Dream
On the starship heading to Jingzhe Star, Qiao Yan, unable to bear the long flight, began to feel sleepy, just like Nan Ya Yin before her, and fell asleep leaning on his shoulder.
Since the threatening letter incident ended, she finally found peace, and those terrifying dreams that disturbed her in the middle of the night finally disappeared. For a while, Qiao Yan didn't dream anymore.
But now...
She lay on the sand, trying to process what was happening and how she had ended up like this.
She looked at herself, where her legs should have been, and saw a fish tail over a meter long, with a wide and beautiful tail fin, and her light blue scales shimmered in the sunlight.
But she can only crawl on her hands; she's probably like a fish that's accidentally stranded.
Although she could crawl back to the sea, the friction of the sand was unbearable, and if she stopped, she would be scorched to death by the sun.
In the sea, the fish tail plays a significant role, and Qiao Yan vaguely remembers being the fastest swimmer among all the fish.
And now, look at this cumbersome tail fin. It's so big and heavy that just dragging it around has caused several scales on its belly to peel off.
In a fairy tale, a princess or prince would appear at this point to rescue the "poor" mermaid.
Unfortunately, Qiao Yan had never read fairy tales, while the princes and princesses lived a life of extravagance in the palace day after day.
Qiao Yan crawled with difficulty, the sand beneath him carving a path for survival.
Suddenly she felt a handful of water being poured over her, but it was barely any water at all. Qiao Yan shook herself off.
"There are mermaids."
It was a young man's voice. Qiao Yan quickly flicked its tail and knocked him to the ground.
"Ugh!" He swallowed a mouthful of sand, and when he looked up, Qiao Yan was already in a fighting stance.
His long, unkempt hair hung down his back like the fur of a wild animal.
Qiao Yan saw the scars on his hands and smelled the faint scent of blood in the air.
"Ouch." Nan Ya Yin clapped her hands. "Sand got into the wound."
Qiao Yan coldly looked at the human. Even though she was on the beach, her opponent was just a weak human with wounds and was skin and bones. He couldn't even withstand one of her tails.
She was not far from the sea, but if she continued to be exposed to the sun, the only outcome would be that she would defeat humans but still be unable to escape drying out.
Qiao Yan gritted her teeth, turned around, and crawled towards the ocean.
"Wait!" Nan Yayin stood up. "You're practically dying from the sun."
Qiao Yan glanced at him and said, "Human, if you don't want to die, stay away from me."
Her voice came from the deep sea—cold and ethereal.
Nan Yayin covered her ears; her voice was very pleasant, yet it felt like sharp thorns piercing his brain.
"Don't speak." Nan Yayin insisted on stepping forward. He grabbed Qiao Yan's arm and tried to drag her away, but the mermaid was too strong. She seemed to have no idea that she was there to help her.
"I'll help you get back." Nan Ya Yin grabbed her hand. "Don't squeeze!"
Qiao Yan was taken aback by his shout, but after realizing that it was just a human, she angrily retorted, "What exactly do you want to do!"
"I'll help you go back," Nan Yayin muttered as she pulled her along. "I've told you so many times."
Humans, help her? Isn't it because they're attracted by her most beautiful scales, isn't it because they're attracted by how her tears can condense into the fullest pearls?
Help her? That's simply absurd.
Qiao Yan pushed him away, "I'd rather die here and turn into bubbles in the sunlight."
"Heh." Nan Yayin scoffed, "When you die, you'll just turn into a rotten fish, what a bubble."
He stepped forward and pushed at the point where her body and fishtail connected, preparing to flip her over and throw her into the ocean.
Qiao Yan was shocked by his description of the fish as stinky. She was a mermaid, not human, and didn't have his quick wit.
Moreover, she was about to dry up, as if her life was coming to an end; her black hair was like withered weeds, and her scales were about to be stained with oil, a symbol of death.
Suddenly her arm touched something cool—it was seawater.
"It hurts so much." Nan Yayin cried out in pain as her wound touched the seawater. "It was so close!"
When Qiao Yan touched the seawater, it was as if she had been reborn. She didn't even need Nan Yayin's help; she flapped her tail fin and flipped herself into the sea.
Nan Ya Yin's hand was still in mid-air as she watched the mermaid flip away and disappear, leaving only the splash of water caused by her tail fin.
His wounds never fully healed; his arms were covered in seawater and his blood.
He also dug out the scales and pebbles stuck in the wound, which at least proved that it was real, that mermaids really existed.
