Axolotl Translations

Migration isn’t a vacation—you can’t just pack up and leave.

The deep sea was a mystery. Beyond having enough fuel and experienced sailors, they also needed plenty of food. Luckily, the waters they were currently in were just the right depth and teeming with fish and shrimp—perfect for restocking supplies. After a discussion, all three groups agreed: they’d stay here for a while, stock up on food, and set sail in half a month.

Perhaps everyone was trying to keep things fair. The two representatives from the Giant and the three from the Yongyue didn’t stick around for lunch. Though things were looking up, Gu Mengran had no choice but to play it cool, seeing them off with polite regret.

Their relationship with the Yongyue was mutual—a partnership of sorts, helping each other out and sharing what they had. But with the Giant? That was straight-up one-sided charity. The favors just kept piling up, and Gu Mengran had no way to repay them. The thought gnawed at him.

Sigh… I really need to hurry up and get those vegetables growing.

After the guests left, lunch went back to basics. No fancy dishes—just leftovers from last night, reheated and served. Still delicious. He hadn’t had breakfast that morning, only drank a belly full of water, and now his stomach was practically caving in. Without saying a word, Gu Mengran sat down, grabbed a bowl, and started shoveling food into his mouth.

To the others, though, his speed seemed… urgent.

Everyone assumed he had something important to do afterward and, out of sheer instinct, began eating faster too. Before long, the dining room fell silent. No one spoke. Just the clatter of chopsticks and the soft sound of chewing as everyone wolfed down their food.

The old captain finally sensed something was off. He paused mid-reach for a dish, looked around the table in confusion, and frowned.

“…Are you all in a rush or something?”

“Maybe?” Zheng Yijie squeezed out between bites. “No clue, really.” Then he dove right back into his rice.

Since when were we this in sync? The old man looked even more puzzled and glanced toward Xu Xingran.

She picked up on the signal immediately. After swallowing her food and dabbing her mouth with a napkin, she said, “I—I’m not sure either, but Mengran was eating so fast. I figured there had to be a reason…”

Pfft.

Gu Mengran burst out laughing mid-bite, nearly choking on a mouthful of rice. He patted his chest and forced the food down, then looked up at the others, both amused and exasperated.

“Guys, seriously? I was just starving! Skipped breakfast, that’s all. It’s not like I was in a rush!”

“Huh?!”

Zheng Yijie, having just inhaled a big bite, started choking. He thumped his chest hard a couple times, finally caught his breath, and gave Gu Mengran a wounded look.

“Couldn’t you have said that earlier? I nearly died!”

Gu Mengran rolled his eyes. “Didn’t you see me busy stuffing my face? I didn’t have time to notice you.”

Turned out it was all just a big misunderstanding. The tension in the air gradually eased, and everyone let out a collective breath. They went back to picking at their food, drinking water, refilling their bowls—each person instinctively slowing their pace.

Just as everyone was finally settling into lunch, Gu Mengran suddenly lifted his head and said, “Oh, right—leisure time’s over. Let me walk you through the afternoon plan, and what’s coming next.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xu Xinghe—who’d just gotten up to grab another bowl of rice—immediately sat back down. Xu Yuan put his chopsticks down and sat up straight, all business. Even the old man straightened a little, as if ready for a briefing.

Gu Mengran was nearly full, but to keep things casual and prevent everyone from getting stiff, he picked up a chunk of braised pork belly, chewed slowly, and said with a smile, “Just listen, no need to stop eating. We’ll talk while we eat.”

Seeing everyone pick their chopsticks back up, he fished a rib into his bowl and continued between bites, “Yesterday, Liang Zhao and I cleaned out the foam boxes in the first-floor hall. With food supplies getting tighter, we need to get some vegetables growing—fast.”

“It’s not just for ourselves. We owe Giant too many favors, and when we head into the Pacific, we’ll still be relying on them. I’ve thought it over—our best bet is paying back at least part of that debt with fresh vegetables.”

Xu Xingran caught on right away and nodded. “Exactly. We can’t just let those debts slide. If you borrow and return, you can borrow again.”

“But…” Xu Xinghe suddenly spoke up, voicing his doubt, “The Windwing isn’t that big, and the soil we have is limited. The Giant has hundreds of people. What we grow isn’t even enough to feed a few of them—it won’t make much difference.”

Xu Xingran waved a hand. “At the beginning, quantity doesn’t matter. What matters is showing that we have something to give. We’re not just growing for ourselves—we need to save seeds too. Once things stabilize, we can send seeds over and repay more later.”

“She’s right,” Gu Mengran said, nodding. “Either way, we need to get those vegetables growing as soon soon as possible.”

He swallowed the last bit of his rib and, now fully satisfied, set his chopsticks down and smiled at Xu Xingran. “So, this one’s on you, Sister Xu. I’ll get you the seeds and tools in a bit. You take Grandpa and Xu Yuan and get started this afternoon.”

“Me?!” Xu Xingran’s eyes widened, and she waved her hands quickly. “No way. Let Grandpa Meng handle the planning—I’ll just help out with the labor.”

Meng Gaoyang frowned. “Nope. This old man’s too old to be worrying about things like that. You young folks figure it out.”

“Well, there you go,” Gu Mengran said, shrugging. “Looks like it’s gotta be you.”

“…Fine,” Xu Xingran sighed and nodded.

“Wait, wait, hold on,” Zheng Yijie chimed in, clearly eager. “You’re only assigning them three—what about us? What are we supposed to do?”

Gu Mengran shot him a glare. “What, your memory going already? Didn’t we just talk about this? We’re staying put for two weeks to fish, catch shrimp, and stockpile food!”

