Chapter 69: Go Die, Playgirl 11

Atlanna had never expected her eldest son to be like this. Hearing it all at once, it sounded utterly devoid of morals and completely unhinged. Her beautiful face froze for a moment, leaving her gaping and speechless.

After a long while, she managed to say with difficulty, "Give him a more time. Maybe he just isn't ready yet!"

Xining...

She really wanted to bite into something. Mother, oh mother, how can you be so terribly biased! Are we really born of the same flesh and blood? The illegitimate eldest son is treated like a precious treasure, while the second son, born of the legitimate line, is treated like worthless straw.

Suppressing her anger, Xining forced a smile and said, "Yes, that's what I told Orm as well. So when we return, Mother must try to persuade Orm more. This time, older brother has truly disappointed him."

"Return?" Atlanna asked, looking somewhat dazed at the son who was supporting her toward the submarine. Once she finally snapped back to reality, she stopped in her tracks.

"No, I want to wait for Arthur to come and save me!" Mentioning her eldest son made Atlanna's beautiful face practically glow.

Xining...

Breathe in, breathe out. Sister is gentle, sister is not violent!

Xining took a deep breath. "Mother, my older brother is very busy right now. He's currently eloping with my former fiancée to tour deserts and islands. Since I'm already here, what difference does it make if I rescue you? Even if you want to stay here and wait for him, I couldn't possibly let you suffer here."

Influenced perhaps by the original plot, Atlanna firmly believed that her eldest son would definitely come to rescue her. Hearing this explanation, however, it seemed to make some sense.

She still shook her head, though. "You can't get out. I tried for so many years and never managed to leave. You have to obtain..."

With that, she stopped talking.

This made Xining's liver and gallbladder tremble with rage. She was obviously saving the Golden Trident for her eldest son! Still, she maintained a forced smile. "The way I got in is the way I can take Mother out. Won't Mother come along?"

Atlanna was stunned now. The plot wasn't supposed to go this way! The one who was supposed to rescue her was the eldest son, yet the younger son had shown up instead. Should she stay or not? And she still needed to tell her eldest son the location of the Golden Trident!

Yet, hearing that her eldest son was temporarily unable to come, and whether he would show up at all remained a total unknown, she found herself torn and agonizingly conflicted.

Xining suddenly stared past Atlanna's shoulder. "Brother, why are you here?"

Arthur! A surge of joy washed over Atlanna as she spun around to look, but there was nothing behind her. The next moment, a sharp pain struck the back of her neck, and everything went black...

After knocking Atlanna unconscious, Xining hoisted her up and hauled her toward the submarine.

Damn it, she had wanted to beat this woman up for a long time. You simply cannot treat people so unfairly, and she was a queen at that! Whoever married her would be in for a lifetime of misfortune!

Stuffing her into the submarine, Xining headed back and soon crossed paths with the others.

Xining entrusted Atlanna to the captain.

The captain looked at the unconscious Atlanna, who was wearing a suit disguised to look like a Trench dweller. "Why has the former queen fainted?"

Xining replied without missing a beat, "She was simply too overwhelmed with emotion upon seeing me. I still have matters to attend to, so you all escort her back first and have Orm take care of her."

The captain asked, "Where is Your Majesty going?"

Xining smiled, revealing six teeth. "Naturally, I'm going to draw away the Trench pursuers so that you can safely take my mother out of danger and return to Atlantis."

The captain was startled for a moment before instantly catching on. "Yes, of course!"

"Good." Xining was quite satisfied. Even though this fellow would shout "Long live!" the moment he saw Arthur holding the trident, his brain was at least functional for now. "You've followed me for quite a few years. If you haven't made major contributions, you've at least put in hard work. Once we return, let me think about it—I should increase your salary and benefits, or perhaps commission you as a major general or something."

Upon hearing this, the captain was overjoyed and hastily expressed his gratitude.

That was more like it. If you want to rise through the ranks and get rich, you just have to follow her script.

After settling Atlanna securely, Xining piloted the submarine directly toward the location where the trident was kept.

King Orm was truly a tragic figure. He had tried so hard to be a good king and protect the oceans, only to be stripped of his throne... If you don't push yourself, you'll never truly know just how incompetent you are!

Since he had never attempted to claim the trident himself, she would just fill in that blank today.

It wasn't that Xining wasn't afraid of dying, but as the primary villainous protagonist, she still had a chance to duel the main character. According to genre tropes, the likelihood of the host body dying right now was still quite slim.

It was precisely because of the legendary trident—the Golden Trident, which was supposedly so difficult to acquire—that Arthur had managed to claim it. Arthur's equipment instantly upgraded like he was using a cheat code; all he had to do was raise the trident, and everyone's minds would be immediately scrubbed by it, falling under a spell that forced them, in accordance with legend, to acknowledge whoever held the trident as the King of the Seas.

It seemed that anyone, even some random stray cat or dog, could become the King of the Seas just by holding this golden dung fork.

The submarine continued onward toward the ancient ruins, and she soon spotted the skeleton clad in corn-kernel-yellow golden soft armor sitting upon the throne, holding none other than the Golden Trident itself.

Upon seeing it, Xining felt like she had been struck by a barrage of divine lightning! Good grief, the guy had been dead for over a thousand years, yet his long hair was still flowing in the current.

The skeleton of the First King sat there, his grayish-white long hair floating upward in the water in a wonderfully ethereal manner, making the atmosphere both eerie and aesthetically pleasing.

As for the host body's hair... what a river of tears.

Right at that moment, a massive tentacle swept past—Karathen, the guardian of the trident, had arrived.

Karathen could be considered the loyal servant and mount of Atlantean, the First King. Because over the millennia only the old king had been able to understand it, it believed that anyone wishing to become the King of the Seas must first be able to comprehend its speech.

It was precisely because Arthur could understand it that Karathen was surprised, prompting the wannabe king to try taking the trident first while mentioning it was hungry, subtly implying that if he couldn't lift it, it would eat him.

Naturally, such a heaven-defying special ability as controlling marine life belonged exclusively to the male lead.

Though Xining couldn't hear a single word, she knew Karathen was a chatterbox who loved talking to itself. When Arthur had come by earlier, it had rambled on and on for a long time.

Something about a damned false king daring to covet the trident, how for over a thousand years no one had been able to take it...

Xining turned on the submarine's protective shield, sat inside the vessel, and spoke directly: "I am the son of Atlanna, the Queen of Atlantis. I'm not here to take the trident; I'm just here to have a chat with you. As a descendant of the First King, I already possess enough ability to protect myself, so let our ancestor's weapon remain right here. I also know how hard you've had it. After hearing about your plight, I came to ask if you need anything. For instance, food—I'd be happy to have some prepared and sent over!"

Seeing the trident up close had made her change her mind. What if she rashly tried to take it and Karathen refused to let her? The host body was no match for this ancient monster.

If Karathen allowed her to try, and the skeleton used some unknown power of "divine mandate" or "destiny" to stubbornly hold onto the trident, wouldn't that just prove the host body was not the true Son of Heaven?

Therefore, discarding her original plan, Xining had come up with a new idea.

After waiting for a moment and seeing that Karathen made no hostile moves, she continued, "Well, there's nothing strange about that then. I'll be heading back now."

She pretended she could understand Karathen's words, whether it worked or not remaining to be seen.

As she prepared to steer the submarine away, Xining pressed the weapon launch button...