Harold suddenly stopped, squinted his eyes and examined the furry shop, comparing the new store and the nail salon in his mind, and then found that this store was much more exaggerated than the blind box store next door, even the nail salon couldn't compare, and secretly curled his lips.
No wonder Lu Yao is so busy every day and comes home so late.
He casually threw a few anglerfish with their mouths open into the store, and then reached out to take a few that the killer whale was holding in its mouth.
Killer Whale A shook its head, avoided Harold, and threw the fish into the store lightly, right on top of Harold's fish.
Harold tilted his head and looked over: "Did you do that on purpose?"
Killer Whale A looked innocent: "Hmm?"
Lu Yao urged Harold, "Okay, okay, stop blocking the door, go in quickly."
Ji Feiming, Qingmei, Wen Jingyi and others were standing at the door, and the two girls looked at Harold curiously.
Xiao Ji looked numb, the dragon came again.
It’s great to travel through time.
When Lu Yao came in later, Qing Mei immediately pulled her aside, her eyes sparkling as she asked in a low voice, "Shopkeeper, where did this beautiful boy come from? A foreigner? He's so handsome, his eyes are actually blue, is he wearing colored contact lenses?"
Wen Jingyi was also looking at Harold and added, "It's rare for foreigners to be so well-dressed and good-looking. The high ponytail is very individual but not feminine at all."
The queen of the movie said it was beautiful, so it really is beautiful.
Harold felt a sudden cold light coming from the side, and when he saw it was a man, he immediately glared back even more fiercely.
Lu Yao quickly pulled Harold over and introduced him, "This is Harold, my brother. The store is short of staff, so he came to help."
The killer whale outside the membrane seemed to make a soft hum, which was different from the usual "嘤嘤" sound.
Lu Yao turned his head to look, only to see a round back.
Killer whale A has swam away.
Qingmei looked at Harold with even more surprise, "A new colleague, isn't he a little too young?"
Harold raised his hand and tapped Lu Yao's head, saying dissatisfiedly: "I'm almost a hundred years old, I should be your brother."
"… "
"… "
"… "
The air was silent. Lu Yao was not panicked at all. He patted Harold on the back and said to the others, "This kid is a comic book fan. In his world, he is a beautiful and powerful black dragon. It's summer vacation now, so come to the store to help and meet more people. Maybe he will grow up slowly."
Harold vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but he was indeed a beautiful and powerful dragon who loved comics and had come here specifically to help, and he hadn’t grown up yet, and was still decades away from adulthood.
These words were all correct, he pursed his lips and did not refute.
It turns out to be a chuunibyou.
Several people understood. Qingmei and Wen Jingyi looked at Harold with a completely older sister attitude. Even Shibin became more tolerant towards Harold.
Ji Feiming: “…”
She was telling the truth, no kidding!
After talking about Harold, Wen Jingyi turned her gaze to Lu Yao again: "Do you want to take a shower and change your clothes?"
Lu Yao nodded. "Yes, I'll go right away. Harold, send the anglerfish to the kitchen and prepare it according to the method I just taught you. I'll stew it into a delicious fish later."
Anglerfish is a deep-sea fish. When Lu Yao caught them, they were still alive. When he brought them back, they were all dead and had to be processed immediately while they were fresh.
These fish live in sewage areas with very poor conditions and are normally not suitable for consumption.
But magic can be used to directly filter out impurities attached to the fish meat. After processing, the meat is clean and the taste is still fresh and tender.
It is more convenient for Harold to be here. He knows all the magic that Lu Yao knows, and he also knows the magic that Lu Yao doesn't know.
It only takes a few minutes to handle a few fish.
Xiao Heilong had never seen this kind of fish before. If Lu Yao hadn't insisted on bringing it back, the grinning look would have discouraged him.
Lu Yao came out of the shower and changed into clean clothes.
There were a bunch of people gathered in the kitchen. Lu Yao squeezed in with difficulty and asked, "Why are you all here?"
Wen Jingyi, Shi Bin and Qingmei all surrounded Harold.
They had eaten anglerfish.
But I've never seen one like this where even the skin hasn't been processed yet. I'm curious about how Harold will deal with it.
Due to these people, Harold's work progressed slowly. There were only two processed anglerfish in the clean water pool next to him, and the skin had not been peeled off yet.
Wen Jingyi was fiddling with the small tufts on the belly of an anglerfish. "Are these its feet? Why does the one next to it only have two?"
Qingmei: "Some have only one, and some have several. It's a bit strange. It's a pity that I don't have a mobile phone, otherwise I could check the reason."
Lu Yao was silent for a moment, then looked up at Shi Bin.
Shi Bin felt puzzled because he didn't play with the fish.
It's a delicious fish, but I can't say it looks good.
He was not interested at all and was just standing there waiting for Wen Jingyi.
The anglerfish does look ugly, it is grey, has a wide mouth, a big belly, and a mouthful of particularly crooked teeth.
They don't like to move and most of the time they lurk under the seabed, relying on small glowing meat baits above their heads to lure prey.
However, there is something very interesting about the way anglerfish survive.
Lu Yao retracted his gaze and said calmly: "These are not feet, they are its husbands."
Wen Jingyi didn't understand, but she had already let go of her hand, "What do you mean?"
Lu Yao put on gloves, picked up a magically processed anglerfish, and prepared to skin it, explaining: "Male anglerfish are very weak, and their size difference with female anglerfish can be up to 60 times. In order to survive successfully, they choose to rely on females and survive by sucking female body fluids. Their body organs have completely degenerated, and some are left with only a small meat protrusion like this, with only the reproductive glands retained."
