The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 215: The Oil Leak is Inevitable
"Are you serious? You guys go ahead and play—I'll just cheer you on!" Chen Yang had no desire to feel his butthole clench with every step he took. He waved his hands repeatedly, refusing the proposal.
As girls, Jiang Luoluo and Han Baola weren't keen on experiencing such an embarrassing situation either, so they also opted out.
In the end, only Chu Mingcheng and Zhang Wei were in on the game. There was a time limit too—the competition would end at midnight.
To make it fair, they had to land their big fish without help from anyone else, which meant Jiang Luoluo couldn't assist tonight.
Chu Mingcheng didn't mind. He was the one with the cheat system, after all.
He had the advantage over Zhang Wei in every aspect. If he still lost under these circumstances, well, he'd have to accept it.
Besides, the blackfin snake mackerel tasted no worse than regular hairtail—not as good as the East China Sea variety, but definitely better than yellow-eye hairtail.
Soon, the squid he'd re-baited attracted a dogtooth tuna.
Dogtooth tuna are most famous for their mouthful of sharp teeth, but their market price was similar to that of yellowfin, which was still quite good.
With the help of the electric reel, a dogtooth tuna of about thirty-plus jin was landed, putting Chu Mingcheng in the lead for now.
Not to be outdone, Zhang Wei spent over half an hour and reeled in a pitch-black, ugly-looking fish. But it was much larger than the dogtooth tuna.
Nearly two meters long and weighing just over one hundred jin.
The moment Chu Mingcheng saw that fish, his own butthole clenched and he sucked in a cold breath.
It was over. The oil leak was inevitable!
"Haha, a hundred jin! Ah Cheng, you're finished! Remember to wear a diaper tomorrow!" Zhang Wei couldn't believe his luck today, landing a monster on his first try.
The fish was ugly, sure, but it was big enough! It would definitely sell for good money!
Landing such a huge fish naturally drew attention from nearby anglers. Some who hadn't gotten a bite yet came over to see what it was.
Among them was an older guy who'd been feasting on rich, meaty dishes for the past few days. Combined with his love for spicy food, he was suffering from some rather uncomfortable constipation.
Unfortunately, he hadn't brought any medicine and could only plan to eat lighter for the next few days.
Who would have thought someone would be "lucky" enough to catch the perfect cure for constipation right then?
He immediately went up and asked, "Friend, could you give me some meat from this fish?"
"Give you some?" Zhang Wei's face fell instantly. They were all out here fishing on the same boat—how could someone be so clueless? "Brother, I'm planning to sell this fish. I'm not cutting it up!"
"Sell it?" The angler's expression turned strange. "You're going to sell this oilfish? Aren't you just trying to rip people off?"
"Oilfish?" Zhang Wei froze.
Chu Mingcheng had been hoping not to bring this up, afraid he might actually lose and end up having to eat the oilfish himself.
But now another angler had appeared and laid the facts bare.
It seemed there was no escaping it now. He had no choice but to tell the truth. "Actually, the blackfin snake mackerel I caught earlier is commonly known as black hairtail. It's not the so-called oilfish, and it won't give you the runs."
"But the one you caught is an escolar. Just like Ruvettus pretiosus, eating it will cause... leakage. It's the real oilfish."
"What the hell, so this is the real oilfish?" The realization dawned on Zhang Wei. He mourned for two seconds over the huge fish he'd worked so hard to catch, only for it to be an unsellable oilfish.
But the next moment, a malicious grin spread across his face. "Hehe, Ah Cheng, looks like your butt is doomed this time!"
"Don't be so sure. There are still three hours until midnight. It's only a hundred jin. I'll have it beat in no time!" Chu Mingcheng retorted confidently, though in truth, he wasn't very certain he could catch a fish over a hundred jin.
If it came down to it, the "leaking" would only last two days at most. At least the fish tasted good.
Zhang Wei certainly wasn't underestimating Chu Mingcheng either. With three hours left, the final result was still up in the air.
He promised to give the constipated angler some fish meat later, then quickly baited his hook with a squid and went back to hunting for another monster.
Over the next two hours, Chu Mingcheng caught a good number of dogtooth tuna and black hairtail.
He even landed two thirty-plus-jin groupers and a big-mouth red snapper. But his biggest catch was a dogtooth tuna of just over fifty jin. It was a good haul, but still a long way from Zhang Wei's one-hundred-jin oilfish.
With only one hour left, his chances of victory were looking slimmer and slimmer.
"Haha, I've got another big one over here!" Just then, Zhang Wei let out a triumphant laugh.
Judging by the bend in his rod, the fish on the other end was indeed quite large.
"Damn it, how come all the luck's on Wei's side today!" Chu Mingcheng felt helpless. Why was his Fish Gathering ability failing him at such a critical moment?
Actually, it wasn't really failing him. His fish weren't massive, but there were lots of them.
If they were competing based on the total weight of their catch, two Zhang Weis couldn't compare to him.
