I woke up to find myself as the villain's older sister.

“I want to go out,” Yun Qingyi blurted out.

The mermaid princess still smiled and said softly, "You know I won't agree to unreasonable requests."

"Oh." Yun Qingyi didn't mind. "Then tell me how you've been all these years."

"Is that all you ask for?" The mermaid princess was somewhat surprised.

"Yes." Yun Qingyi nodded, a look of heartache on her face. "These past years... being with people you don't like must have been tough, right?"

The mermaid princess paused slightly, then, seeing Yun Qingyi's distressed expression, she was touched: "I didn't expect you to be so kind. Trapping you here makes me feel a little guilty."

Yun Qingyi was speechless. If you feel guilty, just let me out.

But she didn't show it on her face, and smiled gently, "I'll be living here eventually, so I want to get to know you better."

Yun Qingrou and Ji Zhaoze both turned their heads and glanced silently at Yun Qingyi.

"You're so kind." The mermaid princess looked at Yun Qingyi and a strange emotion finally appeared in her eyes. "Although I don't really want to tell you, since you want to know, I'll tell you."

She moved to a couch, gracefully swayed her fishtail as she lay down, her eyes slightly narrowed, as if recalling something.

Tuso, standing beside him, stood there with a blank stare.

Since the mermaid princess stopped changing the room, the strange light in her eyes has disappeared, replaced by an empty look.

"Actually, it's not that painful," the mermaid princess said. "After all, when I'm with Tuso, I'm soulless."

"No soul?" Yun Qingyi asked in confusion.

"Yes, that's right." The mermaid princess nodded, her eyes slightly mocking as she stroked the necklace around her neck. "This pearl necklace is the one I despise the most, but now it's the one that holds my soul."

"Why... is your soul inside?" Yun Qingyi thought for a moment, but still couldn't help asking. She had a feeling that something must have happened back then.

Upon hearing the question, the merman princess's eyes dimmed for a moment. "Didn't I just tell you? The energy at the bottom of the Western Sea is depleting."

"After the sea witch announced that the energy was completely exhausted, the entire West Sea was plunged into a catastrophe that night. No sea creature could escape this catastrophe, and none of the sea creatures expected that the catastrophe would come so quickly."

"On the night the catastrophe struck, Tuso and I officially became partners."

"We all died in bed that day."

"But I'm luckier than Tusso."

"He is truly dead; his body now is merely an empty shell."

At this point, the mermaid princess's expression became complicated, and she touched the cloud-like pearl around her neck again.

The Cloud Pearl is a rare treasure; it can imbue a living being's soul with its essence. Without it, I think I would now be like Tuso, a completely soulless shell.

"For those things on top to play with and manipulate."

Yun Qingyi stared at the mermaid princess and noticed that her face turned noticeably colder when she said those words.

What is that thing on top?

Now there's something else she doesn't know about, and Yun Qingyi frowned slightly.

The mysteries are piling up. She hasn't figured out the connection between the unseen merfolk and these rooms yet, and now, there's this thing above.

Yun Qingyi felt that the more she learned, the more she felt that everything ahead was shrouded in mist, hazy and indistinct, yet vaguely visible.

I'm a little annoyed, but there's nothing I can do right now. I can only keep walking and looking for clues.

While Yun Qingyi was pondering, the merman princess continued, "When the calamity came, for some reason, I felt a strong will to survive. In my hundreds of years as a merman, I have never longed to live so much."

"So, on my deathbed, my soul attached itself to the Cloud Pearl that I had rejected and thrown under my bed."