Two Salted Fishes
The chubby little fish tail and the chubby baby face complemented each other.
The light red pointed ears poked through the soft hair, which reached down to the waist. The little mermaid was sleeping soundly, with long eyelashes stained with droplets like tiny pearls.
【Fondness】: He Ruge really likes you, fondness level 88.
【Awakened】: Your little mermaid suddenly appears.
Xi Guican pushed open the door to the bathroom and was greeted by this scene. The little mermaid’s head was tilted, with a fish tail the same length as its short legs. However, its width had doubled, making it look plump.
Amidst the sweet strawberry scent, a faint mermaid fragrance wafted up and down in the humid air. This strange aroma reached Xi Guican’s nose, causing his pale cheeks to flush suddenly like they were on fire, his heart pounding rapidly.
The phrase that came to Xi Guican’s mind was something he had seen on the internet recently:
#Shamefully act cute#
#My lover turns small and cute, making me cry every day#
#Is it weird that I want to lick a fish tail?#
#Even children cannot resist seeing this#
Xi Guican had never thought that He Ruge’s mermaid form could also be round and adorable. The former possessed a distant beauty that was not to be touched, while the latter made him want to put this cutie in a large fish tank and pamper it every day.
Standing dumbfounded in place, Xi Guican slowly reached out to cover his left chest with his hand, then lightly touched his forehead with the back of his hand to check his temperature.
After confirming that his brain hadn’t been overwhelmed by cuteness, Xi Guican cautiously walked over to the bathtub and squatted down to gaze at his little lover.
The fins were completely different from the chubby fish tail; the deep red fins floated lightly in the water like gauze, each scale emitting a lustrous glow.
Xi Guican couldn’t help but extend a finger, gently touching the smooth scales. However, what Xi Guican didn’t expect was that the young little mermaid was extremely sensitive. Except for gentle, water-like touches, any other contact would startle it.
The short yet powerful fish tail suddenly flicked, splashing Xi Guican’s face with water droplets. He wiped his face with his hand, meeting the frightened expression of the little lover.
At the same time, a series of “-1 Fondness” popped up crazily from the top of He Ruge’s head.
“What are you going to do?! Why did I turn into this?!”
The scared voice of the young child trembled.
“I can explain…”
However, Xi Guican’s explanation was cut off before it could be spoken. The little mermaid agilely swayed its fish tail, swimming to the corner of the bathtub in the blink of an eye, burying its face in the water as if hiding from Xi Guican’s view.
He Ruge had a dream that he had turned into a mermaid splashing happily in the water. Suddenly, a big white tiger rushed over and opened its bloody mouth towards him.
He Ruge woke up abruptly, only to find himself staring at Mr. Xi’s enlarged face when he opened his eyes and lowered his head to see his own fish tail!
The large red fish tail, mixed with a few strands of silvery white like flowing clouds. What was suffocating was that the fish tail was short, fat and very fat.
This reminded He Ruge of a poem, “Before Xisai Mountain, white egrets fly, in flowing waters of Peach Blossom Spring, the perch are plump.”*
*T/N: One of the five “Songs of the Fisherman” poem by Zhang Zhihe
Ah ah ah ah ah!
What’s even more suffocating is that Mr. Xi’s animal shape is a white tiger!
Carnivores!
The other party also said in person that he liked to eat fish.
He Ruge was so scared that he found a corner of the bathtub furthest from Mr. Xi to hide.
He Ruge realized he had been assuming things all along. He thought he had crossed into a romance novel where Mr. Xi’s appearance resembled that of the male lead. In the novel, the male lead wanted to keep an Earthling as a pet, so He Ruge had naturally assumed Mr. Xi adopted him for that reason.
But upon further reflection, there was another possibility. Mr. Xi might want to keep a food reserve, just like some people buy pigs, intending some as pets and others for meat.
Perhaps Mr. Xi adopted orphans because he liked to eat little mermaids, just like witches like to eat children.
Mr. Xi, who ate Earthlings, adopted He Ruge as a food reserve, used strange spiritual stones to transform He Ruge’s body, turning him into a plump merman. As the innocent little mermaid slept, he was suddenly swallowed whole…
It was too terrifying!
He Ruge surfaced from the water, looking deeply at Mr. Xi, who had been splashed in the face by him, feeling despair and sorrow in his heart. He had been so easily deceived by Mr. Xi. Even if he now saw through Mr. Xi’s plot, it was too late.
His face, red from anger just moments ago, lost its color. He Ruge realized that no matter what he did, he couldn’t save himself. He collapsed dejectedly in the bathtub, like an over-pickled salted fish, closing his eyes without intending to struggle.
Although he could still create a few small splashes by struggling, it was just that—creating a few small splashes. It would be better to die with dignity. Perhaps after death, he could still cross back. He hadn’t finished filling his hole yet.
He Ruge, who had enjoyed this period of mealworm-like life, finally remembered the readers waiting eagerly in the pit.
But…
He Ruge suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Mr. Xi.
Defiantly, he said, “I want to touch your meat pad.”
He had long wanted to touch the big meat pads, and now, before dying, he wouldn’t have regrets if he could touch it once.