Unfortunately, catching big fish was a matter of luck, and his luck just happened to be a bit off tonight.
Jiang Luoluo, holding back a laugh, came over to comfort him. "It's okay, it's just two days of leakage, right? I'll be sure to tell Uncle and Auntie about it so they can have a good laugh too."
"...You really are a great girlfriend," Chu Mingcheng said, speechless. It seemed a dark chapter was about to be added to his life story.
But just then, his rod suddenly trembled, then immediately plunged down, bending into a deep arc and creaking loudly.
"Yes! Finally!" Chu Mingcheng was overjoyed. He couldn't believe he had a chance to turn the tables at the last second.
Zhang Wei, who'd been confident of victory, now felt a pang of nervousness seeing that the bend in Chu Mingcheng's rod was no less severe than his own.
Now, it was anyone's guess who would win or lose.
"How exciting! I can't believe the winner will be decided by the very last fish!" Chen Yang, not being in the competition, felt no pressure.
Seeing that both had hooked monsters with less than an hour to go, his eyes darted around, and he made a suggestion.
"How about this? The original deal was to end at midnight, right? If neither of you lands your fish before midnight, then even if you do land it later, it won't count toward the bet. How about it?"
"Sure, I have no problem with that!" This was clearly more advantageous for Zhang Wei. He already had a hundred-jin oilfish as a safety net. If neither landed their fish in time, he would definitely win.
Furthermore, his fish had hooked on first, so his chances of landing it within the time limit were also higher.
Chu Mingcheng wasn't a sore loser, and he was confident he could land his fish before the deadline.
If Zhang Wei ended up being slower, he would be the certain winner, because he could feel that the fish he'd hooked was definitely over a hundred jin. So he agreed without hesitation.
With that, he grabbed the rod with one hand and the reel handle with the other, cranking in sync with the electric motor to start retrieving line. The nearly immobile line immediately began to move.
But the moment he started, he knew the fish was massive, and reeling it in wouldn't be easy.
Under these conditions, even his line, specially braided from three strands of heavy-duty PE line, might not be able to withstand the immense pulling force. There was a risk of it snapping.
Therefore, he could only try to reel in slowly at first, pulling the fish up bit by bit.
Once the fish's ability to resist was weakened by the change in water pressure, he'd be able to reel much faster.
Chu Mingcheng's strategy was correct. With the help of the electric reel, he managed to retrieve seventy to eighty meters of line in just about twenty minutes.
Going from a depth of over two hundred meters to around one hundred and twenty, the pressure change was significant.
The huge fish in the deep, unable to adapt to the rapid pressure change, began having its internal organs squeezed outward. Its stomach was already slowly being pushed into its throat.
With such a severe injury, the big fish naturally lost its initial vitality.
Sensing this, Chu Mingcheng immediately began cranking the handle furiously, because there were only about twenty minutes left.
"Whoa, that hand speed..." Chu Mingcheng's hands were a blur, which gave Zhang Wei a start.
Without hesitation, he also began assisting his own electric reel, trying to bring his fish up quickly.
But his strength and stamina were a far cry from Chu Mingcheng's. Not only was his cranking speed much slower, but he also couldn't keep it up for long.
As the minutes ticked by, when he'd only reeled in a little more than half his line, there was a new development on Chu Mingcheng's side.
A huge, plump seven-banded grouper slowly appeared on the surface. There were still twelve minutes left until midnight.
"Woooow!"
"It's huge!"
"How can it be so big?"
"It's this guy again with the monster catch! His luck is insane, isn't it?"
The moment the grouper appeared on the surface, Jiang Luoluo, Han Baola, and the others all wore expressions of shock. The nearby anglers, and even those farther away who'd heard the commotion, all ran over to watch.
The main reason was that the grouper was simply enormous. Even in a place like the Nansha Islands, it was an extremely rare sight.
A short while later, with the crew's help, a grouper nearly as tall as Chu Mingcheng himself was hoisted onto the deck.
He checked the weight displayed on the crane: 243 jin. Chu Mingcheng let out a sigh of relief.
He should have won the bet this time. His butt was safe.
A crew member kindly measured the grouper's length as well: 1.73 meters.
"A seven-banded grouper this big... even in the South China Sea, you'd only see one every few years!" Whenever a rare, giant fish was caught, the captain was sure to appear.
Now that he knew it was Chu Mingcheng who'd caught it, he wasn't even surprised anymore.
"Captain, how much can this one sell for?" a nearby angler asked.
The captain pondered for a moment. "With this type of grouper, the bigger they are, the better they taste, and the price goes up accordingly. As for exactly how much it can sell for, that depends on what the bosses are willing to pay."
"There was a 230-jin one before that was bought by a boss for seventy thousand yuan, but it could have probably sold for even more. This one should be around the same price."
Chu Mingcheng did a quick mental calculation. Seventy thousand yuan was nearly three hundred per jin. The price seemed about right.
.
!
Chapter 215: The Oil Leak is Inevitable
Comments