Strange Fish

"Blood Beetles placed around Wang Yizhi hadn't reacted at all, so it should be fine. Besides, controlling a person had its limits. I'm sure nothing major will happen."

As Zhang Chen moved through the woods, he thought it over carefully and realized he might have been too tense. Still, just in case, he headed for the villa at full speed. Traveling alone, he had no reservations. Leaping from tree to tree, he reached the villa in just six minutes.

Pushing open the door, he found that Gong Yuanwu, who had been in the corner of the hall, was gone. Zhang Chen frowned deeply and hurried through the hall toward the lakeside in the backyard.

To Zhang Chen's relief, Wang Yizhi was still there, fishing with Dai Xu and Tan Fei.

He walked over and patted Wang Yizhi on the shoulder.

"You're really patient, still fishing here. Has anything happened?"

"You little **, where did you run off to? You came up and patted my shoulder. If there were fish below, you probably scared them away," Wang Yizhi said.

"I went to see how Er Wa's hunting was going, but they didn't catch anything. So improving our meals depends on you guys. How is it? Any luck?" Zhang Chen asked with a grin.

"Luck my ass. We've been sitting here for an hour. Forget biting—we haven't even seen the shadow of a fish. Sigh, this isn't fun at all."

"People fish for entire mornings and afternoons. You've only been at it for an hour and you're already giving up? Keep it up. I'll go see what everyone else is doing."

"Fine, go ahead. I'm not playing with you anymore. Dai Xu is still the best."

Zhang Chen looked at Dai Xu, who was covering her mouth as she laughed, and could only shake his head helplessly. Who told him to end up with a girlfriend like this?

Back in the hall, he first examined the portraits hanging on the wall. Sure enough, he found the painter and chef from his dream yesterday. In the first painting was the oil painter with a tall hat and curled mustache, named Louis Moore.

In another painting, the old chef with a white beard, holding a cleaver and chopping meat, was named Victor Manuel.

On another wall, he also found the old man who had sat in the back seat of his car in the dream. Judging by the name, he should have been the villa owner's father, Affonso Rodin.

"Everything in the dream happened in the past, but I don't know whether I'll have enough time to figure it all out." After thinking about it, he decided he should first find that suspicious First Middle School guy.

In the dance room were still the three girls from First Middle School. They all smiled when Zhang Chen entered, especially Shen Qiutian. Perhaps it was because Zhang Chen had helped the injured Jia Xin back from the woods on the first day.

When he asked the three about Gong Yuanwu's whereabouts, they all shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know.

Just as Zhang Chen stepped out of the dance room, he heard the sound of splashing water.

"Hm? Could he be in the swimming pool?"

He quickly headed to the left side of the hall and pushed open the swimming pool door. Sure enough, Gong Yuanwu was swimming alone inside. Last night, while they had eaten and drunk together, Gong Yuanwu had seemed like someone sociable who liked acting with the group. He should not have been the sort to move alone.

"Gong Yuanwu, something happened while your classmates were hunting. Do you want to come over with me?" Zhang Chen called out to Gong Yuanwu in the pool.

But the man seemed not to hear Zhang Chen's shout. He just kept swimming back and forth across the pool.

"Has he changed this much after being controlled? Is he afraid people won't notice something is wrong with him? Or does being controlled naturally cause such a drastic personality shift? I'll ask Jia Xin later."

Zhang Chen could not be bothered to waste more breath. Seeing that the man was not doing anything, he strode away.

Sitting on the circular sofa in the living room, Zhang Chen recalled Er Wa's account of their hunting trip and frowned.

"It looks like there really is something wrong with Jiaoping Village outside. If we want to carry out our escape plan, we'll have to pass through three barriers. The first is this house, the second is the huge forest outside, and the third is the even larger Jiaoping Village. If it were just Jia Xin and me, it would be manageable, but we have to bring the other students too, especially the five girls."

Thinking of this, Zhang Chen could not help shaking his head.

"Better listen to Jia Xin first. If we can resolve this, then we should. We've been plotted against by whoever is behind this from the start. Escaping will basically be impossible. We might as well play along and catch them off guard."

Just then, Jia Xin returned with Er Wa and Hong Yi. Zhang Chen found it strange. Those two had been gloomy and at a loss because they had killed someone, so how had they returned to normal so quickly? Had Jia Xin done something?

"Er Wa, what's with you two?"

"Brother Chen, I always said that when we used to play online at the internet café, I felt you were different. Looks like I had a good eye after all."

Zhang Chen roughly guessed what had happened and asked Jia Xin.

"You told them everything?"

"What other way did you think there was to solve this? Besides, everyone in our class knows I'm a Taoist priest. We just needed to reveal a little of your identity. It can stabilize everyone's emotions and keep the situation under control."

"Brother Chen, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Even if Tan Fei asks, I won't say a thing. Don't worry. Turns out I really do have talent for being a Taoist priest. The first time I encountered ghosts, I took care of them."

Zhang Chen was speechless. It seemed Er Wa had truly been fooled by Jia Xin. If ghosts were that easy to deal with, things would be far too simple.

"Alright, enough of that. Let's prepare lunch first. It's almost eleven. Go see whether Wang Yizhi and the others caught any fish. If they did, we can have some meat. Er Wa, ask me again after lunch."

Er Wa and the others nodded and headed toward the kitchen.

"Jia Xin, what do you think about that big guy in your class?" Zhang Chen told him about the man swimming alone.

Jia Xin seemed entirely unconcerned and said,

"As long as he isn't doing anything bad, there's no need to meddle. Let's eat first and take things one step at a time."

