Chapter 430: Chapter 430- A New Hole

Not by choice—mermaids didn’t wear clothing underwater, and her captors clearly hadn’t bothered providing anything.

Her torso was fully exposed. Pale skin, smooth except for the patches of scales that ran along her ribs and collarbone—small, iridescent things that caught the dim light and reflected it in shades of green and blue.

Her breasts were modest. Small, firm, with pale pink nipples that had tightened in the water’s chill. They moved slightly with her breathing, gentle swells that pressed against her folded arms.

Her waist was narrow, ribs visible beneath her skin—evidence of the starvation the guard had mentioned. She was thin, too thin, her body consuming itself to survive.

Below her waist, where her navel would be, her skin transitioned smoothly into scales. The change was gradual—a few scattered scales around her hipbones, then more, denser, until her entire lower body was covered.

Her tail was long. Maybe six feet from hip to fin. The scales shimmered between green and blue, each one overlapping the next in a pattern that suggested both beauty and functionality. Near the tip, the tail split into two fins—delicate, translucent membranes stretched between bone structures, marked with darker veins.

Her hair drifted around her head in slow waves, black with streaks of deep blue. It was long, reaching past her waist when not suspended in water. A few strands had caught on her shoulders, clinging to her wet skin.

Her face…

Delicate. High cheekbones, a small nose, full lips that looked chapped despite being submerged. And those eyes—deep blue, exhausted, but still aware. Still ’alive’, even if barely.

She didn’t move as Tianlong studied her. Didn’t try to cover herself or turn away. Just watched him back, her expression unchanging.

Tianlong’s divine sense swept through the tank, analyzing everything.

Her cultivation was weak. Dangerously so. The spiritual energy tied to water that he’d noticed before was barely a flicker now, stuttering like a candle about to go out.

Starvation. Stress. Isolation. All combining to kill her slowly.

She had maybe another week. Two at most.

Behind him, his wives had spread out slightly. Akane floated to his right, her golden eyes fixed on the mermaid with curious interest. Yu Xiang stood to his left, her expression unreadable. Sabrina remained a few steps back, her arms crossed, something complicated in her golden gaze. Yuna and Sylvea flanked the group’s edges, watching silently.

Mirala approached hesitantly, stopping several feet away. Her amber eyes darted between Tianlong and the tank, her mind working frantically.

Tianlong spoke without turning.

“I’d like to buy her.”

Silence.

Complete, absolute silence.

The words hung in the air like a pronouncement from the heavens.

Inside the tank, the mermaid’s eyes widened fractionally—the first real reaction Tianlong had seen from her. Her lips parted slightly, water entering and exiting as she breathed through gills hidden beneath her jaw.

But her expression… it didn’t change much. A flicker of something—surprise? resignation?—crossed her features before settling back into that same exhausted despair.

Another person. Another transaction. Another moment of her worth being decided by money.

Nothing new.

Mirala’s face went through several expressions in rapid succession.

Shock. Confusion. Calculation. And finally—’panic’.

“She’s not for sale—” The words tumbled out before she could stop them.

Instantly, the atmosphere ’changed’.

Every single one of Tianlong’s wives turned to look at Mirala.

Not casual glances. Not curiosity.

’Killing intent’.

Akane’s nine tails rose, spreading wide, each one glowing with crimson energy that made the air itself shimmer with heat. Her golden eyes locked onto Mirala with the kind of focus a predator reserved for prey it was about to tear apart.

Yu Xiang’s butterfly aura erupted—black and violet shapes materializing in the air around her, their wings moving in perfect unison, creating a sound like thousands of whispers speaking in dead languages. Her violet eyes reflected no light at all, just empty darkness.

Sabrina took one step forward. Just one. Her hands dropped to her sides, fingers curling into claws. Her tiger ears flattened against her skull, her lips pulling back to expose teeth that suddenly looked much sharper than they should.

Yuna’s entire body tensed, her latex suit creaking as muscles coiled beneath. Her cat ears folded completely flat, her silver eyes dilating to narrow slits.

