ch4

Chapter 4

Dangdang’s mother led the both of them across the square towards the university gates.

There was a station at this side of the plaza, and the vehicles that shuttled to and fro were naval ships that varied in type. Most of them were teardrop-shape with sleek and translucent exteriors, with conical tails as well, equipped with either single or twin propellers charged by an arcane fuel propulsion system.

Fanli had the illusion of seeing a swarm of shrimp swimming out from the stomach of a gutted whale every time the hatches of the big passenger ships opened and released the many merfolks inside. They heard the mechanical sound of the ship opening and closing its doors, and in the blink of an eye, the ship was ready for departure.

What kind of magical creation was this. Fanli really wanted to go over and check out exactly how these ships are constructed, but the fear of ending up lost forced her to stay put behind Dangdang and her mother.

In front of Fanli and Dangdang’s school, there were two tall stone monuments standing to the left and right of it. In the center of the monolith is a sculpture of an elderly merfolk, and above it stands a dolphin with a golden crown of willow coral. A blue whale jawbone bridges across the monolith, forming a magnificent arch. In the centre of the arch stands the crest of the Red Moon School, and the dictionary within her mind’s consciousness translated the name of the school in the middle: “Loya University.”

Dangdang’s mother retrieved a purse of coins and placed it in Fanli’s hands. “Here, Fanli. This is the money my husband and I were planning on gifting you. Safeguard it well.“ 

“Ah, no need! You are being too courteous Auntie,”  Fanli shook her hands in rejection.

“This is not courtesy. The moment my husband heard his precious daughter had a clever friend who lost both parents, he immediately took out his hidden stash of savings and said to give it to you for safeguarding, lest our money-squandering daughter returns home penny-less by the end of the month.”

Dangdang’s mother smiled kindly, reminding Fanli of her mother who had passed away, and now that she was in this situation, she didn’t know if her original body was still physically alive, nor if her Dad was dying of anxiety… Suddenly she was so sad and fearful that she couldn’t speak.

She was just deliberating on whether to accept the money or not when suddenly a tuna fish charged over and collided into Dangdang’s mother. Her hands wavered and the bag of coins fell to the ground. The coins scattered everywhere. Fanli quickly bent down to scoop them up but heard a loud robust voice from behind: “Xinghai, you’ve followed this girl for so long already. First day of school, and you’re already planning on picking up girls? Slow down, let me check her out for you…fuck, bro, don’t tell me you’re the same as your dad, interested in dating down the caste system?”

When Dangdang looked behind her, she could not help but shrink into her shoulders. “shit, there are so many Buliezu..”

Buliezu are the predators of the marine race. They inherit the genes of fierce predators such as sharks and killer whales (orcas). Although there are only 400 million of them, their strength trumps over that of 1.8 billion strong Haiyangzu. 

There were 13 of them: 8 students, 5 males and 3 females. All of them had sharp ears and vertical pupils. 5 of them had ear fins and donned servant gowns, they were most likely attendants. Xinghai was amongst one of the 8 students. In contrast to the others’ muscular and more ferocious appearance, he appeared much more refined and delicate.

The one who just spoke was the leader of the pack. He wore a changpao uniform 3 sizes larger than the others and had curly silver hair. Just like the others, he had a pair of yaojing-like sharp ears and pointy chin. His tail looked similar to Xinghai’s with the exception that the caudal fin was in the shape of a crescent. His two other fins were long and his muscle lines were very pronounced.

His eyes lingered on Fanli’s tail and smiled, revealing a pack of serrated inverted triangular teeth. “Not only are you interested in dating downwards, you also like second hand goods?”

The girl was sweet-looking, but there were too many sweet girls for that matter that she wouldn’t necessarily stand out. But he quickly understood in a second the reason for Xinghai’s interest in her: those beautiful deep blue eyes didn’t have the humble and cowardly look that most Haiyangzu had when facing a Buliezu, and they were also not fierce and defensive, as was the case with Buliezu women.
　　
She had a limpid temperament and her whole body looked relaxed. Even in the face of so many malevolent Buliezus, she was still idle and at ease.

In midst of his laughter, Fanli realized that there was a metal ring hanging of the root of the lower leaf of her caudal fin, and there was a gem stand on the ring, but there was no gem present.

Xinghai said coldly, “must you use my mother to make a joke?”

