Infinitely Criticizing the Villain for Being Like My Ex-Boyfriend

It was not until now that the mermaid king Dylan realized that his body had disappeared. His head remained in a downward arc and he remained silent for a long time.

Zhang Chunliang and the fox looked at each other and said nothing.

"I remember now." The Mermaid King seemed to be talking to himself, "They cut off my head, trying to force Jiang Jiang to come back to find me..."

Although it has no internal organs, it can still recall the horrible pain.

Because of some magical methods of his wife, it has the ability to regenerate its internal organs infinitely. Its internal organs are hollowed out by the rebels time and time again, and grow back again and again.

Its scales were pulled out piece by piece, and the dark blue fish tail that his wife had once loved so much became bumpy and ugly.

It had not eaten since it was captured, and its stomach was rumbling with hunger, but it was still awake and alive in pain.

It had no idea how long it had spent in the dark and gloomy palace, but it was in an extremely happy mood because it knew that its wife and children would escape far away during this long time - and would never be caught.

Finally, the conspirators began to fear its terrifying ability to grow, and they cut off its head.

"It's a good thing that you were not caught by them..." The Mermaid King looked at the fox's straight back and smiled softly.

"Really?" The fox nodded and commented calmly, "It's a great love story."

Zhang Chunliang felt complicated and indescribable at this moment.

Because he already knew what would happen next - the goddess fled alone with her young child, and under the guidance of her predictive ability, she entrusted him to a group of strange mermaids.

And then—she went back again to rescue her husband.

"Xiao Ling?" The Mermaid King asked blankly, "Why only you? Where is your mother?"

The fox gave a wicked smile: "You mean her? She has always been with us."

The mermaid king looked around nervously. He looked really ugly now and he didn't know if his wife would be scared.

However, it waited for a long time and did not see the familiar figure.

It looked at the fox, then tilted its head to look at Zhang Chunliang who was standing beside him with a worried look, and suddenly realized something.

"Why is my head still preserved..." the Mermaid King asked to himself, "It shouldn't be like this. They will hang my body in the Mermaid Temple to inform all mermaids of the succession of the Sass Kingship..."

It should be soaked into a swollen, giant mass of fish feed above the palace, and humiliatingly eaten by passing fish until nothing is left of it.

Unless someone collects its body.

But its loyal guards had already been killed or wounded in the royal court, and no fish could help it.

Two lines of tears flowed down the face of the mermaid king Dylan. They dripped onto the white and soft ground and turned into two bright and warm pearls.

"I'm sorry, Xiao Ling." He looked at the fox with a look of sadness that almost broke, "...we actually let you grow up alone."

"It's okay. It's my honor to be a small character that drives the plot of your epic story, father." The fox nodded slightly, his brows relaxed, like a polite gentleman.

A gentleman can be terrible when he becomes mean, and his words can become the sharpest and most hurtful blade.

The head visibly turned gray and began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Your parents are not as selfish as you think, and you are not an insignificant little character." Zhang Chunliang spoke helplessly, interrupting the confrontation between father and son.

He understood the fox's harshness and resentment, and he was not qualified to forgive his parents on his behalf, but he had to provide some additional information to this delirious head.

"Your Majesty, I want to ask you a question." Zhang Chunliang drew its attention to himself. "You just mentioned that there is something wrong with your physical condition and your strength is gradually fading. What is the reason?"

The Mermaid King was unwilling to explain, so he pretended not to understand and turned his head away.

Zhang Chunliang: “…” If it weren’t for this handsome head, it would really look like a stubborn and stubborn old man.

"We are running out of time, Your Majesty." Zhang Chunliang reminded meaningfully, "We can't hold on to this space for long. I don't think you want your child to leave with misunderstandings about you and Ms. Jiang Jiang."

The mermaid was moved and turned her head hesitantly to look at the fox's expressionless face.

"I, I..." Dylan is an excellent politician. He has excellent eloquence to establish diplomatic relations with countless intelligent races, but at this moment, he seems so tongue-tied.

"I guess there's something wrong with your heart?" Zhang Chunliang reluctantly helped it open up. "I heard from a friend that this world once held an event called 'The King's Heart'."

The so-called activity he mentioned was actually the name of a dungeon. It was a dungeon mission that the goddess had done in this world.

"'Heart of the King', as the name suggests, means to obtain a heart of a king." Zhang Chunliang carefully observed the expression of the mermaid, and there was an obvious trace of pain on its face.

"Goddess Qiao Jiangjiang's mission target was you, and she succeeded."

