Chapter 1041: 1038: Strange Creatures of Sea Fishing City

"Huh?"Yu Zhenghong stared dumbfounded, watching the grouper keep struggling out of the water, waving its fins at him, signaling him to throw in two more ladles of groundbait, a huge question mark slowly popping up over his head.

At this moment, on the entire Sea Fishing City pier, dozens of anglers who had been chatting and laughing all fell silent.

The lonely pier was filled only with the sound of the sea breeze and the grouper's weird "goo goo" calls.

Even in Ah Qing's livestream room, not a single comment floated by; everyone was frozen.

"Goo—"

Maybe because Yu Zhenghong hadn't responded for too long, the giant grouper in the sea got anxious, suddenly turned around and dove back into the water, then gunned its engines and, like a fish leaping over the dragon gate, came crashing heavily onto the pier area.

"Pa-pa-pa—"

The grouper opened its huge mouth, using the thrust from its tail and fins to flop and chase after Yu Zhenghong.

"What the hell!"

Seeing the grouper slam down beside him, Yu Zhenghong's expression changed drastically. He let out a strangled yelp, turned around, and ran.

"Ah Qing! There's something unclean in this damn sea!"

"Goo goo!"

The grouper thrashed its nearly two-hundred-jin body, chasing Yu Zhenghong around the pier area.

All along the way, the anglers went from shock to their eyes turning red with envy, jealousy practically overflowing.

What makes fishing so attractive is that it's a game of wits and also taps into the primal hunting instinct buried in living creatures.

This fish is literally delivering itself to your mouth—how is that any different from a rich young lady showing up at your door with her family assets after pressing the elevator herself?

"Everyone, everyone, our fishing ground is extremely clean; the sea is full of starving, desperate fish. Ah Qing's old man has just used his own personal experience to prove it to you all!"

Chen Zhiyu ignored Yu Zhenghong being chased by the fish, raised his hand, and spoke loudly to the pier, pulling the atmosphere back.

"Xiaolan..."

Ah Qing stared blankly for quite a while before snapping back to her senses. As if guessing something, she looked at the little fox and said:

"Is that grouper your friend? It's not actually going to take a bite out of my old man's butt, right?"

Groupers are carnivorous fish with mouths full of sharp teeth. Although you rarely hear about groupers biting people, just one look at those teeth is enough to be terrifying.

"Me? I'm not familiar with groupers at all!" Ansheng waved his hand casually and said, "But before opening, the Orca already told the fish school not to hurt people. If they run into anglers who fall into the water while chumming, they have to try their best to rescue them."

"Old Deng's not gonna have an accident..."

The angler's mental collapse trilogy: broken rod, snapped line, and the person falling in. Get two of those at once, and no matter how addicted to fishing you are, you'll be forced into sage mode.

Since this concerns the fishing ground's revenue, the Spirit Beast Gang's fish schools all receive related training before they clock in.

No matter how riled up the grouper gets, it's not going to pin Old Deng to the ground and grind him.

If anything, now that Old Deng has gotten over the initial panic, he's probably having the time of his life, deliberately kiting the giant grouper into the crowd of anglers.

Yang Qingfeng clenched his jaw so hard his teeth were about to shatter, and grabbed the giant grouper's tail with both arms, not letting it keep chasing.

[Watching a bro driving a Land Rover, the tea factory owner's teeth are about to crack.]

[LOL]

The barrage in the livestream room slowly floated back up, teasing Yang Qingfeng, who had once appeared on stream.

Boss Yang's name was a milestone in the fishing livestream scene.

Without some heaven-defying skill, how could a normal person possibly hook a baby fish that had just been born?

"Hoo... Now it's my turn."

Ah Qing looked at the rebar fishing rod in her hand, gave herself a mental pep talk, then tossed out the groundbait mix her old man had prepared, and swung the rod. The hook sliced through the air with a sharp whoosh and dropped right into the baited spot.

"Xiaolan, what do you think I'll hook up?" Ah Qing sat on the tackle box and asked the little fox who had come over.

