Auction List

Lu Wenchao slipped back into the Hunter Guild at night.

The old guild building stood on North Street of White Whale Town, looking like an abandoned insurance company with a faded bronze plaque by the door. No one paid it any attention during the day, but at night lights were always on. Lu Wenchao knew every door here, every camera blind spot, and the row of commemorative Silver Hooks on the wall.

Lu Qi's Silver Hook had once hung at the very center.

Later, Lady Bai took it away, saying it would be placed in the honor case of the "Mermaid Legend Exhibition." That day, Lu Wenchao stood in the guild hall, staring at the empty spot, and for the first time felt that honor and disappearance were the same thing—endings others wrote for you.

Tonight, he would steal back a different ending from this building.

The rain had just stopped. Murky water still flowed in the gutter outside the wall. Lu Wenchao climbed over the back wall onto the archive room windowsill. The moment his lockpick touched the keyhole, a silver-blue head popped up below the window.

"I didn't run off," Coral said softly. "I'm seriously keeping up."

Lu Wenchao nearly snapped his lockpick in half.

"Go back."

"A dog spoke to me on the way."

"Dogs don't speak."

"It said woof."

"That's not a reason to follow me."

Coral gripped the windowsill, gazing at him with pleading eyes. She wore the soft-soled shoes bought that afternoon, their tops stained with mud—clearly she'd had a hard time walking, but she hadn't complained of pain. Her hat was crooked, and a few silver-blue strands escaped her scarf, like moonlight that couldn't be hidden in the night.

Lu Wenchao stared at her for three seconds, then, as if admitting defeat, pulled her inside.

"From now on, don't touch anything."

"Does that include the floor?"

"…Except the floor."

The archive room was filled with iron cabinets, the air thick with the smell of paper ash, sea salt, and old leather. On the wall hung the emblem of the Hunter Guild: a Silver Hook piercing through waves. Coral stared at it for a long time, then whispered, "It's hurting the sea."

Lu Wenchao's hand, reaching for a cabinet, paused. "It's an emblem."

"Can an emblem hurt the sea?"

He didn't answer.

He pulled out several recent transfer records. They bore cold codenames: Azure Scales sample, Tidal Resonance Fragments, Living Legend Assets. Every word avoided "mermaid," as if avoiding the word would keep blood from staining the paper.

Coral spotted a safe in the corner. "What a big seashell!" she exclaimed in delight.

"Don't touch."

She had already touched it.

The safe let out a beep.

Lu Wenchao's expression changed as he prepared to draw his blade. But the safe door sprang open on its own. Coral looked at him proudly. "It likes me."

Lu Wenchao looked down. On the keypad, the water from her fingertips traced a string of old-style Hunter ID numbers—exactly Lu Qi's number from back then.

Inside the safe were the auction list, transfer records, and a Blood Pact from ten years ago. The first line of the list read: Living Mermaid, Tide-Keeper Clan, Complete Song, starting bid thirty million.

Coral didn't understand "thirty million," but she recognized the pattern of her own clan mark.

"Is this my name?"

Lu Wenchao closed the list. "No."

"Then why does it have my scales drawn on it?"

"Because they want to turn you into a thing."

Coral fell silent.

She finally understood something: some humans didn't fail to understand what she said—they simply didn't need her to speak. Lady Bai called her "dear," the posters drew her tail, the list bore her clan mark, but nowhere did it write "Coral."

She reached out and touched the edge of the list, her voice very soft. "If I have no name, will it hurt less?"

Lu Wenchao's throat tightened. "No."

"Then why don't they write it?"

Because once you write a name, it's harder to wield the knife.

Lu Wenchao didn't say that out loud.

He pulled out the transfer records. After the auction, the buyer requested "on-site extraction of the initial Song," with a note: Keep the sample conscious; pain can enhance Song Fluctuation.

Coral leaned in, only recognizing a few characters. "Pain… Song?"

Lu Wenchao folded the paper. "Don't look."

"They know I'll feel pain."

He couldn't deny it.

Her voice grew a little softer. "Then it's not a misunderstanding."

Footsteps sounded outside the door.

Qin Yan's voice came through the door. "The archive room doesn't welcome old friends at night."

Lu Wenchao quickly lit a flame. The edges of the transfer records curled up in black smoke. Coral grew anxious. "Does the paper feel pain?"

"No."

"But it's turning black."

"Some things deserve to burn."

He took his own Hunter ID badge from the drawer and threw it into the fire along with Coral's transfer records. The badge glowed red from the flames, giving off tiny cracking sounds. Lu Wenchao watched it, as if watching a path he had burned down with his own hands.

Outside, Qin Yan began to slam against the door.

"You're burning guild archives, Wenchao."

"I know."

"Your father also started by burning a file back then."

Lu Wenchao's eyes darkened.

Qin Yan continued from outside. "Then he betrayed the guild, betrayed White Whale Town, and in the end, not even his body remained. Is this the path you want?"

Lu Wenchao kicked the brazier toward the door. Smoke surged through the crack, and coughing came from outside.

"At least he knew what he was burning," Lu Wenchao said.

He pulled open the back window and pushed Coral onto the sill.

"Jump."

"I can't fly."

"I'll catch you."

She jumped immediately.

When Lu Wenchao caught her downstairs, the impact made him stumble back half a step. Coral wrapped her arms around his neck and offered a sincere compliment. "You catch things gentler than shoes."

The window upstairs shattered. Qin Yan leaned out, his smile gone.

"Lu Wenchao, once you cross out your ID number, you're no longer a hunter."

Lu Wenchao turned and charged into the night with Coral in his arms.

"Perfect."

Flames erupted from the archive room, illuminating Qin Yan's face.

He didn't pursue immediately. He looked down and saw a fallen Azure Scale on the ground, glowing. The scale was tiny, like shards of moonlight, yet it burned his palm numb.

Qin Yan slowly closed his fingers.

"Lady Bai will like this."