"I gave it to her voluntarily..." The Mermaid King didn't want Ms. Qiao Jiangjiang to leave a bad impression on the fox, so he tried his best to defend himself, "She didn't hide anything from me..."

In order to compensate Dylan for having his heart dug out, she also gave him a magical item that could infinitely regenerate his internal organs. Although Dylan didn't know where she got it from, Qiao Jiangjiang looked extremely painful at the time and he didn't dare to ask any further questions - although that item later caused him a lot of trouble.

Zhang Chunliang smiled and asked, "Where did the heart go?"

The fox turned his head and looked at him with an inexplicably deep gaze.

"Ms. Jiang Jiang gave up this mission a long time ago. In order to prevent others from entering the dungeon to snatch your heart, she even forcibly destroyed important props and sealed off the dungeon. So why did she still want to take your heart?"

Zhang Chunliang looked at the fox: "You should have guessed it a long time ago, right?"

Foxes are naturally intelligent. Perhaps from the moment he became conscious in Qiao Jiangjiang's belly, he knew what a rebellious feat his parents' union was.

The fox stood there motionless, his eyelashes slightly closed, and did not respond to Zhang Chunliang's question.

"Xiao Ling is not a disabled human, he was born a smart child...it was us, our willful behavior that harmed him." The Mermaid King tried to make amends, "Jiang Jiang said that Xiao Ling inherited her human blood and could no longer bear her heart. My heart is the best choice. Besides, my internal organs can regenerate infinitely..."

"Can the heart, as the hub of power, also regenerate infinitely?" Zhang Chunliang asked, "Don't fool yourself. Didn't you lose your kingship because you lost your heart, which led to the weakening of your power?"

"What do you want to say?" the fox suddenly asked, "Are you trying to use their pitiful experiences to gain my sympathy and force me to forgive them?"

"I'm stating the facts." Zhang Chunliang looked at him with a smile.

"The fact is, they abandoned me," said the fox. "No matter how high-sounding their words were, they never chose me once."

He still remembered the strong discomfort he felt when he was held in the arms of a strange merman when he was one year old. The pink dolphin that encouraged and comforted him along the way left without looking back after reaching an agreement with the mermen.

"She didn't look at me again." The fox emphasized, "I watched her disappear into the sea. She swam forward for 700 meters without looking at me."

At that time, he had no heart and no emotions, and he was not sad because of the departure of his only relative. It was not until he swallowed the heart and recalled the experience many years ago that he realized what it meant to be abandoned.

"Norman Mermaids." The Mermaid King suddenly said, "So far, the Sass tribe has discovered a mermaid race with the gentlest temperament and the least hostile to humans. Although the environment there is harsh, it has the most land space and is most suitable for human survival. At the same time, they have the best ability to survive on land and can accompany you to live on land."

This was the decision it made with Qiao Jiangjiang after countless discussions and studies.

"We can't let you go to the human world. We're worried that you'll become a mermaid when you grow up and get hurt by them, so we selected a friendly tribe for you and Jiang Jiang." The Mermaid King smiled a little sadly, "I'm an incompetent father. Living in my domain will only put you in danger."

The fox's chest was heaving violently. He seemed to want to say something. He walked towards the direction of the Mermaid King. Suddenly, a crisp cracking sound was heard under his feet.

Zhang Chunliang looked down and found that the skin of the people around him had begun to turn yellow and dull, losing its original color.

"She can't hold on any longer." Zhang Chunliang said, "We need to end this conversation as soon as possible."

"Xiao Ling." The Mermaid King said, "I know what you resent us for. Jiang Jiang had a hard time when she was pregnant with you. She said she could always feel the baby struggling and making noises in her belly. I was such a fool. I realized very late that you didn't want to come into this world at all."

The fox's eyes turned cold, and he looked down at the head condescendingly.

The handsome mermaid king was rapidly declining, his hair began to fall out, his eyeballs were filled with countless needle-like blood spots, his straight nose seemed to have been cut by a knife, and became bumpy, and his teeth fell out one by one.

This is what it looks like when it dies.

"I have prepared twelve birthday gifts for you. Your mother should have hidden them in a place only you know. One of the gifts is chocolate. That chocolate can make a person die in the most beautiful dream. If you really, really don't want to stay in this world anymore, please..."

Two lines of blue blood and tears flowed down the Mermaid King's face, rolling to the ground with a crisp and pleasant sound.

"Please……"

Before it could finish its words, the human skin space made a tearing sound as if it could not bear the heavy weight, and then cracked inch by inch, and the head turned to ashes in an instant.

