Chapter Sixty-Two: The Secret Weapon

We were startled and looked in the direction of the sound. There, a green fish half the size of a grown man leapt out of the water. Though the fish wasn't particularly large, the wave it stirred up was wildly out of proportion to its size.

"What is that?" cried the man rowing the boat.

Grim-faced Zhang did not answer. He looked solemnly at the surging waves racing toward us, drew the long knife from his back, and stood at the bow.

The strange fish ahead seemed to have some sense, as if it recognized Zhang as someone not to be trifled with. It circled underwater, then swam to the right side of the kayak and, with a burst of energy, leapt over the boat from right to left.

The man on the right was caught completely off guard. He hastily raised his iron oar and struck downward, but the fish was so heavy that it almost pulled him off balance, sending him sprawling onto the deck. The fish leapt into the water on the left side, unimpeded. Water splashed all over us, and the boat rocked violently.

The man on the left lost his footing in the commotion. Slipping backward, he fell onto the boat. Just as he was about to get up, there was a splash as the fish surfaced, clamping its massive, fang-filled jaws around his head and biting half of it off. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the deck.

The man on the right screamed in terror and tried to shove his fallen companion's body off the boat.

"Don't move!" Zhang reacted quickly, stopping him. "If you throw him overboard, you might attract even more of those fish. Then do you think you'd still have a chance to run?"

The man nodded, but at that moment, the giant fish seemed to go berserk, thrashing on the surface of the water in a frenzy.

We were utterly bewildered. Had it gone mad after its meal, or what? It was as if it had suddenly become possessed.

As we stood there in shock, a thunderous roar echoed from the distance—the voice of Dragon King.

"Brother Zhang! Quickly! Kill it, or none of us will make it!"

Zhang hesitated only a moment, then shrugged off his leather jacket, drew his long knife, and leapt into the water, swimming toward the giant fish.

The creature seemed to sense his approach and stopped thrashing, turning to charge at him. Zhang mustered all his strength and swung at the fish’s head, but it was as if he’d struck rubber—it had no effect.

He grappled with the fish in the water for several minutes, growing exhausted. His legendary fighting skills seemed useless underwater. He was spent, unable to continue the struggle, and it seemed he would soon become fish food.

Suddenly, several flashes of silver streaked through the water from the distance, striking the fish and sending up plumes of blood. Zhang looked up to see an old man with a white beard, dressed in a black wetsuit, a fish-skin cap on his head, and a harpoon in hand, swimming toward him with astonishing speed.

The man swam up to him, glanced at the struggling fish, and, raising his harpoon, struck the fish’s head several times until it finally stopped moving and floated lifeless on the surface.

"Brother Zhang, are you alright?" Dragon King asked anxiously.

Zhang was pale and seemed dazed, barely able to shake his head.

With a heavy sigh, Dragon King wrapped an arm around Zhang’s waist and carried him back to the kayak.

Zhang lay on the deck, gasping for breath. After a long while, he managed to recover somewhat. Glancing at the bloody corpse beside him, he kicked it into the water. Then, retrieving a cigarette from his jacket, he tapped it, found it was still dry, and finally lit up.

"Old Seven, what kind of monster was that?" he asked.

Dragon King chuckled. "That’s a ‘Green Dragon Fish’, unique to this Heavenly Lake and the neighboring Jade Dragon Lake. It’s similar to the acanthopterygian fish, but for this species, that was actually a small one. I suspect the lake monster here is just an oversized Green Dragon Fish."

"What if we run into an even bigger one?" I asked anxiously.

Dragon King smiled and waved his hand. "I’ve brought a secret weapon."

"What secret weapon?"

With a mysterious smile, he pulled out several small pouches and handed one to me. "Take a look at this, nephew," he said, producing several small cloth bags from his pocket.

I inspected the pouch. It was made from stocking material, containing some kind of solid block. Opening it, I found a dark brown, brick-like lump, hard to the touch.

"What is this?" I asked.

Grinning mysteriously, Dragon King said nothing, passing another pouch to Zhang.

Zhang opened it, inspected the block inside, and sniffed it. "Hurry up and tell us, what is it?"

Dragon King nodded, scooped up a handful of lake water, and sprinkled it over the pouch, then held it up to Zhang’s face.

Zhang sniffed again, recoiling at the stench and waving his hand to clear the air.

"Brother Zhang, you know about Dragon Musk, right?"

Zhang nodded.

"This block was taken from the Green Dragon Fish, similar to Dragon Musk, though the smell is different."

I thought to myself, what kind of secret weapon is this? It smells worse than dirty socks—surely he doesn’t plan to drive the fish away with the stench.

At that moment, two loud splashes sounded from afar.

We looked over and saw two dark shapes, each over a meter long, swimming toward our boat at speed. Clearly, these two Green Dragon Fish were much bigger than the last.

Zhang was startled, stood up, pulled out his long knife, and prepared to jump in and fight.

Dragon King stopped him with a calm gesture. He took one of the small cloth bags, tied it to a length of kite string, fastened the other end to the bow, and tossed the pouch into the water.

The scent block seemed to take a while to diffuse. At first, the two Green Dragon Fish showed no hesitation, charging straight for our boat. But after about ten seconds, it was as if they’d been paralyzed. Both stopped in the water, lingering for a while before suddenly turning tail and fleeing in terror.

We were amazed at the power of Dragon King’s secret weapon. Indeed, it was a true secret weapon—without lifting a finger, he’d scared off two monstrous fish over a meter long. It was as if he had some magic tricks up his sleeve after all.

Zhang nodded approvingly, clearly impressed. "Old Seven, how did you get this scent block?"

Dragon King looked immensely pleased. "Not every fish has one. It took me and more than a dozen men to hunt down two Green Dragon Fish over three meters long in Jade Dragon Lake to get these. Two of my men even died for it. In the wild, animals are highly territorial. When these one-meter fish smell the scent of a three or four-meter fish, wouldn’t they turn and run?"

I was stunned. Why hadn’t he brought this out earlier? Could he be the ‘mole’ the man in the black cloak mentioned?

Apparently, Zhang had similar suspicions. He eyed Dragon King doubtfully. "Why didn’t you use it sooner?"

Dragon King waved it off nonchalantly. "There usually aren’t any Green Dragon Fish in Heavenly Lake. I never expected someone would set us up."

His explanation sounded unconvincing, but Zhang didn’t pursue it. He nodded slightly. "So, the three or four-meter fish are the largest in Jade Dragon Lake?"

Dragon King’s self-satisfied smile faded. He pointed at two men rowing the second boat. "Well… last year, these two, along with another man, were working in Jade Dragon Lake. As they were packing up on shore, that other man was swallowed whole by a Green Dragon Fish with a head a meter wide. Just imagine how big that fish must have been. Many suspect the monster in Heavenly Lake is an enormous Green Dragon Fish."

I cursed inwardly. So the secret weapon only works if we’re lucky. If we run into a truly giant one, we’re dead for sure.