"Quick, cut the line!" Seeing the ferocious shark, Robbins started shouting, but Jiang Hai had no intention of cutting the line. Instead, he began to reel it in faster.
Sharks are also fish, and fish are cold-blooded animals. Cold-blooded animals have an advantage: they are temperature-changing creatures, which makes it easier for them to survive. They possess extremely strong explosive power, but this advantage is also a disadvantage. Their explosive power is strong, but their endurance is poor.
If you were an ordinary angler, reeling in the fish and releasing the line, the shark would still have time to rest while running wild.
The shark's physical strength would be exhausted, but not too quickly. But Jiang Hai is different. From the very start, he engaged the shark head-on.
The shark's strength quickly diminished. It's like a tug-of-war. If both sides are evenly matched, it becomes hard to determine the winner, as both sides alternate pulling. But if one side uses all its strength from the beginning, directly confronting the opponent with almost invincible endurance, that side will pull the other over when the opponent's strength wanes. The winner can be determined instantly.
This is exactly what happened with the shark.
Being forcibly pulled by Jiang Hai, it had very little strength left.
The distance of 40 meters wasn't much. It took Jiang Hai just over a minute to pull it under the gravity dock. In an instant, Jiang Hai stood firm on the ground, his entire body focusing on his arms. He shouted, "Get up!"
In one powerful motion, a massive shark, nearly two people long, was pulled out of the water and onto the dock by Jiang Hai.
Watching the shark struggle and flap around on the dock, trying to return to the water, Edward grabbed a large bag and ran over. Without saying a word, he placed it over the shark's head. In fact, it is much easier to subdue a shark in the water than on land. In the water, as long as the shark is turned upside down, its balance is destroyed. Once its balance is lost, it spasms and freezes. But on land, how can you flip it? It has fins on its back.
So, the only option is to cover its head with the bag to prevent it from seeing or smelling, which helps calm it down.
"Oh my God, I caught a big one!" Unlike Edward and Robbins, this was Jiang Hai's first catch, and it was a huge one. He was ecstatic.
"Boss, you're really something! You actually caught this thing?" Seeing Jiang Hai's excitement, Robbins couldn't help but feel a little bitter. What was going on here?
"Of course, look at me—am I an ordinary person?" Hearing Robbins' words, Jiang Hai laughed, putting on a proud expression. But honestly, catching such a big fish was truly remarkable.
"This is a sand tiger shark, about 3.1 meters long. Boss, what should we do with it now?" Edward asked, finally relieved that the shark had stopped struggling. He turned to Jiang Hai.
"What else? Take it back and eat it?" Jiang Hai said without hesitation.
The fish he caught had to be eaten—he wasn't going to let it go. He wasn't that noble.
"Uh..." Edward and Robbins froze at his words, exchanging awkward glances. Seeing their expressions, Jiang Hai was puzzled. What was this look?
"What? Is it illegal to eat this thing?" Jiang Hai asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not exactly. Although sharks are considered endangered species internationally, they're not illegal to catch in the United States. But... we don't really know how to eat it," Robbins said, scratching his head.
"Sharks don't taste good because they lack bladders and urinate through their bodies. After they're killed, their urine seeps into the meat, making it especially unpalatable, fishy, and foul-smelling. Additionally, the meat doesn't taste good, and the skin is tough. So aside from a few Chinese restaurants in New York that import sharks for their fins, no one eats them," Edward explained. After years of working on the sea, he knew a lot about such things.
Jiang Hai scratched his head in response. This was a problem. He wasn't a saint, and he thought the talk of shark fin cruelty was nonsense. The rich said life is precious, but they didn't stop eating pigs, cows, chickens, or sheep. It all seemed hypocritical to him.
He had never eaten shark fin, and though he was curious, he couldn't deny that he wanted to try it. The problem was that he didn't know how to cook it.
"I guess we'll have to keep it for now?" Robbins suggested, sensing Jiang Hai's hesitation.
Like Jiang Hai, neither the old cowboy nor the old fisherman had any qualms about protecting nature. They were hesitant because they didn't know how to prepare it. If Jiang Hai knew how to cook it, they'd have killed it already. But since he didn't, it was best not to waste it.
"Keep it? Where?" Jiang Hai was confused. A 3-meter-long sand tiger shark was too large to keep anywhere on his property.
"Boss, there's a swimming pool behind your villa. It was built by the previous owner, but since it's so close to the sea, it was abandoned. I remember the pool had a valve connected to seawater. It should be fine to keep the shark there," Robbins explained with a smile.
"Alright, we'll keep it there for now. Let's head back quickly. I'll find a chef who can cook it later," Jiang Hai said. He immediately secured the shark to the back of his all-terrain vehicle, leaving Robbins and Edward surprised. The three of them sped back to the villa.
At the villa's outskirts, Jiang Hai saw the abandoned swimming pool. It wasn't small—50 meters long, 50 meters wide, and 2.5 acres in area. The deepest part was 3.5 meters, with a shallow diving area of 1.5 meters. Despite years of neglect, it still had its tiles intact.
Clearly, the previous owner had loved the pool. Unfortunately, now it was Jiang Hai's fish pond.
There were fallen leaves and bird droppings in the pool. Without much discussion, Robbins and Edward jumped in and cleared it out. They opened the floodgate and let seawater wash the area. After a quick cleaning, they threw the shark into the pool because sharks can't survive long outside of water.
Luckily, they were fast. About 15 minutes later, the shark began to move again, showing signs of life.
"Alright, let's leave it like this for now," Robbins said, closing the valve after the pool filled with seawater. Jiang Hai gazed at the motionless shark underwater and felt a pang of regret. It was a shame he couldn't eat it this time, but what could he do? If he couldn't cook it, there was nothing more to be done.
Just as he was feeling down, Robbins' phone rang. It was nearly five o'clock, and Burke-Daller and the others had arrived.
The three of them went to the entrance and welcomed the others in. Jiang Hai had told them they could bring their families, but only two of them actually did. Harriman Fells was single, Bell Lester had just retired and was also single, and though Burke-Daller had a wife, he was divorced and lived alone. His daughter, 26, lived with his ex-wife and was already working.
Of the four groups that had arrived, only Philemon wasn't alone. He had his wife and two children. His eldest son worked as an assistant coach at a high school basketball team in New York, while his youngest son was in college. Therefore, only Philemon's family was complete.
When they saw Jiang Hai, the four men waved enthusiastically. Jiang Hai waved back, leading the cars into the parking lot, where Robbins and Edward were nearly done preparing.