The Fish I Catch Can Level Up

Chapter 228: Fishing and Hunting Partners

Chu Mingcheng had figured out the perfect technique for catching these spear squid alive.

They moved in quick bursts, and after each surge of speed, there was a brief moment when they'd pause. To catch them alive, you had to seize that split second of stillness.

This would be impossible for an ordinary person—even an elite swimmer would struggle with it.

But for Chu Mingcheng, who moved through water with virtually no resistance, it was child's play.

While the sea lion feasted happily, he went on a catching spree.

Every time he moved, he left a trail of dark clouds behind him.

This "smoke" was actually ink sprayed by the spear squid in his mesh bag. At first glance, you might think Chu Mingcheng had brought his own jet propulsion system.

After nearly twenty minutes, he had more than twenty spear squid in his mesh bag, each around forty centimeters long. He was clearly targeting the larger specimens.

Unfortunately, the spear squid didn't weigh much. A forty-centimeter one probably weighed somewhere between a jin and a half to two jin.

By now, the sea lion had eaten its fill after devouring five spear squid.It watched Chu Mingcheng curiously as he hunted, seeming to realize he was collecting this food. Then it sprang into action again.

It expertly caught a spear squid about thirty centimeters long and, holding it in its mouth, brought it over to Chu Mingcheng.

Is this for me?

Chu Mingcheng paused, then tentatively took the spear squid from the sea lion's mouth and put it in his mesh bag.

A short while later, the sea lion brought another one. This one was smaller—not even thirty centimeters.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng didn't take it. Instead, while the sea lion watched in confusion, he quickly caught a spear squid over forty centimeters and held it up in front of the little guy.

After putting the spear squid in his mesh bag, he gestured with his hands to show a length, trying to make the sea lion understand that he only wanted the big ones.

He wasn't sure if the sea lion would get it, but the little guy seemed pretty clever. Maybe it would catch on?

As it turned out, the sea lion opened its mouth, letting the small spear squid sink slowly through the water, then darted away.

Chu Mingcheng caught the sinking, barely breathing spear squid and put it in his mesh bag anyway.

He didn't plan on selling the smaller ones, but they'd be perfect for them to eat.

After all, these spear squid looked fantastic. You could just tell they'd be delicious.

Just as he caught another spear squid, the sea lion returned to his side. This time, the one it held in its mouth was definitely not small—also around forty centimeters.

Chu Mingcheng took the spear squid, thoroughly pleased, and reached out to rub the sea lion's head.

He was extremely satisfied with its performance, and it sparked an idea about training a sea lion to be his hunting partner.

He hadn't been willing to feed it valuable fish before because he and Jiang Luoluo had only seen the sea lion as a wild animal they'd unexpectedly rescued.

But now that it could help him hunt—even lead him to prey—its value in Chu Mingcheng's mind soared.

He decided that when he got back, he'd discuss the sea lion's "compensation package" with Jiang Luoluo. They'd have to treat it much better from now on.

Another ten minutes passed. With the sea lion's help, Chu Mingcheng's mesh bag was packed full.

Don't be fooled by the fact that spear squid were a bit larger than the Harpiosquilla raphidea he'd been catching—as soft-bodied animals, they compressed well.

A full mesh bag probably held more than fifty, maybe even sixty of them. Conservatively estimated, it should weigh around a hundred jin.

Without calling to the sea lion, Chu Mingcheng surfaced to check his position.

The school of spear squid had definitely fled after being hunted. He and the sea lion had unknowingly traveled quite far from the small island.

Fortunately, the fishing boat had its lights on. Even from about two thousand meters away, it was still highly visible on the vast, dark sea.

Chu Mingcheng got his bearings and immediately started swimming back.

The sea lion saw him heading back and followed without needing to be called.

Chu Mingcheng didn't swim at full speed, so it took him about ten minutes to reach the boat.

This time, he didn't call Jiang Luoluo out. He climbed aboard himself and hauled up the mesh bag. Only he could handle this hundred-plus-jin load.

However, Jiang Luoluo, sensing the movement on deck, emerged from the cockpit. Seeing the bulging mesh bag, she asked curiously, "What did you catch this time?"

"The sea lion led me to a school of spear squid. It even managed to herd them toward me, making it easy for me to catch them."

"Plus it brought me the ones it caught itself. A lot of what's in this bag are its catches."

"This little guy is incredible. Not only can it find prey, but it's willing to share and help hunt."

The sea lion had also jumped onto the boat by now. Chu Mingcheng rubbed its head, praising it endlessly and giving it all the credit.

But honestly, most of the credit did belong to it. He had only fine-tuned his catching technique.

"The little guy is really that smart?" Jiang Luoluo looked at the sea lion in amazement after hearing his story.

She'd heard of some fishermen who used cormorants to help them fish, but that involved a specific technique.

When the cormorants went out to hunt, they'd first tie a string around the birds' necks.

This way, the fish the cormorants caught would get stuck in their throats and couldn't be digested in their stomachs, allowing the fishermen to easily retrieve the fish.

But the cormorants were being forced—the sea lion was doing this voluntarily.

And the sea lion's hunting ability was no match for a cormorant's. If it really became Chu Mingcheng's hunting partner, it would be more helpful than a dozen cormorants.

