The Ordinary Me is Worshipped as a Deity by the Extraordinary Them - Chapter 176.1

The floating clouds drifted leisurely. When the sun had reached its zenith and then begun to set westward, the group stopped their ongoing experimental activities.

Su Li, who had originally been sitting to one side gazing at the sea while quietly lost in thought, noticed when the others ceased their movements and let out a questioning sound from his throat. “Hmm?”

“Has the experiment already ended?”

When Egbert heard this sound, his sharp gaze—which had not yet had time to change from the experimental nature of their combat—instantly became as gentle as water.

He said, “It’s finished, but also not entirely finished. The main thing is, that mermaid has already arrived.”

As he spoke, Egbert directed his gaze toward the other side of the beach.

Their current position was near the edge of a high area where some rocks had accumulated, while Leia was walking toward them from the open, boundless expanse.

Following behind the mermaid were quite a number of humanoid monster beasts, each one bowing and scraping submissively. At a glance, the tallest among them was actually Leia, who led the group.

From this, one could see that the mermaid ruler’s absolute control over his subordinates had reached a level of complete physical and mental suppression.

Would there be any resistance under such extreme oppression?

When this question arose, Su Li decisively redirected his thoughts—he had no need to consider so much.

Whether the structure of monster beast society would ultimately be unified by the Beast King as he wished, or would maintain the status quo as both the Winged Tribe Queen and Leia thought, actually didn’t matter at all.

This was because Su Li had never taken any side.

He naturally occupied the human side, and if he were to lean toward anyone, it would be toward that eccentric Asgari, who wholeheartedly wanted all transformed monster beasts to die.

Collecting his thoughts, Su Li finally turned his attention to the mermaid.

Leia’s complexion was poor. Seeing Su Li only now slowly and leisurely turning his head to look at him, he let out a snort from his nose, then immediately said, “I don’t want to waste words either. Since you’ve already mentioned the transaction, does that mean both Elvi and Bartholomew will come here?”

Su Li didn’t respond immediately. Egbert was the first to take up the conversation.

The most trusted subordinate didn’t want to let Leia maintain that high-and-mighty expression while speaking with Su Li, who always remained humble and only occasionally deliberately feigned arrogance.

“You have no need to use interrogative sentences for this topic. Since Lord Su Li has already come here, it means everything is under his control.”

“Whether it’s Elvi, whom you’ve always despised, or that Bartholomew whom you hate to the bone yet have no way to deal with—both of them will come here exactly as Lord Su Li predicted.”

Egbert raised his chin high like a copy-paste version of Leia’s gesture. “What you need to do isn’t question whether we can complete the transaction, but rather consider whether you yourself can manage to keep those two enemies of yours here.”

“It’s just that whether it’s Elvi or Bartholomew, those two monster beasts don’t look like existences you could defeat.” Egbert looked Leia up and down, his provocative behavior making the latter’s expression increasingly ugly.

The monster beasts beside Leia trembled uncontrollably under Egbert’s actions. Finally, the monster beast closest to the mermaid stepped forward and shouted loudly, “Insolent!”

“Lord Leia’s strength is not something a human like you has the right to question. Compared to Lord Leia, who has long planned to kill both the dragon and unicorn on the sea surface, what could you humans amount to—you who were merely driven here by facing a single dragon?”

This contemptuous attitude might indeed have made other humans lose their rationality as this monster beast intended, but he was facing people who had recently experienced the anomaly of Ergonikin city.

“Amount to what?” Roy scoffed. “If we go by your logic, we’re naturally nothing. But why don’t you think from your so-called lord’s perspective? He can’t manage to bring Elvi and Bartholomew here.”

Seeing the situation about to continue escalating, Leia coldly snorted and said, “Enough. I said there was no need for too much nonsense, didn’t I?”

His subordinates immediately fell silent behind him like dogs hearing a command, lowering their heads without another word.

As for Su Li…

The young man did nothing, yet those around him had already placed him in the primary position.

Su Li felt both amused and exasperated internally, but still maintained his expressionless demeanor, cooperatively saying: “Eg has already given the conclusion. I don’t think I need to repeat it.”

“What I want to say is that Elvi and Bartholomew are destined to come. The former’s hatred toward the Water Tribe is no weaker than yours. You can ally with Bartholomew, and Elvi can do the same. Moreover, there’s something I don’t mind telling you—we fought a battle with Elvi before.”

Su Li’s expression remained calm. He didn’t mention victory or defeat, but Leia was already greatly shocked.

The information reported by his subordinates was insignificant, since those messages all came from the mouths of people around Su Li.

Since it wasn’t spoken by him personally, the truth or falsehood of the information was difficult to predict. But once Su Li spoke personally, there was no reason for the news to be false.

Leia inexplicably believed Su Li had no reason to lie, nor did he think Su Li needed to lie.

Therefore, the mermaid ruler immediately drew an equation in his mind.

These humans had fought a battle with Elvi, and showed no obvious injuries—meaning that battle was at worst a draw.

