Sir! Don't close the net!

“I am Zig, Zig Slow, fifteen years old, ah, in a while I will be sixteen, a grown-up,” the boy waved his hands vigorously above his head, “I’m fine here.”

"Is that so?" Li Yili raised an eyebrow. He saw cowardice and inferiority in Qi Ge's eyes, as well as confusion about why he was cowardly and inferior. Perhaps Qi Ge had followed him all the way from Mao Sai District to this place in order to figure this out. "Young Qi Ge, you have earned my respect."

"Huh? I haven't done anything yet," Zieg said, looking completely bewildered.

“No, you’ve done something remarkable,” Li Yili waved her hand lazily. “What other remarkable things does young Zieg plan to do? Just tell me.”

Zieg blinked, dodging the pebbles kicked up by the wheels, and approached the carriage. "Mr. Li Yili, weren't you just asking if anyone had dreams... or unrealistic fantasies?"

Zig glanced at the wheels that were almost catching up to him, quickened his pace, and his breathing became heavier.

"Oh, young Sieg, what are your dreams? Tell me about them."

Li Yili waved her left hand, which was inside the carriage, toward El. El immediately leaned over to the coachman and whispered a few words. The carriage began to slow down silently.

"I want to go out to sea! Not the kind of sea for fishing, but a more free sea voyage!" Zig gestured vaguely with his hands outstretched.

"Huh? You want to be the Pirate King?"

“Eh—no, no, I don’t want to be a pirate,” Zieg quickly shook his head and stuck out his tongue. “I heard there’s a really scary pirate empress, named Mercury something something.”

“If you don’t want to be a fisherman or a pirate, then why do you go to sea?” Li Yili retorted.

"Uh... does that mean you can't go to sea if you're not a fisherman or a pirate?" Zieg asked, looking conflicted.

Alma, sitting next to Li Yili, shook her head helplessly and turned to look out the window.

“Of course, Zig, what do you want to do?” Li Yili gave a thumbs up and waved it from side to side.

"I want to go to the sea!"

Zieg raised his hand and pointed towards the Sea of ​​the Dead in the distance, but he was not pointing to the deep, prison-like seabed, but to the surface of the sea that stretched straight up to the sky.

“Hey… your dream is really incredible,” Li Yili said, leaning out of the car window and looking at the sea that seemed to merge with the sky.

“No…?” Sieg shrank back. “They keep saying there’s no sea at all.”

Alma, sitting next to Li Yili, took off her monocle, wiped it, and sighed helplessly, "Of course—"

“Of course you can. Haven’t you ever drunk water from a cup? If you have a bottom, you have a top,” Li Yili tilted her head. “I’ve always planned to go to the surface of the sea. I don’t like staying at the bottom of the sea.”

Alma's hand trembled, and her monocle fell to the ground with a thud.

“So Zig, would you like to go see what’s above the sea?” Li Yili smiled brightly.

"May I!"

“Of course, Captain Zieg,” Li Yili waved to Alma, “Secretary Alma, prepare a new ledger; we’re heading out to sea.”

"Huh? Huh?!?!" Alma jumped to her feet. "Do you know how much this will cost?"

"Dreams are priceless, but you can pave the way to realize them with money you don't need. Don't you think that's a very profitable deal?"

Chapter Twenty-Three: I Want to Show Him the Sea

What's above the sea?

The residents of Instas didn't care.

The best fisherman, Sybil, only needed to care about how many fish he could bring back that day.

The best salesman, McCarthy, only needed to think about how to rent out and sell the houses.

Joshua, who is best at communication, only needs to worry about how to get the two sides in a dispute to put aside their conflicts and return to their normal lives.

The best teacher, Angelica, only needs to consider how to educate her students into…

Those who are persistent can try each face one by one, excellent residents of Instas.

Who is responsible for figuring out how to get to the sea?

There is no one there, because there is no cake in the market of Instas that goes to the sea, but that doesn't mean there is no place to put this cake, or any more cakes.

To avoid any trouble, before saying goodbye to Qi Ge, Li Yili specifically told Qi Ge not to tell anyone about this and to come to the Yangcun Logistics Building when he had free time. Qi Ge nodded vigorously in agreement and then returned to Maosai District.

On the way back to the Sheep Village Logistics Building, Alma was unusually silent. Li Yili thought Alma had come to a realization, feeling both regretful and relieved. It wasn't until they returned to the minister's office that Li Yili realized he had been overthinking things.

"I don't understand!"

