Chapter 55

Chapter 55

The live stream viewers were instantly stunned, their eyes widening in shock.

"Wait, am I hallucinating or is that real? What’s on that hottie’s back?"

"He’s swimming too fast to see what’s on his back clearly. I swear there’s something growing on his back!"

"Is this Su Chenyu, the med school heartthrob who supposedly can’t swim? You call this not knowing how to swim? Seriously? Then what the heck is my doggy paddle?"

"He instantly learned to swim after jumping in! Count me in, count me in!"

"What’s on his back looks like... fish scales!"

The live stream chat exploded with more and more comments. As Su Chenyu swam closer to the shore, the servant holding the phone zoomed in with the camera, and the viewers could see clearly.

It was... fish scales!

A pale, reddish layer of fish scales.

The small red rashes on Su Chenyu’s back had turned into strange, dense fish scales.

The scales weren’t sharp yet—they were still soft and barely noticeable.

Su Chenyu had no idea he was changing. He was testing the waters in his own pool. Fear and anxiety were nowhere to be found. He looked like a natural in the water, as if he belonged there.

He, Su Chenyu, seemed to have learned how to swim!

Why bother with swimming lessons now? He didn’t have to stress about flunking the required swim class this year.

Su Chenyu climbed out of the pool, one arm draped over the edge. He wiped his face, his black hair flicking water.

He’d been called handsome since he was a kid. With the rise of short videos, he posted a few clips that racked up hundreds of thousands of fans, so Su Chenyu had a bit of an ego.

He was live-streaming with Dr. Wu Heng, with potentially millions watching. Surely, fans were swooning over his hot swimming moves?

Even if they weren’t, the gimmick of a non-swimmer instantly learning to swim would surely attract a lot of fans.

The corners of Su Chenyu's mouth couldn’t be suppressed. He barely held back his laughter as he reached out to the servant with a strange expression on the shore. "Hand me my phone."

The servant hesitated, but Su Chenyu’s hand was quicker, taking his own phone.

However, the smile on Su Chenyu’s face completely froze. The expected praise didn’t appear; instead, everyone was discussing something else.

"Fish scales! That hottie has fish scales on his back, oh my god, my trypophobia is acting up."

"Is the med school heartthrob a fish spirit reincarnated? No wonder he’s afraid of cats; cats love to lick him for a reason."

"Why would a person grow fish scales? Fish scale skin disease doesn’t seem to be like this."

"Dr. Wu, say something, why are there fish scales all over his back? Is he a fish demon?"

Su Chenyu: "..."

His world collapsed! There were no fangirls screaming for his handsome swimming posture; the chat was all about the scales on his back!

Su Chenyu looked at the live stream chat in disbelief. His back, which he couldn’t see, was covered in dense fish scales?

Su Chenyu reached back to touch his back, and the strange sensation under his fingers made him shudder and quickly withdraw his hand. He immediately looked at the servants, who nodded in fear.

Su Chenyu's mind was in a whirl, consumed by the thought of growing fish scales, and millions of people online had witnessed it...

How on earth could this happen?!

Dr. Wu hesitated, "This patient, you... uh?"

Before Dr. Wu could finish, Su Chenyu's hand moved faster than his mind, abruptly ending the video call, and the screen went dark.

Dr. Wu sighed in resignation, "This patient, avoiding medical treatment isn't wise. If you want to observe further, you are welcome to come back for a follow-up."

Su Chenyu's face was a mask of confusion.

Now everyone knew, he really had a strange disease. Wouldn't it have been better to fly to Nanzhai Village for a face-to-face consultation?

Su Chenyu immediately climbed out of the swimming pool, wrapped a towel around himself, and rushed to the full-length mirror at home.

Under the mirror, he saw the full extent of his condition: the small red rashes above his waist had burst open, and pale red fish scales had sprouted from his flesh.

Su Chenyu was dumbfounded, "Why is this happening? Why am I growing fish scales? Am I becoming a fish?"

