On the beach, many sea turtles were still laboriously laying their eggs. The earliest group of mothers had already returned to the sea, leaving little space for the latecomers, who frequently and accidentally unearthed the eggs of others. Several black vultures paced impatiently along the shoreline, using their sharp beaks to dig out turtle eggs for a sumptuous dinner, even pecking at each other until feathers flew over a single prize.
The sight of those scattered feathers mirrored Fan Li’s current state of mind.
No wonder she had always felt that Su Yi’s eyes didn’t quite match her mother’s; they weren’t the same person at all. Su Yi was her mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s... great-ancestor, right? But after more than two thousand years of reproduction, could an ancestor still look so much like her descendant? It was as if they had reproduced through mitosis.
She was so devastated by the blow that she didn't even have the energy to wonder who Su Yi really was or what her motive was for trapping her here.
She didn't know what kind of mental fortitude she used to accept this reality; she simply looked around blankly like a walking corpse. "Why are you here?"
"I followed you secretly, of course." Xing Hai found a sturdy branch along the sand and fashioned it into a bow-drill. "I ran into Dang Dang at school this afternoon. She said you’ve been acting strange lately, talking as if you were leaving a final testament. When I saw you walking here earlier, I didn't think much of it. Who knew you’d be so bold as to suddenly plunge into the woods?"
"Oh... I was just curious. What are you doing?" Fan Li asked listlessly.
"Preparing dinner. It’s too late now; the Abyssals are out, so it’s not safe to head back. We’ll wait until sunrise."
"I wonder who’s scarier, the Abyssals or these savages."
"The Abyssals, definitely. These savages are dull and weak; I could take on twenty of them at once."
Fan Li had only been speaking idly. She had originally thought Su Yi was, at most, on the other side of the globe. She never imagined the true distance to her home spanned from an era before Qin Shi Huang unified China to the age of information technology. Two thousand years felt long even to Su Suye, let alone to her, with a maximum lifespan of five hundred years.
Even if she truly wanted to wait, she couldn't.
Consequently, she had lost all curiosity and interest in everything around her.
Xing Hai attached a small wooden stick to the bow and snapped his fingers. A streak of light carried the stick, making it spin against a piece of hardwood. Black powder drilled out, smoking until a spark caught. He then took the fire to the shore and scorched a circle around some rocks, returning in less than a minute with a pile of barnacles. Simultaneously, he spread his hands, and the barnacles drifted weightlessly toward the outer flame of the fire, rotating on their own as they roasted.
The Arcane Arts were truly wondrous, often reminding Fan Li of magic. Only, it didn't originate from witches, but from the Sea God.
It seemed the journey home would be long. For now, she could only work hard to study the Arcanum and look for a fundamental way to swap her soul back.
Fortunately, she had Su Yi’s brain; she would surely find a way.
After roasting for a while, the aroma filled her senses. Fan Li couldn't help but sniff the air. Xing Hai placed the food in a large, flat seashell and handed it to her. She hugged her knees and looked at the barnacles, her face wrinkling. "Can you eat these?"
Usually, the only place she saw barnacles was on the backs of whales—thousands of them clustered together with tiny holes, enough to trigger anyone's trypophobia.
"Not many people eat barnacles here, but in the Riftsea, they are a niche, high-end ingredient. Steamed with sake and wrapped in seaweed, they taste very fresh. Or you can roast them over an open fire like this." He pinched a barnacle, sucked out the meat, and tossed the shell aside.
Seeing him eat, Fan Li also picked one up, pushed the meat out with her finger, and sucked it into her mouth. Instantly, her tongue was moistened by the bubbling, tender meat, feeling as though she had ascended to heaven. Since the barnacles were naturally soaked in seawater, they were flavorful even without salt. She cupped her face and ate another.
Gazing out at the dark ocean, the stars extended all the way to the horizon, looking as if they might spill billions of grains of silver sand into the sea at any moment. At this moment, anyone could feel the vastness and depth of the universe, yet she knew she no longer had a home.
