"It was as if something had scared it."
"It didn't dare move at all."
"But that's just too strange."
"Isn't it?"
Zhang Bo looked completely baffled. "And it had been lying there like a corpse the whole time. But after I put it on the deck, it started thrashing around like crazy."
"It was incredibly strong. In the end, my uncle, Ah He, and I barely managed to hold it down."
"I almost got clipped by the tail when it whipped around."
"Good grief, it gave me quite a scare."
"Oh, I get it now."
Zhuge Yun suddenly exclaimed, "A yellow croaker this big might have become a spirit. It was probably trying to fake its death to escape, but when it realized that trick wouldn't work, it started thrashing around like crazy."
Zhang Bo: ...
That actually sounded pretty plausible?
Though he'd never heard of a yellow croaker playing dead before...
"If that's really what happened, then that's one clever fish," Zhao Luzheng remarked.
"Still, I'm the one who caught it, aren't I?"
Zhang Bo gave himself his usual bit of praise.
Then his expression grew serious. "Actually, the moment I caught the fish, I think I heard some kind of sound."
"'Tong'? 'Tong'?"
"Something like that, anyway."
"But I was focused on the fish I'd caught, so I didn't really listen closely."
"By the time I tried to listen again, I couldn't hear it anymore."
"So I figured it was probably the sound of the waves."
Tong?
Xiao Xiao paused, then lowered his head. The shadow of his falling bangs concealed the faint smile that had appeared in his eyes.
Sea Child...?
Then he thought that after what Sea Child had done, White Horse would probably be muttering irritably again. The smile in his eyes