The servant behind him bit his tongue, since Su Chenyu had abruptly ended the consultation. Otherwise, they could have asked more questions.

But it was understandable for the young master, who cared most about his appearance. Letting his fans see him in such a state would be mortifying.

"Young master, why don't you try a ginger bath first? Dr. Wu claimed ginger could ward off all evils."

Another servant, seeing Su Chenyu's worried expression, gently advised, "Young master, every cloud has a silver lining."

At least Su Chenyu had learned to swim.

Su Chenyu, his face tense, was at a loss for words, just anxiously ordered the servants to prepare ginger bathwater.

After soaking in ginger water for a while, when Su Chenyu appeared in front of the mirror again, aside from a tingling sensation on his skin, the fish scales on his back had vanished, leaving only smooth, fair skin.

Su Chenyu said with some surprise, "Am I cured?"

If ginger was this effective, why were those masters selling their talismans at such high prices?

To test his theory, Su Chenyu simply went back to the private swimming pool and dived in again.

Once in the water, Su Chenyu's movements became agile again, his arms and legs moving as if by instinct, mimicking the frog kick.

The servant recording from the shore stared at Su Chenyu's back and said, "The fish scales are growing again."

After trying this a few times, Su Chenyu understood.

Ginger was indeed a good thing, but for his strange disease, it only treated the symptoms, not the root cause.

"Young master, as we said, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. You could just wear a full-body swimsuit. Do you know how fast you were swimming just now? Faster than a flying fish!"

Su Chenyu sat back and watched the swimming video the servant had recorded for him. Seeing himself master the breaststroke and butterfly stroke without any training, and at such high speed, he suddenly had a subtle thought.

Indeed, growing fish scales didn't seem like such a big deal. It didn't affect his life, and instead, it had taught him how to swim.

Su Chenyu excitedly realized that his only weakness was gone.

*

"Dr. Wu, do you think I have some evil disease? Why is my skin all green? Or is this actually hinting that I've been cheated on?"

The man in the video call had completely green skin, looking terrified as he asked, "Do I need to take medicine?"

The middle-aged woman next to him was so annoyed by his last comment that she almost slapped him.

Wu Heng's mouth twitched slightly; as a village doctor, he’s seen all kinds of strange cases.

Wu Heng patiently said, "No need for medicine—just switch to thermal underwear that doesn’t bleed color."

The uncle was still puzzled, but the woman next to him caught on. "Dr. Wu, are you saying the green underwear bled dye and turned his skin green?"

Wu Heng nodded, "Yes, the uncle is in good health, no other issues. I need to wrap up the broadcast and get ready for the village Nuo festival."

"I’m dying of laughter—thinking he’s sick because his underwear bled dye and turned him green."

"Tonight’s one-hour live broadcast from Chengde Medical Hall had five or six patients, but the most interesting was medical school heartthrob Su Chenyu. Too bad he bolted without even asking about his condition."

"People in the comments are just here for the drama. More silly cases like the uncle’s dye-bleeding underwear are better—otherwise, everyone having weird diseases would be terrifying."

"Is this the Nuo River Eighteen Villages’ Nuo festival? I’m so excited—already booked tickets for next week. Can’t wait to meet Dr. Wu in person."

"Is Su Chenyu really not coming back for another consult? His case is really weird."

After an hour, Wu Heng ended the broadcast, said hi to Eugene, and headed to the Nuo Temple by the river.

The Nuo Temple was packed, mostly with guys in their early twenties, who shot Wu Heng all kinds of looks as he walked in.

Alongside the young men, there were Nuo masters, sorceresses, and spirit mediums from different villages.

Old lady Lai, recalling Village Chief Zhou Dagui’s instructions, spoke up first. "My grandson Lai Jun is gone, and we from South Nuo Village want Wu Heng to be the lead dancer for the Nuo festival."

Nuo dance is a sacred ritual to drive away plagues and honor the gods, also called ghost opera.

The guys around eyed Wu Heng, knowing this impromptu Nuo festival was mostly to draw tourists—many of whom would come just for him.

