"Jie! Quick! A monster..."
Before Chen Lin could finish, an irresistible force erupted through the line, yanking his entire body forward.
His feet instantly plowed two deep furrows through the mud.
Zhao Jie's expression changed drastically. He threw down his rod and lunged over like a tiger pouncing on prey.
He locked one arm around Chen Lin's waist from behind and grabbed the rod, already bent into a full moon, with his other hand.
"Back! Get back onto the bank!"
Together, they finally retreated from the fishing platform onto solid ground, where they had more room to maneuver.
They were just about to step back and pull when the monster underwater abruptly changed direction, sending a tremendous force through the line.
Chen Lin dared not resist it head-on. He could only stumble forward with the pull.
Against something this enormous, one wrong move with their size-eight main line and size-six leader would mean a snapped line or broken rod.
Chen Lin flicked his wrist rapidly, swinging the rod from side to side to try to redirect the underwater monster's charge.
Sure enough, he deflected that unstoppable force, sending the monster charging toward the water on the left.
Seizing that split-second opening, Chen Lin surged forward a few steps, braced his back and waist, and finally raised the rod again!
"Phew..."
He let out a long breath. Beside his ear, the fishing line hummed sharply as it sliced through the air, stretched to its limit.
He had only ever heard that sound in short videos posted by master anglers. It was music to his ears!
The nearby anglers had already reeled in their lines without being asked, afraid of tangling with his. Everyone crowded around, craning their necks.
Comments flew thick and fast.
"With that kind of brute force, it's got to be at least twenty pounds, right?"
"Twenty? Look at that rod! It's practically a bow! I'll bet it's thirty pounds minimum!"
"People have been talking about monsters in the Racecourse Reservoir for years. Today we finally get to see one alive!"
Half an hour passed. Chen Lin's arms were aching and numb, his muscles trembling.
"Jie, I can't hold on anymore! Your turn! This thing's insane! It's been half an hour, and we haven't even caught a glimpse of it!" Chen Lin shouted through gritted teeth.
A man in his thirties stared, utterly transfixed, then stepped forward, rubbing his hands. "Hey, buddy! Can I play it for a bit? Just a little while! I'll give you a hundred yuan!"
He had barely finished when a portly middle-aged man wearing a thick gold chain shoved him aside and boomed.
"A hundred yuan? Who are you trying to insult? Buddy, I'll give you three hundred! Just let me have ten minutes!"
Everyone exchanged looks. So this was an option too?
"No way! I haven't even had my turn yet!" Zhao Jie's eyes were bloodshot. He flatly refused and snatched the rod from Chen Lin.
His 220-pound weight came into its own now, keeping him firmly planted.
He dared not use brute force. Whenever the monster surged, he went with its momentum, then immediately pulled it toward shore once its charge slackened.
Another hour and a half of back-and-forth followed.
At last, the underwater monster ran out of strength, and an enormous dark shape slowly rose to the surface.
"Holy shit!"
"That's fucking awesome!"
"Oh my god! That thing's got to weigh a hundred pounds!"
Shouts of amazement erupted around them like thunder.
Chen Lin sucked in a breath too, his heart pounding.
This was an angler's ultimate dream. He could die without regrets now!
"Linzi! Quick, quick, quick! Take a video! Get your brother and the fish in the shot!" At the sight of the monster revealing itself, Zhao Jie grew so excited that his voice cracked.
Chen Lin immediately pulled out his phone and started recording, switching between Zhao Jie's flushed face and the enormous dark shape on the water, even making a point of getting several close-ups.
The monster was on its last legs now.
After playing it for less than another five minutes, Zhao Jie pulled it all the way to the bank, where it lay motionless like a beached submarine.
Chen Lin grabbed the landing net and was about to scoop it up.
"Buddy, that net won't do! It won't fit! Use mine!"
The man with the gold chain had somehow produced a monster-sized landing net as big as a bathtub.
Chen Lin glanced at it, then at Zhao Jie's net, and thought that Jie would probably be upgrading his gear again once they got home.
The gold-chain man enthusiastically joined Chen Lin, and only after a tremendous struggle did they manage to lift the monster onto the bank.
It was a huge black carp, well over a meter long, its scales gleaming with a dark metallic sheen in the sunlight.
Zhao Jie threw down the rod and rushed over excitedly, insisting on photos.
One of them held the fish's head while the other held its tail, and the gold-chain man eagerly served as photographer.
What followed was essentially a massive fan meet-and-greet.
Every angler's gaze settled on Chen Lin.
Chen Lin grinned and waved generously. "Take all the pictures you want!"
Everyone immediately took turns coming forward, hoping to get an individual photo holding the fish.
Unfortunately, it was too big and covered in slippery slime. No one could get a proper grip, making the whole scene rather comical.
While everyone was busy taking pictures, Wang Defa, the reservoir owner, arrived after hearing the news, carrying a digital scale.
