Fish

The Cat Boy belatedly realized that he had caused trouble again, ruining the flowerbed and the ground. He wondered if his Master would be angry again.

Especially when he suddenly realized that he had been chasing these two people for an hour, far exceeding the half hour limit set by his Master, he immediately slammed on the brakes and stopped.

What should I do? I've made a mistake again.

The cat thought for a long time and finally came up with a perfect solution.

The Master said that if they chased the fish for half an hour, they would get one fish. Now that he has been chasing it for an hour, he should just give them two fish.

Sheng Qingqiao had taken one before, although it died during the chase, but that was "not his problem"; he just needed to catch another fish for him!

Thinking this, the Cat Boy put his hand in the water, casually swung it a couple of times, then precisely swung his claws. When he raised his hand again, a plump, gray fish was struggling in his hand, its tail thrashing.

He tossed the fish to Sheng Qingqiao.

"For you."

A large fish flew down from the sky. Sheng Qingqiao instinctively caught it in a flustered manner, holding the fish in both hands and staring blankly at the Cat Boy, while the fish's tail frantically slapped his face.

Why did the cat suddenly give him fish again?

Weren't we just chasing the fish in his hand?

Do you want to play another round? Give him a fish and chase him for another hour?

Sheng Qingqiao shook her head violently. "No, thank you..."

"Here you go." The Cat Boy emphasized, staring at the fish, "The kitchen's short of fish."

An Ying glanced at the lifeless Sheng Qingqiao, then at the Cat Boy: "You mean, we should send it to the kitchen?"

The Cat Boy nodded. Not bad, at least there's a smart human among them.

"What if there isn't enough fish in the kitchen?" An Ying asked, just in case.

"I'll chase after you, and give you fish," the Cat Boy said.

Sheng Qingqiao understood. "Your Rules is that you only give us fish if we chase you?"

"Yes."

After the Cat Boy finished speaking, his body shrank back into the shape of a cat, and he quickly ran into the darkness and disappeared.

The two of them were left to rest for a while, but for some reason, as soon as the Cat Boy left, An Ying felt that the surrounding night seemed to have become even darker.

"Sheng Qingqiao, do you have any premonition?" An Ying asked.

Sheng Qingqiao hesitated for a moment, then walked to his side with the fish in her arms, pointing to the lake in front of them. "Actually, ever since I came to this Instance, I've had a bad feeling. Something's not right here, like this river, I feel like something's not right about this river either."

"My intuition used to be very accurate, but now I'm not so sure," Sheng Qingqiao scratched her head. "Several times I felt danger, but in the end nothing seemed to happen. I'm not sure if my premonitions are accurate at all."

An Ying turned to look at the lake. The water was very clear, and even at night, the fish at the bottom of the lake could be vaguely seen. There seemed to be nothing special about it.

"Since you already sense something's wrong, let's not go any closer," An Ying said. "Let's go to the kitchen and finish your task; if the fish dies later, we'll have to catch new ones."

Sheng Qingqiao shuddered. "Then hurry up and go, I don't want to be chased again."

Sheng Qingqiao and An Ying arrived at the side gate of the Castle, which led to the kitchen.

The journey was uneventful, except for the occasional frightening appearance of servants in the Castle.

The Castle is enormous, with several hundred servants. They are not usually seen in the main hall or corridors; only in places like this can one see a large number of servants busy with trivial tasks.

"Why are you taking so long to catch a fish?"

Upon entering the kitchen, a thin servant barked angrily at Sheng Qingqiao.

Sheng Qingqiao smiled and said a few kind words, which improved the servant's expression.

"These fish are quite plump, though," the servant muttered. "Looks like the feed from the past few days was pretty good. Alright, now that we've caught the fish, let's get to work."

Sheng Qingqiao walked into the kitchen, but An Ying was stopped.

"What are you doing here, a gardener? Get out of here."

An Ying didn't argue with him. Instead, she turned around and slipped into the kitchen through another door while he wasn't looking.

Sheng Qingqiao carried the fish into the kitchen, and someone next to him casually pushed him into a corner. "Don't block the way if you're delivering fish. Put the fish in that tank."

"Okay, okay." Sheng Qingqiao obediently walked along the wall. Everyone in the kitchen seemed normal; candles were lit, and everyone was busy.

The banquets for nobles were extremely lavish every day; the food couldn't be prepared in the short time before the banquet.

Moreover, the nobles will be holding a banquet in a few days, so they need to prepare the dishes several days in advance, and some dishes even need to be prepared a month in advance.

"This rich meat soup is the Eldest Miss's favorite. She specifically requested it for tomorrow's banquet. If you ruin it again, you can become animal feed yourself!"

An Ying slowed her pace considerably after hearing these words as she passed behind a chef.

"What are you looking at? Have you finished your work?" The chef noticed his gaze and glared at him fiercely.

Sheng Qingqiao immediately lowered her head and placed the fish in the large water tank in the corner.

The person guarding the water tank coldly and indifferently said, "You can leave once you put it down."

That voice... it sounds familiar.

Sheng Qingqiao looked up and saw that although the chef was wearing a hat, the blue strands in his hair were very eye-catching.

He watched as Luo Jiayu skillfully scooped the fish out of the tank, then stunned them with a single blow from the back of his knife.

Then, she used a knife to cut open the fish's gills to bleed it, scraped off the scales, gutted it, removed the gills... a series of actions that dazzled him.

An Ying also reached Sheng Qingqiao's side, and looking at Luo Jiayu's series of actions, said, "You've even gained experience here?"

Luo Jiayu looked up abruptly upon hearing the familiar voice, and tears welled up in her eyes when she saw the two of them.

"It's nothing, I'm just familiar with fish anatomy, so I picked it up quickly." Luo Jiayu's hands didn't stop moving. "Wait for me a moment, I only need this last fish to finish the mission."

Sheng Qingqiao commented. "You're like a cold-blooded killer."

Luo Jiayu: "..."

An Ying asked, "Was this the one that Sheng Qingqiao brought?"

Luo Jiayu nodded. "Yes, I've been waiting for this last fish. Once I've processed it, I can go home."

Sheng Qingqiao was astonished. "If I fail to complete my mission, you will also fail to complete yours?"

"Yes."

A few minutes later, the three of them found a secluded corner in the kitchen's food preparation area and talked quietly.

After briefly sharing their experiences, the three began discussing their next steps.

"It seems that only the three of us have staff assignments so far. Do you have any news from your side? Have you encountered anyone else?" An Ying asked.

"No. I've been here killing fish the whole time, so I don't know what's going on outside." Luo Jiayu asked, "Did you guys do the mission together?"

"We happened to run into each other while we were on a mission," An Ying said. "I checked the situation outside earlier; there should be a body in the Castle Garden, but we haven't had time to dig it up yet."

"Don't go!" Luo Jiayu said immediately, "Although I stayed here killing fish and didn't go out, I heard everything they said!"