Since she didn't know where she would be tomorrow, she might as well enjoy the delicious food of the present.
Fan Li felt a bit tired and leaned back against the rock behind her. But her arm accidentally brushed against something slippery and cold. Startled, she quickly turned around, pushed up her glasses, and saw something flash across the rock before vanishing. She instinctively moved closer to Xing Hai. "Wha... what was that?"
Xing Hai picked up a torch, illuminating the strange rock formations, and pointed to a glowing fish. "A clingfish. It can stick tightly to rocks. Some of the adhesives we use daily are derived from them."
"Is it an amphibian?"
"Yes, it can live on the shore and feeds on limpets, which also live there. Look, it’s getting ready for dinner." Xing Hai pointed to a patch of dark shells attached to the rock. "The tide is high today, so there are many limpets. Limpet mucus is also very sticky. They move around, using their radula to scrape off algae to eat."
"Shellfish have teeth?"
"Of course. Their teeth are one of the hardest substances in the ocean, thirteen times harder than human teeth."
"That’s incredible..." Fan Li dithered for a moment, then quickly turned to look at him. "What do you mean by 'human teeth'?"
Xing Hai chuckled softly. "I can't help it. You’ve been acting like a human this whole time."
"How have I been acting like a human...?"
"Your accent stays at the tip of your tongue; you never use your throat to produce sound. You seem unfamiliar with everything in the sea, yet you know so much about human things. You’re always wanting to go ashore and you love walking on two legs. If it weren't for the fact that you don't have a single human genetic trait physiologically, I would have thought you were a half-breed between a human and the Ocean race."
"Fine..."
"Look. It ate." Xing Hai patted her shoulder, gesturing for her to watch the clingfish.
But she only saw the clingfish open its mouth once, and a limpet disappeared from the rock. She saw nothing else. She took off her glasses, rubbed her eyes, and put them back on, wanting to see more clearly. But after waiting a long time, she only saw the clingfish spit out the empty shell, which hit the rock with a crisp clatter.
She observed carefully for a while longer. The clingfish moved its body, its fins quivering like a warrior preparing for battle, its whole body tensed. Then, the same scene repeated. Fan Li was a bit puzzled. "How does it eat the meat?"
"I forgot, your eyesight isn't that good. A clingfish hunts in just 0.33 seconds." Xing Hai picked up the shell it had spat out and opened it to show her. "When it clamps onto the limpet, it uses its teeth to fix half of the shell in place and rotates the other half ninety degrees, breaking the vacuum seal. Then it swallows the whole limpet. The mucus in its stomach flows into the shell through the gap, digesting the meat, and then it regurgitates the shell."
Fan Li’s face twisted. "Wow, that’s a disgusting and very unrewarding way to dine..."
Xing Hai suddenly made a "shh" gesture, straightening up to look behind them. A large group of natives had come out to light bonfires and roast fish, seemingly preparing for some sort of celebration. Seeing them getting closer, he quickly pulled Fan Li and jumped into the sea, but they couldn't do it silently. The "splash" successfully caught the natives' attention. Amidst their angry shouts, several branches, stones, and two axes whizzed past them, and a dead fish even smacked Fan Li on the head.
As her legs turned back into a tail, Fan Li hadn't quite adjusted and nearly sank. Xing Hai quickly grabbed her waist, held her as they swam to a part of the sea where the natives couldn't see them, then let go and held her shoulders instead. "See, you’re acting like a human again. Have you forgotten how to swim?"
Fan Li lowered her head, wanting to see the underwater view, but her glasses were covered in seawater. She took them off, shook them, and said resentfully, "Why don't you need glasses...?"
"Probably because even though my vertical pupils don't show, the function is still there."
She remembered now. The Shark race had a membrane called the *tapetum lucidum* behind their eyes, composed of special cells that not only helped them adjust their vision but also gave them night vision.
