My House of Horrors

The rim of the cap covered the man’s face. He held the fishing pole and sounded excited. The man suddenly said that when Chen Ge got near, and this caused Chen Ge to become alert. He stopped and used Yin Yang Vision to study the man. After confirming that he was a normal person, he sighed in relief. It seemed that he was being too cautious. Chen Ge did not interrupt the man during the important moment when he was trying to reel in the fish.

“This is going to be a big one!” The man used both hands to pull on the rod. The fishing line pulled taut, and he realized that he was unable to reel back the line. The man jumped up from his seat. He leaned backward and managed to slowly pull in the line.

“What have you caught?” Chen Ge was curious as well. The dam was not big, so there should not have been a big fish there. Then again, there might be exception. Many rivers travelled through Jiujiang, and big fish from other rivers might have become trapped in the dam.

“Do you need help?” Chen Ge walked to the man and spoke softly. The man was fully focused on landing the fish, and he did not reply Chen Ge. He used all of his energy, and his body slowly dragged backward. Chen Ge did not force his way through. He did not know anything about fishing, so he might ruin a good thing.

“How is such a big fish in Eastern Jiujiang Dam?” Chen Ge raised his phone to shine a light on the water surface. Just at the spot where the bobber submerged, he could see a shadow slowly surfacing. “What is that‽”

The shadow was about 1.5 meters long, lean, and seemingly moving up and down. The darkness of the night and the water meant that Chen Ge had a hard time recognizing it even with his Yin Yang Vision.

The man used every ounce of energy in his body. The fishing line was taut, and Chen Ge nudged to his side. Merely spectating for once, he was worried that the line might suddenly snap. The man and the ‘fish’ fought greatly; this was the first time that Chen Ge had gotten involved in such an exciting fishing activity.

The stalemate continued for about ten seconds before the man started to run out of energy. He looked muscular, but he did not have the endurance. However, the man refused to give up on such a big catch. He could not land the fish, so he continued to fight with the catch. After a while, with a whirr, the line seemed to be cut by something, and the man collapsed to the ground on his butt. It was quite a serious fall.

The big catch slithered away, and the man cursed loudly, slamming the fishing rod against the ground. The fall earlier had pained him greatly. He was unable to get up for a long time, and in the end, it was Chen Ge who went to help him.

“Brother, are you alright?” Compared to the man, Chen Ge was more interested in the ‘big fish’ from before. “What were you fishing earlier? Do we have such a big fish here in our dam?”

The man’s expression softened. “That was the King Fish. I’ve been following it for three months already.”

“King Fish?”

This seemed to be the man’s secret, and he was unwilling to share it with Chen Ge. “For a dam that has a long history like this one and larger lakes inland, King Fish are not uncommon. They can live for a long time, and they’re much bigger compared to their brethren.”

“Our dam also has a King Fish?” Chen Ge thought that was quite interesting. Eastern Jiujiang Dam had been constructed a long time ago, but the dam was just slightly bigger than a small dam.

“Didn’t you see it earlier?” The man arranged his clothes and removed his cap. The man’s lips were very thin, and he looked like the type who was stingy and hard to get close to.

“Then how did you know our dam has a King Fish? Have you seen it before?” Chen Ge was more curious.

“I was a member of Jiujiang Fishing Association. For us fishing aficionados, catching a King Fish is a pride that will last a long time, so I’ve been following relevant news.” Speaking of his history with the King Fish, the man sounded quite proud. “I noticed the constant accidents around Eastern Jiujiang Dam, and around a certain time period, the number of drownings tripled. This is very abnormal in my eyes; the dam itself hasn’t changed, so it could only mean something else has entered this dam. I suspect that it could be a King Fish that has accidentally ended up here.”

“Based on your explanation, those drowning victims should have signs of being attacked. The police aren’t dumb—drownings and being attacked by fish are two completely different causes of death.”

“You’ve all been tricked by the King Fish. It is different from other fish, and it’s very clever. Furthermore, the reason for its murder might not be to eat the people; it merely thought it was fun, or perhaps it was for revenge.” The man seemed to be very familiar with fish. “I’ll give you an example. You should have seen what happened earlier. In other words, the King Fish’s existence is proven. But the police have scoured this dam many times to look for bodies, but never have they found the King Fish. Do you know why?”

“There are caves inside the dam for it to hide in?”

“Not only that, the big fish has gotten so clever that once a ship appears on the surface, it knows that it’s time to hide.” The man saw the disbelief on Chen Ge’s face, and he coughed. He rubbed his waist and then continued. “If you want to catch a King Fish, you mustn’t treat it as a normal fish. You have to put his intelligence on the same level as your own or see it as a very cunning human being.”

Chen Ge looked at the dam and nodded subconsciously. “If there’s a boat on the surface, it can detect it. Therefore, there are only two ways to catch it. One is to fish it up to the land or drain the entire dam.”

“The government is not going to drain a whole dam for a fish. Even though the dam is not that big, the location is strategic—it’s right between the up and down stream.” The man pulled back the fishing line to check the cut.

“It can cut such a thick line? I even tested its sturdiness earlier… Hmm?” He touched the cut. “How come it looks like this has been bitten?”

“Could there be two King Fish in the dam?” Chen Ge walked over to get a look. He just suggested it, but it stunned the man. “Maybe one was baited, and the other went to save it by biting off the fishing line. I’m just rambling—you’d better follow your own experience.”

“But that is a possibility!” The man looked at Chen Ge. “Counting this time, I’ve managed to bait it three times, and every time, I failed because the line snapped.”