LI YU FLOATED on the surface of the freezing cold water, utterly
motionless.
He could vaguely hear the muffled noises of people moving about
from somewhere above his head, but it was difficult to make out anything
clearly. It was a little noisy, though, so he flipped over and opened his eyes.
His entire body felt wet.
After the initial shock, his mind gradually began to clear. With
dawning terror, he realized he was surrounded by water.
That was impossible. Hadn't he fallen asleep after staying up late
reading webnovels? When did he fall into water?
More importantly, he couldn't even swim!
Li Yu flailed his limbs wildly. As he struggled, he felt something on
his back move.
In the past, whenever he fell into water, the only fate that awaited him
was sinking to the bottom. But to his surprise, this time, he found he didn't
plunge straight down. Instead, he was staying afloat, as if an invisible hand
were holding him up.
And the surreal, impossible-to-ignore rhythm behind him… What
was that?
Li Yu peeked back at himself and startled. He'd always been proud of
his long, slender legs—but now they were gone. In their place, a silvery,
glistening fish tail appeared, swishing vigorously through the water, from
side to side, up and down.
Well, that must be why he hadn't sunk.
Li Yu was speechless. What was going on? How did his legs turn into
a fish tail? Was he…dreaming? Dreaming about turning into a mermaid?
As girly as it sounded, a mermaid was the only possibility Li Yu
could think of where a human had a fish tail. No, he wasn't talking about the ugly-yet-cute dugong from the animal world—it was the ethereal, half-
human, half-fish mermaid with long, flowing hair, a beautiful complexion,
and a heavenly voice.
Everyone knew mermaids didn't exist in real life, so the only logical
conclusion was that this was all a dream. And since it was a dream, he saw
no problem with admiring his own beauty as a mermaid.
Li Yu glanced around, searching for a mirror, or anything with a
reflection that could show his appearance. As he moved, he kept swishing
his tail back and forth vigorously. It was actually kind of nice to have a tail
to wave around as he pleased…
Unfortunately, this dream wasn't really going exactly as planned.
There was no mirror in the water. Li Yu flipped over and, from force of
habit, reached for his forehead to flick his bangs… Except this led to
another problem. Li Yu quickly realized that no matter how hard he tried, he
couldn't reach his own forehead. What…was wrong with his hand? Had his
arm become shorter somehow?
Li Yu looked down in confusion. That was when he realized his
hands, with their distinct joints, had been replaced with a pair of constantly
paddling fish fins that were…well, the exact shape and texture of a fish's
fins.
If his legs had turned into a tail and his hands had turned into fins,
then…
Li Yu hurried to look at himself. Wait, wait. When did his stomach
turn flat and slim, like…like you'd normally only see on a fish? Not only
did he have a long, slender belly, but he was also covered in silvery black
fish scales.
Holy shit!
Li Yu took a deep breath, and a few bubbles actually came floating
out. There, reflected on the bubbles' surface, he could see it clearly: his
entire body had turned into a fish! Fish head, fish belly, fish scales… He
was no mermaid, he was a proper carp!1
Fear slammed into Li Yu so hard he froze, momentarily forgetting to
swish his tail. Immediately, he began to sink.
Ahhhhh! He was going to drown! He was going to drown!
Just as he was about to crash into a black rock at the bottom, Li Yu
used both his tail and fins to paddle frantically, managing to stop himself
before he collided with the rock. Unfortunately, his tail wasn't so lucky.
Li Yu winced. That really hurt.
The fish tail wasn't just some decoration. He'd only hit it once, but Li
Yu was in so much pain, he spat out a long trail of variously sized bubbles.
What was up with that? That hurt more than cutting into his leg with
a knife… How could the pain be so real in a dream?
Li Yu's eyes widened slightly. No way! Was this…not actually a
dream?! He had really turned into a fish—and not just any fish, but the most
basic kind of carp?
Where exactly was he? How did he transform? There was no way he
was turned into a carp just because his name was Li Yu, right? And most
importantly—was there a way for him to change back?!
An entire herd of "WTF"s stampeded through Li Yu's mind. Before
he had the chance to fully grasp the situation at hand, he heard someone
speak.
A high, reedy voice rang out: "Xiaolinzi, we're still missing a live
fish for the noble consort's
2
thousand carp soup!"
Another voice immediately responded, "Gao-gonggong,3
this fish
flipped over just now. The birthday banquet is an important matter, and this
servant doesn't dare present it to the noble consort, so I was about to throw
it away. Should I go get another…"
Li Yu was alarmed. He had been secretly celebrating the discovery
that there were other people around him, but what was with all the "noble
consort" and "gonggong" stuff? Did he transmigrate into a historical palace
fish?
And what the hell was th-th-th-th-thousand carp soup??
Before he could figure it out, a light shone right into the water above
Li Yu's head, splitting the dark in two. From that beam of light, a terrifyingly sized hand reached in! Li Yu almost passed out on the spot. This
hand was way too big!
But after some careful consideration, he realized—of course it was.
He was an ordinary little fish now. Obviously, a human hand would be
colossal to a fish.
Every instinct inside Li Yu screamed that he was in danger.
He couldn't help swimming all over the place. Without a moment's
hesitation, the hand reached into the water, fingers outstretched, and clasped
around Li Yu, who was bumbling around like a headless fly.
Now that he was a fish, Li Yu had no neck, so the hand covered most
of his body. Li Yu yelped and struggled fiercely, his tail flapping violently.
It was even more painful than hitting his tail just now. How could you grab
a fish's chest and stomach?! It hurts!
But the person couldn't hear the fish's cries and just chuckled. "This
fish is certainly lively. What do you mean it flipped over? Xiaolinzi, you
didn't say that just so you could take this fish for yourself, did you?"
