"Let's exchange contacts, so we can go fishing together next time!"
For some reason, Huang Kai felt that Xiang Ye was no ordinary man when he saw him, so he took the initiative to speak.
"Sure!"
Xiang Ye's main occupation now was fishing, so when someone wanted to add him, he had no hesitation. He took out his phone and added Huang Kai as a friend. Then Huang Kai immediately added Xiang Ye and Ai Bai into a group chat.
The group was called Fishing Friends Group 1. When Xiang Ye and Ai Bai joined, they found quite a few people inside—about thirty to forty members in total.
As soon as they joined, some members noticed them and started chatting.
"Hey? New members joined the group?"
"Welcome, welcome!"
"Hahaha, judging by the avatars, they look pretty young. Good, we old guys need some fresh blood in the group."
"Is it Huang Kai who invited them?"
"Liu Ge, I invited them. This guy is quite skilled. I saw him fishing at the small river fork behind the Grand Theater. In just a few hours, he caught forty or fifty small Crucian Carp and even a Soft Shell Turtle."
Seeing the lively chat, Huang Kai laughed and joined in.
"Wow, really a pro. Our group record is only thirteen fish caught at once. This is impressive!"
"Caught a Soft Shell Turtle while fishing, now that's a real expert!"
"Uh, thanks everyone, I just got lucky," Xiang Ye replied, feeling a bit socially anxious.
Meanwhile, Ai Bai was scrolling through the group members, clearly impressed. Since Huang Kai invited them, this was no ordinary fishing group. Ai Bai, who worked in the hotel industry, already knew the names of some of the richest people in the city and even the province through hotel gossip, and now he found many of those names in this group—some were even top executives.
"Hahaha, luck is part of skill, little friend. What do you like to fish? Pay-to-fish ponds, reservoirs, or rivers?" someone in the group asked.
"I prefer natural waters," Xiang Ye answered. He knew fish from natural waters were worth more, so his preference made sense.
"Natural waters, huh? That's a bit of a pity. I like pay-to-fish ponds—competitive fishing. By the way, Zheng Jianping is organizing a trip to Qingshan Reservoir tomorrow. Wanna join?" Liu Ge asked.
At first, Xiang Ye wasn't keen on going to the reservoir because fish there were mostly farmed. Even after generations of being wild, they were worth only about 80% of wild fish. But suddenly, a notification popped into Xiang Ye's mind:
"Ding! Congratulations, host triggered a temporary task: Go to Qingshan Reservoir and catch a fish weighing over ten Jin (about 5 kg). Any species qualifies."
"Huh? Ten Jin? I have to go then!"
Although this was his first temporary task, Xiang Ye sensed the rewards might be better. Even if not, he wanted to try.
"Alright, I'm free tomorrow," he said in the group.
"Great, we'll go together," Huang Kai replied. They agreed on a time, and then Huang Kai got ready to leave.
Xiang Ye also prepared to go, glanced at the Soft Shell Turtle still in his hand, and casually tossed it into his net bag. Just then, the system notification came again:
"Ding! Congratulations, host caught a Pearl Turtle x1 (1670 grams), reward 3000 yuan."
"Pearl Turtle, huh? That's edible!" Xiang Ye nodded, knowing this one could be kept.
If it had been a local turtle species, he would have released it because those were protected species. The Pearl Turtle (scientific name: Florida Soft shell Turtle) was imported from the U.S. for farming. Though its taste was inferior to local turtles, it grew fast and served as a market supplement.
Recently, farming scale increased and this species had begun harming the local ecosystem. Some escaped from farms, and many release groups also put them into the wild as a kind of spiritual offering business.
Not just Pearl Turtles—many invasive species like cleaner fish and tilapia were released, damaging the local ecology seriously, much like how Asian fish species destroyed North American ecosystems.
But the release groups didn't care. Releasing had become a business. For example, mudfish, which originally lived only in still waters with high temperature requirements, were sold to release groups with false claims they could survive in rivers. Most died after release, but sellers only cared about collecting money and comforting buyers, ignoring the actual survival of these animals.
Xiang Ye shook off these thoughts and started packing up. He released most of the fish, keeping only about a dozen. Small Crucian Carp had tougher mouths than whitebait, so some could survive in the wild; others with poor condition he kept to eat.
He wasn't planning to eat much himself, having just eaten fish yesterday, but Ai Bai could take some home for his girlfriend. Crucian Carp soup was very nutritious!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。