ICSST Ch6: Fishing

Zhou Qi’an lowered his hand and smiled slightly.

The cost for a man to become handsome was very low. Just take off his glasses and get a buzz cut, and who wasn’t a handsome guy?

Why pretend to be a big shot in front of him?

For a moment, even the chopped-off fish heads seemed to puff out their cheeks in surprise.

After a brief twist, Xun Er’s perpetually good-natured face fell into a prolonged silence.

He probably never expected to see this scene.

In fact, he was unwilling to admit that upon seeing those slightly blue-tinged eyes, he felt a moment of heart-pounding fear, like a dog showing off its might by accidentally challenging a wolf king.

Those were sharp and very aggressive eyes.

Zhou Qi’an didn’t answer directly but asked in return, “Our eyes all change color. What are we if not family?”

Xun Er lowered his head and laughed nervously twice. “Yeah, come handle the fish.”

Skipping over the question of whether he was a biological son, Zhou Qi’an stood with a knife beside the half-cut fish.

He didn’t claim to be very good at cooking, but handling meat wasn’t a problem. After scaling the fish, Zhou Qi’an began to cut open the fish’s belly at Xun Er’s request.

As soon as the blade scraped open the fatty flesh, hidden teeth in the inner wall immediately snapped at his fingers. The previous fleshy growths burst directly, with blood and pus flowing everywhere.

Zhou Qi’an’s fingers were very nimble, dodging the teeth’s attack with unbelievable speed.

He was like the most exquisite surgeon.

Xun Er said, “You’re so fast.”

Zhou Qi’an twitched the corner of his mouth, wiping the blood from his hands with a cloth. There were no wounds; the small splatters of blood and pus didn’t cause any contamination.

“If you had endless reports to write, unending presentations to submit, and plans to revise every day and spent all your time with a keyboard, you’d be faster than me.”

Of course, whether it’s due to the skills in his genes or not, his speed was twice as fast as usual.

The fish was cleaned just as the sun finally decided to rise in the sky outside.

The sun rises very early here, and its rays barely reach inside. Zhou Qi’an greedily approached the window, letting the sunlight linger on his shoulders a bit longer.

“You like the sun?” came an annoying voice from behind.

Duh.

Zhou Qi’an nodded. “It’s okay.”

Xun Er said, “Neither I nor my adoptive father like it very much. It’s too hot.”

Hot?

What a strange description.

But being argumentative, what does it matter to me whether you like it or not?

Zhou Qi’an briefly looked at the sun, lost in thought. When he quickly looked away, a mechanical voice, colder than a dead fish, sounded again—

[Congratulations on living to see today’s sun.]

[Side quest completed. Player received a fragment of Xun the Wealthy’s personal information*1.]

[Xun the Wealthy’s favorite color is green, lush and vibrant—the color of life.]

[Additionally, you helped Xun Er finish cleaning the fish and received a fragment of Xun Er’s personal information*1.]

[No decent person writes a diary. Xun Er is not a decent person.]

[Go check his most indecent place.]

Zhou Qi’an turned to Xun Er and said, “Can I borrow some clothes? This one got stained with fish blood.”

Xun Er did not refuse and generously responded, “Go to my room and find some.”

Zhou Qi’an went upstairs alone.

Xun Er’s room wasn’t locked and was as simply furnished as his own, though here the wallpaper was the most ordinary white.

“The most indecent place…” Zhou Qi’an walked straight to one spot. “It must be Xun Er’s wardrobe.”

Because you can hide in the wardrobe, have an affair, and keep very flashy clothes there.

When he opened the wardrobe, it was full of similar white shirts and black pants, occasionally mixed with worn jeans.

No diary was found, but Zhou Qi’an saw two white coats hanging in the coat section.

They were old, already yellowing, and seemed to have some years on them. The two were different sizes.

Zhou Qi’an searched a bit and found two ID badges inside.

One was a male employee badge:

[Name: Tao Xin]
[Department: Cardiology]

The other was a female employee badge:

[Name: Wa Fei]
[Department: Respiratory Medicine]

The man and woman looked somewhat familiar. Zhou Qi’an took out a thin piece of paper from the badges, overlapped them, and looked through the light.

