Me, the Little Fish Pet, Nemesis of Monarchs!

My new novel, Is It Weird for a Nobody Like Me to Make a Pact with an Aberration?, is now available. If you’re interested, please add it to your reading list.

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After Xun Ningzhi finished his mission, the System pointed to its core program and promised to find him an extremely peaceful world where he could enjoy his retirement. Xun Ningzhi believed it. Then he was reincarnated as a mermaid egg.

He hatched full of hope, opened his eyes, and saw an incredibly handsome man. Everyone knew mermaids were all stunningly beautiful, so Xun Ningzhi immediately understood: this was his dad.

So he beamed, hugged the man’s finger, and opened his mouth to shout, “Daddy!”

At that moment, the air fell silent. Every Darkstarian stared, dumbfounded, at the reckless little creature.

Xun Ningzhi, however, thought he was all set. His bargain-bin dad looked rich, so he could definitely mooch off him for the rest of his life.

Then the System suddenly appeared, its voice grave. “Sweetie, I think we... traveled to the wrong time.”

Xun Ningzhi’s smile froze. “Huh?”

The System continued mournfully, “At this point in time... well... let’s put it this way. The person in front of you is the king of the strongest race in this world, but he’s also... a tyrant...”

The System’s voice grew quieter and quieter, and Xun Ningzhi’s face turned paler and paler.

Oh... I’m doomed!

But Xun Ningzhi refused to accept his fate. He decided to save himself by clinging to the powerful man and becoming family. Surely the man couldn’t help but love an adorable little mermaid! So he pretended not to notice anything and kept getting close to the tyrant.

A newborn mermaid couldn’t feed himself, of course, so he gazed up at the man with tearful eyes and insisted he feed him. Before bed, he wanted the tyrant to tell him cute bedtime stories. When he got fussy and couldn’t sleep, he wanted the tyrant to hold him. During the day, he wanted the tyrant to play with him. If the tyrant was busy, he gazed at him longingly...

The more dependent Xun Ningzhi seemed on the man, the more terrified he was inside that the man would slap him into a fish cake.

Fortunately, his bargain-bin dad seemed to be taking to the role, treating him so well there was nothing to complain about. There was just one problem.

The man wouldn’t let him call him Dad anymore. Lately, he had also been asking him to sing a lot.

Xun Ningzhi didn’t think singing was a problem. He was very good at it.

As it turned out, the king of Darkstar had coaxed the little mermaid into learning lots of new songs, but every single one was a courtship song from the Sea Folk.

Xun Ningzhi: “...” You sleazy man! So you were lusting after my body all along. I’m the one who’s shameless!

Blurb written on 2022.10.21, screenshot saved.

(The title wasn’t allowed to include “Tyrant,” so I cried as I changed it.)

Pre-release: How Did I End Up with the Villain’s Script? The blurb is below. Come take a look, my loves!

While traveling through time and space, Sang Zhi encountered a rift and fell into a strange world, inexplicably becoming a human boy who scavenged trash.

This country was full of lifeless puppets that looked just like people. The locals called them mechanical humans.

Sang Zhi learned that these mechanical humans were powerful and versatile, capable of doing all sorts of things, and completely loyal to people. Their rules were so strict that no one worried they might betray them.

Sang Zhi assumed all mechanical humans were like that, until he happened to pick up a strange one.

This mechanical human was tall and exceptionally handsome. Of course, that wasn’t important. What mattered was that he seemed to have a mind of his own.

For example...

When Sang Zhi wanted to take him apart and inspect his construction, the mechanical human’s ears would slowly turn red.

Sang Zhi: “?”

“Why are your ears red?”

The mechanical human answered with perfect seriousness, “I’m sorry, but only my wife is allowed to see my inner workings.”

Sang Zhi was baffled and astonished. “Mechanical humans can get married?”

Mechanical human: “Of course. What’s more, if you aren’t satisfied with certain parts of your body, you can replace them anytime. For example...”

He lowered his head and looked at a certain place. “This.”

Sang Zhi: “...” Nice.

But he couldn’t shake the feeling that the other guy was being lewd.

As they spent time together, the mechanical human’s self-awareness grew stronger and stronger, while Sang Zhi picked up more and more little mechanical humans.

By the time Sang Zhi came to his senses, he had a whole mechanical-human army. The mechanical humans he’d picked up had all awakened their own consciousness and were secretly persuading more and more of their kind to join them. Somehow, Sang Zhi had become the leader of the rebels.

When he met the hopeful eyes of the mechanical humans who regarded him as a god and wanted to overthrow the old regime and usher in a new era, Sang Zhi was at a loss.

He’d only meant to take a trip. He never expected to accidentally become the leader of a rebellion.

Sang Zhi: Nice.

A few things to know before reading:

1. A light bedtime read. Don’t overthink the logic. Put your brain away and have fun.

2. My completed novel in my author’s collection, What’s Wrong with Having a Grim Reaper as My Spirit Form?, is waiting for you to read.

3. And now, catch my love (づ￣3￣)づ╭?~

Theme: Effort can bring positive change.