The weather that night was calm. Beneath the endless starlit sky, the ocean seemed gentler than usual, almost as if it had returned to how it once was, many years ago.
A ship floated quietly atop the sea.
On the deck, a young boy leaned against the railing, gazing into the darkness with wide, curious eyes.
Beyond the ship, the sea was a deep, impenetrable black. He couldn't see anything, but that only made him more intrigued.
"Xiao Ding, what are you doing up at this hour?"
A middle-aged man from the Huohui clan spotted him on the deck. He walked over, gave the boy a light pat on the shoulder, and said, "You've been working all day. Get some sleep."
But the boy called Xiao Ding shook his head, his cheeks flushed with excitement.
"They say we're getting close to Sunset Bay. This is my first time near it."
The bearded man frowned at those words.
Young people were always too curious.
There's nothing to see in the ocean at night. If you've got energy to waste, better use it getting some rest.
"I heard that ships entering Sunset Bay rarely come back," Xiao Ding continued, eyes still scanning the horizon. "Some people say sea monsters live there. Is that true?"
"What, you want to meet one yourself?"
The man chuckled, stroking his beard. "You know, if you run into a sea monster, nine out of ten times you're dead. The one who survives usually ends up insane. You want to end up like that?"
Xiao Ding fell silent.
This was his first year working aboard a ship. Naturally, everything felt new and fascinating.
Among coastal folk who lived and died by the sea, sea monsters were an accepted reality. While they caused devastation when they emerged, it wasn't often that they did. In contrast to the dangers of land, the ocean almost felt safer.
According to the United Nations' Sea Monster Manual, the known sea monsters were all massive versions of real-life creatures: enormous starfish, gargantuan sea urchins, and squid of unimaginable size.
No one truly knew the full extent of the destruction these monsters could cause, but everyone agreed on one thing: a human ship stood no chance.
Fortunately, sea monsters rarely surfaced. It was speculated that water temperature and solar radiation kept them away. Aside from a few appearances decades ago that left countless vessels destroyed, they had not attacked humans directly in recent years. As long as people stayed out of their territory, there was usually no conflict.
Xiao Ding's fascination wasn't just idle curiosity. When he was around three or four years old, he had gone to sea with his father. On that trip, he saw a sea monster in the distance.
Though he had been too young to recall the creature's exact form, the sheer sense of awe had left a permanent mark on him. He could still remember holding his breath, every hair on his body standing on end, as an overwhelming feeling of power washed over him. It was the kind of fear and reverence that made a creature fall to its knees before a god.
After that day, Xiao Ding had gone silent for a long time. He only recovered years later.
As he grew older, he asked his parents about what had happened, but they insisted they had never seen a sea monster. They told him he must have dreamed it.
But Xiao Ding knew better.
He never spoke of the memory again, but it returned to him often in dreams. That shock, that wonder, became something he chased.
So when the recruitment office announced that a ship would be patrolling near Sunset Bay, Xiao Ding immediately signed up. Most people left the moment they heard where the ship was headed. In the end, he became the only young crew member aboard.
"I think seeing a sea monster is worth dying for," Xiao Ding said, answering the bearded man's earlier question.
He meant every word.
The man stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. He shook his head.
"The captain's crazy, and the new guy he picked is crazy too. What a bunch of lunatics."
Still chuckling, he gave up on arguing and went back inside to rest.
In these chaotic times, people could only scrape by at sea, trying not to be swallowed by black storms or worse. Their ship usually did small fishing runs and carried goods. It barely earned enough to live on.
But money talks.
The "Doom Lab" had issued a bounty to capture unusual sea creatures near Sunset Bay, and combined with recent sightings of giant fish and killer whales, it promised a fortune.
With that kind of money, they could eat and drink comfortably for the next ten years. So their captain gritted his teeth and steered the ship toward Sunset Bay.
Sunset Bay was a graveyard for ships. A strange magnetic field there rendered navigation tools useless. Rumors told of a colossal octopus-like monster that dragged ships to the bottom and devoured their crews.