He squatted on the beach, picking up the scales she had brushed off, the color of the light blue sea.
He heard the sound of splashing water, but when he turned around, it seemed like he was just hallucinating.
The sea was calm and still; no one had come here, and no fish had come here.
He treasured the scales, placing them in a tattered rag bag he had found, which he sewed up so they wouldn't leak out.
But they were still discovered. They spent their days looking for trouble and wanting to hear others cry out in pain and beg for mercy.
The scales were so beautiful, like jewels, that they thought Nan Ya Yin had stolen something.
Nan Yayin gritted her teeth and didn't make a sound. She said that the scales fell from the fish they killed and were just ordinary fish scales.
"I'm going to throw you into the sea!"
Nan Yayin was covered in blood. He thought that perhaps dying in the sea was much better than dying from being beaten by others.
He knew there were mermaids in the sea, including the light blue mermaid he had saved before.
He was like a rag thrown into the sea on a moonlit night.
The salty seawater will carry his blood far away, and the fish will eat him before he even suffocates.
The water was perfectly still, yet he heard a familiar sound.
"Human beings."
He was gently lifted up and placed on a rock somewhere in the ocean by a pair of hands.
Qiao Yan couldn't understand why, in just a few days, this human had more than twice as many wounds as before.
Once the sea breeze dried the water off his body, she kissed his wounds, and as if by magic, the scabs fell off, revealing a brand new patch of skin.
"You saved me." He opened his weak eyes. This was the first time Qiao Yan had seen his eyes. They were the color of amber, faintly reflecting the bright moonlight.
“I see you, I see your tail,” he said. “I knew it was you.”
Qiao Yan sat on the reef. "So, did you guess that someone threw you into the sea?"
“Humans cannot survive in the ocean.” Her voice was magical, with a deadly allure, “but it seems you cannot survive among humans either.”
Nan Yayin grabbed her hand, covered her eyes, and began to cry softly.
"Why are you crying?" Qiao Yan asked him, then she realized, "Your tears won't turn into pearls. Is that why they threw you out?"
No matter how Qiao Yan asked him, he didn't answer, but tears were already falling down her hand, his tears seemed as endless as the ocean.
Qiao Yan wondered if she could take care of someone.
Humans can capture her companions and tame them, so she can also keep a human.
She dived into the water, took the potion left by the witch with her, and said to Nan Ya Yin, "Drink it, and you will be my human, and you can live in the ocean."
Nan Ya Yin looked into her dark pupils and said, "Become your human."
"Do you want to become my human?" Qiao Yan's tail fins slapped against the seawater, her voice an irresistible temptation.
"I want to..." Nan Ya Yin drank the potion, but was suddenly bitten on the tongue by a mermaid who was right in front of her, and their blood mingled.
He swallowed the potion laced with mermaid blood, a pact of allegiance to the mermaid.
He was bewitched by the beautiful mermaid and became her slave from the moment he agreed.
Qiao Yan learned his name, "Nan Yayin?"
His heart tightened. "What's wrong?"
Qiao Yan grabbed his hand, "I'll take you home."
He sank to the bottom of the sea, yet he could breathe freely in the seawater. He was held in the arms of a mermaid and taken to the cold, deep sea.
Her home was not a palace or castle, but a deep ditch filled with colorful fish and corals, a truly breathtaking sight.
Will he spend his entire life here? Or is he already dead?
He fell asleep and woke up in the mermaid's arms. He was still not used to life underwater. He didn't eat raw fish or anything else, but he didn't want Qiao Yan to worry.
But without food and water, they would die. Qiao Yan didn't want her human to die, so she found another mermaid.
Shu Juan flicked her tail and said, "He's human. Humans die in the sea."
Qiao Yan slapped her, and then she said, "Or you can make a deal with the witch and have her help you grow legs."
"Become human?" Qiao Yan scoffed. "But I'll go find her."
Qiao Yan destroyed the Deep Sea Witch's house because she said she would use her soul as medicine; she didn't think growing legs required sacrificing her soul.
She controlled the witch, learned all her knowledge, and discovered that growing legs was surprisingly easy.
She doesn't need to take medicine; she only needs to silently recite the mantra, and her tail will turn into legs.
She swam out of the sea with Nan Ya Yin and stood on the beach, where the sun could not dry her.
Ah, what a deceitful witch! How many poor fish have she fooled with such methods?
