The more she looked, the more fascinated she became.

It really did look like they were playing.

She forgot, very conveniently, that fish usually did not behave like that. She forgot that this was strange. She forgot that she was supposed to stay where she could be seen. She forgot all those promises because at that moment she was simply a pampered, curious little girl from a sci-fi world who had lived a sheltered life and knew almost nothing about river creatures except that some of them were apparently adorable.

The fish leapt again.

Lin Huahua giggled and took a step closer.

Then another.

The water touched her toes.

Cool.

She smiled more brightly and kept watching.

Far beneath the surface, something watched her back.

The merman had been there for a while, hidden in the deeper water where the current darkened and the sunlight only broke in silver shards. His upper body was lean and powerful, his long hair drifting around him like river weed, and below the water his tail flashed with slick scales, beautiful and eerie at once. His eyes fixed on Lin Huahua from the moment she started moving closer, and when he saw how easy it was, how innocent and unguarded she was, a smile slowly curved across his face.

A female.

A sweet, foolish female.

And she was walking to him all on her own.

Above the water, Lin Huahua stepped farther in without even noticing how far she had come.

The fish kept jumping.

Little splashes.

Tiny flickers of silver.

Come closer.

Come closer.

She laughed softly, her white rat ears twitching in delight, and lifted the edge of her skirt a little to keep it from getting too wet. Water moved around her ankles now. Smooth river stones shifted under her feet. The fish jumped farther out.

Lin Huahua followed.

She did not notice the water had deepened past where it should have.

She did not notice the playful little fish had arranged themselves too neatly, almost as if luring her.

She did not notice the males farther back had all turned to look at the same time.

Mu Qingyi frowned first.

Hu Baiyu straightened suddenly.

Feng Yiren’s fox ears shot up.

Then the surface of the deeper water stirred.

A figure rose just enough for the sun to strike wet skin and gleaming scales.

Lin Huahua froze.

A beautiful face.

Eyes unlike any she had seen before.

Smooth, pale skin, a smiling mouth, long wet hair, and beneath the water the suggestion of something not human at all.

The merman lifted one hand slowly.

His eyes locked onto hers.

Everything inside Lin Huahua seemed to go still.

His gaze was strange.

Soft.

Pulling.

Like the world had gone quiet except for that one face and the gentle motion of that one hand beckoning her forward.

One more step.

Just one more step.

Her ears twitched once, weakly.

Her eyes lost focus.

The merman smiled wider.

Yes.

That was it.

Come.

Lin Huahua moved.

One step.

Then another.

The water reached higher.

She barely felt it.

All she saw were those eyes.

All she heard was that silent call.

Come.

Come here. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Lin Huahua!"

The shout cracked through the air like something breaking.

Feng Yiren’s voice.

Sharp, furious, terrified.

It hit her mind like a stone thrown through glass.

Lin Huahua flinched hard, the spell loosening for one split second. Her eyes widened, and confusion flooded back in all at once. Cold water. Too deep. Too far. A strange figure in front of her.

What?

At the riverbank, all three males moved at once.

Feng Yiren dropped his spear and sprinted.

Mu Qingyi’s face changed completely, every trace of gentleness turning into raw alarm.

Hu Baiyu lunged so fast that the water near him exploded.

But they were a moment too late.

Because the instant Lin Huahua came back to herself, the merman’s expression darkened. His hand shot out of the water with inhuman speed, fingers clamping around her wrist.

Lin Huahua screamed.

The next second, he yanked.

Water crashed upward.

Her small body jerked forward with a violent splash, her white rat ears flattening in terror, her fluffy tail snapping straight out as both feet lost the riverbed beneath them.

"Huahua!"

The world turned cold and blue.

And before her males could reach her, the merman dragged her under.

The moment the water closed over Lin Huahua’s head, cold and dark and heavy, she thought she was drowning.

Her small body jerked in panic, arms flailing wildly as she tried to kick upward toward the surface. Bubbles burst from her mouth in a desperate scream that turned into nothing but a choked gurgle. The river pressed in on every side, cold fingers wrapping around her limbs, dragging her down. Her fluffy white rat tail thrashed uselessly, her little white rat ears flattened tight against her head, and her big brown eyes widened in pure terror as the light from above grew farther and farther away.

She was going to die here.

She was really going to die in this primitive world because she had been too curious, too foolish, too distracted by those silly leaping fish.

Her lungs burned. Her chest tightened. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision.

Then strong arms wrapped around her waist and yanked her close.

A hard mouth crashed against hers.

Lin Huahua’s eyes flew open wider as warm lips sealed over her own, firm and demanding, and a hot tongue pushed inside without hesitation. The kiss was deep, possessive, and so sudden that her mind went blank for one terrifying second. She tried to pull back, but the arms around her tightened, holding her against a smooth, powerful chest that felt nothing like the rough stone or the warm fur of her males.

And then the impossible happened.

Air flowed into her lungs.

Sweet, clean, breathable air.

She gasped against the mouth still pressed to hers, her body going rigid with shock as she realized she could breathe underwater. The burning in her chest vanished. The black spots faded. The water no longer felt like it was trying to kill her.