In the latter half of the year 24744, Fanli saw a headline in the newspaper: *Mysterious Death Zone Appears in the Hadal Zone; 27 Deep-Sea Divers Perish with No Survivors.*
The Light Sea’s Department of Deep-Sea Resources regularly dispatched teams to the Hadal trenches to mine natural resources and conduct sporadic explorations. This time, a twenty-seven-member team had been exploring a previously untouched Hadal zone, located roughly 7,000 meters beneath the Rift Sky Sea. They had lost contact with headquarters the moment they approached the area. Afterward, they vanished entirely, like a spacecraft falling into a black hole or a ship swallowed by a deadly triangle.
Later, the Department sent an unmanned submarine to the same coordinates. The result was identical: as soon as it reached the "Mysterious Death Zone," all signals were instantaneously severed.
This eerie phenomenon frightened many. Proponents of science argued that the Light Sea’s submarine technology was simply insufficient to detect certain bizarre deep-sea phenomena and suggested upgrading equipment for further exploration. Theologians, however, claimed the deep sea was the territory of the Abyssals and the Lord of Flame; the divers had accidentally offended the heroic spirits of the Fire Sea Legion and were taken to join them in death. They argued the Light Sea race should fear the gods and stop testing the Creator’s limits.
Consequently, these two factions debated fiercely on various occasions, but the mystery remained unexplained for a long time.
In 24781, on Fanli’s three-hundredth birthday, she felt a splitting headache and a wave of nausea. She thought she might fall into a coma again, but she miraculously pulled through. By the morning after her birthday, her body had returned to normal. Surprised, she asked Xun Yue about it, but even he found it inexplicable—though it was undoubtedly good news.
And so, carrying a heart that believed in the ultimate victory of her ideals, over a century hurried by.
In November 24853, Fanli rushed from Saint Yegana by vessel to Miya City on the border of the Resurrection Sea. Before thirty thousand citizens, she read the 37th version of the *Light Sea Slavery Abolition Act*.
The act was filled with so many details and technical terms that many of the slaves present didn't fully understand it. However, they could see the woman of the Sea God race standing on the podium. She was dressed simply and looked exhausted, yet her eyes burned with a light so fierce it seemed no amount of hardship or predicament could ever trip her up.
This scene was broadcast live across the entire Light Sea.
Because the Great Oracle’s gaze was so steadfast, yet brimming with emotional tears, few people noticed her beauty, age, or gender anymore. Few remembered that in her youth, she had been a beauty famous throughout Saint Yegana.
At this moment, standing in the shimmering seawater upon the sun-drenched podium, the faces of many people flickered before Fanli’s eyes: Grand Duke Asa’s roguish grin, Qusha’s sunny smile, the resolute faces of countless revolutionaries who died refusing to yield... and her brother’s final, gentle smile above the Meteorite Trench.
*—Lili, it’s my fault. It’s not that the world is bad, and certainly not that your ideals are wrong.*
*—Don’t give up on what you believe in. You can do it.*
She had waited for this day for so, so long.
But finally, it had arrived.
“I, Sui, representing all clans and the Supreme Government of the Light Sea, am now in Miya City of the Resurrection Sea to officially announce—all slaves in Miya City are restored to freedom as of today! This was the last slave-holding city in the Light Sea. Everyone, do you know what this means?” Fanli raised the Great Oracle’s scepter in one hand and the legal document in the other. “Three million years of slavery have been abolished across the entire Light Sea!”
A thunderous roar of cheers and applause erupted from the crowd, echoing through the sea so loudly it could be heard in towns hundreds of kilometers away.
Simultaneously, four flags rose slowly before the building behind her: the Seagrass flag of the Resurrection Sea, the Triskelion flag of the Cephi Clan, the Falcon flag of the Saint Yegana Dictator’s government, and the Sea Light flag of the Saint Yegana Great Oracle.
“No matter the race, we are all children of the Infinite Ocean. We possess the pride of the Sea Race; we refuse to live on our knees, we would rather die on our feet!” Fanli shouted with every ounce of her strength. Her voice cracked, but it did nothing to diminish her fervor. “People of the ocean, we are free! The entire Sea Race is free! The revolution has only just begun. We must build a peaceful, free, and beautiful ocean for our families, our friends, and our descendants! Let us work together! Thank you!!!”
*Thank you, Asa!*
*Thank you, Qusha!*
*Thank you, nameless warriors who shed your blood for this day!*
*Thank you, Brother...*
...
