The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish/

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 hiseyes. 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 onhis 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 turninto a fish tail? Was he…dreaming? Dreaming about turning into a mermaid ? As girly as it sounded, a mermaid was the only possibility Li Yucould think of where a human had a fish tail. No, he wasn't talking aboutthe 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 ofhabit, reached for his forehead to flick his bangs… Except this led toa nother 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 blackfish 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: hisentire 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 Yuused 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 LiYu 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 adream?! 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 hewas 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. Beforehe 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 livefish 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 throwit away. Should I go get another…"Li Yu was alarmed. He had been secretly celebrating the discoverythat there were other people around him, but what was with all the "nobleconsort" and "gonggong" stuff? Did he transmigrate into a historical palacefish?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. Thishand 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 mostof 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 verytall, 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 youoverseeing 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 himjust 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 wereabout 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 toscold 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 andfling 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 afirm 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 furbounded in. Just before Li Yu's tail hit the ground, the white figure caughthim firmly in its mouth. Li Yu didn't even have time to celebrate his closecall 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 byfear. 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 allhappened 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'scat? 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 Xiao linzi 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 hadno 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 sawit 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, awarning 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 uponthe earth, he blocked the great white cat's path.