Beauty and the Beasts

“Wah wah wah—”

The water wheel spun leisurely, moistening the air.

The water was heated from being under direct sunlight. Bai Qingqing stuck out a leg and tested the water temperature, then held up her snakeskin skirt and jumped down. Despite being used to filter salt for half a day, the snakeskin material neither shrunk nor stretched.

Curtis followed closely behind. When Bai Qingqing stuck her head in, he raised his tail and lifted her.

A slight movement in the water caused Curtis to look in that direction. Indeed, it was Bluepool.

Hugging a bubble that contained little silver fishes, he floated to the water surface and poked the bubble with a finger.

Splash! The little silver fishes dispersed in the water, the tiny silver dots nearly blending with the water.

“Ah! Aren’t you afraid they’ll run away?” Bai Qingqing asked in shock.

Bluepool said, “They like being around people, so they won’t run away. Just stop moving, and they’ll get close to you.”

Bai Qingqing nodded with a smile. A small silver fish swam to her chest. Bai Qingqing didn’t dare to move much and merely blew a puff of air at it.

A ripple formed on the water surface, and the little silver fish twisted its body and scurried away.

Although these silver fishes were tiny, they were numerous. Roughly calculating, there were several thousands of them, dispersed in the water like a school of white tadpoles.

Curtis curled his snake tail and trapped them in a circle.

“Is it fine for sea fishes to stay in freshwater?” Bai Qingqing asked as she teased the little fishes.

Bluepool said, “These are the cleansing fishes I specially brought from the sea. They should be able to adapt to freshwater.”

“There are so many of them. How are you going to rear them?” Feeling something touching the back of her hand, Bai Qingqing’s voice suddenly came to a halt. Flipping over her palm, she saw that there was indeed a little silver fish pecking at the back of her hand.

“Wah!” Bai Qingqing softly gasped. The little silver fish was even smaller than a tadpole, and it had a sharp mouth that turned into the shape of a trumpet when it came into contact with her skin.

Bai Qingqing held her breath. She could sense a very slight suction force nibbling sensation on her skin, as though an extremely tiny tooth was grazing it. It was such a slight sensation it was nearly imperceptible.

Following the arrival of that one little silver fish, very quickly, the little silver fishes in the vicinity all swam to the back of Bai Qingqing hands.

Bluepool, too, lowered his voice and said, “They have small appetites, so I just need to let them nibble a little every day.”

“Then, why do you still need to contain them within a bubble?”

“The fishes here don’t know what they are, so they’ll eat them as food,” explained Bluepool.

Bai Qingqing nodded to express that she understood.

Having exfoliated the dead skin off Bluepool yesterday, the little silver fishes swam to Bai Qingqing and Curtis today. Curtis thus transformed into his complete beast form and lazily floated in the water, while Bai Qingqing laid face-down upon his body.

As she was wearing loose-fitting clothes made from snakeskin, the little silver fishes could freely swim into her clothes, helping to nibble off the dead skin and invisible bacteria from her body.

Though she couldn’t feel anything initially, after a while, Bai Qingqing could sense that the skin on her back had turned somewhat clearer, delighting her.

“Didn’t you want to find plants to cleanse your teeth? Bluepool casually contained ten-odd silver fishes with a bubble and brought it before her. “Open your mouth.”

“Ssss~”

The temperature suddenly lowered. Bluepool hurriedly kept away his gleeful expression and poked at the bubble with a serious expression.

Satisfied with the cleansing fishes Bluepool brought over, Curtis barely was able to suppress his rage.

The silver fishes dispersed. Bai Qingqing hesitated for a moment, then submerged up to her nose in the water and opened her mouth.

The little silver fishes fearlessly swam in, their miniature bodies nimbly swimming in her mouth, their sharp and slim mouths reaching into the tiniest cracks between her teeth.

Bai Qingqing’s eyes rolled about, fearing she might accidentally swallow them.