Chapter 22: Crown Prince Xiyao-Após cinco anos de fuga da protagonista desprezada, pai e filho caídos amam intensamente após sua volta(Pequena Jasmine.)

Long Yuan’s demand left Shi Chuchu feeling deeply distressed. After all, she was just a simple, newly adult succubus, and she was truly ill-equipped to juggle two different "meal tickets" while maintaining her cover. Having Long Yuan to deal with was exhausting enough; adding Shuang Ming into the mix was simply too much.

Shi Chuchu stared blankly at the ceiling with lifeless eyes, feeling as though life had lost all meaning. That night, she did not pester Long Yuan for food. The pressure was simply too great, and she needed to play a game to decompress. After Long Yuan left, she headed to Long Xiaobao’s holographic game room and settled into one of the pods.

Once the pod initialized, Shi Chuchu entered the game store, stumbling as she searched for the title she wanted. "Tsk... the technological development here is just too fast. It’s only been five years, and these game pods already look completely unfamiliar to me," she grumbled to the system while operating the interface with clumsy, unpracticed movements.

[It is not really as fast as you think. It is just that this is the Marshal’s house, you know. Only the latest models are allowed in this room.]

Shi Chuchu sighed with a mix of awe and annoyance. She had been here for several days and had never once seen Long Xiaobao actually play; he just left these cool, limited-edition pods here to collect dust. She really wanted to fight these rich people.

Five minutes later, she finally managed to locate the game she was looking for. "This is it! 'Run, Beastie, Run!'" Shi Chuchu excitedly clicked onto the game page.

[Eh... this is an old game released seven years ago. Very few people play it now.]

On the login screen, Shi Chuchu skillfully entered her old username and password.

The system panicked: [Quick, log out, Host! Did you not add Xi Yao as a friend on this account? You cannot let him find you!]

Xi Yao, the Mermaid Crown Prince of the Empire, was one of the male leads she needed to conquer. Upon hearing the name, Shi Chuchu froze, an image of a sunny, harmless, and exquisitely beautiful face flashing through her mind. Ah, how could she have forgotten? The one who had accompanied her through her gaming sessions from the very beginning was none other than this young Crown Prince. It was under his recommendation that she had started playing "Run, Beastie, Run."

Startled out of her reverie, Shi Chuchu hurriedly logged out and patted her chest. "That was close, so close. Thank goodness you reminded me in time, System." She immediately registered a new account, though a lingering sense of unease remained.

[It is fine,] the system consoled her. [You were logged in for less than half a minute, and the login record has been wiped. You should not be discovered.]

Shi Chuchu thought about it and decided it was true; it was unlikely she would be discovered in such a short window of time. With her mind at ease, she began to immerse herself in the game. It was miraculous; the game was exactly the same as it had been years ago, without a single update or revision. Shi Chuchu played with great interest for a while, trying to recapture the feeling of the past, but soon, she felt a sense of boredom. Staring at the familiar panels and the little virtual avatar, she began to zone out in the pod.

[Host, why did you stop?] The system had been watching with great interest and was clearly unsatisfied that she had suddenly halted.

Shi Chuchu scratched her head, her tone tinged with confusion. "I don't know why... but it suddenly doesn't feel fun anymore. Jumping around all by myself is just boring." She let out a listless yawn, stood up from the pod, and wandered slowly back to her room.

***

A lone moon hung high in the sky, the night breeze brushing against silent branches. In the royal palace of the Qatar Empire, Crown Prince Xi Yao stood by the window, gazing at the moon in a trance.

A chamberlain carefully approached and draped a white fox-fur cloak over his shoulders, whispering a gentle reminder. "Your Highness, it is getting late. You have to meet Marshal Long Yuan and the Priest Shuang Ming tomorrow; you should rest."

The golden-haired, blue-eyed youth glanced at the chamberlain but remained silent. A hint of sinister gloom clouded his beautiful, delicate features. The chamberlain, highly skilled at reading the room, tentatively asked, "Is your spiritual sea becoming restless again, Your Highness? Do you need..."

Xi Yao continued to stare at the moon, a flicker of impatience crossing his androgynous, beautiful face. "Leave us, Carter." He parted his lips slightly, his voice possessing that ethereal, melodic quality unique to the mermaid race—a sound that could leave others intoxicated.

Upon hearing those words, the chamberlain’s expression went blank for a moment before he retreated from the bedchamber in a daze.

Silence finally returned to the room. Xi Yao rubbed his temples, a look of pain crossing his face. The mermaid race excelled at using their voices to control the minds of others, but ever since Shi Chuchu had left, his spiritual sea had become extremely unstable. Forcibly using the skill had placed a significant burden on him.

He stumbled slightly as he walked toward the game pod in the corner. It was the same model Shi Chuchu had often used. Ever since she had suddenly abandoned him, he had moved it into his own bedroom. Whenever his spiritual sea turned violent, he would instinctively hide in this pod, as if it could create the illusion that she had never left.

However, tonight, he noticed something unusual. On the holographic projection, a line of crimson text flashed:

"Your account has been logged into from another GBTH-07 game pod. Please confirm if this action was performed by you."

Xi Yao’s blue eyes widened slowly. This pod was linked to Shi Chuchu’s account; it was impossible for it to be logged in anywhere else! Unless... she had returned!

A faint flush climbed his pale cheeks. His fingertips trembled as he immediately noted the serial number of the other device and summoned professional technicians to track the location. Because this model was a limited-edition release, the scope of the search was narrow, and the technicians quickly employed various methods to pinpoint the location of the pod.

When Xi Yao looked at the results presented to him, he froze. It was Long Yuan’s estate.

How could Shi Chuchu... be at Long Yuan’s estate?

His expression turned instantly sinister, causing the technicians to tremble in fear. Everyone knew that the young Crown Prince had become increasingly moody over the past few years; he could be smiling brightly one moment and casting someone into the abyss the next. They were terrified, bowing their heads and not daring to breathe.

As seconds ticked by, just when they thought they would meet their end tonight, the Crown Prince’s voice sounded again. "Leave. Forget everything that happened tonight. Once you walk out this door, do not mention it to anyone."

His voice was soft and ethereal. The technicians’ expressions stiffened, and they walked out of the room in a trance.

Soon, only Xi Yao remained in the bedchamber. His face was deathly pale, but his eyes burned with a morbid, fanatical excitement. His moon had appeared once more. He would take his moon back, hide her here forever, and ensure that she would only ever shine for him.