Putting her glasses back on, Fan Li found the surface of the sea was pitch black, filled with an unknown and deep dread. But looking up at the sky, she had never seen so many stars in the city. They stretched to the edge of her vision, the Milky Way illuminating the sky like a majestic snowfall, outlining the natural forms of deep blue celestial bodies. The dark shadows of reefs and islands reminded her she was on the surface; otherwise, she would have felt she could spread her arms at any moment and embrace the night sky.
She suddenly felt a sense of joy from gaining freedom, so she spread her arms and cruised along the surface, looking up at the stars. The galaxy seemed to turn slowly with her, as if she were watching a magnificent film directed by nature.
Xing Hai followed behind, always maintaining a distance of half a meter, accompanying her as she swam across the shimmering sea.
"Xing Hai, do you know? Actually, I’m just like you. I don't have a family anymore either." She didn't dare stop, trying to speak to him in as calm a tone as possible. But the sense of helplessness was a gargantuan weight, pressing down until she could hardly breathe.
She submerged into the water and took off her glasses; everything became clear again. But the night vision of the Ocean race wasn't very good; she could only see a vast deep blue, faint starlight, and countless black silhouettes of fish...
Xing Hai also submerged. His face was clean and beautiful, his hair messy, and his floating white clothes looked like an angel's wings. As if offering comfort, he brushed her short, rose-colored hair and smiled slightly. "As a member of the Ocean race in these chaotic times, the most luxurious thing is to have a home."
"Yeah, I know..." Even as she said it, Fan Li’s voice was already choking up. "My lifespan is so short—too short to find my way home."
If she were of the Predator race, it might be okay; perhaps she could endure until two thousand years later to settle scores with Su Yi. But she was of the Ocean race, destined to die in the ancient seas.
"I lost my parents too, but I believe I will have a home. So will you. You will have a home. As for lifespan..." Xing Hai sighed, a few bubbles drifting up from his mouth. "My mother used to tell us all the time how short her life was. She worried that after she died, my father would be lonely. To live longer, she even thought about risking an 'ascension' to the Predator race, but my father strictly forbade it."
Ascending to the Predator race?!
Fan Li felt as if she had heard something incredible. However, since Xing Hai said it in such a casual tone, it must be common knowledge. Thus, she didn't let herself appear too excited, treating it like casual conversation. "Where did she want to undergo the ascension?"
"In the black markets of the Starry Sea. But as you know, changing races is not only against the law but also life-threatening. My father would never let her take such a risk."
"Maybe... she just wanted to stay with your father a little longer. I don't think her idea was wrong."
"Wrong!" Xing Hai said decisively. "Even if there was only a 1% chance of death, neither my father nor I would have agreed to let her do it!"
"You’re a filial child. Your parents must be very proud to have a son like you."
Fan Li looked at the empty surroundings. In the dark of night, the ocean held a sense of desperate suffocation that far exceeded the fear of death. Studying the Arcanum to find a way back was a good option. If there was a way for her to live until two thousand years later, risking an ascension to the Predator race seemed like another option...
In short, everything had to start over.
Although she was sad, looking at Xing Hai made her feel a bit better.
This way, she could spend more time with him. She could also settle down to learn new things and understand the culture of the Sea race. Once she finished this journey and successfully returned to 21st-century China, she would certainly have quite a story to tell.
"Xing Hai," she called softly.
"Hmm?"
"Thank you." At this moment, her heart was much more at peace, and she gave Xing Hai a faint smile. "You don't know how much your presence means to me."
"I feel the same way."
That night, they slept in an uninhabited sea cave along the coast. The bodies of the Sea race loved water, so sleeping in a damp place was very comfortable. Both of them slept until dawn.
When they woke up the next day, the nearby sea stack was covered with guillemots. As soon as Fan Li and Xing Hai swam out, half of the birds scattered. He escorted her back to Luoya, and they each went home.
Pushing open the living room door, Fan Li found that Mrs. Red seemed to have slept as poorly as she had; her dark circles almost reached her chin. Fan Li was about to offer her some comfort when suddenly, the younger sister, Little Red, burst through the door and said coldly, "Sister, can you just tell me directly? Why have you been so gloomy lately?"
