Jiang Chuan got out from the other side of the car door and walked close to Cheng Ye's side. Following his gaze toward the river surface, he was immediately stunned as well.
No wonder the two of them were making such a big fuss.
The black striped fish king with its exaggerated size was slowly weaving through the school of fish, its body wrapped in an invisible aura. Wherever it went, other fish fled in terror, and even the water waves seemed to be deliberately parted, displaying its kingly presence without reservation.
"Have you ever seen one this big?" Cheng Ye lowered his voice, unable to hide his excitement.
Although he wasn't a fishing enthusiast, faced with this living "aquatic giant" right before him, anyone would feel their heart racing.
"Never seen one." Jiang Chuan shook his head repeatedly, his eyes full of amazement, "The biggest black striped fish I encountered before was only about one-third its size, and didn't have such a fierce aura."
As he spoke, he tiptoed back to the car door and pulled out a high-beam flashlight.
The light pierced through the morning mist and thin snow, shining directly on the fish king.
Now they could see the fish king's appearance more clearly. Its scales actually looked like they were covered with a layer of metal, reflecting a cold, hard luster under the light, with fine serrated edges.
The originally round eyes of ordinary black striped fish had become narrow and elongated as the body size increased, showing a cold glint.Being directly illuminated by the light, it neither dodged nor avoided, but instead slowly turned its body sideways toward the two men and blew a long string of white bubbles. That attitude...
Was it provocation?
No, it was disdain!
Cheng Ye was somewhat surprised. He could even read a sense of "can't be bothered" from those narrow fish eyes.
So arrogant!?
Fire Sprout immediately emerged into his vision, breathing toward the river surface and conveying emotions of 'dislike' and 'hit it'.
Unfortunately, the fish king couldn't sense the killing intent from the spiritual space and continued to float leisurely in the water, occasionally flicking its tail, and even the water splashes it created carried an air of being in complete control.
"What do you say? Should we try to catch it?"
Jiang Chuan rubbed his hands that had turned red from the cold and pointed to the pickup truck bed, "I brought high-strength aramid fiber nets, five times stronger than steel. As long as we can drag it ashore, no matter how strong it is, it won't be able to break free."
"Can this big guy really be netted?"
"Let's try. How will we know if we don't try?" Jiang Chuan said as he was about to get the net, "Even if we can't catch the fish king, getting more ordinary fish back won't be a wasted trip."
"Alright, let's give it a try."
Cheng Ye immediately became energetic.
How did he forget his purpose for coming here just by seeing the fish king? Updating the catalog was the real business!
Ordinary black and white striped fish could provide progress for growth factors. If this fish king counted as a new species, it might directly unlock a new trait. Even if it wasn't, the progress it contributed would definitely be considerable.
The two immediately divided the work. Cheng Ye grabbed the remaining bucket of artificial bait, forming it into small balls and throwing them near the fish king.
As soon as the bait hit the water, the surrounding ordinary black and white striped fish immediately went crazy fighting for it, splashing water high into the air but the fish king didn't even move its body, as if those baits were worthless scraps not even worth approaching.
"This guy has definitely become sentient!" Cheng Ye clicked his tongue, "It must have simple intelligence, otherwise it wouldn't be so picky about food."
But... fish having intelligence?
Hard to imagine, but since the S3 virus could even cause plants to mutate and develop intelligence, having fish evolve intelligence didn't seem that far-fetched either.
Jiang Chuan had already carried the net over by then. Untying the rope, he swung his arm in a full circle, and the fishing net drew an arc in the air, heading steadily toward the fish king's direction.
"Hey, still not dodging?!" He called out in a low voice, his eyes full of expectation but just as the fishing net was about to hit the water surface, the fish king's tail suddenly whipped.
With a "snap," the water surface was slapped into a white splash, and its entire body shot straight down into the water like an arrow from a bow.
The fishing net splashed down empty, only catching more than ten black and white striped fish that were still fighting for bait, thrashing wildly in the net.
Even more infuriating was that after Jiang Chuan started pulling in the net, the fish king actually swam up leisurely from the bottom again, even deliberately circling near the fishing net and blowing a string of bubbles.
That attitude seemed to mock: Is that all?
"Hey, this big guy is really smart!"
"I'll untangle the net, you go cast the second one."