“Brother, you misunderstood me. What I meant was, your father was always protective of the fairer sex.” Saying this, the pack leader caught Fanli and others trying to slip away. “Hey,” he called out, “when did I permit you guys to leave?”

Dangdang’s mother could only pause in her movements, turn around and retreat back. With knitted brows and lowered eyes, she said: “I’m sorry, it may be because my child is shy, so her voice is a little quiet…”

Before she even finished speaking, she was pushed by the leader and almost fell to the ground.

“Stay away from me. I’m allergic to fish bait.” The leader’s face suddenly changed and was filled with disgust.

Hearing the word “fish bait”, Dangdang’s mother lowered her eyes and gnashed her teeth. Dangdang’s apricot eyes also widened. Although she didn’t know what it meant, Fanli speculated that this should be a pejorative nickname.

One of the girls amid the three originally had her hands stretched, letting her servant touch up on her manicure, when suddenly, she retracted her hands and dashed towards Dangdang’s mother, ruthlessly jabbing her in the forehead with her nails and said, “Auntie, what was your inferior being of a daughter, born from an equally inferior and low Haiyangzu, saying what about us killer whales again?”

Her tail is of two colors, black and white. It moved with astonishing speed and even has a pair of bone wings protruding on its back.

This is the tail of an Orca.

Orcas, also known as killer whales, are the most ferocious Buliezu of the ocean. Sometimes even sharks can only play second fiddle to them. From this, it can be inferred that these three girls were the killer whales Dangdang was referring to.

“It’s my daughter’s slip of tongue and my failure to educate her as her mother. I apologize in her stead. I’m sorry!” Dangdang’s mother lowered her head and said in a begging posture.

The Orca girl had scratched the skin off Dangdang’s mother’s forehead, but she only looked sympathetically at her own ruined nails. “I like your attitude when apologizing, but your daughter looks displeased.”

“My girl, what you’ve said was offensive to these students! Quickly apologize to them!”

Seeing her mother treated like this, Dangdang balled her hands into fists. Her lips pursed into a thin line and her chest heaved up and down. Her head burned as if filled with boiling water. It took her a while to chokingly sputter out, “I’m…”

The two words “I’m sorry” haven’t even left her mouth when two slaps reverberated. The Orca girl used her fin to slap Dangdang’s mother twice on her face. The speed of it was so fast, it immediately had Dangdang’s mother down on the floor. Fanli instinctively rushed over to hold her, but the force was so great it dragged her down with it. 

“Mama!” Dangdang also rushed forward, supporting her mother’s arm.

Fanli supported Dangdang’s mother up and rubbed her own injured arm — it hurts! This is the strength of a killer whale, so great it can directly ignore the buoyancy of the seawater. Her bones felt like they were being split apart. Knowing they were not their opponents, Fanli patted auntie on her back and threw Dangdang a look. She took hold of both of them and pulled them away. 

But the provocateurs would not allow things to simply end like this. Fanli found her path blocked by the 5 attendants.

From the crowd rang a girl’s cold laughter, “Loya University really is losing its prestige day by day. They’ll accept any trash these days.”

The one who spoke was the most conspicuous among the three Orca girls. Only she had 3 other attendants serving her at the same time. 2 male servants were lifting the cushion she was seated on, carrying her meticulously as if she were a Bodhisattva. A female servant carried a tray of seafood refreshments above her head — the density of food ingredients were very high, so it can safely rest on the tray — all the while the girl picked up a meat skewer with her bamboo chopsticks and slowly took a bite.

Seeing such a scene, Fanli was so flabbergasted that her mouth opened into an “O” shape. Watching her expression change, Xinghai puffed out a laugh but quickly concealed it with an embarrassed cough.

“You really are proficient in inciting further hatred towards you Haiyangzu. But frankly, I really wonder exactly what qualifications you, your mother, ” the red haired girl pointed to Dangdang and then to Fanli, “and her, a woman of such low stature, have to speak negatively of others. “

She had large platinum earrings and wore a dress with a low bodice that revealed her voluptuous body, with pointed ears protruding from her long red straight hair. The rings she wore on her arm had an insignia of an eel carved into it.

Dangdang broke away from her mother’s grip and glared at her: “my mother has already apologized to you, so what else do you want? Or, is it because I touched your nerves so now you’re attacking people like crazy?”

