Eat and Evolve

"Big Fish Eat Little Fish. Does this mean that after I transform into a fish, I can grow and evolve without limits?"

Chu Xian’s expression(1) kept changing as he thought about the implications.

Chu Xian approached the big fish tank at the back of the room. The tank was filled with ornamental fish: Zebra Fish, Koi Fish, Ray-finned Fish, Black Banjo Fish, Little Goldfish, Mickey Fish, Bucktooth Tetra and many others.

All these were cheap, small-sized fish bought from the seaside market for 10 RMB at most, with the largest being only 10 cm in size.

After observing these fish, Chu Xian pulled out a small net and placed some of the fish into a separate, smaller tank. Then he placed his finger into the tank and willed himself into a fish.

"Pa!" With a sound of falling into water, Chu Xian transformed into a small fish. As he swished his tail, he felt comfortable and free. He swam quickly and naturally as if he had been a fish since birth.

The little fish he turned into was an indistinguishable species and had no special features except a sharp row of teeth in its mouth.

As he swam next to a Bucktooth Tetra, a message appeared in Chu Xian’s mind.

Bucktooth Tetra: Level 0.

Combat Power: 0

Passive Talent: None

Chu Xian was excited by this discovery; knowing the status of other fish was a big help for his own safety. After hesitating for a moment, Chu Xian steeled himself and bit at this Bucktooth Tetra.

This 4cm, tiny Bucktooth Tetra swam along minding its own business, with no idea what was in store for it.

"Ka Cha!" Chu Xian heard the sound of breaking bones (sic), and the subtle taste of blood filling his mouth didn’t faze him at all as he used his sharp teeth to tear a chunk off the Bucktooth Tetra’s body.

Chu Xian quickly swallowed this piece and bit at the Bucktooth Tetra a second time, and within a few short seconds, he devoured the entire fish.

After eating this slightly smaller Bucktooth Tetra, Chu Xian felt the power in his body gradually growing, his speed improving, and a sense of comfort filling his body. He turned his increasingly intense stare towards the remaining dozen or so fish.

With a flash of his tail, Chu Xian appeared next to another fish. Gaping his small mouth, Chu Xian took a bite out of the little fish’s tail and began devouring it with big bites.

"Right, I also a special control power." After recalling that he had this ability, Chu Xian concentrated his mind and a mysterious scene appeared. It was as if he had an omnipresent view of everything and could see everything within a one-meter radius of himself, including the table outside the tank.

These dozen or so fish in the tank were like slaves, and he could arbitrarily rule over all of them. With a slight movement of his mind, all the Bucktooth Tetra (2) fish swam towards him. Chu Xian opened his mouth and cruelly swallowed all of them down, bite by bite.

"Even after devouring twenty fish my body only strengthened a little, and I haven’t even evolved yet. Am I supposed to just keep eating?" Chu Xian thought to himself after all the fish in the tank were eaten.

"I’ll just eat them all!" Chu Xian thought to himself and immediately turned back into a human, reappearing at the spot where he had been standing.

Chu Xian walked toward the big tank and dipped his hand in, reappearing in the tank. He immediately began using his powers. The hundred plus fish all swam to his side, and Chu Xian gaped his mouth and began eating them all one bite at a time.

Chu Xian continued to open his mouth and devoured them down bite after bite.

"Ding. Congratulations. Host leveled up (10 cm size). The four attributes strength, speed, toughness, and bite-force have been upgraded. Additionally, you may choose one attribute to power up."

"Finally, I upgraded!" Chu Xian said, swimming excitedly.

His body had grown from 5 cm directly to 10 and now appeared a cyan color; his scales were now closely knit, and his thin, long tail was very powerful; several rows of teeth could be seen, and they looked slightly intimidating.

"Strength, speed, toughness, bite force – of these four attributes: strength probably means impact, speed should be swimming speed, toughness should be body hardness, and bite force is just the strength of my teeth."

Chu Xian thought for a little, then decided to power up bite force.

Bite force could improve his devouring speed and all he needed now was to keep eating and evolving.

After the system powered him up, Chu Xian felt that his mouth was more powerful – his teeth were sharper, and he could imagine that if he became a twenty-something meter long fish, even a shark couldn’t stand in his way.

After turning back into his human form, Chu Xian looked at his information, and a big change had taken place.

Name: Chu Xian

Status: Human (Can Transform into a Fish)

Level: 2 (New-Born Little Fish, 10cm!)

Combat Power: 2

Passive Talent: Devour – can evolve from eating smaller fish

Control – can control lower leveled fish.

Big Fish Eat Little Fish System Ability:

Remold – can change the shape of self or fish under your control. (Every transformation will lower your level and the level of the fish you control)

His transformation excited him, but when he realized that there were only a dozen or so fish left in the tank, Chu Xian’s face froze and he shook his head bitterly.

Within those few minutes, he had already devoured a hundred plus small fish. All these were ornamental fish and he had just eaten 500 – 600 RMB's worth of fish, enough for him to eat for two days.

As he looked at the fish in the tank, each of them worth several RMB, Chu Xian decided against eating any more and dove back under his blanket to continue sleeping.

That night was his happiest sleep. He dreamed of roaming the seas with an entourage of sharks, whales, gigantic octopuses, and in his wake wherever he went were majestic waves, as if he were the dragon king (3)!

The next day when he woke up, Chu Xian immediately checked his system. He was afraid that everything was just a beautiful dream, but after checking, he quickly let out the breath he was holding and smiled happily.

After collecting his mat and blanket, Chu Xian opened the door of his shop, letting in a bright beam of sunshine that warmed up his whole body; the sky was an after-rain blue, and the sun was brilliant in the passing wind (4).

Chu Xian walked out, closing the door behind him. He bought a couple stuffed steam buns from Lady Wang next door, and after withdrawing a thousand RMB, he rode his moped to the outskirts of the city.

After half an hour, Chu Xian began to hear the crashing waves of the sea.

Hai Qing City was a seaside city, and the city tourism and fish industry were fully developed. In the Qing Ning district, there was a huge fishing area and fish market with hundreds of varieties of fish; all of Chu Xian’s ornamental fish were from here.

As soon as he entered the market, noise and foul fish smells welcomed him, but Chu Xian was used to it.

He did not go to the ornamental fish section. Instead, he walked around the sea products. It was the fishing season, and the market was currently at its busiest time of the year.

Every fish shop had a gigantic pool with tons of fish swimming inside, and in front of each of the pools was the fish type and price.

Chu Xian came here in order to buy fish for his system so that he could grow big by eating smaller fish.

At this point, his size was only 10cm, so he needed to buy fish smaller than 10 cm. After walking around for half an hour, Chu Xian finally decided on a type of fish called Scomber Japonicus, a very cheap type of ocean mackerel which was typically 20-40 cm long, with some shorter than 10cm.

"Boss, give me 120 of these small under 10cm mackerel; you can give me the net, and I’ll scoop them." Chu Xian said from the side of the pond, pointing at the small Scomber Japonicus.

"120?" asked the owner absent-mindedly. Even though this young man made a strange request, he did not question it any further and simply handed him a net.

Chu Xian took the net and tried to control it skillfully; to his glee, he could use his power even while human.

In order to not arouse suspicion, Chu Xian did not make the fish swim directly into the net but just controlled them a little so that they did not resist being scooped.