A Star Reborn: The Queen’s Return

The venue was quiet.

The staff member who made the suggestion became quiet at his disdain, not daring to make a sound.

A cold, sinister smile appeared on Li Feng’s face, as he whispered like a snake. “Take me backstage to have a look. Hopefully, there are some interesting new finds.” He was not limited to the nine slaves listed in the catalog. There were many other slaves-to-be that hadn’t been trained yet in Blissful Paradise obtained through various underground channels. Li Feng’s impatience meant that they were part of his choice pool as well. He wouldn’t care to wait until these slaves were trained properly.

The staff murmured something before taking him backstage.

On the other end, Xia Ling and Li Lei returned to their guest room.

The highly luxurious room was clearly prepared for the ultimate platinum card members. When they opened the door, they were met with a wide living room with a thick, gold-lined carpet and an eye-catching king-sized bed right in the middle of the room. Behind the bed was a full-length window that was semi-glazed such that they were able to see out of it at the beautiful blue sea beyond the deck, but no one could look into the room from the outside.

Xia Ling only relaxed when they were safely in the room and threw her scarf on the bed.

Li Lei pulled out their luggage and changed out of the sexy and revealing leather outfit he was in into a conservative and expensive-looking black suit that covered his chest and thighs. He looked completely different but still exuded a beastly attractiveness.

Even though she was preoccupied, Xia Ling still gave a start when she saw Li Lei dressed so handsomely.

This man always looked so outstanding that it was difficult for her to remove her gaze from him.

“You can look at me all you like when we get home.” Li Lei caught her in her reverie and teased, before leaning forward to give her a light peck. “I’ll go take a look at the places that are not open for guest access and then report back to you.”

She nodded and told him to be careful, before watching as he left the room.

Li Lei was away for more than two hours, and just as Xia Ling was starting to get antsy, he suddenly returned.

She hurriedly went up to him and asked, “How is it? Are you alright? Did you find out what happened to Shaohui?”

Li Lei nodded. “He’s in a little isolated cell on the third floor of the ship. It looks like he’s only suffered some minor abrasions and is in good mental condition.”

Xia Ling breathed a sigh of relief. Shaohui was fine. What great news!

Almost immediately, she became antsy again. “Why didn’t you save him?”

Li Lei was clearly prepared for this question. “This ship is in open waters. Every day, only the Blissful Paradise helicopters can take-off and land on this ship. The guests on this ship have to use their helicopter if they want to leave. Even if I save Shaohui from the cell, we can only leave here via helicopter, so…”

“So what?”

“I need to create a ‘legal’ identity for Shaohui to be able to take him onto the helicopter without problems.” Li Lei responded. “At the auction tonight, there’s a girl that is being auctioned who is about Shaohui’s age. Xiao Ling, you need to go buy her back so that we have three spots on the helicopter.”

Xia Ling understood what he was saying. “You’re saying that you want Shaohui to take the place of that little girl and board the helicopter with the identity of being the new slave that I bought?”

“Yes.” Li Lei said. “We can dress the little girl like Shaohui and put her in his cell. Nobody will notice the difference for a while.”

Xia Ling hesitated. “Isn’t that being too cruel to the little girl?”

Li Lei’s voice was cold. “Xiao Ling, there are too many people in this world to protect. You can’t protect them all. We can only protect the ones closest to us. That girl’s life was destined to be tough the moment she was captured and brought to Blissful Paradise. She’s going to be bought by a lunatic sooner or later, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

Xia Ling replied softly, “But if I buy her and take her away from here, she’ll be free.”

Li Lei incredulously asked, “And you’re okay with her taking Shaohui’s place?” With Li Lei’s upbringing, he was long used to seeing all kinds of cruelties from a young age. It was not that he was ruthless, but that he had to learn to sacrifice some things for others.

Xia Ling bit her lip. “It’s Shaohui that would be taking her place.”

Li Lei gave a cold huff. “If it wasn’t for Shaohui, would you be here to buy her?”

Xia Ling didn’t say anything. She knew that Li Lei was right. Regardless of whether she was here, that girl’s destiny was not going to change. She couldn’t put her own son in danger because of her sympathy. Everyone was selfish, and she was no exception. Especially when family was on the line.

“We’ll go with your plan.” She said.

Li Lei hugged her. “Don’t be upset.”

She shook her head to indicate that she was fine, but her unhappiness was written on her face.

“Blissful Paradise isn’t going to be here much longer.” Li Lei consoled her. “I’ll get someone to destroy this place when we go back.” Given that they were in this mousetrap now, and it was a critical moment when Shaohui’s identity was about to be revealed to his family, he didn’t want to create any more trouble. As such, he didn’t wage war against Blissful Paradise because of its many strong backers.

But they would have to answer to his wrath for daring to touch his lady and her son.

Blissful Paradise would be annihilated very soon.

Xia Ling felt better after hearing this.

The two of them rested and then had dinner.

Li Lei was still dressed in the outfit he was in while exploring the prison cells, but he changed his mask. If he didn’t admit to it, nobody would be able to tell that he was that man-slave beside Xia Ling in the morning.

He bade Xia Ling goodbye and they went in separate directions.

She was heading to auction for the little girl, and he was going to save Shaohui from the cells.

Xia Ling draped a black scarf over her shoulders and walked down the luxurious corridor of the ship in her 12 cm stilettos to the auction venue. She retrieved her auction number and sat down in the crowd.

There were already many guests gathered in the auction room, all in leather outfits and masks, making it difficult to identify anyone’s true identity. The room was dimly lit and had an eerie atmosphere.

Xia Ling controlled her rising discomfort as she waited for the auction to start.

The auctioneer was dressed in a fishnet outfit as he went onstage. He used a sickly passionate tone as he introduced the first “auction item” for the night—a young man with ghostly pale skin and a pair of innocent and doe-like eyes. His eyes were filled with tears as if he was terrified of his impending doom but had no way of getting himself out of the situation.

The auctioneer explained where he came from and his main characteristics, as well as the skills he had developed through the training program.

Many terms were greek to Xia Ling, but it still made her shudder.

Her back was tense as she sat up straighter in her seat. At this moment, she wished that Li Lei was by her side so that she wouldn’t feel so alone in this eerie room.

Unfortunately, he had his mission to carry out.

And she had to do this alone.

The auctioneer started the auction at a million for the ghostly pale young man, and the price tag soon escalated to five million. He was sold at the price of seven and a half million yuan.

“Done!” The auctioneer announced in the same passionate voice. “Let’s invite the lucky winner of the first auction item—number 18, Mr. Shark—to come onstage to retrieve your prize!”