On Jianté Day, the Marine Expo opened its doors at seven o'clock. Fanli, Dangdang, Feisi, and Hong Meimei were already waiting at the entrance by six-forty.
This was the thirty-sixth Marine Expo hosted by Luoya on its home soil. Over 2,300 companies and unions participated, spanning twelve exhibition halls including the Arts Hall, Arcane Hall, Seafood Hall, Armaments Hall, Medical Technology Hall, and Lifestyle Hall. As always, the latest products from various sea territories made their "all-ocean debut" here.
The dome of the Expo building was significantly higher than the surrounding structures, making them look like toy houses in comparison. The opening ceremony began promptly at seven. A vast swathe of seafolk clad in snowy white crossed the plaza, flanked by the regular army of Holy Yejiana. The soldiers wore the red crested helms of elite units—a symbol of an army led only by a commander-in-chief.
To maintain order, visitors were forbidden from swimming too high; their tail fins had to at least brush the ground. This put the petite Hong Meimei at a disadvantage. She tilted her head back, asking curiously, "Huh? Why is the army from the Holy City here?"
"The Dictator is here," Feisi replied, impatiently pushing away a stout older man who was crowding her.
Hong Meimei’s eyes widened. "No way! He actually came in person?"
Fanli was surprised as well.
*Su Shiye is here? Or rather—my uncle is here?*
The army marched in the Adveniat Formation, known for having the highest mobility in the entire ocean. They stood shoulder to shoulder, wielding three-meter-long tridents and circular nickel shields. Each column consisted of twelve soldiers, stretching for nearly two kilometers. Nestled in their midst was the clerical procession—the striking patch of snowy white. Dressed in solid-colored togas and marching four to a column, they radiated a light of blessing. Their presence transformed the formation into something more than just an army; they were the faith of the Light Sea and Holy Yejiana.
The male seafolk leading them wore a hooded mantle with a style somewhere between a bishop and a military officer. He bore the sashes and epaulettes of a commander, yet carried a scepter symbolizing the divine. In the still waters, the gold embroidery on his long cloak shimmered with reflected light.
Before a statue of a woman, he lowered his hood, revealing shoulder-length silver hair. On one side of his head, he wore a Holy Light Sea Feather, the largest and most brilliant in the Light Sea. As the currents shifted, his cloak billowed, revealing the longest Spirit Fin Fanli had ever seen.
Hong Meimei whispered, "Isn't Lord Su Shiye a Predator? Why does he have the tail fin of a Sea God?"
"That’s a Spirit Fin. You could say it’s exclusive to the Sea God race, or you could say it’s exclusive to him. Either way, he’s the only one in the Light Sea who has one," Feisi said, lowering her voice to a bare whisper as she glanced around. "Because Lord Su Shiye’s body isn't actually his own. Biologically speaking, his original body died long ago in the war."
*Can someone come back to life after dying in battle?* Fanli was startled, but she quickly recalled what she had learned in class. "His current body was created by the Lord of Ether," she ventured.
"Exactly. Lord Su Shiye is a miracle," Feisi sighed. "An Ether Body isn't something just anyone can adapt to. So many ambitious fools went mad trying to crawl into one, only to perish beneath the Altar of Ether. That altar is a paradise, but who knows how many greedy bones have been swallowed by the blue sharks surrounding it. If Lord Su Shiye hadn't been on the verge of death back then, Sect Master Oda wouldn't have used such a desperate method to save him. No one expected it to actually work."
Dangdang sighed. "I think the saddest part is Lord Su Shiye’s devotion. Princess Fengjin has been dead for so long, yet he’s remained single all this time. You have to realize, an Ether Body is the physical form of a top-tier Predator. You know what I mean!"
Hong Meimei covered her mouth and giggled. "Dangdang, you sound like an Orca girl. You're hopeless."
"Know what...?" Fanli asked, looking bewildered.
"I mean, what does 'top-tier Predator' imply? It means his combat effectiveness is top-tier in every single aspect! *Every. Single. Aspect!* How does he manage to live like a monk?"
"I suspect you're being suggestive, but I have no proof," Fanli said solemnly, though her heart was in a state of turmoil. *This man is nothing like a monk,* she could testify to that.
