DLERB -Chapter 137 Immortals? This thing isn’t even as lively as my old mother monkey!

Xianyang City.

East Gate.

A sea of people.

“They’re here! They’re here!”

No one knew who shouted it first.

The dense crowd surged forward like a tide.

More than a dozen huge iron cage carts, escorted by the imperial guards, creaked heavily as they slowly entered the city gate.

“Envoys of the Sea God!”

“They’ve captured immortals from the sea!”

“Quick! Kneel! Kneel down!”

At the front of the crowd, Confucian scholar Doctor Kong An and dozens of disciples had already set up an altar.

He straightened his robes, his expression solemn and devout.

Heaven-human resonance. Divine descent.

This, he believed, was a warning from the gods against the Emperor’s reckless warmongering and his creation of iron ships.

Today, in front of all of Xianyang, he would welcome the divine envoys—and remonstrate with the Emperor!

The prison carts stopped.

Clatter.

The black cloth covering the cages was pulled away.

Sunlight poured into the iron cages.

Everyone stretched their necks to look.

And in the next instant—

The entire East Gate of Xianyang fell deathly silent.

The anticipation on the crowd’s faces froze.

Kong An’s knee, which was about to bow, stopped mid-air.

Inside the cages—

There were no shrimp soldiers or crab generals, no demon-faced night creatures.

Only a group of…

Short figures under three feet tall, bow-legged, with receding “Mediterranean” hairlines, covered in filth.

They were squeezed together.

One of them was diligently picking something out of another’s hair.

Then casually stuffed it into his mouth.

Smack.

A soft sound.

A young Confucian student beside Kong An couldn’t help blurting out:

“Teacher… why is this divine envoy eating lice?”

Kong An’s face instantly shifted from devout white to furious red, then to an embarrassed liver color.

Pfft.

Somewhere in the crowd, someone laughed first.

Then—

“Hahahahahahaha!”

Explosive laughter erupted into the sky.

A burly butcher pointed at the cages, laughing so hard he doubled over.

“Immortals? What the hell!”

“This thing isn’t even as spirited as the old mother monkey in my backyard!”

That sentence was the trigger.

The crowd instantly erupted.

“So this is the Sea Dragon King?”

“Bullshit! They’re fooling us!”

“I woke up early, even put my pants on backwards, just to see this?”

The massive psychological gap turned instantly into overwhelming rage.

“Stone them to death!”

A woman pulled a half-rotten cabbage root from her basket and threw it with all her strength.

Smack!

It hit one of the dwarves in the face.

That single strike ignited the entire scene.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Rotten vegetables, stinking eggs, stones, even old shoes flew through the air.

Like a rain of trash, they slammed into the cages.

The dwarves screamed and ducked, shouting incoherently.

“Baka!!”

Inside the deepest cage, the leader—his face smeared with a rotten egg—rushed to the bars like a madman and screamed in broken Qin language:

“You ignorant Central Plains fools!”

“Lord Xu Fu will send down heavenly fire and burn you all!”

“You all… die! Die!”

At that moment—

“Quiet.”

A clear child’s voice rang out, not loud—but unmistakable.

A strange bronze horn amplified the voice, overpowering all the surrounding noise.

Everyone instinctively looked up.

On the city gate tower—

Ying Ziye sat on the battlements, his little legs swinging back and forth.

In one hand he held the bronze horn; with the other, he pointed down at the prisoners in the cages.

“Everyone, take a good look.”

“This thing is not an immortal, nor is it a Sea Dragon King.”

He paused, his voice carrying across the entire square.

“It’s called… wokou.”

Wokou?

The crowd froze.

A completely unfamiliar term.

Ying Ziye continued in that lazy tone, speaking the most vicious words as if they were nothing.

“In simple terms.”

“The so-called alchemist Xu Fu who once tricked His Majesty the First Emperor into sending away three thousand boys and girls—that old swindler who fled overseas.”

“He took those people, mixed with the uncivilized savages on the island—think of them as monkey-like humans.”

“And produced offspring through interbreeding.”

The entire crowd was shaken.

Ying Ziye’s words continued, each sentence more piercing than the last.

“So their ugliness is not their fault.”

“Their stupidity, and their habit of stealing things—those are hereditary.”

“They are not ghosts.”

“Just a group of underdeveloped beasts.”

BOOM!

The crowd exploded completely.

If earlier it had been anger—

Now it was pure, bone-deep hatred and contempt.

“So they’re the bastard descendants of Xu Fu the traitor!”

“Damn it! He stole our Qin children and produced this garbage?!”

“And they dare call themselves divine envoys? Disgusting!”

“Kill them all!”

“Let these beasts see the power of Great Qin!”

The fear of “ghosts” vanished instantly, replaced by overwhelming rage toward traitors and perceived inferiors.

In the hearts of the Qin people, a new sense of pride and unity ignited.

We are humans.

They are beasts.

On the city tower, Ying Ziye looked at the reaction with satisfaction.

He lowered the horn and clapped his hands.

“Alright.”

He announced calmly, his voice not loud but clearly heard by everyone.

“These beasts, while not strong and not useful for heavy labor…”

“They do have one advantage—they eat little. Easy to keep, like pigs.”

He grinned.

“Pass the order.”

“Send them all to Beidi Commandery, to the newly discovered coal mountain.”

“When they dig coal until they die, then we’ll erect a monument for them.”

“And carve four words on it.”

“Human and beast are different.”

“Your Majesty is wise! Ninth Prince is wise!!”

Cheers like a tidal wave shook Xianyang.

…

Three days later.

麒麟 Hall.

Court assembly.

After the “parade of the wokou” incident, the morale and unity of Great Qin had reached unprecedented levels.

Everyone was waiting for Emperor Qin Shi Huang to issue the order to build iron ships, sail across the sea, suppress the wokou, and settle accounts with Xu Fu.

However—

At this moment of unity,

an incompatible voice sounded.

An elderly minister with graying hair in Confucian robes stepped out trembling from the ranks.

He was a former follower of Chunyu Yue, the Imperial Censor Sun Kang.

He did not look at the Emperor on the throne.

Instead, he fixed his gaze on Ying Ziye, who was once again building block towers on the steps.

He bowed deeply toward Qin Shi Huang.

His voice was hoarse, filled with despair and questioning.

“Your Majesty!”

“The Ninth Prince may have fooled the people with this ‘monkey show,’ and I have nothing to say about that.”

“But the urgent report sent by the East Sea Governor clearly states one thing.”

“There were eerie green ghost fires burning on those enemy ships!”

Sun Kang suddenly raised his head, eyes bloodshot.

“That green flame—surely that cannot be fake, can it?”