I Can Turn into a Fish

Chapter 160: Seine Fishing

Translator: Aristophaneso Editor: Caron_

Turtle soup, turtle meat. Although the kitchen was small, it was stocked with all the necessities that Chu Xian required for the trip.

For obvious reasons, they typically ate seafood, so he told Old Huang to learn different methods of preparing food.

Old Huang hadn’t studied the methods of turtle cooking, and even though there was a famous turtle dish in the Qing and Han Royal Dynasty Feast, Chu Xian didn’t even know what it was. Old Huang hadn’t studied obscure and uncommon dishes either.

Old Huang prepared the turtle the same way he would prepare an ordinary green turtle; the only difference was he required two pots to accommodate the turtle’s size.

“This is delicious! It tastes really good!” Chu Xian took a sip of the turtle soup and sighed in enjoyment.

The thick white broth smelled amazing, and even though Old Huang wasn’t very experienced yet, it was delicious.

Although the turtle died, it probably passed less than two hours ago and was still incredibly fresh.

As for the squid, Old Huang fried it. Chu Xian really enjoyed the strong and slightly spicy flavor.

The squid was very chewy, and it belonged to the category of food that was more delicious and pleasurable to eat the more textured and chewy it was.

Most squids on the market were pre-frozen, and it was difficult to get fresh ones.

Chu Xian sat in his usual chair, drinking turtle soup and eating turtle meat and squid. There were two plates of sliced fruit that Xiao Ying prepared for him so he could “eat more fruit while at sea.”

“Oh, I long for the day when I own a private cruise ship or yacht and can just relax, fish, bask in the sun, eat fresh seafood and drink wine with all kinds of delicate fruit after. What a life!” Chu Xian looked out over the water.

The setting sun was poised over the western waters, and the beautiful colors of the sky reflected on the lazy water. A comfortable breeze swept by in gentle waves. Ah, this was the life.

After dinner, Sword One and Sword Two packed away the fish they captured in the frozen cabin.

“Let’s sail some more!” Chu Xian called out to Old Mu after standing up and stretching.

They sailed the ship as the sky gradually darkened, and Chu Xian stood at the head of the ship, contemplating in the cooling breeze. “Old Mu, let’s find a good place to experiment with some night fishing.”

“Yes!” Old Mu nodded and turned to his sonar equipment.

Chu Xian’s ship only had equipment for two commercial fishing methods – trawler fishing, which he disqualified, and seine netting.

For seine netting, it required surrounding the fish with a net then closing the bottom of the wrap, but this method could only be used on gathered schools; otherwise, it would be too inefficient. [1]

It wasn’t that easy to find schools of fish. When the fishing season just started, perhaps it would be easier, but at this point, the waters had been combed over by countless fishing ships. Casually stumbling upon a school of fish was very unlikely.

“Boss, there are many fish nearby. We can use a fish lamp to attract them!” Old Mu said.

Chu Xian nodded. “Okay, let’s use the fish lamp!”

Using the fish lamp to help was a common tactic for fishing at sea.

There were many colors of lights, but the most popular was a blueish green that was very attractive for small shrimp and small fish, and those small shrimp and small fish would, in turn, attract larger fish. Old Huang placed the fish lamp in the water before moving the ship some distance away.

Chu Xian watched the area around the fishing lamp. With his power, he could see the gathering shrimp and small fish swimming over to the lamp. Just as expected, as the smaller creatures gathered, the larger fish came to eat them.

After some time, the lamp gathered fish that attracted other fish, and more and more fish swam over.

“There’s at least a thousand catties of fish.” Chu Xian looked out as Spanish Mackerels, croakers, herrings, and other fish gathered around.

There was a limit to the fish population in the area, and also a limit to the amount of fish the seine net could contain, so they couldn’t just wait forever. A thousand catties of fish was a decent haul for a couple of hours of waiting.

Sword One dived into the water. The mermen could determine the approximate number of fish gathered with their eyes and noses; although fish usually didn’t have good eyesight, Chu Xian remolded the mermen so their eyes weren’t any worse than humans.

“There are about a thousand catties of fish gathered,” Sword One reported to Old Huang.

Old Huang nodded. “Prepare the seine net.”

Old Mu carefully guided the ship as Sword One and the others placed the seine into the water.

“Raise the net!” Old Huang shouted.

Slowly, the net was raised out of the water. All the fish in a ten-meter radius around the fishing lamp were caught in the net.

Small yellow croakers, Spanish Mackerels, Osseous Fish and other fish, big and small, were all gathered by the seine net.

“Peng, peng!” With the net released, the fish fell to the deck.

Chu Xian watched as the fish flailed on the deck and smiled. “Throw the baby fish back into the water and I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Yes, Boss!”

Old Huang and the others nodded. They all knew some general information on most types of fish, so they walked among the flailing creatures and threw the baby fish back into the water.

This wasn’t some grand or impressive deed. The practice was very common in European countries and in the US, where fishermen put in some effort to protect the oceanic environment. Many places forbade catching baby fish, and there were regulations on what kind of fish they could keep after they caught them and what kind of fish they had to release.

In Germany, you needed to get licensed for fishing. The education requirements varied, and the cultural background and laws differed from place to place, so the degree to which people paid attention to the environment was different as well.

Of course, it wasn’t easy to just decry and condemn people who were just trying to make a living. [2]

After they tossed the baby fish back into the water, there were still seven to eight hundred catties of fish. Chu Xian activated his power, transformed into a fish and began to devour some.

Although using the ship to fish then eating the fish was similar to taking off your pants to fart, they still needed practice fishing with normal methods. Even though he could just jump into the water and control all the fish, he still needed to get them on deck and into the tanks.

After devouring seven to eight hundred catties of fish, Chu Xian could feel the energy inside his body increasing.

Inside his mind, he focused and a status screen appeared.

Name: Chu Xian

State: Human (Can turn into a fish!)

Energy: 1510

Talent: Devour, can eat fish to increase energy.

Rule, can rule lower leveled fish.

Wrap, can use his body to wrap enemies.

Fly, can fly in short bursts.

Release electricity, can release electricity.

Shoot water, can gather water balls to attack.

Poisonous body, possesses a poisonous body.

Big Fish Eat Small Fish System Function:

Remold, can change the shape of self or fish under his control. (Every transformation will lower his energy or the level of the fish he controls)

Absolute Rule, can pick among the controlled fish to absolutely rule a fish. The fish under absolute rule doesn’t have a distance limit and can now absolutely rule 15 fish (increase by one fish after swallowing fifty tons of fish).

“Now that we’re out at sea, I can gather and remold some more mermen and absolutely rule some fish.” Chu Xian decided.

He was ready to hunt!