Qing continued speaking "As merpeople, we have the ability to manipulate water. So instead of us bringing the bodies to Kǎi, we bring the bodies to us using our water powers. It'll require less physical effort on our part, and we can increase the number of bodies we bring."

Zhihao exclaimed "That's a brilliant idea!"

Ai winked "As expected of Qing, our smart librarian, to come up with an amazing solution."

Qing raised her arms and as the currents rushed forward, many dead bodies flowed towards their direction. Zhihao looked at Qing with admiration in his eyes. She was not only intelligent but also well versed in the art of water manipulation. Zhihao decided that this would be a good moment to impress her, so he waved his arms and willed the flow of the water to head towards their direction, bringing many bodies with the current as well.

However, it seemed that his water manipulation caused the gathered bodies to scatter all over within the area. Zhihao had a sheepish expression as he said "…Sorry."

Ruǎn yù jeered "Well, that's what you get for being a showoff, you idiot!"

Zhihao yelled back "Look who's talking!"

Ruǎn yù gritted his teeth and was about to swim over to Zhihao to pummel him but Lín wrapped her arm around his muscular one and closed her eyes as she said "Please control yourself, my love. We don't want Kǎi to get angry again. I know Zhihao gets on your nerves but apologize to him please? You are in the wrong this time."

Ruǎn yù breathed out through his nostrils, irritated but when he looked into Lín's pleading jade eyes, he seemed to have softened completely. "Sorry!" He yelled back with a careless tone.

Zhihao scoffed. Qing swam towards Zhihao and said "Still, thank you Zhihao. Your effort is appreciated." He managed a smirk at hearing her thank him.

She turned to the others and continued speaking. "As you all can see, if we do not all control the water simultaneously, the bodies will scatter. For now, let's gather the bodies and have Kǎi take care of what we have so far."

Everyone nodded then the merpeople gathered the multitude of corpses, stacking them on one another so that they wouldn't float away. Kǎi pointed at the multitude of corpses and a golden light shot forth from his fingertip and enveloped the bodies. When the golden light dissipated, many souls floated up high.

The merpeople lined up next to one another and looked in awe at the sight. Zhihao was purposely next to Qing and on the count of three, all of them manipulated the flow of the current as one, causing a rough wave to head in their direction, carrying many bodies with it.

Once again, Kǎi dissolves the bodies and freed the souls. Combining the water manipulation abilities was indeed a good idea but it wasn't like they could repeatedly do it and so they took a break.

Zhihao was not shy but with his duties as a palace guard, moments to engage with Qing was far and few. He swam next to her, closed his eyes, grinned as he said "Why, Qing, I must say your water manipulation is amazing."

Qing bashfully replied as she lowered her head in a nod "Why thank you, it took a lot of practice for me to achieve this point."

Zhihao cleared his throat. "I'm aware that we're on leave from our regular duties but as the royal librarian, I'm assuming there's an excellent scroll that talks about the secrets to water manipulation?"

"Why Zhihao, I believe your water manipulation is perfectly fine from what I've seen. But if you do wish to improve your ability and learn then I will not stop you. There should be such a scroll, "The Art of Water Manipulation." I can find it for you this evening when we return to the palace."

Zhihao smirked. "Excellent. I'll see you in the library tonight."

He honestly couldn't care about water manipulating, he just wanted to spend more time with Qing and hopefully win her over with his looks, charm, and intellect. But since he came up with that excuse, he supposed he had to do the right thing by studying the scroll and practicing its tricks later on. It wouldn't hurt to improve his water manipulating, maybe he could pull some more tricks on Ruǎn yù too.

Qing simply smiled as she nodded and said "Yes, I'll see you tonight."

Zhihao smiled then said "You truly are suited to be the royal librarian. You immediately knew the title of the scroll that would suit my needs."

Qing replied "Well, I suppose it helps that I have a good memory and that there is only one scroll on the topic you mentioned."

Meanwhile, Ai was standing next to Kǎi and stretched her arms to relieve herself. Kǎi said "Thank you for your assistance and for that of your friends. Particularly her." He pointed at the blue mermaid.

Ai looked up at Kǎi. "You mean Qing?"

"Yes, it was a brilliant idea."

Ai tilted her head and smiled as she said "Well, don't thank me, thank her personally."

Kǎi smiled a bit. "I shall."

Eventually, another workday was reaching completion as the sun began setting.

Kǎi announced "I'd like to thank you, all of you for another day of hard work." He looked at the blue mermaid. "I personally would like to thank Qing for coming up with a solution which made everyone's work more efficient."

Qing blushed a bit, feeling bashful for being put in the spotlight. The merpeople began yelling their thanks at her. "It's nothing really, I just wanted to find a way so that everyone didn't have to work too hard." She made eye contact with the angel. "We must thank you as well though, you're the only one who can cleanse the death aura plaguing the ocean."

Ai said "Yes, we're all grateful to you Kǎi."

The merpeople chimed in with their thanks.

"Unfortunately, it is only me working to free the souls and dissolve the bodies."

Ai yelled passionately "It doesn't matter, a little ripple can turn into a tsunami!"

Qing remarked. "I think you mean even a little pebble can create many ripples."

Ai sweated as she bent her arm. Kǎi chuckled a bit and Ai was surprised and happy to hear him laugh then they all bid their farewells as he took to the sky.

Note: Thanks to SecretlySamus for suggesting the library for an AmiZoi moment. It helped me figure out how Zhihao (Zoisite) was going to attract Qing (Ami's) attention.