The human skin fragments were like butterflies flying in the sky, circling around the fox lingeringly.

"Qiao Jiangjiang is dead." Zhang Chunliang suddenly said, "It turns out that she died a long time ago."

There are traces of her existence everywhere around the fox. Those were her carefully planned plans many years ago. But she herself, the "goddess" who has always lived in the mouths of others, has actually disappeared between heaven and earth long ago.

"Don't blame her for not looking back. In fact, she has been looking at you." Zhang Chunliang stepped forward and patted Fox's shoulder. "Everywhere."

"So, have you found the treasure?" The fox raised his eyes and looked at him calmly, "Is it the twelve birthday gifts? Or my mother's skin, or my father's body——?"

Zhang Chunliang shrugged, raised the flashlight and walked towards the headless fish corpse.

The body was covered with some dried human skin fragments, and it was motionless, completely dead.

Zhang Chunliang no longer had any way of knowing what happened when the goddess tried to snatch her husband's body, or why it fell into Captain Will's hands.

In short, the former Mermaid King NPC and the player goddess finally reunited after a long time.

Zhang Chunliang took a step forward, and the sound of stones rolling on the ground was heard.

He looked down and saw some blue and white pearls, which emitted extremely weak fluorescence in the dim cave.

"Zhang Chunliang." Fox's voice was cold and deep. "My patience has run out. You'd better not keep me in suspense."

"Why did your father prepare twelve birthday gifts for you?" Zhang Chunliang didn't take his threat seriously at all. He looked at the fox curiously, "The mermaids said that mermaids have to wait until they are thirteen years old to become adults."

"Does it matter?" asked the fox.

"Important, because I know where your thirteenth gift of adulthood is." Zhang Chunliang gave a sly smile.

He pulled out a fragile, yellowed portrait from his pocket and held it up in front of the fox. "Your mother drew my appearance many years ago, which impressed you so much that many years later, you brought me to this copy by accident... The last gift of adulthood is with me. Your mother has predicted that I would find it."

A dagger with a cold glow slashed towards Zhang Chunliang's fragile neck. He was prepared and quickly dodged to the side to avoid the sharp blade.

"So fierce." Zhang Chunliang touched his neck, still feeling frightened.

The vines that rose from the ground pierced through the hard cave and passed through the fox's wrists and intestines.

"You make me a little angry," said the fox. "You don't really think I can do nothing about it."

Chilling ice crystals spread out from his body, freezing the vines hard and then breaking them into pieces.

"Forget it, let's both take a step back..." Zhang Chunliang wisely changed the subject, "After all, it's not good for us to fight like this in front of uncle and aunt..."

Zhang Chunliang could feel the fox's pain and sadness, but he himself might not have realized it.

At this moment, he was like a volcano covered with ice and snow, with the magma inside boiling and simmering, but it was tightly sealed.

What method can be used to make him boil and erupt? Although it is a bit difficult, Zhang Chunliang must do this in order to get the "treasure".

"Let's get out of here." The fox kicked away the vines on the ground and walked towards the cave entrance with unsteady steps.

"There's something in the Mermaid King's stomach." Zhang Chunliang suddenly asked, "Do you know what it is?"

The body of the mermaid king turned into a mummy because it lost energy support, but its belly was bulging high, which was very strange.

The fox stopped walking upon hearing this, took out his dagger, and cut open the belly of the fish.

Half of a pure white skeleton rolled out from the mermaid's belly.

"Ah." Zhang Chunliang was also a little surprised for a moment.

He thought the mermaid king had hidden his gift in its stomach, but he never imagined that it had actually stuffed the bones from the fox grave into it.

Although it has no soul, its instinct is still to protect its child.

"Dang." The dagger was thrown to the ground, making a crisp sound.

The fox slowly crouched down beside the corpse and stared at the mermaid king's gaping chest.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Chunliang heard the extremely subtle sound of pearls falling to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Zhang Chunliang asked, squatting beside him.

The fox's expression was very strange. There was a hint of twisted pain in his calmness, but his eyes were calm and expressionless, which was very strange.

"There are so many pearls. Can you give me some?" Zhang Chunliang asked in a low voice. "I heard that only the mermaid king can produce these. They are very precious..."

The fox remained indifferent and looked at his father's body indifferently.

"Don't you want the coming-of-age gift? I'll trade it with you." Zhang Chunliang coaxed, "You have no idea how precious that gift is..."

The fox roughly picked up a few pearls and threw them into his palm: "If you take them out to resell, I will definitely kill you."

[Main Quest: Find the Mermaid King's Treasure (3/5)]