The sky was an incredibly clear, pale blue, with thick white clouds piled high. The sun hung at the edge of the sky, casting down bright, scorching rays.
Below the sky lay a vast, deep ocean. The sapphire water stretched out towards the distance, and the sea breeze brushed past, carrying a salty, fishy scent.
Above the ocean, there was a huge island. Further out from the island, a two-masted sailing ship was navigating, its sails billowing as it carried its massive hull towards the horizon.
Not far from the two-masted ship, beneath the surface of the sea, a pair of eyes watched the vessel.
It was a fish.
About thirty centimeters long, with an oval body shape, it was somewhat flat.
It had a large head with a protruding jaw and a wide mouth full of sharp teeth.
It possessed smooth gill covers, slightly indented above, and its body was covered in round scales.
It had one dorsal fin, a pair of large pectoral fins, a pair of pelvic fins, and a tail fin that was pointed at both ends and indented in the middle, leaving a gap that made it look as if the tail fin had been cut off.
At this moment, the fish poked half its head out of the water, watching the three-masted ship in the distance sail further and further away. Finally, it let out a questioning sound.
What in the world happened?
Just a moment ago, he was Xia Qiu, a twenty-one-year-old third-year university student, resting in bed. The next moment, he had become a fish in the sea?
Why would this happen?
Why had he turned into a fish?
Xia Qiu couldn't figure it out, not knowing what had happened.
And based on what he was doing in bed before he passed out, shouldn't he have turned into a tadpole?
Xia Qiu was curious about where he was now.
Just now, he had seen a sailing ship powered by sails. The ship's bow had a large curve, two masts, a wooden structure, and fore-and-aft sails. There were three cannon ports on one side of the hull.
Such a sailing ship was quite rare because most modern sailing ships were racing yachts or small pleasure boats, and most of their hulls were made of metal. Wooden-hulled ships were few and far between.
Furthermore, large wooden sailing ships, apart from a few replica ancient ships used by national monuments or privately commissioned for collection and pleasure cruises, were rarely seen.
Among large wooden sailing ships, three-masted vessels were far more numerous than two-masted ones, and most sailing ships had pointed bows, not wide ones.
Not only that, but the mainmast of the ship he saw earlier had only two fore-and-aft sails, and the mizzenmast had only one. The number of sails was too few.
Relative to the number of sails, the hull appeared large. The sails could not withstand much wind, and it would be difficult to move the hull by wind power alone, requiring the assistance of ocean currents for navigation.
Moreover, the hull's lines were too full, resulting in significant wave-making resistance and making forward movement difficult.
A ship like this had never existed before, would never exist in the future, and could not possibly sail safely at sea.
It was somewhat strange.
Xia Qiu wanted to know his current location, but he couldn't get an answer for the time being and needed some time to observe.
He checked his bearings, dove underwater, and looked around. The seawater was deep and dark, and apart from the sunlight filtering down from above, everything in all directions exuded a dead silence.
Xia Qiu found it difficult to accept the fact that he had become a fish, but there was nothing he could do. He had to survive first, so his primary responsibility was to eat.
Xia Qiu moved his body, his fins propelling him as he swam towards the nearest island.
As he approached the island, Xia Qiu slowly swam towards the seabed. The water depth here was very shallow, less than ten meters. The seabed was white sand, with rocks pitted and worn by seawater, and starfish half-hidden in the sand.
The food for most fish consisted of algae, plankton, sea worms, small fish, shrimp, shellfish, and so on.
However, Xia Qiu knew he had teeth, not pharyngeal teeth, but teeth in his jaws.
Many fish have teeth, such as tigerfish, pike, barracuda, sharks, rays, moray eels, snakehead fish, viperfish, dragonfish, piranhas, and the like.
Most of them are carnivorous fish that feed on fish, shrimp, and shellfish.
Xia Qiu noticed that his mouth was large and he had many teeth, so he felt that he was very likely a carnivorous fish. Therefore, he set his sights on small fish and shrimp.
There.
Xia Qiu approached the seabed and immediately spotted a sea shrimp hiding under the sand, its body half-concealed.
Xia Qiu's fish body twisted from side to side, accelerating instantly towards the sea shrimp. It opened its large mouth, its sharp teeth biting directly into the sea shrimp hidden in the sand.
