Chapter 127: Chapter 115: Giant Bluefin Tuna

Flora Bloom had no idea how to fish. Mimicking the people she’d seen in videos, she cast the line far out and began to wait.

In less than three minutes, the hook she had cast far out was already near the boat again, and Flora Bloom felt the rod in her hands begin to tremble violently up and down.

"Whoa, Flora, look! A fish!"

Flora Bloom looked where Caleb was pointing. Sure enough, a shimmering silver fish with dorsal fins that glowed a silvery-blue was circling on the surface, its mouth clamped on her hook, tugging at the line from time to time.

With a mighty heave of both arms, Flora Bloom yanked the rod upward. The fish was flung through the air, following the path of her line before landing on the deck, where it began to flop about ceaselessly.

"What kind of fish is this? Why’s it so ugly?" Caleb asked, backing away after the flopping fish splashed water all over his face.

Sherman Lynch and Caleb Bloom, surprised that Flora Bloom had caught a fish so quickly, both turned their heads to look.

They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw its size.

"It’s a sardine, one of the most common fish in the sea," Sherman Lynch explained. "But for a sardine, yours isn’t small at all."

Flora Bloom looked at the sardine on the deck, which was about the size of Caleb’s head. It was her first time fishing, and the novelty of it all was thrilling.

Then she shot a glare at Sherman Lynch. "Well, I caught one. You two haven’t caught a thing!"

When Sherman Lynch and Caleb Bloom saw that Flora’s catch was one of the most common schooling fish in the sea, they just figured she’d gotten lucky and didn’t think much of it.

But less than three minutes later, Flora’s rod started moving again. This time, the commotion was immense; the splash where her hook was in the water was astonishingly large.

Flora grabbed the rod, intending to yank it upward, but she found it was much, much heavier than before. ’A big one!’ Her heart leaped with joy, and she put all her strength into another heave.

A loud SPLASH as something broke the surface startled everyone.

A fish shimmering with a silver-gray light leaped from the water. Judging by its size, it was even bigger than Flora herself. She was only using regular fishing line, and the instant the enormous fish launched itself from the water, the line SNAPPED before it was even halfway to the boat.

Just as the massive fish was about to fall back into the sea and escape, Flora, unwilling to let it go, stepped to the edge of the deck and waved her hand. Before it could hit the water, the great fish was enveloped in a sphere of deep blue liquid, like a bubble.

The great fish seemed quite comfortable inside the liquid Flora had wrapped it in; it even stopped struggling. It wasn’t until Flora tossed the whole thing onto the deck and removed the hook from its mouth that the others gathered around in amazement, staring at the great fish inside the deep blue sphere of water.

Sherman Lynch was the most astonished of all. Back at the base, he would occasionally take his men out sea fishing in his free time, but he had never caught such a massive fish—and a bluefin tuna, no less.

"Flora, you... how on earth did you catch this?" At that moment, Caleb Bloom could hardly believe that his own daughter had caught such an enormous fish in under ten minutes. He then turned to Sherman Lynch and said smugly, "How about that? A daughter of the Bloom family is the real deal, isn’t she?"

Sherman Lynch was also baffled as to how Flora Bloom could catch such a large bluefin tuna so quickly. Hearing Caleb Bloom’s smug words, he gave a jealous snort.

"You didn’t catch it, so what are you so worked up about? If you’re so capable, why don’t you catch one yourself?"

Caleb Bloom’s temper flared. He lifted his chin. "Fine, I’ll fish! Flora, come on, give your dad some of your bait. Watch me catch one even bigger than this!"

Seeing this, Sherman Lynch, not to be outdone, chimed in. "Hold on, Flora, you can’t play favorites. Share some of that bait with me, too."

Flora smiled, watching the two men banter like a pair of old kids. With another smile, she handed them the bait she had mixed with diluted spiritual water.

"This bait is special," she said. "You two should each mix a little of it into your own bait. You might get some even more unexpected results."

Flora clapped her hands victoriously and put the two fish she’d caught into the Spirit River inside her space. Even though they were saltwater creatures, she had already experimented with raising marine fish—sandfish—in the Spirit River. Not only had they adapted perfectly, but after just a few days, all of them had grown at an insane rate, as if they were on steroids.

The little sandfish were now nearly as large as the ten leader sandfish had been. As for the ten original leaders, they had grown a full size larger. The school of sandfish she kept swam happily in her Spirit River, and they didn’t attack the new arrivals.

The sardine and the tuna joined the school of sandfish in the Spirit River, swimming cheerfully alongside them.

Flora looked inward at her space, her heart filling with joy as she watched the increasingly vibrant Spirit River. ’But my space is getting more and more crowded. What can I do to expand it?’ The mists at the edge of her dimension were like shackles, locking away a much vaster world. Flora wanted to break through, but she had no idea where to start.

Caleb Bloom and Sherman Lynch divided Flora’s bait, mixed it into their own, and excitedly resumed their competition.

Having caught two fish, Flora had her fill of the fun and decided not to join the men’s competition. She scanned the area around the yacht and spotted a reef not far off. She turned to Irvin Holden, who was watching the fishing contest and silently chanting, ’Go, Old Lynch, go!’

"Julian, in a little while, you can row the dinghy, and we’ll go check out that reef. We might find some seafood like snails or clams. We can gather some to supplement our meal."

Irvin Holden’s eyes lit up. He snapped to attention and gave a resounding, "Yes, ma’am!" When Cynthia Grant heard Flora was going to gather seafood, she shot her hand up, wanting to go too. Caleb’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Flora, hesitating to speak, his intentions perfectly clear.

Flora considered the danger of large, predatory fish. Too many people would mean greater risk. "This is the apocalypse," she said. "Most sea creatures have grown to enormous sizes. It’ll be dangerous if too many of us go."

"Reporting, Team Leader! I just scanned the surrounding waters from the cockpit. There are no oversized creatures nearby. The radar would have given us a warning if there were."

As soon as Irvin Holden finished speaking, Cynthia Grant grabbed Caleb and ran toward the dinghy. Watching Caleb skip along happily, Flora felt a weight lift from her heart. Ever since she’d rescued him, her greatest fear had been that the trauma of that night would leave a permanent scar. But it seemed her worries had been unfounded.

What she didn’t know, however, was that it wasn’t that the trauma of the abuse had left no shadow in Caleb’s heart. Rather, he had come to see her as the person he was closest to, someone he could depend on. Children naturally develop a sense of dependence on and security with the person they are closest to.

Besides, after so much time together, Caleb had long since come to see Flora and the others as his family. Though he still thought of his parents, children in the apocalypse either grow up fast or die young. After all, the apocalypse doesn’t spare you just because you’re a child.