After Elvi had severed a mountain range, Leia had no conditions to explore detailed internal information about the dragon race. But since there had been an encounter between humans and the dragon, it also indicated that when Elvi met this group of humans, she was alone.

Whether one-against-many resulted in a draw or defeat, for others it might not be shameful, but for a dragon, this was obviously something that required saving face.

In other words, once Elvi appeared in aquatic territory, she definitely wouldn’t come alone. Furthermore, since Su Li had mentioned Bartholomew, it meant the unicorn also had a high probability of coming.

This was indeed as Su Li had said in their previous deal—he would bring both the unicorn and dragon to the aquatic territory. But the problem was…

The veins on Leia’s face twitched uncontrollably, and the mermaid’s voice involuntarily grew louder. “Do you know what you’re saying?”

“The dragon and unicorn will both come here—of course, no problem. But you never said from the beginning that this ‘coming’ referred to their arrival after the dragon and Beast Tribe united to directly declare war on the Water Tribe!”

The mermaid had understood all the implied meanings.

Lan Zhe didn’t want to see Su Li and Leia engage in prolonged bickering. Facing the mermaid’s attitude, he responded with equally unfriendly behavior. “If this deal hadn’t involved your additional interference, Su Li could indeed have ensured only the mermaid and unicorn came.”

“But since you’ve already cooperated with the Winged Tribe, even specifically joining with the Winged Tribe Queen to handle internal Winged Tribe rebellions and leading troops to attack the dragon race, you should have considered the possibility of post-war retaliation from the dragon race that wasn’t exterminated.”

“The Beast Tribe originally wanted to declare war on the other two tribes. When the Winged Tribe race actively pushed away the dragon race, and you actively moved toward the Winged Tribe, didn’t that amount to both of you pushing the dragon toward the Beast Tribe?”

“Speaking of interesting things.” Lan Zhe raised an eyebrow. He suddenly thought of a possibility and didn’t hesitate to voice it. “In the Winged Tribe civil war, it was actually you, this Water Tribe mermaid, who sent more troops.”

“Looking at it this way, doesn’t it seem that the Winged Tribe Queen’s purpose was originally to solidify the hatred between you and Elvi, so that when the dragon sought revenge, her first target would become the Water Tribe?”

“After all, the dragon race previously belonged to the Winged Tribe. As long as the queen attributed her attitude of suppressing internal rebellion to you, even if Elvi—pushed out of the Winged Tribe and forced to cooperate with the Beast Tribe—wanted to attack the Winged Tribe, her subordinates would primarily hate you, the outsider who interfered in others’ tribe affairs.”

“What exactly are you trying to say!” Leia was so agitated by this series of sarcastic remarks that he clenched his fists, his originally handsome features becoming extremely distorted.

But Lan Zhe merely chuckled, not feeling that what he said contained too much information, and continued in the same flat tone. “Is there a possibility that the Winged Tribe Queen had already reached cooperation with the Beast Tribe, intending to partition the Water Tribe?”

“At a glance, you’ve secured Elvi’s hatred. If the Winged Tribe Queen cooperates with the Beast Tribe, even if the dragon no longer uses the Winged Tribe mountains as a base, the Winged Tribe cooperating with the Beast Tribe would still essentially be on the same side as Elvi.”

This was naturally nonsense, but did it prevent Lan Zhe from deliberately tormenting Leia, who clearly held unfavorable views toward Su Li?

No.

So the Dark Holy Son could even more calmly say: “Once the dragon brings troops with the unicorn, wouldn’t the real victims from beginning to end be more than just the Water Tribe?”

“Or do you really think the death of the Water King means nothing?”

Lan Zhe had also quietly praised Leia.

But this seemingly supportive gesture that could slightly vindicate Leia had no whitewashing effect on the mermaid who had been a scoundrel for countless years.

Instead, it would make the aquatic monster beasts beside Leia certain that the mermaid ruler didn’t care about the Water King at all.

If he had cared even a little, the possibility Lan Zhe mentioned would have shown multiple flaws.

The Dark Holy Son also found this casual speculation quite interesting. Although the situation wasn’t real, Leia had no way to deny it.

He couldn’t prove that what Lan Zhe said was false.

Since it wasn’t false, it could potentially become true, and if it could become true, it would become something that needed guarding against.

Leia’s expression grew increasingly ugly.

The mermaid now understood the key point in the Dark Holy Son’s words.

Su Li had completed the deal between them. As for the derivative effects that might arise behind the deal, those were because of himself.

Who told him to lose his head and not wait for Su Li to bring the dragon and unicorn, but instead foolishly think he could eliminate the dragon race in one stroke?

The possibility of being jointly attacked by the Beast Tribe and dragon race now… Leia had no way to blame anyone else.

He said through gritted teeth, “But if I hadn’t previously attacked the dragon race, where would Su Li have gotten the opportunity to so easily bring both Elvi and Bartholomew here?”

Leia’s gaze became increasingly gloomy. “At the root of it all, this deal was still facilitated by myself. Without any help from you, where do you get the qualification to come here claiming credit?”

