The Angler in the Gene

To be frank, Lu Zhe didn't expect to catch anything at all. Getting a fishing rod was just to pass the time for her. Catching something would of course be great, but if nothing was caught it could just be treated as giving her some entertainment. Because if a girl has nothing to do, she can easily overthink and it will bring tremendously negative emotions.

Next, Lu Zhe devoted all his energy into building a shelter to get through the night safely.

He found two thick trees about two meters apart. He tied a horizontal rod about two meters above the ground. Then he sawed two 4-meter slender tree trunks and leaned them diagonally against the horizontal rod to tie them securely. Every 40-50 cm between the two long tree trunks, he tied a thin bamboo horizontally. Finally he covered it with palm leaves over the horizontal bamboo, and spread some palm leaves on the ground. A simple rain shelter was now complete.

Since he was working alone, it really took some time. Glancing at his watch, it was already 5pm. Nightfall was approaching.

It was time to find some food.

He decided to carry Jiang Yao back to rest for a while, and then catch some fish himself to make dinner!

But when he arrived at the reef, Lu Zhe was surprised to discover that Jiang Yao was actually removing the hook from a fish she caught.

She caught one?

That’s right, she really caught one.

And it was not small.

Just her way of removing the hook was a bit special. She didn’t dare touch it with her hand, instead grabbing the fishing line with one hand, and using the bamboo rod to poke at the fish's mouth with the hook, causing the fish to flop around wildly, water and sand flying everywhere. She hid cleverly behind a rock.

When the fish was tired from flipping around, she would grab the bamboo rod again to repeat the poking until dislodging the hook.

Watching her cringe-inducing way of removing the hook, it was like a cooking novice whose first time in the kitchen ended with a fire.

But looking at the twenty plus big and small fish scattered messily on the beach behind her, Lu Zhe sank into deep confusion.

"That's enough, Yao Yao. We can't possibly eat all of them."

"The fish here are too greedy. As soon as I cast the hook in..." As Jiang Yao spoke, she threw the hook back into the water. In less than ten seconds, the fishing line stretched taut again. She immediately pulled up another sea bass.

Lu Zhe hurried over to help remove the fish hook.

Jiang Yao happily said, "See, I'm not useless!"

Lu Zhe felt puzzled:

"Is it really talent and instincts? Let me try!"

Lu Zhe took the hook and also cast it into the water. The fishing rod shook slightly. Three minutes later, the rod jerked tightly and he pulled up a bass out of the water.

"There really are a lot!"

Lu Zhe nodded and said, "This is where the warm and cold currents meet, forming a natural fishing ground. And no humans have set foot here before, so the fish density is high with voracious appetites, making them easy to catch. But you did great too, your fishing efficiency is even higher than mine."

Praised by Lu Zhe, Jiang Yao pursed her lips and smiled, then said, "Oh right, did you find water? I'm so thirsty."

"Ding! New mission - Fish eyes contain a lot of moisture. Please feed your companion fish eyes to replenish fluids."

"Reward: +1 Potential Points!"

Hmm, there was still a little water left, but if he let her drink it, she probably wouldn't want to eat the fish eyes then.

"Didn't find fresh water, but we can eat this!"

As he spoke, Lu Zhe grabbed a fish, knocked it out, rinsed it in seawater, then used a knife to dig out a bloody fish eye.

"Fish eyes contain a lot of moisture, DHA and some minerals. When desperately lacking water on a deserted island, digging out the eyes of sea fish to quench thirst is an option."

Jiang Yao's eyes widened.

She watched as Lu Zhe really threw that fish eye into his mouth and started chewing.

Though the taste didn't seem too good based on the frown on Lu Zhe's face, he still managed to swallow it down.

"Hmm, a little fishy, but it's fine once swallowed."

Jiang Yao adamantly refused, "Too disgusting, no way, I can't accept it!"

"Then you can only drink this!"

Lu Zhe gave an evil grin and picked up a bottle, pretending to undo his pants. Jiang Yao screamed, "No! I'll...I'll eat it!"

"That's better," said Lu Zhe. He dug out another fish eye and handed it to Jiang Yao, "Want to try it?"

Staring at the eyeball before her that was the size of a glass marble, Jiang Yao fearfully kept her mouth shut, hesitating for three seconds, "No way, it's all bloody..."

"What about like this then?"

Lu Zhe threw that fish eye into his own mouth.

Jiang Yao thought Lu Zhe was going to help suck the blood off the fish eye, but right at that moment, Lu Zhe suddenly leaned in and kissed her.

This sudden kiss was too romantic, no teenage girl could refuse it.

Then she felt Lu Zhe spit the eyeball into her mouth.

At that moment, Jiang Yao collapsed internally.

Other girls' first kisses tasted like strawberries, vanilla, mint...

Yet hers was a fish eye flavor??

But Lu Zhe had her pinned against a tree, no way to retreat.

Staring into Lu Zhe's resolute eyes seemed to give her endless strength!

At this moment, Jiang Yao had an awakening.

She closed her eyes, finally steeled herself and bit into the fish eye.

Pop! A sticky juice burst forth in her mouth, filling it with a taste that made her want to hurl.

Jiang Yao gritted her teeth, gulped it down with a "gu" sound, and spit the remnants back into Lu Zhe's mouth.

Lu Zhe ate it indifferently, "It's not that hard to accept, right!"

Jiang Yao coughed a few times helplessly, "Lu Xiaoyao, can you at least kiss a girl before the fish eye, so she won't be reminded of the bloody eyeball when reminiscing about her first kiss."

"Don't overthink so much when trying to survive," Lu Zhe said as he picked up another fish and dug out an eye to hand to Jiang Yao, "Continue?"

