Chapter 2302 - 2205: A Little Display of Skill
Gu Xu liked to think his survival Skill wasn’t half bad, but trying to catch fish barehanded in the sea wasn’t exactly easy—especially on a night so dark you couldn’t see your own fingers.
He did have a small emergency flashlight hanging from a cord around his neck, but since the danger hadn’t passed yet, he didn’t dare just whip it out and use it. If it lured the enemy troops over again, he’d be done for.
With everything pitch-black like this, trying to grab one or two fish was basically the same as a blind cat happening to kill a mouse.
So Gu Xu splashed around barehanded along a hidden rocky shore for a good half hour and still didn’t manage to catch a single fish. Because he also had to guard against those search teams from Country F doubling back, he didn’t dare make too much noise. After that half hour, what little strength he had left was completely used up.
A wave crashed over, and Gu Xu slumped against the reef like a dead fish, panting nonstop. Baby Egg had seen Gu Xu thrashing about in the water earlier and thought he was playing, getting all worked up with excitement. Now that he saw Gu Xu go still, he immediately got unhappy, rubbing against Gu Xu’s arm over and over, even splashing seawater onto his face, trying to get Gu Xu to play with him.
Gu Xu’s whole body ached; he had no strength left to mess around. In a weak voice he said, "Son, your old man is about to starve to death. Go play by yourself, okay? Let your old man rest a bit first."
Baby Egg tilted his head in front of Gu Xu, as if thinking, or maybe confused. Gu Xu had no idea if he’d understood or not, but he no longer had the energy to explain, and just shut his eyes to rest.
After staring at Gu Xu for a few seconds, Baby Egg stopped pestering him. He bounced a few times on the ground, and with a couple of leaps, he had already hopped into the sea.
His own son was a merman—this kind of creature belonged in the sea to begin with—so Gu Xu couldn’t be bothered to管 him. It wasn’t like he’d drown anyway. On this deserted island, the kid was a lot more free and easy than he was.
Because of the mission these past few days, Gu Xu’s nerves had been stretched tight; he hadn’t been able to rest properly, staying awake for days on end. He’d long since been exhausted. Now that his eyes were closed, he fell asleep in under a minute.
He was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt something slap right across his face, something wet scraping along his cheek.
Even asleep, Gu Xu’s alertness was still high. The instant that thing brushed him, he snapped his eyes open and instinctively looked toward whatever had sneak-attacked him.
One look, and surprise lit him up.
Right by the reef he was leaning against, a sea fish nearly half a foot long was flopping on the shore, its pale belly twisting and bouncing right in front of his eyes, making Gu Xu almost giddy with joy.
He thought heaven had finally opened its eyes and sent him life-saving food. He couldn’t help thinking to himself that sure enough, heaven leaves a path for everyone; his life really wasn’t meant to end here!
With that thought, he couldn’t wait any longer and lunged for the fish, his mind already spinning with ways to eat it in a moment.
He was still contemplating a hundred ways to eat sashimi when suddenly a rush of splashing sounded behind him. Puzzled, Gu Xu turned his head, and before he could dodge, he saw a string of dark shapes shooting toward him, smacking into his face one after another. His face, already wet, turned even more soaked, and he looked utterly bedraggled.
But Gu Xu couldn’t be bothered about that. He just froze in place, staring dumbfounded at the scene before him.
One sea fish after another was leaping out of the water, racing each other toward the shore where he stood, landing at his feet and still bouncing up and down.
This...
Gu Xu’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg. He had no idea what on earth was going on.
If that first fish had been a gift from heaven, then seeing this utterly illogical scene now, even if he’d been an idiot, Gu Xu would’ve known this definitely wasn’t what he’d thought.
Right at that moment, Baby Egg suddenly shot up out of the water and tumbled straight into Gu Xu’s arms, rubbing against him like a twist of candy, acting all spoiled and clingy, his whole posture saying: See how awesome I am, hurry up and praise me.
How could Gu Xu not understand what was going on now? Clearly, these fish "turning themselves in on shore" was all this little guy’s doing!
Only then did Gu Xu remember that he really had just been complaining to the kid about how hungry he was. Looked like the little guy had understood.
"Good kid, you really know what’s what. You actually feel sorry for your old man!" Gu Xu couldn’t help giving him a thumbs-up, praising him generously.
Thinking of how amazing his wife was at catching fish with her bare hands, Gu Xu didn’t doubt his son’s abilities in the slightest. Obviously, even though this little guy hadn’t hatched yet, he’d already learned his wife’s whole Skill set, Refined to Perfection.
Having been praised by his father, the whole egg seemed to float with pride—literally floated, circling around Gu Xu several times until Gu Xu was almost dizzy from watching him before the little guy finally stopped.
The whole stretch of shore was covered with jumping fish, and even Gu Xu’s eyes were starting to blur. The corner of his mouth twitched unconsciously.
He was hungry, sure, and felt like he could eat a whole cow right now, but these fish were all raw. No matter how capable he was, he couldn’t possibly stuff them all down. He could only pick out the two fattest fish and toss the rest back into the sea.
There were no seasonings at all. Even though these were the freshest sea fish, they still had a fishy smell, and the taste was naturally not great. But Gu Xu couldn’t afford to care about that now. He found an empty seashell on the rocky shore, smashed it, and picked out a sharp shard to use as a dagger. Then he directly killed the fish and sliced them into pieces of sashimi.
When a person is hungry, they can eat anything. Sea fish had plenty of moisture, replenishing both protein and water. After wolfing down the meal, Gu Xu finally felt full.
Once he was full, everything became easier. With Baby Egg around, hiding himself and avoiding enemy pursuit was no problem at all. Gu Xu’s whole body relaxed at once. He lay down on a concealed reef, gave his son a few instructions, and then fell into a deep sleep.
He was just too tired. The moment he lay down, he was out, and he had no idea how long he slept. In a daze, he felt something pushing at him. When he opened his eyes, he saw the sky already turning pale, the storm had passed, and Baby Egg was standing upright in front of him. When he saw Gu Xu wake up, he started hopping up and down, chirping, "Jiji jiji," as if trying to tell him something.
Gu Xu of course couldn’t understand Egg-speak, but seeing how the little guy looked both excited and anxious, something must have happened. Gu Xu couldn’t help getting curious. He instinctively sat up on the reef and asked in puzzlement, "What’s wrong?"