The moment Qiao Xixi finished speaking, she felt an intensely oppressive presence overhead.

’Could it be the beast-kin who were hunting Xijing and the others?’

’That can’t be right. We’re deep underwater now, and Land Beasts can’t come down this far.’

"What is that?"

"It’s a Blue Whale Beast."

Xijing stopped. The halo of light from his fingertip expanded rapidly, illuminating the behemoth above them.

Qiao Xixi’s breath caught. Its body was so massive that she felt smaller than one of its eyeballs. It was like a colossal, moving cruise ship.

’How terrifying!’

"Will it attack us?"

"No, Blue Whale Beasts never attack merfolk without reason. Their temperament is actually quite gentle."

Despite his words, Qiao Xixi still felt an instinctual fear of such a massive creature.

Xijing sensed her discomfort and turned, leading her deeper into the sea.

The light from Xijing’s fingertip only illuminated a small area around them. She had no idea what the deep seabed looked like, or how long they had been swimming.

It wasn’t until the tiger cub cried out in hunger that Xijing picked up the pace again, arriving at an undersea valley.

She had expected the valley to be pitch-black, but when Xijing led her inside, it was as bright as day, almost as if they were back on land.

"What is this place?"

"This is a gathering place only we merfolk know about."

Qiao Xixi looked around curiously. It felt like an underwater palace. Although its construction seemed a bit haphazard, the ubiquitous pearls and Crystal Stones screamed luxury.

With a wave of his arm, Xijing made the seawater in the palace rapidly recede, and his large fishtail transformed into two long legs.

Qiao Xixi slid off Xijing and landed on a floor of pearls.

’So luxurious! How many tears did it take to make all these?’

"Xixi, rest here for a bit. I’m going to summon the other merfolk." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Qiao Xixi couldn’t be of much help underwater anyway. "Okay."

After Xijing left, Qiao Xixi quickly picked up the tiger cub to feed it.

"Xiya, are you hungry?"

’They’ve been swimming for so long; it must have taken a lot of energy.’

Xiya shook her head. "I’m not hungry. I ate a whole bunch this morning! Auntie, what do you want to eat? I can go get it for you."

"Can you even start a fire underwater?"

Xiya shook her head. "Nope."

Qiao Xixi was just asking offhandedly.

"Auntie, if you’re tired, you can lie down on the bed and rest. I’ll go find you something good to eat."

"Won’t it be dangerous for a little one like you to go alone?"

"It’s okay, Auntie. No other sea beasts can get in here."

Qiao Xixi nodded at that and turned to a giant clamshell.

The moment she approached, the large clamshell slowly opened. She lay down with the cub in her arms. It was incredibly soft, so comfortable that she rolled over twice. The texture was even better than the latex mattresses she used to sleep on.

While coaxing the cub to sleep, Qiao Xixi checked her locator. She discovered that Jin Ling and the others had already left the Hopeless Abyss and were heading for the island where she had been before.

"Xiao Yao, I’m in the deep sea now. The tracker isn’t pinpointing my location here too, is it?"

"That’s right, Host. The locator updates in real-time."

Qiao Xixi frowned. ’In that case, I have to leave before they reach the island. I can’t have them actually coming into the ocean after me.’

"Xiao Yao, do you think this tracker could have some bonus features?"

"Such as, my dear Host?"

"For example, some kind of long-distance voice transmission. You know, a voice chat function."

"Host~ You don’t actually think I’m omnipotent, do you!?"

’If Xiao Yao had a physical body,’ Qiao Xixi thought, ’it would definitely be jumping up and down and screaming right now.’

"I was just asking. Look at you, taking it so seriously again."

Xiao Yao snorted. "If I don’t shut down this idea, you’ll just keep daydreaming about it. I have to nip all of my Host’s outlandish fantasies in the bud!"

Qiao Xixi: "..."

Bored, Qiao Xixi was teasing the sleeping cub when she suddenly heard a melodious song.

She tried to listen more closely, but the song was bewitching. It made her eyelids grow heavier and heavier, until finally, they closed.

"Xixi, Xixi, what are you doing?"

Qiao Xixi opened her eyes. A white fog seemed to be dissipating before her. Looking around, she found herself on an ice plain—she was back where she had first arrived after transmigrating.

A tall, handsome male beast-kin in brown hides walked toward her.

"What’s wrong, Xixi? Are you hungry? Your father will go hunt. You wait here at home, and don’t run off, you hear?"

’Her father...’

Qiao Xixi stared at the male’s retreating figure, unable to snap out of her daze for a long time. She felt as though she had forgotten something important, but couldn’t recall what it was.

’Didn’t the original owner’s father die long ago? Why would he be here on the ice plain?’

A swirl of white fog passed by again, blinding her. When it cleared, Qiao Xixi found herself standing at the edge of the ice plain. Just ahead was the bone-chilling seawater.

Just as she was about to retreat, she saw a pale blue figure floating on the surface of the water. An instant later, she had already pulled the person ashore.

His long, aqua-blue hair was splayed across his smooth chest. The color of his lips, which faintly glowed blue, had already begun to fade.

"Xijing?"

Qiao Xixi was in disbelief. ’Why would Xijing be on the ice plain?’

"Xixi, is this the mate you’ve chosen for yourself? A merman, huh? He looks decent. But he seems to be hurt. Your father will carry him back for you."

Her father lifted Xijing from the ground and carried him back to the ice cave.

"Hey, I never said I wanted him to be my... m-mate..."

Qiao Xixi’s vision suddenly went pitch-black. All she could feel was a cool, lingering touch on her lips. She could sense it—it was Xijing’s presence!

’Why did I just randomly sleep with Xijing?!’

’What in the world is happening?’

"MEOW, MEOW!"

Qiao Xixi’s eyes flew open. The first thing she saw was the tiger cub nibbling on her finger.

The slight pain in her hand jolted her fully awake.

"Auntie, I brought back lots of sea grapes for you! Come and try some."

Xiya returned, carrying a large basin of pale green sea grapes. She keenly noticed that something seemed off about Qiao Xixi’s mood.

"Auntie, what’s wrong? Did I wake you up?"

Qiao Xixi stared in astonishment at Xiya’s little face, which was a sixty or seventy percent match to Xijing’s. A million questions popped into her head.

"It’s nothing. Auntie’s awake now."

"Auntie, do you want to eat sea grapes?"

Qiao Xixi couldn’t resist the little girl’s expectant gaze. She picked up one of the grapes, which was only about the size of her fingernail, and ate it.

It burst with juice when she bit into it, but the flavor wasn’t great. It was faint, with almost no taste at all, more like something one would eat to rehydrate.

"Xiya, how old are you?"

"Auntie, I’m almost five!"

Qiao Xixi froze. ’Five years old... Back then, the original owner’s father was indeed still alive. That dream... it couldn’t be real, could it?’

’But why did everything in the dream feel so real, as if I had experienced it myself?’