Jiang Chuan pulled the net up, and Cheng Ye quickly came forward with a small knife, happily updating his catalog while throwing the killed fish into the rear compartment and untangling the fishing net.
Each time he killed a fish, a notification flashed across the panel.
After he finished processing all the fish in the net, the progress had already shot up to 24.3%!
"This speed is too fast!" Cheng Ye couldn't help but grin, his face stiff from the cold stretching into a smile.
On the other side, Jiang Chuan had already grasped the second net and was ready.
This time he deliberately calmed himself, secretly assuming a martial arts stance, opening his energy channels wide. The moment he swung his arm in a full circle, all his strength flowed into it.
The fishing net drew a sharp arc in the air, falling several times faster than before, like a spinning wind-fire wheel, carrying a light whooshing sound as it covered the fish king.
The fish king seemed unprepared for the net coming so fast. Its previously leisurely attitude paused, and just as its tail was about to slap the water, the fishing net had already "splashed" down, perfectly encasing its massive body.
"Haha, caught it!" Jiang Chuan's face instantly bloomed with a smile, a hint of pride flashing in his eyes.
After all, he was half-step transcendent, couldn't he handle this aquatic beast?
But this smile hadn't even settled when he saw the center of the fishing net suddenly bulge out, and then two razor-sharp teeth emerged through the net holes.
Crack!
A crisp, ear-piercing sound.
The so-called aramid fiber net that was supposedly five times stronger than steel snapped like a brittle cookie under the fish king's teeth, instantly breaking several net lines.
The fish king's tail whipped hard, its massive body used this force to surge forward, directly drilling through the broken net opening and shooting into the water. Within seconds it surfaced again not far away, still with that leisurely bubble-blowing appearance, as if the earlier struggle was just casual effort.
"Damn, what the hell is this thing?" Jiang Chuan rarely cursed, looking at the fishing net with a big hole in his hands. It wasn't hard to imagine that if those teeth bit a person, they could probably break bones directly.
"After twenty-plus years of fishing bans, it's not surprising that this river has raised some kind of behemoth." Cheng Ye finished off the second net's catch of black and white striped fish, glancing at the broken net in Jiang Chuan's hands and shaking his head, "Let's not worry about the fish king for now. Let's catch more ordinary fish to take back. I happen to want to take them back for research."
"Alright!" Jiang Chuan didn't insist either, throwing the broken net aside with only one net left to keep casting.
The fish king was still swimming leisurely in the water, occasionally glancing at the two busy men on shore, like it was watching a show.
Cheng Ye wasn't anxious at all. Was not catching it a big problem? What he wanted was just the biological information the fish king provided.
Later he could just pull out his gun and fish physically. No matter how fast it ran, could it be faster than bullets?
For the next hour, the two almost worked like an assembly line. Jiang Chuan cast and retrieved the net while Cheng Ye crouched beside him, taking the net and pulling out his small knife to kill fish, his movements becoming increasingly skilled.
Jiang Chuan wasn't surprised by Cheng Ye's behavior of stabbing every fish to death.
The best way to check for infection sources was to kill the host, and to transport the catch back through the checkpoint, dead fish were easier to pass inspection than live ones.
Soon, when Growth Factor was about to reach 80%, underwater Breathing also climbed steadily, reaching 28%.
This was a trait even harder to accumulate than Growth Factor, but the harder it was to accumulate, the more excited Cheng Ye became.
Because according to the Collector's pattern, the harder something was to accumulate, the more powerful it usually was.
After catching over a hundred more fish, dense schools still clustered in the water.
After accumulating enough for 200% Growth Factor and Underwater Breathing reaching 100%, Cheng Ye finally stopped.
Standing up, his legs were numb from squatting, his hands and face red from the cold, his fingertips almost numb, but looking at the pickup truck bed, his eyes were full of satisfaction.
Nearly four hundred fish piled into a small mountain, covered with a thin layer of snowflakes, and the truck body had sunk down somewhat from the weight.
These fish were almost all five or six-pound big ones. After processing, some small fish were directly thrown back by Cheng Ye to attract more.
The ground was covered with a thick layer of fish blood, mixed with melted snow, stained dark red, looking somewhat glaring in the morning light.
"Alright, this should be enough!" Cheng Ye clapped his hands and threw the last fish into the truck bed.
