The girl selling goods at the market had never seen money before.

On the screen, images flashed one after another of the Little Mermaid gazing at the white flowers blooming on the shore in springtime, yet not daring to touch them.

She comes here every year to see the flowers, but every year the result is the same: she returns to the seabed.

"In the darkness, one-sidedly... just... frantically writing words?"

On the rocks at the bottom of the sea, the mermaid princess's wish is engraved.

I really want to be human...

She gently stroked the stone etched with the marks of time, a sorrowful expression on her face.

"Is expectation just emptiness?"

Even knowing this, they still relentlessly seek redemption?

The Little Mermaid left the rock and surfaced again, trying to find a way to get ashore.

The scene shifts to a spring day when a little girl with silver hair finds her, reaches out her hand, and leads her ashore.

A miraculous thing happened: the moment she stepped ashore, her fishtail transformed into human legs.

The girl took her hand and they went up the mountain to see the flowers.

"So blissful, so intoxicating, now it seems I can understand why, on that day when I couldn't cry, a gentle light guided me forward?"

"Passing through the clouds, sparkling, filling the heart, and overflowing?"

"Unbeknownst to me, my cheeks, glistening with tears, were gradually dampened by hot, burning tears."

Before a mountain covered in flowers, the Little Mermaid shed warm tears.

She held those small hands tightly, offering a heartfelt prayer.

"Why are your hands so warm? Please, just like this..."

"So, don't leave me?"

The scene shifts again, with Bai Jinxuan wiping the blood from her face and dragging the corpse to disguise it as an internal power struggle within the superpowered gadget research and development company.

Therefore, she treated all the wounds inflicted by Gan Jiang and Mo Xie, making them look no different from those caused by a hand chop.

Murong Yao's singing voice pierced through the barrier and echoed clearly in my ears.

She stood under the spotlight, her figure captivating, every move she made eliciting cheers from the crowd.

On the screen, the silver-haired girl waved her arm and left, leaving the mermaid princess alone to admire the flowers.

Her singing voice was so moving.

"When fate brings people together and then separates them, everyone feels joy and sorrow, while simultaneously counting the loves as if confirming a heartbeat."

Bai Jinxuan retrieved the potion from Gu Qingyun's corpse that could evade any investigation.

Her eyes had already confirmed the effectiveness of this thing.

Gently open it, then pour it little by little onto their corpses.

Soon, the traces that couldn't be removed turned into a puddle of black mud under the effect of the medicine.

Meanwhile, Murong Yao's voice echoed throughout the Second Middle School.

Since the girl left, the Little Mermaid has spent every year alone watching the flowers, especially in spring, when she sings loudly every night on that familiar reef.

"So happy, yet so lonely; it is precisely because it is this moment that I feel both important and frightened?"

"On that day, when I couldn't cry, the gentle light embraced me?"

The Little Mermaid believed that the waves would carry her song to the girl's ears.

"The world illuminated, the important person shining brightly, knowing the warmth of spring, will shed tears for me, for you?"

She sang along various coastlines, tears streaming down her face.

She searched the world, no longer afraid of humans, and sang loudly in the night sky.

"Ah, how dazzling it was..."

Murong Yao's voice paused again, and under the vast bright moon, the mermaid princess's expectant gaze lingered.

"Ah, how beautiful it is—!!!"

The drawn-out soprano voice was filled with a deep and complex longing in her heart.

Bai Jinxuan stopped what she was doing and stood still.

She was still covered in blood, and beneath her feet lay a devastated meadow and corpses lying in disarray.

Their deaths were extremely gruesome; most of their limbs were melted into disgusting, ugly black mud, making it difficult to identify them.

Her silvery-white hair fluttered in the cold wind.

There are no buildings here to shelter you from the wind and rain, and the evening breeze chills you to the bone.

However, Bai Jinxuan didn't care about these things; she was already used to them.

On stage, Murong Yao, transformed into a mermaid princess, was still shouting, and the audience held up dark blue colored lights, swaying as she sang.

She was like a real princess, beautiful and dazzling.

The atmosphere permeated the central square in the distance.

Countless spectators sang together, their voices like the collective lament of siren, rising and falling with the waves of the sea.

"Passing through the clouds, sparkling, filling the heart, and overflowing?"

"Unbeknownst to me, my cheeks, glistening with tears, were gradually dampened by hot, burning tears."

Tears welled up in Murong Yao's eyes, and her hand, which was trying to grasp the moon, hung suspended in mid-air.

"Why are your hands so warm? Please, please, stay like this, don't leave me?"

"Never, ever, don't leave me—?"

After the song ended and a brief silence followed, thunderous applause erupted throughout the venue.

Bai Jinxuan watched all of this silently in the pitch black.

Her cultural performance trip was a disaster, but Murong Yao's cultural performance was a great success, or rather, a very great success.

So many people cheered for her, so many people applauded for her... If this isn't considered a success, then Bai Jinxuan doesn't know what success truly means.

Unfortunately, moments of joy are always fleeting.

When the music ends, the curtain falls.

Turning around, the scene had already been set up. With the presence of black mud, even using time travel magic wouldn't reveal what had happened here.

