I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 259: Chapter 160: Born Ten Years Too Late

Gu Nan aimed his spear at the parrotfish inside and slowly approached.

The spear would shoot out about half a meter. His previous visual estimate of 1.8 meters had been off, so he needed to get the distance right.

As the spear slowly drew near, the fish in the crevice clearly grew uneasy, turning slightly to stare at him.

The speartip was now within half a meter of the fish. Although getting closer meant a higher chance of hitting it, Gu Nan felt the fish might bolt if he advanced any further, so he decided to take the shot.

He pressed the button. With a SWOOSH, he felt a violent struggle from the spear in his hand as a cloud of sediment billowed up.

The churning sand and mud temporarily obscured his view, but the commotion in his hand told him he had successfully speared the fish.

The spear shot out faster than he’d imagined; he had barely registered it before the fish was hit.

He retracted the spear. Sure enough, there was a fish on it.

The parrotfish, impaled through its side, struggled weakly on the spear, its mouth gasping desperately.

Gu Nan grabbed the parrotfish, removed it, released the spear, and drew the bleeding dagger from his thigh. He pressed it against the fish’s head and drove it in.

First, he would cause brain death, then bleed it once it stopped struggling.

A puff of black smoke instantly rose from the fish’s body. In reality, it was fresh blood, which simply appeared black underwater due to the light.

Whether hunting with a speargun or a handspear, fish rarely survive, so they must be bled in the seawater to ensure the freshness of the meat.

Gu Nan attached it to the fish stringer hanging from his waist. Spearfishermen usually clip their catches onto it, sending them back to the boat all at once when they have enough.

The boatman waited in the small boat on the surface, ready to come over and collect the fish at any time.

But Gu Nan was running out of air, so he swam back to the surface with the fish in hand to breathe.

After taking two deep breaths of fresh air, he held up the parrotfish for a closer look.

It was hard to see clearly underwater. Now on the surface, he realized it was a relatively expensive small green-nosed parrotfish, the kind commonly known as ”green wrasse” in the market.

Its price was a bit lower than a true green wrasse, but it was still a mid-tier fish that could sell for around a hundred yuan per jin.

Taking a breath, Gu Nan dived back into the water and continued exploring the seafloor.

A short while later, he spotted two antennae poking out from beneath a coral reef. ’Now this is something I know!’

He slowly descended, tilted his head down, and sure enough, he found a lobster—and it wasn’t small.

The sun hadn’t fully set yet, so the light was still quite good. He could clearly see the species of lobster and knew from the patterns on its head that it wasn’t a protected Flower Dragon.

Wild Flower Dragons were already extremely rare in the country; the chances of encountering one were slim.

Gu Nan adjusted his direction slightly, extending the spear toward the lobster’s side at an angle.

Now confident in the spear’s firing speed, he brought it to about forty centimeters away before pressing the button.

WHOOSH—

The spear shot out in an instant, piercing straight through the lobster’s hard carapace.

The spear vibrated as the lobster thrashed about with far more force than the parrotfish.

Gu Nan waited a moment, retracting the spear only after he felt the lobster’s struggles weaken.

When he brought it in, he saw it was a scalloped spiny lobster, weighing around two jin. It was quite large.

He had a mesh bag hanging on his left side, which was perfect for the lobster. Kicking his legs, he swam toward the surface.

Gu Nan didn’t have a dive watch, so he didn’t realize that after all the practice in the game, his breath-holding time had increased significantly, now exceeding two and a half minutes.

He figured that with a little more getting used to it, he could probably reach three minutes.

Of course, three minutes was nothing special.

The more skilled spearfishermen could usually hold their breath for four or five minutes.

He dived twice more, finding two large turban snails—each weighing over a jin—as well as some scallops and large clams.

The resources available from diving were much better than from foraging on land. The latter was easier and attracted more people, while the former was more difficult, naturally yielding a better harvest.

The mesh bag wasn’t very big. The lobster and two large turban snails already filled most of it. After adding some scallops, clams, and three short-spined sea urchins, it was completely full. Gu Nan surfaced and shouted to the boatman, who immediately motored the small boat over to his side.

He handed the mesh bag to the boatman, who emptied its contents into a chest filled with crushed ice. The boatman looked a little surprised when he saw the large lobster.

He had assumed Gu Nan was just a novice diving here, but it turned out he was quite skilled.

After getting his mesh bag back and clipping it on, Gu Nan, still feeling energetic, continued to hunt.

He was starting to fall in love with the sport. ’It’s more fun than fishing,’ he thought, ’just a bit more tiring.’

The spots he’d visited earlier were relatively shallow, at most five or six meters deep.

This time, Gu Nan planned to go a bit deeper to see if he could find a better catch.

After swimming horizontally on the surface for about twenty meters to the right, Gu Nan discovered an excellent spot.

There were more coral reefs here, with plenty of ornamental fish swimming below. It looked like a promising hunting ground.

Gu Nan took a deep breath, then plunged into the water and descended rapidly.

