Xiaoman's Manga

Xiaoman's manga saved their lives.

To be precise, it was the fact that before being kidnapped, Xiaoman insisted on drawing the kidnappers' route in the style of a少女 manga storyboard that saved them.

After escaping from the Abandoned Dock Warehouse, the four of them hid in an abandoned manga shop. The shop had been closed for a long time, with faded posters on the glass windows and moldy magazines piled up behind the counter. Xiaoman sat on the floor, her hands still trembling, but her mouth wouldn't stop.

"The moment I saw something was wrong, I knew I was done for. A beautiful side character like me was finally going to get a kidnapping plot."

Lu Wenchao was treating the wound on Shanhu's shoulder and said coldly, "Talk less."

"If I don't talk, I'll be scared."

Shanhu immediately handed her the straw. "Then blow on it."

Xiaoman took the straw, her eyes reddening again. "How are you still keeping this?"

"You gave it to me," Shanhu said. "A friend's things must be returned."

Lu Wenchao sprinkled medicinal powder on the wound. Shanhu's tailbone tensed from the pain, but she didn't cry out. She just looked down at the spot on her shoulder where a scale was missing and asked softly, "Will it grow back?"

Lu Wenchao's hand froze.

Xiaoman fell silent.

Shanhu looked up at them. "It won't?"

"It will," Lu Wenchao said.

Jiang Yue wasn't here, and he didn't know if it would either. He only knew that right now, he couldn't let her hear another answer.

Xiaoman quickly flipped open her manga. "Look at this first! When I was captured, I overheard them talking about an auction, so I drew the route afterward. It's a bit rough, but art comes from life—there's more soul when you're tense."

The manga opened.

On the first page, Madam Bai smiled, with the words "Pearl Boss Appears" written beside her. The second panel showed the Abandoned Church bell tower, with a crack splitting the clock face. The third panel showed a group of hunters raising silver hooks, their expressions drawn by Xiaoman to look like sharks. The fourth panel showed Lu Wenchao carrying the mermaid as he fled, with a giant heart drawn beside them.

When Lu Wenchao saw the last panel, his face darkened.

"What does this heart mean?" Shanhu asked.

Xiaoman coughed. "Danger symbol."

"So hearts are dangerous." Shanhu looked at her with newfound respect.

Lu Wenchao said, "She's lying to you."

Xiaoman guiltily looked away. "Not entirely a lie. Love is dangerous to begin with."

Shanhu seriously noted, "Love is a danger symbol."

Lu Wenchao pulled the manga out of her hands. "Don't note that."

The later pages of the manga showed more detailed routes. The back door of the church, the underground entrance, three locks, and a circular hall decorated with pearl earrings. Xiaoman had marked it with exaggerated arrows: Here! The place where the big villain hides things!

Lu Wenchao studied the drawing. "How do you know about the underground entrance?"

"I pretended to be unconscious when they dragged me in," Xiaoman said. "But I actually peeked through squinted eyes. Later, when they tied me up in the warehouse, I drew it from memory."

"You've got guts."

"I don't have guts." Xiaoman sniffled. "I just thought, if I didn't leave anything behind, you wouldn't find the way."

Shanhu reached out and held her hand. "You left it. It's very bright."

Xiaoman froze. "What's bright?"

"Your path."

The manga shop fell silent for a moment.

Lu Wenchao looked down and整理 the silver hooks, pretending not to hear.

By the time they found the Abandoned Church using the code from the manga, it was almost dark. The church was on the edge of White Whale Town's old district. In earlier years, it had been a place where sailors prayed for safe passage. Later, Madam Bai bought it and converted it into the preparatory venue for the "Mermaid Legend Immersive Exhibition." It looked abandoned on the outside, but the bell tower had been cleaned very thoroughly.

Xiaoman was in charge of picking the locks, Lu Wenchao was in charge of keeping watch, and Shanhu was in charge of avoiding every heart symbol.

"That one's not a trap," Lu Wenchao said.

"Xiaoman said it's dangerous."

Xiaoman whispered, "Now's not the time to explain artistic symbols."

The underground entrance was hidden behind the confessional. When the door opened, a cold fragrance rushed out—the same scent as Madam Bai's. As soon as Shanhu stepped down the stairs, she heard many tiny sounds.

Not human voices.

Songs.

The basement was filled with glass bottles, each holding fragments of blue light. Every bottle had a label: Low Tide Tune, Juvenile Remnant Song, Lure Segment, Hemostasis Segment, suspected fragments of the Tide Keeper clan. As Shanhu approached, the blue light gathered toward her, like lost little fish colliding against the glass.

Her face turned pale. "These are songs. Many people's songs."

Xiaoman covered her mouth.

Lu Wenchao smashed a bottle. The blue light flew out, and Shanhu thought it would return to the sea, but it merely circled in the air before being drawn into a pearl earring suspended at the center of the church.

The earring hung inside a glass apparatus, blue to the point of being nearly transparent.

Lu Wenchao said in a low voice, "Madam Bai doesn't just need you."

"She's collected many songs that can't go home," Shanhu said.

Xiaoman's voice trembled. "This isn't an exhibition—it's a slaughterhouse."

Lu Wenchao found a list on the table with the Full Moon Night Ritual procedure written on it. The first few items were exhibition, auction, VIP inspection, and the last line was circled in red ink: The complete song of the Tide Keeper clan can open the Rift Tide.

Shanhu suddenly heard someone crying inside the pearl earring.

The cry was beautiful, and very old. It sounded like someone who had been singing alone inside a glass case for many years, singing until she forgot who she was waiting for.

Shanhu reached out to touch it, but Lu Wenchao stopped her.

"Don't touch."

"Someone's inside."

"Then definitely don't touch."

A bell rang upstairs.

Dong.

The sound of a lock clicking shut came from the basement entrance.

Qin Yan led his men to block the stairs. Madam Bai's voice came through the loudspeaker, gentle and clear, as if she had been waiting for this moment all along.

"Darling, thank you for walking in on your own."

Shanhu looked up. The remnant songs inside the glass bottles all crashed against the walls of their containers at once.

The basement door was locked.