the black liquid seemed like little people about to fall off a cliff, desperately clawing at his tongue coating and throat, not wanting to be swallowed.

Sander felt so nauseous he wanted to vomit, but he couldn’t drink water. He could only use physical methods to prevent himself from actually throwing up.

Alfonso in front of him would definitely make him swallow back down whatever he vomited up.

Finally, the struggle in his throat subsided. Sander exhaled, leaned back, covered in sweat as if he’d just been pulled from water.

He tried to support himself to stand up, but his arm slipped down as soon as he pressed it against the armrest.

Sander had fainted.

Alfonso frowned slightly and was about to step forward when he sensed a familiar magical fluctuation.

“Alfonso, I’m back again!” Royer greeted Alfonso enthusiastically as always, as if he’d already forgotten who had thrown him into the fountain outside the palace a few days ago.

“Why are you here?” As long as Royer didn’t cause trouble, Alfonso wouldn’t continue throwing people out.

“The new bloodline fusion experiment has begun. I’m here to take away our noble His Majesty the Emperor. Huh, already asleep?”

Royer tugged at Sander’s arm and directly pulled him to the ground.

Alfonso warned Royer, “I’m responsible for mermaids, you’re responsible for Red Sea Trees. We both need this emperor, so you still need to protect him well.”

“Emperor? I’m afraid he won’t be one much longer!”

“Until he isn’t, he still is.”

Royer knew that when Alfonso got stubborn, he was extremely inflexible. Too lazy to argue with his friend, he obediently used a levitation spell to make Sander float in the air in a comfortable position and follow him.

Before leaving, his peripheral vision glimpsed the mermaid in the glass room opposite, his eyes flashing with disgust and contempt.

“You’ve been researching this mermaid princess for a while now, right? If there’s no progress, why not give her to me to play with?”

Alfonso looked down, cleaning the potion residue from his hands. “I’m still trying to extract the royal bloodline from her body. If I can extract it, the bloodline supply won’t be critical.”

Royer pursed his lips. “Actually, if you ask me, there’s no need for bloodline control methods. Just clear all food from the water and they’ll only be able to eat tree roots.”

“That would shorten the mermaids’ lifespans.”

“So what if they’re shortened? Just breed a few million and the total pollution cleanup volume would still increase! Modify them to be hermaphrodites, haha, self-producing and self-selling! Add several reproductive organs to improve efficiency!”

Alfonso wasn’t tempted at all. “Your proposal would only exhaust their vitality. Not very feasible.”

“Really?” Royer stroked his chin, still unwilling to give up. “Actually, someone recently proposed to the Chief that we modify the mermaid race into shrimp—that way they could produce hundreds in a lifetime.”

“The Chief won’t agree to that.”

“How do you know the Chief won’t agree?” Royer patted Alfonso’s shoulder. “In fact, the Chief has already agreed. In a while, he’ll hand over this most special mermaid princess to me for blood extraction.”

Alfonso suddenly looked up, his gaze sharp. “You want to steal my experimental project?”

Royer laughed heartily and quickly patted Alfonso’s back. “One broken mermaid isn’t worth getting angry over! Given our hundred years of friendship, giving me one mermaid isn’t too much, right?”

After speaking, Royer stared intently at Alfonso.

Only then did Alfonso withdraw his sharp gaze and brush away Royer’s arm. “Anyway, without the Chief’s orders, I won’t hand over this only mermaid royal to you. If you really want her, go request the Chief’s orders.”

Royer met with disappointment and shrugged. “Fine, fine, I’ll go first then. I’ll send this noble emperor back to you tonight.”

Alfonso was too lazy to even say farewell words and waved his hand to close the quarters’ door.

Afterward, he personally cleaned up the remaining experimental equipment without calling for wizard apprentices to help.

The mermaid Pearl next door still pressed against the glass watching him, seeming curious about everything.

After tidying up, Alfonso stood in place for a while, motionless as if powered down.

Several more minutes passed before he came to his senses and walked to the glass wall, looking up at the mermaid who was making eye contact with him.

“You have the highest bloodline concentration but won’t speak. Is it that you don’t like talking?”

Pearl blinked, her milky white long hair slowly floating in the water.

Colorful halos constantly shifted in Alfonso’s eyes.

He suddenly stepped forward into the glass wall.

The hard wall made of crystal seemed like cheesecake before Alfonso, completely unable to block his steps.

Alfonso entered the water-filled room, still looking up at Pearl.

Pearl swayed her fish tail and approached Alfonso.

She looked down, he looked up.

Their lips touched briefly and separated.

Pearl’s eyes were bright, like a child who had eaten candy.

Alfonso’s eyes were sorrowful, like a beast trapped in a cage.

…

“So mermaid royal bloodline actually doesn’t help improve mermaids’ adaptability to black tide pollution. But this bloodline is an important power for controlling large groups of mermaids to obediently comply.”

Saul closed his book.

“Large numbers of mermaids live in areas under Red Sea Trees. Using this method to control them is indeed efficient. If we follow Alfonso’s approach of concentrating mermaids with royal bloodline in clean waters that are still close to the sea, we could also achieve control over mermaids.”

“In that case, I could complete the task by simply treating the mermaids. But things might not be as simple as they appear…”

As Saul was thinking, someone suddenly knocked on the palace door. “Wizard Saul, I’m Royer. May I come in?”

Saul immediately remembered that cheerful red-haired wizard.

“Please come in.”

Saul stood up to welcome Wizard Royer, who was of the same rank.

The door wasn’t locked anyway—the other party knocking was just politeness.

Royer pushed open the door and poked his head in, still wearing the smile Saul had seen at their last meeting.

“Saul, may I call you that?”

Saul didn’t refuse.

Royer continued, “I heard you’ve been cooped up in this palace for almost ten days. I’ll take you out for a walk to see Nephret’s magnificent sights!”

Nephret Continent’s magnificent sights must be the Red Sea Tree forests.

Saul’s eyes lit up—he had been wanting to see the Red Sea Trees.

Not only to see the Red Sea Trees, but Saul especially wanted to see the mermaids in the sea!

(End of Chapter)

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