Jing-wang was still looking at the fish with single minded focus. Wang Xi handed over the two boxes, eyes filled with expectation as he looked at Jing-wang.
Mu Tianchi: "..."
Wang Xi has followed Jing-wang for many years. He knew very clearly how to best complement his master's wishes quietly. With a smile, he said sincerely: "Your highness, this old servant still has things to do, but I haven't finished feeding this fish. Can you help this old servant feed the fish?"
Mu Tianchi froze briefly.
Wang Xi already pushed the boxes over, and continued very seriously: "There's two different kinds of fish food prepared. Your highness, look. The red one is the flavor of stir fried pork and fish. The green one is the flavor of mushroom and green vegetables. This old servant just happened to notice, the little carp seems to like the red one more."
Mu Tianchi: "..."
Mu Tianchi unconsciously recalled that the little carp seemed to swim more vigorously while grabbing the red fish food.
He silently accepted the box that held the red fish food. Wang Xi smiled so widely that his eyes curved like crescent moons. He warned Jing-wang to avoid feeding the fish too much, then found an excuse and headed out.
Holding the fish food, Mu Tianchi hesitated somewhat since he's never done this kind of thing before. Li Yu waited and waited, but Jing-wang still didn't feed him food again. The little carp whose stomach was still hungry couldn't hold back from swimming to the surface of the water and raising his head impatiently.
Then, he and Jing-wang, one fish and one person, very strangely crossed gazes.
Li Yu: "...."
Li Yu wasn't prepared mentally and was startled. However, he immediately remembered that he was only a fish. No matter how long he stared at Jing-wang, Jing-wang shouldn't detect anything.
What was Jing-wang... planning to do?
Li Yu couldn't guess it. The big and tall, young man can't speak verbally and always buried his emotions deep within his pitch-black eyes.
Mu Tianchi stood in front of the fishbowl for about the duration it took to drink one cup of tea before finally grabbing a small handful of the red fish food from the box and throwing into the water with force.
Li Yu was almost hit by all of the fish food that dropped unexpectedly from the sky. He stared at Jing-wang a bit stunned, feeling somewhat incredulous.
By the time he recovered, his fish body was already instinctively pouncing towards the food that Jing-wang provided.
With a twirl in the water that created a pretty arc, the little carp carefully grabbed the fish food with his mouth as his chest thumped and jumped frantically.
The tyrannical Jing-wang not only saved him, he was even feeding Li Yu personally!!
Just as he swallowed down the fish food, the System which had been silent for a while suddenly sounded.
"Congratulations, host. The main mission of the cute pet system 'The Tyrant's Guppy Pet Fish,'
the second step — Interacting with the Tyrant, has been completed. Congratulations on receiving
the corresponding reward!"
Li Yu: "..."
Tears streamed down Li Yu's face. So after all that trouble, this was the so-called interaction!
In one breath, he completely ate all of the fish food that Jing-wang fed him and then laid down on the snow white stone bed. Now, his stomach wasn't hungry at all. On the contrary, he felt extremely bloated and full.
No matter fish or humans, after becoming full of food, all they wanted to do was sleep. Since the second step of the mission was completely without a mishap after such a daunting experience, Li Yu only wanted to go to sleep. There's enough time to accept the reward from the System after a good nap.
A person couldn't sleep anytime they wanted, however, a fish didn't have this issue. Sleeping upwards or sideways, it didn't matter at all. Li Yu's head tilted. Very quickly, he was about to enter dreamland.
Jing-wang remembered Wang Xi's words as he looked at the little carp. Lifting two fingers, he tapped on the fish bowl.
Li Yu who almost fell asleep but was now swaying from the vibrations: ???
What? So sleepy. I still have to recuperate from my injury...
If there was no task, Li Yu didn't want to deal with the tyrant at all.
Seeing the fish listless and laying unmoving on the stone bed, Jing-wang directly reached his hand in.
Li Yu, who was trying to sleep, abruptly felt the rushing torrent in the fishbowl.
What's going on?
Li Yu's drowsiness was scared away. When he opened his eyes, he immediately saw Jing-wang reaching a hand into the fish bowl, trying to touch him.
Li Yu: !!!
Li Yu forcibly restrained the impulse to swing his tail. First of all, he still had injuries on his body. Moving the tail would hurt. Second, if he dared to swing at Jing-wang, he definitely would immediately turn into a dead fish!
