Folk Strange Stories Part 1: Miao Township Witch Ancestor Chapter 10 Section 3: Strange Fish

"Finally getting out of this cursed place. Damn it, what a job we've done... I'm going to have nightmares sleeping from now on." The chubby guy was even more excited once he got on the boat. Since no one paid attention to him, he began muttering to himself. In stark contrast to him was the white-haired man sitting in front of me. This guy furrowed his brow and remained silent, as if something was bothering him. Old Wang and I tried several times to engage him in conversation, even asking about the golden skull in the main hall, but he finally said, "It's none of your business."

"Captain Wang, there are fish in the water." Song Erlengzi on the opposite boat shone his flashlight onto the water's surface and shouted. Following the beam of light, several groups of moving shadows appeared around the boat. They were swimming around the boat, giving the impression that a school of fish was migrating.

"Huh? What kind of fish is this? Why do they look so strange?" The chubby guy, sitting nearby, saw a few fish approaching, not showing much fear, and extended his hand to grab at the school of fish.

"Don't touch them!" The white-haired man suddenly reached out and blocked the chubby guy's hand. "What do you mean? They're just a few fish, not like they're your pets." The chubby guy seemed a bit embarrassed.

The white-haired man paid him no mind and drew an imaginary circle in the air with his hand, then pointed sharply with his index finger. A strange fish leapt out of the water, passed through the imaginary circle in front of the chubby guy's eyes, and landed back in the water.

The chubby guy saw it clearly; the strange fish had feathers instead of scales. But that wasn't all – its mouth was filled with jagged teeth, and half of a human finger was hanging from its tooth...

"And this is called a damn fish? A bird-fish!" The chubby guy stared with wide eyes in the direction the strange fish had disappeared. Everyone on the boat was equally shocked. The white-haired man gave a slight shake of his right hand, and it seemed like he was erasing the imaginary line he had drawn earlier.

Is this guy even human? Reanimated corpses that are hard to kill with bullets, he just kills them casually. His attitude toward the reanimated corpses was like their attitude toward us – relentlessly pursuing us, using tactics, and finally twisting off their heads. Now he casually draws a circle, and a bird-fish with feathers and a mouthful of teeth jumps in. Would ordinary people believe him?

Li Yan took out a cigarette and offered it to the white-haired man, saying, "Impressive skill. I'm truly amazed. I've never heard of this technique before. But speaking of which, what kind of fish is this feathered one?"

The white-haired man ignored the offered cigarette. Li Yan looked a bit awkward as he retracted the cigarette, but the white-haired man still explained the origin of the strange fish in the water. "This kind of fish is called the Ying Fish. It's a freshwater fish on the western bank of the Guishan Mountains. It has wings on its body and its call sounds like a Mandarin Duck. It dies when taken out of the water."

Rolling his eyes, the chubby guy said, "Tch, it dies when taken out of the water? Fish usually die when taken out of the water, right? Wait, the Ying Fish that just jumped out of the water earlier, didn't it leave the water? How come it didn't die?" I sighed and tugged at the chubby guy's clothes. He turned his head irritably and asked, "What do you want?" I pointed to the water's surface. The Ying Fish that had just leaped out of the water was now belly-up, floating on the surface.

The chubby guy stared at the dead fish and mumbled, "You're really cooperating with me. It floats up when I mention it, just at the right time." No one on the boat paid any attention to the chubby guy's mumbling. Remembering the way the Ying Fish had leapt out of the water, biting onto a finger, I suppressed my disgust and asked the white-haired man, "This Ying Fish doesn't seem like a herbivore, does it? It's grown so big; it's not a piranha, is it?"

The white-haired man gave me a glance and said, "In the Guishan Mountains, the Ying Fish eats small fish, shrimp, and aquatic plants. However, here..." He paused for a moment and then continued, "they can only eat carrion and dead bodies."

That statement sent a shiver down my spine. Song Erlengzi couldn't pick up the implications in the white-haired man's words and asked, "Why can they only eat dead bodies here?" The white-haired man said expressionlessly, "Apart from dead bodies, there's nothing else in the water." As soon as these words left his mouth, silence fell upon both boats.

On the other boat, one of the lackeys was lying flat on the boat's board, his head almost touching the water's surface. He watched as the Ying Fish followed the boat's movements in the water. Just as he was engrossed in watching, a pair of ghastly pale hands emerged silently from the water's surface. Before the lackey could react, those hands grabbed his collar and forcefully pulled him into the water.

"There's a monster under the water!" The chubby guy shouted, raising his gun at the water still splashing. Old Wang had also spotted it and yelled, "Be on guard! There's something in the water!"