Hearing those words, Tina Ao froze for a moment, her beautiful eyes sweeping coldly toward Monkey, staring so intensely that Monkey felt his scalp tingle.
Was she trying to say, "This is all your fault, and you still dare to bring it up"?
Monkey quickly shifted his gaze aside, pretending nothing had happened.
After a long pause, Tina Ao let out a cold snort, raised her chin, and said leisurely, "I don't care. Those with true affinity will understand; those without, what does it matter if they do or not? Besides, it's not like I have to get married, right? Living free on my own isn't so bad."
"Yeah, it's pretty good," Monkey murmured, lowering his head to sip his tea, not daring to bring up the subject again.
"But you, with the Heavenly Fleet at your gates, you'd better look after yourself," Tina Ao said angrily.
What does that have to do with anything? When you have enough lice, you stop itching; when you owe enough debt, you stop worrying. Anyway, I'm already on Heaven's blacklist—the only difference now is whether I'm deep black or just dark gray.
Rolling his eyes, Monkey thought for a moment, then grinned mischievously, "Should I tie you to the flagpole as a hostage when the time comes? That would make things look more convincing. Marshal Silver wouldn't be able to refuse, even if he wanted to."
Tina Ao squinted at Monkey again, "You dare?"
"Why wouldn't I? Isn't it for your own good?" Monkey grinned. "Too bad Marshal Silver isn't the type to show mercy to women—just look at how ruthless he is with demonesses. I doubt he even sees gender when it comes to demons. If it's a female dragon, it'll be the same; even if I tie you up, it won't help. He might even hit harder. Hahahaha!"
Tina Ao glared at Monkey and said, "I'm here to ask you to prepare a clean cell for me, and post a couple of guards at the door for show. From now on, every time there's a battle, I'll stay in there—so if you lose, I can keep my hands clean."
"You really have that little faith in me?"
"Just playing it safe." Tina Ao sipped her tea, grimaced, and said, "This tastes awful. The great Handsome Monkey King of Blossom Mountain can't even get himself decent tea."
Saying this, Tina Ao gave up on the tea and started peeling the lychees from the fruit plate in front of her.
"Everyone here is a demon—who actually knows how to appreciate tea? We just go through the motions. The other day, Shortbeak even asked if we could stop drinking tea every time and just have plain water instead." Monkey lowered his head, thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Hey, can you do me a favor?"
"If you want advice, forget it. But if it's something else, tell me."
Monkey squinted at Tina Ao, "Help me look after Belle."
"What kind of looking after?"
"Whenever there's a battle, I'll have her stay in the cell with you. If something really goes wrong, I want you to protect her—just say she was captured like you were."
Tina Ao paused, then covered her mouth and laughed, "Oh my, I feel sorry for Anna Yang. When trouble comes, the first person you think of is Belle, after all she's done for you all these years. If I were her, I'd pack my bags and leave right now—never see you again in this life!"
With that, she smiled and looked at Monkey.
Monkey shot her a look and said, "Anna Yang and I are in this together; Belle is different, she shouldn't get dragged into this. Besides, do you really think you could protect Anna Yang if the Heavenly Fleet finds her here? You might end up getting caught yourself."
"Is that so? Somehow I doubt it's that simple. Maybe I should ask Anna Yang what she thinks?"
Is she just trying to stir things up? She really is a troublemaker.
"Just say yes or no."
Pouting and thinking it over, Tina Ao said, "Alright, fine. Saves me from you tripping me up later."
Monkey finally felt a bit more at ease.
After seeing Tina Ao off, Monkey spread out the map and began brooding over it again.
After a long while, he stroked his chin and mused, "Maybe I should sneak into the enemy camp alone tonight?"
......
Meanwhile, inside the flagship cabin of the Heavenly Fleet's left wing, a group of celestial generals were gathered together.
Holding a black iron sphere the size of a bucket, Marshal Silver examined it closely: "So this is what they're using?"
"This one had a manufacturing flaw and didn't explode at the time, which is how it ended up in our hands," General Trent reported, bowing. "The craftsmen have already dismantled and reassembled it; there's nothing too sophisticated about it. The main mechanism stores spiritual energy inside the array, which can be set to detonate after a fixed time. When the timer runs out, the energies collide, causing a burst and an explosion. The main damage comes from the metal shrapnel on the surface. The power isn't that great—our troops only panicked because it was their first time encountering it. With proper preparation, it's nothing to fear."
"The principle is simple, but the idea is definitely innovative," General Ward remarked from the side.
"Judging from the craftsmanship, it's quite crude. The highest level among the makers was probably only at the Spirit-Refining stage, and many parts were done by apprentices at the Spirit-Gathering stage. Preliminary estimates suggest at least nine people worked on this single iron sphere."
"Nine people worked on it? Why so many?" Marshal Silver was surprised.
Normally, a magical device is crafted by one person. Why would so many people work on something so simple? Is there more to this?
Is it just this one, or are all of them made by groups?
"Our craftsmen still haven't figured out why so many were needed," General Trent continued. "Also, the array structure doesn't show any traces of the known Crescent Star Cave style."
"No traces at all?"