“Claiming credit?” The Raven asked expressionlessly. “Setting aside that Su Li has always possessed the characteristics of a ‘pure-blood human,’ just regarding the credit you mentioned—don’t you think that’s quite like a joke?”

“Su Li’s value cannot be ignored by any monster beast. Rather than saying he’s destined to be fought over by the three tribes, it’s better to say he’s destined to be targeted by any monster beast with ambitions.” Under Su Li’s tacit consent, the Raven openly spoke of the possibilities he had considered.

“Especially your Water Tribe.” The Raven looked meaningfully at the monster beasts beside Leia.

“As long as any monster beast capable of producing numerous offspring in one birth combines with Su Li, the result would be mass production of transformed monster beasts. Rather than compromising with any tribe or individual, wouldn’t it be better to work alone and create a force capable of opposing the other three tribes?”

“As long as this possibility exists, whether it’s to obtain Su Li to expand tribal power, or to get him to prevent lower-level individuals from harboring inappropriate ambitions, it’s destined that Su Li naturally possesses the capital to stir clouds from all directions.”

That young man, no matter where he was, the position he occupied would become the center of a whirlpool.

After glancing lightly at Su Li and not being interrupted by the young man, the Raven continued. “The credit you speak of—is it that Su Li, out of kindness, informed you of intelligence you didn’t know, or is it your private assumption that Su Li wants to use this to divert Elvi and Bartholomew’s attacking intentions toward the Water Tribe?”

The Raven maintained an entirely righteous appearance. “From the current situation, it’s clearly the Water Tribe that desires Su Li most. If we had concealed that intelligence, and someday the Water Tribe was exterminated with nothing left, you mermaid probably wouldn’t even understand what had happened.”

The surface meaning of these words seemed like concern for the contract partner, but actually warned Leia that even if he could rely on the ocean’s enhancement to defeat Elvi and Bartholomew, where did Leia get the confidence to think the Water Tribe truly had no desire for Su Li’s existence?

Now, as humans, they could stand on the mermaid’s side—the mermaid only needed to be grateful, not questioning. If questioning attitudes existed, the questioned party only needed to casually pick another Water Tribe member to cooperate with, and whether this mermaid ruler could keep his position stable became questionable.

Leia was practically beside himself with rage.

In front were the dragon and unicorn who could arrive at any time, behind were Water Tribe members who might very well rebel against him due to coveting Su Li…

Leia was filled with killing intent from head to toe.

But ultimately, Leia could only say to the consistently quiet Su Li: “So I should thank Su Li for kindly providing this intelligence, huh.”

Leia’s face was as black as coal.

But every single human showed him smiles.

What a joke—a mere mermaid who had been too clever for his own good, caused so much trouble, and ultimately achieved none of his goals—where did he get the qualification to look down on Lord Su Li?

What did power matter?

Lord Su Li would never need to obtain absolute power.

As long as they were still there, they would forever be the sharpest blade in his hand!

Lan Zhe’s eyes flashed as he cooperatively high-fived the Raven behind him.

Egbert had already begun responding to the sarcasm in Leia’s words. “Material thanks aren’t necessary, but you should at least understand that as long as Lord Su Li has no inclinations, it means he still stands with you.”

“And if you want to actively push Lord Su Li away, we wouldn’t mind following through on what you jokingly said back in Mercenary City… making Lord Su Li the Water King.”

Cold sweat rose densely on Leia’s back.

In that instant, his mind was filled with images of his subordinates cooperating with Su Li to overthrow him and push Su Li into power.

This human had no power whatsoever.

Having no power, in the eyes of other aquatic monster beasts, even sitting on the royal throne would be insignificant—just a puppet.

But for those humans who possessed both power and cunning, as long as Su Li sat in that position, they would absolutely never allow anyone to step on Su Li’s head…

And they—their strength had even reached the point where in less than a month, they could fight Elvi to a draw, or perhaps…

Victory.

No matter how much Leia looked down on humans, deep in his heart he always maintained a guard against Su Li that could never be lowered.

And all these successive implications were merely the independent thoughts of Su Li’s subordinates.

Su Li, who had once easily seen through his cooperation with Bartholomew and intention to intercept and kill Elvi in human society—if he developed subjective ideas, then he…

Did he really have the capital to continue as the uncrowned king above the sea?

Leia didn’t want to answer this question. He forced his mouth to curve into a smile, and no matter how much hatred filled his heart, he had to appease them. “You also said that was just a joke.”

“As friends, how could I possibly let Su Li become the Water King?”

These words were also hinting that Leia’s previous display of wanting to treat Su Li as a plaything was purely reckless foolishness that would scatter with the wind.

But whether it was the reality of needing to appease the humans, or the fact that in less than a month, Su Li had grown to a degree that even he needed to fear…

Leia sincerely felt that compared to these transformed monster beasts who were no longer human, Su Li seemed even less human-like.

Fear as fine as silk wound around bone and blood—impossible to detect without careful examination.

But as long as this fear existed, it was destined that even if Leia possessed great power, he still couldn’t see Su Li clearly due to his self-importance.