After slipping out the door, Tangxue hummed a tune and hopped off the hotel balcony like a sparrow dropping into the night mist.

She wore safety shorts, so she didn’t worry about a stray flash under the moon’s coin-bright eye.

The streets around the Ruyue Hotel were an old haunt to her; back when she was broke, she drifted here like a leaf in alley wind, though she never went inside.

She landed, dusted her palms like brushing off ash, scanned the shadows like wary cats, and left once she felt no odd eyes on her.

Tomorrow would be the Duskmoon Empire’s rare daylight, month’s end, a pale sun visiting a kingdom that lived by dusk.

Tonight drew more feet to the midnight streets, a slow river of footsteps, but it didn’t change her pace.

Since entering the City of Woe, she’d felt a river breathing damp under stone; go right, and you’d meet its skin.

Yesterday, Qianyue trailed her like a quiet crescent, and Tangxue couldn’t move freely.

Even Qianyue didn’t know who Tangxue really was; she didn’t want her to know.

She was done with trudging travel; she’d use a spatial jump and cut the night like a blade through silk.

So she dropped down and let her magic aura roll out like thunder under water; she’d kept low before so she wouldn’t scare Qianyue, but she didn’t need self-made trouble now.

Unreserved, Tangxue was a tiger straying into cedar shade; no one tries the forest king’s temper.

Soon, the riverbank rose to meet her, a dark ribbon under the sky.

She checked for tails, felt the quiet settle like cool breath, and exhaled.

The City of Woe’s water ran clear, glass-cold; even the cleanliness-obsessed Qingsheng Tangxue could accept its mirror sheen.

“Good thing my clothes are waterproof,” she murmured, eyeing the hems like petals that would soak. “Still gotta pull off the shoes and the skirt…”

“Hope no one’s following?” Anxiety pricked first, action second; she scanned the reeds and rails, checked thrice, and let her shoulders drop.

If someone learned she was a mermaid, the scales under moonlight would force her to use Plan C.

People here treasured their skin; release a seventh-tier aura, and the alley turns empty, like wolves scenting a lion and bowing out.

The local hobos and punks averaged third-tier; their hearts were damp paper, and they wouldn’t wager life on a dare.

“Stockings and underwear have to go. What about the skirt?” She stared at fabric like a fragile shell. If a tail bloomed, the seams would scream; if she stripped, shame would sting—yet her wardrobe was a cloud, and clothes were easy to replace.

“Forget it.” Heat rose to her cheeks; she stripped her lower garments, tucked them into her wrist ring, a tiny galaxy swallowing thread and lace.

Ready, she walked barefoot into the water; the river kissed her feet like cold silk, and she slipped under.

This river ran fifteen meters deep and forty wide, a quiet spine through stone.

Rain was rare in the City of Woe; the river was their mother, cupping every throat, the only water the land would trust.

Go upstream, and it would carry her to the central district, to the Vampires’ old palace like a ruin holding its breath.

“Whew… haven’t swum in forever.” Joy flickered first; she flexed her lower body and watched the current writhe like a pale snake.

“No fish here?” Her mouth watered at the thought of grilled flesh under starlight. “Did the people catch them all?”

“In a place like this, fish would be a rumor.” Her sigh drifted like mist.

“Fine, keep moving. Night’s long, and the road’s longer.”

She cut upstream, shoulders rolling, and soon the river widened like a plaza under shadow.

“Ah! A fish!” A grass carp flashed ahead; she rushed it like a gourmand spotting a perfect cut.

“Ugh… it got away.” Her annoyance flared and faded. “Fine, I’ll spare you. Next time, we’ll meet in my stomach.”

Three hours later, she slid past the Dark Abyss Zone; the water carried her toward the Imperial District, the closest rim to her goal, moonlight pooling like molten tin.

“Hooks are everywhere,” she grumbled as iron barbs gleamed like scattered fangs. “Why are so many people fishing at midnight? You’re catching everything—what am I supposed to eat?”

She snagged the nearest hook and yanked, stripping the bait like peeling a scab. “You think worms will land fish? Dream on.”

“I’ll tear them all off. Hmph.” Petulance bubbled first; then she pulled, tugged, and ruined hook after hook until the water felt clean again.

Only when the river’s mouth was free of teeth did she leave, satisfied as a cat after breaking a string of bells.

Half an hour later, a small head popped from the surface, hair slick like ink. “So this is the Imperial District. Time to go ashore and carve a spatial mark.”

She checked the banks, saw no strange fishermen and no roaming Blood Clan, and picked a quiet spot to rise.

Her beautiful tail faded without a sound, scales melting like moonlight into slender legs.

“Guess the shoes are a lost cause…” She looked down at mud like mashed taro and shook her head.

“I’ll draw the mark, go home, sleep. Tomorrow I’ll spatial-jump with Qianyue, use the ‘forgot something’ excuse to come back… Then blame an unstable jump and pretend we landed here. Good enough.”

Drowsiness folded over her like a heavy quilt; this body wasn’t built for night watches.

She pinched her thigh to wake herself, pain stinging, tears pressing free. “Finish it, then bed. Come on, just a little more.”

Five minutes later, silver light flicked like a blade, and Tangxue vanished from the bank.

“Finally back… I need a shower first!”

Hearing that voice, Qianyue popped her head from Tangxue’s warm nest of blankets, eyes bright like stars.

“Elder sister!” Her joy leapt first, words after.

Tangxue ignored the call and sprinted for the bathroom, image be damned, feet drumming like rain.

“Elder sister… you’re not wearing—” The half-sentence hung like a blush.

Qianyue sat there, a little furnace warming the bed, stunned by the flash of pale and motion, replaying the scene until her breath turned soft.

Heat climbed her cheeks; she tucked herself back under the covers like a shy moon slipping behind clouds.