Chapter 2405: Physical and Psychological Masks

The Mermaid Queen was speechless.

Is there something wrong with this guy?

If anyone else was held hostage, they would want her to leave as quickly as possible, but he was going to bring her over to find some more suitable clothes?

Her expression turned cold when she realized that. Her knife pressed against Zu An’s throat. “Hah, you’re probably trying to lead me into some trap, right?”

Zu An laughed inwardly. The beautiful skin that had just been revealed from within her sleeves was clearly different from her palm and face. Her face was ordinary and her skin was a slightly waxen yellow too, and she'd paid special attention to the color of her hands as well. However, she seemed to have overlooked the skin of her wrist. She did have a certain level of acting skill, but it wasn’t enough.

Now that he thought about it, Shang Hongyu was a fan of playing dress-up too, while Jing Teng went even further. She was clearly a pretty woman, and yet she'd ended up turning into that frightening Ghost King. Why were the women he met all actress wannabes?

When she saw that he didn’t respond and his expression actually became a bit strange, the Mermaid Queen suddenly frowned. “Why are you smiling?”

“But I’m not...?” Zu An was a bit surprised when he felt the pressure from her dagger.

Have my acting skills really declined this much?

“Even though your mouth isn’t smiling, your eyes are,” the Mermaid Queen said coldly.

Zu An was startled. He'd never expected her to be so sensitive to emotions. He could only explain and say, “It’s mainly because we normal guards live really boring lives. We only ever experience things like this in folk stories, and only the main characters go through things like this. That’s why I felt a bit happy when I realized that.”

The Mermaid Queen was stunned. The reason was so ridiculous that she felt it could actually be real. After all, why would an ordinary person give such a ridiculous reply?

She carefully examined the guard. He was pretty tall and sturdy, but his face was really ordinary and his strength was low. A guard like this was the type that was easiest to overlook. Normally, she wouldn't even give him a single glance. A hint of sympathy unknowingly filled her expression. This guard was not only cowardly, he seemed to have all kinds of weird thoughts too. There really was something wrong with his head. But this was better, since she didn’t need to make threats and promises anymore.

“There really isn’t any trap? You’re not going to contact other people to capture me?” she asked.

Zu An shook his head like a rattle. “Absolutely not! You are such an outstanding heroine and you even dared to charge into the Dragon Palace, so your cultivation is definitely really high. My skills are inferior, so how could I dare to fool you?

“Besides, I normally only make a few hundred ordinary ki stones as a salary. Why would I risk my life?”

The Mermaid Queen harrumphed. She finally pulled back her dagger. Meanwhile, she thought of something else.

This guard is not only cowardly and loves to dream, he has quite the glib tongue too. But the way he talks is a bit interesting.

She said, “I’ve changed my mind. You don’t need to find any clothes for me, just take me around Four Way Palace.”

“Huh?” Zu An was actually happy to hear that, but on the surface, he seemed really reluctant. “You’ll be exposed if you don’t change into appropriate clothes.”

The Mermaid Queen felt even more relieved when he saw his reluctance. She replied, “It’s fine, I have my ways.”

The Mermaid race had a special ability, which was that their scales could transform into clothing of any style. She'd been planning to borrow his clothes because she didn’t want to expose her identity. However, the thought of finding the clothes of another guard for her was something she wasn't comfortable with. She was also somewhat worried that he could be playing tricks. Even though she wasn’t too scared, the more time she wasted, the more danger the Peacock Princess would be in.

“Can I not go?” Zu An asked sulkily. His expression made it seem as if he really didn’t want to go. But he was really happy inside. His mind had been tense this entire time, and because of his current identity, he had to pay attention to how he acted around others too. Being treated like a star wherever he went sometimes made it hard for him to act however he wanted to.

This is way better. No one knows who I am and I don’t have to worry much at all. It’s strangely refreshing.

It seems I was born to be an actor after all. If I ever have a chance to return to Earth, I’ll definitely have to teach those teen idols what acting is really like.

When she saw that even though the guard was clearly scared, there was a bit of excitement in his eyes, the Mermaid Queen was speechless.

This guard clearly wasn't that bright, and yet gave off a mysterious sense of expectation.

A child who has been deluded by stories.

So bad at it, and yet still wants to keep playing.

“If you don’t go, you'll have to die!” the Mermaid Queen pretended to threaten him.

“Heroine, please don’t be rash! I’ll go, I’ll go...” Zu An quickly changed his tone.

When she saw his pleading expression, the Mermaid Queen’s mood strangely improved. “Lead the way!”

She had someone to save, so it wouldn’t be too convenient for her to be alone the entire time. Things would be much easier if she had someone to cooperate with. But inside, she was feeling a bit sad. For better or for worse, she was still the respected Mermaid Queen, and yet she didn’t have anyone she could trust in this kind of situation. She had no choice but to find a random guard to work with her.

Of course, her personal maid was trustworthy, but in this kind of dangerous situation, she didn’t want to put the latter in danger. Besides that, her maid was lazy in her cultivation, so she would just be dead weight. Her own identity would even be at risk too.

“Heroine, you’re not going to just use me and then kill me, right?” As the guard walked ahead of her, he suddenly asked this and broke her train of thought.

The Mermaid Queen grinned. “Don’t worry. As long as you cooperate, I won’t kill you!”

“But you can’t make me do anything weird, or else I’ll have my head taken once they start looking into things...” Zu An said carefully.

The Mermaid Queen harrumphed. “Keep flapping your mouth on and on, and I'll sew it shut!”

She sounded angry on the surface, but she wasn’t actually upset. It was really strange too. For some reason, her heavy mood mysteriously became a lot better while she was around this little guard.

Even though she didn’t normally wear a mask, the reputation of the Ocean races’ number one beauty was quite heavy to bear. There were always men who lusted after her body all around her, and the worst part was that they were all the overlords of their respective territories. She could only look for ways to socialize and deal with them. Wasn’t that no different from wearing a mask in the end?

Meanwhile, this physical mask let her release a bit of her true self.

Even though this little guard is full of flaws, he doesn’t seem to be a bad person. If he really can't continue to stay in the Dragon Palace after this mission, I’ll just bring him back to the Mermaid race's territory to serve as my guard.

Hmph, I’m sure that once he finds out who I really am and sees my real appearance, his reaction will be amazing...

No, I can’t let him know my real identity. I’ll just find some random excuse to transfer him over later.

The Mermaid territory is full of beautiful people. He should be able to find a fateful encounter there. Let’s just call that his reward for helping me this time.