The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 121: Giant Catfish

Being dragged into the water was quite uncomfortable for Chu Mingcheng. It wasn't about breathing—it was the disgusting feeling of his shoes sinking into thick mud.
But give up the fish? Absolutely not! He'd already been pulled in; he was determined to land this monster today.
As time ticked by, the crowd on shore grew increasingly anxious. It had to be at least two minutes now.
The previous guy had lasted less than a minute and a half before surrendering. This was starting to look like a drowning in progress!
"Damn, this guy would rather die than lose his fish! It's been two minutes and he's still not surfacing?"
"I think we need to call an ambulance!"
"Can anyone swim? Maybe we should go in and help him?"
"Help him? What's the point of saving someone who'd risk his life for a fish?"
Soon, three minutes had passed. They could see the fishing rod still standing firm in the water, occasionally being tugged. The spectators were stunned.
"Folks, I just got here. Quick question—did this guy go in with scuba gear?"
"What scuba gear? I've been watching from the start. Is this guy even human? Fighting a fish underwater for three minutes straight?"
"I heard the world record for breath-holding is over twenty minutes. We're witnessing a real expert!"
"What do you know? That's static apnea. This master is actively fighting a fish! The oxygen consumption is way higher—even more than dynamic apnea!"
Just then, someone noticed the fishing rod beginning to move back toward shore and shouted, "He's coming back! Holy crap, I have to record this. It's almost four minutes—this video's going viral for sure!"
When Chu Mingcheng broke the surface for air, several quick-thinking spectators hit pause on their recordings. Seeing four minutes and seven seconds on their screens left them speechless.
Chu Mingcheng had been timing himself. He'd been using every ounce of strength to exhaust the fish underwater. When he felt its power waning, he'd hurried back to the surface to avoid being too outrageous and getting "invited for tea" by authorities.
Four minutes was extreme and impressive, but it wouldn't cause real trouble.
In truth, if it had gone over five minutes, he would have considered surfacing briefly for air.
The safety line was still secured to his wrist; the chances of the fish escaping were minimal.
Fortunately, the fish was finally tiring, and he'd managed to gain some ground.
But Chu Mingcheng still couldn't get out of the water. The catfish had lost stamina, but it was nowhere near ready to be landed.
He couldn't get proper leverage standing in the muddy bottom—he could only keep wearing it down.
The spectacle of a man being dragged around by a fish had drawn more and more people to the shoreline.
Some had posted photos to social media, and now the news was spreading like wildfire through local angling circles, mainly because the four-minute breath-hold was so shocking.
Wei Jianguo, who was resting at home, got the news immediately.
He clicked on the photo and froze. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and when he confirmed the profile did look like Chu Mingcheng, he cursed under his breath, quickly left home, and drove to the small lake.
Meanwhile, Jiang Luoluo was practicing in her dance studio when her phone suddenly rang.
She went over and saw it was Zhang Ruomei. Thinking it was work-related, she quickly answered.
"Luoluo, huge news! Your man is famous!"
"What?" Jiang Luoluo was confused. When did she get a man?
Wait—Zhang Ruomei and Chen Wanying had been teasing her about Chu Mingcheng recently. She immediately knew who they meant.
Big news and famous—Jiang Luoluo's heart tightened instantly. She asked nervously, "Is it Ah Cheng? What happened to him?"
"Your man got famous fishing! He was pulled into the water by a fish and held his breath for a full ten minutes before coming up!"
Zhang Ruomei's tone was extremely dramatic. She added with a mix of speculation and curiosity, "Luoluo, your man is handsome and loves fishing. Do you think he's some kind of merman prince?"
"Can a normal person have an underwater tug-of-war with a fish for ten minutes? Do you think he'll disappear tomorrow? Will scientists capture him for experiments?"
"Stop talking nonsense! Just drive over and pick me up. Quit with the wild theories." Jiang Luoluo irritably cut off her friend's imagination and urged her to come get her.
Without giving Zhang Ruomei another chance to speak, she hung up, afraid she'd say something even more ridiculous.
As for the ten-minute breath-hold, Jiang Luoluo didn't believe it. She was certain it was just an exaggerated rumor.
But the incident was probably real. She knew Chu Mingcheng had gone fishing today, and she knew he was an excellent swimmer.
After changing clothes, Jiang Luoluo went straight downstairs to wait at the complex entrance, buying a bottle of mineral water on the way.
About ten minutes later, Zhang Ruomei's car arrived.
She'd wanted to joke around more about Chu Mingcheng's fishing adventure, but seeing Jiang Luoluo's worried expression, she kept quiet and drove quickly to the small lake.
As a local, she knew the location after a quick inquiry.
Soon, they arrived at the small lake.
The place was already packed with people, and there were even news ers.
Jiang Luoluo didn't care about any of that. Seeing a crowd gathered in one spot, she quickly ran over.
"Excuse me, please let me through!"
Seeing a beautiful woman with an anxious expression, some of the men gallantly made way for her.
Jiang Luoluo squeezed through the crowd and saw that although Chu Mingcheng was soaked and standing in the water, he was perfectly fine. Her heart finally settled.
