CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER 91; A BEAUTIFUL JADE MERMAID 2

She explored every corner of the pool, memorizing its dimensions, testing its currents. It wasn’t the ocean, would never be the ocean, but it was enough. For now.

Eventually, exhaustion caught up with her. Not the dangerous depletion from earlier, but the natural tiredness that came after expending significant power, even in her strengthened state.

Kailani floated to the surface, her body buoyant and relaxed, and simply let herself drift. Her tail swayed gently to maintain position, her arms spread wide like a starfish, her face turned upward toward the distant ceiling.

And there, floating in the dark water of Lu Yuze’s private pool, she fell asleep.

It was the deepest, most restful sleep she’d had in three years. In the water, in her true form, she was safe. Protected. Home.

By morning, the transformation had reversed itself naturally.

As dawn light began filtering through the high windows of the natatorium, Kailani’s body shifted back to human form without her conscious direction. Her tail split back into legs, her scales faded into pale skin, her gills closed as her lungs took over breathing duties.

But she remained asleep, floating peacefully on the water’s surface like a lily pad, her black hair spreading around her head like a halo, completely naked and completely unbothered by that fact.

6:30 AM

Lu Yuze woke early, as he always did. Years of business discipline had trained his body to function on minimal sleep, and today was no exception despite the chaotic events of the previous night.

He checked his phone first, dozens of missed calls and messages, most from numbers he didn’t recognize. News alerts about the Chen family. Something about multiple deaths. He’d deal with that later.

First, he wanted to check on his daughter and see how she fared the entire night.

Yuyan was still sleeping peacefully, curled up in her enormous bed, her silver hair spread across the pillow. Her breathing was steady and deep, and her color was looking good. The healing was holding.

Lu Yuze allowed himself a moment of profound relief before quietly closing her door and heading back downstairs.

Then he remembered, Shuyin. With all the exhaustion, he had fallen asleep like a log.

She’d told him not to look for her, not to disturb her. But it was morning now. Surely that directive had expired, right? And he wanted to make sure she was alright after... everything.

He checked the master bedroom first. It was empty. The bed hadn’t been slept in.

A cold feeling started forming in his stomach.

He checked the sitting room, the library, and the breakfast room. There was no sign of her.

"Ah-Ling," he called out, finding his assistant already awake and monitoring the morning news feeds. "Have you seen Shuyin?"

"Not this morning, Master. The last time I saw her was around 2 AM when she passed by my office. She said she was going to sleep in a proper bed."

"She’s not in the bedroom."

Ah-Ling’s expression shifted to concern. "Perhaps she’s in another part of the house? I can check the security feeds..."

"Do that. Find her."

Within minutes, Ah-Ling had traced Shuyin’s movements from the previous night through the mansion’s security cameras. "Master, she went toward the private wing. The last footage shows her entering the corridor that leads to the pool area. But there are no cameras inside the natatorium itself for privacy reasons."

"The pool?" Lu Yuze was already moving, jogging through the corridors toward the underground facility. Why would she go to the pool? Could she even swim? What if she’d...

He didn’t let himself finish that thought.

He burst through the door marked "Private Pool" and descended the stairs two at a time, his heart pounding with irrational fear. The pool area opened before him, the water’s surface catching the early morning light that streamed through the high windows.

And floating in the center, perfectly still, was a body.

Face-up, arms spread, completely motionless.

"Shuyin!" Lu Yuze didn’t think. Didn’t calculate. Didn’t consider that she might simply be floating peacefully.

All he saw was a body in the water, not moving, and his mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion.

He kicked off his sandals and dove in, still fully dressed in his sleeping clothes, expensive silk pajamas that immediately became waterlogged and heavy. He swam toward her with powerful strokes, his panic overriding any rational thought.

He reached her and grabbed her arm, pulling her toward the pool’s edge. She was completely limp, her body offering no resistance as he dragged her through the water.

Please be alive, please be alive, please.....

He reached the shallow end and hauled her out of the pool, laying her flat on the tile beside the water. His hands were already moving toward her chest, ready to begin CPR, his mind racing through the steps he’d been trained in years ago.....

But suddenly, her jade eyes snapped open.

She stared up at him with perfect clarity and just a hint of amusement.

"I told you," she said calmly, as if she hadn’t just given him a near-heart attack, "don’t look for me or find me. Do you want to have a heart attack?"

Lu Yuze froze, his hands still hovering over her chest, his entire body rigid with shock and residual adrenaline.

"You... you were... I thought..."

Before he could finish sputtering, before he could fall backward from his crouched position as his panicked energy suddenly had nowhere to go, Shuyin’s arms shot out and wrapped around his neck, pulling him down into what looked like an embrace while she remained flat on her back on the tile.

"You’re fine," she said, her tone matter-of-fact. "I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. Calm down."

Lu Yuze, now thoroughly off-balance both physically and mentally, found himself essentially lying on top of her, caught by her surprising strength, his face mere inches from hers.

"You were floating," he managed, his voice still tight with the fear that was only now beginning to fade. "Not moving. I thought you’d drowned...."