Chapter 283: Still Alive

"What's a king squid?"

The two brothers didn't understand and looked at Ye Yaodong, waiting for him to explain.

"Maybe you can think of it as a giant squid. Those tentacles that keep swaying and whipping around—don't they look a lot like a squid's whiskers?"

"Then could it be a cuttlefish too?"

"King cuttlefish also refers to the king squid. The name 'king cuttlefish' has cuttlefish in it, but it's not actually a cuttlefish—it's a type of squid. As for giant squid, there's one called the colossal squid, which lives in Antarctica and nowhere else. That one is different from the king squid."

The two brothers listened, somewhat dazed. Does Dongzi know a lot?

"Something that big must be worth a fortune, right?"

"Definitely worth a lot. Who's ever seen a squid or octopus that huge? Just like that oarfish Dongzi caught before—who's ever seen a ribbonfish that big?"

The more the two brothers discussed it, the more excited they got. Remembering that Dongzi's oarfish sold for 800 yuan, their eyes shone as they gazed out at the sea.

Ye Yaodong explained, "Oarfish and ribbonfish aren't the same thing either—they're two different species."

"They look about the same! Just one big, one small."

He couldn't be bothered to correct them. They're all fishermen, not academics—to them, whatever you call it is fine, as long as it sells for a good price.

"The tide is going out bit by bit, but it doesn't look like the waves have pushed that big fellow forward. Weren't the waves pretty big today?"

"Could it be that the octopus or squid or whatever it is is just too big, too heavy, and its tentacles are flailing around, so the waves can't move it?"

"That's possible too. Let's just keep watching for now. We'll have to wait until the tide goes all the way out before we can do anything."

"Mm, once it recedes, we should be able to reach it, right?"

"Let's see first."

The three brothers stood there for an entire morning. Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao had been having a falling out with their husbands these past few days and were in the middle of a cold war. They didn't bother with them, let them stand in the cold wind like statues, and didn't even come over to ask what they were doing.

They were even more embarrassed to come ask Lin Lin Xiuqing, feeling awkward around her alone after suffering a big loss for not listening to advice, and with the family tensions so high lately, they felt she'd gotten a laugh out of them.

Lin Lin Xiuqing, however, sat by the window the whole time, chin propped on her hand, watching.

The kids had money and firecrackers in their pockets and had run off long ago after eating.

She thought for a moment, then brought over a pot of hot tea so they wouldn't just stand there waiting with dry mouths, and to see how far the tide had receded.

Ye Yaodong felt warmed by her thoughtfulness. "I told you not to come out in the wind—why didn't you listen? If we're thirsty, we'll go in and drink water ourselves."

"I'm curious too how far the tide has gone out, and whether that thing in the sea has been washed in."

"Not yet. Apart from the tide going out a bit, that thing—whether it's a giant octopus or giant squid or giant cuttlefish—is still in the same spot. The waves haven't pushed it in."

"I wonder if when the tide goes out later, we'll be able to reach it? Something that huge—none of us have ever seen anything like it…"

"The sea has everything. Nothing's surprising. There might be even bigger creatures out there—ordinary people just don't get to see them."

"Why don't you take turns watching the tide? No need for all three of you to stand out in the cold wind." She saw that both Ye Dage and Ye Ye Erge had their necks hunched, hands tucked in their sleeves, and their hair blown up to expose their broad foreheads.

Ye Yaodong also looked at the two of them, all curled up. "Why don't you go back inside first and put on a scarf, a hat, gloves—then come back out later?"

"Sure."

The two were only wearing a cotton-padded jacket. The wind by the shore was stronger than at the doorstep—after all, the house faced south, so sitting at the door the house blocked the wind and it didn't feel that cold. Standing out by the shore, it was genuinely cold.

They went in and in no time at all came back out fully bundled up, and told Ye Yaodong to go in and rest.

Ye Yaodong saw his wife still standing nearby, so he went in with her first. As long as someone was keeping watch so no one could beat them to it, that was enough.

Over the course of the morning, the three brothers went in and out in turns. Eventually Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao also learned there was a big creature in the sea, and that they were waiting for the tide to recede.

The two women excitedly kept running to the shore to look too, both thinking that if they could bring it back and sell it for a few hundred yuan like the oarfish, splitting it among the families would help ease their losses.

Ye Ye Ersao said excitedly from the side, "Can't we go down now? The tide has gone out a stretch already."

"Let's just wait here. It hasn't gone all the way out yet. Standing here is the same as standing up ahead—we're still waiting." Ye Yaodong said, glancing around. Today, truly no one had come to the seaside.

Bad weather—no one came out to enjoy the breeze.

Amid everyone's expectation, the tide receded bit by bit, and they walked out onto the beach, following the water toward its lowest point.

They walked nearly a hundred meters, getting close to the big fellow. At this closer distance, its tentacles looked even thicker, every so often rising up to slap the sea surface and send up great sprays of water.

When they reached the tide's current lowest point, only a few dozen meters from the big fellow, they could finally make out the massive creature in the sea.