Overall, they resembled Xun Er somewhat.

So, were the man and woman on the badges Xun Er’s biological parents?

“What are you doing?” A sinister voice suddenly came from behind.

Zhou Qi’an’s expression changed slightly. Sure enough, after killing fish for so long, his heart had grown cold. Not only did Xun Er walk silently, but even his voice had an uncomfortable, tingling quality upon closer listening.

This tingling sensation was mostly on the scalp.

Zhou Qi’an, with a tingling scalp, said, “The badges fell out while I was looking for clothes.”

“Really?” Xun Er walked over. “Aren’t all the clothes hanging here? What’s there to look for?”

“I wanted to find something green.”

This excuse was clearly unconvincing.

Xun Er sighed. “Brother. Like my adoptive father, I hate people who lie to me.”

Before being accused of lying, Zhou Qi’an continued to speak stiffly, “I really wanted to find a green outfit.”

Xun Er had already put his glasses back on, seemingly understanding his intention. “To please the adoptive father?”

Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “I remember now, the adoptive father does like green. Actually, clothes are just another layer of skin for people. What do you think is underneath this layer of skin?”

It was as if he wanted to strip Zhou Qi’an with his eyes.

Zhou Qi’an thought to himself: underneath is my bare, strong arm.

Xun Er’s fingers pressed through the fabric. Having done housework for a long time, his large hands were covered with a thin layer of calluses, and the contact with the skin brought a fine shivering sensation. “I felt it the first time I saw you. You have two layers of skin, two faces…”

“And two heads,” Zhou Qi’an interrupted. As Xun Er’s fingers moved irregularly upward, Zhou Qi’an pulled off his wig in front of him, revealing slightly long silver-blue hair that hung messily by his ears.

“…”

After taking off his glasses, Zhou Qi’an removing his wig brought a small shock to Xun Er.

Xun Er’s throat moved. “Your hair…”

Zhou Qi’an: “The unit doesn’t allow dyed hair, so I’ve always kept a black bowl cut.”

A ray of light from outside projected in. Although Xun Er hated sunlight, he couldn’t help but be amazed by the hair color that slightly reflected under the sun.

It was a hard-to-describe feeling, as if his hair had warmth, unlike the coldness of something submerged in the deep ocean.

Zhou Qi’an adjusted his wig again. “See, I didn’t lie to you. Blue and green are similar colors; I just like these two colors.”

Finally, the topic returned to the clothes.

Seeing the icy blue hair covered up again, Xun Er felt a bit regretful and said, “I don’t wear green clothes.”

“Hats are fine too; I’m not picky. Don’t worry, I’ll return it later.”

“…Return a green hat?”

In the end, Xun Er asked him to wait a moment. When he returned, he had an oversized green vest in his hand. It was obviously not Xun Er’s size. Xun Er explained, “A previous guest left it behind.”

Guest?

With comings and goings, it’s unclear if this guest successfully left or departed this world. However, Zhou Qi’an wisely didn’t ask and put on the vest.

[You are the first player to wear the color Xun the Wealthy likes.]

[Green, the color of confusion, the color of forgiveness.]

[You have a certain chance to confuse Xun the Wealthy.]

Zhou Qi’an thought that when the game selected players, it should avoid those wearing green clothes according to the so-called fair mechanism. If he had known earlier, he should have chosen a green groom’s suit and might not have entered.

Unaware of Zhou Qi’an’s complex inner thoughts, Xun Er glanced outside the window and muttered, “They’re not back yet?”

Zhou Qi’an volunteered, “I’ll go check.”

Xun Er nodded, completely returning to his usual self. “If they really can’t catch fresh fish, frozen fish will barely be enough.”

Just before Zhou Qi’an turned to leave, he suddenly said, “Why not make more fish soup?”

Xun Er’s expression changed. “The fish here aren’t suitable for soup.”

Zhou Qi’an didn’t insist and went downstairs to find the other players.

