Chapter 41

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Chapter 41: Shrimp?

So, why is this happening? Didn’t we say we should work hard?

On the endless beach, away from the crowded areas, Lin Lin sat cross-legged under a sun umbrella, holding a coconut with a straw, wearing sunglasses and looking at the people playing in the distance.

Beneath the blazing sun, the air had a salty smell similar to the sea.

The rarely seen king’s frail body couldn’t handle the heat and humidity by the sea. Before he truly melted in the sun, Lin Lin took him back to the hotel.

Allen sat next to Lin Lin, sharing the shade under the sun umbrella. To a killer whale, coconut water was just a single sip, and he casually tossed the empty coconut shell aside.

Allen had changed into black beach shorts, also wearing sunglasses, and his black and red floral shirt was half open, revealing his snow-white, strong muscles inside.

Allen bought bait for fishing from a small shop and tossed it back and forth to eat.

Lin Lin: … Is there anyone who can stop this whale? This guy is treating others’ fishing bait as a snack!

Although his face was not completely visible, just by looking at Allen’s height, build, and his strong jawline and nose, it was clear he was handsome. Some of the people at the beach were hoping for a romantic encounter, so one by one, girls came to ask for his contact information.

After another girl approached him shyly, Allen skillfully took off his sunglasses halfway and looked at her with his bright eyes, saying, "I’m sorry, but I already have someone with me."

The girl replied sincerely, "I wasn’t really expecting to get to know you, I just wanted to see how handsome you really are."

Allen: …?

Watching the girl leave happily after giving Allen a thumbs up, Lin Lin commented, "You might as well take off your sunglasses so others don’t have to come over just to see you."

"Are you jealous?" Allen said, reaching out to put his hand on Lin Lin’s shoulder, but she moved away.

Lin Lin drew a line in the sand between them and said, "Stay away from me! You popular man!"

Allen’s hand missed, and he pulled it back, realizing Lin Lin’s feelings, "Do you want others to approach you too?"

Damn, why is this person here who talks but doesn’t think?

Lin Lin felt a little envious, a simple kind of envy for how good-looking people are treated. But she didn’t want to admit it!

Lin Lin quietly changed the topic, "Is Arthur still not back?"

"I don’t know, maybe he is still heading to deeper waters," Allen answered, adjusting his position and comfortably lying on the sand.

Yes, Arthur had an important task to explore the surrounding waters.

After talking with the fishermen, Allen concluded that those fishermen were lying.

Although everyone said the fish market was getting worse, the fishermen insisted it was because of bad weather, and that the fish had gone elsewhere. They said it was just a temporary bad luck, and the fish market would recover soon.

But Allen discovered that the fish the fishermen were selling didn’t come from the nearby waters; they seemed to be brought in from somewhere else.

"So there is a problem with the local fish, and the fishermen have to buy fish from other places. The number of sea products sold in the fish market is decreasing, and the prices are rising. The industry that used to support this port is becoming more and more unsuccessful," Lin Lin guessed.

"That is very possible," Allen said, trusting his intuition about ocean life, "to put it simply, there’s a problem with the sea."

Because of this guess, the orcas decided to explore the sea.

The area where the fishermen were had many boats, fishing nets, and traps for catching fish, so the orca brothers turned their attention to the more touristy areas that were less managed.

Now, Lin Lin and Allen had been waiting on the beach for a long time, but they had not seen Arthur, who had been in the water for a while.

As time passed, not only was Lin Lin becoming anxious, but even the usually calm Allen could no longer relax.

He got up from the sand, and it looked like the sand that had stuck to his short black hair had magically fallen away, leaving Allen’s hair neat and tidy.

Allen stood up and tugged at the corners of his open shirt.

Lin Lin looked at him gazing at the ocean and said, "You should go see Arthur."

Allen turned around and looked down at Lin Lin, realizing she was serious with him.

Lin Lin understood Allen’s hesitation.

He was worried about Arthur in the unknown sea, but he could not let Lin Lin stay here alone.

"There’s nothing dangerous here," Lin Lin said, "There are people everywhere, and being together feels safe."

Clearly, even without magic, orcas sometimes have their own ways.

Allen stretched out his finger, licked the tip with his tongue, and then drew a circle around Lin Lin on the sand.

Lin Lin looked at the circle surrounding her, confused, "What is this for?"

"To keep those dangerous creatures away from you," Allen said with a smirk, giving Lin Lin a reassuring smile, "My brother used this before, and it’s my first time trying it."

It was filled with an air of half-heartedness.

Lin Lin found it funny, "You are twins, does that mean Arthur took care of you when you were very little?"

There was a sense of fate that you see in a three-year-old.

Facing Lin Lin’s smile, Allen was momentarily stunned, and then he realized, "It’s not Arthur. You know, right? Orcas are a species that have families. Even without parents, there are still others who will take care of us for a while."

Lin Lin looked a bit confused and said, "I didn’t see any other orcas at Demon King Castle."

Allen replied, "Well, he left."

–

Lin Lin had to admit that she felt quite bored after Allen left.

Especially to avoid danger and not to trouble the orcas, Lin Lin sat quietly inside the circle that Allen drew.

She hoped that this circle would be useful, even though Allen himself was a bit uncertain about it.

Lin Lin began to draw in the sand like a little child waiting for their parents at kindergarten. The more she did this, the more she missed her phone to pass the time.

