Chapter 288 Part 1: Wei Jiaguo—Let's Give It a Dignified End

Chu Mingcheng did the same. He checked the aquatic plants and then drove the boat upstream of them. The three men stood on the boat, facing different directions, and cast their lines a few times.

Chu Mingcheng was reeling in his line at a steady pace when—Huala!—a series of waves suddenly erupted where the skirt-tailed grub was.

"A hit! A hit!" The two anglers next to him immediately crowded over.

Chu Mingcheng lifted his rod to set the hook. Swish~! The fishing rod bent instantly, the rod tip trembling slightly.

He was used to fishing for big catches, and with his increased strength, the rod felt light in his hands. But fishing was all about enjoying the process of fighting the fish and the final harvest.

Therefore, he didn't use brute force. Instead, he tugged the rod and slowly reeled in the line.

But just as Chu Mingcheng turned the reel handle twice and a calm smile appeared on his face, his hand suddenly stiffened. It seemed he had snagged something heavy.

The fish thrashed twice and then went silent. The river surface fell quiet again. The fish was gone!

"..."

The two anglers glanced at each other, coughed twice, and silently returned to their original spots to continue fishing.

Chu Mingcheng felt incredibly awkward. Even a master stumbles!

However, this kind of accident had nothing to do with his technique. Who could have known that a hooked fish would get snagged on something?

Chu Mingcheng tried to reel in, only to find that the snagged object was extremely heavy. He actually couldn't pull it up.

It wasn't that he lacked strength, but the fishing rod was too thin to yank it forcefully.

He simply grabbed the fishing line directly and tried to pull the object up from the bottom.

Who knew the thing at the bottom was even heavier than he'd imagined. The fishing line went taut, looking like it would snap at any second.

Chu Mingcheng was considering just pulling the line until it broke, but the object at the bottom suddenly moved. He had clearly managed to shift it.

Since he could move it, the line probably wouldn't need to be broken.

But even though he could move it, the object was still excessively heavy. It felt like it weighed at least a hundred jin.

As Chu Mingcheng slowly reeled in the line, a broken red rope surfaced first, followed by a large magnet, and then a large bundle of rusted rebar that it was stuck to.

"Holy crap, you caught rebar?" Angler A had been watching him. He was astonished to see such a large bundle of rebar being pulled up.

From the way he scanned Chu Mingcheng's body, his surprise seemed to be more about his strength. After all, not just anyone could pull up such a massive bundle of rebar.

"Bro, need help?" Angler B saw this, quickly put down his rod, and offered to help.

"It's fine, I can lift it." Chu Mingcheng declined, then reached out, grabbed the rebar, and lifted it up with ease.

The two anglers' mouths gaped slightly. They both gave him a thumbs-up. "Bro, your strength is incredible!"

"It's alright. I often go deep-sea fishing for big catches, and all that spearfishing has improved my fitness."

Chu Mingcheng held the rebar with one hand and waved with the other, smiling.

The two anglers looked at each other. Did we look that gullible? We're not uneducated!

But they weren't very familiar with each other, so they couldn't ask too many questions.

Chu Mingcheng waited for most of the water to drain from the rebar, then lifted it and gave it a good shake before placing it on the boat.

This series of actions made the two anglers' eyelids twitch again. This wasn't just good strength, was it?

They were adults; they had common sense. A bundle of rebar like that had to be nearly a hundred jin, plus the water weight...

Lifting it easily with one hand and even shaking it meant Chu Mingcheng's strength was far greater than it looked. It was truly surprising.

As for Chu Mingcheng, he was quite satisfied with this bundle of rebar.

The recycling price for scrap rebar is about one yuan per jin. The price varies by location, but not by much.

Selling this bundle as scrap iron could fetch over a hundred yuan. Another bit of income.

The two anglers did a quick mental calculation and suddenly realized that catching other things while fishing wasn't so bad. How come it never happened to them?

They silently went back to fishing, hoping a fish might swim by wearing a gold bracelet.

Chu Mingcheng cut the fishing line. It had somehow gotten tangled with the broken rope on the magnet, tied in a dead knot.

He had no idea how the line had managed that. Maybe the fish had thrashed around and tied it?

He wasn't sure of the reason and couldn't be bothered to dig deeper. However, he was very interested in this magnet.

It was palm-sized but could firmly hold a hundred jin of rebar. Its magnetic force was incredibly strong!

This was a good item to take back. Some places have a custom of "tossing coins from bridges." If he was ever broke, he could bring the magnet and go fishing for them.

He continued fishing. After a little while, Angler A, who was still empty-handed, couldn't take it anymore. He had paid a hundred-yuan boat fee and didn't want to waste the whole afternoon.

"Bro, I know a spot on this river with a ton of fish. How about we go there?"

Chu Mingcheng nodded and reeled in his rod. The fishing here really was slow; a change of scenery was a good idea.

Since he'd taken their money, he had to provide good service.

