I Am Not an Exhibit

When the Silver Hook lit up, the crowd finally realized this was not a performance.

Some screamed, some raised their phones, and some shouted excitedly, "It's so real." Those voices mingled together like fish trapped in a glass tank. Coral stood in the center of the dance floor, seeing that every pair of eyes was like glass. Some held fear, some greed, and some the simple curiosity of a child.

She was still holding that piece of paper.

I am not an exhibit.

Nor yours.

Madam White looked at the two crooked lines of writing. The smile on her face faded but did not disappear. She raised her hand, and the music stopped, but the blue lights remained on. The water beneath the dance floor surged within the transparent flooring, as if sensing something waking up.

Lu Wenchao shielded Coral firmly behind him.

Madam White took a blood contract from Qin Yan. When the paper unfurled, silver characters floated up like living things.

"Lu Wenchao." Madam White's voice carried through the hall via the loudspeaker. "Hunter ID has been burned. Releasing prey, attacking colleagues, destroying files. According to guild rules—execution."

Coral tugged his sleeve and wrote on the paper: What is execution?

Lu Wenchao did not let her see.

"A very bad kind of rule," he said.

Qin Yan walked down the steps, the Silver Hook hanging at his side. "Hand her over now, and I can plead for leniency on your behalf."

"You plead?" Lu Wenchao sneered. "Learn to be human first."

Qin Yan's face darkened.

"What do you think you look like now?" Qin Yan said. "A hero? A guardian? You're just bewitched by her song. Once she returns to the sea, you won't even have your hunter status anymore."

Lu Wenchao glanced at Coral.

She was bowing her head, writing on the paper in a hurry, the strokes crooked: Does being a hunter hurt?

Lu Wenchao suddenly smiled.

"It does," he said. "But not as much as she does."

Madam White raised her hand.

The hunters closed in, Silver Threads weaving a net across the floor. The net was very similar to the one that had first caught Coral, only finer, brighter, and colder. The moment Coral's ankle touched the Silver Thread, her face paled another shade.

Lu Wenchao drew his Silver Hook and cut the nearest Silver Thread in reverse.

"Stay close to me."

Coral nodded.

Xiaoman, hiding behind a pillar, was frantic enough to cry: "Left! There's an exit on the left!"

Jiang Yue's voice came through the earpiece: "No good. The left leads to a lantern array. Head toward the Bell Tower."

"The Bell Tower is on the second floor!"

"Then get to the second floor!"

Lu Wenchao had no time to argue. He charged toward the stairs with Coral, but Qin Yan intercepted them ahead of time. Silver Hook clashed against Silver Hook, sparks falling into the water. The guests scattered in panic. A noblewoman's pearl necklace snapped, beads scattering everywhere. Blue brooches were crushed underfoot, residual songs leaking from the fragments, letting out tiny screams.

Coral covered her ears.

She could not sing a complete song, but those residual songs seemed to recognize her, desperately trying to burrow into her throat. Pain spread from her severed Song Throat, and her steps faltered.

Lu Wenchao immediately steadied her.

"Don't listen."

She shook her head, unable to write on the paper, and could only say in a broken whisper: "They... want to go home."

Madam White stood high above, her pearl earrings dazzlingly bright: "Dear, do you hear that? They're all waiting for you. As long as you sing, they can be made whole."

"Shut up," Lu Wenchao said coldly.

Madam White smiled. "Wenchao, the more you block her, the softer her heart will become. You should know better than I—she can't let anything cry for too long."

Coral's throat ached.

She had no complete song, but she could still produce a faint remnant of sound. That sound was very soft, like a broken shell scraping across sand. She wasn't trying to summon anything—she just wanted to calm those residual songs trapped inside the brooches and lanterns, to stop them from crashing so painfully.

The tide answered her.

First, the water beneath the dance floor surged violently, slamming against the transparent flooring with a dull roar. Then, the glass doors outside the aquarium hall were forced open by seawater. Waves rushed in, overturning the red carpet, wine glasses, and Silver Threads. The crowd screamed and fled, the hunters' formation breaking apart.

"You sang again!" Lu Wenchao scooped her up and charged toward the Bell Tower passage on the second floor.

Coral's face was pale as paper, but she still managed to whisper a vague phrase in a breathy voice: "Even if it's... not pretty... it's useful."

His eyes reddened. "Shut up."

She smiled.

That smile was very light, as if to say she had never been able to shut her heart.

The Bell Tower door closed behind them. The tide crashed against it from outside, the guests' screams muffled, leaving only the hurried breathing in the stairwell. Lu Wenchao set Coral down. She leaned against the wall, her fingertips trembling.

"Don't ever do that again," he said.

Coral took out her little notebook and wrote: We'll talk later.

Lu Wenchao was so angry he wanted to curse at her, but then the pocket watch suddenly sprang out from his chest.

The lid popped open. The hands spun wildly backward.

Downstairs in the tidewater, an old pocket watch floated to the surface.

That watch spun in the water, not swept away, as if someone were holding it up from below. It was identical to the pocket watch in Lu Wenchao's hand—except its lid had no scratches, but was inlaid with a small white shell.

Coral leaned over the stair railing to look down.

Between the two pocket watches, she heard someone knocking.

Thump.

Thump.

As if Lu Qi had finally found the echo from the other side.