Bai Shuyin stared at her reflection in the river. This was the first time she took a good look at her image. She recognized her own cerulean blue eyes blinking back at her. She actually didn't differ much from her original look. The only odd thing here was her unnatural hair color.
It was white!
Well, it was a fantasy novel. Pretty much everybody had unnatural hair color and style. She recalled a novel she read before where the main character had spiky hair, so sharp that could literally poke a balloon and the balloon would burst.
Bai Shuyin cupped the fresh clean water onto her small palm and splashed her face. The reflection told her she was about 9 or 10 years old, however she looked too malnutrised for that age. She had stumbled around, adjusting her short height. Everything suddenly seemed huge and out of reach. The sudden change in her height was too abrupt.
"Yin Yin! The fish!"
Startled, she whipped around towards the high-pitched voice. The little black-haired boy with a little too big doe eyes was pointing at something with his small finger.
Following where Wang Heiyue pointed out, Bai Shuyin looked down and let out a shriek. She jerked backwards and splashed at the water, causing the fish to swim away.
"What-- what is that?"
"Yin Yin let the fish run away…" Wang Heiyue pouted, looking dejected, as he wobbled over to where Shuyin had fallen. "That's Yin Yin's favorite fish."
'Fuck!' Bai Shuyin cursed. 'Favorite fish, my ass! That thing doesn't look like a fish at all!'
Sunkern eyes, armed with long and sharp teeth that puckered out of its bottom lips and slimmy body, reminded her of the one of the ugliest fish, the anglerfish. Fortunately the size was only as big as a puffer fish or Bai Shuyin was sure, she was going to lose her leg today.
She was going to die earlier than the plot had set for her.
They had come here to hunt for their meals. If she had known the fishes here were weird looking, she wouldn't have agreed so fast. The novel had never mentioned any abnormal animals at all or maybe it did, it was just that she never read past it yet.
'Goddammit!'
Taking a deep breath, she slowly stood up. Her clothes were dripping wet. Squeezing a bit to reduce the water weight, she turned her head slightly to take a glance at the boy on her right.
"Ah Yue, let's forget about fish today," She shivered as she recalled the disgusting looking fish. "How about some frui--"
She cut herself off as her eyes bulged out at the sight in front of her. It was unbelievable. The view unfolded before her was incredible.
Dark shadows appeared in the normally innocent looking eyes and the atmosphere surrounding Heiyue turned dangerous. Hard and dark, navy blue scales creeped up his right cheek. Wang Heiyue had one arm raised high and Shuyin's blood pounded in her ears.
The raised arm was also covered in lizard-like scales. His fingers had grown long into sharp talons. Swift as the wind and quick as lightning, Wang Heiyue striked into the water and when he pulled his hand back, an eel-like looking fish was pierced by his talons.
Then, like nothing had happened, the scales slowly drew back and retreated into his skin until his hands returned to normal, the dark aura around him also disappeared. Wang Heiyue gripped the fish by its tail; he couldn't care less about the blood dripping down his arm and turned to show it off to his sister.
Bai Shuyin didn't understand why she whipped her head around so fast to avoid eye contact with Wang Heiyue. Her conscience was warning her that she had witnessed something she shouldn't.
Acting like the ripples in the river was the most exhilarating thing in the world, Bai Shuyin ignored Wang Heiyue's piercing gaze.
"Yin Yin!" He called out.
"Y-- Yes?" Bai Shuyin couldn't stop the stutter from forming as she faked a smile at Wang Heiyue.
"Fish Fish!" He waved the fish and flashed her a bright grin.
Looking at that angelic face made Bai Shuyin forget about the negative image before. He was looking at Bai Shuyin with an expectant expression and Bai Shuyin had to hold herself back from lunging and poking her finger in that dimple.
"Catch Yin Yin's favorite fish!"
Gone all the desire to cuddle this cute little villain, she prefered choking him to death.
'Are all the disgusting and weirdly looking fish here her favorite?!'
***
Bai Shuyin was confused.
She might not have read the whole novel but she knew one thing for sure. The villain only realized his tremendous power and ability to shift after he met with the heroine; the white lotus female lead; namely Li Fantong.
They met in their teens, probably around 15 years old, if she recalled correctly, since she only read through the villain's brief flashback every time he was obsessed with Li Fantong. About how Li Fantong became the light of his dark world.
After she saved him from being accused of thefting in her Kingdom, they became friends. For a young boy who only had his beloved sister, who in the end was murdered, Wang Heiyue turned depressed and no longer trusted anyone.
With her bright personality, she managed to crack open Wang Heiyue's hard shell and claimed a place in it. She had stolen his heart, made him fall for her, but the heroine only had eyes for the Protagonist; the Crown Prince of Wang Kingdom.
Wang Shenqiu.
She shook her head and returned to the present. Bai Shuyin chomped down on the roasted meat from the stick and hummed at the taste. Turned out the idiom for not judging a book by its cover was working well in here, this disgusting looking fish was actually really delicious.
They had caught more fish during the day and roasted it for dinner at night.
A soft rustle and something warm plastered her side, startling Bai Shuyin. Looking down only to see a pair of huge dark eyes peering up at her. Bai Shuyin tilted her head to the side, internally guessing what Wang Heiyue was doing, but he just shook his head and wounded his small arms around her, rubbing his head on her waist.
"Yin Yin is going to stay here forever, right?"