A thunderous splash rang out.
Dongfang Minghui was utterly stunned by Wei Junlan's spectacularly unwise move. It was as though they had not just been negotiating in secret at the risk of exposing themselves. He had even agreed to her three conditions-no getting angry, no losing his mind, and he had to trust her. Yet in the blink of an eye, the bastard had thrown caution to the wind and hurled himself into the cold, dark sea.
That leap...
"What was that sound?"
"Quick, someone's over there! Catch them!"
"Fucking idiot."
Dongfang Minghui truly wanted to swear. They had not even begun their bewildering exploration of the island before a group of Merfolk neglecting their duties at the docks discovered them. More importantly, as she watched Wei Junlan splashing about on the surface, the beautiful deep-blue mermaid tail she expected, the one that had dazzled her eyes, never appeared. No matter how quickly those two legs kicked like a frog's, she could not blind herself and insist they were a fish's tail. Worse still, in the brief time since he jumped into the sea, four or five Merfolk had followed him in. Their target was the "stowaway" making all those waves.
Amid Wei Junlan's theatrical delight, she bit down on the deep-blue bead and plunged into the sea's icy embrace again with a splash. Thankfully, the water shield was even better than she had imagined. Otherwise, she would have wanted to strangle the beautiful mermaid Wei who had exposed them both to everyone.
"You little rascal, you almost fooled me." Wei Junlan kicked merrily at the surface, positively asking for a beating, his face wreathed in smiles. It was the relieved smile of someone who had finally lifted a boulder off his chest, bright and radiant, yet tinged with an