Heat II

"No matter how cute I am, I'm not as cute as Your Majesty."

Hera: "..."

The blond deity gave two solemn coughs. It was unreasonable to call a deity cute.

Seeing Hera's NPC-like expression, Li Jia was delighted inwardly. This counted as a successful tease. Hera only fell silent like this when she couldn't win an argument against her and had no way to voice her grievances.

"You're not angry?"

Hera asked quietly.

"No. What would I have to be angry with Your Majesty about?" Li Jia stopped teasing her, burrowed into her arms, and poked the flesh beneath her upper arm.

How annoying. Hera's skin was firm, without a trace of flab, let alone bingo wings.

"I'm sorry..."

Li Jia thought she had misheard. Those words came so quickly and urgently, like a gust of wind sweeping past her ear without leaving an echo.

Li Jia had actually heard what she said clearly. She deliberately pretended she hadn't.

"What?"

"What did you just say, Your Majesty?"

Li Jia narrowed her eyes, the corners of her mouth curling into a provocative smile as she looked at Hera and asked with an innocent expression.

Hera turned her head away, pretending to look at the distant sea view, yet secretly glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. A faint blush spread over her neck.

Seeing that her boss wasn't responding, Li Jia didn't say anything more. It was best to know when to stop.

Nothing in the world mattered more than her boss's dignity when they were out.

Qili brought the two of them into Wave Capital and gave them a key to its palace. Hera had helped Qili, and the chief of the merfolk expressed her gratitude to them. The key let them come and go freely in the merfolk's royal palace. They were honored guests of the merfolk.

Li Jia chose a room with a sea view, hung with shell wind chimes. Opening the curtains revealed the distant sea, and when the sea breeze blew, crisp chimes rang throughout the room, making her drowsy.

Even the bed was shaped like a shell, a large one spacious enough for two or three people.

Still, Li Jia felt that the room had a bit of a kinky streak to it. The entire ceiling was a mirror. She flopped onto the bed and lay flat, able to see her own round face.

Li Jia sprawled on the bed like that, and Hera took off her shoes and sprawled beside her.

You took on the habits of the company you kept. After spending so much time with her, Hera had become just as lazy.

There was nothing wrong with sprawling around. Life was only thirty thousand days long. Society's progress was driven by a small elite, while ordinary people like her were mostly fuel for the times, pushed along by the era.

She remembered the hundred-day countdown rally in her final year of high school, when every student in her class had shared their grand ambitions.

Some said they wanted to become lawyers and champion justice for ordinary people.

Some said they wanted to become scientists and contribute to their country.

Others said they wanted to become doctors and heal the sick.

...Anyway, everyone's dreams were grand and lofty.

When Li Jia's turn came, she picked up the chalk and briskly wrote a few words on the blackboard: stay alive.

An uproar rose from below. How could anyone have such a boring dream?

Li Jia only cared about whether she had money each day, whether she could afford to keep herself fed and clothed, and whether she could avoid idiot bosses and clients.

Now she had found a good boss.

She wanted to work for her for the rest of her life.

After sleeping for a while, Li Jia reached out and tugged the blond hair beside her hand. The woman sleeping on her side immediately turned over. "Hungry?"

Li Jia was groggy. "Mm, hungry."

"Then get up. Change your clothes, and I'll take you out for something good."

"Okay."

Li Jia obediently got up and washed her face, then discovered an outfit laid out in the bathroom. It was what Wave Capital's merfolk wore, resembling a modern Dunhuang style.

The outfit was made from a layer of natural "scale gauze" as thin as a cicada's wing. These scales weren't hard, but woven from a special substance secreted by merfolk scales. They were a translucent pale blue, each shimmering with a soft, pearly luster.

The gauzy dress hugged her skin and reached her ankles, outlining Li Jia's delicate collarbones and slender neck and shoulders.

A belt of coral branches and strung pearls encircled her waist. The pearls varied in size, scattered around her waist like specks of starlight. Rather than constricting her, the belt cleverly traced the curves of Li Jia's waist.

Li Jia really liked the outfit and even put her hair into a bun.

Then she went out with Hera.

The Deep-Sea Wave Capital was inhabited entirely by merfolk and sea creatures. They were long accustomed to deities, so Hera didn't conceal Li Jia's appearance.

Only after they went outside did she realize something was off. Why was her gauzy dress so long, while the other merfolk only wore something on their upper bodies, made like bikinis that covered their nipples? Very sexy.

Compared with theirs, her outfit really put them in the shade when it came to being conservative. It was ridiculously modest.

Li Jia gave Hera a resentful look, and she immediately understood what she was thinking.

Hera: "You don't have a fish tail. If it were short, you'd catch a chill."

Li Jia: "..."

The underwater world was full of seawater. It was cold to begin with. What was this talk of catching a chill?

Since she had specially had it custom-made just for her, Li Jia decided to forgive this tsundere, this woman who said one thing and meant another.

She had only arrived at the Deep-Sea Wave Capital today, so when had Hera prepared the outfit for her?

There was no way to find out.

Having new clothes to wear put Li Jia in a fairly good mood, so she let Hera lead her by the hand as they wandered through the underwater world.

Tourist attractions and local customs everywhere were the same old thing in a different wrapper. Food, drinks, entertainment, and vendors were like fixed NPCs, no matter which world you were in. The only real difference was the prices.

Traveling simply meant leaving your own home to have fun at someone else's.

Li Jia only had a few hobbies:

Eating good food, drinking good drinks, doing fun things, and then lying down.

Wave Capital's local specialties were still mainly seafood, and Li Jia ate plenty of delicious things.

Minced shrimp, braised sea cucumber, salt-and-pepper squid rings, steamed mitten crabs, hot-and-sour jellyfish heads, grilled scallops...

Even Li Jia's burps smelled of seafood. She silently reflected that it was a good thing she didn't have to live here long-term, or sooner or later she'd have high uric acid and gout.

Her boss didn't eat. Her boss liked watching her eat.

When drinking water, remember who dug the well. When traveling, you had to bring back some local specialties. Li Jia still paid attention to these social courtesies.

Li Jia wouldn't forget Doreen and Winslow, the two left behind, or Linai, Artemis, and the three animal teachers.

She had met, come to know, and come to love people in this world, forming bonds with them.

Li Jia hated trouble. Back in modern society, her family ties had been thin. She had no family, no friends, and certainly no lover. She hadn't wanted to make new friends, either. Deep down, she was cold and detached.

Most interactions between people were superficial. Or rather, interacting was easiest only on a relatively superficial level.

Once things grew complicated, people became mazes to one another, bringing countless kinds of pain to endure.

Li Jia didn't want to endure pain.

After coming here, she had gained so, so many things she had never had before.

Li Jia suddenly realized that seizing happiness took more courage than enduring pain.

Now, good or bad, she couldn't bear to let any of it go.