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墨書 Inktalez
Around midnight, we finally emerged from the jungle. We arrived at a shallow area, mostly consisting of sandy reefs covered in oysters; if one wasn't careful, they could easily get cut. The shallow beach was a stretch of white sand. At this time, the tide was still far from high, and the entire sea surface was relatively calm.
On the beach lay a young woman and an old man, thin and wiry, sitting on a rock and puffing away on a cigarette, the flickering light particularly eye-catching. As I approached, they suddenly jumped up and shouted, "What fish is good to catch in June?" I replied based on the text message, "Yellow Croaker!" There were no such fish around; being able to respond meant it was definitely a prearranged code!
The woman was dressed quite flamboyantly, wearing a tight black corset on top and snug black elastic shorts below, her amber-colored thighs shimmering with athletic brilliance.
She seemed a bit cold and didn’t talk much. She led us onto a skiff. I cursed inwardly; could this kind of boat really go out to sea? But I said nothing, carefully observing the two of them. The old man's eyes glinted with cunning; he didn't seem like a good character.
The skiff, powered by a diesel engine, rocked over the waves as it pushed deeper into the ocean. After about fifteen minutes, we reached some rocks in the sea. They brought us aboard a fishing boat. It looked quite simple; although small in size, it was fast and had enough fuel for quite a bumpy ride.
As we entered the strait from the rocky island, the waves reflected the moonlight, sparkling beautifully; occasionally, we could see dolphins leaping in the distance. A gentle breeze blew, making it quite refreshing. It had been a long time since I felt this comfortable. Ever since encountering that troublesome meteorite, I had been plagued with misfortunes.
I leaned against the side of the boat, gazing back at the vanishing horizon and sighed, "I never expected I'd have to make my living at sea!"
Indeed! Where would I go? I didn't know what would happen next.
The bowl and Furball seemed captivated by the scenery at sea, appearing incredibly joyful without a hint of sorrow. It reminded me of Su Dongpo's lines: "The boat has departed; my life now belongs to rivers and seas."
At some point, the old man stood at the edge of the boat and cleared his throat, saying, "Kid, do you want to try some fresh fish?"
I couldn't help but smile at that; I was genuinely interested and asked, "You seem like an experienced fisherman; are you going to catch fish right here?"
The old man chuckled, "You have good eyes! I'll catch you a sea fish to satisfy your cravings!"
He then led me to the back of the boat. He stared out at the sea surface for a while before instructing, "Xiao Xiao! The waters are calm; it's perfect for fishing. Steer the boat under that patch of moonlight!"
Xiao Xiao was that woman; she was also an experienced sailor. I watched as she adjusted the helm and steered the boat like an arrow toward that water area. Once there, the old man said, "Xiao Xiao, bring me my net!" Just as he finished speaking, a bell-like voice came back with some irritation: "I'm Brother Xia's bowl, not yours! Hmph! You old man!"
Hahaha!
We burst into laughter, completely ignoring the girl. Xiao Xiao emerged from the cabin with a shimmering net, clearly specially made. The mesh was not very fine, yet it appeared quite unique.
The old man cast the net overboard, slowly walking from the stern to the bow, gently shaking the net as he went, moving with great steadiness. Once the entire net was in the water, only a dozen or so buoys remained visible on the surface. The old man leaned over to examine the water closely. After about ten minutes, he smiled and said, "Got it! And it's a big one. Pull up the net!"
Before long, he began to haul in the net, revealing a lively Cod that weighed around seven or eight pounds. I asked, "Is this Cod?"
The Cod had a long, slightly flattened body with a large head that looked somewhat fierce; its upper jaw was slightly longer than its lower jaw. Its tail tapered off towards the back, measuring about 100 centimeters in length and weighing approximately 3 kilograms. It belongs to cold-water bottom-dwelling fish species and feeds on invertebrates and smaller fish. The flesh is exceptionally delicious and is primarily found in the Yellow Sea region of our country, migrating to the Pacific during summer and returning home in winter.