He steered the boat in the direction Angler A pointed. About five or six minutes later, they arrived at a much wider section of the river.

There were several abandoned bridge piers in the middle of the river here—a classic fish-hiding spot.

But under normal circumstances, anyone without a boat had no way of fishing here.

And sure enough, not long after they arrived, the two anglers each landed a topmouth culter. Both were fifty or sixty centimeters long—if not four jin, at least three-plus.

The water quality in this river looked good, not too polluted. This kind of wild topmouth culter would normally sell for sixty to seventy yuan a jin.

Of course, when anglers sell their fish, people usually haggle. But they could still get at least fifty yuan a jin. That was over one hundred fifty yuan for one fish.

This made them grin from ear to ear, their enthusiasm surging.

Chu Mingcheng did well too, catching a two-jin freshwater bass, which successfully added a bit of experience to his Aquatic Species Codex.

The base of the piers was a fish aggregation spot. It was indeed an excellent location, and he made a mental note of it.

Deep-sea fishing and spearfishing were for making money; river fishing was purely for entertainment.

Just like now. Chu Mingcheng was flicking his lure, one cast after another. The two anglers next to him had already caught two more fish, but he wasn't worried in the slightest.

He didn't even turn on the Fish Gathering function, relying only on the slight boost from the regular Codex.

He was just lure fishing today. If he had been fishing for crucian carp, the boost from the codex would probably have let him fill a bucket in an afternoon.

However, this kind of nonchalant attitude sometimes leads to unexpected events.

Sure enough, as the skirt-tailed grub was being retrieved again, it was targeted by a two-jin topmouth culter.

It shot forward and bit down, unaware of the predator stalking it. A massive shadow suddenly appeared in the water; its huge mouth opened, and it instantly swallowed the struggling topmouth culter.

"Holy crap!" Chu Mingcheng, who had been lazily reeling in his line, was nearly yanked into the water by the sudden, immense force.

Don't be fooled by his current strength; if he was caught off guard, he could still be pulled into the water.

Luckily, he was lure fishing today and had a spinning reel to act as a buffer, allowing him to stabilize himself.

But the fishing rod instantly bent into a deep crescent, almost reaching its breaking point.

At that moment, the water roiled, and a massive black carp appeared on the surface, struggling.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..."

The huge commotion immediately caught the attention of the two anglers, making them tremble with excitement, capable of uttering only a single, pure expletive.

As anglers, who doesn't love catching big fish?

Especially a massive black carp over a meter long. Only an angler knows how rare a catch this is.

Angler A saw the state of Chu Mingcheng's rod and rushed over excitedly. "Quick, release the line, release the line! The rod's gonna snap!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the black carp in the water thrashed its head. The rod finally gave way to the force and, with a crack!, snapped into three pieces.

The two anglers saw this and their faces filled with regret. The fish was gone.

But Chu Mingcheng's reaction was lightning fast. He tossed the rod, whipped his phone from his pocket and threw it onto the boat, and then dove straight into the water.

A fish this big, and it snapped his rod. Now it wanted to get away? How could he let that happen?

"Holy crap~!"

"Dangerous! Come back!"

The two anglers tensed up. Plenty of anglers will jump in the water to grab a fish, but it depends on the fish.

Normally, you could try to wrestle a fish of about twenty jin, but even that is extremely difficult.

A fish of just a few jin can be hard to hold onto when it struggles. A twenty-jin one, you have to hug it, and you still risk getting injured.

This thing was over a meter long. If you dare to fight it, one ram or tail-slap to the head could easily knock you unconscious.

And even if you caught it, you couldn't control it!

But all they could do was stare nervously at the water, phones out, ready to call the police and an ambulance.

After diving in, Chu Mingcheng quickly found the massive black carp as it was trying to leave.

It was rare to encounter one this big. Even if he couldn't get it to shore, he had to at least play with it. This was much rarer than catching a tuna.

Chu Mingcheng quickly gave chase. This type of large fish wasn't a fast swimmer, but his own swimming speed was on a different level now. He easily caught up to it.

The black carp sensed a shadow even bigger than itself and thrashed its tail, trying to flee. But it was too late!

Chu Mingcheng moved in, reaching for its gill cover and its open, breathing mouth.

He was wearing cut-resistant gloves, so he wasn't afraid of getting cut.

However, the moment Chu Mingcheng got his hands on it, the black carp thrashed its head and slipped from his grasp.

Seeing this, he simply balled up his fists and—Bang! Bang!—landed two quick punches on the fish's head. His strength was immense, and thanks to his cheat, he faced little resistance in the water.

These two punches landed squarely on its head, instantly stunning the fish.

It was as if Mike Tyson, in his prime, had come over and clocked the fish twice.

Chu Mingcheng's strength was greater than Tyson's, but he wasn't a boxer and couldn't unleash his full power. Plus, his position in the water was awkward, which affected him. So it wasn't surprising that his punches weren't necessarily stronger.

It sounds like it took a long time, but he had only been in the water for a minute and a half.

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