With all the ruckus around him, Li Yu's world was spinning, but he
managed to catch a glimpse of the place he had been in before: a fish
basket. Ensnared in the person's hand, he was lifted to meet their gaze.
Li Yu's fish eyes took in two people dressed like palace servants from
ancient times. The one holding him was Gao-gonggong. He wasn't very
tall, and he looked like a round, white dough ball. Next to him, Xiaolinzi
looked a little like a flax stem.
Xiaolinzi hurried to kiss up to Gao-gonggong. He smiled and said,
"Gao-gonggong, this servant would never dare take advantage with you
overseeing everything. My eyes must've been playing tricks on me before
—it's simply a misunderstanding. Since this fish is still alive, this servant
will go and prepare the fish soup immediately…"
Li Yu, who was being held by Gao-gonggong, immediately became
agitated. What? What?! Fish soup?!
"Thousand carp soup" might have been a complete mystery to him
just a moment ago, but the concept of fish soup was definitely something he
understood deep within his bones. He was a fish right now, and they were
about to turn him into soup!
Squeezing me is one thing, but turning me into soup is where I draw
the line!
Originally, Gao-gonggong had only visited the imperial kitchen to
scold Xiaolinzi a little. Now that that was done, he was planning on leaving
the fish for Xiaolinzi to deal with. Li Yu had lain quiet and still in Gao-
gonggong's grip for some time, but now that soup was on the menu, he
mustered all his strength to struggle free. The fish was slippery; in the split
second that Gao-gonggong loosened his grip, Li Yu managed to get free and
fling himself into the air.
Li Yu, still thrashing around as he flew through the air, leaving a long
trail of water behind him, was terrified.
What was he going to do?! He was going to die! He was going to die!
Was he still going to be made into soup if he died?!
Sob sob sob, he still hadn't figured out how exactly he had
transmigrated into a fish in the first place. He didn't want to die! What if it
stuck this time?!
Li Yu soared toward Xiaolinzi, completely out of control. Xiaolinzi
reached out to grab him, but the fish was too slippery, and he couldn't get a
firm hold of him. Li Yu was seconds away from splatting onto the floor
when a long "meow" came from outside and a streak of snowy white fur
bounded in. Just before Li Yu's tail hit the ground, the white figure caught
him firmly in its mouth. Li Yu didn't even have time to celebrate his close
call before his scales were standing straight up all over his body.
Holy crap. This shape, this sound—was this a fucking large white
cat?! He'd managed to escape from the hand of a human, only to land
directly in the mouth of a cat?!
How was he supposed to survive a cat's mouth?!
Li Yu had never been afraid of cats before, but now that he was a fish,
he was scared to death. Cat's tongues were covered in spikes; if it licked
him, would it take a chunk of him with it? He was completely paralyzed by
fear. The cat was going to eat him! He'd be just a pile of fish bones! Being
turned into soup wasn't sounding so bad anymore!
The large white cat that had appeared out of nowhere ignored Gao-
gonggong and Xiaolinzi and sprinted out with the fish in its mouth. It all happened way too fast. It took Xiaolinzi a moment to react.
"Gao-gonggong, th-the cat has taken the fish!"
This sturdy, fat white cat looked a little familiar… With a start, Gao-
gonggong realized who it was and kicked Xiaolinzi.
"What are you dawdling for?! Can't you see that's the noble consort's
cat? Xiaolinzi, hurry and follow it! Don't let the precious Master Cat choke
on a fish bone, otherwise the noble consort will never forgive us! After all,
the cat of our master is also half a master…"
"Yessir!" There was a tinge of bitterness in Xiaolinzi's voice. You
couldn't afford to offend even a cat master these days.
Li Yu was clamped between the white cat's jaws, and Xiaolinzi
chased after them. Originally, he had hoped Gao-gonggong and Xiaolinzi
would pull him out of the cat's mouth, since he was, after all, an ingredient
for the fish soup. That made him more or less useful. But hearing what they
were saying now, it turned out they didn't care about the fish at all and had
no plans to save him. They were more concerned the cat might choke on his
bones?
How fickle! These guys sure knew how to wait and see which way
the wind blew!
As infuriated as Li Yu was, there was nothing he could do about his
situation. All he could do was use every ounce of energy he had left to try
and slip out of the cat's mouth.
But the white cat was not the ambitious yet incompetent Gao-
gonggong, nor did it have the habit of eating and running at the same time.
It held Li Yu delicately in its sharp teeth. Li Yu wiggled around, but its jaws
didn't even loosen. On the contrary, they tightened around him.
Li Yu didn't dare move any more. He lay quietly in the cat's mouth,
the tip of his tail quivering uncontrollably. This was way too scary. Li Yu
couldn't help screaming, "Help, someone save me!"
It didn't matter who! Whoever it was, he'd do anything they wanted
in his next life as long as they freed him from this cat's mouth!
But no human heard the fish, and neither did the cat.
The large white cat trotted on, unencumbered. Countless people saw
it pass, but not a single one of them stopped it. It was exactly like Gao-
gonggong had said: the cat of our master is also half a master.
While Li Yu's screams were going unheard, the white cat dug its
claws into the floor tiles, skidding to an abrupt stop. Li Yu flinched as he
felt the cat's teeth tighten around him.
The white cat's shining eyes glared at whatever was in front of it, a
warning growl rumbling from its throat as if it were facing a formidable
enemy. Detecting this shift in the white cat's attitude, Li Yu quickly looked
to see why.
A young man with a tall, upright figure, draped in resplendent,
luxurious robes, appeared in his field of vision. Like a god descending upon
the earth, he blocked the great white cat's path.