Jiang Yao tremblingly stared at the fish eye for a long time before uttering, "Fine, I...can only accept...you feeding me..."

Lu Zhe considered it.

If you were sick and needed to drink a whole bottle of bitter medicine, you would definitely find it agonizing.

But if a beauty held it in her mouth and spat it out to you, that would be a different story.

Since Yao Yao was willing, it would be a treat for him too.

Why not?

But after eating four fish eyes, Jiang Yao still felt like throwing up.

Only then did Lu Zhe hand her half a bottle of water.

Jiang Yao drank it all in one breath, the fresh water washing away the fishy taste in her mouth. She finally felt much better.

"So you had water!"

"That's our most precious resource. It's better to help you ingest four fish eyes to replenish more fluids, rather than just drinking it dry."

"Ah? That's all left? What about you?"

Lu Zhe smiled, "I don't care, I can eat the eyes."

As he spoke, he tossed another fish eye into his mouth and chewed with a slight smile, as if eating a piece of chocolate.

This made Jiang Yao feel immense admiration.

But after eating 10 raw fish eyes, he finally couldn't keep it up and started retching too. "Damn, you really can't eat too many of these things!"

"Sorry, Xiao Zhe, I drank all the water."

"No worries, we have other methods - fish blood!"

Although the blood of sea fish was a bit salty, the salt content in their flesh and blood wasn't actually that high. When lacking fresh water on a deserted island, it was a very good substitute for drinking water.

So how to draw the blood?

Lu Zhe thought of a way.

Prepare a broad leaf, a glass jar, and his shirt!

He spread his shirt on a rock, placed a cleaned fish on the shirt, then wrapped it up layer by layer.

Twist it tight, get Jiang Yao to grab one end while he grabbed the other end with one hand and used a stick in his other hand to fiercely beat the fish!

"Lu Zhe, killing is understandable, but isn't tormenting it inhumane?"

"It's already dead, what torment?"

"It's dead?"

"You see me beating it like this, and it's not making a sound, so it must be dead."

Jiang Yao looked at it, "Yeah, it does seem dead!"

"Compared to a certain country's sushi restaurants, where they scoop live fish out of tanks, slice off their flesh, then throw them back into the tank, so diners can enjoy the meat while watching the skinned fish swim around in agony, we're being merciful here."

"Merciful?"

Lu Zhe casually explained, "That's right, only the merciful beat fish! Haven't you seen temple monks whacking fish with sticks for no reason?"

Originally a rather serious matter, but Jiang Yao couldn't help laughing, "Too ridiculous, those are wooden fish! Completely different from your situation here."

Lu Zhe nodded, "Pretty similar actually! Do you know how wooden fish originated?"

Jiang Yao thought about it, "I heard the elders invented it? And monks stole the idea."

"That's just one theory. There's another!"

"What other theory?"

"It is said that when Xuanzang returned from his journey to the West, he once stayed at someone's house and insisted on eating fish. The host had no choice but to go to the market to buy a big fish and plan to kill it and stew it for Xuanzang. But after knocking the fish unconscious and cutting open its belly, he found a child inside - and upon closer look it was his own child!"

"Don't try to trick me, I've read Journey to the West and there's no such story in it!"

"This is not recorded in Journey to the West!"

"Then where is it recorded? I have ten thousand whys?!"

"This is a folk legend called 'Fish Belly Child', originating from Indian Buddhism. The protagonist was Xuanzang's disciple Baozhuro, and when the story spread to China the protagonist became Xuanzang. Anyway, saving a child is considered a good deed. Since then, whenever it was time to eat, the monk would beat the wooden fish, commemorating that fish with poor digestion, which was said to accumulate merit. This is the origin of the wooden fish used in Chinese Buddhism."

"Hey, there's something very strange!"

Jiang Yao tilted her head, as if she had discovered an obvious loophole in the story.

"You're wondering why Xuanzang wanted to eat fish?"

"No no no, I'm wondering, they found the host's child in the fish's belly...so the question is: what did he do to the fish?"

Lu Zhe thought for a moment: "He probably hit the fish with a stick."

Jiang Yao frowned: "Are you sure it was hitting?"

"What else could it be?!"

Saying so, he gave the fish a few more whacks, staining his clothes with blood.

"That's it, grab it!"

Lu Zhe started twisting in one direction. Gradually, blood began to flow out from his clothes.

"It's bleeding!"

"Yeah, that's the blood we want!"

As he twisted, Lu Zhe explained: "Although the blood of ocean fish is a bit salty, the salt content is not too high, and it contains other mineral elements. In the wild, it's a better quality freshwater substitute than urine."

"Wrapping it in layers of clothes and twisting squeezes out the blood, and the fine cotton threads also filter out a lot of parasites."

"My strange knowledge has increased again."

The two twisted all the fish and collected half a canteen bottle's worth of blood.

"We can make jerky from the remaining fish meat, and just drink the blood!"

Saying so, Lu Zhe drank a big gulp of fish blood, staining his lips red, looking like a vampire.

"What's the taste?!"

Lu Zhe smacked his lips: "Very fishy, a bit salty, not very nice to drink, but if you don't consider the look, it's easier to accept than urine."

Then he passed it to Jiang Yao: "Try it yourself!"

Jiang Yao drank just a tiny bit, and immediately couldn't take it, retching uncontrollably: "The taste is too weird!"

It seemed she still couldn't accept this kind of taste.

Thinking about it, Qianban Guo'er, Bing Jie and the others were quite fortunate - Volcano Island had many places to obtain clean fresh water, no need to drink blood or urine.

The bit Jiang Yao drank was not enough to maintain normal hydration. Would they have to use that method again?