Li Yu's heart was a complete mess. However, Jing-wang's hand didn't grab him directly.
Instead, his fingers gave Li Yu a light push and drove him off the snow white stone bed.
Li Yu: ???
Was Jing-wang not permitting him to sleep?
Li Yu, this entire fish, was dumbfounded as he was pushed to swim by Jing-wang's fingers.
He still didn't know what Jing-wang was trying to do. Jing-wang's fingers guided him to travel around practically the entire fish bowl. At first Li Yu was somewhat scared, However, after a while, he discovered that other than pushing him, Jing-wang didn't do anything. Li Yu gradually calmed down and occasionally paddled his fish fins lazily in cooperation.
The extremely soft fins inevitably touched Jing-wang's fingers.
Mu Tianchi's actions halted. He looked deeply at audacious, yet completely unaware fish.
If it were a person who dared to do that, Jing-wang would have definitely teared that person into pieces.
But this was a fish, not a person, so there's no reason to be that harsh.
Jing-wang, who had lowered his guard, suddenly smiled deviously.
Li Yu was using his fins to splash water when he suddenly felt heat on the tip of his tail,followed by waves of a strange feeling that made his tail twitch.
Li Yu turned his head to look. The tyrant was still expressionless, but what was the hand that unhesitatingly killed thousands doing!
Ao, don't… don't use fingers to roll his tail. A fish's 'that' was nearby. So itchy, don't touch randomly, hey!!
The little carp's tail trembled terribly in Jing-wang's fingers. Help! How come he didn't know that the tyrant would pet a fish!
Li Yu was pushed by Jing-wang's fingers to swim several laps. As he became more and more energetic, Jing-wang finally stopped and removed his fingers.
Li Yu swam nimbly by himself for a while and surprisingly found that his originally somewhat bloated stomach didn't feel so full anymore.
Li Yu thought with amusement. It can't be that because he ate too much, Jing-wang was forcing him to move around to help digestion, right!?
He can't see Jing-wang as the type of person who'd actively think for the sake of little animals.
Just like how he still didn't know why Jing-wang would save the unconscious and injured him,Jing-wang's sudden action to push him to swim around was also a mystery.
Because of this, Jing-wang's sleeve got wet from the water. His sharp brows raised slightly.
Li Yu felt like Jing-wang will be changing clothes very soon. After all, a well raised royalty wouldn't allow himself to wear dirty clothes, even if it was just slightly wet sleeves.
As he expected, Jing-wang turned around not long after and left, no longer revealing his face above the fishbowl.
However, Li Yu didn't hear the sound of Jing-wang opening the door. How can a master like himself get dressed on his own? They usually ordered people to serve them. Although Jing-wang couldn't speak, he wasn't obstructed from opening the door and finding someone to serve him.
Li Yu waited and waited, but in the end, he didn't hear anything else. The healing ability of a fish seemed faster than a person. Or perhaps it was because of the System. Nevertheless, after he dozed and rested for a bit, he felt much better. The area on his tail no longer hurt that much. Li Yu decided to use his tail again.
Staying inside this fishbowl alone wasn't enough to see Jing-wang, unless Jing-wang came over himself. Li Yu wanted to check if Jing-wang was still in this room before entering the cute pet system to accept his reward. He wanted to avoid a situation where Jing-wang suddenly wants to play with him, but ends up finding Li Yu as an unresponsive fish.
Li Yu swung his tail left and right a few times. It really didn't hurt at all. Then, he gathered his strength and swung with all his might. This time, the strength of the tail allowed him to jump high. Li Yu already got prepared ahead of time to sneak a peek at the world outside of the fish bowl. As expected, it was just as he imagined. So exquisite and grand, as expected of a place for
royalty.
... he found Jing-wang. Jing-wang was still in the room!
The moment that he jumped up, Li Yu caught a sight of Jing-wang's figure. Mu Tianchi was just a few feet away, staring back at him. The black clothes that he was wearing hadn't been tied properly yet, smooth contours, everything was in sight. He looked at the little carp flailing in midair, black eyes filled with shock and amazement.
Li Yu: "..."
Jing-wang: "..."
Crap. How did he accidentally look at Jing-wang while he's half dressed? He…he thought the other would have been finished changing by now...