Anglers who knew him immediately began teasing him.
"Boss Wang, you're taking quite a beating today!"
"Haha! Wang, you've been running this reservoir for three or four years. This is the first time anyone's caught a black carp this big, isn't it?"
"I remember the biggest one before this was only sixty-eight pounds! This one's definitely a record!"
Wang Defa's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. "Oh, get lost! A bunch of blankers, standing around making smart remarks! You've been fishing here for years and haven't even broken thirty pounds. Look at these young guys! I've got at least a hundred fish over a hundred pounds in this reservoir, and more than a thousand fifty-pounders!"
"Pah! That's some filthy bullshit you're spouting!"
"Exactly! I was going to spare you some embarrassment, but tomorrow I'm dumping five hundred pounds of corn in here as groundbait. I'll fish you straight into bankruptcy!"
Wang Defa's face tightened at that. He immediately put on a smile. "Guys, guys! I was joking! Just joking, gentlemen!"
Laughter and good-natured curses filled the air.
Wang Defa walked over to the monster, his eyes full of anguish.
A fish this size would have needed at least fifteen to twenty years to grow so large.
And now someone had simply caught it and was taking it away. It hurt! It really hurt!
He looked resentfully at Chen Lin. "I'll weigh it for you."
Chen Lin and Zhao Jie nodded.
Together, they lifted the huge black carp onto the digital scale. Every pair of eyes fixed on the display.
The numbers flickered before finally settling.
52.00.
"Fifty-two kilograms! A hundred and four pounds! It really is over a hundred!"
Anglers were frighteningly accurate at estimating a fish's weight.
Wang Defa spoke up. "Buddy, sell it back to me! I'll give you five thousand yuan! The flesh on a fish this big is coarse. It won't taste good..."
"No. We're taking it with us!"
Chen Lin and Zhao Jie refused without a second thought.
Were they kidding? This fish would give them bragging rights for the rest of their lives. How could they possibly sell it?
They would only be satisfied after hanging it from the car door and making three laps around the busiest pedestrian street in town.
Chen Lin, however, was thinking that such a fine fish would be perfect to keep in his own pond.
Seeing how firm they were, Wang Defa knew he had no chance. He could only shake his head with a bitter smile and leave.
A fish this big certainly wouldn't fit in their keepnet.
After a brief discussion, they decided to stop fishing for the day, pack up, and head home.
Of course, they didn't actually hang it from the car door. Instead, they placed the black carp and the grass carp they had caught earlier on the floor in front of the rear seats.
They laid soaked old clothes underneath them and covered the fish with wet towels.
Before leaving, afraid the fish might die on the way, Chen Lin secretly pried its mouth open and fed it a little diluted spirit spring water.
The battered Liuling Hongguang jolted all the way back to Chen Family Village.
As soon as they entered the village, Zhao Jie deliberately slowed to a crawl.
Whenever a villager spotted Chen Lin in the passenger seat and greeted him curiously, Zhao Jie stepped on the brake and stopped.
"Yep! Went fishing! Did all right. Only caught two!" Chen Lin answered with an air of complete nonchalance.
Following the direction of his finger, the villagers looked into the back seat, and their eyes instantly went wide.
"Holy shit! Linzi! A fish that big?! Where did you catch it?!"
"Holy shit! A fish that big?! Where did you catch it?!"
"Holy shit! Where'd you catch it?!"
Zhao Jie's pockets were stuffed with cigarettes handed over by villagers, all trying to find out where the two of them had fished.
The trip from the village entrance to Chen Lin's house was only a few hundred meters, yet the Liuling Hongguang took a full twenty minutes, stopping with the engine off more than a dozen times along the way.
In the end, Chen Lin couldn't take the villagers' blazing enthusiasm anymore and hurriedly urged Zhao Jie to drive home.
When they carried the fish behind the house, the hundred-pound black carp was still thrashing vigorously.
Zhao Jie clicked his tongue in amazement. "That's weird. It's been out of the water for over an hour. How is it still acting like we just pulled it out?"
Chen Lin merely smiled without speaking.
He knew it was all thanks to the spirit spring water.
"All right, Jie. Let's put the fish in this pond! It's mine now!"
Together, they slid the black carp and grass carp into the pond. Once in the water, the two fish splashed merrily and disappeared into the murk.
"Heh! Fish from that reservoir sure have some strength!" Zhao Jie muttered.
They returned to the living room, where Zhao Jie eagerly opened WeChat and began composing a Moments post to show off their catch.
Just then, two tiny kittens ran out of the room, lightly leaped into Chen Lin's lap, and began nuzzling him adorably.
Hearing the movement, Zhao Jie looked up curiously. His gaze instantly froze on the two little balls of fluff in Chen Lin's lap.
The next second, he sprang out of his chair, his two-hundred-plus-pound body displaying astonishing agility.
"Holy shit! Linzi, those cats! I want one!"
Before you continue