Although the sun was already out, the temperature was still not high. Mr. Si stood motionless at the door, like he was petrified. He was so tall that Zhou Qi’an only felt a shadow fall over his head. Resolutely not looking up to meet the terrifying rabbit face, Zhou Qi’an mumbled, “I’ll go find them,” and then quickened his pace.

Before long, he saw a few figures in the cold, dense forest.

Someone was injured.

Upon closer inspection, the injured person turned out to be Chen Jian, whose entire palm was a bloody mess, visibly festering.

Among the players, Chen Jian spoke the least, except when facing Mr. Si, always giving off an aloof demeanor.

Such a high-cold persona; shouldn’t he be very strong? How did he get hurt so easily?

The college student was the first to see Zhou Qi’an and asked the same question as in the morning, “You’re still alive?”

Zhou Qi’an: “Surprised?”

The college student nodded honestly, given that being left alone usually didn’t bode well.

Zhou Qi’an glanced at Chen Jian. “More surprised than the fact that the first person injured is an experienced player?”

“…”

To compare, the degree of surprise was the same for both.

Chen Jian glared at Zhou Qi’an and used a dagger to pick out a few worms from the rotting flesh, further expanding the bleeding area but stopping the festering.

Zhou Qi’an then asked, “What happened?”

Han Li chuckled, “Someone overestimated their skills, thought they could fish from the lake because of their abilities, and ended up failing miserably.”

This couldn’t be said to be Chen Jian’s stupidity. The first two days of the quest were generally the easiest. Players who dared to gamble would do whatever it took to complete side quests at the start of the instance to lay a foundation for later.

Han Li’s smile had a hint of gloom.

The main quest only mentioned becoming the heir to the estate but didn’t specify what would happen to the failing players. Based on past experience, the outcome wouldn’t be good.

It felt more like an invisible personal competition.

Zhou Qi’an naturally thought of this, so he wasn’t afraid of offending anyone.

Chen Jian’s half palm was wasted, but he gained quite a bit, successfully catching the most fish.

One by one, the live fish were roughly stuffed into a basket, bouncing up and down.

Everyone gathered to study the fish. The college student asked, “Is this the legendary piranha?”

“Piranhas don’t have teeth growing in their bellies.”

Chen Jian took out a healing item to treat his wound, covering the basket to prevent others from peeking at the fish. With his uninjured hand, he picked up the basket and turned to submit the task without saying a word.

Han Li and Han Tiansheng followed closely, discussing buying a few fish from him.

Zhou Qi’an stopped Boss Wang, who was trailing behind. “Wait a moment.”

The college student, who had already walked away, perked up his ears and secretly returned, hiding behind a large tree to peek.

Zhou Qi’an, having wandered into a small forest at some point, was picking and choosing among the trees, soon finding some leaves with bird droppings.

Boss Wang, puzzled, asked, “What are you doing with those?”

Zhou Qi’an ground the dried bird droppings into powder. “Later, you’ll be responsible for diverting everyone’s attention, including Xun Er’s. I’ll sneak into the kitchen and add some ‘seasoning’ to the food.”

He hoped to make Xun the Wealthy eat it first. Given the man’s temper, it would be best if he threw his chopsticks and smashed plates on the spot.

Boss Wang was puzzled. “Add bird droppings?”

Zhou Qi’an sneered. “Do you really want to eat the sashimi Xun Er prepared? I saw that thing this morning—a frozen fish with a human face.”

The toxicity was probably even stronger than last night’s sashimi.

Boss Wang quickly waved his hand. He’d rather starve and eat leaves than touch that eerie fish meat again. Curiously, he asked, “Why did you choose me?”

“That college student doesn’t understand social cues. If he tried to divert attention, it would backfire. The veteran players are too scheming,” Zhou Qi’an said slowly. “If any of them tried to gain favor with Xun the Wealthy by reporting that I added something, it wouldn’t end well.”

He paused and then asked with a faint smile, “You wouldn’t report me, would you?”

“Of course not,” Boss Wang said with a forced smile. “I’m your accomplice. Reporting you wouldn’t end well for me.”

Despite his words, his eyes flickered slightly.