Su Shiye knelt on one knee before the statue, seemingly completing a ritual with the High Priest beside him. The statue depicted a woman with outstretched arms, looking down with half-closed eyes. She wore attire similar to a nun, her hair wrapped in a headscarf, with only her tail fin visible. Her brow was furrowed in a look of compassion, possessing a transcendent calm and divinity.
"What are they doing now?" Dangdang asked.
"A sacrifice, praying for the blessing of the Lord of the Endless Ocean," Feisi said, making a "shushing" gesture.
"Oh, I see..."
It was likely a statue of Deep Blue. Though Fanli didn't believe in gods, she sincerely admired the culture of the Light Sea. They had seamlessly integrated humanistic religion with scientific arcana.
Once the ritual concluded, the Dictator quickly withdrew. Clerics, clan leaders, and government officials took turns speaking. By eight-thirty, the proceedings ended, and the three girls followed the crowd into the exhibition halls.
Inside, Fanli truly felt the meaning of "a sea of people." She saw countless things she had never heard of, items designed specifically for life in the ocean.
For instance, squalene cosmetics—something Hong Meimei had been pining for. It was shark liver oil, but it required a blend of special potions and a small amount of barnacle cement—the secretion from the glands at the base of their antennae—to remain insoluble in water.
She also saw medicines made from sea snake venom, shark cartilage, and fins; deep-sea fish bred with special techniques to extract fish oil and arcane crystals; toys made from ilisha bones that could be disassembled and reassembled into herons; strange medical devices that sprayed mysterious liquids into gills... and a Resurrection Sea colored soft coral blanket that was so beautiful one couldn't look away.
These blankets were handmade and adorned with a multitude of pearls. They were so magnificent that it was hard to tell what they were made of at first glance. Fanli couldn't help but stare. A blanket merchant from the Resurrection Sea said in a slightly lisping accent, "Today is the last day. I'll give you a discount; you name the price. Purely handmade, no arcana, the pearls aren't dyed. If you buy this, your friends will be so jealous. Only twenty-five thousand pearls."
Hearing the number, Fanli mimed clutching her chest and took a deep breath. "I live in the slums." She hurried away.
Through observing the goods, she finally understood that the paper used underwater was processed with thermoplastic resin and inorganic fillers. No wonder it didn't wrinkle or become translucent when soaked. Forget seawater—even if vegetable oil with a refractive index of 1.47 were poured on it, the paper wouldn't turn transparent; the oil would just slide right off.
Finally, they made it to the Arts Hall and visited the Shipwreck Pavilion. Fanli entered with great excitement, only to leave feeling disappointed and empty. While there were many shipwrecks, they were almost all ancient styles—so old they bore no written information, only worn hulls soaked by the sea. Furthermore, the detailed descriptions beneath each ship only mentioned which sea territory they were discovered in by the seafolk; there was no mention of which human nation they came from or the names of the waters they had departed from.
Based on the design and the items found on board, she could roughly guess the culture. For example, one wreck had wine jars and white square sails, looking much like an ancient Greek merchant ship. But with so little information, she still couldn't determine her location through a single vessel.
At this point, Fanli decided to ask her question: "Have any of you heard of the Titanic?"
Dangdang and Hong Meimei shook their heads in unison.
Beyond that, Fanli only knew of the *Zhongzhou*, the *Marsden*, the *Mary Rose*, and other wrecks that humans had already salvaged. Of the wrecks she knew, only the *Titanic* had sunk in 1912 and remained in the deep sea at nearly four thousand meters. Because the hull was so rusted and fragile that even a slight current could cause it to collapse, humans had not salvaged it after its discovery. It was possible that the names of the seabed and the land were different.
"I don't quite understand how humans calculate time," Feisi said, tilting her head when she heard the mention of the four-thousand-meter depth. "But the seabed at four thousand meters is the territory of the Abyssals; we have no jurisdiction there. Besides, we aren't in the same dimension as humans. Information isn't necessarily symmetrical."
In her excitement, Fanli almost blurted out, "We aren't in the same dimension as humans?" Fortunately, she caught herself and coughed twice. "Feisi, I've never quite understood why we can't live in the same dimension as humans and coexist peacefully."