"It really is smart. I think from now on, when it's hungry, we should feed it properly to build our relationship. Except for some particularly valuable fish, let it eat whatever ordinary fish it wants!"

"Alright. Since it can help you, it deserves better treatment."

This time, Jiang Luoluo wasn't as reluctant as before.

The two then began sorting the spear squid, mainly picking out the ones that were still alive and putting them in the livewell.

The boat's livewell had been empty until now—finally, there was something to put in it.

Chu Mingcheng also took the opportunity to weigh them. He found that a full mesh bag of spear squid weighed one hundred and three jin, with a total of fifty-seven squid.

The price for this type of squid was pretty good—eighty yuan per jin for the iced ones. Live ones were extremely rare on the market; they were usually caught by nets, and most were dead by the time they were hauled up.

If he could actually bring some live ones back, the price could probably reach around one hundred and twenty yuan per jin.

But they had to be very lively—otherwise, no one would pay premium prices.

He had personally caught over forty spear squid, but after being in the mesh bag for a while, more than twenty were barely clinging to life and could only be preserved on ice.

He looked at the dozen or so spear squid in the livewell that were still quite active. He wondered if they could maintain their current vitality until tomorrow.

With the spear squid sorted, Chu Mingcheng set off again, taking the sea lion with him to catch more.

The mantis shrimp weren't going anywhere—they'd still be there.

But he wouldn't encounter spear squid again after tonight, so of course he had to take advantage of the opportunity to catch more. This time, he even brought along the mesh bag that Jiang Luoluo had bought but barely used.

Unfortunately, the spear squid were getting farther and farther from the small island. After both mesh bags were full, he couldn't make a third trip.

One reason was that it was getting late, and the other was that the distance had become too inconvenient.

Tonight's spear squid harvest exceeded three hundred jin, worth at least twenty thousand yuan.

It was already eleven at night. After returning to the boat, Chu Mingcheng had Jiang Luoluo continue sorting the spear squid while he took a towel to dry off the sea lion and let it rest in the cockpit.

His success on the second hunting trip tonight was all thanks to the little guy—otherwise, he never would have been able to locate the spear squid.

After sorting all the spear squid with Jiang Luoluo, unfortunately, only about twenty remained lively in the two mesh bags. Combined with the previous ones, there were fewer than fifty total.

But Chu Mingcheng didn't mind. After finishing up, he immediately went to shower, then continued negotiating multi-billion-yuan business deals with Jiang Luoluo.

The two were still in their honeymoon phase—the nightly symphony was essential.

After closing several billion-yuan deals, they were both a little hungry, so they took out some marinated regal mantis shrimp to try.

The raw-marinated regal mantis shrimp tasted incredible—so addictive that even when your stomach was full, your mouth still craved more.

So Chu Mingcheng had to find another way to satisfy himself, which meant Jiang Luoluo had to work a little harder.

The next day, he woke up a little after six in the morning.

Feeling Jiang Luoluo's arms and legs wrapped around him, her smooth, soft body pressed against his without reservation, Chu Mingcheng's desire flared up instantly.

But seeing the exhaustion on her face, and considering how many rounds they'd gone last night, he had to suppress his impulse to avoid her being too tired for diving training today.

But he couldn't stand lying there any longer, so he carefully peeled her limbs off him and got up first.

Chu Mingcheng didn't feel any fatigue, mainly because he'd been using Life Conversion for the past few days to replenish his energy.

Otherwise, after two days of unrestrained passion, even with his current physical condition, his legs would probably feel a little weak.

Jiang Luoluo seemed truly exhausted—Chu Mingcheng's movements didn't affect her sleep at all.

He walked out of the room and closed the door softly. As soon as he turned around, he saw the sea lion lift its head, clearly already awake.

It let out two soft barks, as if greeting him.

"Shh!" Chu Mingcheng quickly put his finger to his lips, signaling it to be quiet.

The sea lion had no idea what he meant, but fortunately, it didn't bark again.

Chu Mingcheng first opened the cockpit door to let it out onto the deck, then took out a seven or eight-jin sweetlips and three iced spear squid to feed it.

With food in front of it, the sea lion immediately started gnawing on the fish. It seemed to prefer fish over spear squid.

A single breakfast cost over a thousand yuan, but Chu Mingcheng didn't feel the pinch.

Because last night, the spear squid it had caught alone were worth five or six thousand. It deserved this treatment.

Chu Mingcheng returned to the cockpit, washed up, made himself some breakfast, then went to the deck to get his diving suit, which had been washed and dried last night, and put it on.

This morning, he planned to sweep through the Harpiosquilla raphidea population first, then check out the coral reef on the other side of the small island in the afternoon, and head back to the pier in the evening.

After changing into his diving suit, Chu Mingcheng first opened the livewell to check on the catches. He found that several spear squid were floating belly-up, only moving occasionally.

So he had to get a net, scoop out these nearly-dead spear squid, and preserve them on ice.

Then he checked the ornate spiny lobster, moray eel, and regal mantis shrimp in the fish box.

The first two were fine, no problems, but unfortunately, five of the regal mantis shrimp had died. He could only take them out and preserve them on ice.

These dead ones could still be sold, but the price would drop significantly—quite a shame.