The Sea Ten Years Ago

Jiang Yue spread the sea chart from ten years ago across the table.

The edges of the paper had been burned, and there was a dark blue water stain in the lower left corner, like a small patch of dried nocturnal sea. Unlike the current sea charts, this one showed a vast blank area in the waters off White Whale Town. In the center of that blank space, Lu Qi had drawn a tiny door-shaped symbol in pen.

"This is where Lu Qi went last," Jiang Yue pointed to the blank area. "The Rift Tide."

Coral wrote beside it: I've heard of it.

Lu Wenchao looked at her.

She wrote again: Black door. Crying watch.

The pocket watch on the table let out a soft chime, as if in response to her. Lu Wenchao opened the lid. Inside, the engraved markings seeped a thin blue light. The light fell onto the sea chart, slowly illuminating a hidden line of text.

Do not let the song become the key.

Lu Wenchao's face darkened.

Jiang Yue said, "Your father discovered back then that the Rift Tide isn't simply a crack in the seabed. It responds to song—especially the complete song of the Tide-Keeping Clan. The more complete the song, the wider the door opens."

Xiaoman sat nearby clutching her comic book, her face pale. "How wide does Lady White want to open it?"

"Wide enough for her to take out what's inside," Jiang Yue said. "Or to let what's inside turn her back to youth."

"What exactly is inside?" Lu Wenchao asked.

Jiang Yue was silent for a moment. "Desire. The Black Tide reflects whatever a person desires most, then makes you believe you can reach it."

Coral lowered her head and wrote: So she saw youth.

Jiang Yue nodded. "She fears growing old. She fears being abandoned. She fears that the mermaid who saved her back then has returned to the sea. She mistook love for possession, and then dressed up possession as a collection."

Lu Wenchao stared at the sea chart. "The invitation wasn't just a provocation."

"Every single one is stained with a remnant song," Jiang Yue said. "The whole of White Whale Town is being set up as a ritual ground. The townspeople think it's a tourist festival. The tourists think it's a fairy tale performance. Only we know that when the full moon night comes, the Rift Tide will reach from the seabed to the shore."

Xiaoman flipped open her comic book and quickly sketched a diagram. "So Lady White is using the town as a stage, the light array as the frame, and the aquarium and the church as the two focal points?"

Jiang Yue glanced at her. "You've drawn it quite clearly."

"I'm a professional comic storyboard artist," Xiaoman said, forcing pride into her voice. "Though I haven't debuted yet."

"To stop the ritual, we must get the pearl earrings," Lu Wenchao said.

Jiang Yue nodded. "The earrings contain the earliest remnant song—they're also the fuse between her and the Rift Tide. Destroy them, and at least half the ritual will be broken."

"I can sneak in!" Xiaoman raised her hand. "I used to hand out flyers. Nobody notices me. With so many people at the festival, I'll slip into the crowd and blend in like an ordinary potato."

Lu Wenchao said, "Too dangerous."

Xiaoman looked at Coral. "If Miss Mermaid can charge in, so can I."

Coral wrote seriously: We'll charge in together.

Lu Wenchao pressed down on the paper. "Not everything can be solved by charging."

Coral wrote again: Then by you?

He was struck silent.

Jiang Yue suddenly chuckled. "Your father was once blocked like that by a mermaid too."

Lu Wenchao looked up. "You knew her?"

"I did." Jiang Yue gazed out the window. "The mermaid who saved Bai Lingzhu was also a Tide-Keeper. She refused to stay, so Bai Lingzhu turned love into a collection."

Coral lowered her head and wrote: Love is not a collection.

Lu Wenchao saw those words, and something stirred softly in his chest.

Xiaoman leaned over to look. "That's a good line. I'm putting it in my comic."

Coral wrote again: Use the right characters.

Xiaoman nodded gravely. "Absolutely."

The plan was finally set for the day of the festival. Jiang Yue would cut off the tidal signal between the lighthouse and the old aquarium. Xiaoman would infiltrate the volunteer team to locate the earrings. Lu Wenchao would sneak into the backstage, while Coral would act as bait to lure out Lady White.

Lu Wenchao disagreed with the last part.

Coral wrote directly on the paper: I agree.

"You can't speak now. What if you run into danger?"

She wrote: Run.

"You're terrible at running."

She wrote: Better than before.

"What if you're caught?"

She wrote: You catch me.

Lu Wenchao looked at her and finally surrendered.

Night fell, and White Whale Town began to hang lights. A stage was set up in the seaside square. The aquarium reopened, and workers laid blue carpets along both sides of the streets. Tourists were drawn in by the publicity. Children wore plastic fish tails, and vendors sold glowing pearl balloons.

No one knew that those beautiful blue lights held remnant songs.

Lady White stood on the second floor of the aquarium, gazing at the sea of lights across the town. The pearl earrings hung by her ears, their blue glow deeper than a few days ago. Behind her, Qin Yan placed a list of hunters on the table.

"Lu Wenchao will definitely come," Qin Yan said.

Lady White smiled. "Of course. His father came back then too."

"And the mermaid?"

"She'll come even more." Lady White stroked her earrings. "She can't lie, can't look away, can't let her friends fall into a trap alone. What a good child."

She looked out the window. The blue lights made her face look a few years younger.

"She's back," she whispered. "My little mermaid."

Inside the earrings, the remnant song trembled gently, like a door opening its eyes at the bottom of the sea.