Chapter 60: Official Bounty Released! A 200,000-Yuan Reward for Capturing the Thousand-Catty Behemoth! Anglers Go Wild!

"!!"
Jiang Fan was also dumbfounded.
"Mister, your prediction was spot on. It really is over a hundred pounds, but having soaked in the water, it must be close to a hundred and eighty or ninety."
The middle-aged man's face turned pale, but he still put on a calm front, cupped his fists, and said, "To be honest with you, Master, I am a proud member of the Skunked Anglers Club!"
Jiang Fan replied, "Is this really just a matter of getting skunked anymore?"
Jiang Qi walked over as well. "What the hell!... Mister, I advise you to just head back tonight. You spent the whole night fishing up intimate novelty items, and now you've reeled in a corpse. You've definitely crossed paths with something ominous."
"If you can, go buy some pomelo leaves on your way home to do a cleansing ritual..."
The middle-aged man cursed and muttered, spewing out unlucky words and curses about bad luck, tossing in a few "screw your nuts" expressions every now and then.
At a glance, this man was clearly from Guangdong. People from Guangdong are just that tight-knit. One year, while watching a dragon boat race, one team stood up and shouted at another team across the water: "Screw your nuts, screw your nuts, screw your nuts..." Even a tiny loose nut had to be reminded about; truly, friendship first and competition second!
However, Jiang Fan later asked a local and learned that "screw your nuts" was actually just the local greeting, meaning something like "hello"... The middle-aged man was obviously just terrified of having fished up a corpse and was politely greeting them in his own way.
"Hello! Is this the police? I was fishing by the lake and reeled up a dead body. Get down here right now and haul it away, it's ruining my swim-baiting spot!"
The middle-aged man made a call to the emergency services and then went right back to fishing.
Before long, the police officers hurried to the scene.
Late at night as it was, they all looked somewhat flustered.
Who would have thought that the moment they arrived, they would see three die-hard anglers casually fishing away.
"Who made the call just now?"
"Him!"
Jiang Fan and Jiang Qi both pointed at the middle-aged man.
With a cigarette dangling from his lips, the middle-aged man went off to be questioned by the police.
About ten minutes later, the middle-aged man walked back and resumed fishing.
Jiang Fan glanced sideways at him. "Mister, aren't you leaving yet?"
The middle-aged man lit another cigarette and replied, "Not leaving. Anglers have angling souls; the fishing spirit can never be lacking!"
Just then, an officer walked over to warn them, "There's a very high probability that an underground river runs beneath this lake. You guys can fish all you want, but don't go into the water. Be careful not to get sucked into the underground river and never come back!"
Jiang Fan asked, "Officer, how do you guys know about that?"
"The person you just pulled up—we received a missing person report a few days ago saying he drowned and disappeared while swimming in Beimen River, and now he's turned up here. Chances are he entered the underground river and was carried all the way over."
At this point, the officer tried to scare Jiang Fan and the others to make them pack up and leave before any other trouble arose.
"Ahem, it could also be a murder case, and who knows, the killer might return to this scene at any moment... Of course, we can't completely rule out supernatural occurrences either, right?"
Jiang Fan said, "Oh."
Jiang Qi said, "Oh."
The middle-aged man said, "Oh."
"Oh??? I've gone to such lengths to explain, and all you can say is 'oh'?! Aren't you scared at all?!"
Jiang Fan replied, "What haven't we anglers seen? What is there to be scared of?"
Jiang Qi chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. Any angler who gets scared is just a rookie."
The middle-aged man added, "Anyway, I'm certainly no rookie."
With that, the three of them exchanged glances and made a pact: whoever packed up and went home first tonight would forever be branded a low-tier angler!

The officer listened, cursed under his breath, and walked away.
"Damn it! These anglers have got to have the biggest guts on the planet!"
...

Jiang Fan, Jiang Qi, and Uncle Skunked Angler fished here the entire night, but they never encountered that legendary thousand-pound giant fish again.
The middle-aged man muttered, "What is going on? Has that fish turned into a spirit? It shows off like crazy when we aren't trying to catch it, but the moment we actually drop lines for it, it completely vanishes!"
Jiang Qi fumed,ヽ(｀д´)ノ: "Flesh can bear no more! We must drain the lake! We have to drain it!!"
Jiang Fan waved his hand. "Cousin, the officer said there's an underground river beneath this lake; the water can never be drained dry."
"Besides, that giant fish probably sank to the bottom or swam away through the underground river to somewhere else."
"Let's go back and get some sleep first, and we can come back to check it out later."
Jiang Fan yawned and stood up to pack his gear.
Whereupon he received looks of utter contempt from Jiang Qi and the middle-aged man.
"Hey, why are you two looking at me like that?"
"Low-tier angler!!!"
"..."