Zheng Yijie scratched his head. “Oh—right, right.”

Then something seemed to click. He looked at Gu Mengran with bright eyes and asked eagerly, “Do we have any fishing gear? Yesterday you said the Giant used trawl nets and hauled up dozens of tons of fish in one go—do we have nets like that?”

Gu Mengran shot him a look and teased, “Trying to get rich off one big catch, are you? Dream on. I didn’t prep any trawl nets. That kind of gear requires specific ships. Even if we had one, the Windwing couldn’t handle it.”

“So… what do we have?”

“Eat your lunch. Come find us in the storage room after you’re done.”

While they were talking, Liang Zhao had already set down his chopsticks. Seeing this, Gu Mengran gave him a pat on the shoulder, and the two of them got up in sync, pushed their chairs back, and headed toward the storage room.

Zheng Yijie exchanged a glance with Xu Xinghe—and both immediately began shoveling food into their mouths at top speed.

Knowing full well that Earth would eventually be swallowed by the sea, Gu Mengran had spent a fortune stockpiling fishing gear in advance. He’d bought ocean rods, landing nets, crab traps… and the biggest item—hand-cast nets. They weren’t professional fishermen, and they didn’t have a commercial vessel. Gear like gill nets or trawls would be useless to them—if not outright dangerous. They could drop them into the water and never see them again.

Getting rich off a single haul wasn’t realistic. For amateurs like them, slow and steady with cast nets was the way to go.

Once inside the storage room, Gu Mengran locked the door behind them and pulled two oversized storage bins from his space. He dropped them to the floor, then summoned green fishing nets into his hands and started tossing them into the boxes, one by one.

He did the pulling, Liang Zhao did the sorting and counting. When they were done, each bin held: five hand-cast nets, twenty crab traps, ten landing nets, and ten sea fishing rods.

One box would be for themselves. The other would be sent to the Yongyue.

Fishing was banned on the Huang River, so as a river ship, the Yongyue definitely wouldn’t have any gear on board. Even though Shijin Village was near a lake and some villagers might have their own nets, with that many people onboard, they’d need way more supplies. They were all old friends. If they could help, they would.

Gu Mengran still had plenty of supplies in his space. As long as they kept planting and fishing, they’d never run out of food on the Windwing. But it didn’t mean they had to eat the same stuff forever. These two weeks were a rare opportunity—and he wasn’t about to waste it. They were going to catch as much fish as possible.

Less than ten minutes later, Zheng Yijie and Xu Xinghe came rushing in. Curious as ever, they were thrilled to see the gear, and Gu Mengran left the two boxes to them—along with a delivery job.

Meanwhile, he and Liang Zhao slipped next door to the empty storeroom to start modifying the diesel-powered boat.

Like with crab traps, cast net fishing required constant relocation after each drop.

The Windwing guzzled fuel. If they were going to be running back and forth, a diesel boat made way more sense.

Snow and rain lashed the sea as the small, open-top diesel boat left the dock. The boat could take it—but the people on it? Not so much. That’s why some modifications were needed before heading out. At the very least, there had to be a place to get out of the wind and rain.

Since the deck space was needed for casting nets and storing fish, they couldn’t fully enclose it. After some discussion, Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao decided to install a small canopy over the helm. If they were working, they’d have to brave the cold—but at least they could find shelter during breaks.

Thanks to their last round of renovations, this time the work went much smoother. Instead of using plastic panels, they opted for thin stainless steel sheets, cutting them to size and welding them directly onto the boat.

It took two full hours, but by the end, they had two fully modified diesel boats—both weather-resistant and fishing-ready.

Meanwhile, the warehouse door was being knocked on like someone was trying to break it down. Zheng Yijie and Xu Xinghe had returned from their delivery run and had been waiting outside the whole time. Only after Gu Mengran tossed the cutting and welding tools into a corner and stored the leftover steel sheets back into his space did he finally go open the door.

The moment the door creaked open, the two guys who’d been squatting there practically leapt to their feet and rushed inside, obviously dying to know what had been going on behind closed doors.

When they caught sight of the newly modified diesel boat, Xu Xinghe’s eyes lit up. “Whoa! This is the boat we’ll use to go fishing, right? You guys just added the canopy? That’s awesome—no more getting drenched!”

Before Gu Mengran could say a word, Xu Xinghe scratched his head, looking a little puzzled. “But Brother Gu, if you were just fixing up the boat, why’d you lock the door and keep us out?”

“Welding steel puts out a lot of smoke and fumes,” Gu Mengran replied smoothly, not even blinking as he lied. “Didn’t want the whole place to stink.”

“Ohhh,” Xu Xinghe nodded. “It’s just that Brother Zheng said you two were secretly—”

“Ahem ahem!” Zheng Yijie suddenly clutched his chest and coughed loudly, cutting him off. Then he waved his hand and said, “Anyway, it’s getting late! If we still want to catch some fish today, we better hurry up!”

“Zheng Yijie.”

Gu Mengran wasn’t about to let him change the subject. He raised an eyebrow and stared him down, voice calm but ominous. “You might want to cut the gossip. Or else I might just share a few of your little secrets—”

“I was wrong! Totally wrong! Brother Gu, I’m sorry, I take it back!”

Zheng Yijie panicked on the spot, clutching Gu Mengran’s arm and begging for mercy. Then he quickly shot Xu Xinghe a look and tried to change the topic again. “It’s really late! Let’s go, brother, let’s go!”

Clueless as ever, Xu Xinghe asked seriously, “So, should we head out now, Brother Gu?”

“Of course we should! Come on—get the diesel boat outside. Let’s go drop those crab cages!”

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