Sand flowed through the gaps between its teeth. Xia Qiu ignored the struggling body of the sea shrimp. His sharp teeth closed, crushing the shrimp's shell and cutting its body.
This sea shrimp was about fifteen or sixteen centimeters long, about half the length of Xia Qiu's body. Xia Qiu had to bite it into pieces to eat it.
As Xia Qiu tore at it, the sea shrimp stopped struggling. A hole appeared where it had been bitten, and the shrimp meat there was swallowed by Xia Qiu.
Then Xia Qiu continued to bite, swallowing the sea shrimp bit by bit, leaving only its head and tail and part of its rostrum.
Still a bit hungry.
Xia Qiu felt that the hunger in his stomach had greatly subsided, but he was not full. So he searched again and found another sea shrimp hiding under the sand. He flicked his fish body and rushed towards it, biting it in one go, and then swam upwards.
After the sand flowed out from between his teeth, Xia Qiu swallowed this shrimp as well.
This time, Xia Qiu felt full.
He was full.
Xia Qiu was very satisfied, but he was a little surprised by his appetite, having eaten two shrimp in one go.
A fifteen or sixteen centimeter shrimp weighs about thirty grams. Two shrimp would weigh about sixty grams. After removing the head, tail, and rostrum, there would be about half the weight left, which is about thirty grams.
This weight was enormous for a fish like Xia Qiu.
By pressing his body into the mud and sand, leaving an imprint, and then observing his length and build, Xia Qiu discovered he was about thirty centimeters long.
At this length, depending on the species, his weight would be between 350 and 600 grams. He estimated his own weight to be around 500 grams.
A fish's daily food intake also varied based on its size, weight, and species.
Smaller fish consumed a larger proportion of their body weight, and this ratio decreased as they grew heavier.
For instance, carp ate between one-fifteenth and one-thirtieth of their body weight.
Among sharks, warm-blooded great white sharks ate 1.6% of their body weight daily, while cold-blooded blue sharks and sandbar sharks only consumed 0.4% to 0.6% of their body weight.
Whales, like blue whales, consumed 2-5 tons daily, which was about 2% to 3% of their body weight.
Adult sperm whales ate over a ton of food daily, roughly 3% of their body weight.
His own body weight was about 500 grams, and his food intake was around one-twentieth of his body weight, meaning 25 grams.
However, this intake was for a full day's worth of food, typically divided into two to three meals, with at least four hours between each feeding.
In other words, a fish his size could eat a maximum of 15 grams at once.
But now he had directly consumed 30 grams. This was a bit too much, yet he didn't feel overly full.
It was somewhat strange.
He decided to move around to speed up digestion.
Xia Qiu thought this and began to move his body, slowly swimming towards the distance.
However, after swimming a few meters, Xia Qiu felt a surge of heat in his body, with currents of warmth spreading outwards. Not only that, but his body also began to ache and swell.
What's wrong?
Xia Qiu didn't understand. He sped up his swimming, and the heat currents became more pronounced, while the swelling and pain in his body intensified.
He had no choice but to stop, hide himself in the mud and sand, and endure the pain while waiting.
Crack, crack, crack.
Xia Qiu could even hear the faint sounds coming from his bones.
What on earth was happening? Was it the food?
Xia Qiu couldn't figure it out and could only pray to get through this crisis.
Half an hour later, the swelling and pain disappeared.
Plop, plop.
Xia Qiu excreted.
So fast?
Fish have different digestive cycles; the fastest can excrete in about two hours, and the average digestion time for adult fish can even reach five to nine hours. He had excreted in just half an hour.
Hungry.
Xia Qiu suddenly felt a sense of hunger.
Hungry so soon?
Xia Qiu felt something was off. His food intake was too large, almost two to three times the normal range.
There were heat currents that caused pain.
His digestion was incredibly fast, feeling hungry again after only half an hour and needing to eat again.
If only one of these things were happening, he could dismiss it as a coincidence. But with everything exceeding the norm, Xia Qiu was starting to worry.
Was there something wrong with his body?
Or was there some other reason?
Xia Qiu didn't know, but the hunger compelled him to eat again.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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