"… "
"… "
Lu Yao continued: "Almost all the anglerfish caught in the sea are female. Later, someone conducted a special study and found that the small fleshy protuberances attached to the female fish are the degenerated male fish. Some anglerfish have more than one small fleshy protuberance, and those are the degenerated male fish."
In other words, a female anglerfish sometimes brings with her several male fish, all of whom are gigolos.
"… "
"… "
I don't know why, but the topic suddenly became awkward.
“… The owner knows a lot about fish.” Qingmei said sincerely.
Lu Yao: "After all, I opened a shop in the sea, so I couldn't help wanting to know more. The deep sea embraces almost all forms of life, whether powerful or humble. The creatures here have only one goal - to survive."
After listening to the story of the anglerfish, Wen Jingyi and Shi Bin quietly left the kitchen.
Qingmei followed him out for a few minutes, and when she came back she looked relaxed and seemed a little happy.
Lu Yao asked casually, and Qingmei did not hide it. "I told Sister Jingyi my address and my family's contact information, and asked her to help check it out."
"They're leaving?"
"I don't know, but it feels like it's coming soon."
After talking to Qingmei, the movie queen and the prince walked towards the octopus room hand in hand.
There is an octopus slide and a small room over there, and the two may be ready to have a deep chat.
Qingmei had been working in the store for so long for nothing, and she could see the signs that the customers were leaving.
Only she, no matter what she did, had no signs.
Those who came earlier and later than her have all left.
Only she seemed to be trapped in this sea forever.
She still has a lot of things to do.
She wants to go back.
This time when I met Wen Jingyi, I impulsively mustered up the courage to ask her for help.
In fact, there is an element of gambling, but at least Wen is a public figure and is more trustworthy than a random stranger.
Fortunately, Wen did not refuse. He carefully wrote down the information and promised to help check it when he returned.
Lu Yao was not sure what condition the fish would be in after leaving here. If the Queen of Film did not help Qingmei, she would help Qingmei go back after she got the permission to enter and exit the Garbage Sea.
The store was short of staff, and Qingmei was doing a good job in the store.
But if she wants to go back, Lu Yao will definitely help her.
The monkfish is stewed well, the meat is tender and delicious, and a little chewy.
Because it is fresh, it is more delicious than the usual anglerfish.
Guests traveling through various areas through the underwater tunnel occasionally pass by the kitchen, smell the fragrance and drool.
A limited-time item, stewed monkfish, has been added to the menu of Furry Shop.
The ones they brought back in the morning were not enough to eat, so Harold secretly ate three of them, and Lu Yao, Qing Mei and Xiao Ji shared one.
Some guests came upon hearing the news, but were several steps late and could only smell a little of the food.
Lu Yao promised to catch some more anglerfish for cooking in a few days, and only then did the guests leave.
Harold was helping in the kitchen, washing dishes.
Lu Yao couldn't help but praise: "You cleaned the fish very well, and it didn't taste strange at all. You were also very efficient in serving customers, and helped me a lot."
The little black dragon resisted the urge to wag his tail and tried to act as if he didn't care: "What's so great about this little thing?"
After a pause, he continued, "In fact, the fish is very clean, without any impurities."
The humans had insisted on crowding into the kitchen at the time, so his movements to perform magic were minimal.
But even though this fish grew in sewage, surprisingly no impurities were filtered out.
An idea flashed through Lu Yao's mind, but before she had time to think about it, Qingmei came in from outside and handed her something.
"Where are you from?"
"The movie queen's ring was left in room 8 of the Octopus Slide. She was wearing this ruby ring on her left hand when she first entered the store."
When humans turn into fish and leave, the things they carry with them will be taken back with them.
The ring was obviously left by the actress to pay for her expenses at the furry shop.
Lu Yao put it away, wrote a note, and put it together with the various gold and silver jewelry he had received before.
…
The upgraded Furry Shop is even more popular with autistic fish, and its business is almost full. On average, dozens of fish leave the garbage sea every day.
Harold has been able to accurately locate this world and comes to the store on time every afternoon to help.
He is good-looking, and although he has a bad temper, the customers in the store like him very much and treat him like a junior in the family.
Moreover, when Harold was in the store, the piglets and fat birds were particularly well-behaved. They dared not pee or defecate anywhere, did not fight for food fiercely, and were even more clingy than usual.
Maybe this is blood suppression...
Of all the furry employees in the store, only Erxin could barely withstand the pressure from the little black dragon and continued to roll around and beg for food as usual.
Harold prefers two hearts instead.
Lu Yao caught Harold secretly feeding Erxin snacks in the kitchen several times.
Lu Yao felt that the tunnel from the store to the whale room was too long and dark, so he used magic gems to refine a batch of fist-sized eternal lamps, covered them with jellyfish-shaped lampshades, and placed one every four or five meters in the tunnel, fixing them on the transparent wall membrane with magic circles.
The warm yellow light spread out, soft and moderate like gauze, which would not disturb the fish, but made the whole tunnel warm and bright.
After Lu Yao installed the Yongming lamp, he took a short break in the whale room and asked the system: "Where is the progress of the task?"
System: [Four hundred and ninety-eight drowned people have left the garbage sea.]
If two more people leave, the mission will be completed.
Lu Yao became excited and stood up to go back to the store. Suddenly, he saw a starfish lying outside the transparent membrane. Its milky white body had dark brown protrusions and looked very familiar.