*A ray of morning light in the early Radiant Era,*
*Painting a fresh, light visage for the future.*
*A noble lady born of the common world,*
*A restless wave in the wilderness of the Light Sea.*
*Her lush curls have the length of red algae,*
*Her deep blue eyes are brighter than the stars;*
*Her smile holds the vibrancy of spring and summer,*
*Her rose-red lips stir the souls of all beings.*
*Academician Sui, Oracle Fanli,*
*Her rebellion sings for those who follow.*
*Her wisdom inspired two point three billion souls,*
*Breathing out the light mist of knowledge,*
*Rising as a new sun for the world of Arcanum.*
*The eighth virtue of the Deep Blue is upon her,*
*A grand new statue added to Saint Yegana.*
*She grips the Great Oracle’s scepter tight,*
*Unfolding hope wherever the sunlight reaches.*
*Awaken, Arcanists of the Sea of Light,*
*Use the keys of your wisdom to unlock the gates of Utopia,*
*And cross this bridge of the world where the sun disk sinks.*
*Finally, lightning strikes through four hundred and thirty million years of confusion,*
*There is a path leading to the dream of the Saint of the Light Sea.*
...
At this moment, in the hometown of Lan Si and Fei Si, the spring chill was biting and the streams were icy. The young men and women of the Salmon tribe had completed their wedding ceremonies and were emerging from the water hand-in-hand. A new marriage was a joyous occasion for every household, and the news of the successful revolution from the Resurrection Sea was their joy as well.
On the water’s surface, Fei Si wore her silver-white bridal veil. Clutching Lan Si’s hand, she said excitedly, “Fanli did it! She really overthrew three million years of slavery!”
“She is ‘Sui’ now,” Lan Si corrected rationally, though his eyes were full of gratification. “No, she is the Great Oracle now.”
“I don’t care, she’s still our Li-zi!” Fei Si tugged at her veil, her fish tail splashing in the stream. “From now on, the Sea Race is truly liberated!”
“It’s still early. Overthrowing a system is one thing; there is a long, long road ahead before we change a deep-rooted culture. But I believe she can do it. That woman... she has incredible endurance. She even overthrew Su Shiye’s regime back then.” At this, Lan Si intentionally put on a slightly disgruntled look. “No wonder the professor said in class that she’s the kind of woman who makes us men feel useless.”
“She really is amazing, isn't she? Ah... if only we could see her future. It’s a pity we won’t.”
“No need to see it. She will succeed, trust me.”
“It’s such a shame she and Su Shiye were always on opposite sides... they clearly loved each other so much. It’s too cruel.”
“Yes. So, by comparison, you shouldn't feel like we’ve missed out on anything. At least our love is complete.” Lan Si lowered his head, looking at her with deep affection. “So, today, shouldn't you focus more of your energy on your man? My little newborn bride.”
Fei Si shyly buried her face in his chest. Holding her husband’s hand, she dived into the pebble-lined bridal chamber at the bottom of the stream. Above the headboard of their chamber hung a photo of them holding hands back in middle school.
They were finally going to give their first time to each other. And this wedding night would be very, very long—lasting until the end of their lives.
Before closing the skylight of the bridal chamber, Fei Si poked her head out once more to look at the world outside. The sunlight was brilliant and piercing, illuminating the pebbles on the riverbed and making the water appear as transparent as if it didn't exist. On the surface of the river where countless Salmon tails flickered, the splashes were marigolds bloomed from sunlight, lingering and bright, writing the most natural beauty of heaven and earth. The splashes were also dancing diamonds, symbolizing the undying love of Salmon couples until death.
Just then, the bride next door also poked her head out and smiled at Fei Si—she, like all the other newlyweds nearby, was a childhood friend who had grown up in the same village as Fei Si and Lan Si. They too had left home early to venture into the big cities, dedicating all their wisdom and youth to society.
During those years of hard study and work, every one of them had met numerous charming members of the opposite sex, but in the end, they all gave up their romances in foreign lands. They chose to return to their hometown to give their chaste selves to their middle-school first loves, completing their grand weddings in the stream, performing the solemn and great ritual of mating, and releasing their gametes.
Half a month later, the unmarried youths of the village arrived at the stream in an orderly line. They opened the doors of each bridal chamber, took out the massive quantity of eggs produced within, and carried away the corpses of the parents, who remained locked in a tight embrace.
Looking closely at those tiny fish eggs, one could see the curled-up forms of newborn Salmon children.