"Grouper, ribbonfish, pomfret maybe? There's a lower probability of hooking something like a tuna."

"Of course, I'm not ruling out some weird things..." After glancing at the sea surface, Ansheng let out a little whimper to Ah Qing.

"Weird things?" Ah Qing froze, not quite understanding what the little fox meant by weird things.

But just as she was about to ask, that symbolic-more-than-functional rebar rod of hers suddenly started to shake violently, to the point that even Ah Qing, who was gripping the rod handle with her hands and stepping on the rod with her foot, was yanked forward, staggering.

"Huh?"

Ah Qing's arms burst with strength, and she immediately stabilized the wildly swaying rod, then stood up straight, loosened the drag on the reel, and tried to play the fish.

Judging from the current pull on the rod, whatever had taken the hook down there weighed at least a hundred jin.

"Uncle Yang! Uncle Yang! Come play this fish, quick! I think I've hooked a hundred-jin monster!"

Even while fighting the rod, Ah Qing didn't forget that she'd promised earlier to let Yang Qingfeng fight the fish, so she hurriedly called him over.

"On my way!"

Drenched from head to toe, Yang Qingfeng stiffened up instantly when he heard Ah Qing shout for him to come play the fish. He no longer cared about the giant grouper biting his butt, and sprinted over to Ah Qing at a speed surpassing Bolt, rubbing his hands together like a fly.

"Uncle Yang, be careful, it's really strong." Ah Qing backed up several steps while holding the rod, forcefully creating some buffer for Uncle Yang so he wouldn't be dragged into the sea before even gripping the rod properly.

"Got it!"

Yang Qingfeng gathered all his strength, planted one foot heavily on the pier in a wide stance, held his breath, and took the rod from Ah Qing.

The instant he grabbed the rod, Yang Qingfeng immediately felt a tug-of-war-like pull and the trembling of the line.

The faintly quivering fishing line was like the beating of an ECG, and in that moment, Yang Qingfeng even felt a kind of wonderful state of "man, rod, and fish as one."

But that feeling came quickly and left just as fast, because that tug-of-war-like force suddenly vanished.

"The fish... came off?"

Yang Qingfeng froze and looked to Ah Qing, seeking the verdict of the master angler.

"Uh..." Ah Qing's expression turned stiff. She raised a hand and pointed at the sea surface a dozen meters away. "It didn't come off... but it seems a little unhappy."

Dark shadows rose from the depths, and golden, armor-like scales gleamed under the warm sun.

A fish about 2.3 meters long with thick lips and a gloomy black face surfaced, bringing a few big pomfrets along with it.

The fish had the hook still in its mouth and just quietly floated there on the surface, staring straight at Yang Qingfeng, a hint of contempt in those big round eyes.

"A yel... Yellow-lipped fish! Dear Dragon King above!"

The moment he saw the big fish surface, Yang Qingfeng immediately dropped the rod in his hand and snapped to attention.

The yellow-lipped fish, also known as the golden croaker, is a first-class protected animal in Xia Country. It was once massively overfished because it produces top-grade fish maw.

It's also called the golden fish because a single piece of its fish maw could sell for over a million.

Right now, Yang Qingfeng felt like just looking at this fish brother might get him sentenced to seven years.

"Hetui—"

The yellow-lipped fish lifted its head, sucked in a mouthful of seawater, and spat it straight onto Yang Qingfeng's face.

"!!!"

The culprit Ah Qing's face was about to crack; she instinctively took a step back and shielded the little fox behind her.

"Xiaolan... this is the weird thing you were talking about?" Ah Qing asked, eyes wide.

"Let's just say it's one of them! There are quite a lot of protected animals like Orcas and Stingrays around here." Ansheng shrugged and informed Ah Qing:

"If you stick a Fish Catcher into Sea Fishing City's waters, your sentence will go up faster than the numbers on a gas pump..."

"A weird thing like the yellow-lipped fish is heavyweight even in our Sea Fishing City—on the same level as a panda at the table."

"Ah Qing, your luck is seriously off the charts."