But the Nuo River Eighteen Villages aren’t just South Nuo Village!

They can’t let South Nuo Village hog all the spotlight, right?

"Why? South Nuo Village isn’t the most advanced of the eighteen villages. Why should your village get to pick the lead dancer?" a young man with a crew cut said discontentedly.

"Exactly, why pick someone who used to be a fool?"

Besides some indifferent ones, there were also supporters present.

Old lady Lai couldn’t quiet the crowd, but the sorceress from Wuwa Village proposed, "In that case, let’s ask the Nuo gods to decide by drawing lots."

This was agreed upon by everyone.

Everyone had to make a wish to the two Nuo gods in the temple and then ask for their guidance.

"Look! The Nuo gods approve of me being the lead dancer for the festival!" the young man holding the lot excitedly shouted.

Wu Heng was amused to see the guy with the crew cut sneaking in little gestures beside them.

Even he, a shaman from ancient times, wouldn’t dare pull tricks in front of the gods—talk about clueless bravery.

Old lady Lai frowned at this, but Wu Heng looked unfazed.

Wu Heng said, "I’ll stick with the Guan Gong Nuo mask—it’s what I’m used to."

The Nuo masters present confirmed the masks each dancer would wear, repainted them, and would specially offer them in front of the Nuo Temple the night before the Nuo festival.

The young men from various villages had agreed to practice together by the Nuo River at noon over the next few days, and only then did Wu Heng leave the Nuo Temple.

As soon as he stepped out, he spotted Zhou Yi waving at him, with several officers in tow.

Wu Heng walked up briskly, and Zhou Yi, patting two hefty black backpacks, asked, "How did it go? Are you confirmed as the lead dancer for this village Nuo festival?"

Given how many netizens are still raving about Wu Heng's ancient Nuo dance, a big turnout was guaranteed.

Wu Heng shook his head, peeked into the backpack, and said, "Thanks for the escort, officers."

Wu Heng received a one million yuan reward for curing Professor Zhao Qingyun.

Wu Heng took 300,000 yuan in cash and transferred the rest, 700,000 yuan, to his bank account.

"No problem, it's safer for us to escort you with that much cash. We'll take you back to the clinic," said Wang Jun, puzzled by Wu Heng's decision to carry so much cash. He should know better than to flash his wealth.

Once back at the clinic safely, Wu Heng checked the time and decided to head out.

"Wu Heng, are you going to see your godfather? We want to go too," the little white snake immediately hissed upon seeing this.

Wu Heng: "I'm going to Li Hao's house."

The little white snake lost interest upon hearing this. What was the point if they weren't going to the godfather's house?

The little gray snake, clumsily holding a pencil with its tail, scribbled in a notebook, "Big White, bro, we've got online classes."

Wu Heng hooked the gray and white snakes up to the ghost network, connecting them to Yang Xing's study room, then slung the two black backpacks over his shoulder and headed for the well at the village's east end.

"Haven't seen my dad in two days, I'll drop by first, I miss him. Hmm... carrying this much cash alone is risky, I'll get a friend to drive me later," Wu Heng muttered to himself, clearing his throat.

Wu Heng glanced at the sky; Shi Xuan should be wrapping up evening study and heading home.

Wu Heng, lugging two backpacks stuffed with cash, followed the well's water system and slipped into the Shi family well, just his head poking out, catching snippets of conversation outside.

"Master, can this well be filled? It's quite sinister and it's affecting my son," the Shi family head asked.

The master stroked his beard and replied, "This well is ancient, three to four hundred years old. It was dug in strict accordance with the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Filling it is possible, but it's a bit of a hassle."

"If we're going to fill it, we need to pick an auspicious day. Tonight's no good."

As they chatted, they moved closer to the well.

Seeing this, Wu Heng ducked back into the well, pondered for a moment, and then decided to head to Li Hao's place instead.