“No, I don’t mind what you say about us.” The red-haired girl had lips the color of pomegranate juice. “because history will only remember us, and not you jealous lowlifes. I’m simply not happy knowing that among my classmates, there’s a girl whose ancestors were nothing but housemaids for the past 18 generations. And a girl who’s been discarded by her man, speaks weirdly with a strange accent, and is a crossbreed to top it off.”

Finally, she glanced at the marital hoop on Fanli’s tail, laughed, and popped a shrimp into her mouth.

“Discarded by a man? Simply because she’s not wearing a marital hoop, she’s married?!” Dangdang furiously replied.

Fanli looked again at the metal ring on her tail. It turns out that this thing is called a “marital hoop”. It seems that this should be the engagement token of the sea-people. Its function works like that of a wedding ring.

The red haired girl did not answer her immediately. She chewed and swallowed until all the food in her mouth was gone.

“That’s indeed the style of a lying maid, lies just pour naturally from your mouth. I’m not interested in marriage, but I do know a thing or two about it. For example, only when a woman breaks her engagement, and her marital hoop is bound by oath, unable to be removed for a year, will her tail hang a hoop without a gem. ” Saying this, the red haired girl turned to face Xinghai and said, “Xinghai, did you not see that marital hoop? The moment you saw her, you followed absentmindedly like your soul’s been entranced. Doesn’t the fact that she’s been used and discarded bother you?”

The silver haired boy laughed: “Oh, you women are prone to overthinking. Xinghai merely wishes to have a little fun with her. Did you really think he wanted to marry her?”

Fanli felt speechless. Isn’t it normal for engagements to be cancelled? Is it necessary to be so feudalistic? Even if she wishes to be lovelorn, she has no partner for that. But a killer whale’s combat effectiveness is really formidable, she can only try to escape, but all her attempts have been foiled so far.

“Can we go now?” Fanli looked up and said calmly.

“Hahahaha, oh? So eager to learn I see. Can’t wait to start school? Oh, I understand. After all, this –” the red haired girl pointed to the “Loya University “above the school gate behind her and continued with a smile, “as we all know, is the second chance for you fish baits to start anew. If I guessed correctly, Miss Bubble is your idol.”

Seeing Dangdang and her mother’s expression turning embarrassed, the red-haired girl cocked her head towards Xinghai and said, “how about, we forgo the pesky procedures and directly do it on spot? The participants are readily available for you here.”

Fanli didn’t think much about it, so she looked at Xinghai curiously. He raised his eyelashes and his apathetic gaze collided with her’s.

It gave her quite the scare and her heart started beating wildly.

The redheaded girl laughed beautifully and said, “Oh, your heartbeat is increasing? You’re indeed not letting Xinghai’s little crush on you die in vain!”

At her words, the group doubled over in another round of laughter.

Fanli was once again reaffirmed these Buliezu are simply superior beings. To be able to hear something said as far as 2 meters away, even as far as to hear the heartbeat of someone  2 meters away is indeed an existence one cannot afford to offend. It is wiser to find ways to escape instead.

“Very well, I support. Who first?” The pack leader bro’s teeth glittered white like a snow flower in the water light, “how about our lil crossbred sister first? After all, she caught Xinghai’s eyes first. After our lil crossbred sis enjoys her share of pleasure, the maid can step up. Or, in face of their sisterly affections, having both of them at the same time is also possible.”  　　

Dangdang’s anger was about to erupt: “no matter how low we are, we are not as low as whores, aight?”

“Dangdang, stop talking. Let’s go,” Fanli dragged Dangdang away but again found her path blocked by the attendants.

The girl who was just playing with her nails had wanted to charge at them at this moment, but she was blocked by the red haired girl who said: “I’m full now.” She then threw away her chopsticks and patted the female slave on her head while pointing at Dangdang.　　

The slave swam over and hurled the leftover food on Dangdang’s face.　　

Dangdang took a big breath of air and lapped up the remaining food. The female slave even smeared the plate on her face before letting go. The remaining seasoning, raw shrimp, crab, fish, and shellfish slid down Dangdang’s face, with several kelp hanging on to her braid. She wiped the leftovers from her face and looked at the scene in disbelief.

“Delicious?” the red hair girl leaned forward and plucked a few sea-grasses from her own tail. She then dropped a few coins on the female slave’s head. “This is a dish made by the hands of a famous chef of Bodhi Sea. I’m afraid even if we sold you to the slave market, it’ll still not be enough to cover the costs.”　