"It’s a matter of necessity," Feisi mused for a moment. "If we were in the same dimension as them, wouldn't we expose our location? Homo sapiens are a terrifying species; they are completely incapable of living in harmony with nature. In just one short mechanical age, they caused countless species on land to vanish from the Earth, including their own kin, the Neanderthals. Meanwhile, we seafolk have a history of 4.5 billion years, yet we have never artificially caused the extinction of a single species."
No wonder she hadn't seen any human divers. The mystery that had troubled Fanli for so long was finally solved. But Dangdang had once said she met a human on land, which meant that when going to the surface, seafolk citizens had a way to enter the human dimension. She would have to research that further when she got back.
Afterward, they followed the various halls to the jewelry section.
In the past, Fanli didn't know much about pearls. She only knew that freshwater mussels could produce forty or fifty pearls at most, which were non-nucleated. Saltwater oysters could only produce one or two, which were nucleated—the nucleus being mostly shell, making them as round as if they were man-made—and their yield was very low. Thus, saltwater pearls were generally much more expensive than freshwater ones.
Most pearl shops had piles of uneven freshwater pearl jewelry at the entrance, using clearance prices to attract bargain-hunting aunties, while the expensive items were kept inside. One particularly high-end shop had no low-quality pearls at the door and no salesclerks in sight. This piqued Fanli’s curiosity, and she pulled Dangdang and Hong Meimei inside.
In the center of the shop stood a natural reef, displaying pearls that were "freshly harvested." Three large shells had just died and been forced open, revealing the tender meat and the nacreous layers composed of silver-white minerals and organic matter. Nestled within the meat were pearls of various colors and sizes. The pearls in one freshwater shell looked like iridescent marbles—deep purple, light purple, ultramarine, sea blue, orange-yellow, pink, and rose red. Seeing them together gave one the fluttering feeling of a first love. In a thick *Pinctada fucata* shell, earthy meat cradled perfectly round black pearls. In another large mother-of-pearl shell lay a pair of golden pearls, looking like twin eggs—clearly the raw material for luxury earrings.
All three girls were captivated by the beautiful pearls, standing before the reef in admiration for a long time.
"Look, look! These are the specialties of the Bodhi Sea, the Light Sea’s top-tier golden saltwater pearls," Dangdang said excitedly, pointing at the golden pearls.
"Wow, they're so pretty..." Hong Meimei said with stars in her eyes.
"They really are so pretty..." Fanli echoed, her eyes sparkling.
"You shallow women..." Feisi said with a deadpan expression.
However, seeing the age, race, and attire of these four guests, the shop assistants couldn't be bothered to make a sales pitch. They merely glanced up before returning to their meticulous work—hand-crafting necklaces, registering product information, and organizing the VIP list.
But the coldness of the staff did nothing to dampen the girls' enthusiasm. They swam around, "wowing" like elementary schoolers.
One pearl was kept in a locked, independent crystal cabinet. Fanli initially mistook it for a rock. It was the largest pearl she had ever seen in her life—it weighed 38 kilograms and was 71 centimeters in diameter. It was wrinkled, looking like a durian painted with glossy white paint. It wasn't as neat as a perfectly round pearl, but its irregular beauty and the unique luster of a pearl perfectly showcased the wonders of nature.
This wasn't a jewelry shop at all; it was a museum!
After checking the long price tag of this giant pearl, Fanli counted the digits several times. Her final thought was "can't afford it, definitely can't afford it." She continued swimming to the side and was drawn to another pearl-bearer.
This one looked quite unusual—an oval, spherical volute shell with a pale orange surface and some dark brown spots. The description below listed its name as "Melo Melo Snail." The pearls it produced were displayed beside it—orange-yellow with intricate, magnificent flame patterns.
Fanli waved her hand. "Look at this, everyone! This is so special; it doesn't even look like a pearl anymore."
Someone responded and approached, swimming up behind her and bringing a wave of cool, crisp water.
Seeing this pattern of pearl for the first time, Fanli pointed at it, her gaze never wavering. "Look, look!"
The person behind her didn't speak.
"Hello, miss. This is a Melo pearl. I'll take it out for you to see." The manager, who hadn't even bothered to look up earlier, was now speaking with the subservience of a slave. He eagerly brought out the entire pearl tray and pushed it carefully toward Fanli.
