Chapter 128: What a Huge Mermaid

Zhang Can had been swimming in the ocean for a while without feeling particularly tired, but he eventually decided to stop and take a nap on the seabed. Unbeknownst to him, he drifted upward while he slept.

He remained unaware of his surroundings as he floated in the water. The sky gradually began to brighten, and while he could not see the state of the surface, the waters were calm and tranquil. Zhang Can was suddenly jolted awake by a powerful disturbance.

Opening his eyes, he was shocked to discover that he had been caught in an enormous fishing net, being hauled upward along with countless fish and other marine creatures.

In the ensuing chaos, Zhang Can panicked and began tearing at the net, but it was woven from thick, chopstick-sized nylon cords. No matter how much strength he exerted, he could not break it; even the world’s strongest man would have struggled to snap those lines.

The mesh holes were not small—designed to let fish weighing a pound or two escape—but Zhang Can was far too large to slip through, even if the holes had been ten times wider.

This was a mechanized trawl. As the net neared the surface, he could hear the roar of machinery. Peering through the water, he saw a fishing vessel over thirty meters long. A dozen crew members were operating the equipment, as manual retrieval of such a massive net would have been impossible even for a large crew.

Zhang Can surveyed the catch—at least tens of thousands of pounds of fish—and realized escape was unlikely. He quickly began formulating an explanation for when he reached the deck.

The machinery pulled the net aboard. Zhang Can was completely buried under a mountain of fish, invisible from the outside.

He heard the cheers of the fishermen. He struggled, but the net was drawn tight and the pressure of the fish made movement nearly impossible. Once the net was fully deposited on the deck, the fishermen approached to untangle it and begin sorting the catch.

Only then did Zhang Can struggle and shout, "Help! Help me..."

His sudden cry startled the dozen fishermen, who jumped back several paces, staring intently at the pile of fish.

Zhang Can desperately shoved the fish aside and poked his head out, calling again, "Help! Help!"

"A ghost..."
"A monster..."

The fishermen cried out in unison, retreating another dozen steps. They scrambled for fishing spears, poles, and whatever weapons were at hand, all while staring at the head emerging from the pile.

It was indeed a terrifying sight—a human head popping out of the catch as if from the earth, alive and capable of speech.

Two fishermen ran off to fetch the captain. The captain was an old hand, over fifty, with a weathered face and sharp, discerning eyes.

Upon seeing the captain, Zhang Can pleaded, "Captain, please help me! I’m not a ghost or a monster; I’m a human. I went out for a ride on an inflatable boat last night, but it broke and lost air. I was drifting in the ocean with no way to call for help, just waiting to be rescued. I never expected to be caught in your net."

The captain hesitated. In his decades of fishing, he had never seen such a thing. He stepped forward but kept a cautious distance.

Feeling the pressure ease slightly, Zhang Can struggled again and managed to free his arms. As he emerged, it became clear he was bare-chested. Having removed his clothes before entering the water, he looked quite peculiar.

One fisherman shouted to the captain, "Uncle, be careful! Don't get too close—he’s a merman, a sea demon..."

Zhang Can couldn't help but chuckle. The idea of being mistaken for a "merman" or "sea demon"—creatures he had never even seen or believed in—was almost humorous.

The captain remained suspicious. The sky had been bright when they cast the net, and he had seen no one on the calm surface. Moreover, if Zhang Can were human, why would he be naked? Even if his boat had disintegrated, there was no reason to be without clothes. Finding a naked man in a fishing net was naturally alarming.

Furthermore, Zhang Can’s stamina and appearance didn't match someone who had spent a night adrift. He should have been exhausted, dehydrated, and suffering from cracked, dry lips. Yet, Zhang Can’s lips were moist, and his energy levels were suspiciously high.

Zhang Can wriggled further out of the pile. Though his lower half was also bare, he was wearing red swim trunks with a white rabbit cartoon on them.

Seeing this clear product of human society, the fishermen relaxed. They realized he was just like them, and he spoke in standard Mandarin with a slight Jincheng accent. Slowly, they gathered around again.

"You’re really human? Then how did you end up in the net?" a young fisherman asked.

Zhang Can gave a wry smile and spread his hands. "Didn't I just say? I think you’ve watched too much television. There are no ghosts or monsters in this world, and no mermen either. Those are just stories and myths."

The captain, seeing the evidence, was inclined to believe him. He ordered a crew member to bring clothes for Zhang Can. Once dressed in a set of work overalls, Zhang Can looked much more ordinary.

Zhang Can pushed aside some fish and sighed, "Being squeezed by these fish was stifling; I almost suffocated!" He then asked, "Captain, how far are we from the coast of Jincheng?"

Since he couldn't see the coastline with the naked eye, he estimated they were quite far out. He couldn't understand how he had reached the deep sea when he hadn't traveled that far from the shore the night before.

The captain had a fisherman bring a pair of sneakers before answering, "We are about a hundred nautical miles from Jincheng. It’s hard to catch fish too close to shore these days, so we usually venture far out. It’s strange, though—we rarely find such large schools in this area. We cast the net in a rush because we weren't prepared, so the angle was off, or we would have caught even more. Still, tens of thousands of pounds is a good haul."

The crew began to relax and sort the catch by species, as prices varied.

The captain invited Zhang Can into the cabin and offered him a cup of hot, bitter tea. Zhang Can took a sip and felt relieved; he hadn't noticed the cold while in the water, but once pulled out and exposed to the air, he had begun to chill. The hot tea made him feel much better.

The captain stared at him and asked, "Young man, where are you from?"

"From Chuanxi," Zhang Can replied while drinking his tea. "My name is Zhang Can, and I work at the Old Stone Studio antique shop in Jincheng. I went to the beach last night and took the inflatable boat out. I never imagined this would happen—I almost lost my life. I really must thank you for saving me!"

The captain was a sharp judge of character. Seeing how naturally and specifically Zhang Can spoke, he felt 90 percent certain the young man was telling the truth.

Nodding with a smile, the captain patted Zhang Can on the shoulder. "Young man, be more careful in the ocean next time. You’re lucky to be alive after drifting a hundred miles. Anyone else without a way to call for help would have been done for."

Zhang Can laughed sheepishly. "I’m very grateful to you, Captain. I won’t be so careless again. I was terrified all night, not knowing I had drifted so far. It’s a stroke of luck that I ran into your boat."

"Don't thank me," the captain said, waving his hand. "I’ve had a stroke of luck myself, landing such a bountiful catch. Perhaps you brought us good fortune."

"When the crew reported it, I was shocked too," the captain continued with a chuckle. "I thought I’d actually caught a merman—I would’ve made a fortune! But it’s just a misunderstanding. Legends are just legends. A good deed brings good results, it seems. Don't worry, we’ll be back at the Jincheng harbor in about two hours. Is there anything you need?"

The captain remembered that Zhang Can had been at sea all night and worried he might be hiding his exhaustion. Zhang Can, however, managed to steer the conversation away from his physical state. The captain eventually dismissed his lingering doubts; even if he found the circumstances of Zhang Can's survival odd, there was no way he could have guessed the secret of Zhang Can's extraordinary abilities.