She remained invisible throughout, deliberately avoiding surveillance cameras when she arrived. In other words, it was impossible for No. 2 Middle School to discover the identity of 'Bai Jinxuan'.

They could only assume that the Superpowered Gadgets Research and Development Club suffered heavy losses due to internal strife, and that Qin Yichen eventually escaped without anyone noticing using some unknown method.

In fact, the Super Power Item Development Club did have this motive and had such internal strife, so this possibility is highly interpretable from the official perspective.

They created the barrier, and they made the black mud.

All traces of Bai Jinxuan have been erased, meaning that Bai Jinxuan was never here in the first place.

The curtain is only missing an alibi to bring the story to a true close.

Bai Jinxuan had already prepared for this.

She crouched down, disappeared into the shadows, changed her clothes, wiped away the blood, and then teleported to a toilet in the central square.

She made this mark on the spur of the moment after hearing that the party was being held in the central square, before heading to the food street.

In fact, she also marked the toilet where she killed Qin Yichen. In other words, no matter which toilet she came out of and walked under the surveillance camera, she could disassociate herself from that fight.

As for how she bypassed the surveillance cameras to get to the central square, that can be explained. After all, it is the central square, with roads in all directions. As long as she went into the green belt, she could still bypass the surveillance cameras and get there.

On the contrary, the shortest path from the food street to the central square is a stone bridge. Without considering spatial teleportation, one must cross the stone bridge to get from the food street to the central square, and that is the key area under surveillance.

Therefore, Bai Jinxuan was certain that no one would track her down if she suddenly appeared in the central square. She could come out with peace of mind, deliberately trampling on the grass and pretending to be reckless as she walked under the surveillance cameras.

"Murong Yao's singing voice is so beautiful, she's simply my goddess!"

"Waaaaah, the Little Mermaid is so pitiful..."

"If only that story had a sequel, we could go find Miss Murong Yao and ask her to write a sequel."

Along the way, wherever Bai Jinxuan went, people talked about Murong Yao, which made her feel somewhat embarrassed.

Hmph—as expected of Yao Yao!

Oh right, Yao Yao just finished her speech and should be getting ready to leave the stage, right? I can go find her over there.

Although Bai Jinxuan didn't know the way, she could still see the huge stage.

So she quickly bypassed the crowd and made her way to the exit.

However, the number of media outlets and fans who shared her thoughts was beyond her expectations.

As she walked, she realized something was wrong; there was a huge traffic jam ahead.

Bai Jinxuan, who was rather short, could only suffer in silence here. She tried her best to stand on tiptoe, but could only see a blurry figure in a sea-blue dress.

However, there is an advantage: she can squeeze through gaps in people's clothing.

After squeezing and squeezing for a while, she finally poked her head out.

A group of cute girls surrounded Murong Yao, clearing obstacles for her. Judging from their demeanor, they seemed to have a good relationship.

Seeing that she was about to come this way, Bai Jinxuan quickly reached out to greet her, but unexpectedly, the girls around her suddenly started to riot.

.

"Murong Yao! Murong Yao! Murong Yao..."

They pushed and shoved like zombies, and with a few elbow strikes, they knocked Bai Jinxuan away.

Looking at the chaotic crowd, the silver-haired girl remained silent for a moment, then slowly retreated, blending into the darkness.

--------

P.S.: All done~ I'll open another bounty in a few days!

Volume 1: Chapter 78: The Girl Checking Her Joint Entrance Exam Scores

Two days have passed since the No. 2 Middle School's arts and culture gala ended.

The dire situation of the Super Power Items Research and Development Club caused a sensation, but in the end, it all disappeared without a trace.

Class 1, Fifth Middle School of Star City.

Bai Jinxuan propped her cheek up in her hand, sitting in her seat, listening to the teacher explain the complicated theories while idly flipping through the thick book in front of her.

She didn't care much that the Second Middle School found her; she had done things like this countless times before.

This is a common occurrence in the black market and underground cities.

She could only try her best to erase all traces of herself; if they really found her, there was nothing she could do.

Murder always comes with risks, and she's gotten used to it. If she were to worry about this and fear that all the time, she wouldn't be able to live.

Besides, even if they are discovered, it doesn't really matter. If they can win, they'll kill them all; if they can't, they'll just run away.

As long as you have money, nothing is a problem.

Bai Jinxuan stretched out her finger and tapped on the spellbook.

"Should we buy some insurance...?"

Forget it, if the big shots offer an even higher price later, the insurance company might end up insuring itself instead.

You should learn more magic.

The system of magic is different from that of martial arts. Advancement is determined by more complex and stronger magical structures.

Magic power is just one of the basic factors, and it can even be said to be irrelevant, because people can make up for their lack of magic power by drinking potions or using the magic crystals in their bodies.

Therefore, magic power is of no use in magical research. Mages with great magic power often go to dungeons to become explorers in order to make use of their advantages.

Thinking about it this way, being a mage is indeed a more stable profession. At least you don't have to risk your life in dungeons. Those places are no joke; if you die, you're dead, and everything is over.

"Jingle Bell--"

The bell rang, and the magic teacher said sternly, "Students, remember to finish your homework on time. Bai Jinxuan, come to my office."