After a while of drawing, Lin Lin heard a commotion in the crowd.

She looked up and saw the crowd that had gathered by the sea starting to break apart, as if something had happened. Many people were running toward the beach.

As the fleeing people got closer, Lin Lin saw the look on their faces—complete chaos and fear.

However, even though this group of people was so frantic and lost, when they approached Lin Lin, they all instinctively moved away from where she was standing.

Lin Lin noticed a girl who nearly brushed past her. She waved to her, but the girl walked away without even glancing back.

Ah, it seems like the circle Allen sent is working. Lin Lin looked down at her palm.

She stood there feeling a bit confused, looking out toward the sea again. There were already many fewer people, but because it was too far away, she still couldn’t see what was happening there.

I can’t go out; I can’t help over there, so I have to stay here quietly.

After watching for a while, Lin Lin finally sat back down on the beach to continue the drawing she hadn’t finished earlier.

It was still the simple drawing that Safir disliked but Donna praised highly.

"What are you doing?" someone asked her.

The troublemaker who was not affected by Allen’s circle arrived.

Lin Lin sighed heavily; even though she had prepared herself, she still felt a bit of a headache when trouble actually appeared.

Lin Lin looked up at the young man standing beside her, who was bent over to see what she had drawn.

When he saw Lin Lin look up, the young man squatted down to be at her level, his pale fingers resting on Lin Lin’s sand drawing, "Shrimp?"

"…It’s an orca," Lin Lin replied.

This conversation made the atmosphere chill for a few seconds, and both sides felt a little awkward.

"Oh," the young man coughed, "it actually looks quite similar."

No, it didn’t look like that the moment you said "shrimp."

However, compared to the meaningless matter of what Lin Lin had actually drawn, she looked at the young man crouching beside her.

"Why are you wearing a suit?"

Anyone dressed neatly in a three-piece suit by the seaside would seem quite odd. Not to mention, this young man was also wearing a black hard felt hat and sunglasses, giving off a mysterious underground vibe, as if he might pull out a gun from inside his suit and start a fight at any moment.

Of course, based on Lin Lin’s understanding of this chaotic technological world, it seemed she had never seen a gun.

"Because it’s a habit?" The man’s voice was low but warm. He mirrored Lin Lin’s tone when asking, but he still had a slightly drawn-out ending to his words, speaking with a natural relaxed ease.

Noticing Lin Lin staring at his sunglasses, the young man reached up to take them off, revealing his face.

Maybe he was not a young man, but rather a more mature male. Lin Lin thought this, as his tall and slender figure had misled her.

The stranger had long black hair tied into a small braid at the back, with a few loose strands brushing against his forehead, his deep blue eyes staring intently at Lin Lin.

The man’s nose was prominent, with noticeable facial structure, and there was a strong sense of aggression between his brows. Yet, the corners of his lips were turned up, and the light-colored mole beside his lips softened his sharpness.

This made him look like a serious and cold person, but he smiled at Lin Lin on purpose.

Lin Lin and he looked at each other for two seconds, then she asked, "What do you want to do?"

The man reached out his hand to Lin Lin.

Lin Lin was always someone who could adapt; she could quickly dodge when facing Allen, but she was very compliant with this strange and seemingly dangerous man.

The man’s gaze moved past Lin Lin’s confused expression and the small piece of skin on her neck covered with tape, and his smile faded quickly.

The top of Lin Lin’s head was roughly messed up by the man, and her smooth long hair became messy.

This was the person who rubbed Lin Lin’s head the hardest! But Lin Lin could be flexible! She endured!

The man stood up and pulled Lin Lin out of the circle drawn by Allen, pointing towards the sea, "You should go."

Lin Lin stumbled when he pulled her and had to jog a few steps to regain her balance.

She turned around and saw a strange man in a suit slightly lift his chin and wave at her, asking her to continue running toward the sea.

Lin Lin turned back and ran toward the waves.

The air became more humid, and the sand beneath her feet felt softer and finer.

The crowd had already left, and Lin Lin was the only guest on the beach. She ran to where the waves crashed onto the sand, and the pale water touched her ankles.

Lin Lin suddenly knew why the travelers had left in a hurry; two black fish fins swam toward her in the water.

Who wouldn’t feel scared seeing these black, triangular shapes while swimming?

Is that… a shark?

Lin Lin wasn’t very good at identifying animals.

Before Lin Lin could think more, a small burst of water suddenly shot up from the surface, splashing droplets in front of her and wetting her pant legs.

Oh, it’s a whale that sprays water.

"Why are you showing your fins?" Lin Lin said, speechless. "You really look like a shark."

"Because we are pretending to be sharks," said the orca that sprayed water, using Allen’s voice. His tone was cheerful, filled with the excitement of a successful prank. "See? Now the whole beach has only us!"

Why are orcas pretending to be sharks? Aren’t they enemy species? These orcas must be crazy!

"Aren’t you afraid of getting stranded swimming so close to the beach?" Lin Lin rolled up her pants that were already wet from the sea and cautiously walked toward them.

Once she got closer, Lin Lin noticed that the orcas were rounder than she had imagined.

"Getting stranded just means turning into a human, right?" Allen made a whiny sound, trying hard to lift the orca’s head. "Come on! Touch me, touch me!"

Lin Lin reached out and rubbed the side of the big, chubby creature’s face.

She looked back toward the shore.

The strange man in the suit has disappeared.