Chapter 202: Who Is the Devil?

After a brief rest, Wu An looked at a boatful of devil fish, smiling so wide he couldn't close his mouth.

So many fish, mainly caught with the scoop net.

Although the cast net was handy in practice, it turned out unreliable when actually encountering fish.

Even if the cast net wasn't thrown perfectly, retrieving it was an even bigger problem.

It's the same issue: without fish, handling the net is fine, but with fish inside it becomes a real headache.

Still suffering from lack of experience.

So they mainly rely on the scoop net to catch fish.

They scooped until their hands went soft.

At that time there were too many fish on the sea surface; some were simply too big to scoop up, so they had to give up.

By then the fishing boat already had a layer of devil fish spread across it, all still lively and flopping.

Just getting the fish aboard doesn't mean the work is over.

This is only the beginning.

The harder part is still to come.

A Qing asked, "Brother, what should we do?"

"I don't know if the live fish hold can fit all these devil fish."

Mai Hangyu said, "Probably about right—we just put these devil fish into the live fish hold, but if the longline also catches a lot of fish, what then?"

Wu An thought a moment, then said, "Let's do a quick sort, take out the devil fish in poor condition, handle them, and toss them into the cold storage."

Don't let the boat's small size fool you—it does have a cold storage.

This is standard equipment on most fishing boats; many sea products die once out of water, and in this hot weather if they aren't iced promptly they can't be sold ashore.

However, the boat is small, so the cold storage is also relatively small.

Today we paid a toll to the orca pod, which turned into a windfall.

As they say, fishermen live by the whims of heaven.

Heaven controls a lot.

First you need good weather to get out to sea, then it's just luck of the draw for the catch.

If you don't encounter a fish school, you're sure to lose money—just the fuel cost is a loss, plus you waste manpower and material, and even more, time.

Even if you encounter a school, you might not profit, because the fish could be worthless.

After all the effort, sometimes you still end up wasting effort.

Of course, some people set out in a boat, get lucky and encounter a high-value fish school, and even catching just one could fill their pockets.

Just like them.

From encountering the fish school to now, at most less than half an hour has passed; looking at this boatload of fish, they could easily earn four figures.

What's the difference between earning this money and picking it up?

Precisely for this reason, the boat's live fish hold and cold storage are feeling a bit strained.

Wu An plans to look for Boss Li after this trip to see if they can enlarge the live fish hold and cold storage, and if possible add an automatic winch.

That way, when the cast net is thrown, if the haul is big they won't need manpower to pull it—not because he wants to slack off, but because he doesn't want to be hampered every time he throws a cast net in the future.

Others wish they could throw the cast net with divine skill, but they worry that upon encountering a fish school the net won't spread wide enough, resulting in a smaller catch.

He worries that if he throws the cast net too well, he'll end up with too much.

He would rather have fewer fish in the net than have so many that he can't haul it up.

He continued, "Put the other lively ones into the live fish hold."

"We… head back first."

"Then we'll come back at night to collect the longline and crab pots."

"After we finish collecting, the crab pots can be put back in place."

"That way we can rest for a day, then come back the day after tomorrow to collect the crab pots."

A Qing showed no big reaction after hearing that, while Mai Hangyu's face scrunched up.

Just listening to it made him feel exhausted.

After all this bustle, he estimates they'll be busy until deep into the night.

He hesitated a while, finally held back the urge to complain, and nodded: "I'll listen to big brother."

Wu An patted his shoulder, saying nothing.

There wasn't much to say anyway.

The wage he set for Mai Hangyu is several times what helpers earn on other fishing boats.

If he can't endure this much hardship, then he won't force him.

Putting it bluntly, with the wage he offers, as soon as he puts out the call, helpers are never lacking.

Since it's an unpleasant thing to say, he definitely wouldn't blurt it out foolishly; it just flickers through his mind.

Watching A Qing go catch devil fish, Wu An reminded, "Be careful—the devil fish's tail has a spine."

"This thing is very poisonous."

"Getting pricked by it is no small matter."

Handling it is actually simple—just cut off the tail.

Mai Hangyu brought over two pairs of scissors.

Wu An took one and tried cutting; he found it wasn't easy to cut, and there was a risk of injury because the tail isn't just bearing a single spine.

If the devil fish struggles, the hand is very likely to get punctured.

Even wearing gloves wouldn't help—the spine is extremely sharp and can pierce right through them.

He went to get a wooden board and also brought a kitchen knife over.

He held the kitchen knife and had Mai Hangyu catch a devil fish and throw it over.

Then he raised his hand and the knife fell.

He directly chopped the devil fish's tail off.

One effort, forever solved.

Moreover, the devil fish's tail isn't edible; after processing it, he placed it straight into the cold storage.

He alone kills the fish.

A Qing and Mai Hangyu naturally can't be idle either; the two pick out devil fish.

The lively ones are thrown into the live fish warehouse; the ones that have lost vigor, or aren't flopping, are thrown to Wu An for him to kill directly.

The three are all rather careful.

Fortunately these devil fish are full of vigor, so not many need to be killed.

A Qing lifts a large devil fish, balances it on his head, casting a huge shadow, and says, "This thing looks like a kite."

"Its face is so ugly I can't bear to look at it directly."

While he's ranting, the devil fish suddenly opens its mouth and sprays his face with saliva.

A Qing throws the devil fish onto the Deck, face up, looking as if it's smiling.

He's fuming: "It's still smiling."

A Qing puts the devil fish down and lands two punches with a "clang‑clang".

The devil fish can't speak, can't curse anyone, probably feels miserable, so it can only spit saliva to express its current mood.

Wu An is at a loss, both laughing and crying.

Don't judge by the devil fish's unpleasant name or its looks; actually it's the "honest" fish of the sea.

Spitting saliva is probably its greatest means of revenge.

Result.

It met the inappropriate A Qing.

While spitting, it started spitting blood.

Wu An says, "Alright, throw it over to me."

"Stop playing."

"Hurry up and work; after we finish, we'll go home."

If all goes smoothly, we'll be home by nightfall.

The devil fish thrown into the live fish warehouse can't be weighed, but the ones in the cold storage are counted.

There are a total of 21.

Most were hauled up by casting nets; perhaps due to compression they all ended up on the fishing boat, were shipped together, and finally neatly placed in the cold storage.

The biggest are about twelve or thirteen zhong.

The smallest are about six or seven jin.

The devil fish they caught aren't especially large; some big ones could each be measured in "tons".

They didn't see any that huge this time, but they did see some weighing several hundred jin.

Their eyes were greedy, but there's nothing they can do.

They can't haul them up.

They can only stare longingly.

The devil fish in the cold storage, combined, are estimated at about two hundred jin.

Although devil fish aren't pricey, about twenty yuan per jin.

The price isn't high; quantity makes up for it.

Yet the devil fish stored in the cold storage already amount to roughly four thousand, and adding those in the live fish warehouse, even without counting the Crab Pot and Longline Fishing, this trip's earnings are already very substantial.