Not only that, but several other assistants hurried over to help straighten the Melo shell and wipe the surface of the pearls.
"Oh, no need. I'm just looking," Fanli said, startled by their sudden change in attitude.
"It’s quite alright. Please, look as much as you like." At this, the manager pointed to a pair of Melo pearl earrings and said to an assistant, "Quickly, bring these earrings for the guest to try on."
"Really, there's no need."
But no matter how Fanli refused, it had no effect. An assistant placed the earrings on a sponge pad and held them out to Fanli with both hands, bowing respectfully. Fanli couldn't even afford one percent of the price and felt terribly embarrassed. She could only hold the pendant, admiring it as if afraid of breaking it. "They really are beautiful. Your shop's pearls are all so lovely, I just don't have enough..."
The light from the water and the lamps hit the pearl, making it instantly as clear as a mirror, faintly reflecting the image of her and the person beside her. That person was much taller than her and clearly wasn't Dangdang.
"Do you like them?"
A man’s deep voice rang in her ear, like a wave from the abyss, pulling her soul away in place of gravity.
Just the voice alone was enough to make her heart race. Fanli had a bad premonition. This feeling made her mind go blank for two seconds before she slowly turned her head.
Do you believe in love at first sight?
Fanli didn't.
How could two people who had never crossed paths suddenly develop feelings for no reason?
Yet, the moment she met the man’s eyes, just like last time, she froze. Her heart stopped beating entirely, then began hammering against her ribs like a drowning person being pulled from the water.
She had seen him again.
He was still wearing the ritual attire from earlier, the white hooded mantle covering his head and long hair. His long cloak swayed in the water like seaweed. The few strands of snowy white hair peeking from his forehead danced gently, brushing against his brow and nose—features as deep as a canyon—and those beautiful eyes, paler than a golden spring. Those eyes were currently casting a calm and friendly gaze upon her. However, since becoming a seafolk, her sensitivity to predators was far higher than when she was human. No matter how friendly he appeared, her marine instincts made her feel a hint of fear, while simultaneously feeling deeply attracted.
This self-sabotaging emotional fluctuation terrified her. She had always thought that "fated love and hate" only appeared in fictional stories.
This was a nemesis, a gamble, a trap, a high-stakes risk, the serpent in Eden—a weakness she should stay away from and avoid.
But this time, she managed to hide her emotions. She lowered her head and bowed respectfully. "Lord Su Shiye."
Su Shiye didn't reply to her directly. He simply tilted his chin toward a larger, live Melo snail in the cabinet. "Open this snail and make a headpiece for her."
"Yes, Lord Dictator." The manager placed his right hand over his left chest and bowed to him.
Behind Su Shiye, Dangdang, Feisi, and Hong Meimei stood with their mouths agape, their jaws nearly hitting the floor. Outside the shop, the Red Guards of the Holy City stood like statues, waiting silently. The entire pearl shop was so quiet that it seemed only the heartbeats of the girls remained.
"No, no... there's no need." Fanli shook her head like a rattle. "We... we were just looking."
Fanli was incredibly nervous. To the shop assistants, the scene was almost comical: the Dictator speaking to a cute student passerby, while she and her classmates had all turned into frozen wooden chickens.
A beautiful woman wearing glasses stood behind Su Shiye. She was the Dictator’s Secretary-General. Her blonde hair was tied high behind her head without a single stray strand, making her delicate face look perfect. But when she spoke, she was as emotionless as a robot: "Since the Lord Dictator said he wants to give it to you, don't be pretentious. Accept it."
"It’s not about being pretentious; it’s just that I haven't earned such a reward. I have no reason to accept a gift from Lord Su Shiye."
Su Shiye smiled. "I have a purpose, of course. It concerns the future of the Holy City Party. There is no need for modesty."
"If it’s for that purpose, I definitely can't accept it. As a citizen of the Light Sea Federation, it is my duty to cooperate with the Dictator’s investigation."
"Well said. I accept that reason. Then, may I ask when Miss Fanli is free? We should sit down and talk."
"Anytime."
"Then tomorrow at three in the afternoon. We shall meet here."
