Chapter Two

Lin had already guessed what she intended to collect.

The very first day he regained consciousness, she took a knife and implanted an electric shock device into his fish tail. In a fit of rage, he struggled so violently that he shattered the only item in the room with any real value—a crystal trophy. Its base was inscribed with the words “Outstanding Student.”

What kind of outstanding student would do such a thing?

Annie collected his blood, scales, and hair… She picked up the remaining base of the trophy, her hands stained with crimson, and as she washed her hands, she carefully cleaned off the traces of merman blood from the words “Outstanding Student.”

The shattered crystal trophy was placed on the short wooden shelf beside the aquarium.

Annie’s figure blocked his line of sight. She released her grip with her teeth and reached out to gently touch the narrow, swollen slit behind Lin’s ear. The merman trembled all over, gripping her hand desperately.

“Let me go,” Lin said. “Let me return, let me go back to the Eighth District. I’ll repay you, give you a good life.”

“What do you mean by a good life?” Annie asked.

It was the first time she spoke underwater. As her voice traveled, tiny bubbles formed.

Lin was at a loss as to how to explain “a good life” to a creature like her. His mind spun, so he used the bait that would tempt a human: “A lot of money. Plenty of starcoins. And… lots of men.”

“What use is that?” Annie pressed on curiously.

He was momentarily speechless.

Annie twisted his hands behind his back, bowing her head so her snow-white hair floated in the water. After she took on the form of a female mermaid, her strength surpassed any human’s. Following descriptions from the starweb and books, she wrapped her slippery fish tail around him.

The fine scales slid against each other.

The faint rasp of scales was nearly soundless underwater, but Lin was forced to hear it. His translucent, exoskeletal ears pressed against the glass, the icy chill tingling his nerves. He gasped, his eyes reddening. “Let… let go, you can’t possibly unlock my—”

He referred to the reproductive lock.

Annie’s probing fingers found only scars and tense muscle on his tail. If not for the electric device, he could easily have turned on her and torn her apart. She could not find the spot she needed to sample, and Lin resisted so fiercely that he refused to open even the slightest gap.

Knock, knock, knock—

At that moment, their commotion finally drew the attention of someone else. The old man’s hoarse voice sounded at the door. “Annie?”

Annie glanced toward the door. In that instant of distraction, the fish tail beneath her hand suddenly wrapped tight, squeezing her waist with a force that could crush a human’s ribs and organs.

Lin’s hands gripped her throat.

The merman, in a desperate gamble, used immense strength. Annie’s neck turned blue and purple, and with a crack, it sounded as if her cervical vertebrae had shattered. Lin’s eyes widened as he watched the white-haired girl turn her head to look at him—

She actually twisted her head all the way around, as if it had been unscrewed.

“Annie?” The old man muttered outside, “No idea what mischief you’re up to all day…”

It was as if Annie only now realized her head had come off. She quickly held it in place, and a viscous, flesh-pink fluid oozed from the split in her neck. The sticky substance sealed the fissure, fixing her head back onto her shoulders.

She looked at the blue-haired merman.

Lin was utterly stunned.

His sapphire eyes were full of shock. Hatred and fury were abruptly extinguished, leaving those proud, glass-bead-like eyes utterly blank.

Annie leaned in a few inches, her pale pink eyes nearly brushing against his lashes. “Why are you so angry? It’ll take me days to repair this.”

Lin suddenly snapped back to himself.

Why angry? Didn’t she know what she was doing?!

In an instant, his blue eyes burned with rage again. He buried his face against her throat, intent on biting through it. Annie, however, was prepared this time. Using the strength of an adult mermaid, she reversed their positions and pinned Lin in place. She hadn’t realized how much mermen liked to bite, so she clamped her hand tightly over his mouth, still stubbornly searching for the proper reproductive method.

Lin’s resistance was futile.

Until the water began to flood the floor, seeping out beneath the door. Annie still found nothing unusual about his tail. The old man knocked again, this time more urgently, and shouted, “Annie! Don’t waste water!”

Annie released him and climbed out of the tank.

As soon as she left the water, her body quickly reverted to that of a human girl. She shook out her damp white hair, wiped herself off, and dressed. “I know.”

The noise outside subsided. Annie finished getting dressed and noticed the water level had dropped by half. Lin lay sunken at the bottom, his long blue hair covering his shoulders and obscuring his expression; only the heaving of his chest betrayed his rapid breathing.

She had achieved nothing. As she cleaned up and mopped the floor, she pondered the situation. Halfway through drying the puddles, she suddenly remarked, “I might have to kill you in a few days.”

Lin didn’t respond at first. After half a minute, he let out a hoarse, mirthless laugh.

“I can’t get any information from you,” Annie said as she wiped her notebook dry. “You’re not cooperating at all. I’ll have to go to Hailan University and find a new target.”

Lin bared his teeth, about to launch into a mocking tirade, but the words “Outstanding Student” flashed through his mind from the broken trophy. He hesitated. “You… were admitted?”

“Mm.” Annie glanced at the water-stained, blurred handwriting in her notebook, took out a fresh pen, and continued recording.

