Scientific Fishing

They returned home.

Gon rushed straight into the tool shed.

Clanks and rattles came from inside as he rummaged around.

Luo Ye followed and leaned lazily against the doorframe.

"Hey, brute force won't work."

His voice sounded listless.

"Yesterday's rod was stiff enough, right? And how did that turn out?"

Gon stopped and turned to him with a frown.

"Then what should we do?"

"Use this."

Luo Ye tapped his temple.

"Ever played tug-of-war?"

"If the other side is stronger than you, how do you win?"

Gon thought for a moment, then blurted out his answer.

"Get someone to help, or use leverage."

"Exactly."

Luo Ye snapped his fingers.

"We've got no one else, so leverage it is."

"That big guy's strong, so we wear it out."

"When it charges, we let out line."

"When it stops, we reel in."

"Once it's exhausted, we can do whatever we want with it, right?"

Gon scratched his head, struggling to follow.

"How should we make the rod?"

"The rod needs to bend. We can't fight force with force. The line needs to be long enough, and we need a reel to let it out and pull it in."

Luo Ye began his "lesson."

The principle of leverage.

Elastic potential energy.

A jumble of technical terms spilled from his mouth.

They left Gon completely dumbfounded.

"The most important part is the last safeguard."

Luo Ye suddenly lowered his voice.

"What safeguard?"

"Me."

Luo Ye pointed at his own nose.

"If we still can't hold it, tie the line to me."

"I've got a thick hide. I can play tug-of-war with it. I bet I can wear it out."

Gon's mouth fell open and stayed that way for a long time.

You call that fishing?

That's gambling with your life.

"You're crazy! That's too dangerous!"

Gon shouted back without even thinking.

"Just kidding."

Luo Ye waved a hand, but his smile never reached his eyes.

He hadn't been joking about that plan.

Over the next few days, the two worked tirelessly.

Drawing on his knowledge of the forest, Gon found a strange kind of tree that was both flexible and sturdy.

Luo Ye called it an "elastic composite material."

Luo Ye sketched a design from what he remembered.

A crude spinning reel.

Using wood and scrap iron, Gon actually managed to hammer it together.

They replaced the fishing line, too.

They twisted the strongest vine fibers together with spider silk to make a new line.

Long and tough.

A few days later.

An odd-looking fishing rod stood before them.

It didn't look like much, but it was definitely sturdy.

It even had a reel they could crank to take in and let out line.

"Not bad."

Luo Ye inspected their creation.

"The hardware's up to speed. The software still needs work."

"Software?"

Gon was baffled.

"Bait."

Luo Ye spoke.

"That big guy's lived so long, it must be pretty damn crafty by now."

"An ordinary earthworm fooled it once. Think it'll fall for that again?"

Gon slapped his forehead.

"Then what should we use?"

"That's a question for you, animal expert."

Luo Ye patted his shoulder.

"Think. What's in the swamp that it would dream of eating?"

Gon frowned.

He closed his eyes.

Fish in the water.

Frogs on the banks.

Birds in the sky.

A long while passed.

His eyes snapped open.

"Got it!"

"There's a kind of glowing bug on the dead tree in the middle of the swamp."

"The island elders call it the Phantom Light Firefly. They say everything living in the swamp loves eating it."

"But it lives at the top of the tree, so hardly anything can reach it."

Luo Ye slapped his thigh.

"That's the one."

"Come on, let's catch some bugs."

The two had returned to the swamp once more.

In the distance, a huge dead tree stood in the middle of the swamp.

It was tall.

Most of its trunk was submerged in stagnant water.

Only a stretch of bare trunk and a few branches remained above the surface.

The bark was so slippery there was nowhere to get a foothold.

"How do we get up there?"

Luo Ye stared at the tree, at a loss.

Without a word, Gon stripped off his shirt, revealing his lean, muscular torso.

He took several short knives from his bag and handed half of them to Luo Ye.

"We climb."

His words left no room for argument.

"Stick the knives into the trunk and use them like a ladder."

Luo Ye hefted the short knives in his hands, then looked up again at the frighteningly tall tree.

He let out a breath.

"All right."

"You lead. I'll follow."

The two swam toward the giant tree, one behind the other.

The swamp water was bone-chilling.

An eerie chill seeped through their skin into their bones.

Luo Ye's movements faltered.

Something beneath the water was watching them.

It was that big guy.

It was waiting.

They reached the base of the tree.

Gon drove a short knife hard into the trunk.

He used it to haul himself up, then plunged another knife in higher up.

He worked his way upward, step by step.

Luo Ye followed close behind.

This was harder than he had expected.

The trunk was wet and slick, and the knives could slip free at any moment.

Every inch upward took effort.

Halfway up.

Luo Ye glanced down.

An enormous dark shape circled in the water.

Neither fast nor slow.

The creature was in no hurry to strike.

It was enjoying the show.

Luo Ye broke into a grin.

He flipped off the dark shape below.

Interesting.

This trip wasn't a waste after all.