"Yes!" The old man didn’t say much; he grabbed the fish and pulled out a knife, skillfully cutting it into pieces in no time. Xiao Xiao brought out a stove from the cabin and set up a pot. The old man sliced several good pieces of meat from the fish and began to fry them right there.
He then pulled out a jar of good wine and said with a smile, "Come on, nothing goes better with fish than Mountain Moving Wine!"
Mountain Moving Wine is a type of barley liquor brewed at the foot of snow-capped mountains by Outsiders; it is quite strong. After drinking it, one feels warm all over. Only by drinking this wine can Outsiders manage to cross over the snow mountains, hence its name. I wondered why this old man by the sea loved this kind of wine so much.
Damn it, although I’m not much of a drinker, I still had to show some respect. I took the cup and sipped lightly; before I knew it, I exclaimed, "Wow!" This wine must be around fifty or sixty proof! It burned my throat so much that I quickly grabbed a piece of snow-white Cod meat to swallow down. I lifted a bowl of strong liquor but barely took a sip before spitting it out with a splutter, exclaiming, "So spicy! Not good! Not good..." I didn’t care about my image anymore and started gnawing on the fish meat wildly.
The sea breeze blew in as our fishing boat rocked on the surface of the sea. Time slipped away unnoticed like moonlight...
"Boss, we have trouble!" A cold female voice came through; evidently, she was addressing the old man. He remained calm as he walked to the side of the boat to look back. Sure enough, several motorboats were approaching us. The old man cursed, "Damn it! They’re coming fast!"
I was taken aback at first and then startled—what kind of boats were these?
Could it be that the Dong Family had caught up? Their strength was formidable; they could locate us anywhere on this vast ocean! Damn it, they were pushing me towards a dead end!
The old man shouted, "Get my K!" Xiao Xiao went into the cabin and retrieved a black leather bag from which she pulled out several disassembled components of a K Sniper Rifle and skillfully assembled them. She crouched by the side of the boat and looked through the scope at the suspicious fishing boat approaching in the distance.
The old man glanced through the scope and was immediately shocked. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead as his face turned pale; he cursed, "They have a four-barreled Gatling Gun on their deck! Damn close call!"
Their boat was fast and gradually drew nearer to ours. Onboard, someone waved a fluorescent flag while raising their right hand vertically and extending their left hand parallel several times in succession.
Xiao Xiao said, "They are signaling me to stop immediately, or they will shoot on the spot!" She turned to ask, "Boss, should we fight or not?"
"Don't fight. Let's wait for them to fire first! Our strengths are vastly different!" the old man replied. Before he could finish his sentence, the Gatling Gun opened fire!
A series of water columns erupted just ten meters in front of the machine wheel, and the ship shook violently. "Damn it, looks like I have no choice but to take action!" The old man removed a raincoat-like cloth, revealing a Rocket Launcher. He aimed at the enemy's ship and fired two rockets that whistled through the air! The thunderous sound made me cover my ears, looking at him with an innocent expression.
One of the ships was hit and caught fire. Several sailors jumped into the sea and were rescued by other ships.
To be honest, I had never seen such fierce fighting before. I shouted excitedly, "Good shot! Do it again!" "What are you talking about? We’re out of shells! This is international waters; no power can stop them. We can only run quickly if we want to survive."
With that, the old man rushed into the cabin, revved up the engine, and drove the Vessel at full speed. The Sea Surface was incredibly bumpy. I felt like I was about to throw up, but thankfully I had lived by the sea for years and could handle life on the water.
After running for about three or four hours, the color of the sea turned deep black. I knew we had entered a trench; if we continued for a few more miles, we would officially enter the Pacific. So we ran ahead while they chased behind us, frantically fleeing for several nights.
Our Vessel entered the Pacific and completely ran out of fuel. We could only drift with the wind and follow the Current. The enemy wasn't in much better shape; out of five ships, only three remained, and it was clear they were fatigued as well.
After a long while, we heard a massive engine roaring from the sea, and one of their ships came barreling toward us like a mad bull. We were startled into a cold sweat…
(To be continued)
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