The two were getting antsy. They reeled in their lines with a speed they hadn’t used since they were single, then set their rods aside and rushed over.

Gu Nan had thought the large yellow croaker was half a meter long, but it was actually only about forty-five centimeters. There was a bit of a discrepancy.

He lifted the fish with a gripper and glanced at the scale. It read 1,783 grams—almost 3.9 pounds.

A fish of this weight was already incredible, but its condition was also a key factor.

“Almost four pounds! Yi Chen, you’re going to make a fortune! This fish has to be worth at least six or seven thousand!” An Jun wasn’t hurting for a few thousand, but as a budding angler, he was green with envy.

Besides, large yellow croakers of this size were rare, and ones caught by hook-and-line were even more so.

“It’ll probably be even more expensive around the Mid-Autumn Festival,” Gu Nan said after inspecting its condition. He found it to be excellent; it would definitely sell for a high price.

He wasn’t just pulling numbers out of thin air. Hook-and-line caught fish were already more expensive than net-caught ones, and it was normal for the price to jump by several hundred yuan per pound around the Mid-Autumn Festival.

This nearly four-pound fish really could sell for ten thousand yuan. Of course, that was only if they preserved it properly to keep it from spoiling.

However, fish caught in the real world couldn’t be stored in his Fresh-Freeze Storage. Without flash-freezing it, Gu Nan wasn’t confident he could keep the fish fresh all the way until the Mid-Autumn Festival.

In any case, they would be back to fish again. He wouldn’t dare dream of a five-and-a-half-pounder, but he figured he still had a chance of catching another one around three pounds.

Gu Nan found a styrofoam cooler and shoveled in a layer of ice. He placed the large yellow croaker, which Yi Chen had already bled and cleaned, inside and covered it with another layer of ice.

Large yellow croakers weren’t usually bled, as they didn’t have much blood to begin with, but it was a necessary step for preserving the meat’s quality for longer.

With the fish packed in ice, An Jun and Ye Jing returned to their own spots to continue fishing. Even if they couldn’t land one this big, catching any large yellow croaker was a win.

Once he was done, Gu Nan baited his own hook and cast his line. ‘Should I use a Seafood Selection Card to get another Legendary large yellow croaker?’ he wondered.

The thought was fleeting, however. ‘There’s still a while until the Mid-Autumn Festival. It’s too early to think about that. If I’m going to use it, it should be on the day itself.’

Still, hoping to catch a bigger fish, he let out more line this time to see if he could hook a larger yellow croaker from the bottom of the school.

However, he had only let out another ten feet of line, not yet having reached his target depth, when something snatched his bait.

With a fish on the line, he couldn’t worry about catching a bigger one. Gu Nan jerked his rod up to set the hook and started reeling in quickly.

The pull was just as weak as before, and he brought the fish in with ease.

When he saw it was a large yellow croaker, bigger than the ones he’d caught before, Gu Nan’s eyes lit up. ‘This one might be over a pound,’ he thought.

“That’s a nice one,” Yi Chen praised. The price per pound doubled once they hit that weight, so the more, the merrier.

“It i—” Before he could finish, Gu Nan’s face fell as he got a good look at the fish’s condition.

The fish itself was decent enough, but when compared to the others he’d caught, the slight difference in quality was noticeable.

Its build was fine, but its scales were slightly disheveled.

Even if it was over a pound, a fish in this condition would only sell for three to five hundred yuan per pound, far from the top market price.

Unless Gu Nan was willing to be unscrupulous and swindle someone who didn’t know any better.

There were plenty of wealthy clients willing to buy large yellow croakers, and most of them were discerning.

But there was never a shortage of suckers, so selling it would still be easy.

Gu Nan had no intention of lowering his standards and compromising his conscience for a few hundred yuan. ‘My moral compass isn’t that finely tuned to begin with; I’m just an ordinary guy. If I lower my standards any further, won’t I be completely subpar?’

So he grabbed a separate, empty cooler and put the fish inside.

Yi Chen glanced over, thinking he was deliberately separating the larger fish. “Aren’t you going to weigh it?” she asked. “It feels like it’s over a pound.”

“We’ll do it when we get back. Let’s focus on fishing for now.” Gu Nan shook his head. Unless it was an exceptionally large one, there was no need to waste time weighing each fish.

He then went back to letting out more line to fish deeper, since his earlier attempt had paid off.

His hook had just sunk when, beside him, Yi Chen’s rod suddenly bent sharply.

A look of delighted surprise flashed in her eyes as she quickly set the hook and began reeling in.

Gu Nan was stunned. ‘Has all the luck today been siphoned off by my girlfriend?’

However, when a purplish-red fish was pulled from the water, he realized he’d been overthinking things.

“Oh, what? It’s just a small Red Friend Fish. I thought it was another yellow croaker!” Yi Chen mumbled as she unhooked it.

This Red Friend Fish was just over two pounds, which was small for its species, but it could still sell for a little over a hundred yuan.

But the value was so different from the large yellow croaker that it was a bit of a letdown.

Seeing this fish, however, gave Gu Nan a bad feeling. Red Friend Fish were somewhat gregarious and quite aggressive; when a school of them showed up, they tended to drive other fish away.

Only fiercer fish like groupers and wrasses weren’t afraid of them. Compared to a Red Friend Fish, a large yellow croaker was a total pushover.

Gu Nan could only hope that Yi Chen’s catch was a coincidence and that the school of large yellow croakers was still around.