Alma erupted as always, her voice so loud that even the Cloud Clan Executive on the sixth floor could hear her clearly.

“Secretary Alma, is this so hard to understand?” This time, Alma was unusually quiet, her brows furrowed slightly. “The market in Instas has long been divided up by those Austin people. If the black goat’s offspring want to establish themselves in Instas like the fire elves, they must seize a portion of the market. This is obviously impossible, so the minister wants to create a new market.”

Li Yili sat in her boss's chair, looking up at the ceiling, neither nodding in agreement nor shaking her head in denial.

“Of course I know that, but I can’t understand why it would be a kid like Zieg Slo, who’s not even sixteen!” Alma gestured with her hand.

“Because he is special,” Li Yili said, crossing her fingers in front of her and raising the corners of her mouth slightly. “He is the only person who chased after me from the Maws district without me promising any reward. He is more human than anyone in the Maws district, no… he is more respectable than anyone in Instas. He is himself, Zig Slow.”

He's only fifteen years old!

"A thirty-year-old is like a pile of unrecyclable garbage lying in a corner. Does age matter in that kind of garbage dump?" Li Yili tilted her head. "Or is it that you can't accept the defective offspring of defective offspring stepping into the world of you normal consumables?"

Alma's breath hitched, and she muttered somewhat aggrievedly, "I, I'm not from Instas. I was only transferred to Instas last year."

……

“Miss Alma, you’re cuter than I imagined,” Li Yili remarked.

"Mind your own business!" Alma waved her fist at Li Yili in frustration. "Let's get this straight, going to the surface of the sea is even more absurd than building an underwater park. Don't try to use distracting the Galar Horn as an excuse to cover up the purpose of building a temple!"

"Calm down, calm down," Li Yili raised her hand and pressed down on Alma. "Going to the sea is extremely difficult, almost like going to heaven. But the difference is that if you fail in heaven, you'll crash to the ground and become a pile of mud. But if you fail at the sea, you'll just sink. Of course, that also applies if the displacement is sufficient... Hmph—"

Alma was stunned, cold sweat pouring down her forehead. She had a very ominous premonition.

She didn't understand the term "displacement volume," but since it came from Li Yili's mouth, it must be related to going to the sea.

“Speaking of which, Executive Officer El, I wonder if those building materials that someone sent to our door could be used to make a projection device,” Li Yili said with a bright smile as she looked at El.

El was taken aback at first, but immediately understood. "Although I don't know what scale of projection device you want to build, Minister, it is definitely less difficult than building an underwater park, and the strength requirements for the materials should also be much lower than those for building an underwater park."

"Hahaha—I'm so lucky! I just dozed off and I found that I already have a pillow."

"That's true, hahaha—"

Seeing Li Yili and El laughing, Elma's lips twitched violently. "You're...fraud! This is fraud!"

"It's alright. The Fire Elves only suffered a negligible number of losses. We, on the other hand, were almost killed after being tricked into accepting the contaminants that the Crusader Expeditionary Force was targeting," Li Yili said, her interlaced fingers tightening slightly as she gave Alma a kind smile. "I remember Miss Alma is an elite member of the Fire Elves, right? You should know that, shouldn't you?"

Alma swallowed hard, glancing towards Al's direction. Sure enough, Al and Abu Jean were no longer there.

The ground was moving towards the only staircase.

“Miss Alma, I’m not trying to settle scores with you, I just want to remind you that you have a lot of problems,” Li Yili said, turning her chair around. “You know too much, and it’s not something that can be solved by reducing a centimeter or two of your skirt.”

Alma's eyes flickered, and she relaxed. "So you mean, you want me to betray the Fire Elves? Do you think that's possible?"

“You haven’t betrayed the Flame Elf. You’re doing what Josephine wants you to do,” Li Yili said, turning her chair to face Alma. “Josephine would never want the Black Goat’s cubs to be built into a temple, would she?”

After a moment of silence, Alma nodded.

"So as for Josephine, as long as my actions make it impossible for him to see any possibility of building the temple, he will support it no matter what, he will support it strongly, including this projection device. If I said that I was going to use this projection device to throw building materials into a designated location in the sea of ​​dead people, what would be your first thought?"

"Are you an idiot?" Alma bluntly stated her opinion.

"Well, Josephine will definitely support my idiotic plan, but the amount of money spent is not enough for the leadership to judge that the failure to build the temple is entirely the fault of the Black Goat's offspring. So Josephine has to indulge me so that I can make even bigger mistakes."