To He Ruge’s surprise, Mr. Xi in front of him also looked ashen-faced. The two salted fish, having lost their dreams, stared at each other.
Xi Guican’s dream had shattered along with the deducted 90 points of favorability. He couldn’t understand how reaching out would cost him so much favorability.
【Fear】: He Ruge is afraid you’ll eat him, -2 favorability.
He Ruge realized favorability could even be negative—this was Xi Guican’s first thought.
After the shock came intense grievance. How could he possibly harm He Ruge?
Xi Guican was speechless.
Xi Guican, who was regretting deeply, heard He Ruge’s request and reacted as if he were a drowning man clutching at a straw.
Mr. Xi hurriedly transformed into a big white tiger, politely offering his paw to the little mermaid. The pink big meat pad was like a soft pillow.
One tiger paw was bigger than He Ruge’s face. He Ruge pinched and poked, leaving wet marks on the meat pad.
As he pinched and poked, He Ruge, who had resigned himself to die, suddenly felt a desire to survive ignite within him.
He had never touched a cat’s tail to verify whether “stroking a cat’s tail could bring indescribable happiness” or pinched the explosively good feeling cat’s balls.
Wouldn’t it be a shame to die like this?
Who knows if there are cute little cats in heaven?
The little mermaid sniffed and looked up at the big white tiger with a pleasing smile, asking in a milky voice, “Are you hungry?”
The big white tiger shook its head in surprise.
With both hands, somewhat strenuously, holding the tiger’s paw, He Ruge timidly looked at the big white tiger with scared black eyes and whispered, “If you get hungry later, just tell me and I’ll feed you strawberries.”
Even if he was eaten, he would be mentally prepared.
Seeing the big white tiger nodding frantically, He Ruge breathed a sigh of relief. He realized Mr. Xi currently didn’t seem to have any intention of eating him, perhaps thinking he wasn’t big enough and wanted to fatten him up first?
“You lost control of your emotions just now and didn’t listen to my explanation.”
The big white tiger looked down at the little mermaid in the bathtub, his blue eyes filled with helplessness and sadness.
“Actually… you’re not human,” he said, stopping abruptly after the first sentence and holding his breath, watching He Ruge’s reaction.
This game world mainly served He Ruge, who lost all memories of “Xi Guican” and forgot he was a monster. Xi Guican could only carefully nurture his worldview. He had planned to reveal some information to He Ruge after his favorability increased a bit more.
Unexpectedly, things changed.
He Ruge awakened faster than Xi Guican expected and misunderstood him. If the misunderstanding couldn’t be resolved, the favorability would be even less likely to improve.
All Xi Guican could do now was cautiously reveal some truths within He Ruge’s acceptable range.
Compared to various truths such as crossing from a love game to the interstellar world, past life as Bai Ze, and having enemies as Taotie, not being human didn’t seem so strange.
However, Xi Guican clearly overestimated He Ruge’s psychological endurance. The He Ruge who had lived as a human for more than 20 years suddenly lost his human identity and was almost unable to accept it.
“How could this be possible? I’m not human, am I still a fish?” He murmured to himself.
“…You and I have similar identities,” Mr. Xi said.
Same identity? Could it be that my true identity is an accidental extraterrestrial stranded on Earth? That’s too far-fetched. But considering I’ve already crossed over, being not human doesn’t seem all that strange. He Ruge could only console himself with this thought. And if Mr. Xi’s words are all true, then Mr. Xi shouldn’t want to eat him.
His favorability slowly started to rise again.
He Ruge lowered his head to look at his chubby fish tail, reaching out to touch it. The moment he did, he pulled his hand back, but the tingling sensation lingered like ripples. Every part of this fish tail was sensitive. He Ruge wanted to change back into legs; if not, he’d have to sleep in the bathtub tonight.
“Mr. Xi, how can I turn my legs back?” The little mermaid asked eagerly. Despite having fluctuated Mr. Xi Guicai’s favorability so much, when their eyes met, He Ruge’s heart softened.
“You’ve just transformed and aren’t skilled at shifting between beast and human forms. Eat more spiritual stones to gather spiritual energy, and try transforming into different forms more often. It’s not difficult; practice makes perfect,” Mr. Xi Guicai patiently explained, placing the spiritual stones in his paw for the little mermaid to absorb.
The little mermaid eagerly buried his face into the tiger’s paw like he’d found fish bait, diligently absorbing the spiritual stones.
The influx of spiritual energy brought a comfortable sensation to his body, making the little mermaid happily squint his eyes. Unconsciously, his fiery red fish tail swayed slightly. Maybe being soft-hearted was effective; his favorability increased by +1, appearing as a slow-moving bubble.
“Try to transfer the spiritual energy inside you to your tail and imagine what your legs would look like in your mind,” Xi Guicai encouraged gently.
Following Mr. Xi’s instructions, He Ruge tried once more. He felt his tail warm up, and his chubby fish tail transformed into small, stubby legs, revealing He Ruge’s delicate, pink form in front of Mr. Xi.
He Ruge: “…”
I feel like I’m losing it.
