Chapter 36: Little Deng! Big fish, it's a big fish! Help me pull!

Every cell in Jiang Fan’s body surged with energy. He pulled out his reinforced steel fishing rod, baited the hook, and cast his line. Yet, the next second, the five-hundred-and-fifty-eight-pound Mekong giant catfish vanished.

"It’s gone?"

Jiang Fan scanned the surroundings with his sonar-equipped sunglasses, but he couldn't find a trace of the giant catfish anywhere. It was as if he had just hallucinated. But how could the data from his sonar sunglasses be a hallucination?

He dumped all his remaining bait into the lake to create a feeding frenzy. A dense school of fish, large and small, swarmed toward the kayak until they nearly covered the water surface beneath it. Any angler would have been thrilled by such a sight, yet the massive creature remained nowhere to be found. Could it be that the giant beast wasn't interested in the "Wild Combat Blue Crucian" God of War edition bait?

Just then, movement erupted from Liu Zhoucheng’s side. The old man was gripping his rod with both hands, pulling back with all his might—it was clearly a massive catch.

"Chairman Liu, what’s going on?" He Qiang asked upon seeing the scene.

Liu Zhoucheng cursed, "What do you mean 'what's going on'? Can’t you see I’ve hooked a monster? Get over here and help!"

Hearing this, He Qiang dropped his own rod and limped over. "Chairman Liu, how big is it? Is it really that exaggerated?"

He Qiang grabbed the rod to assist, and a sudden, immense force nearly dragged both of them into the water.

"What?!"

Realizing it was indeed a massive fish, He Qiang braced himself and latched onto Liu Zhoucheng. "Chairman Liu, pull! Pull! This fish is at least eighty pounds!"

"It’s more than that!" Liu Zhoucheng exclaimed in excitement, exerting every ounce of strength he had.

Even with He Qiang’s weight added, the two men were being tossed around like ragdolls. The fish showed no signs of tiring and was slowly dragging them toward the water.

Jiang Fan returned in his kayak, looked at the two men clinging to each other, and asked, "What is this, a Sichuan opera performance?"

"You brat!" Liu Zhoucheng yelled. "A big fish! A big fish! Hurry up and help me pull!"

Jiang Fan frowned. "A big fish? Don't tell me you hooked that five-hundred-and-fifty-eight-pound Mekong giant catfish?"

He stepped out of the kayak and checked through his sonar sunglasses.

[Bighead Carp; 120 pounds!]

"So it’s just a 120-pound bighead carp..."

While 120 pounds was certainly large, for Jiang Fan, who had once landed a 358-pounder, anything under two hundred pounds was just a small fry.

"Brat! Why are you just standing there! Help me pull! My old bones are about to snap!" Liu Zhoucheng barked.

Jiang Fan had no choice but to step in. "You old geezer! You can't even handle a hundred-pounder and you call yourself a big-game angler? Watch how I play it with one hand!"

As Jiang Fan took over the rod, he really did start playing the fish with one hand, leaving Liu Zhoucheng and He Qiang staring in disbelief.

"No way, kid, you're actually playing it with one hand?"

"Brother Fan, that fish is at least eighty pounds. Isn't your strength a bit too absurd?"

Jiang Fan shrugged. Back at Beimen River, he had been able to land a 132-pound catfish one-handed even without his strength attribute points, let alone now that he had added 400 points to his stats!

"Brat, take this seriously! If the fish gets away, you’re divorcing my daughter immediately!"

"..."

Damn, anglers were truly insane. Anything could happen, but the fish could never escape! It was like the time He Qiang let a thirty-pound bighead carp get away from Liu Zhoucheng, a grudge he had held for decades.

Under Jiang Fan’s expert handling, the big fish was soon exhausted.

"Tag team! Tag team!" Liu Zhoucheng grabbed the rod back to reel it in himself, ordering He Qiang to record a video of him looking cool while landing the fish.

"Old geezer, wait until I’ve played it out so I can post it on Douyin myself. You’re starting to act like a 'Deng-style' amateur."

"Get lost! Don't you dare say a word, or you're divorcing my daughter!"

"..."

*Detestable old man,* Jiang Fan thought, *one of these days I’m going to elope with your daughter!*

Before long, Liu Zhoucheng dragged the 120-pound bighead carp onto the bank.

[Ding! Liu Zhoucheng has caught a 120-pound bighead carp. System cash multiplier: 230x!]

[Wild Bighead Carp: 120 pounds. Market price: 6 yuan per pound.]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for receiving 165,600 RMB!]

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for receiving 1,500 emotion points!]

"Hahaha! That’s got to be a hundred pounds, right? This is the first time I’ve caught such a big fish! Kid, if I had another daughter, I’d marry her off to you too!"

Jiang Fan, "???"

He Qiang, "Chairman Liu? Hello? I’ve been filming you the whole time? Hello, what about me? Does your daughter like me?"

Liu Zhoucheng, "Get lost! You’re about the same age as me! If you have so much energy, go get a massage at a club, don't waste your breath here!"

He Qiang felt deeply depressed. "So, can we finally move on from that thirty-pound carp that got away decades ago?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's over! I'm not that petty!" Liu Zhoucheng waved him off, then excitedly posed for a photo with the giant fish to post on his social media.

Suddenly, He Qiang bolted back to his own fishing spot and frantically pulled up the rod he had left on the ground.

"Hahaha! I've got one too! And it’s a big one!"

He Qiang was beside himself, using every bit of strength he had. While Jiang Fan had played his fish one-handed, He Qiang was playing his one-footed.

"He Qiang, stop bragging. Can it really be bigger than mine?" Liu Zhoucheng asked, pointing at his 120-pound catch.

No sooner had he finished speaking than He Qiang was nearly dragged into the water. Fortunately, Liu Zhoucheng ran over in time to grab him. The two of them performed another act of their "Sichuan opera."

"It’s huge! This one is really huge!!" He Qiang screamed.

Liu Zhoucheng grew excited as well. He could sense that this fish was even bigger than the one he had just caught. Jiang Fan walked over and checked with his sonar sunglasses.

[Mekong Giant Catfish! 558 pounds!]

"!!!"

Just as Jiang Fan was about to step in to help, the rod in He Qiang’s hands snapped!

"Crack!"

"What?!"

"My five-thousand-yuan rod just snapped!" He Qiang’s eyes widened in horror. Liu Zhoucheng’s eyes were equally wide. If a five-thousand-yuan rod could be shattered so easily, just how big was this fish?

Jiang Fan kept his eyes on the broken rod as it was dragged away. He prepared to dive into the water to retrieve it, but in the next second, the rod sank rapidly to the bottom, vanishing so quickly that even his sonar sunglasses couldn't pick up a signal!

*No way, this giant catfish is that fast?!*

"Damn it all! Another big fish gone! Another rod snapped! Is this Water Curtain Cave cursed against me or something?!" He Qiang was so frustrated he nearly slapped his own thighs raw.

Jiang Fan began to wonder if He Qiang’s injured leg wasn't from being caught in a scandal after all, but from slapping himself in frustration over lost fish.

"Let me handle this."

Jiang Fan couldn't stand it anymore. With a monster that size, if he didn't land it, he wouldn't be able to sleep—let alone He Qiang!