Chapter 7 – Peculiar Fish (2/2)

“Don’t stop, and just keep pulling!” Seeing that the warriors were stunned and stood still with no inclination of helping, Shao Xuan told Caesar to continue pulling.

That was his first time pulling a fish. Aside from the surprise and vigilance of seeing an unknown object for the first time, Caesar quickly came back to his scenes and obeyed Shao Xuan’s command. Shao Xuan stopped pulling after some time when he was certain that the fish could not jump back into the water.

“Finally! Good boy, Caesar! …Caesar, let go!…Where are you taking that fish to?”

Caesar was still pulling the straw rope in his mouth, as he growled in a low voice through his throat. Obviously, the fish had made him vigilant resulting in him having some intention to fight it. He was pulling so devotedly that he continued his act and totally ignored the fact that Shao Xuan had released the rope already.

Caesar reluctantly let go at Shao Xuan’s repeated urging, and carefully approached the flapping fish, showing his teeth as if he was about to bite it.

It was only a few steps from where Shao Xuan was standing to the place the stone worm was floating in the water. It’s estimated that the water could not drown a person, yet unexpectedly, such a fierce fish found its habitat in such shallow waters.

It had a giant mouth filled with numerous tiny sharp teeth. Also, it was very persistent, biting hard on the bait and never letting go, as if it was trying to tear it apart. It still continued to flap its body and tail even though it was pulled out of the water.

One of the warriors used his bone spear to pierce the fish. He was very quick and strong, so his spear went through the fish and nailed it to the ground.

Only after the fish was pierced with the spear, did it opened its mouth and let go of the rope. It opened and closed its mouth constantly and tried to move its head as if it were trying to bite something else. After the straw rope was released, there were only pieces of the stone worm left, and the straw rope was almost gnawed apart.

Shao Xuan had made the straw rope with his own hands, so he knew that the straw rope was very tough and abrasion-resistant. He often used it to pull or bundle things but it was never broken. Surprisingly, it only took such a short while for the fish to break it.

When his eyes fell upon the giant open mouth of that peculiar fish, Shao Xuan was stunned.

The giant mouth was the most noticeable thing among its head, and one could see numerous tiny sharp fangs in it. The fish was born to bite and kill since it possessed a mouthful of teeth on such a scale. If it weren’t for Caesar’s help, Shao Xuan would never have been able to pull it to the shore with his own strength.

If there were many fish of this kind in shallow water, a person could be eaten to his bones if he slipped and fell into the river. It was only one of the many types of fish in that river, perhaps more dreadful creatures were also living in the river. No wonders even totem warriors in the tribe were reluctant to go into the river.

Shao Xuan couldn’t help but shudder at the thought that some kids in the tribe might slip into the water by mistake.

Also, the sudden image that flashed in his eyes when he pulled the rope seemed to be that of a giant mouth with tiny sharp teeth…

Shao Xuan stared at the giant mouth and he thought about the visions he saw on the stone wall in that remote village when he was living his last few minutes of his former life.

The warriors saw Shao Xuan staring at the fish and thought that he probably was too scared to go near the ferocious creature. This was Shao Xuan’s first time seeing a fish like that, but one of the warriors had actually seen it before.

“When my totem power had not awakened, I came to the riverbank with my father and we met such a creature. The Shaman said that it’s called ‘Fish’. The water is filled with dangerous creatures. In our tribe, some woman’s arm got ripped off when she was washing animal skins. My father stabbed one to death at that time.”

The warrior glanced at Shao Xuan as he spoke, he did not think that a kid like Shao Xuan could pull out such a dangerous fish without even getting into the water. In old times, his father risked his life to go into the waters and save that woman from being eaten alive. Sadly, she still lost her arm by the time she was rescued. For a long time after that accident, women in the tribe would never come to the riverside to wash animal skins. They would only come here unless they had no alternative but to come, like when the weather was too dry and the stream in the hills got too narrow for people to drain water.

When Shao Xuan came back to himself, the fish was already dead. The warrior pulled out his spear and took the fish down. He handed the fish over to Shao Xuan, by lifting its tail.

“Here, it’s your prey. Good for you! You will grow into a fine warrior!” The warrior added after thinking, “But in the future, you should not go near to the river, because aside from fish, there is other stuff inside, and you can’t be lucky every time.”

However, about half an hour later, Shao Xuan, who “can’t be lucky every time”, pulled out an even bigger fish with the same method.