Mrs. Red pressed her hand to her chest and sighed. "I’m just worried about the baby’s formula money. I feel terrible that you have to go out and work every time, while our husband is so useless."
"Stop acting. He’s more than just useless. He’s cheating, isn't he?"
Mrs. Red’s face turned pale first, then she waved her hand. "No such thing. Isn't having the two of us enough? How would he have the energy to cheat?"
"When was the last time he shared a bed with you?" Little Red looked at her aggressively. "Are you going to tell me you’ve been too busy lately and can't remember? Then let me tell you my answer: a month ago. Since we married him, he’s been indulging in nightly revelry, but recently he suddenly told me he’s tired. Do you think that’s normal?"
"He might really be tired. After all, there’s a child now."
Little Red was furious and slammed the table hard. "Are you still using the child as an excuse? What is he tired from? Tired from panting on top of the neighbor’s wife?! That shameless woman confessed everything to me today!"
This time, after Mrs. Red’s face turned white, it never returned to normal.
"Sister, do you know what hurts me the most? After something so big happened, I wasn't even the first to know. And what makes me feel even more pathetic is that this has happened many times before—you knew, and you didn't tell me!" At this point, Little Red’s anger turned to sorrow, and she couldn't help but cry out.
"Darling, I just didn't want you to be too disappointed in him. After all, when we first got married, your eyes were full of happiness. You loved him so much; knowing the truth wouldn't change the facts, it would only hurt you..."
"I finally understand now why every time I told you to be nicer to him, or told you not to look down on him, you only gave a cold laugh."
Mrs. Red looked down at the child, stroking the baby’s fair little face with her index finger, and smiled bitterly. "I’m a woman who is already a mother; love doesn't actually mean much. Knowing that he not only loves to stray but also has a perverted hobby of stealing other men’s wives... aside from not wanting him to touch me, I didn't take it to heart. With you helping me take care of the baby, I’m not lonely. But for you, it’s different. You loved him."
Little Red suddenly stopped crying and became exceptionally calm. "No, Sister, you don't know me at all. I cannot tolerate betrayal. The moment I learned he betrayed us, my heart for him died."
Mrs. Red was stunned for a moment. "...Really?"
"Really."
"I understand. Let’s leave him."
"Okay."
Mrs. Red closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. "Eight years. Eight years of marriage..."
"Don't be sad, Sister. That scumbag wasted eight years of our youth; there’s nothing to regret. Besides, now that you have the baby, you really don't need him. From now on, I’ll help you raise the child. We don't need that scumbag anymore."
"You’ll have a baby too." Mrs. Red gave her a firm and gentle smile. "You’re still so young and beautiful. Don't worry."
"Mhm!"
Mrs. Red handed the child to Little Red to look after, while she herself gazed out at the slums through the window, as if she had made a firm resolution. She remained still for a long time.
"Ah, I’m such an idiot! I got so angry I forgot the important thing!" Little Red suddenly slapped her forehead. "Fan Li, you weren't here last night. Someone from your school asked me to tell you that at 9:30 this morning, all members of the Ocean race in your Arcane Academy will undergo genetic sample testing. They want you to go to school early."
"Genetic sample testing?"
"Yeah, according to him, it seems there’s progress in the Bu Ke wedding murder case. After reinforcements arrived at the investigation headquarters, they found skin flakes from the suspect on Miss Bubble. They found out the person is from the Ocean race and are requiring students to cooperate with a thorough investigation. But I think it’s pretty stupid of them to limit the scope to Luoya University. Why would a Luoya student kill Miss Bubble? Because 'the whole world is jealous of the beautiful Miss Bubble'? Even someone from a third-rate university like me knows her actual grades probably weren't as good as mine. Who would be jealous of her? This line of thinking is exactly what you’d expect from the custom-made police force of a girl with Princess Syndrome..."
Mrs. Red interrupted, "Alright, alright, look at you, can't help being sharp-tongued again. The person is dead, so let it go. But why is this still being investigated? Will it affect Fan Li’s studies?"