His movements were growing more agile, and his descent was slightly faster than before.

As soon as he reached the bottom, he made a discovery.

On a patch of sand between two coral reefs, there was a rock that looked very peculiar.

The fish was covered in a light dusting of sand, thinking it could hide itself that way.

In reality, its bright red coloring had already given it away. Gu Nan recognized at a glance that it wasn’t a rock or coral, but a stonefish.

And what’s more, this fish was huge, probably close to half a meter in length.

Its width was nothing to sneeze at either; one look at its plump body told you it was heavy.

Stonefish are highly venomous, just like lionfish.

As Gu Nan approached, its body visibly tensed up. It used its fins to dig a few times, burying most of its body in the sand.

Stonefish can’t swim. Their tails are short, and while their pectoral fins are large, they are only for crawling.

Gu Nan suspected that it had never left this small patch of sand since the day it was born.

The stonefish was terrified. This big, unfamiliar creature had suddenly pointed a long object at it; it couldn’t have good intentions.

Buried in the sand, its two small eyes on top of its head darted about, wondering what the creature was going to do!

Just as it was trying to figure out a plan, with a swift jab, the long object pierced its head.

Heh heh... Well, no need to think anymore. Game over!

Gu Nan lifted the spear. Whoa, it felt heavy even in the water. It really was a fatty.

He didn’t dare carry this fish on his stringer, so after returning to the surface, he handed it directly to the boatman.

These islands were far from the coast; the resources here were truly excellent.

After the stonefish, Gu Nan speared a three-jin green grouper, two black sea bream, and a random assortment of scallops, conchs, and large clams.

However, more than forty minutes had passed, and Gu Nan was starting to feel tired.

Besides the seven- or eight-jin stonefish, he had accumulated over twenty jin of fish on his stringer. He decided to hand all of his catch over to the boatman to lighten his own load.

He was tired, but the sun had sunk much lower. He estimated that in another half an hour, the light would be too poor for hunting. Without a dive light, spearfishing in the dark would be difficult, so he decided to press on.

Having pretty much covered this underwater area, Gu Nan continued to move to the right.

After swimming on the surface for another dozen or so meters, he found that the terrain here wasn’t as good as the area to the left. It was mostly sand with few reefs, offering few hiding places for fish.

It was also deeper, and the situation on the seabed was no longer clear from the surface.

Gu Nan dived down a few meters until he reached a depth where he could see the bottom clearly.

Who would have thought that as soon as he descended, he’d see a reef completely covered in sea urchins, all clustered together.

Sea urchins were a great find, especially the short-spined variety. Whether served as sashimi or in steamed eggs, they tasted fantastic. He had already gathered several earlier.

However, just as Gu Nan was about to go down, he caught sight of a massive shadow in his peripheral vision.

Gu Nan’s heart skipped a beat, and a chill ran down his spine—a primal fear of large, unknown creatures.

His body tensed, but his mind recalled the advice Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao had given him.

When diving, you’re bound to encounter dangerous creatures, like sharks.

Normally, sharks don’t attack humans, though great whites, tiger sharks, and bull sharks are more aggressive.

But if you encounter them, no matter how scared you are, you must not turn your back. You have to face them and remain as still as possible. Most likely, they will leave on their own.

If they don’t leave and make a test attack, you have no choice but to defend yourself with whatever weapon you have.

Usually, a shark will leave after being hurt. After all, humans aren’t on their menu.

So, Gu Nan remained completely still, quietly waiting for the huge shadow to reveal itself.

He couldn’t hope that it hadn’t seen him. By the time he spotted it, it had almost certainly seen him first.

But as the fish slowly approached, Gu Nan’s tense expression turned to shock. It was an absolutely enormous Queensland grouper, what people commonly call a Giant Grouper.

There are two types of Giant Grouper in the country. One is the Queensland grouper, also known as a brindle bass.

The other is the giant grouper, which is another type of Giant Grouper.

The Giant Grouper is now a protected species in the country, and wild ones can’t be touched. He estimated this massive specimen was over two meters long.

’So tempting, so very tempting!’

’Look at that enormous mouth. Its head must be delicious.’

’Look at that plump belly. The maw must be thick. Blanched, it would be perfectly springy to the bite.’

Gu Nan wished he had been born ten years earlier. Back then, wild Giant Groupers weren’t protected. If he had encountered one like this, he definitely would have charged at it with his spear.

But for now, he returned to the surface to catch his breath. He had been holding it for so long that he’d almost run out of air.

Once back on the surface, Gu Nan immediately called over the boatman and told him to get Wang Junhe and Guo Xiao.

He’d encountered such a massive Giant Grouper but couldn’t touch it. How could he bear such frustration alone? Good things—and bad feelings—are meant to be shared!

A short while later, the two of them arrived in a small boat.

”Ah Nan, what did you call us over for?” Wang Junhe asked.

Guo Xiao also looked at him, confused.

”I found a huge grouper down there, but my little spear is no match for it, so I called you guys over!”