Mainly, they could roughly make out the white oval-shaped enormous body that was showing just a little above the water's surface.

"Holy crap, it really is a king squid, not a giant octopus!" Ye Yaodong gazed at it from afar and recognized it.

Maybe because the tide had been going out, the water getting shallower and shallower, its huge body had already run aground in the water long ago, so it couldn't be pushed forward by the waves and could only flail its tentacles in a desperate struggle.

Also because the water was too shallow and its body too big, half of it exposed above the sea surface, so even from forty or fifty meters away they could just barely make out what it was.

Ye Ye Dasao and Ye Ye Ersao, who had been following along, were both thrilled. "Wow, it's really a squid? There's really a squid this big?"

"What's a king squid? Is it just a big squid? This one's huge—oh my god, I've never seen a squid this big in my life. Let's walk closer…"

Lin Lin Xiuqing had followed along too, her face alight with excitement. "Ah Dong, hurry and tell us what a king squid is! What a surprise—it really is a giant squid. This is just too big. It looks like it's several meters. We've never seen a squid this big around here—so rare!"

"What's a king squid? A king squid is really just a giant squid. Some people also call the king squid the king cuttlefish. This thing seems to differ from an ordinary squid only in size? Same species."

The king squid is also called the "king cuttlefish."

Actually, squid and cuttlefish are different. For ordinary-sized squid and cuttlefish, they look very similar in appearance but have obvious differences.

Squid have elongated bodies, a bit like the tip of a javelin, which is why they're also called spear squid. Squid tentacles aren't as long as cuttlefish tentacles, and they can't all retract into the body. Also, cuttlefish have a hard internal shell.

"So it's a squid then? The king of squids?"

"Pretty much."

Ye Ye Ersao excitedly added, "Just like how the oarfish is the emperor of ribbonfish!"

Uh… if that's how you want to understand it, then so be it. But ribbonfish and oarfish really aren't the same species…

No more explaining!

As the tide receded, the group kept walking forward, exclaiming nonstop and chattering about how many meters long the king squid was.

"This big squid should be worth a few hundred yuan too, right? Something this big—we're rich…" Ye Ye Dasao said with a beaming face.

Ye Ye Ersao was grinning ear to ear too, chiming in, "Definitely can sell for a few hundred yuan. Who's ever seen one this big? Even the old lady, after living so long, definitely hasn't seen one either."

"Speaking too soon—wait until we get closer before saying how big it is." Although Eldest Brother Ye spoke conservatively, the excitement in his eyes and the grin stretching almost to his ears betrayed his words.

As they walked closer, the tide had probably receded all the way, and they were only about five or six meters from the giant squid.

They saw the enormous white body half-stranded on the beach, shallow seawater lapping back and forth, tentacles tangled together, the suction cups on them densely packed, clearly visible even from afar—truly because its individual size was too massive.

Moreover, it still seemed to have signs of life; occasionally a tentacle would twitch, but it was no longer like how they had seen from the shore at first, able to wave those long whips around.

Ye Yaodong told the three women to stay where they were and not go any further. If by chance it was still full of vitality, one swing of a tentacle could send you flying.

"Looks like it's almost out of breath, right? It only twitched a few times just now."

"It's probably about to die. It's so big, and there's too little water here."

"Hard to say. Let the three of us go up and take a look. If anything seems off, we can run right away."

Lin Lin Xiuqing nodded. "Then be careful."

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong spoke as he took off his shoes and socks, and rolled his trouser legs up high, then waded forward together with his two older brothers.

The cold wind howled fiercely, the seawater was bone-chillingly icy, but the hearts of the three men were burning hot.

When the seawater reached past their knees, they had also walked up to this giant squid. Up close, its massive size was even more staggering.

Grilled squid is an indispensable food at the night market stalls. A common squid is 20-30 centimeters—one skewer isn't enough to eat—but compared to this giant squid, it's not even as big as its eyeball.

"Oh my goodness... this has to be three or four meters, right? No wonder the seawater can't wash in at this spot. This must weigh several hundred jin! Oh heavens..." After walking closer and seeing the size of this giant squid clearly, Eldest Brother Ye couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.

Second Brother Ye was both shocked and delighted, his face full of awe. "There really is such a huge squid? Strange things happen every year, but this year especially—rare things that used to only appear every few years have been popping up frequently in the last six months."

Eldest Brother Ye heard this and nodded in agreement. "Right, right, right. Too many strange things this year, and lots of big fish too. With that sardine storm, many families in the village made a killing. Everyone's haul from going out to sea this year is better than in previous years."

"Blessings of Goddess Mazu..."

The two brothers talked as they circled around this giant squid, excitedly rubbing their hands together.

Suddenly, one of its tentacles whipped out and struck Ye Ye Yaopeng squarely on the back. Caught off guard, Ye Ye Yaopeng was lashed, his body pitching forward. He staggered, bracing himself with both hands in the water before steadying himself.

"Huh? It's still alive?"