"What's going on?" Shi Xuan, lurking in the shadows with his backpack, spoke up suddenly, nearly startling the Shi family head and the master into the well.

"You ungrateful brat! We're just having the master check you out."

The Shi family head wasn't about to spill his plan to fill the well; Shi Xuan would find out after the fact.

The master, however, looked at Shi Xuan with mild surprise and asked, "Have the strange occurrences around Young Master Shi lessened lately?"

How odd, the Shi family's eldest son is quite the enigma, his pervasive yin energy often triggering bizarre incidents.

As he matured, the collar around his neck began to fail, previously causing the He Family's young master, He Yunxiao, to conceive a snake fetus, but things have been calm lately.

How bizarre.

Shi Xuan thought of Wu Heng and allowed a small smile to play at the corner of his mouth. He knew they seldom met during school days; the last time was last weekend when they came to the capital for the difficult disease seminar hosted by old man Zhao Qingyun, and it had been a few days since they'd last seen each other in person.

Shi Xuan glanced at the well, thinking it wouldn’t be a problem if Wu Heng came on a school day.

Shi Xuan looked at the calm, undisturbed well, pursed his lips slightly, and without a word to the two, turned and went back to his room.

Mr. Shi watched Shi Xuan’s distant figure, then turned to the master and said, “Master, please choose an auspicious day and time to fill this well.”

Meanwhile, Wu Heng climbed out of the well at Li Hao’s house, looked around at the empty surroundings, and sighed, missing his good friend yet again.

Li Hao and his family were renting a place in the school district and weren’t home at the time.

As soon as Wu Heng entered, he saw Chen Zhao sitting cross-legged, happily eating fruit and watching a ball game.

The Li family’s house felt almost like his own.

“Dr. Wu, what brings you by?”

Wu Heng placed two black backpacks in front of Chen Zhao. “Your cut of the consultation fee.”

Chen Zhao was stunned. He quickly opened the backpacks and dumped the contents onto the floor—stacks of red cash instantly spilled everywhere.

Chen Zhao had seen Xu Qian pour out 200,000 yuan before, and at a glance, he could tell this was way more—probably around 300,000 yuan.

The sight of cash had a far greater impact than a bank transfer, hitting Chen Zhao like a shockwave.

“All for me?” Chen Zhao couldn’t believe it. He’d only robbed a yin emissary and hadn’t even treated Professor Zhao or taken his pulse. How could he get so much?

In all his years working in the Xuanmen, he’d never even seen a fraction of this amount!

Wu Heng said, “There’ll be a lot more patients in the city soon. Stay away from the Xuanmen for now; you can help out later.”

Chen Zhao had no desire to go back to that dump. His hands shook as he picked up the money—he’d never seen so much in his life.

Chen Zhao wiped away tears, nearly choking up, and asked earnestly, “Dr. Wu, if you’re not planning to take on a disciple, would you consider adopting me as your godson? I don’t care about the age difference.”

Wu Heng: “...”

Another troublemaker?

*

When Su Chenyu arrived at the medical university today, he felt his classmates staring at him, everyone whispering about the fish scales growing on his back.

Today was bad timing—there happened to be a gym class.

They gathered by the indoor heated pool, and Su Chenyu, for once, didn’t flaunt his perfect eight-pack abs, opting instead for a low-key black one-piece swimsuit.

Following the teacher’s instructions, they did some warm-ups before getting in the water.

Su Chenyu noticed everyone staring and casually said to his classmate Fan Xuan, “When I get in the water, make sure to snap some good shots for my Weibo and WeChat.”

Fan Xuan took the phone and couldn’t resist saying, “You’re just like my sister—so vain.”

So obsessed with his image.

Su Chenyu dove into the water, swimming like a sleek fish, while his classmates watched eagerly from the shore, whispering:

“Wow, last time the school hottie needed a float, but today he’s swimming on his own.”

“How fast is he? Is he the top swimmer in the class?”

“Look at his arms—there are small red rashes. Are fish scales going to pop up there too?”