"Fine."
Then, Su Shiye left the pearl shop with his Secretary-General and attendants. At the same time, Fanli saw Xinghai appear at the door, looking somewhat surprised as he watched the group from the Holy City depart. The others were still staring at Fanli, dumbfounded.
A moment later, just as the four girls were leaving the shop, one of Su Shiye’s attendants walked over and handed Fanli a box. "Miss Fanli, this is from Lord Su Shiye."
Under the intense scrutiny of Dangdang and Hong Meimei, Fanli took the box. Opening it, she found the Melo pearl headpiece and earrings she had just refused. A card was attached, which read:
*Miss Fanli,*
*This is a gift from a friend, not from the Dictator.*
*Giving a girl something she likes brings a man a sense of satisfaction. Accept it, if only for my sake.*
*Su Shiye*
"My God Buco, the Lord Dictator is way, way, way too romantic!" Dangdang squealed, clutching her face.
"Fanli, what on earth is going on? I don't understand!" Hong Meimei was utterly shocked.
"He just gave you a gift!" Feisi exclaimed. "Do you have some massive secret? Why would he come looking for you personally?"
Fanli scratched her head. "I don't understand either. I'll find out when I go to be interrogated tomorrow."
The things Su Shiye had said and the closing of the card were very confusing... but what surprised Fanli was how considerate he was. No matter how righteously she had refused him or claimed she wasn't interested, he had sensed her preference. To ensure she didn't feel burdened, he had even framed it as being for his own sake. With such high emotional intelligence, even if he weren't the Dictator, he would likely be a very popular man with women.
It wasn't until Su Shiye had completely left that Fanli’s mind cleared. The infatuated feeling from before gradually faded. She felt that her overly intense reaction to Su Shiye didn't stem from her soul. The emotion was too fierce and too sudden.
Besides, she remembered a key piece of information...
*Fine, I’ll accept it. Thanks, Uncle. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a family reunion tomorrow. Awkward.*
Then, Xinghai swam over. Even though there were others around, he seemed to only have eyes for Fanli. "Fanli, I can't believe I ran into you here."
"Yeah, what a coincidence." Fanli gave him a brilliant smile.
Sure enough, compared to the sense of crisis Su Shiye brought, being with Xinghai was much more pleasant...
"Ooh, Xinghai, you're here too..." Dangdang looked at him and then at Fanli with excitement. "Wow, what is this strange current between you two? There’s definitely something going on!"
"Dangdang, you've become even more of a romantic since you got a boyfriend," Fanli said, giving her a playful shove.
"Those two are the ones with something going on," Xinghai said, pointing in a certain direction.
There, a student couple was wandering around. The girl had her arm hooked through the boy’s, her chin resting on his shoulder, occasionally kissing his cheek.
Fanli, Dangdang, and Feisi were all startled—it was Liu Xiang and You Can.
At that moment, the two of them turned around and happened to see the group. Liu Xiang’s first instinct was to flick her tail and swim away. You Can looked at them, torn, before finally placing his left hand over his right chest in a deep bow and following after Liu Xiang.
"I knew it. No wonder I couldn't get Liu Xiang to come to the Expo no matter how hard I tried," Feisi said with a knowing look. "They moved fast."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
:--- | :--- | :---
兼特日 | Jianté Day | A specific day in the seafolk calendar.
尔国临格方阵 | Adveniat Formation | A highly efficient military formation (Latin for 'Thy Kingdom Come').
圣光海羽 | Holy Light Sea Feather | A prestigious and brilliant ornament worn by high-ranking figures.
圣灵鳍 | Spirit Fin | A unique, divine fin type associated with Su Shiye's reconstructed body.
以太之躯 | Ether Body | A physical form constructed from ether, used to house a soul.
以太之主 | Lord of Ether | The being credited with creating the Ether Body.
奥达宗主 | Sect Master Oda | A high-ranking figure who saved Su Shiye's life.
美乐珠 | Melo Pearl | A rare, non-nacreous, flame-patterned pearl from the Melo melo snail.
椰子螺 | Melo Melo Snail | Also known as the coconut snail, the source of rare Melo pearls.
布可之神 | God Buco | A deity mentioned in an exclamation.
