Chapter Two: Where Are My Clothes?

The other person not only failed to comply, but even appeared to appreciate the situation. Why was that? Fortunately, Fang Yuan was quick-eyed and swift; he soon spotted a colorful, garment-like object lying on the shore. Without a second thought, he dashed over and, in a flash, wrapped the gauzy cloth around his modesty.

At least he still knew shame—perhaps he wasn't such a bad person after all.

The girl watched the boy’s series of movements with a calm, expressionless face. She seemed somewhat older than Fang Yuan, and when she saw him drape her shawl around himself, a look of distaste flickered across her face.

“It seems you’re quite adept at holding your breath. I roughly timed you just now, and you lasted over ten minutes. For us humans, that’s impossible. Yet you managed it. In light of your unique skill, let’s just consider earlier as a joke. In the future, will you teach me how to hold my breath?” The girl’s tone was forceful; though she phrased it as a question, there was not the slightest room for refusal.

Fang Yuan, utterly bewildered, wasn’t sure if the girl was really speaking to him. To avoid further embarrassment, he pretended not to hear, glancing this way and that.

“Don’t worry, money is no issue. As long as you agree, you can name your price.” She spoke again, and seeing that he remained unmoved, offered a tempting deal.

Name your price—a condition few would refuse, unless they were a fool.

Hearing this, Fang Yuan looked around, thinking, Who is she talking to? If it were me, I’d agree without hesitation. But, I can’t even swim, let alone hold my breath that long. Yet, in the whole stretch of sea nearby, there was no one else but himself.

“What are you looking for?” The girl, noticing his persistent distraction, couldn’t help but look around as well. Could there be someone else here with him?

“Are you talking to me?” Fang Yuan finally asked, reasoning that she must be, since there was no one else. If not, she must be mad—a kind of madness that was a real social menace these days, and best avoided.

“If I’m not talking to you, am I talking to thin air?” The girl’s face was full of disdain. She was certain he was feigning ignorance, and with his earlier indiscretion, she felt a surge of resentment—one that she couldn’t swallow or spit out.

If she didn’t need something from him, she’d have tossed him to the fish already.

“But I don’t know how to hold my breath, so how could I teach you?” Fang Yuan replied earnestly, genuinely wanting to earn the money but unable to.

Greedy, is he? Since he was so shameless, the girl saw no need to insist. She cast a glance at the shawl around him, turned away in disgust, and left. Anyone living here surely lacked for nothing; perhaps he simply wasn’t tempted by her offer.

When she had gone, Fang Yuan finally realized he was in what looked like a luxurious hotel. The sea he’d emerged from was its private beach.

If he wanted to leave, he’d have to pass through the hotel, which was clearly tightly managed. How could he walk out clad only in a sheer scarf, with everything barely covered? Wouldn’t people take him for some sort of deviant?

The hotel rooms were all independent suites opening directly onto the beach. To leave, he’d have to pass through one of them. It was peak season; every suite was occupied—there was no empty room to slip through. There was no way to leave quietly.

Given his current appearance, anyone could imagine the worst. Was his innocence of twenty years to be ruined like this?

How had he come to be here? Hadn’t he been in the frozen north? How had he ended up here in the blink of an eye?

Well, here he was, but at least they could have left him some clothes. Ah, this wretched life—never a break.

Fang Yuan braced himself for a beating, but at that moment, a voice sounded in his mind.

“Well, you’ve finally woken up. If you hadn’t, I’d have drowned you in seawater.” The voice was neither male nor female, and it came from within Fang Yuan’s own head.

Had seawater gotten into his brain? Had he short-circuited?

“You don’t have water in your brain, but you do have a parasite. I am that parasite.” The voice seemed to read his thoughts.

“Who are you?” Fang Yuan looked around warily, confirming there was no one else. The voice came from within his mind.

“Have you forgotten what happened back in the frozen wasteland? When you were dying, you accidentally released me from an experimental vial. As you hovered on the brink of death, I entered your brain and revived your body,” the voice explained.

With this reminder, Fang Yuan recalled the peril he’d faced in the tundra—and how, by all rights, he should not have survived. Yet here he was, intact, in a place far from the frozen lands.

The parasite was a mysterious organism discovered by Professor Wang, and believed to be a perfectly evolved cellular form of unknown origin, at least a thousand years old. The professor had planned to study it further upon returning.

Who could have guessed that the strange creature was a parasite—and that it had saved him? Remembering how his body had seemed beyond his control earlier, Fang Yuan asked,

“Just now, were you controlling my body to swim? And what happened to my clothes?” The thought of his current predicament made Fang Yuan’s liver ache—not from anger, but from shame.

Who knew how many people had seen him in his unconscious state?

Then another, more serious thought struck him. When he’d sunk beneath the waves, given his position and the girl’s location… no wonder she’d been so calm when he emerged, even timing him.

Now his liver truly ached—this time, from genuine fury.