The sports coach stood on the shore, watching the scene closely, and he had an idea when he saw the stopwatch in his hand. "Su Chenyu, can you swim 100 meters? How about you give it your all and swim 100 meters later?"

Su Chenyu rested on the shore, feeling a bit smug when he saw the slightly envious looks from his classmates around him.

Dr. Wu had diagnosed many patients, all of whom seemed to be unlucky. He seemed to be luckier, as it didn't have any significant impact on his life.

"Alright," Su Chenyu asked Fan Xuan to help him start a live stream. After overcoming his fear, Su Chenyu didn't get scared and hang up like last time when he had a live call with Dr. Wu.

The sports teacher, who had connections with the coaches from the capital city's sports bureau, immediately got them into the live stream.

With everyone watching, Su Chenyu began his 100-meter breaststroke!

Like a fish in its element, Su Chenyu swam at a speed that was almost too fast for the naked eye to see, sending water flying everywhere.

Coach Wang from the national swimming team had heard that a promising swimmer had been discovered at the capital city's medical university, but he didn't think much of it.

After all, since they were in college, they were probably not that young.

But the moment he entered the live stream, Coach Wang, who was sitting leisurely in his chair, sat bolt upright, his eyes fixed on the live stream screen.

"How is he swimming this fast?"

One hundred meters, just one length.

The sports teacher on the scene stared at the stopwatch in disbelief, saying, "34.25 seconds? Is the stopwatch malfunctioning?"

Coach Wang from the national swimming team jumped up in shock upon hearing the result, exclaiming, "What? How many seconds?"

"Who’s here after watching last night’s stream where Su Chenyu grew fish scales after talking to Dr. Wu?"

"34.25 seconds? That can’t be right. The stopwatch must be broken. The current world record for the 100-meter breaststroke is 55.28 seconds by a foreign athlete! Even with a breakthrough, a 21-second difference is impossible, right?"

"Wuwuwu, Dr. Wu said he could swim after going into the water last night. So this is how he learned to swim."

"A non-swimmer breaking the world record? I wouldn’t even dream of that."

The sports teacher immediately said, "I’ll grab two more stopwatches right now."

They’d rather think the stopwatch was broken than believe someone could actually do that.

The classmates on the scene simply opened their own phone stopwatches.

Su Chenyu couldn't help but start to enjoy the spotlight. He jumped back in, but this time, instead of breaststroke, he went for... butterfly stroke!

A full 50 meters, and the sports coach looked at the stopwatch and screamed, "Holy cow, 15.33 seconds!"

The current world record for the men's 50-meter butterfly stroke is 21.75 seconds!

In sports events, the difference is usually in the tenths of a second. Even if there's a breakthrough, it couldn't be a difference of several seconds.

The surrounding classmates stared at Su Chenyu as if he were a swimming genius.

From a non-swimmer to a swimming fish, it only took one night!

Coach Wang from the national swimming team slammed the table and shouted excitedly, "We need this guy on our national team!"

"National Swimming Team v: Streamer, let's talk offline, today! We'll come to your school right away!"

As soon as the verified National Swimming Team account appeared, Su Chenyu's live stream went completely wild.

"Who would have thought a university pool could break world swimming records not once, but twice? The national team is getting involved!"

"Wait, is Su Chenyu being scouted by the national swimming team? Are we gonna see him at the Olympics?"

"What? I blinked and he was already done swimming?"

"I can’t imagine how other countries will feel when they face Su Chenyu at the Olympics. They just can’t keep up."

"Even on steroids, no one’s this fast, right?"

Su Chenyu leaned against the poolside, not even out of breath, and smiled at the nearly hysterical PE teacher, "Just a warm-up, didn’t even try my hardest."

"The Olympics? Seriously?"

Su Chenyu never would’ve dreamed of it before yesterday, but now the national team’s already reaching out.

Competing at the Olympics and bringing home glory is a big deal, and there’ll be plenty of fans.

