I Can Turn into a Fish

“F*** me! Japanese Grenadier Anchovy! So many huge Grenadier Anchovies!”

Chu Xian exclaimed, wide-eyed.

The Coilia Nasus, or the Japanese Grenadier Anchovy, was a migrating fish considered among the so-called “Four Fresh Fish of the Yangtze,” along with the Puffer Fish, the Reeves Shad, and the Catfish. The grenadier anchovy was slim and thin like a silver, white knife and had many small bones but incredibly soft meat. The taste was delicious – fat but not greasy. (1)

The grenadier anchovy was normally around 18 to 25 cm long and weighed 10 to 20 grams. The price varied a lot with weight, and it was usually at least 2000 to 4000 RMB per half kilo!

In his control view, there were a dozen grenadier anchovies swimming around, and a few of them were quite big.

“Chinese sturgeons and grenadier anchovies? This place is weird, huh!” Chu Xian thought to himself as he maintained his control ability on the fish, looking around thoughtfully.

Both fish were rare and incredibly precious, and nobody from his or any of the surrounding villages had found any grenadier anchovies for some years now.

Chu Xian hesitated and looked around before finally taking off his clothes and stepping into the river.

“Transform!” Chu Xian thought as his body disappeared and was replaced by a brief silhouette of a black monster before it splashed and disappeared deeper into the water.

Under his control, the dozen grenadier anchovies swam by his side and followed him deeper into the lake.

“Horse balls (2), the water smells so bad! F*** this pollution! ” Chu Xian thought as he breathed in the oxygen from the river, irritated at the mud and filth.

Pushing away the unhappiness in his heart, Chu Xian darted forward.

As he pierced deeper into the river, he saw more and more fish and even encountered gigantic carp and chub, weighing up to 15 kg!

Regardless, he ignored these fish and went deeper, searching for the grenadier anchovies and sturgeons.

Twenty minutes in, Chu Xian shook his tail speechlessly.

“I guess I was just lucky earlier!” Chu Xian thought with disappointment before loosening his control on the grenadier anchovies and setting them free.

The freed anchovies all darted away from Chu Xian, and all of them swam in the same direction.

“Eh? They’re all heading to the same place?” Chu Xian thought excitedly and followed, maintaining a 15 meter distance.

The anchovies had no idea that a huge monster was stalking them as they dived deeper into the river.

Chu Xian followed curiously, and a couple minutes later, his stunned fish eyes opened wide and his heart pumped loudly in his body.

“A sunken boat!” Chu Xian thought, baring his ferocious teeth in widemouthed astonishment, staring in stunned amazement at the rotting boat perched on the river bottom surrounded by swimming sturgeons and grenadier anchovies. (3)

“I’ve hit the jackpot! Jackpot!”

Chu Xian thought to himself gleefully, whipping his tail and darting towards the boat.

The anchovies and the sturgeons sensed the menacing presence coming for them and swam away furiously.

“Control! Control!” Chu Xian willed, using his ability as soon as his range covered the anchovies and sturgeons, allowing him to control them all.

To the people of China, the Yangtze was as old as time and had witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties and civilizations. Countless boats had traversed its waters, and many met tragic ends. Many big events resulted in thousands of casualties even as recent as the 1940s.

Chu Xian gathered the anchovies and sturgeons before swimming towards the boat, examining it with curiosity.

The whole boat was rotten, and the wood gave a little when Chu Xian brushed against it gently. Swimming around the whole length, Chu Xian estimated that the boat was around 20 meters long, but he couldn’t guess what era the design was from.

“Is there treasure here?” Chu Xian thought as he swam through a hole leading into the rest of the ship.

Inside, Chu Xian smiled to himself and gathered up more grenadier anchovies. The space in the boat wasn’t big, and half of it had long been buried by mud, but the tops of some chests were still visible.

Peng! Chu Xian admired his claws as they teared apart the wooden chests.

“Eh, cloth and silk?” Chu Xian thought, looking at the black, rotted cloth with some disappointment. He opened the other chests and discovered the same thing except for one chest that was red.

“This can’t be? Is this just a normal boat?” Chu Xian thought with disappointment as he started digging with his tail.

“Eh?” Suddenly, Chu Xian felt his tail hit something hard, and he excitedly gripped it and dragged it out of the mud.

“F***!” Chu Xian swore in his mind, flinching and throwing the thing away.

“Human bones, f*** me (4),” Chu Xian thought with resentment, and turning away, he saw something on the arm bone. He swam over and hesitated for a second.

“A jade bracelet.” Chu Xian hesitated before taking the bracelet. Of course, he wanted to sell it, not wear it. (5)

“A sunken boat should have more treasure than a jade bracelet! It should be filled with gold and silver and all kinds of Chinaware, each worth a couple million!” Chu Xian kept digging with his tail.

“Eh, something else?” After about five minutes of digging, he felt another hard object with his tail.

“This?” He pulled out a wooden box around the size of a soccer ball. The wood was very hard and filled Chu Xian with hope, but he didn’t open it right away and kept digging.

Half an hour passed. Chu Xian found three more boxes in total – one of them was rectangular and the other two were cubes. (6)

Chu Xian stopped digging because it was getting late. He headed back to the shore with the grenadier anchovies and the Chinese Sturgeon.

After exiting the water quietly, Chu Xian put on his clothes. After examining the huge Chinese Sturgeon curiously, he rubbed its head and let it go.