Chapter 2

Lumi, the Merman, nodded, seeming to understand and yet not. Its beautiful fishtail reached out of the tank and hooked my hand. “Okay, Alice.”

“Give me a name from your human world, please. Also, I haven’t differentiated my gender yet. Do you want me to be male or female?”

I gently stroked its tail. Under the light, its scales shimmered with a pale golden glow, like the most exquisite jewels in the world.

“You can be Lumi. As for gender, you decide. I won’t interfere.”

In my last life, under Blair’s command, Lumi had differentiated into a female Merman.

Lumi nodded emphatically at my words. “Alright, I’ll be Lumi.”

Lumi retracted its tail and, pulling off a scale, offered it to me. “I see you humans have welcome gifts. This is for you.”

I smiled and accepted the scale. Merfolk were rare, and their scales were priceless on the black market.

However, I had no intention of selling this one.

I took Lumi home. Merfolk could leave water, but they needed to stay fully hydrated and ideally shouldn't be out of water for more than four hours.

As I reached the front door, I saw my belongings strewn outside.

Blair opened the door, holding the awards and certificates I’d earned from school over the years.

“Oh, sister, you’re back!”

A mocking smile played on her lips as she raised her hand. “Mom said your room is for Snowball now. You and your Merman can move out.”

With that, she ripped all my certificates into tiny pieces.

I pushed past her, my face emotionless, and walked inside.

The room I lived in at home was already the smallest storage room. Now, they were taking away even my last bit of living space.

And it was perfect timing, too. I was eighteen now. Even if I called the police, no one would stand up for me.

Blair was clearly dead set on making me die.

I walked up to my dad, Richard. “You want to kick me out? Fine. But you need to give me money for rent.”

Richard looked at me indifferently, as if I were a stranger. “Want money? You’re eighteen now, you should be out making your own way.”

I glanced at my mom, Susan, who was sitting on the other end of the sofa. “Is that what you think too?”

The two people on the sofa, my biological parents, felt more distant than strangers at that moment.

After everything that happened in my last life, I thought I wouldn't feel pain anymore. But right now, my heart still ached.

I pinched myself hard. This wasn’t the time for sentiment.

“Sister, you’re an adult now. Why are you still asking Mom and Dad for money? They’ve already worked so hard to raise us. You can’t be an ungrateful wretch!”

“We only had you because Blair said she wanted a little sister to play with. Otherwise, why do you think you were born? We gave you life, you should be grateful!” my dad said dismissively.

How ridiculous. A human life, spoken of as if it were a toy found on the street. So my existence was merely for Blair’s amusement.

“If you don’t give me money, I’ll go cause a scene at your office.”

Time was tight, so there was no need to argue. My demand was simple: money.

My dad had a stable government job and valued his reputation above all else. If I wrote a complaint letter, he might face far greater consequences.

Thinking this, he turned back into the house, pulled out his wallet, and threw all the banknotes onto the floor. “Take the money, and get out!”

I knelt down and quickly picked up the cash, not missing a single coin.

The front door slammed shut with a "bang!" and I left that place with Lumi.

The high-temperature apocalypse was coming soon. I needed to find a place to stay first.