Out of all the patients at Chengde Medical Hall, he’s the only one who’s come out on top. If this is a sickness, he’s better off not getting cured.

Wu Heng was watching Su Chenyu’s stream, feeling like he couldn’t compete with his bragging.

"Damn, that’s wild."

The PE teacher beside him almost jumped up. "He wasn’t even trying?"

As he was about to tell Su Chenyu to get out of the pool, everyone noticed faint red fish scales starting to form on Su Chenyu’s arm.

Although Su Chenyu was a bit worried inside, he didn’t show it and said, "No big deal, just rinse it with some ginger water."

Who cares if it’s some weird condition that lets him swim like a fish? He definitely didn’t take any stimulants.

Fan Xuan’s face went pale, pointing at Su Chenyu’s back, "Chenyu, your back—look!"

Su Chenyu felt the swimsuit choking him, and then he heard the faint rip of the swimsuit.

Suddenly, Su Chenyu felt the top of the swimsuit give way.

Su Chenyu yanked the bottom half of the swimsuit up and anxiously asked the shocked Fan Xuan, "What? What’s wrong with me again? Did fish scales grow on my back again?"

Fan Xuan stared in shock, muttering, "You, your back has grown... a fish fin!"

Su Chenyu’s mind went blank, "?"

What?

A fish fin?

"What the hell? Fish scales and now a fin?"

"He shouldn’t have freaked out and ended the call last night. Now it’s getting worse, right?"

"But breaking the world record is real, I think it’s pretty good."

"Wu Heng is lurking in the live stream! I just saw Chengde Medical Hall entered Su Chenyu’s live stream, Dr. Wu, come out and say something."

Su Chenyu quickly climbed onto the poolside, took the phone handed by a female classmate, and the phone showed a photo just taken of his back.

A small fish fin grew among the dense fish scales.

Su Chenyu was somewhat dazed. Was he still human, or had he turned into a fish?

Su Chenyu looked around at the excited yet somewhat worried gazes of everyone and licked his lips.

Even if this was a good thing, he needed to fully understand the cause of his condition to truly calm his mind.

Su Chenyu noticed that Wu Heng was not only online but also silently watching the live stream. In his nervousness, he immediately invited him to join the call, and the other side quickly agreed.

Su Chenyu was anxious: "Dr. Wu, last night I accidentally activated the mic without paying attention. Can you tell me what’s going on with me? Not only have I grown fish scales, but I’ve also grown fins."

Wu Heng took a glance and continued his unfinished diagnosis from the previous night: "If the condition keeps progressing unchecked, you’re going to become half-human, half-fish."

Half-human, half-fish?

"Whoa, half-human, half-fish, isn’t that a merman?! That thing only exists in fairy tales, right?"

"I’ve been reading fairy tales since I was a kid, and I’ve always loved the mermaids in them—they’re so beautiful."

"I’ve seen mermaid protagonists in novels; they’re all super beautiful and strong. Su Chenyu, you’ve turned a bad situation into a win!"

"The world’s first merman has been discovered in Huaxia, my god, *The Classic of Mountains and Seas* is indeed real!"

Su Chenyu had braced himself for a serious illness, but Wu Heng said that the worst-case scenario was turning into a merman, and the first one in the world at that!

Su Chenyu was so excited he could barely speak: "So, I’m going to become the merman prince from fairy tales?"

Wouldn’t he have fans all over the world?

Why go to the Little Mermaid’s hometown when they could come directly to Huaxia to see him! The real merman prince.

An ordinary person might worry about being treated like a novelty, but Su Chenyu’s family background was not ordinary, and he wouldn’t be reduced to that.

Su Chenyu didn’t even want to be cured anymore!

Su Chenyu asked excitedly: "Am I really about to become a merman? But why are the scales and fins growing on my back, stomach, and arms? Shouldn’t they be on my legs?"

Wu Heng looked at him in surprise, somewhat curious: "Why are you so happy? Could you accept having a fish head and a human body?"

Su Chenyu’s smile froze: Wait, what do you mean, head??