Thus, no Salmon has ever seen their parents.
Lan Si and Fei Si produced a total of over 1,700 eggs. In the end, about one percent would survive. Of those, more than half would successfully grow to adulthood.
When Fanli received news of the couple’s death, she had already been back in Saint Yegana for nineteen days. During this time, she had locked herself in the research institute to study potions, eating and sleeping inside. If her arcane energy hadn't been completely depleted, making it impossible to continue without rest, she wouldn't have come out—and she wouldn't have learned so soon that her two old friends had passed away.
She read Fei Si’s suicide note, tucked a stray hair behind her ear, and slumped into a chair. She tilted her head back wearily, her deep blue tail dragging on the floor like a dead fish.
Fei Si understood her, so the letter made no mention of Su Shiye. It only wished her and Xitian a long life together.
So many people thought being a Predator or a Sea God was wonderful. But they didn't know that living alone in this world, watching friends leave one by one, was not actually something to be envied. At this moment, she actually envied Fei Si for being able to die alongside the man she had loved her whole life.
Closing her eyes, Su Shiye’s eyes appeared in the darkness—sometimes a cold gold, sometimes a tender blue, but when merged into one, they were the eyes she knew best.
If her life didn't have so much meaning, if there weren't so many responsibilities to shoulder, she would have liked to die with Su Shiye too.
*Fei Si, Lan Si, go in peace.*
“Someone, come in,” she called softly. Two Shark-race subordinates immediately knocked and entered. She brushed the hair from her forehead and gave quiet instructions: “Go to Lahan Village in the Red Moon Sea. Bring Fei Si and Lan Si’s children to Saint Yegana. Arrange the best living environment for them and enroll them in the Saint City Primary School later.”
“Yes, Great Oracle.”
“Submit an application to the Dictator to rebuild their entire village. Take good care of the other Salmon children.”
“Yes, Great Oracle.”
“One more thing.” She raised a hand. “After they are brought here, arrange a meeting for us. Go today.”
“But, Great Oracle, you haven't rest—”
“It’s fine. Arrange it.”
“Yes.”
Sui swam to a lounge chair and closed her eyes to rest for half an hour, only to wake with a start from a nightmare. She clutched her head, unsure which was the nightmare—reality, or the danger she had encountered in her nap. The pressure had been so great lately that even when she was exhausted, she would wake up quickly.
Now, the concept of "self" no longer existed. She was Sui of the Light Sea.
*Su Shiye, I miss you so much.*
*But I also want to thank you for finally being willing to make that concession. If you hadn't softened your heart at the end, I wouldn't have been able to achieve so many goals.*
*I will prove to you that I was right.*
*Betraying you was right, betraying myself was right, and betraying our love was right.*
Over the years, there had been countless moments of self-doubt. Countless times she wanted to give up. She wanted to flee reality, flee responsibility, and start her life over to forget all the pain.
But this time was different from the last.
In Saint Yegana, there was no longer a Su Shiye.
Whenever she thought of him, she told herself that even if it was just for him, she couldn't collapse or give up. Otherwise, what would his sacrifice mean? Otherwise, wouldn't it mean he had misjudged her?
She had to be strong. No matter how hard it got, she had to persevere.
Su Shiye was her enemy, her defeated opponent, and also her greatest spiritual pillar.
The time she spent in love with him was a memory she would tell no one—the most beautiful memory of her life, one that would never come again.
She looked up at the wine bottle on the table. It was Su Shiye’s favorite: "Profane Love."
*“Such a pungent, intense flavor... ‘Deep Love’ would be a more fitting name,”* he had once told her.
At the time, she had felt "Profane" was appropriate. To her then, engaging in a hopeless, overly passionate romance was just seeking pleasure, a profanation of sacred love. In her heart, only a light wine that could be drunk for a long time represented true love.
Now she finally knew that truly loving someone, even without a long-term future, was not a profanation.
The greatest love of one's life does not necessarily mean staying together forever.
“Notify the winery,” she waved her hand, letting the bottle fall into the hands of another subordinate. “Change the name of this wine to ‘Deep Love.’”
With Su Shiye’s "Whale Fall" as the turning point and the abolition of slavery by Great Oracle Sui as the landmark, another era of the Light Sea came to an end.
On December 31, 24853, the eve of the Radiant Era, Fanli was organizing boxes at home when she saw a 160-carat diamond. It was flawless and brilliant, so dazzling it made one instinctively close their eyes. It was the pinnacle of art for this era, originating from a diamond mine on the southern coast of the Red Moon Sea.
