Mermaids (Part 2)
The young merman continued, "My aunt painstakingly wove dozens of dragon silk garments for humans, and she even went blind from crying for pearls. They then skinned her scales alive, saying that eating mermen would grant them longevity! And just like that, my aunt was killed, cut up, and eaten by humans!"
Quan Lai's mind went blank, buzzing. His face was deathly pale, and he stood there, stunned.
He spoke after a long silence: "I thought...we and humans belong to the same human realm, and they would treat our race as their own..."
"You're so naive! Humans are just like that! Vicious and greedy!" the merman said through gritted teeth.
"Believe me... I will get you out of here. Not all humans are like this, right?" Quan Lai's voice grew softer and softer, until it was almost inaudible due to her lack of confidence.
"Save us? Don't dream about it. You can't even save yourself. We'll all die at the hands of humans sooner or later."
The merfolk unanimously agreed with the merman's words, while Quanlai felt confused and lowered her head.
He asked softly, "Where is this?"
The old merman replied, "You'd better not even think about escaping the water prison of the human palace. You can't escape. This is land, we can't walk, and humans know magic. We mermen don't know anything, we can't win."
Magic, humans, merfolk.
An absurd thought popped into Quanlai's mind, but she quickly suppressed it.
He watched as his people lay paralyzed in the shallow water, and steeled himself to try to stand upright on the ground, but he quickly fell down.
Quanshu asked worriedly, "Brother, what are you doing!"
“I want to escape. I want to learn to ‘walk’,” he said, without stopping.
His clansmen watched him comically stand up and then slip and fall, advising him, "Don't try. It won't work."
“I must try,” Quanlai said firmly.
From the second day onward, his life began its countdown. Every day he repeated the same few things: weaving dragon silk, crying, trying to walk, forcing himself to cry while collecting pearls.
He believed that the pearls he had collected would definitely come in handy.
Finally, after several months, Quanlai was pleasantly surprised to find that she could "walk" by hopping on her fish tail.
He tries to stay out of the water every day, and now he spends more and more time away from it, and may be able to completely stay out of the water in the future.
Every day on his way from the Dragon Silk Chamber to the Imperial Palace and then to the Water Prison, he would hear humans discussing that spell, and he learned a little about it.
Quanlai gathered her clansmen in the water dungeon and shared her momentous discovery: "Don't you think the Merfolk don't belong to the human realm at all? Humans know immortal magic, demons know demonic arts, demons have demonic energy, and the ghost realm has ghostly energy. How come we have nothing?"
"Brother, don't bother. Just admit your incompetence; we're all useless." These days, Quan Shu seems like a different person, no longer possessing her former vitality, and like the other merfolk, she's just waiting to die.
Quan Lai, undeterred, continued, "Impossible! We must be something! Besides, humans have feet and walk on land, while we have fish tails and can only stay in water, and we look completely different! How could we both be in the human world?"
"Brother, you... are truly beyond saving."
Quan Shu's words plunged him into an icy abyss. That cold look in her eyes was the same look her younger sister, who used to cling to him, had given him.
Quan Lai's resolve to escape with his people intensified. He needed an opportunity.
After some time, he finally got his chance. The servants were escorting him into the water dungeon, but when they reached the first floor of the palace, the servants had to temporarily leave their posts because of the wanted criminal. He threatened Quanlai before leaving, saying, "You stay where you are and don't move, or you'll be sorry."
Quan Lai gave a fawning smile, and only then did the servant leave with peace of mind.
He frantically leaped forward across the first floor of the palace, trying to memorize its layout and locations, especially the main entrance.
At a corner, he bumped into someone. Quanlai was terrified and apologized nervously, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!"
The other person didn't speak, but upon closer inspection, he saw a richly dressed woman who appeared gentle and approachable. This must be the legendary princess!
The princess smiled slightly: "Aren't you watching where you're going?"
Quanlai didn't think much of it; he only knew that the princess smiled at him, but he didn't see the anger hidden in that smile.
He carefully took out half of the pearl and asked, "Your Highness, your status is so noble. If I give you these pearls, can you send me back to the sea?"
He eagerly awaited the princess's answer. The princess accepted all the pearls, and his face lit up with joy, only to be kicked to the ground a second later.
Quanlai looked up in shock, only to see a sudden look of disgust on the princess's gentle face. She shouted, "Guards! This wretched shark has dared to defy its superior and even dared to try to escape. Peel off its scales so they can be used to decorate my dress."
He turned his head sharply and was slapped again. His eyes widened and his lips trembled slightly.
This time, half of his scales were plucked off, leaving the rest as a warning. He deeply understood that one cannot judge a book by its cover.
But with such a beautiful face, it would be such a waste if he couldn't be of any use...
His face was swollen from being hit a few days ago, and it hasn't fully healed yet; his hair is also a mess. Next time, he'll make good use of this face.
Quanlai remembered the location of the palace, and also the excruciating pain of having her scales plucked.
He was fooled by the princess's gentle appearance, so naturally he had to fool her back.
He dyed his hair black with ink and braided half of it, letting it drape over his shoulder. Quan Lai was sixteen, a crucial age for growth. As time went by, he grew even more beautiful.
Quanlai was the last merman in the clan who firmly believed they could escape. Even the mermen who came after him had been tormented to the point of giving up hope, leaving him the only one who persisted.
Every time he passed by the palace, he would eavesdrop on the students' conversations. Quan Lai pondered to himself, what is luck, and what is spiritual power?