Li Yili raised her finger and waved it from side to side at Alma.

"To deny my idiotic behavior is a betrayal of the Fire Elves. Miss Alma, are you going to betray the Fire Elves and reject my proposal to build the projection device?"

The answer is, of course, no. Just as Li Yili said, Josephine needs Li Yili to make a mistake.

"Even if it's just a matter of numbers, you've already taken responsibility for the failure to build the temple. Even so, are you still going to build the projection device to send Sieg Slow to the sea?"

"I want him to see the sea, to understand that his courageous step was not a mistake."

Chapter Twenty-Four: Are they in cahoots?

"Projecting building materials directly into a designated spot in a sea of ​​dead men? Hahaha—is he an idiot? Deputy Minister Joey, that's the most creative idea I've ever seen in my life."

"Yes, Minister, even if he was kidnapped by pirates once, he shouldn't be this scared. But it's true, now that he's offended Austin, he has no way to transport building materials into the Sea of ​​the Dead. He can only throw the building materials in directly. Does he think he'll be lucky enough to have the building materials piece together into a temple by themselves?"

"Deputy Minister Joey, I like your description—"

Looking at Josephine and Joey, who were laughing heartily in front of her, Alma sighed wearily.

This scene seemed familiar; Li Yili and El were mocking the Flame Elf using the same positioning and similar tactics.

She didn't know how to describe her current feelings. Li Yili and Josephine were like a comedy duo, singing and responding to each other. Josephine needed Li Yili to make mistakes, and Li Yili would make all sorts of mistakes. Li Yili needed Josephine to throw money around like a sucker, and Josephine would throw money around as if she was afraid Li Yili wouldn't have enough to spend.

This put her in an awkward position, caught between a rock and a hard place.

“Alma, you did a great job. You must have whispered in Li Yili’s ear a lot to get him so arrogant. I heard you were the one who lured Li Yili to the Mercury Queen and got him captured by the pirates? Well done,” Josephine laughed and patted Alma on the shoulder.

Alma gave a forced smile.

Normally, she would think Li Yili was stupid, but Li Yili's stupidity terrified her. Stupid people never know how stupid their actions are, but Li Yili not only knew, but also quite openly said it.

Between Li Yili and Josephine, one of them will inevitably become the clown in this matter. Judging from the current situation, Li Yili is 100% likely to become the clown. Every penny Josephine spends is used to shift the blame for the failure of the temple construction plan onto Li Yili, while every project Li Yili starts has nothing to do with building the temple. She even suspects that Li Yili and Josephine are in cahoots, trying to cheat Black Goat and Dela Pal.

However, there was no point in thinking about it any further. Her two superiors were in perfect harmony, so she could only write the accounts in the middle.

"Alma, you have to keep it up!" Vice Minister Joey leaned close to Alma and gave her a thumbs-up. "You have to make that Li Yili guy careless and make more stupid mistakes."

"Huh? Mm-hmm," Alma's lips twitched. She thought her imagination was as barren as the ground when it came to Li Yili. "I'll try my best!"

Trying hard not to be assimilated by Li Yili's way of thinking.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Bert—you're back!"

Zig's eyes lit up as he leaned against the window. He braced his left hand on the windowsill and waved to Joshua, who was walking towards him, with his right hand.

Joshua paused, and after a brief silence, his shoulders slumped. He reached out and peeled off Joshua's face, instantly transforming the handsome, sunny young man into a颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of being listless, decadent, or dispirited) young man with dark circles under his eyes and a few pockmarks on his face.

“Zig, you always recognize me,” Bert said with a bitter smile, shaking his head as he opened the suitcase he was carrying. He pulled out the drawer with Joshua’s name on it, put Joshua’s face inside, closed the suitcase, and handed it to Zig. “Looks like I’m not suited to be Joshua either.”

“Because Bert is Bert,” Zieg reached for the box, dragged it onto the table, opened it, and pulled out each drawer, looking at the…

The hollowed-out tube made Zieg blink. "Bert, how many times did you drink the medicine today?"

“Ah…three times? Four times? I forgot,” Bert thought for a moment, then exhaled, took off his coat, and hung it on a hanger. “I need to go replenish my potions again.”

"Didn't they say that you can't take more than three bottles of this medicine a day?"

Zig muttered as he took out the empty tube with the name on it and stuffed it into a small bag. Before Bert could answer, Zig looked up and said, "Those who follow the rules become defective, and those who don't follow the rules leave the Maws district."