Inside was a line of beautiful handwriting:
*To my beloved Lili. The Burning Era. —Su Shiye.*
The Burning Era was as brief as its name, as fleeting as summer.
That era had passed, their revolution had ended, and her love had ended too.
In the second year of the Radiant Era, Fanli and Xitian divorced. The fuse had been a conflict from the previous year.
In Year 1, Fanli’s work had reached a milestone. She had relaxed significantly and planned to take a long vacation. But before she could leave, her husband, whom she hadn't seen for over half a year, came to find her: “How long do you plan to keep that fertilized egg?”
“I don’t know. Depends on my mood,” Fanli shrugged.
“Now that the work is done, you don’t plan to have a child?”
“Are those words really coming out of your mouth? Don’t tease me. When is work ever ‘done’? I’m just taking a temporary break.”
“You plan to just keep working like this and never consider a child?”
“Why not?”
“Sui, you are just a woman.” Xitian was angered by her nonchalant attitude.
But Fanli wasn't angered by his words. She knew too well what she had achieved; she was indifferent to a man’s attempts to salvage his pride through attacks. Instead, she smiled. “Hmm... this woman’s political record seems... passable?”
Xitian took a sharp breath, looked into the distance, and struggled with himself for a long time before suddenly turning back. “Carry a child for me—a live birth. If you do, I’ll never blame you again.”
“Never blame me?”
“Right! I won’t blame you for carrying Su Shiye’s child!”
“Then you can continue to blame me.”
“...”
“You can also continue to do what you want to do.” Fanli made no mention of the continuous stream of mistresses he’d had for over a century. “But I won’t have a child now, and I won’t have your child in the future.”
“Are you blaming me? Blaming me for being a philanderer all these years?”
“No, I just don’t want a second one. If you have the need, you can find another woman to bear your child. I won’t.”
*If the kid has a weird temper like yours, I’ll go crazy. On second thought, Su Shiye’s genes are probably better. Wait, what if Su Shiye’s genes have antisocial personality traits too? Forget it, I should go research the possibility of mitosis in female Sea Race members.*
As if he had long planned for this specific answer, Xitian quickly said, “Then there’s no point in continuing this marriage.”
“Fine. I support your decision.”
They submitted the divorce application, and it was approved the following year. Three months later, they quietly announced the news, though it still caused a massive stir in public opinion. Afterward, the Dictator reclaimed most of the power in her hands and appointed her as the Executive Officer of the Saint City Bank’s Supervision Department, tasking her with coordinating the government’s next economic development plan.
Although Fanli had a severe obsession with getting practical work done, she wasn't particularly attached to power. After being "exiled" to do the grunt work, Ye Jia tried to comfort her, and Feng Jin pitied her, but she actually felt fine. The Light Sea’s economy happened to be something she had been concerned about recently; she felt she could be put to good use.
Regarding the divorce, she felt no internal ripples. But in the eyes of her friends, she was still an object of deep sympathy. From the day they heard the news, Ye Jia began frequently inviting her out to relax, taking her to the newest entertainment venues in Saint Yegana.
Once, while they were at a gathering, they ran into a group of Ye Jia’s young fangirls. Seeing Ye Jia and Fanli together, they all wore "I get it" expressions. Fanli immediately explained they were just friends.
“Yeah, Academician Sui is a marriage fanatic; I’m in no rush to get married,” Ye Jia said with a look of mock disdain.
“Professor Bu Ke, are you in no rush because you have too many choices? There must be so many girls who like you,” one of the fangirls said.
“Many girls like me? How come I didn't know?”
For an ordinary person to say this would be modesty or self-awareness; for Ye Jia to say it was so exaggerated it was almost funny. After the girls finished laughing, the girl persisted with her question. Ye Jia just smiled and said, “It’s not that I don’t want to marry, I just haven't met the right person. How about this—Teacher will wait for you to grow up?”
It wasn't hard to see the girl liked Ye Jia. But being flirted with so blatantly, she turned shy and swam away with her face covered. Ye Jia finally escaped.
Fanli had always known that Ye Jia’s glibness was just a surface trait. He was a peculiar man, living a shiftless life while effortlessly achieving the ultimate dreams of others. He won academic awards almost every decade and wrote academic books every five years, yet he never slept properly. He spent his free time in brothels, mingling with the shallowest women, repeating a schedule where day and night were inverted.