Simple fish killing didn't take much time. As for the work of cleaning the organs, he planned to take them back to Tianyuan Community and have the female workers in the community help.
Since he was going to establish Dapo Town, training a group of workers who could process fish catches early was very important. This would be Dapo Town's main economic source in the future and needed to be expanded as soon as possible.
Jiang Chuan also put away the net, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The continuous exertion had actually made him somewhat warm.
He looked toward the river surface. The fish king was still swimming there. Seeing the two men about to leave, it actually slowly approached the shore, as if reluctantly seeing them off.
Jiang Chuan was immediately amused by this.
But he saw Cheng Ye wave his hand and smoothly open the car door, grinning as he pulled out Thunder-1.
However, what was unexpected was that just as Cheng Ye opened the safety and hadn't even had time to aim, the fish king that had been swimming on the water surface suddenly dove underwater, leaving only a faint ring of ripples.
"Hey, this works too?" Cheng Ye was surprised.
He had only seen in short videos how black bears would test humans, pretending to casually approach, then flee in panic when hearing weapons being loaded.
He didn't expect this fish king to be so smart, immediately hiding as soon as he was about to shoot.
What surprised him even more was that when he put away the gun and had just given up in his mind, the fish king slowly surfaced from the water again.
This coy attitude made Cheng Ye's heart sink.
A guide fish?
Or perhaps... through those narrow fish eyes, he suddenly had an illusion.
Could this guy be trying to lure them into the water? Treating them as prey?
Interesting.
If such a monster wasn't eliminated, when Dapo Town began construction and fishermen came to fish, the consequences of being ambushed would be unthinkable.
Seeing Cheng Ye standing in place pondering, Jiang Chuan gritted his teeth and rolled up his sleeves, "How about this, Inspector Cheng? I'll go into the water to catch it, and you provide cover from shore."
"Go into the water?" Cheng Ye was stunned, his brow immediately furrowing.
"It's fine. I'm good at swimming. I've even fought fusion entities in Linjiang before." Jiang Chuan grinned and was already making gestures to take off his clothes, "This guy looks fierce and even dares to lure us into the water. I want to see what it's really capable of."
Actually, he could see Cheng Ye's desire for the fish king and also knew Cheng Ye's concerns.
He had done plenty of this kind of risky work before and didn't mind one more time.
Besides, he was half-step transcendent. He couldn't possibly fail against a fish but just as he pulled open his outer jacket, revealing the solid muscles underneath, his wrist was gently but firmly grasped by a hand.
The force wasn't great, but it was resolute.
"Don't go." Cheng Ye's voice was calm but carried an unquestionable tone, "We haven't explored this river clearly. How deep is it, how many other mutated creatures are there, are there infection sources hiding? Why go down?"
"But..." Jiang Chuan was stunned.
"Before protecting others, first value your own life." Cheng Ye released his hand and pointed to the pickup truck bed, "I have a few methods. Help me out. Whether they work or not, we'll just try these few times. After trying, we'll go back to the city. As long as it's still here, we'll have opportunities in the future."
"Good!" Jiang Chuan nodded firmly without further hesitation, reaching out to zip up the jacket he had pulled open and buttoning each button securely.
"Try casting the net again first, use full force to accelerate like before. If you can trap it even for one second, I'll shoot."
"Mm."
Jiang Chuan picked up the remaining fishing net, took a deep breath, and assumed the martial arts stance again.
The speed was even faster than the last time, but the fish king had obviously learned its lesson. Before the net could get close, its massive body suddenly sank.
The net fell empty again, only catching a few black striped fish fleeing in panic.
Failure.
But this was already within Cheng Ye's expectations. Since this guy had intelligence and could develop to such a large size among the fish schools, it definitely wouldn't fall for the same trick twice in the same place.
Truly a beast. Even with intelligence, when faced with instinctual temptation, it would still forget danger.
However, he also noticed that after the fish king approached the shore, it cautiously sank underwater again, still wary of the earlier threat.
"Playing mind games with me, huh." Cheng Ye's thoughts turned, and while Jiang Chuan hadn't returned yet, he quickly poured out the remaining ordinary bait from the bucket and divided the newly exchanged malaria mosquito flesh into five portions.