The sun rose.
Jiang Fan went home.
Jiang Qi headed to the hotel.
Uncle Skunked Angler strolled back home with a broad grin on his face, proudly carrying a few dozen pounds of fish, his life continuing on as ordinary as ever.
"Honey!"
The moment Jiang Fan stepped through his front door, Liu Ruyan furrowed her delicate brows and stared right at him.
"Oh, darling, I drank a bit too much last night and forgot to come home."
Liu Ruyan looked at the fishing rod Jiang Fan had slung over his shoulder and the small stool in his hand; at a glance, anyone could tell he had been out fishing.
She wanted to get angry, but would losing her temper with her husband really contribute to domestic harmony?
Thinking this, Liu Ruyan said nothing more, hugged Jiang Fan, and went back to bed to catch up on sleep.
Figuring Jiang Fan must be exhausted from fishing all night, she even gave him a gentle massage.
"Darling, feels good?"
"Feels great..."
"There's something that feels even better! Do you want it?"
"Huh? Darling, why did you fall asleep already???"
(。・`ω´・)Humph!!
Hearing Jiang Fan's gentle snoring, Liu Ruyan had no choice but to snuggle up against him like a little bird and drift off to sleep herself.

What Jiang Fan didn't know was that while he was fast asleep, Yuanshan Town had issued an official decree: mobilizing all available forces to hunt down and capture the thousand-pound water monster!
Waking up bright and early, Zhou Hong and the others saw the news, and the group chat exploded.
Young Master Zhou: Did you guys see this?! There's a thousand-pound behemoth in the waters of Yuanshan Town, and the authorities have explicitly announced a 200,000-yuan reward for whoever catches it!
Blondie: Holy crap! And here I am, still stuck in the countryside helping my grandma harvest rice! Doesn't this mean I have to rush right back?
Ma Xiaodongdong: Do you guys think the giant monster the officials are talking about could be the very same one Brother Fan hooked yesterday?
Young Master Zhou: Did you even read the news?
The authorities have clearly stated it's a completely different Mekong giant catfish!
Ma Xiaodongdong: One male and one female???
Young Master Zhou: Two males. Probably from Chengdu...
Ma Xiaodongdong: Cut it out! Everyone's prejudice is a fortress as immovable as Chengdu!
Blondie: Seriously though, does this thing really weigh over a thousand pounds?
Doesn't that make it a size larger than the one Brother Fan caught yesterday??
Young Master Zhou: It's official news! I asked my dad, and it's true.
I heard this monster has dragged quite a few people into the water and already devoured a few!
The higher-ups originally wanted to handle it quietly, but there are way too many underground rivers in Yuanshan Town, so they had no choice but to issue a bounty for public help.
Emperor He Qiang: Hahaha, so what are you all waiting for?
With the official announcement out, people from out of town are definitely going to flood in. If we don't hurry, someone else is going to reel it in first!
Blondie: I'm heading back to the city right now!
Ma Xiaodongdong: Gear is already prepped and ready!
Blondie: By the way, where's Brother Fan? How come he hasn't said a word all morning?
@Jiang Fan
Young Master Zhou: @Jiang Fan
Ma Xiaodongdong: @Jiang Fan
Emperor He Qiang: (~￣▽￣)~ Stop tagging him. My guess is Brother Fan had round after round with his wife last night and is completely exhausted. He probably won't wake up until noon.
Young Master Zhou: You total pervert!
Blondie: Pervert!
Ma Xiaodongdong: Pervert!
...

By this time, it wasn't just the fan group that had blown up; the entire internet was in an uproar!
: Did you guys hear? There's a thousand-pound behemoth in Yuanshan Town, and the authorities have put out a 200,000-yuan bounty for its capture!
: I just saw the news too. What are we waiting for! Let's roll!
: Hahaha, a thousand-pound giant! Once I reel it up, I'm driving my Toyota out for a nationwide tour!
: 3,000 kilometers away, not too far. I'm heading over right now!
: 13,000 kilometers away, pretty close to me too. Let's go!
: Over 20,000 kilometers, still doable. Wait for me!
: Uh... when did you guys cross international borders?
...