Fanli hadn't quite understood his unusual lifestyle until she read his book, *From Bacteria to the Sea Race: A Brief History of Marine Arcanum*. Two passages in particular made her see Ye Jia in a new light:
*“If the natural world left behind by the Lord of the Infinite Ocean were as merciful as she, it would at least instill an anesthetic into the prey when a Fangtooth pierces its body; it would reduce the fear of a Great White Shark when Orcas besiege it; it would allow a Humboldt Squid to pierce the head of a Lanternfish with its beak for a swift kill, rather than devouring its flesh bit by bit... But nature is not merciful, unless reducing pain enhances evolutionary vigor. Unless secreting anesthetic from a Fangtooth’s teeth increased the probability of its genes passing into the future ocean, nature would not evolve such a mechanism. The pain of prey before death has nothing to do with evolution. Thus, nature simply watches with a cold eye.*
*In the few seconds it takes me to write this sentence, countless lives on this planet are enduring the sorrow of disease and trauma; tens of thousands of children suffer the grief of homelessness due to the preferences of natural selection; fearful marine creatures try to escape the serrated teeth of predators only to be swallowed alive. Can the compassion of a few of us change the laws of natural selection? It changes nothing. The total sum of suffering in this world far exceeds the imagination of the Sea Race. To be precise, from the moment bacteria were born, a monster called the ‘gene’ was born. After the appearance of sexual reproduction, many females in the world endure the pain of their bodies being torn, the cost of aging or premature death, and the cost of children who might harm them or plunder their resources—all to put every effort into pregnancy and childbirth, manipulated by instinct to produce offspring. Very few understand the truth of this instinct, labeling it only as ‘maternal love.’ In fact, the gene is a river spanning hundreds of millions of years; all living things in nature are but drops of water within it. The gene only wants to pass itself on; it does not care if the fleeting life of an individual drop is painful. Every one of us is inevitably destined to be their slave. Spirit, dreams, love—these are but man-made products of civilization, fragile and powerless before the laws of nature.”*
In truth, among academic giants, pessimists far outnumbered optimists. But to be pessimistic to this degree was rare. Combining this with Ye Jia’s usual behavior, Fanli suspected the book had been ghostwritten. She asked Ye Jia why he wrote such views. Ye Jia propped up his chin and laughed heartily. “Emotionally speaking, ‘happiness’ is a feeling that is easily forgotten. If I wrote the whole thing too optimistically, it wouldn't be a bestseller, Su-Yi-Yi.” At the end, he used the nickname Feng Jin often used.
Hearing this, Fanli felt she understood him, yet also didn't.
As a high-level socialite, Ye Jia always had the knack for making time fly, often making her laugh out loud. But after a few outings, she felt he viewed her as too fragile. She wasn't actually in such need of comfort, so she arranged a long vacation for herself to put Ye Jia’s mind at ease.
Afterward, Fanli went to Geyameti alone.
Geyameti was where she had first encountered Su Shiye, and it brought back many memories.
Miraculously, while the Resurrection Sea had the highest proportion of Su Shiye’s detractors, his most fanatical followers were also born here. Perhaps there is no hate without love; most hatred comes from those who once held deep expectations.
Yet, the Resurrection Sea was also the only region that had preserved his statues for over a hundred years.
Because they slowly realized that letting the Gath Clan and the later Dictators hold power offered even bleaker hope. The Gath Clan was born noble and wanted to restore the old rule; commoners were not allowed to dissent. Su Shiye, at least, had once tried.
The Resurrection Sea’s military ranked in the top three of the Seven Seas, but its economy and technology were the most backward. It had always been impoverished, and things were even worse now. Even in the capital, Geyameti, the most ancient forms of transportation remained—rail-ships and cable-ships. Rail-ships were like trains, following fixed tracks and unable to navigate freely. Thus, across the entire seabed plain, dark tracks crisscrossed like a spiderweb. Cable-ships were like trams, with power lines connected above each bus-vessel, emitting the sound of old wires rubbing together as they moved. This, mingled with the metallic clanging of the rail-ships, formed the city’s main theme.
The number of beggars in this city was more than in the entire Red Moon Sea combined. In the most prosperous streets of the city center, beneath the buildings that once hung the countdown to Su Shiye’s death, beggars slept on benches and leaned against shacks everywhere. Pedestrians were sparse, and even wild marine life seemed more numerous than residents. Except for travelers from the outer seas, no one here wore an expression of excitement.