Hailan University only offered fifty or sixty places to humans.

“A slum girl like you—how could you possibly…” Lin blurted out. Halfway through, his throat seized up, and he, a fish, actually choked on water, coughing as he turned away.

“There are lots of mermen there—actually, it’s all mermen, right?” Annie said. “I can’t take you to school with me, so I’ll have to kill you.”

Scenes of young mermen being captured and tormented by such a monster flashed through Lin’s mind. He pressed a hand to his face in pain.

Annie finished her notes, put on her starweb watch, and checked the black market prices for merman body parts. As she reviewed the numbers, she heard Lin’s voice.

“…You’re not lying to me, are you?”

Annie tilted her head, gazing at him innocently, as if to say, “What do you think?”

Lin gritted his teeth. “With a reproductive lock, even if you catch more mermen, you’ll never get what you want.” He truly had no idea what this monster wanted besides producing offspring, but he forced himself to continue, “Humans don’t have this concept. You can look up what a reproductive lock is. The younger the merman, the harder it is to open… I can cooperate with you.”

The last few words were difficult to say. He fell silent, looking away.

Annie considered him for a moment. Mermen were a complete mystery to her; Lin was her only specimen. She tapped her fingers on the starweb interface, as if changing her mind.

She looked at the blue-haired merman through the glass. “All right. I can implant a microchip in your brain that explodes if you say anything you shouldn’t. Then—” She snapped her fingers, her pink eyes alight with playful mischief. “Bang, and it’s fish for dinner.”

“…”

“But can you even get into Hailan University?” Annie asked. “I heard there’s a selection process for mermen, too…”

Lin stared at her for a moment, then, in resignation, rasped, “I’m a teacher there.”

Annie paused, forgetting to simulate any emotion. Her response was flat, words articulated clearly: “Wow. Oh.”

“What’s so hard to believe?” Her mockery was so dry that Lin seethed with frustration. “If I hadn’t accepted a teaching invitation half a month ago, how could I have run into you, you monster? Who else would be wandering through the Third District, just to randomly fall out of the sky—”

Annie pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh. If my old man finds out, he’ll chop you to pieces and hang every strand of your hair for sale.”

Lin held back his anger and fell silent.

–

Three days after the chip was implanted in his brain, she packed her things and left without a word, taking Lin with her.

“Please refrain from murder, robbery, or organ trafficking aboard this train—”

“Please do not carry goods prohibited by interstellar law—”

“The fare has been automatically deducted. We wish you a pleasant journey.”

She boarded the airship bound for the Eighth District ahead of schedule. The expensive ticket used up the last of Annie’s meager savings. She counted the balance behind her starweb ID again and again, calculating just how much more she needed for tuition.

Suddenly, the blue head resting on her shoulder stirred.

Lin’s eyes opened to a slit. He said quietly, “Out of money?”

“Mm.” Annie nodded, reaching out to straighten the scarf around Lin’s neck.

Since the starship accident, Lin had been weak, only able to cooperate with her research when submerged. His wounds had never truly healed—if anything, they’d only worsened over time. Now forced to maintain his human form beside her on land, he struggled each day.

He didn’t know how long he’d live, but for now, being alive meant he could still feel discomfort. So whenever he could rest, he closed his eyes and leaned against this little monster to sleep.

The airship, with its low fares, rarely checked identities. Annie used her own starweb account to buy two tickets. Lin’s appearance was too striking—humans were worth little, but mermen were prized. She wrapped him in a scarf and hat, and his waist-length blue hair added to the disguise; passersby couldn’t tell his true race.

Lin exhaled softly, his cold breath brushing Annie’s cheek. She heard him say, “I have money.”

Annie rummaged in her bag, pulling out all the documents she’d confiscated, including Lin’s starweb watch, various certificates, and several cards in the merman language she didn’t recognize.

Lin pointed to a thin card.

Annie eyed his slender fingers and nails, thinking she ought to trim them and buy gloves. She looked away, took the card, and scanned it with her starweb watch. “Hmm… iris verification. It won’t automatically trigger an alert, will it? Otherwise your family and friends will know you disappeared because I captured you, and then they’ll…”

“If it does, will you kill me?”

“Of course.” She touched the roots of his hair, where the tiny implant wound from the micro-bomb was hidden under deep blue strands.

Lin gave a low hum and leaned in for the scan.

The card’s balance transferred into Annie’s account.

He closed his eyes, his forehead resting against her white hair, weak and irritable. “Next time, pick a better ship. I hate the air here.”

“Second-class oxygen. Most people on Azure Star use it.”

Annie said this indifferently, while the blue head on her shoulder shifted with effort, wasting energy to display his displeasure by biting her neck.

Annie inhaled sharply, giving a soft hiss. Half a month had passed, and she was getting along with Lin less and less. As she pondered whether a human should be angry in this situation, a suspicious scene suddenly caught her eye.

Outside the window, another airship was visible.

Against the gray, dilapidated backdrop of the lower city, the airship had veered off its intended course, burning, speeding through the sky. It belched smoke and showers of sparks, hurtling forward like a rampaging, out-of-control dragon.