Zhang Chen could not worry about it any further, so he went straight to the backyard and looked into the small wooden bucket beside Wang Yizhi and the others. To his surprise, there really were two moderately sized fish inside.

What was strange, though, was that there was no water in the bucket. Yet the two fish were not flopping around from lack of oxygen, nor were they dead. Their gills were still moving constantly as they breathed.

"Tan Fei, you caught fish and didn't even put water in the bucket? If they die, we'll have no choice but to eat dead fish."

"We got too excited and forgot. I'll get water right away."

Tan Fei immediately fetched water in another wooden bucket and poured it into the first one. The two fish instantly began swimming in the water, becoming just like ordinary fish. Zhang Chen did not think much more of it.

The three of them stopped fishing as well, put away their rods, and stretched lazily. Wang Yizhi even pointed at the larger fish and said that she had caught that one. She looked extremely pleased.

"By the way, Brother Chen, how did Er Wa and the others do?"

"The woods seemed completely devoid of life. They didn't see even a ghost all morning and came back empty-handed."

"Yes! Er Wa made a bet with me. Whoever failed to get meat would buy the other a game card. Hehe, thirty yuan is mine."

Tan Fei picked up the wooden bucket from the ground and strode into the villa, apparently impatient to show Er Wa.

After everyone arrived in the kitchen, they began discussing who should cook the two fish. In the end, the short-haired First Middle School girl Xiao Lan was chosen as the chef, making steamed live fish.

Zhang Chen was responsible for some of the other side dishes.

All eleven people crowded into the kitchen. After working together last night, their teamwork had improved, and their efficiency was greatly increased. In less than forty minutes, the table was basically full of dishes. Only Xiao Lan's steamed live fish remained.

Other than Zhang Chen and Xiao Lan, everyone was already waiting eagerly in the kitchen.

Zhang Chen stood in the kitchen, assisting Xiao Lan. Finally, when she lifted the lid, the fragrant scent of fish drifted out.

"Your cooking is pretty good. The smell alone is making my mouth water," Zhang Chen said.

"Hehe, I'll taste it first to see whether the flavor is right. I don't want everyone saying I did a bad job." Xiao Lan smiled slightly, picked up a small piece of fish with her chopsticks, and put it into her mouth.

"Cough, cough, cough!" After chewing the fish just once, Xiao Lan immediately coughed it out.

"Why is this fish bitter? I've cooked it several times at home, and it always turned out fine. Sob..."

Seeing that she had ruined everyone's only meat dish, Xiao Lan suddenly began crying.

"Don't cry. Maybe there's something wrong with the fish itself. How could cooking make fish taste bitter?" Zhang Chen hurriedly comforted her.

Zhang Chen suddenly remembered the fish's earlier abnormality. He picked up the kitchen knife used for chopping vegetables, walked over to the fish, and gently sliced open its belly. Yet blood gushed out from the fish that had been steaming in the pot for half an hour.

Zhang Chen quickly shifted his body, blocking Xiao Lan's view. Then he pulled apart the incision he had made.

"Th-this... is this even a fish?" Zhang Chen was horrified by what he saw inside the opened belly.

The internal structure of this fish was almost identical to that of a human. It even had lungs. That was why it had been able to breathe without water earlier. Even Zhang Chen felt somewhat nauseated looking at it.

Just then, the kitchen door opened. Hearing Xiao Lan crying, everyone had come in.

"What happened, Zhang Chen?" Jia Xin was the first to speak.

"There's something wrong with this fish. It seems to have been infected by parasites. It can't be eaten," Zhang Chen said calmly.

"Let me see." Tan Fei was apparently unwilling to accept that the fish he had caught had gone to waste, and he stepped forward to take a look.

"Alright, don't look. It's disgusting. You won't be able to eat afterward."

Zhang Chen waved him away, signaling Tan Fei not to come closer. Then he casually dumped both fish into a garbage bag beside him and carried it out through the front door.

Back in the dining room, everyone was hungry. Although the dishes were vegetarian, they still ate happily. Xiao Lan was quickly cheered up by the others. Zhang Chen looked at the girl and saw no abnormalities in her body, which reassured him.

After lunch came everyone's rest period, but Er Wa kept pestering Zhang Chen. He followed him into Zhang Chen's bedroom and asked him to tell stories about ghosts. With no other choice, Zhang Chen adapted several stories from movies he had watched and told them to Er Wa. Unexpectedly, Er Wa listened very seriously, asking about every detail. As for Zhang Chen, he could not have hated Jia Xin more.

While everyone was taking their nap, Xiao Lan happily returned to her room. Just as she was about to sleep, she suddenly felt an itch at her waist. Lifting her clothes, she saw a small, silvery scale had grown on the right side of her waist.

At first, Xiao Lan thought it was a fish scale that had stuck to her while handling the fish in the kitchen. But when she tried to pull it off, the scale seemed to have grown from her own body, and tugging at it caused her intense pain.

With no other choice, Xiao Lan went to the bathroom, closed the door, turned on the light, picked up the small blade she used to trim her eyebrows, and slowly began cutting at the scale on her body.

"Ah!" Her cries rang out from time to time. Five minutes later, the scale was finally cut off. Blood covered the right side of Xiao Lan's waist, as though she had sliced off a layer of skin. But with the scale gone, Xiao Lan felt much better. She was about to stand up, treat the wound, and take her nap.

However, as Xiao Lan stood before the large bathroom mirror, she suddenly smiled eerily. In the mirror, five more scales the same size as the first had grown on her face, glittering beneath the light...

PS: My right hand was almost better today, so I went to a big hospital and spent quite a bit of time there. That's why the second update was posted a little late. Please bookmark and recommend. Thank you all for your support!