Live Streaming: Great Adventure in the Wilderness

“No, Charles, maybe we should go farther out.”

Eric looked at the net with only a few small fish and felt a headache coming on. It was the third day they had been out at sea, and the catch was miserably small. The fish they had caught were only enough for their daily consumption; there was nothing to sell.

They might have to return with an empty boat.

Charles walked out of the captain’s cabin and, seeing Eric looking downcast, patted him on the shoulder and consoled, “Don’t worry, Eric, we’ll definitely have a catch today. We’ve already gone far from the port, haven’t we?”

His old friend was good in every way, just too impatient. Fishing was something that required patience, and it wasn’t unusual to return from a week at sea with nothing.

“Yes, we have gone far from the port.”

Eric nodded. Because of the poor catch during the past three days, the two of them had decided to come to this area rarely traversed by other fishing boats, away from the port. Maybe this would yield more. This was the first trawling in this area today, and it didn’t prove anything—perhaps they would have a plentiful catch with the next haul.

Both men grabbed the trawl net, ready to cast it again, but as Charles pulled open the net, he was shocked to find a large hole in it!

“Hey! Eric, do you see this? There’s a hole in the net?”

“Uh, is that something to be happy about?”

Eric was speechless. Why was his friend so pleased about the net being torn?

Charles tried to lift the spirits of the pessimistic Eric, “But it proves that it’s not that there are no fish here, but rather a problem with our fishing, right?”

Eric was startled. That seemed to make sense!

With this thought, he became excited and ran to the winch to prepare for changing the net and starting to fish again.

Charles also came to assist, his face full of smiles with the good news, “This is truly the first good news of the day. It seems we’re in luck, maybe we’ll see whales or dolphins!”

“Then I must take a photo for my daughter! She’s never seen dolphins before!”

The waters around Ireland are an important habitat for whales and dolphins, where they often feed, rest, and breed. It is one of the prime spots for whale watching.

Local fishing boats often see these sea creatures, and fishermen consider sightings a sign of a bountiful catch, ensuring they won’t return empty-handed.

But just as the two men finished replacing the trawl net, ready to throw it back into the sea, Charles suddenly stopped his movements. He stood still on the deck, squinting his eyes toward the distant ocean, slightly dazzled by the sunlight.

“What’s wrong?”

Eric stopped what he was doing as well and looked in the direction of his friend’s gaze. After a while, he squinted his eyes in the same manner.

Out on the distant sea, a patch of orange was becoming clearer and more conspicuous, looking a bit like a tent with something dragging beneath it.

Was that, a life raft!?

After staring for quite some time, Charles was startled and quickly ran back to the wheelhouse, “Quick! That’s a life raft, let’s go check it out!”

Eric’s expression turned grave as he immediately began to stow the fishing net.

They might have encountered survivors of a sea disaster!

On the other side, the high-flying unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) had also captured the figure of a small fishing boat in the distance. The spectators were all excited; Master Fang had actually encountered people after nineteen days at sea!

[Damn, is that a fishing boat? After twenty days, he’s finally met someone, Master Fang is awesome!]

[Awesome plus! He really made it to land on his own skill!]

[Stink-stink, who got smoked to death, sends the host a Spaceship*1—so incredible!]

Bi Fang had also seen the fishing boat but did not immediately call for help. Instead, he observed the boat for a good while. Although the possibility of encountering pirates in the waters of Ireland was low, it was still better to be cautious.

Not until he saw the trawl net and the few small fish within it did he determine that it was truly a fishing boat, and Bi Fang then chose to approach.

As Charles steered the fishing boat closer to the raft, Eric immediately lowered the roped ladder from the deck. When Bi Fang climbed up to the railing, Eric reached out to pull him aboard.

“Hello, can you speak English?”

Seeing their target rescued, Charles emerged from the cockpit and curiously sized up the slightly dark-faced young man in front of him.

“Yes!”

Realizing that Bi Fang could understand English, Charles hurriedly asked, “How long have you been adrift? Are there any other people needing rescue? Where are they? Quickly, lead us to them.”

The other person didn’t seem to be in particularly bad spirits, which suggested he might have only recently been in trouble. The incident location might be nearby, but were there any others needing rescue?

Bi Fang shook his head. He wasn’t really a castaway; facing the fishermen’s inquiries, he responded truthfully.

“I’ve been adrift for almost twenty days.”

“What?”

Eric and Charles exclaimed in unison, with Eric being the first to disbelieve.

“Are you sure it’s twenty days? Not two days?”

Bi Fang knew they would not believe him because the pronunciation difference between “twenty” and “two” in English meant that the two could not be confused.

“You’re saying you survived on a life raft at sea for twenty days!?”

Even after getting an affirmative, Eric still didn’t believe it. He quickly walked to the edge of the deck, pointing at the raft below. But as soon as he looked down, he almost popped his eyes out.

FUCK, how can there be so many fish?

Atlantic Salmon, European Eel, Mackerel, Herring, Hairfin Anchovy, and even a Shark longer than a grown adult!

Eric could rationalize the abundance of fish in front of him. Perhaps there was a fishing rod that snagged quite a haul during the accident, but how the hell is there a shark?

This goddamn thing can also be caught?

Are you Santiago?

Are our two or three days’ catch less than what a castaway has?

At that moment, Eric suspected that he might have come across some sort of scam, or a television prank aiming to make a fool of him and Charles.

Charles, seeing that his good buddy had checked the raft and gone silent as if he had crashed like a clockwork toy without its winding key, also curiously looked down.

Clockwork toy without its winding key +1

The cold wind blew, chilling the hearts of the two brothers.

Eric shakily reached inside his clothing. Bi Fang’s eyes grew sharp, his body tensed with caution, until he saw Eric pull out a cigarette, then he relaxed.

Eric took out a cigarette pack, drew one and placed it between his lips. His hands trembled as he tried to find a lighter, only to realize he might have forgotten to bring it. Just as he was about to put the cigarette back, a similarly quivering flame approached. He looked up; it was Charles, his hand also shaking severely.

Bi Fang watched the scene, feeling somewhat moved.

Indeed, fishermen lead hard lives. Look at these two, only in their thirties or under forty, and already they had chills, their hands trembling so much they couldn’t even hold a cigarette steady.

Eric took a deep draw on his cigarette and slowly exhaled. He looked at Bi Fang, convinced this was a prank show meant to mock fishermen like them who had been at sea for many days without any catch by having someone pretend to be a castaway and then loading up a boat with fish to taunt them.

Life is tough, fishermen sigh.

Suffering so much, yet still fooled by life, one must admit, their goal had been achieved.

“Tell me, where’s the camera?”

Bi Fang was startled, not expecting them to realize so quickly that this was a wilderness-themed show. Previously, to enhance the effect, the production team had specifically instructed the unmanned drone to fly low, avoiding their line of sight. Now that they had been found out, Bi Fang no longer intended to pretend, and he gestured with a hand.

“It’s right there.”

The drone slowly rose up, and the two brothers looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.

They had indeed been pranked!