The mermaid's song will surely not let her off the hook.
She brought the humans to the shore, but Nan Ya Yin didn't seem happy.
“The king is searching for mermaids because mermaid flesh can grant immortality, but he is old and about to pass away.” Nan Ya Yin was very worried that Qiao Yan would die. “I picked up your scales, but they were stolen. They will definitely find you.”
Why did you pick up my scales?
Nan Yayin wondered why she asked this question, but she answered honestly, "Because they are beautiful, like gemstones."
Qiao Yan smiled, her eyes narrowed. Her scales were indeed the most beautiful among all the mermaids.
“Don’t worry,” Qiao Yan said. “If they come looking for me, I’ll throw them into the sea.”
Qiao Yan has learned the magic of the Deep Sea Witch. She built a house to live in, coated it with protective potions, and set up a magic circle.
She learned how to care for a human and how to make him no longer afraid.
But the king was nearing the end of his life, and their search intensified; they were about to launch a large-scale merman haul in the waters where Joey had once lived.
Qiao Yan had just driven away a group of soldiers and returned home when he discovered that his human companions had disappeared.
Nan Ya Yin's blood told her that he was in the underground prison of the royal palace, where he struggled but could not defeat the armed guards.
Qiao Yan's teeth were sharp and terrifying. She clenched her teeth, and half of the scales on her body stood up.
She came to the king's palace wearing a cloak and spoke of a medicine that could cure diseases, a remedy that could even cure death.
The old king was overjoyed; even on his sickbed, he slightly curled the corners of his mouth, revealing a loving expression.
Qiao Yan knelt down and whispered in the old king's ear, "I need your soul in exchange for a body that will never decay."
The old king agreed with tears in his eyes, saying that death was more terrible than surrendering one's soul.
He heard the mermaid's song, and curses.
They cursed him to never die, to be forever exposed to the sun's brilliance, with nowhere to hide and nowhere to find shade.
His soul is gnawed by ants, and the torment endures for thousands of years.
He killed her companions and captured Nan Ya Yin, all for the sake of immortality.
Is immortality really such a wonderful wish?
Qiao Yan fulfilled the king's dream of immortality. She entered the underground prison without hindrance and picked up the human who seemed to have never been whole.
"I didn't tell them where you were," Nan Ya Yin said, spitting out blood. "Why did you come here?"
Qiao Yan kissed his wound, "To bring my human home."
Nan Ya Yin had stopped vomiting blood. He felt his body gradually recovering and he felt much better. However, his wounds had not fully healed yet, and he felt something stuck in his wounds. He reached out to touch it.
It was a round, lustrous white pearl.
It was still warm, stained with his dried blood.
The mermaid's tears will turn into pearls; that is the fisherman's dream, a beautiful dream woven from the melodious yet eerie songs heard at night.
Nan Yayin held the pearl in his hand, unable to believe it was real. Qiao Yanhan shed tears for him.
He held Qiao Yan in his arms, their hair intertwined, their tears mingling. He was willing to offer his soul and body; that was what he thought the moment he saw her.
Qiao Yan was woken up by Nan Yayin.
"Why did you sleep for so long?" Nan Yayin rubbed her shoulder. "We've arrived."
"Thinking about it, how could you have slept for so long?" he suddenly chuckled. "Were you too excited to sleep yesterday?"
He still remembered that she had circled the Jingzhe star in her little booklet.
“You’re just like me.” Nan Ya Yin turned her head to get closer to her.
Qiao Yan was unaware that she had come out of her dream. When she saw him approaching, she leaned in and kissed him.
"You!" Nan Yayin tried to back away, but Qiao Yan grabbed his arm and neck, preventing him from moving an inch.
When Nan Ya Yin was finally released and sat down in a chair, panting heavily, she asked, "What... what are you doing?"
Qiao Yan examined his arm and found no wounds, no bleeding, and he was not spitting blood.
It was just a beautiful and fantastical dream, Qiao Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Nan Yayin leaned closer, her bright red lips and worried eyes present.
Qiao Yan leaned on his shoulder, "It wasn't a nightmare, but it's so good to wake up."
"Let me lean on it for a bit, I'll get up when we get there." Qiao Yan smelled the scent of sage. There was no longer only the fresh fragrance of plants and the tartness of lemon, but also the sweet aroma of cream. She would never dream of such a dream again.
The mermaid would take her human to the ocean and the land, and they would still be together hundreds or thousands of years later.
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