Sylvea raised one hand, green energy crackling between her fingers—magic formations appearing in the air around her palm, ancient elf script glowing with lethal promise.

The pressure was ’immense’.

Not Tianlong’s this time—’theirs’. Five women, each one capable of destroying this entire building without breaking a sweat, all focusing their intent on a single target.

Mirala felt it like physical blows. Her knees buckled completely, dropping her to the floor hard enough to bruise. Her hands shot out, catching herself before she face-planted, but her arms trembled violently.

She couldn’t breathe. The air was too thick, too heavy, crushing her chest.

’I’m going to die.’

The thought was crystal clear, cutting through her panic with absolute certainty.

’They’re going to kill me. Right here. Right now. And nobody will ever find the body.’

Her survival instincts screamed at her, overriding pride, overriding business sense, overriding everything except the desperate need to ’survive’.

She moved.

Scrambling on hands and knees, she crawled—actually ’crawled’—back toward the entrance to her office. Her dress rode up around her thighs, fabric tearing slightly, but she didn’t care. She just needed to reach—

There.

The low table in her office. Top drawer.

Her fingers fumbled with the handle, shaking so badly she almost couldn’t grip it. Finally, she yanked it open, reaching inside and pulling out a scroll.

Contract. Standard slave purchase contract, blank, ready to be filled in.

She turned, still on her knees, and ’threw’ herself forward.

Not walked. Not even crawled with dignity. She launched herself across the floor, skidding on her knees, her hands clutching the scroll like it was the only thing keeping her alive.

Because it was.

She stopped in front of Tianlong, her forehead hitting the stone floor in a full prostration.

“Please have it!” The words exploded out of her, high-pitched and desperate. “Please, please, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—please take it, take her, take anything, just please—”

She thrust the scroll upward, her entire body trembling.

Tianlong looked down at her.

For a long moment, he didn’t move. Didn’t speak.

Then he reached out, taking the scroll from her shaking hands.

The killing intent vanished instantly.

All five women pulled their auras back simultaneously, the pressure disappearing so completely it left a vacuum in its wake.

Mirala gasped, air flooding back into her lungs. She stayed prostrate, her forehead still pressed to the floor, too terrified to move.

Tianlong unrolled the scroll, scanning the contents quickly.

Standard contract. Ownership transfer, price negotiation, liability clauses. Nothing complicated.

He looked at the tank.

The mermaid was staring at him now, her deep blue eyes wide, her arms loosening slightly from around her knees.

Something flickered across her face—confusion, maybe. Or the first stirring of hope that she was clearly trying to suppress.

Tianlong turned to Yu Xiang.

She stepped forward immediately, producing a small pouch from somewhere within her dress. Spirit stones clinked inside—high-grade, probably worth more than this entire auction house and everything in it.

She counted out ten stones and placed them on the floor beside Mirala’s trembling form.

“More than fair,” Yu Xiang said, her tone casual. “Considering she’s half-dead.”

Mirala didn’t respond. Didn’t even look up.

Tianlong pressed his thumb against the scroll, channeling a tiny amount of qi. The contract flared once, characters rearranging themselves to fill in details—his name, the mermaid’s description, the price.

Then he tossed it onto Mirala’s back.

“Done,” he said simply.

He turned to the tank, raising one hand.

The glass shattered.

Not violently—Tianlong’s control was too precise for that. The reinforced panels simply… came apart, separating at their joints, the metal frames bending outward smoothly.

Water rushed out in a torrent, flooding across the floor.

And the mermaid fell.

Tianlong caught her.

One arm beneath her shoulders, the other under her tail. He lifted her easily, her wet body dripping onto his crimson robes.

She weighed almost nothing. Too light, her body starved to the point where her bones pressed visibly against her skin.

For the first time since he’d seen her, her expression changed completely.

Her deep blue eyes went wide, staring up at his face from inches away. Her lips parted, water still dripping from them, her gills flaring as she tried to process what was happening.

“You—” Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. It sounded like she hadn’t spoken in days. “Why…?”

Tianlong looked down at her.

His golden eyes met her deep blue ones directly.

“I wanted to try how a mermaid’s pussy feels like…”

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