"Your ID is 002: The Deep Diver."
"The Deep Diver?"
"What does that mean?"
The fish-man looked at the young girl, puzzled, only for the girl to shrug and then turn back into a crow.
"If that person calls you by that name, there must be a reason for it, just as my name is The Imitator."
The fish-man instinctively stepped back, "That person... you mean, the one who gave me the potion?"
"Are you, are you human, and he... is he human?!"
The crow flapped its wings, scattering rainwater from its feathers, and flew directly onto the fish-man's shoulder.
"I am not human, and as for that person, you're not yet qualified to know."
"If you want to know, first do something practical. Think about why you ended up here, who left you here, do you not want revenge?"
The fish-man's eyebrows twitched, "I... in my current state if someone sees me, I'll definitely be captured!"
The crow extended its wing to its forehead, "Ah, humans have come up with so many types of clothing. Can't you wear clothes?"
The fish-man looked at his hands, "But in my current form... where can I find clothes that fit?"
The crow shook its head, "Really questioning your IQ here? Fine, I'll go find something for you. Wait here."
...
About twenty minutes later, the crow, now in the form of a young girl, came back with a bunch of bags.
The fish-man was sitting under an eave where the rain couldn't reach, hugging his knees and curled up.
"Put these on."
The fish-man paused, "Where did you get these from, and... did you pay for them?"
The crow paused, "Does the owner have to pay when taking items from their own store?"
"You... a crow, you own a store?"
"I don't own a damn store, I just took on the appearance of the owner." The crow said, clearly annoyed.
How could humans be so dumb?
"Oh..."
The fish-man obediently changed into the clothes, which were all in large sizes, including a mask, a hat, a scarf, and sunglasses.
After he had put all these items on, the crow draped a raincoat over him.
"There, now no one can tell there's anything unusual about you."
"Except your figure is a bit exaggerated."
The fish-man looked at the gloves on his hands, "No one can tell now, but why do I feel... feel... so hot?"
"Uh!"
"Ah!!"
Crack!
For some unknown reason, the fish-man suddenly knelt on the ground, his body shrinking as all the fish-like features disappeared in an instant.
"I... I've turned back?"
The fish-man excitedly took off the gloves, and his hands had indeed returned to human hands.
But when the rain fell on his hands again, scales began to grow back!
"Wait, why?"
"Does this mean, every time I touch water, I'll turn into a monster?"
The fish-man put the gloves back on, realizing that as long as he dried off the water on his skin, he could revert to human form.
But when he got wet from the rain, he'd turn back into a fish-man.
Looking at it this way, was this a controllable transformation?
It's just...
"Does this mean I can never go to bathhouses again?"
The crow was speechless.
"Is that really what you're worried about? Alright, enough chit-chat, isn't it time for you to seek revenge?"
The fish-man took a deep breath, "Yes, it's time for revenge."
"Given this power, even though it's not exactly great, I don't want to live as suffocated as before!"
...
The fish-man walked on the street; there were few people around due to the rain, and those few who passed by him didn't notice anything unusual.
Only one student-like person paused after brushing past him.
"Chu Yang, what's wrong?"
"Nothing... just smelled a bit fishy."
"Ah, probably just someone selling fish, what's there to look at? Let's go, let's go!"
...
In the suburbs, inside an abandoned tire factory.
The place was filled with smog, and seven ruffian-looking men were smoking and playing poker.
"Single two, you want it?"
"Split two."
"Speaking of which, you guys just left that kid there?"
"What else? Are we his fathers, supposed to take him home?"
"Don't end up killing someone."
"Ah, relax, he definitely won't die."
One of them looked up towards the outside, "It's been raining quite heavily these past few days."
"It's the rainy season."
"Speaking of which, I read a story a couple of days ago, about a murderer on a rainy night. The criminal wore a raincoat and specifically chose rainy days to act, killed nine people in a row without leaving a single trace."
"And, when the murderer killed, he would always cry and scream. At first, I thought, could the murderer be a lunatic?"
"But guess what, that murderer wasn't even human!"
Boom!
A thunderclap sounded, and all the men at the table widened their eyes at the same time.
The storyteller was confused, "Hey, what's with that look? I haven't finished my story yet."
"I thought it was a brain-burning mystery story, but who would've guessed the murderer was actually a fish?"
No one spoke, only one person raised his hand, pointing behind him.
"Be... behind."
The man paused, "What about behind me, I..."
As he turned around, in the pouring rain, a man wearing a black raincoat stood motionless in front of the doorway.
Seeing this, everyone fell silent.
The figure stepped into the warehouse, shook off the water from his body, and began to remove his clothing piece by piece.
Once he had taken off all his clothes, the men could see clearly who he was.
A human.
"Damn, it's just this kid, scaring us with all this ghostly pretense!"
One of them suddenly stood up, "We were just hired to do a job, so..."
Before the man could finish, he saw the figure step into the rain!
The next second, his limbs began to twist at unbelievable angles, and the sound of bones misaligning and growing followed!
Scales grew on his body, his head became fish-like, and sharp fins sprouted from his back!
After transforming into this appearance, the fish-man walked back into the warehouse.
But the men from before were already speechless, instinctively retreating.
"A... fish-man?"
The monster walked on the concrete floor, its webbed feet making a continuous 'plop, plop' sound.
As the monster approached, the men hastily grabbed steel pipes, bricks, and any weapons they could find!
"Here it comes!"
"What the hell is this?!"
"Forget it, let's go at it together!"
Plop!
The monster took a step and immediately went down on all fours, lunging at them in an extremely twisted posture!
"Screw this, run!"
Just as one of them tried to flee, the monster pounced on him!
Crash!
The man was knocked down by the monster, immediately screaming and kicking at the monster's belly, but the monster didn't budge.
"Don't, don't kill me, help, please!!"
The fish-man looked down at the screaming man beneath him, his vision turning increasingly blood-red!
Kill!!
Crack!
With a powerful grasp, the monster twisted the man's neck, breaking it instantly!
...
After that, the fish-man lost consciousness.
When he woke up, seven mutilated bodies lay in front of him, and his ten sharp claws were covered in fresh blood and flesh.
He stared blankly at his hands, tears uncontrollably streaming down.
Dead?
Are they all dead?
Snap!
The fish-man covered his eyes with his hands, tears pouring out uncontrollably, "Uh uh... what have I done, I, I didn't mean to haha..."
"Haha, uh uh, I didn't want to kill anyone, didn't mean to uh uh... uh ah uh uh haha..."
A figure appeared at the warehouse door, staring dumbfounded at the hellish scene inside.
Hearing the noise, the fish-man looked over.
The person reacted and turned to run!
"Uh uh uh, sorry, sorry...!"
Cries echoed behind him as the person ran desperately in the heavy rain, but the sound of crying seemed always just a step away!
"That was...!"
Thud!
"Uh... ah ah..."
Thump.
"Uh uh, I didn't mean, didn't mean, uh uh uh..."
The body fell to the ground, and the fish-man, while crying, slowly dragged the body back into the warehouse by its feet.
Outside, there was another person.
He hid inside a metal box, tightly covering his mouth.
Cold sweat streamed down his forehead, a chill rising from the soles of his feet to his bones.
For half an hour, the person dared not move, and under the cover of night, only the sparse sound of rain remained.
"What on earth was that?"
Recalling the scene, the man's pupils trembled, his whole body shivering from the inside out.
He peeked his head out from the container, and there was nothing outside.
But at that moment, hysterical crying suddenly came from behind him!
"Uh ah, you heard it, you heard it, uh uh haha haha!!"
The person quickly turned around, and two round eyes were right behind him!
Pfft!
...