Then she noticed an elderly man with relatively few people around him. The tackle box at his feet looked very familiar—it was Chu Mingcheng's. She walked over and stood beside him, keeping her eyes fixed on the water.
Wei Jianguo was surprised to see a beautiful young woman approach, but when he noticed how she was looking at Chu Mingcheng, he understood.
"A-mei, do you know Ah Cheng?" [TN: A-mei, a Minnan term for a young woman.]
"Huh?" Jiang Luoluo was startled. She looked at Wei Jianguo and seemed to recall something. "Are you the Agong who's been taking such good care of Ah Cheng?"
"Ah Cheng has mentioned me to you? You two must be very close!"
Wei Jianguo, realizing this young woman knew who he was, felt his suspicion confirmed. The relationship between this girl and Chu Mingcheng was intimate.
"Ah Cheng and I are quite close..." Jiang Luoluo didn't elaborate.
As they both fell silent and turned their attention back to Chu Mingcheng, Zhang Ruomei finally squeezed to her side, breathless. "Luoluo, why did you rush off so fast? I was looking everywhere for you."
Jiang Luoluo looked apologetic. "Sorry, Mei-jie. I was just worried about Ah Cheng."
"Forget it. By the way, what did Ah Cheng catch? They've been in this standoff forever." Zhang Ruomei was extremely curious.
From when the news first broke until their arrival, at least forty minutes had passed.
And Chu Mingcheng was still in the water, going back and forth, gaining a little ground each time, only to be pulled back into deeper water moments later.
Wei Jianguo, seeing that Zhang Ruomei was with Jiang Luoluo, answered, "It's a catfish, probably a hundred jin."
"Hiss!" Both Jiang Luoluo and Zhang Ruomei sucked in sharp breaths. "A hundred jin! Can catfish grow that big?"
"They can, but it's extremely rare in our country. Some foreign species are even larger."
"No wonder Ah Cheng became famous catching a fish. It's such a massive one."
Zhang Ruomei understood now. No wonder it was all over her fishing-enthusiast friends' social media. She'd learned about this from a male colleague.
Chu Mingcheng knew by now that Wei Jianguo, Jiang Luoluo, and the others had arrived, but he had no time to acknowledge them.
He could feel the catfish's strength fading, and the intervals between its power surges were getting longer. But he wasn't in much better shape himself.
If he didn't completely exhaust this catfish, he'd never be able to bring it up.
As time continued to pass, a catfish with a pitch-black back and snow-white belly finally floated to the surface.
Completely drained, Chu Mingcheng finally let out a sigh of relief and slowly pulled the fish toward shore.
Today, he'd accomplished another feat that would justify not coming home for three days.
He came ashore, handed the fishing rod to Wei Jianguo, and dragged the fish to the bank. Utterly exhausted, it couldn't put up any more fight.
He had no intention of keeping such a large catfish.
Although catfish was delicious, it wasn't costly.
A hundred jin would only sell for just over a thousand yuan. He didn't really care about that amount. This catfish was definitely getting released.
Sitting on his tackle box, he took the mineral water Jiang Luoluo offered, drank half in one gulp, and poured the rest over his head.
Apart from being dragged under at the beginning and having his head submerged, his chest had been above water for most of the fight.
The lake water on his head had long since turned to sweat—sticky and uncomfortable.
Although Jiang Luoluo had things she wanted to say, with so many people around, she couldn't.
Zhang Ruomei had already gone to examine the fish, taking pictures with her phone.
Wei Jianguo also went to inspect the fish. Seeing it was merely exhausted with no injuries, and would definitely survive if released, he had an idea.
He returned to Chu Mingcheng's side and asked, "Ah Cheng, are you planning to sell this fish?"
"Uh, how much could this catfish sell for? Do you want it, Agong?" Chu Mingcheng was surprised.
From the looks of things, every angler in the area, plus all the people around them, should know he'd caught the fish. Surely the old man couldn't be planning some scheme, could he?
"It's not for me—I have no interest in this fish. If you want to sell it, you could sell it to a black pit owner. They'll pay a high price. I can help negotiate."
Wei Jianguo glanced at the crowd around them, also waiting.
He was certain the black pit owners knew about the big fish here. Anyone interested is welcome to take a look.
After all, this catfish would make an excellent trophy fish. As long as it wasn't put in a pond with small fish, how many people could land it?
Just as ers came over to interview him, several men also pushed through to discuss buying the fish.
Chu Mingcheng didn't know the market, so he asked Wei Jianguo to negotiate with the black pit owners while he handled the interview.
The interview was straightforward—just answering questions about his fishing experience and how it felt to catch such a fish.
The black pit owners would weigh and measure the fish afterward and document everything.
The er was interviewing him for work, and since they were already there, Chu Mingcheng didn't refuse.
This kind of news wouldn't get much attention, and his face would be pixelated anyway.
The interview ended quickly, and Wei Jianguo had also negotiated a preliminary price.
Although the catfish was large and was being purchased specifically for fishing purposes, its actual value was much lower than a black carp's.
In the end, the catfish was sold to a black pit owner for ten thousand yuan. He had his vehicle and a large container.
The staff he'd called over first weighed the fish. To everyone's surprise, the catfish weighed a full 113 jin. A giant like this was truly a rare find.