Little Red made a "tch" sound and blew a loud bubble. "Of course it will. I just don't like these cops."
Fan Li, however, had felt like a live beehive was trapped in her head for some time now, buzzing incessantly. She checked the time; it was 8:10. She calculated whether it was too late to flee to the coast again.
No, if she ran, she would definitely be treated as a criminal once she was caught. Besides, on the shore, there was nothing but cannibals. There was no safe human world that she was familiar with.
If she stayed, she might not be suspected. Even if she were treated as a suspect, she could find a way to prove her innocence by saying she had actually seen Miss Bubble’s red suicide note—but how could she explain her motive for evading the scene the whole time?
Fan Li thought for a long time. Taking advantage of their distraction, she went back to her room to get a bottle, then slipped into their room. She found the rorqual-baleen brush they used for bathing and scraped the skin flakes from it into the bottle. Next, she rummaged through the trash can for a while until the sound of the baby’s crying drew near. She quickly went out, just in time to see Little Red swimming toward her.
"Fan Li, why do you look so pale? What are you doing with your hands behind your back?"
Fan Li gripped the bottle tighter, straightened her spine, and coughed twice. "Ah! Right, what was the name of the teacher who notified me yesterday?"
Little Red shook her head. "I don't know. It was a male teacher."
"What race?"
"I don't know that either. He was wrapped up so tightly you could only see his face. I couldn't tell his race, but his face was very, very beautiful—prettier than a girl’s."
"Wrapped up completely?"
"Yeah."
This gave Fan Li another spark of inspiration.
At 9:25, in front of the side gate of Luoya University’s Arcane Academy, a long line of the Ocean race stretched all the way behind the Algae Garden. There were only a few students from the first-year Arcane Department.
Fan Li was wrapped in a cloak, her face covered, as she waited in line. Suddenly, Xing Hai swam over from the front, held her shoulders, and straightened her up. "I told you not to go crazy everywhere. Now you’re sick. Hurry out once you’re done, and I’ll take you back." After speaking, his palm slid down, dropping something that landed perfectly in Fan Li’s hand. Then he swam away without looking back.
About fifteen minutes later, it was finally Fan Li’s turn.
She entered the empty room alone. There were only two people inside. One was a burly Flag-race policeman standing by the window, and the other was a female Cephalopod doctor of life sciences sitting behind a desk. The female doctor wore glasses and a white lab coat, with white gloves on every tentacle—not in the shape of fingers, but in the shape of dense suckers. These tentacles were methodically manipulating the items on the desk: one was bringing a test tube under her glasses for observation, one was writing notes, one was pouring waste skin flakes into a suction trash can, one was holding a cotton swab, one was cleaning a swab with disinfectant, one was preparing a new solution, one was tearing a test strip...
"Come, sit." Her last tentacle pointed to the chair in front of the desk, but her eyes remained on the glasses she was adjusting toward Fan Li. "Why are you dressed like this? Are you planning to lead the Holy City’s Red Guards to the opening ceremony of the Marine Expo?"
"I went out to sea yesterday and don't know what I ate wrong. I woke up today with an itch all over my body..."
The female doctor frowned but said nothing, merely using that tentacle to push the chair further away. Fan Li swam over slowly with a hunched back and sat down. "Which hand?"
"Either one, hurry up."
"You pick. I don't know which one gives a more accurate test."
"The left one, then."
Fan Li glanced at the policeman by the window. His eyes were half-closed, his head nodding as if he would fall asleep on the floor at any moment. She extended her left hand. Sure enough, just as Xing Hai had told her that morning, the doctor used a cotton swab to disinfect her hand before taking a thin layer of skin tissue from her finger. After the medicine was applied, her large cloak suddenly slipped from her arm, covering her left hand.
"What are you doing!" The female doctor rolled her eyes.
The policeman by the window opened his eyes briefly, looked around, and began to doze off again.
