The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 163: The Man on the Deserted Island

Today's shoot was in the afternoon, so they didn't need a lighting crew. However, Zhang Ruomei had brought Chen Wanying along, intending to handle makeup and styling on the boat.
Chu Mingcheng started the fishing boat and set off. Jiang Luoluo was pulled into the bedroom for her makeup, where she would also change clothes.
By the time he had navigated to the opposite side of the deserted island's beach and dropped anchor, she had just finished styling and emerged from the bedroom.
She wore a beige, ancient-style long dress, holding a wine flask in one hand and an old book in the other, giving the already stunning Jiang Luoluo an air of
dashing and free-spirited
elegance.
"Do I look good?"
Chu Mingcheng gave her a thumbs-up. If she didn't look good, would he have fallen for her in the first place?
They were both drawn to beauty, after all.
He hadn't been idle either. He first went to the bedroom to change into his wetsuit.
The women had already inflated the rubber dinghy during the trip over, so now all they had to do was lower it into the water.
Holding the rope, he had them get into the dinghy and sit down first. Then Chu Mingcheng brought the small propeller, climbed aboard, installed it, and started it up.
Finally, he used a wave to push the dinghy onto the beach, ensuring Jiang Luoluo's clothes wouldn't get wet when she disembarked.
Leaving the three women to film on the beach, Chu Mingcheng pushed the dinghy back into the water.
He returned to the fishing boat to move the folding table, barbecue grill, charcoal, and two speakers onto the dinghy. The speakers were for playing music.
Jiang Luoluo's video shoot would take considerable time. By the time they finished, it would likely be dark—perfect timing for a seafood barbecue.
Not to mention Chen Wanying, Zhang Ruomei had been owed a seafood feast for a long time, which was why Chu Mingcheng had changed into his wetsuit.
The water conditions were still poor today, but he could manage to hunt some fish and gather shellfish and sea urchins.
And he wasn't unprepared. The ten floats and the shrimp and crab pots on his boat would probably catch something worthwhile.
As Chu Mingcheng was setting the shrimp and crab pots and baiting the hooks on his floats, music started playing on the beach.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the sound had drawn a man out of a well-hidden cave on the mountain.
From his high vantage point, he immediately spotted the three women and one man on the beach.
He was familiar with the fishing boat.
He had discovered it the first day it had come near the deserted island.
But at that time, there were several men on the boat, so he hadn't made a move.
On subsequent visits, it had just been Chu Mingcheng alone, but he had been fishing the entire time. Although the boat was near the deserted island, it hadn't come too close.
The few hundred meters between them made it impossible for him to swim over and board. Plus, Chu Mingcheng hadn't gone into the bedroom to sleep or rest, so he dared not approach.
Chu Mingcheng had no idea that during his three fishing trips to this area, his vigilance had prevented the man from finding an opportunity—and had earned him several curses.
But from the man's behavior on the mountain, his intentions were clearly malicious.
After dropping all ten floats into the water, Chu Mingcheng took his diving gear and returned to the dinghy, pushing it to a section of beach where Jiang Luoluo's filming wouldn't capture him.
He found a large rock and tied the rope to it.
Rather than watch Jiang Luoluo film, Chu Mingcheng was going to shore dive.
He lay down and slowly swam toward the reef area next to the beach. Looking for prey on a sandy beach in the middle of the afternoon was pointless. Only in the adjacent reef area could he find fish hiding underneath.
However, his direction and actions sent a jolt of panic through the watcher on the mountain.
To survive on the deserted island, most of his food came from the ocean.
He had just set three traps in this reef area that morning to catch fish. If Chu Mingcheng discovered them now, he would definitely be suspicious, and his whereabouts might be exposed.
Pacing back and forth anxiously, he suddenly seemed to think of something. He quickly returned to the cave and, from the pocket of a tattered cotton coat, pulled out a black plastic bag.
Inside was something that could help him.
And just as he had feared, not long after Chu Mingcheng reached the reef, he discovered three traps woven from bamboo.
He examined the traps with confusion, finding them similar to ones made by people in deserted island survival documentaries. There were a few small fish inside that he had inadvertently scared away.
The bait was crushed sea snails and shellfish.
There was also a rope attached to the traps. Chu Mingcheng looked up and saw it was probably tied to a rock on shore.
Is there someone on the island?
This was Chu Mingcheng's first thought, but when he was on the beach earlier, he hadn't noticed any signs of human activity—not even a single footprint.
Perhaps it was a trap set by a passing fishing boat?
But it was so much more convenient for them to use crab and shrimp pots. Why bother with this kind of trap that could only catch a few small fish?
Unable to figure it out, Chu Mingcheng put the traps back.
Jiang Luoluo's activities were quite loud. If there really was someone on the island, maybe they would be drawn down later.
Nowadays, some content creators specialized in filming deserted island survival videos to attract traffic. Maybe there was one here?
Chu Mingcheng swam to the surface and scanned the beach and mountain, but saw nothing unusual.
He decided not to worry about it for now.
If he encountered someone, he'd see what was up. If not, all the better.
Putting the matter aside, Chu Mingcheng began to hunt.
Because visibility was very poor—probably only five or six meters—his search for fish was slow, to avoid startling any nearby fish with sudden movements.
After a while, Chu Mingcheng finally found a precious sea red grouper under a reef.
It was rare to encounter a sea red grouper again, which made him quite happy. The only disappointment was that the fish was small, probably just over a jin.
But it was enough for everyone to have a taste. He released his speargun, letting it float freely in the water.
Then he took the fish spear from his back, approached the sea red grouper, and aimed.
Puchi~!
Bang~!