His own understanding was that activating the hidden energy within his body could be used to attack others.
On another night when he was beaten black and blue, he was angrier than ever before, consumed by rage. He felt a surge of inner energy, and he sat down on the ground like the students, trying to circulate that power.
This time, Quanlai succeeded.
He can manipulate water on the ground, and although the volume of water is small, it's a good start.
He did not wake the sleeping members of his tribe as he had done before.
The rage seemed to help him find this power, and from then on, he manipulated the water every night, drowning in ever-growing rage.
"Brother, don't be so stubborn," Quan Shu said softly.
Accustomed to being consumed by rage, he roared, "I'm saving you all in my own way!!"
Quan Shu was stunned, and so was he.
This was the first time he had ever scolded his younger sister. Looking at her red, swollen eyes, he finally panicked and frantically wiped away her tears: "I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I shouldn't have scolded you..."
Quanlai understood that he shouldn't let his emotions control him. After this experience, he calmly sought out his "inner strength."
Six months later, he finally achieved his goal of being able to manipulate liquids at will without relying on any emotions. On his most successful occasion, he controlled all the water on the floor of the water prison, and thankfully, his tribesmen were fast asleep in the early morning and did not notice.
He waited for the next opportunity. Two months later, his efforts paid off, and Quanlai was once again alone in the palace.
Every day at this time, the princess appears in that place.
Quan Lai struck a pose and leaned against that spot. He was 100% confident in his good looks.
The figure appeared as she had hoped, and the princess froze, stunned by the sudden appearance of a handsome man.
Seeing the amazement on the princess's stunned face, Quanlai knew he had succeeded.
He changed his hair color. The last time the princess saw him, his face was swollen, but this time he made the most of his good looks, and he didn't believe the princess would recognize him. In order to avoid being discovered because of the scales on half of his body, Quanlai hardened his heart and personally removed all the remaining scales.
The princess knelt down and asked gently, "Young master, I know you, as a mermaid, live a miserable life, with all your scales plucked out. I am the princess of the Kingdom of Bolan. Would you like to come with me?"
Quanlai pretended to hesitate for a moment, but then flashed the smile he had practiced for so long and said, "Alright! From now on, I belong to Her Highness the Princess!"
The princess was overjoyed and begged the king to give her the mermaid. The king, who doted on his daughter, naturally agreed.
He followed the princess around all day. Quanlai was very good at making the princess happy. The princess was always overjoyed by his words. She doted on Quanlai and always carried a water bag with her. As a result, he lived a good life. Every night he lived in a large water tank in a separate room, which made it more convenient for him to practice "magic".
Those around could see how much the princess adored the merman, and no one dared to stop her. Quanlai attended magic classes with the princess, and after some time, he had become highly skilled at manipulating liquids.
Quanlai wasn't satisfied; this wasn't enough to escape. He had followed the princess out of the palace before and only then did he realize how far the sea was from the royal palace.
It wasn't until a cultivation class, when the instructor mentioned the story of the demon race and demonic arts, that Quan Lai suddenly realized that the merfolk should belong to the demon race. They were all animal-transformed, and even their ability to control water matched up.
Most importantly, he learned that some monsters could manipulate the weather within a certain range. He practiced for another six months, and luckily, the merfolk were among these "some monsters."
"Your Highness, I want to go to the beach with you," Quanlai said pitifully to the princess.
The princess was immediately captivated by his handsome face: "Since it was you who suggested it, of course I can!"
She abandoned her studies and prepared a carriage to head to the sea.
As they neared their destination, Quan Lai's heart sank. She began to circulate the enormous energy within her body, her fingers twitching slightly without arousing the princess's suspicion.
The sky darkened, and there was a faint glimmer of thunder.
The princess muttered, "It was sunny just now, how come it's about to rain? Ah Lai, let's go back."
"But... I really want to go." He blinked his deep blue eyes, and the princess was once again defeated by his face: "Alright then, we'll go back to the carriage if it rains!"
The carriage stopped on the shore. Quan Lai, with a gloomy face and her back to the princess, asked in an unchanged tone: "Your Highness, did you punish a white-haired mermaid three years ago?"
The princess recalled it and remembered. She said to Quanlai in a coquettish tone, "Ah Lai~ you know, that merman didn't have eyes and bumped into me, it hurt so much! Can you rub it for me?"
Quanlai moved her fingers but didn't say anything.
"Ah Lai?"
A bolt of lightning struck precisely in front of her, startling her so much that she took a step back.
A heavy rumbling sound rang out simultaneously with the roaring sound of the rising sea.
The seawater surged wildly, and Quanlai was already standing on the shore facing the princess, with several impatient giant waves churning behind him.
The princess had never seen him with such a gloomy expression before. She stumbled over to him, only to have him grabbed by the neck.
"Ah Lai! What are you doing!"
Quanlai leaned close to her ear and whispered, "You have a good memory, but you've forgotten something very important. I am the white-haired mermaid from back then."
The sound horrified the princess. A look of terror crossed her face as she felt the grip on her neck tighten. She cried out in fear, "Ah! Is that so... I'm sorry!! I was really wrong back then! Ah Lai, let me go!"
He did release his grip, but at the same time, a tsunami came under his control.
An inexhaustible supply of seawater surged onto the shore, rushing wildly into the Kingdom of Bolan amidst thunderstorms.
The Kingdom of Bolan has been flooded.
That year, Quanlai was 19 years old.
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