A crescent-shaped reef ring rises from the boundless sea. Baoping doesn't like staying in the tribe to study; he prefers to come out and explore the world.

The land beside the reef was his newly discovered island.

Tired, it lay down on the rocks to rest. Its wet black hair, dried by the sun, cascaded smoothly over its bronze back. Its tail was blue, just like its father's, a light blue that gradually deepened to a dark blue at the end, just like the blue sky and the sea.

Bluetail occasionally slapped the water's surface to keep it moist, gazing at the land in a daze.

He often wondered what lay at the end of the sea.

Baoping is an orphan, without father or mother.

But the saint who cared for him when he was a child told him that his mother was not dead and lived on the continent of humans.

Baoping was little then and asked, "Why didn't my mother take me with her?"

The saint stared intently into his eyes and told him, "Because the clan chief and the high priest will not allow it, they also want to kill your mother. You must keep this to yourself and not tell your brothers and sisters."

Bao Ping did not doubt the saintess's words, even though his blue eyes, which resembled Alvin's, trembled.

On that day, young Baoping suddenly grew up. He no longer frequently went to the clan chief and high priest's house to see his older and younger sisters. He secretly told his older and younger brothers, "Don't believe what the clan chief and high priest say. They are bad people."

The clan chief and high priest only raised female merfolk. Merfolk normally develop a reproductive system only after secondary differentiation, but because of the children's mother, Jiang Shuyin, these children were born with gender characteristics.

Only female mermaids can give birth to children, so the clan chief and high priest only keep them under their control. Baoping, his brother Changji, and his younger brother Zixin were thrown into the clan to eat food from various families.

Over the years, there have been merfolk who wanted to adopt them, but for some reason, just before the three brothers were about to move in, the family changed their minds.

More than once.

After learning the secret from the saintess, Baoping guessed who had done it.

His initial motivation for exploring the world was to find his mother, see her, and hopefully even exchange a few words with her; he didn't expect to receive her love.

He only had this tiny wish: just to be allowed to call someone "mother."

If the Sea God can hear the heartfelt words of believers, please grant Baoping's dream as soon as possible.

He clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and prayed.

After being away for ten days, if he didn't return soon, his older and younger brothers would be in trouble. Baoping took out a map from his spatial storage, pressed it onto the reef, and drew the location of the island. He would explore it ashore after returning from the tribe.

The summer flowers in the ocean are no less abundant than those on land. The chieftain's daughter, Xiangxie, is a genius at cultivating flowers. She has domesticated many flower species from the land into marine species, adorning the magnificent underwater world. Every year during this season, her name is on the lips of the merfolk.

Xiang Xie herself was also proud of this. Knowing that Bao Ping had returned, she went to find him and asked, "Have you found the flower seeds I wanted? I'm tired of looking at those flowers."

Baoping had just found new land and hadn't even gone up yet, so naturally he didn't have any. As soon as he shook his head, he was smacked by his sister Xiangxie's tail. The force was unrestrained, and it knocked the exhausted Baoping to the ground, almost making him roll over.

"Useless trash, you can't even handle this little thing, what are you doing back here? Get out of here and find me the seeds, don't come back until you find them."

"hurry up!"

Baoping traveled for three days and three nights without resting for a second before being beaten and chased away.

He pursed his lips, watching his sister's furious departure, a surge of hatred rising in his eyes.

He hated the patriarch and the high priest.

......

Changji rushed back after finishing work. Only his second younger brother, Zixin, was home from school and reading. Changji looked around and asked him, "Didn't I hear Baoping is back?"

"You were driven away by your good sister," Zixin sneered.

Changji frowned, his extremely fair cheeks flushed red: "Xiang Xie is going too far. Don't worry, I won't pay any more attention to her."

When his sister first came to see him, Changji was both surprised and delighted. But later he realized that she was just using him, and Changji became disheartened and gradually distanced himself from her.

Zixin was the youngest and the most insightful. Ever since Baoping secretly told him the secret, he had no expectations of his sister, who was raised by the clan chief and the high priest.

"Hopefully Baoping can find the flower seeds she wants, otherwise the clan chief will take his anger out on us again."

On his way back to the new island, Baoping saw something flash by... he didn't know what it was. He turned around and headed in that direction. The unknown new thing was enough to make his blood boil.

The waves on the sea surface changed little by little.

When Baoping realized he couldn't change direction, he was already caught in the whirlpool, his body spinning rapidly downwards. Below, in the dark, frigid seabed, there seemed to be some extremely dangerous creature.

Merfolk can breathe underwater, but they can't withstand their bodies being spun at high speeds. Before losing consciousness, Baoping tried to visualize his mother's face in his mind.

How can the faces of the siblings be pieced together to resemble their mother...? The saint told him... the eldest sister's eyes... the eldest brother's lips... the second sister's face shape... the third sister's nose... his hair... a new beginning... a new beginning for what...?

Dr. Ai was modifying the spaceship again, so Xing Zhengfei took on the job of a freight driver. He also snatched a batch of supplies from Country A and delivered them to Dr. Ai. Dr. Ai said tactfully, "Actually, we shouldn't always be picking on one sheep. Look at Country E and Country Z, aren't they good targets?"

Xing Zhengfei glanced at him and said, "It's none of your business."

He needs to rest.

He turned around and stopped abruptly.

Where is the smell of blood coming from?

His gaze swept over the female scientists, then he ruled them out.

Xing Zhengfei's nostrils flared, and he quickened his pace in one direction; he was indeed hungry.

The fishy smell lingered in his nostrils. He walked to the rocks by the sea, looked around halfway, and rested one arm on the rocks. The wound on the arm was white from being soaked in seawater. Long black hair covered his face, and a nearly one-meter-long blue fish tail spread out like wings, bobbing up and down with the seawater.

The blood from the seawater washing away the wounds spread in the same color of the sea, while the wounds on the fish tail and arms oozed out visible deep blue blood.

Xing Zhengfei rubbed his chin. This was the first time he had ever seen such a novel thing. Such a big fish should be enjoyed with his mother. He took a picture and sent it to his mother: Do you want to eat it? I can airfreight a few pounds to you. Should I order the belly or the tail?