Looking only at this scene of economic ruin, no one would guess this was the capital of the Resurrection Sea.
But it was also in the central plaza that they had kept the last stone statue of Su Shiye in the entire Light Sea.
As Fanli passed by, a group of workers was using machinery to dismantle it.
“A bit to the left, left, left, hook it, careful as you lift...” The foreman directed his subordinates as they moved the statue.
The Su Shiye of the statue was still as she remembered him: shoulder-length hair, sharp features, one hand on his hip while lightly gripping a corner of his cloak; the other hand casually holding the Dictator’s scepter, the end of which rested on the ground along with his cloak. The crudely carved stone of the circlet and the broken earring couldn't convey the luxury of the original items, but they could show the aura of the man who once ruled the Light Sea.
Fanli had destroyed the system of slavery and liberated those imprisoned bodies, but over the last century, she had discovered that in a deep-rooted culture, a system is just a system—it is not the essence and cannot be changed overnight. Souls imprisoned by class oppression still required a long time to change before they could find salvation.
In the eyes of the vast majority, she was already a savior. When people thought of a leader who defended the rights of commoners, the first person they thought of was Sui, an existence like a goddess of wisdom.
Consequently, children today had very faint feelings about Su Shiye.
When Su Shiye was mentioned, they only knew him as a historical figure in textbooks who had once done great things. But except for fanatical history buffs, the kind of blood-pumping reaction that occurred at the end of the Burning Era whenever the "Dictator" was mentioned would never happen again.
This fading seemed not to have happened overnight, but suddenly.
But later, Fanli realized it only felt sudden because she had suddenly realized how many years had passed.
Seeing that statue being moved away felt as if a piece of her heart had been hollowed out.
Fanli refused to entertain the hypothesis that he was dead. She knew his will to survive had always been strong; he had survived the shocks of so many wars. Falling into an abyss once wouldn't stop him. He was a strong man; he would surely return to full strength.
However, the living conditions there were truly terrible.
The endless abyss, no food, no light, the breath of life so thin. Because resources were scarce, many Abyssals went dozens of days without eating, lying still just to save energy, their only action being breathing. The more cruel ones would even cannibalize their own kind.
It was like a prison.
—No, worse than a prison. At least a prison had food and a bed.
“Are you... Great Oracle Sui?”
Hearing a passerby’s voice, Fanli turned around to see a family of three. The parents held their child’s hand, looking at her with expectant eyes. She nodded. The couple performed the left-hand salute to her and pressed their child to do the same.
“Thank you so much!” the mother said, her eyes brimming with tears. “My husband once voluntarily sold himself into the slave market just so the child and I could eat, hoping to earn enough to buy his freedom later. When it came time to redeem him, the slave owner cheated and hiked the price. We were feeling so indignant and hopeless when you abolished slavery and reunited our family! Truly, we are so grateful!”
“It was my duty,” Fanli returned the right-hand salute.
Because of the commotion, others in the plaza noticed her presence and flocked over to thank her. Since Fanli began her campaign to overthrow slavery, this had become a common occurrence. She always responded politely and happily. But seeing beggars also come over to thank her for their freedom made her heart ache.
For many beggars, simply not being whipped by a slave owner was already a great fortune, yet they still lived lives of abject poverty. This couldn't continue. After returning to Saint Yegana, she had to work even harder to find a way to solve their employment issues...
Fanli made a firm resolution and was about to leave when someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder from behind.
She turned around. Her first thought was: *What a beautiful boy.* His nose was high and narrow, and he looked even younger than her. Then she realized he was wearing a military uniform. He was in land-form, with incredibly long legs, standing more than half a head taller than her own land-form. Looking at his insignia, he was a Major.
Thinking of a Major, she inevitably thought of Xinghai. The boy before her had a temperament somewhat like her brother’s during his time as a Major—very upright—yet he was much lighter and warmer than her brother had been. Though he wasn't smiling, his bright black eyes were full of curiosity and passion for the world.
Seeing his snow-white, short, straight hair, Fanli was wondering which clan had produced such a clean-looking boy when he smiled brilliantly and said, “Sister Fanli.”
*Fanli?* It had been a long time since she’d heard that name. Wait...
“Xiao Yu?!” Fanli looked him up and down in surprise. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me, Sister Fanli.”
Time is Michelangelo’s precision chisel, carving a little fat fish with a chubby tail into a breathtakingly beautiful young man.
***