The sound of the spear entering flesh and hitting the reef rang out almost simultaneously. The sea red grouper thrashed its tail wildly, its speed like a small electric motor.
But as blood flowed out, its stamina quickly drained.
To make the meat even fresher and sweeter, Chu Mingcheng used his diving knife to make an incision, completely bleeding it out before clipping it to his live fish stringer.
Next, he speared two black seabream and one yellowfin seabream, all between one and two jin. That was enough fish for now.
Therefore, Chu Mingcheng began swimming toward the place where he had previously found many scallops and sea urchins.
He had gotten the recipe for a secret garlic sauce from Brother Sea King, who claimed it could make even a slipper taste delicious.
Having bought slippers before, Chu Mingcheng wouldn't bother experimenting with that, but tonight he would make some garlic scallops and also pry some oysters off the rocks with his diving knife.
Whether he'd get an energy boost didn't matter; the main thing was that grilled oysters were delicious.
When he had caught enough for the evening, Chu Mingcheng returned to the beach with his catch, first placing it on the table.
Jiang Luoluo had just finished filming a dance segment. Seeing his mesh bag bulging, she temporarily put filming aside and came over.
"What did you catch?"
"Good luck today—I ran into a sea red grouper. We'll have a feast tonight." Chu Mingcheng smiled and held up the sea red grouper.
"Nice! That fish is so expensive. I asked at the market before, and a five or six-liang one was three hundred yuan. I was so shocked I didn't dare buy it!" Chen Wanying also came over, exclaiming in amazement when she saw the sea red grouper.
"Five or six liang for three hundred? You're lucky you didn't buy it, or you would have been ripped off."
Because of Chu Mingcheng, Jiang Luoluo's knowledge of seafood had grown rapidly, and she was now quite familiar with market prices.
"Ha, it seems you've changed a lot recently!" Chen Wanying said teasingly.
"Of course—who knows when I'll be molded into someone's shape," Zhang Ruomei also joined in the fun. As the only married person present, her words hit with critical damage.
Jiang Luoluo, who had been calm in the face of Chen Wanying's teasing, was immediately thrown off by Zhang Ruomei's words.
"You shameless old woman, what nonsense are you talking about!"
She immediately resorted to force, determined to suppress a certain fierce woman.
Chu Mingcheng was also embarrassed by her words. While they were fighting, he quickly and quietly slipped back to the fishing boat to shower and change.
On the mountain, the man living in the cave, to increase the credibility of his plan, had taken a quick bath and changed into what was currently his cleanest set of clothes.
He was going to play the part of a man living alone on a deserted island due to special circumstances.
Once ready, he felt the object in his inner pocket, took his dagger, and began walking down the mountain.
At this time, the sun was already setting in the west. It wouldn't be long before it went down.
On the beach, Chu Mingcheng had already started processing the ingredients. In a short while, he could start making dinner.
The three seabream he had brought were gone, replaced by a five-jin tiger grouper.
This tiger grouper was one he had caught when he pulled up his floats. His luck was pretty good today; he had caught a total of four groupers.
There were two tiger groupers. The other one was currently being kept in the live well, and it was even bigger—about seven or eight jin.
Therefore, Chu Mingcheng, who had specifically brought Jiang Luoluo here to film a video, had also earned back his fuel costs.
The two groupers would have their meat used for hot pot and stir-fry, and the heads would be grilled. There were also grilled scallops and oysters, and sea urchin sashimi. Tonight's dinner was worth quite a lot.
Chu Mingcheng processed the fish, occasionally looking up to watch Jiang Luoluo's dance, feeling very content.
Zhang Ruomei was also seriously filming, leaving only Chen Wanying with little to do.
Just then, Zhang Ruomei suddenly discovered a strange figure in her lens.
She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. She blinked, and when she looked again, there really was a figure!
"Ahhh~!"
The next moment, her souls almost flew out of her body. After a scream, she instinctively ran toward Chu Mingcheng.
But after running two steps, she quickly went back to pull the bewildered Jiang Luoluo and Chen Wanying along with her.
Chu Mingcheng was startled by her sudden scream, his whole body trembling, and the kitchen knife almost cut his finger.
Looking back, he saw Zhang Ruomei frantically pulling the two confused women toward him.
She quickly hid behind him, and after trembling for a long while, she pointed in fear at the spot where she had filmed the figure and said, "There... there's a ghost..."
For a woman to suddenly film an unknown figure on a deserted island, and to still think of pulling Jiang Luoluo and Chen Wanying with her—she had actually done very well.
It was normal to be scared, especially in this kind of environment.
When Chu Mingcheng heard there was a ghost, goosebumps instantly broke out all over his body.
Jiang Luoluo and Chen Wanying, hearing there was a ghost, although they didn't quite believe it, still felt a little scared.
Chu Mingcheng looked in the direction Zhang Ruomei was pointing and indeed saw a person walking toward them. But he had a shadow under the sun, and Chu Mingcheng's heart instantly relaxed.
"Don't be afraid, it's a person—he has a shadow."
Hearing him say that, the three women behind him also poked their heads out. When they saw there was indeed a shadow, they also breathed a sigh of relief.
But they still stared at the person warily.
Chu Mingcheng was no better. He picked up his speargun, ready to load it at any moment, and stared intently at the stranger.
Right now, he was the only man here. He had to protect the three women behind him.
The man opposite had actually been observing them, but he hadn't expected to be caught on camera, so he had no choice but to walk out.
He saw Chu Mingcheng's speargun, and a look of fear flashed in his eyes.
Then he got a clear look at the women's faces, especially Jiang Luoluo's. An intense possessiveness and greed suddenly welled up in his heart.
But he didn't speak, nor did he show any expression, and he didn't even look toward Chu Mingcheng's side again.