Each portion was progressively larger, then mixed with ordinary bait and shaped into fist-sized balls.
"Hey, this fish king..." Jiang Chuan returned carrying several large rocks and a bundle of wooden sticks, only to see the agitated fish schools on the water surface and the slowly approaching fish king but before he could finish speaking, Cheng Ye interrupted him.
"Help me mash the fish meat we just killed in the car into paste and mix it with the bait, then cast it as ground bait!"
"Quick, while it's not suspicious yet."
"Got it!"
Jiang Chuan immediately put down his things, picked up a flat rock as a cutting board, and skillfully pounded the fish meat with wooden sticks.
About fifty fish were all used for ground baiting, with meat paste thrown into the water in waves, attracting competition.
The remaining ten fresh fish's meat paste was mixed with bait and malaria mosquito flesh. The strong fishy smell was slightly neutralized but gained a more enticing flavor.
The fish schools underwater went even crazier, and even the water surface was slightly vibrating.
Cheng Ye arranged the five bait balls in order of size and whispered instructions, "Throw them in sequence. Don't throw directly at the fish king. Throw them four or five meters beside it. This time I'll cast the net."
"Understood." Jiang Chuan picked up the first, smallest bait ball, swung his arm, and precisely threw it toward the water area to the fish king's left.
As Cheng Ye had predicted, when the first ball mixed with only a small piece of malaria mosquito flesh hit the water, the fish king just flicked its tail lightly and moved slightly, but didn't actually approach, obviously still testing.
Instead, the surrounding ordinary fish went crazy rushing to fight for it. Cheng Ye seized the opportunity and cast the net with full force.
The net was extremely fast, but compared to Jiang Chuan's speed, it was obviously much slower.
With a "splash," at least thirty-plus large fish were caught in the net, almost bursting it, with such force that it nearly dragged him into the water.
"Good heavens, this strength!" Cheng Ye gritted his teeth as he pulled the net back. Jiang Chuan quickly put down the bait in his hands to help, and the two worked together to drag the net ashore.
The fish in the net thrashed frantically, splashing water all over both men.
"Continue!" Cheng Ye untangled the net and threw the fish aside, his eyes fixed tightly on the water surface.
Jiang Chuan picked up the second bait ball and threw it out. This time the fish king's reaction was obviously more urgent, swimming forward half a meter, but still stopped at the last moment, watching the ordinary fish fight for the bait with what seemed like hesitation in its eyes.
Cheng Ye cast the net again, catching over twenty more fish. The fish king still hadn't taken the bait.
It wasn't until the third bait ball was thrown out, this one mixed with a medium amount of malaria mosquito flesh, that the moment it hit the water, the rich fishy smell spread out.
The fish king finally couldn't hold back. Its massive body suddenly swayed, directly pushing aside the competing ordinary fish, swallowing the bait in one gulp, then immediately diving underwater.
"Right now!"
Cheng Ye was already prepared. The net was already spread in the air, but the fish king was too fast. He was still a beat slow, only grazing its tail fin before it escaped into the water.
Having failed to catch it, the fish king seemed quite pleased with itself, surfacing again in the distance and gracefully moving its body.
"Continue, throw both balls out this time!"
Cheng Ye put on an annoyed expression, but his voice remained calm.
Jiang Chuan nodded, grabbing a bait ball in each hand. Two bait balls drew arcs in the air, about to fall into the water.
The underwater immediately boiled!
The ordinary fish schools rushed over frantically, but just as the bait was about to be fought over, a massive black shadow suddenly shot up from underwater.
The fish king actually leaped directly out of the water!
Its body over a meter long drew an arc in the air, opening its mouth full of sharp teeth and swallowing both bait balls simultaneously but unfortunately, before it could smugly fall back into the water, it caught sight from the corner of its eye that the human on shore wasn't holding a fishing net this time, but was raising a cold-gleaming long rod...
That was the thing that had instinctively made it feel fear earlier!
"Hey, hooked!"
Cheng Ye's eyes sharpened as he pulled the trigger tight.
Boom, boom, boom!
The thunderous sound exploded by the river in the early morning. The buckshot from Thunder-1 hit the fish king's head at close range.
What he had thought would pierce through flesh instead produced "ting-ting-tang-tang" crisp sounds, as if hitting thickened iron sheets.