The Doom Lab's request was simple: capture any strange creatures in the area. At least they weren't asking anyone to sail straight through Sunset Bay.
Still, fortune favors the bold. A few other ships had also come to scout the waters, drawn by the same reward.
It was the calm before the storm.
Far below, Lansi had no idea what was happening on the surface. At that moment, he was eager to get back to the sunken ship and check on Winsor.
This time, what he had dreamed of finally became real.
Winsor was awake, sitting inside the cabin, smiling as he waited for Lansi's return.
"Winsor?"
Lansi's eyes lit up. In his joy, he completely forgot about the two dark blue fish in his hands. He let go by accident, and the fish leapt from his palms with a splash, disappearing into the sea.
Lansi stared blankly. He wanted to chase them, but they had swum in opposite directions. Which way should he go?
He stood frozen between the two paths, stunned like a piece of driftwood.
Winsor blinked and suppressed a laugh.
"What are you doing just standing there?"
"You hungry? I brought you some fish," Lansi said quickly, snapping out of it.
"No need," Winsor replied, motioning him over.
Lansi swam into the cabin, still looking puzzled.
"Have you been catching that type of fish every day?" Winsor asked.
"Yeah. They taste good. I thought you'd like them," Lansi replied. "A pod of killer whales gave me those two today."
He didn't mention that the whales had playfully sucked him into their vortex just for fun.
"Just take care of yourself. Don't worry about me," Winsor said, knowing how difficult it was to catch those fish.
But Lansi focused on something else entirely.
"Are you going back to sleep?"
"Yes. Just a little longer," Winsor said with a deep shadow in his eyes. "At first, I thought I could devour him right away, but I found something unexpected. It might take longer than I thought."
"Devour who?" Lansi asked, confused.
Winsor didn't answer. He reached out and gently touched Lansi's face.
"Don't go up to the sea again. There are people nearby."
"Humans?" Lansi's eyes widened. "What are they doing here?"
Sunset Bay was supposed to be like the Bermuda Triangle—ships came here to die.
"I don't know," Winsor said grimly. "I've never understood humans."
He gripped Lansi's shoulders and repeated, "Don't go to the surface. Promise me."
Lansi hesitated. "Okay."
But what about Quirrell's awful drumming? And his suitcase was still on that deserted island. What if the camera inside was broken?
He thought maybe, just maybe, a quick trip wouldn't hurt.
Seeing his expression, Winsor tugged his cheek gently.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing," Lansi said, pulling away. "You're annoying."
"Just worried about you," Winsor muttered, lying back down, already sinking into sleep.
Lansi frowned. He wanted to talk more, but Winsor looked exhausted. In the end, he said only two soft words:
"Good night."
Just as Winsor's eyes were about to close, he opened them again, met Lansi's gaze, and nodded.
"Good night," he said.
After a pause, he added, "Soon. I promise."
Lansi smiled and nodded with all his strength.
"Okay. I'm waiting."
Minutes passed. Lansi sat quietly by Winsor's bed, gazing through the narrow crack in the ship's hull at the sea outside.
It was so lonely.
Mermaids had sharp hearing, and Lansi could hear the whispers of countless sea creatures. But even after talking to so many sea monsters recently, he never felt like it was true communication.
Their minds were too simple, their world too foreign. The sense of alienation was always there.
He could talk, but they didn't understand.
And without true communication, life became suffocating for someone like Lansi, who still carried a human heart.
So many things he wanted to say were like flowers blooming in the dark, left to wither unseen.
"Whatever. Just wait a few more days. I can always go play with the killer whales again."
Lansi spoke to himself, then lay beside Winsor and curled up, trying to soothe the loneliness with his warmth.
The next morning, Lansi woke early. After finishing breakfast, he headed out to teach Quirrell how to drum again.
Just as he left, a message rang out in the sea monster group chat.
A thin, desperate cry:
[Is there anyone who can save me? I don't want to die.]