The Three Life-Saving Pearls Given Away

The three of them dragged me like an inanimate sack, ignoring my screams and struggles as they forced me into the car.

Jiang Xu stood in the doorway, watching them shove me inside. The only worry in her eyes was for Lin Mengyu.

“Huynh Huynh, hurry back. Mengyu won’t hold out much longer.”

The car door slammed shut, cutting off my last hope.

I curled up on the back seat, feeling my legs beneath my pants rapidly melt and fuse together beyond any hope of stopping it.

When the car pulled up beside the coastal cliff, a gale drove sheets of rain against the windshield.

The sea looked like a pot of boiling black water. Waves more than thirty feet high churned and crashed wildly against the reefs.

Lu Shen opened the car door, and the violent wind rushed into the cabin.

“Get out!”

His voice was urgent.

I clung to the door handle, my knuckles white. I had completely lost feeling in both legs.

Even moving a single step had become a luxury.

“I can’t… Lu Shen, I really don’t have legs anymore.”

“I can’t walk.”

My voice was weak and hopeless against the wind and rain.

Meng Tu came around from the other side, wrenched my hand away, and dragged me out of the car.

“Tang Huynh, how long are you going to keep up this act?”

“Mengyu is still throwing up blood at home, and you’re pretending to be crippled here?”

With nothing to support me, I fell hard into the muddy ground.

My legs seemed glued together; no matter what I did, I couldn’t separate them.

Pho Lam approached with an umbrella and looked down at me in disgust.

“Stop wasting time. Put on the diving gear and get into the sea.”

“You’re only going to fetch a few pearls. If you keep dragging this out and something happens to Mengyu, I will never forgive you!”

Never forgive me?

Lying face down in the mud, I looked at the three men I had once been willing to give my life for.

Suddenly, it all seemed so absurd.

“Fine. I’ll stop pretending.”

I summoned every bit of strength I had, planted my hands on the ground, and slowly crawled forward.

At the edge of the cliff, the gale was strong enough to sweep a person away.

Lu Shen frowned as he watched me move strangely.

“What are you doing? Get up and walk!”

I pretended not to hear him and inched toward the cliff’s edge.

The roar of the towering waves filled my ears, as if the sea were calling me.

Meng Tu seemed to have run out of patience. He strode over, seized my collar, and hauled half of me off the ground.

“Are you trying to disgust us on purpose?”

“If you won’t walk, don’t blame your brother for being cruel!”

With that, he suddenly dragged me toward the cliff’s edge.

“Stop wasting your breath on her. Just push her in. She’s more agile than anyone underwater!”

Pho Lam shouted from behind us.

I didn’t struggle. I let them drag me to the outermost outcropping of rock.

Below us, a black whirlpool churned, its depths impossible to see.

Lu Shen let go and looked at me coldly.

“Tang Huynh, if you don’t bring back the Heart-of-the-Sea Pearls, don’t come back up.”

I lifted my head. Rain ran down my cheeks, impossible to distinguish from my tears.

“Fine.”

I looked at them and spoke each word distinctly.

“This is your choice.”

At that moment, an enormous wave unlike any I had ever seen crashed violently against the rocks.

Its terrifying force swept me away.

The instant I fell from the cliff, I tore off my heavy pants.

Riiip!

The sound of the fabric ripping rang clear through the wind.

Before Lu Shen, Meng Tu, and Pho Lam could do more than stare in shock, my human legs split apart and melted away in midair.

A blinding silver-blue light tore through the darkness.

Beneath the flashes of lightning, a huge mermaid’s tail appeared before them—beautiful beyond belief, yet glowing with a cold light.

Splash!

I plunged into the sea.

The moment I touched the water, all the pain vanished.

I felt a freedom I had never known. The power of the deep sea coursed through my limbs and body.

I didn’t sink. I surged through the water and rose atop the raging waves.

On the cliff, the three men stared at the sea as if struck by lightning, frozen in place.

The umbrella in Lu Shen’s hand was swept away by the wind. He staggered a step forward, his voice trembling so badly he could barely speak.

“Huynh… Huynh Huynh?”

Meng Tu’s knees buckled. He collapsed into the muddy water, clutching his head, eyes bulging as if they might split open.

“What… what was that? Impossible. It can’t be!”

Pho Lam gripped the railing beside him. His face was as pale as paper, his lips trembling violently. He couldn’t utter a word.

I flicked my silver-blue tail. Under the moonlight, droplets of water reflected cold streaks of light.

I gave them one last, lingering look, without a trace of regret, then plunged into the endless depths.

If there was no one on land who loved me, then I would return to the deep sea for good.

“Splash!”

A loud sound tore through the storm.

Just as I dove beneath the surface, I caught sight of a dark figure leaping from the cliff without hesitation.