However, the impact force of the buckshot was violent enough. After being blocked for just an instant, the projectiles completely penetrated the scales. The entire fish head was instantly blown apart, and dark red blood mixed with brain matter splashed down onto the water surface with a "splash."
Thump.
The fish king crashed heavily back into the water, splashing up a person-high spray.
The surrounding ordinary fish schools immediately panicked and scattered, but a few bold ones actually rushed up to tear at the fish king's wounds.
"Net!"
When Cheng Ye was reaching for his gun, Jiang Chuan had already reacted and was gripping the net on standby. Hearing the call, he immediately cast the net out.
The two cooperated seamlessly.
The fish king was quickly pulled ashore. Although it had multiple bite wounds on its body, it was still relatively intact overall but looking into the blown-open fish head, what was exposed wasn't the common white bone, but pure black fish bones with a metallic luster. Dense patterns like some kind of precision machinery looked particularly eerie.
What made both men's hearts sink even more was that there was still something moving inside the fish king's corpse!
The blood and flesh that hadn't yet coagulated was visibly squirming, as if controlled by invisible forces, trembling and contracting according to some pattern!
"Back up quickly!"
The eerie scene made their skin crawl.
Even though Cheng Ye wanted to collect biological information, he didn't dare to touch it at this moment and immediately ran away.
The two retreated more than ten meters before stopping. Looking back, the wriggling speed of the fish corpse's flesh was even faster, and they could even hear faint "sizzling" sounds.
After about half a minute, the wriggling suddenly stopped without warning.
"Is it over?"
Bang.
Before Jiang Chuan finished speaking, the rear half of the fish corpse suddenly exploded!
Flesh, scales, and bone fragments scattered everywhere, like a small grenade explosion, splattering the surrounding ground with dark red stains and blasting a small crater in the original spot.
Fortunately, the two had retreated far enough earlier, or this explosion would definitely have covered their faces.
"This infection source?"
"Probably can't escape involvement."
Cheng Ye shook his head and quickly searched his mind for known aquatic infection sources, but found no matching descriptions.
No infection source would cause the host's corpse to explode after death.
Carefully searching through the scattered flesh and blood, as well as the remaining fish corpse.
Soon, both men's gazes focused simultaneously on a blue fragment stuck in the fish bones.
Like a scale, yet also like some creature's shell, only bottle cap-sized.
The surface was carved with spiral patterns, and it was still trembling slightly at this moment, as if alive.
"Is there a containment box in the car?"
"Yes!"
Jiang Chuan immediately reacted, turned and ran toward the pickup, pulling out a shoebox-sized metal case from under the back seat.
"This is a high-grade containment box, usually used for special infection sources. Anti-corrosion and leak-proof."
"Let's try it."
Cheng Ye took the long-handled clamp Jiang Chuan handed him. This was his first time personally handling containment, but fortunately, he had already memorized the procedures.
Moreover, infection sources without parasitic hosts generally posed no threat, or the containment teams would be suicide squads.
The two cautiously approached the fish corpse remains step by step. Jiang Chuan held the containment box and gently opened the lid, revealing the black antibacterial padding inside.
Cheng Ye gripped the clamp and aimed at the blue fragment, slowly extending it over.
The moment the clamp touched the fragment, the constant trembling suddenly stopped, and the spiral patterns on the fragment's surface dimmed, as if instantly losing vitality.
Almost simultaneously, a panel notification popped up immediately.
[Collector detects dissipating biological information, automatically absorbing]
[Absorption complete, new biological catalog recorded: Whirlpool Turtle]
Whirlpool Turtle?
What was that?
Cheng Ye's heart skipped a beat, but he maintained a calm expression on the surface, steadily lifting the fragment with the clamp and gently placing it into the containment box.
Jiang Chuan snapped the lid shut with a "click" and fastened the safety locks on the sides in one fluid motion.
Only after the box was completely sealed did both men simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief.
Especially Jiang Chuan, whose back was already covered in a thin layer of cold sweat.
The difference between half-step transcendent and true transcendents wasn't just strength, but a chasm in life essence.
Although he had fortunately retained some special abilities, when encountering infection source parasitism, he was still the same as ordinary people, with no resistance whatsoever and Cheng Ye's careful caution made him feel a jolt in his heart.
