Chapter 145: Fishing Match Finals (Five)

Hehe, take a look, even if you snag something it's not necessarily a good thing; the fishing rod might break any moment.

That's right, it could be 2 meters long, maybe weighing 200 jin; even if the rod doesn't break, playing this fish will take a long time.

Why hasn't it surfaced after so long? Did it get away?

One of them curiously stood up, shading his eyes with a hand to look over.

At that moment, the float moved and plunged into the sea.

Ye Cheng felt the tip of the fishing rod in his hand suddenly plunge down, an unprecedented force pulling the rod; if he weren't holding it, it would surely have flown from his grasp.

"Damn!" Ye Cheng shouted. Instinctively he gripped the rod tighter, trying to hold on, his knuckles whitening from the force.

But after only a second he was jerked up from the stool, pulled forward and toppled out, his shoe soles screeching against the rocks.

"Watch out!" the people eating behind cried in alarm, ahead is a cliff—falling would be deadly.

Fortunately Xiao Hu reacted quickly, tossing his lunch box aside, reaching out with his right hand and grabbing Ye Cheng's clothes to steady him.

The line was peeling out at a terrifying speed, the reel emitting a sharp 'squeak-squeak' sound, as if it might break at any moment.

Beneath the distant sea surface, a huge black shadow was swimming toward the deep with astonishing force.

Before, when fishing, the rod in his hand would be held high, like a crescent moon.

Now Ye Cheng couldn't lift it at all; he could only haul hard, as if he were tug-of-war with the sea.

The fish's strength was truly immense; Ye Cheng could barely stay on his feet, Xiao Hu pulling from behind several times, but he couldn't stand firm, stumbling left and right as he was jerked about.

Ye Cheng's palm was cut by the rapidly stripping line, leaving a bloody streak; it hurt a bit, but he dared not let go.

Since he started fishing, Ye Cheng had never felt such force; his whole body felt like he was in a gale-force twelve wind, only able to crouch, sweat beading on his forehead from the immense exertion.

Although he had temporarily steadied the situation, Ye Cheng now worried whether the rod and line could withstand it.

"Whoa, this fish is really big; with that pull, it might actually be two meters long."

"If he hadn't been holding onto the rod just now, the whole thing would have gone under."

"This fish, I think it's hopeless; it's too big to bring up."

The murmurs behind reached Ye Cheng's ears; he felt nervous too, but he couldn't possibly quit—his adrenaline was pumping, giving him a fierce will to fight to the death.

After steadying his footing, Ye Cheng began slowly adjusting the reel's drag; with this force, if he tried to reel in hard, even the rod supplied by the system would likely break—either the rod or the line would snap.

At 12:20 p. m., the line was nearly run out; Ye Cheng had completely locked the line, and a battle of endurance pitting patience against strength officially began.

Because it was a competition, after Xiao Hu helped Ye Cheng steady himself, the referee ordered him to retreat, leaving Ye Cheng to operate alone.

Ye Cheng maintained a leaned-back posture, the line humming with strange noises; he slowly adjusted his body, trying to stand up.

But the big fish had other ideas; the line on the surface was jerked left and right, and Ye Cheng was dragged along with it.

Fortunately, being system-issued and of decent quality, the rod and line have so far held up.

"We've steadied it, we've steadied it—there's hope now."

"This is only the first step; playing a fish can take who knows how long—if it weren't a competition it'd be fine, but since it is, who knows if this guy can last that long?"

"Heh, my longest was forty minutes; after that I really ran out of strength and the fish dragged me away."

"Forty minutes is doable, buddy; if someone could take a turn, you'd surely get up."

"It's a competition, no substitutions allowed—I think this guy's got enough grit."

Time ticked by; the dark shape on the distant sea surface was pulled up from the depths, its silhouette visible in the sunlight.

Just then Ye Cheng felt the tension on the line ease a bit; without thinking, he sprang to his feet.

"Brace it against your waist, brace it on your waist!" the onlooking fishing old-timers behind began shouting instructions.

Ye Cheng went with the advice, adjusted his grip, braced the rod against his waist, then tried to pull the rod to strike the fish.

The rod finally bent from a straight line into an arc, but the force transmitted through it grew even greater.

Ye Cheng felt a raw ache in his abdomen from the pressure; damn, if it weren't for his eight-pack abs bracing inside, it might have punctured his belly.

"Landing a big fish isn't all good either; if it came unhooked, the loss would be huge."

Before he knew it, it was 1 p. m.; Ye Cheng had been dueling the fish for nearly twenty minutes.

Just as he was about to catch his breath, he suddenly saw the distant black shadow twitch and dive back into the depths.

"Careful, buddy, the fish is about to power up." came a friendly warning from behind.

Brother 26 was so annoyed by the noise he lost all interest in fishing; he simply reeled in his line and sat intently to the side, watching and occasionally offering pointers,

"Hold steady, hold steady, be careful!"

With the older brother's exclamation, Ye Cheng felt his body lighten, being pulled again toward the shore.

"Plant your foot, plant it on that rock!" Brother 26 shouted, pointing to a protruding spot ahead.

Ye Cheng glanced over, moved his steps along the pull, braced his right foot against the stone, leaned back as far as he could, and finally steadied himself again.

"Damn it, this force is truly huge." Ye Cheng panted.

With the rock's support, Ye Cheng felt much easier; no matter how hard the fish pulled, he simply kept his foot planted.

After such a stalemate for five minutes, the pull on his hands lessened again.

Ye Cheng's tense nerves eased a little; his palm ached faintly, he glanced down and saw that even though the rod was smooth, it had still rubbed his hand raw.

"Xiao Hu, wrap my hand in cloth." Ye Cheng called behind him.

Xiao Hu replied, but there was no cloth handy, so he simply took off his short-sleeve shirt, quickly cut it into strips, ran over, and bound Ye Cheng's palm with a loop.

His arm muscles began to sore, from overexertion.

The afternoon sun grew more brutal; the spectators had retreated to the shade, but Ye Cheng hadn't moved.

"Bring my cola over, I'll drink some to replenish."

"Taking advantage of the stalemate, Ye Cheng gulped two big mouthfuls of cola; though not cold, the sugary drink still gave him a shot of adrenaline."

The time was already 1:30.

He tried to reel in a bit of line, successfully bringing the big fish a little closer to shore.