"Sorry, sorry." Under the cloak, Fan Li smeared the skin flakes from Mrs. Red’s room onto her index finger, then lifted the cloak, preparing to scrape it onto the sampling slide on the desk.
But just then, the communicator on the desk suddenly flashed and made a beeping sound. The female doctor raised a hand to Fan Li, signaling her to stop. She picked up the communicator and turned her back to Fan Li to answer the call. "...What? You got an S on this exam? My darling, how can you be so good? Did your teacher praise you? That little brat sitting next to you won't dare mock you anymore, will he? I knew you could do it..."
She rambled on the phone for a full six minutes. Fan Li kept pinching her index finger, terrified the skin flakes would fall off, while trying to stay calm so her abnormal heartbeat wouldn't be heard. It felt like every second was a year.
Finally, the call was ending. The female doctor was still finishing with "be a good baby, my darling." She seemed overjoyed and forgot she had already disinfected Fan Li’s hand. She grabbed Fan Li’s hand and used a tentacle to vigorously scrub Fan Li’s index finger with a cotton swab again. Several of Mrs. Red’s skin flakes drifted into the seawater, slowly floating in front of the female doctor.
The female doctor squinted, her eyes following their trajectory the entire time.
Fan Li’s eyes widened; she nearly forgot to breathe. Her right hand was already gripping her cloak, shaking uncontrollably, while her left hand remained spread out as still as a corpse.
But the female doctor only waved her hand in disgust, brushing the flakes away. She pointed to the sampling slide and stared at Fan Li, waiting for her to take the sample again. Fan Li swallowed hard, hovering her left index finger over the slide. Her right palm was covered in sweat that was a different temperature from the seawater.
Finally, the female doctor hung up the phone. "Take the sample. What are you doing?"
"I think... I have a contagious disease. Is it related to the skin...?" Fan Li looked at her timidly. "Can you collect something else, like a fingernail?"
The female doctor tossed a pair of nail clippers to her.
She lowered her head and began to clip. *Click, click, click, click.* She used a lot of force, making a loud sound.
The female doctor used tweezers to pick up the nails and placed them into a bottle the size of a bullet. The bottle was placed on a metal rack.
Fan Li clenched both hands into fists at her waist. One hand held an identical bottle. She stared intently as the female doctor prepared the solution and reached out a tentacle to take the bottle...
At that moment, someone knocked on the window. The policeman woke up, and both he and the doctor looked over. Xing Hai’s face appeared at the window. "Doctor, is my girlfriend in there? Fan Li, aren't you done yet? Hurry out, I’m waiting for you."
Fan Li quickly stood up and swapped the small bottle in her hand with the one on the rack.
"Go away, we’re on official business here." The policeman impatiently tapped on the window, shooing Xing Hai away.
The female doctor turned back, took the swapped bottle, injected the solution, and then dipped the test strip into it.
A long thirty seconds passed. She glanced at the rough test result. "Get out, next."
Fan Li breathed a sigh of relief and moved to leave. But before she could move, the policeman swam over, read the result the doctor had written, and shouted, "Wait."
"What is it?" Fan Li’s heart skipped a beat, her entire body nearly freezing.
The policeman looked at her, then at the text on the report, then back at her, his eyes narrowing into slits. "Rusty Angelfish race?"
Fan Li’s eyes blinked rapidly, her brain short-circuiting for a split second. "Yes."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
藤壶 | Barnacle | A type of cirripede.
喉盘鱼 | Clingfish | A small fish known for its ability to stick to surfaces.
帽贝 | Limpet | A marine mollusk with a shallow conical shell.
齿舌 | Radula | A structure of tiny teeth used by mollusks for scraping food.
明毯 | Tapetum lucidum | A reflective layer behind the retina in the eyes of some vertebrates.
海鸦 | Guillemot | A type of seabird (often used for various auks).
锈红刺尻族 | Rusty Angelfish race | Based on *Centropyge ferrugata*, a species of marine angelfish.
旗族 | Flag race | Likely a specific race in the novel's setting.
头足纲 | Cephalopod | The class of mollusks including octopuses and squids.
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