Perhaps it was because he had stayed in the buffer zone peacefully for too long, not having stepped into the wasteland for several years, that he had actually forgotten the dangers outside.
That bit of arrogance about going into the water earlier had almost caused both of them to stumble badly right under Happiness City's nose!
While Jiang Chuan was still dazed and reviewing, Cheng Ye used the clamp to poke at the fish king corpse on the ground, but unfortunately, no new entries popped up.
It seemed that although the fish king's size was massive, it still hadn't reached the level where it could have its own family tree page.
Holding the sealed box back to the pickup, Jiang Chuan still felt uneasy and pulled out the remaining waterproof bags, wrapping them layer upon layer seven or eight times until the box was completely wrapped up.
Only then did he and Cheng Ye look at each other, and both breathed another big sigh of relief!
Why was the wasteland dangerous?
It wasn't actually those visible dangers, but the deadly threats that suddenly emerged when you thought you had gained something.
Human research on infection sources had only progressed through one or two-tenths over all these years. The wasteland still contained vast unknowns.
Even infection sources already recorded were still secretly mutating in the shadows. No one could predict what they might become next time.
Cheng Ye thought about this and suddenly felt parched. This was his first time in the wasteland, and he had already encountered an unknown infection source.
Should he consider this good luck or bad luck?
However, one thing was certain: ordinary people encountering this fish king, even if they had ideas, couldn't possibly lure it to take the bait like he did.
On this wasteland, the stronger one's power, the higher the probability of encountering unknown infection sources and special mutated creatures!
Opening his backpack, he pulled out four packs of blue nutritional paste that boosted spirits and handed two to Jiang Chuan.
The two gulped them down. The cool liquid sliding down their throats finally loosened the tight feeling in their chests.
"Good thing you didn't go into the water earlier. Don't be so reckless in the future."
Cheng Ye sighed, "How does that saying go? Good swimmers drown, good riders fall. Luck is something that can run out. No matter how good your swimming is, you might capsize someday."
"Mm!" Jiang Chuan nodded silently, his expression still heavy, not knowing what he was thinking about.
After resting for about ten minutes, their moods finally completely calmed down.
Instead of leaving immediately, they took out an entrenching shovel and simply dug a pit by the river, burying all the remaining fish corpse inside.
Better safe than sorry. In case these remains still carried infectivity, leaving them would be a hidden danger.
By now, it was past seven in the morning.
Before they knew it, the two had been busy for over two hours.
As for the fish meat in the car that had been used for ground baiting earlier, they no longer had the mood to replenish it now.
"Let's go, time to head back." Cheng Ye patted the car door and got into the passenger seat.
The pickup slowly started and soon drove away from the riverside, getting onto the main road.
Since they no longer needed to walk through the muddy road, the return journey was much faster.
Turning onto the county road, Cheng Ye's heart finally relaxed slightly, and the Collector panel automatically opened in his vision.
Jumping to the catalog, first the freshwater fish section.
Although the black striped fish king hadn't provided an additional entry, a new trait appeared below it.
[Growth Factor* (119%)]
"Sure enough infected by an infection source."
Cheng Ye's heart tightened.
The * marking basically confirmed that the fish king had been parasitized by an infection source, which was why it had such massive size and intelligence.
And the progress bar showing 119% meant the degree of parasitism might have been very severe.
Good thing they killed it early. If this hadn't been discovered and ordinary people had rashly made contact, the problem would have been serious!
Exiting the freshwater fish entry, Cheng Ye looked at the new entry that appeared below.
What surprised him somewhat was that as he focused on it, the Whirlpool Turtle entry suddenly trembled lightly, and a pale red halo spread along the text edges.
In the blink of an eye, the three words "Whirlpool Turtle" had completely turned a striking red.
Even the entire entry seemed dyed with sunset colors, becoming particularly eye-catching among the four existing entries in the catalog.
"Hey, red means perfect?"
Cheng Ye was immediately somewhat surprised. Without much thought, he directly clicked in.
The panel was rarely laggy.
After two seconds, it displayed rows of data.
Starting with the image as usual, but unfortunately it couldn't show what the Whirlpool Turtle was, only that small shell fragment but looking further down, his mind went blank with a buzz, losing all ability to think.
[Whirlpool Turtle (Transcendent Creature)]