Perhaps, it's because in his confusion, he underestimated how complicated ancient garments were, while overestimating the speed at which Jing-wang changed clothes.
This kind of situation seemed like he was a pervert, peeping in on a beautiful man.
Li Yu speedily looked everywhere, catching sight of things he was allowed to see and things he shouldn't have looked at. Then, fish face turning hot, he tilted his body and fell back into the fish bowl, making a little splash.
This Jing-wang, how come he didn't know to hide while he's changing clothes?
...alright. There was only a fish in the room. That wasn't necessary at all.
Li Yu anxiously ducked under the leaf blanket. There were some movements from Jing-wang again. Li Yu could hear him walking closer and closer.
Although Jing-wang was probably unaware that Li Yu was looking at him, for a fish to suddenly jump into the air from a fish bowl, this... anyone who wasn't blind would have been able to notice.
Jing-wang definitely noticed him!
Terrified, Li Yu did his best to pretend to be an insignificant fish. Jing-wang already arrived next to the fishbowl. Once again, Li Yu felt a sharp gaze that made him feel unease.
Extremely anxious, Li Yu quietly turned around, pointing his tail at Jing-wang, attempting to bluff his way out.
"Your highness! Your highness!"
Before Jing-wang did anything at all, Wang Xi's panicked calls came from outside the door. Li Yu finally let out a breath of relief.
Jing-wang fastened his jade buttons and gave a deep look at this suspicious little carp fish, then strolled to the door and opened it.
Wang Xi respectfully greeted him and said: "Your highness, the emperor sent someone over."
The emperor was Jing-wang's father. Expression turning stern, Jing-wang followed Wang Xi to receive the imperial edict.
Jing-wang finally left!
Li Yu was extremely elated. However, he still had to pretend he didn't hear or understand anything and remain quiet like a chicken. After the sound of footsteps can no longer be heard, he quickly swam into a far corner in the fish tank and quickly entered the System.
Now that the second step of 'The Tyrant's Guppy Pet Fish' was completed, the reward that he was supposed to receive was that interdimensional space. He also needed to look at what the third step was along the way. If he kept up this pace, changing back into human was just around the corner. Li Yu thought happily.
As soon as he entered the System, he was greeted with a notification asking him if he wanted to examine the interdimensional space.
Li Yu thought to himself 'here it comes,' and happily clicked yes, unable to contain his joy. The interdimensional space immediately opened before his eyes, giving him a panoramic view.
Li Yu gave it a glance, the loud praise that he had ready completely choked in his throat. He thought the storage space would at least be a huge area. It was– actually– only the size of an adult's palm.
Li Yu: "..."
No way. This little? He might as well not have it. Wasn't this too stingy!
System: "Since the host disdains it for being small, do you plan to abandon the reward?"
Li Yu almost forgot that the System was connected to his heart and knew what he was thinking.
He immediately shook his head: Forget it, forget it. It's better than nothing at all.
System: "The capacity of the interdimensional space currently is 1. There will be side quests
later on to expand it."
Li Yu: As long as he can increase it… that's much better.
But it was only this big a place, what should he put in it?
No matter what he planned to put in it, he probably can only put one or two of them before the space ran out.
Li Yu has been a fish for several hours. Originally he had quite the anticipatory imagination for this space. For example, he planned to put a whole pile of fish food or a big pile of medicine that fish can use, and then put a huge bowl of fresh water to use for emergencies. After that, he'd become a carefree, rich fish. But first of all, he didn't obtain any of this stuff yet. Second, he suddenly discovered that the interdimensional space shrunk in size and could only contain a tiny bit of stuff. For a long moment, he didn't know how to allocate his resources. Not to mention,
Jing-wang went outside to receive the imperial edict, who knew when he'd be coming back. Li Yu didn't have much time, so he can only put away the interdimensional space momentarily and figure it out later.
The interdimensional space shot out a beam of light, which landed near Li Yu's left fish fin. Li Yu waited for the light to completely disappear to see the result. There was an area under his fish fin where a scale changed to the color of jade.
~~~~~~~~
The author has something to say:
A little scene (The feeling of being petted)
Li Yu: Goosebumps all over Jing-wang: A nice texture. Want to pet again
Li Yu: ?!!
𝙲𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛: Xue Shan Fei Hu