Just then, they saw a shell slowly open before them, and a sturdy little boy stepped out.
The little fellow looked five or six years old and was utterly adorable, like a child sneaking out to play for fear of being caught by his parents.
Yet he seemed different from ordinary humans. A layer of pale blue scales covered his face, and his pointed ears looked somewhat translucent in the sunlight.
Su Jiu swept her Divine Sense over the little boy from head to toe, and her pupils involuntarily contracted.
As though doubting her own judgment, she brushed her right hand over the Petal Mark, and a silvery gleam immediately surfaced in her eyes.
Su Jiu's gaze flickered. She had never expected his true form to be a mermaid.
Mermaids, also known as merfolk, were beings of legend. They were said to be descendants of the gods, but because they were not perfect enough to please the gods, they had been abandoned. Still, legends were only legends, and their truth remained to be verified. At least, in neither of her two lives had Su Jiu ever seen these so-called merfolk.
To confirm her suspicions, she left the Mark active and waited quietly nearby to see whether any other merfolk would appear.
She recalled what the three fishermen they had encountered earlier had said. Could they have been merfolk too? Yet these merfolk had hardly seemed kindly disposed toward them.
Seeing three people standing not far from the cluster of shells, the little boy looked puzzled. Though he had originally meant to sneak off and play, he suddenly ran toward them instead. Tilting his head back, he stared up with wide, innocent eyes and asked curiously, "Why is the scent on you different from ours?"
Su Jiu's expression stiffened, and understanding