The slave raised her hands to collect the coins, but some still inevitably fell to the ground. Only then did she drop down and pick them up one by one.

Dangdang’s hometown was a coral reef village located very close to the shore. 92.3% of the residents there are of her same ethnic background. There were fluorescent people stretching as far as the eyes can see. For hundreds of years, the village maintained a routine: planting the hometown’s specialty “Bosidang Seaweed”, cultivate plankton, shrimps, and shellfishes. They enjoyed singing during rest time and going ashore to sing with seabirds. As a result, there are many music students in their village.

In the past, although she knew slavery was prevalent in the cities, that the superior marine races wielded the majority of capital power, and that socioracial clashes were a common sight, today was the first time she saw with her own eyes a girl of the same caste as her being treated like a dog by a Buliezu.

Fanli was once again astonished. What kind of species are these, this is too savage isn’t it.

Just 10 minutes ago, she was still of the belief this was a highly civilized world. However, a society with such advanced technology is actually still being ruled by the law of the jungle. She understood the root of the problem very fast, this is accredited to the large diversification of species in the marine world, and the vast power gap between the Haiyangzu and the Buliezu which caused their social statuses to drift apart.　　

Furthermore, it appears this red-haired girl is not an ordinary Buliezu. If Dangdang continues to battle it out with her, there will definitely not be a good outcome. Therefore, Fanli shifted her body and yelled at the attendants blocking their path: “get out of our way!”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was domineering and imposing, scaring the attendants to cowering.　　

Suddenly it became quiet with only the babble of water.　

“If there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave.” Although Fanli was afraid, she still raised her head and faintly smiled at the redheaded girl, “m’am, with your looks and bosom, if you want to alleviate your boredom, I’m sure you are lacking no companions here. But we, however, won’t be joining.”

The red haired girl was stunned. Before she hadn’t really carefully scrutinized Fanli. Now she’s looking again, her sentiments echoed that of the pack leader.

She has seen many inferior marine races with faces beautiful enough to launch a thousand ships. But it didn’t matter how beautiful they were, for in front of her, they all cower and shudder in fear. On the other hand, this girl wasn’t scared at all by her previous provocations. Such confidence really pisses her off. 　

“Enough with the flattery! Who started this first?”　　

“I’m sure you all have mothers,” Fanli started slowly in her unorthodox accent, following along the dictionary as she read, “even if you believe you are above others, you should know that it is not easy for every mother to give birth to life. This mother has been injured, and now I’m going to take her to treat her wounds. So, we will be leaving first.”　

“Fanli…” Dangdang’s mother looked at her, eyes moistening with tears, blending in with the seawater.　　

The pack of Buliezu still looked ominous yet they didn’t say a word.　　

Hearing the phrase “a mother is injured,” the red-haired girl was dazed for a bit and immediately remembered a childhood scene: her mother smashing a photo frame of their three family members to the ground. It cracked and a tear ran down the middle, splitting their family in two. She fell to the ground that was covered with glass, in tears. Her younger self flapped her tail and swam over to comfort her mother.  She looked at her pupils red, and said, “listen my daughter, there is no love among us Orcas. We females must be strong and strive for the apex of the food chain! If you are weak and fall in love, you’ll end up like me – abandoned by the father of your child!”

She shook her head and forced herself to come back to reality. She wanted to continue teaching this fish bait a lesson – women who rely on men, really are brainless!

However, Fanli had long left, hauling Dangdang and her mother towards the direction of the school campus. 　　

At this moment, Xinghai’s eyes narrowed into slits and after lapsing into momentary silence, he also turned around and swam away.　　

“Brother, where are you going?” The pack leader called out.　　

“To register.”　　

The red-haired girl’s face didn’t look too good and she jumped down from her seat. She formed a spherical space with her hands and wrapped the pack leader and her in it. Slowly the light from the sphere faded and sealed the two in a sound-proof zone:　　

“Environment influences really are scary. It looks like Xinghai isn’t repulsed by inferior marine girls.”　　

“Yo, how many guys have you had already? Yet you still don’t understand us?” the leader shrugged his shoulders, “wanting to play around with naive fish bait girls is normal. He won’t get entangled. Those like his father are a minority, relax.”　　

“You know that ‘minority’ is his dad, he has a great influence over him.”　　

“The innate nature of us sharks won’t ever change. We do not marry, even if begged. So don’t worry yourself for nothing.”

Next