Otherworldly Companions: Every Handsome Man is Extraordinary

Chapter 234 The Extraordinary Person

"You're not lying, are you?" Moya said mischievously.

Fan Qingyin and Jiang Yu, who were standing nearby, immediately understood that he had discovered something was wrong when they heard him say that.

“Mr. Peter, please take us to see it.” Jiang Yu’s tone left no room for argument.

“Alright.” The pet merchant named Peter sensed the lord’s firmness and had no choice but to lead the way. The little pet on his shoulder, which had been bluffing, took the opportunity to leap down and disappear into the dense vegetation nearby.

The pet merchant's tent wasn't small; it could barely be considered a medium-sized shop. Aside from the dim lighting, the owner had divided it into sections with lush, strange plants, creating numerous narrow, winding passageways inside.

At the end of each corner, one or more magical pets could be seen in cages. Normally, they would have their cold and ferocious eyes wide open, but now they were all curled up and avoiding each other.

Many of the magical pets trembled slightly as Moa passed by, appearing quite fearful.

Space was limited, so the servants stayed at the entrance as arranged. Jiang Yu, Fan Qingyin, and Moya followed the merchant Peter through a maze of twists and turns to the deepest part of the tent.

"You must be referring to this big box." Peter seemed to have resigned himself to his fate. He moved aside the small cage that was slightly obscuring the view, revealing what was behind it—a box or a cage, about the size of a wardrobe—that was now tightly covered with cloth.

Peter hesitated for a moment, then lifted the cloth.

Inside was a water tank, made entirely of wood, with a tank the size of a 70-inch LCD TV embedded in the middle.

“My lords, gentlemen, I didn’t mean to hide it. These magical pets are just too expensive, and they are too delicate to protect themselves. I’m on my way to deliver them to a buyer, so I’m protecting them so carefully, for fear that something might go wrong.” Peter shrugged and said helplessly.

At first glance, his words seem reasonable, but if it's really as he says, and this magical pet is so precious, and the transaction is already successful, why would he take such a big risk by changing his itinerary and stopping in Hollandpur? Shouldn't he prioritize delivering the magical pet to the buyer?

Jiang Yu suppressed the doubt in her eyes and bent down to look at the water vat. Inside, two luminous creatures, resembling both ginseng and mermaids, were huddled together, trembling.

It looks both terrifying and disgusting like a humanoid monster, yet strangely it also carries a hint of divinity.

As expected, the stranger the product, the more expensive it is.

"Tsk." Moya was getting impatient. What was wrong with this human? He had already explained it so clearly, yet he still tried to deceive him.

He was too lazy to waste any more words. Before anyone could see him make any move, the wooden shell under the water tank crumbled inch by inch and quickly turned into dust.

It was hollow! Jiang Yu's eyes widened as she saw a thick mat in the cage below, on which a petite 'person' was curled up.

It has a humanoid torso, even wears human clothes, and its facial features look no different from those of a human. However, its entire body is covered in white scales, and it has a thick, long tail, making it look like a strange lizard.

Jiang Yu took a step back, somewhat horrified. This creature truly made her feel the impact of the uncanny valley effect.

The moment the creature appeared, Peter let out a short scream and collapsed to the ground.

“I thought you understood that this was what I was talking about from the beginning.” Moya looked down at the collapsing Peter and said disdainfully, “What are you thinking, trying to fool us?”

"Harboring a supernatural being is a capital offense." Jiang Yu didn't know that Fan Qingyin had seen through the creature's true nature at a glance. He looked at Peter with icy eyes, as if he were looking at a dead man.

"An alien?" Jiang Yu realized that Fan Qingyin had once told her that there was a very small chance that the fertility fruit was bad. If such a bad fertility fruit was consumed, the child born would have non-human characteristics, such as being born with four fingers, a long tail, or covered in scales... and would be called an alien.

Those with extraordinary abilities were required to hand them over to the state and become state property. They were selected and trained in a unified manner to become shadow servants of princes and nobles, or those of inferior quality were destroyed in a unified manner.

so......

“He’s my child! He’s not a monster!” Peter finally broke down and shouted.

"Taking the spoiled fertility fruit was against my will; it's just bad luck. But what does that have to do with the child!"

"Lord, my lord!" Peter cried, tears streaming down his face, crawling on his knees to Jiang Yu and grabbing her skirt as he sobbed.

Moya's expression changed, and she was about to kick him away, but Fan Qingyin stopped her with an inscrutable expression.

"Please look at him! He's an inferior species even among the Inhumans. If I hand him over to the Empire, he'll only be destroyed! How can I just watch my own child die?"

"I gave up a comfortable life and did everything I could to become a pet merchant, just so my child could be hidden among the pets without being discovered." Peter cried out, revealing everything.

"So he can only stay in the cage day after day, hidden away, like an animal without freedom?" Jiang Yu asked in a low voice.

"As long as I can live," Peter said dejectedly.

“I heard some rumors that Holmpur’s transparent corals have miraculous effects, so I wanted to try my luck. I also want my children to be able to run freely in the sun, so over the years I have traveled all over the country, and I will try anything as long as there is a glimmer of hope.”

Peter gave a bitter smile: "So what if I fail? As long as he's alive, I won't give up my efforts and hope. But when a person dies, all hope is gone."

“I just happened to receive news on my way that the lord was going to hold a trade fair, which was exactly what I wanted and gave my trip a legitimate reason,” he explained.

“But I never expected that the secret I’ve kept for decades would be discovered so easily.” He looked at his sleeping child with a mixture of love and despair: “All these years I’ve been hiding him and carrying him around, thinking I was foolproof. I was too arrogant.”

Peter released his grip on Jiang Yu's skirt, slumped to the ground, and stopped talking, seemingly resigned to his fate, though his gaze remained fixed on the child in the cage.

Jiang Yu looked at everything before her and remained silent for a moment. She stepped forward, picked up a broken piece of wood from the ground, and asked, "Can it be put back together?"

Peter's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. What did the lord mean by restoring things to their original state? Shouldn't he and his children be arrested immediately and handed over to the Empire?

A slight smile appeared in Fan Qingyin's eyes. Jiang Yu slowly said, "I'll pretend I didn't see what happened today. I'll send someone to deliver Coral to you later."

"Let's go." She turned and left first, with Fan Qingyin and Moya following behind her.

"My lord!" Peter finally came to his senses, and he cried out as he fell to the ground, "How can I repay you?"

Jiang Yu stopped, turned around, and smiled slightly: "Parents who love their children plan far ahead for them. Mr. Peter, this is not a deal."