A certain American comic book's secondary profession master

Chapter 14 So that’s it
"What do you think it's called?" Li Wei asked, pointing to the silver salmon in the fish shop owner's hand.

"Yanglin salmon! Is there a problem?" the fish shop owner asked, noticing Li Wei's strange expression.

There's a problem, of course there's a problem.

Wow, so the silverfish isn't a made-up name after all; it's actually another name for the coho salmon. What a clever game designer!

No wonder Li Wei had come up empty-handed, because his attention was always focused on fish he had never seen before.

He overlooked common fish like salmon, which look similar on the surface but actually have many subcategories.

It just goes to show that habitual thinking can be deadly!
"Can I take a look?" Li Wei asked without hesitation.

"Of course!" The fish shop owner handed the silver salmon in his hand directly to Li Wei.

Sure enough, the moment Li Wei got his hands on the silver salmon, the number after "Boiled Yanglin Salmon" in his cooking skill list changed to 1.

"Boss, do you know what a fish called the Nightscale Snapper is?" Li Wei asked tentatively.

"I know, it's just a blue snapper... Look, that's it!" The shopkeeper said, pointing to an enormous, light gray sea fish displayed outside another shop in the distance.

"Why is it called a blue snapper? It's not even blue!" Levi asked.

"Snapper species are generally nocturnal fish, so fishing for these fish is usually done at night. Blue snapper, in particular, displays a mesmerizing blue color under lights at night, hence its name 'night-scaled snapper'," the shopkeeper patiently explained.

"I see—then what about black claw lobsters?" Levi asked the shopkeeper, his eyes shining.

"Black claw lobster? I've never heard of that name before. But if it has black claws, then it should be a clawed lobster. A black clawed lobster—could it be a South African clawed lobster?" the shopkeeper pondered.

"Lobster? (Lobster and lobster are not the same word)" Li Wei heard a somewhat unfamiliar word.

"Do you know Boston lobsters? Boston lobsters aren't actually real lobsters, because real lobsters don't have claws (pincers), understand?" the shopkeeper said.

"Huh?" Li Wei really didn't know this point of knowledge and had a slight doubt about it.

What he didn't know was that what the boss said was true.

Lobsters with two large claws, like the Boston lobster, belong to the family Scutiidae.

True lobsters, such as Australian lobster, red lobster, ornate lobster, and rose lobster, all belong to the Lobsteridae family.

"Hey, this is actually quite normal, just like a king crab isn't a crab." The boss was clearly used to Li Wei's naive expression.

“Uh…” Li Wei was speechless when the boss mentioned king crab.

He did know that king crabs weren't actually crabs.

Because king crabs only have one pair of claws and six legs.

A real crab has a pair of pincers and eight legs.

Thinking about it this way, since Boston lobster isn't a lobster, it doesn't seem like there's any problem.

"Boss, why don't you tell me about the South African lobster you mentioned earlier?" Li Wei said.

"This kind of thing is relatively rare here, though not really. You've had Boston lobsters, right? Thick shells, right? South African mastiff lobsters have even thicker shells, less meat, and a less appealing texture. Plus, they're only found in South Africa, so transporting them is expensive and they don't sell well, which is why they're so rare in the US. However, its dark color does match what you described as a black-clawed lobster," the shopkeeper said.

South Africa... Levi was a little disappointed, but he quickly came to terms with it.

After all, it's already quite good that we know about the two species, the sunfish and the night-scaled sea bream.

With the whereabouts of these two types of fish known, the black claw lobster is no longer so important—because the recipe for stewed lobster, which requires it, is one of the very few foods that doesn't have any attributes, just like the delicious little fish. Apart from increasing skill levels, it has basically no value.

However, boiled shad and night shad soup are different.

The former enhances recovery ability, which means restoring health.

The latter restores mana, which is equivalent to replenishing mana.

Both are highly functional cooking foods.

"I see, I understand. Give me ten cases of silver salmon!" Having gained so much information from the shopkeeper, Li Wei naturally returned the favor and directly ordered ten cases of silver salmon. "Ten cases? Sure, do you need home delivery?" Hearing that Li Wei wanted ten cases at once, the already enthusiastic shopkeeper became even more enthusiastic.

"No need, just put it in the car for me!" Li Wei said.

Ten boxes of silver salmon, that sounds like a lot.

But in reality, the number is not large.

There are only four in a box.

So ten boxes, which is forty servings of boiled scalloped salmon.

However, the quantity is small, but the weight is not light.

Because coho salmon are not small to begin with, a single coho salmon usually weighs around 3-4 kilograms.

The coho salmon sold by this owner are all top-quality, each weighing over 4 kilograms.

Forty fish, and the weight is already close to two hundred kilograms.

Li Wei himself couldn't move it.

However, compared to the blue snapper, also known as the night-scaled snapper, that Levi was going to buy next, the silver salmon was just a child's plaything.

These creatures are typically about one meter long and weigh between 30 and 40 kilograms.

A true heavyweight contender.

So after confirming that the blue snapper was indeed a night-scaled snapper, Li Wei only ordered one—for training skills, a sun-scaled salmon was enough, and Li Wei only planned to make one serving of night-scaled snapper soup to taste it.

However, looking at the enormous blue snapper, Levi still scratched his head a little.

Damn it, this thing looks so small in the game, how come it's so big in the real world?
How big of a pot would you need to make soup with this thing?

However, as soon as this thought popped into his head, a piece of information appeared in his mind.

Oh, so the fish soup doesn't actually use the whole fish, but rather the fish head.

That's fine then. There's enough room in the soup pot at home to fit a fish head.

Hey, that’s not right!

If the fish head is enough for soup, what about the whole fish body?
Lost? Are you kidding me? I paid for it.

Eat? How long would it take him to eat over 100 pounds?
Forget it, I'll just put it in my inventory later. It won't spoil anyway, I can eat it slowly and finish it eventually.

………………

A few days later at noon, Li Wei was eating blue snapper sashimi while watching the news.

I must say, in the hot summer, eating some ice-cold sashimi is quite pleasant.

Moreover, the flesh of the blue snapper is quite good; it is not as soft as salmon, but has a very chewy texture.

Li Wei has been eating a lot these past few days.

What? Parasites?
Hmm, I wonder if healing potions or emergency antidotes would be effective.

Leave it alone.

Just as Li Wei was enjoying his meal, a news report came on.

"A shooting occurred last night in an apartment building in Queens, resulting in one death. The deceased is reportedly a Homeland Security employee, and the case may involve foreign forces..."

Is that you? Uncle Punishment?

Li Wei thought of it.

(End of this chapter)