However, after An Jun and Ye Jing both landed a Red Friend Fish, Gu Nan hooked one as well.

“Where did this school of Red Friend Fish come from all of a sudden?” An Jun grumbled while unhooking one.

“Even in a school, there aren’t too many of them. Let’s just catch them all quickly. Once they’re gone, we’ll toss out some more bait, and the large yellow croakers will definitely come back.” Gu Nan had no other choice. Moving spots rashly didn’t guarantee they’d find the large yellow croakers again, so it was better to just stay put and fish.

He caught a dozen or so Red Friend Fish in quick succession, and with the others catching some as well, they finally fished the small school dry.

For a while, everyone’s rods went quiet. Gu Nan then realized it was time to toss out some more Antarctic krill to lure the school back.

After he tossed in several scoops, the large yellow croakers reappeared as expected.

Everyone on the boat was all smiles; after all, the large yellow croakers were far more valuable.

However, Gu Nan and the others had no idea that a group of uninvited guests had just arrived in these waters.

Since large yellow croakers were on the menu for these uninvited guests, their sudden abundance naturally drew them in.

Some people were happily reeling in their lines, only to pull up nothing but a small yellow croaker head, prompting them to curse out loud.

They were cut short when they saw a group of behemoths they couldn’t afford to provoke surface on the water, which only made their cursing even more vicious.

Just because they couldn’t provoke them didn’t mean they couldn’t curse them out a little; it’s not like words could kill them.

But the boats were far apart, and with the sea wind howling, Gu Nan and his friends couldn’t hear the distant cursing, completely unaware that trouble was heading their way.

A little while later, he hooked a fish and started reeling it in normally when a massive force suddenly hit, nearly yanking the rod right out of his hands.

The force was only a little less than the Legendary marlin he’d caught. Gu Nan was stunned. ‘Something stole my fish!’

But in the next instant, an immense power erupted from the water, leaving him no room for further thought. He could only cling desperately to his rod and let the fish run.

Deep down, Gu Nan was excited. ‘A fish this big… if it’s a swordfish or a marlin, that’s fine too. At least it’s worth way more than a little yellow croaker.’

“Did you hook a big one?” Yi Chen asked, tilting her head in surprise.

The whizzing sound of the line slicing through the water caught the attention of An Jun and Ye Jing behind him. Seeing what was happening, they were both amazed and frustrated.

They were amazed that such a huge fish was in the area, but frustrated to find that their spot seemed to have bad feng shui, since all the action was happening on Gu Nan’s side.

“Ah Nan, you’re really going to fight that thing?” An Jun shouted. “Is your hook and line for large yellow croakers strong enough?”

Gu Nan braced himself against the boat’s gunwale for leverage, which eased the strain enough for him to reply, “Might as well try! What if I actually land it? This line is top quality.”

Although Ye Jing was a novice, he knew some fishing basics and didn’t quite understand Gu Nan’s decision. “That line is definitely going to snap! Why waste your energy?”

“As a veteran angler, even if the fish gets away and the line snaps, you have to experience the thrill of fighting a big one.” Gu Nan couldn’t very well explain that he was actually using an item-based cheat.

‘Anyway, if I do manage to land it, I’ll just chalk it up to skill and luck.’

‘My rod acts completely normal in anyone else’s hands, anyway. Even if they used it, they wouldn’t notice anything odd.’

“If you can’t handle it, just cut the line,” Yi Chen said. “I’m going to move to a different spot.”

Yi Chen had already reeled in her line. After offering her advice, she moved to a spot farther away from him to prevent the big fish from tangling their lines as it thrashed about.

She also thought Gu Nan was wasting his effort and would be better off just sticking to fishing for large yellow croakers.

Just as she moved to her new spot, the huge fish on Gu Nan’s line suddenly changed direction and charged toward their boat.

The taut line suddenly went slack. He’d been in this situation before. Tapping into the arm strength he’d honed over the past few years, he began reeling in the line frantically.

In just a moment, the fish shot into the area illuminated by the boat’s lights.

When he saw the small, triangular “flag” break the surface, Gu Nan was stunned once again.

“Huh? Did you hook a shark?” Yi Chen saw it too and let out a cry of surprise.

After the first triangular fin appeared, a dozen more followed. When a pink dolphin leaped out of the water, Gu Nan raised an eyebrow and said with resignation, “Oh, it’s a Chinese white dolphin. A Class-I protected freeloader we can’t mess with. Same tier as a panda.”

“Now this is a big shot we really can’t afford to offend. I have to cut the line. Chenchen, grab the scissors and give me a hand.”

“You got it!” Yi Chen had also seen the pod of “freeloaders.” She quickly reeled in her own line, grabbed the scissors, and snipped Gu Nan’s line.

“But you have to admit, the dolphin’s color is really pretty. It’s such a lovely pink.”

The one Gu Nan had hooked now poked its head out of the water. Its mouth was open with the hook stuck inside, and it looked rather uncomfortable.

Its companions all gathered around it, letting out a series of clicks and whistles unique to dolphins, seemingly communicating with each other.

Gu Nan could only shrug helplessly. It was the dolphin’s own fault for being so greedy.

Unless it was smart enough to come over to the boat for help, there was nothing he could do.

However, Yi Chen seemed to have taken a liking to the adorable creatures. She actually took a Red Friend Fish from the cooler and tossed it toward the dolphins a dozen meters away.

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