The sales representative, seeing that he couldn't persuade Chu Mingcheng, felt somewhat regretful. He believed the young man had the means to buy the boat.

"By the way," Chu Mingcheng said, "I'd like to know the approximate price of a Category I fishing boat, between twenty and twenty-four meters, if you reduced the salon and cabin space to expand the cold storage."

He wasn't planning to buy a boat now, but felt it was time to set a goal for himself.

It seemed he'd soon be able to repay the seven hundred thousand he owed his parents. But even if he could find more fish in coastal waters, he wouldn't encounter large tuna or marlin—the real money-makers.

Perhaps the unit price of those fish wasn't as high as some premium groupers or coral fish, but they were massive!

"Your requirements would generally mean a custom-built new boat, which would cost at least three million. A more practical one would run around five million.

"Of course, luxury versions cost over ten million, but if you're making a living from fishing, that's unnecessary."

Chu Mingcheng understood. He'd set a small goal first: earn five million.

As for a mortgage, he'd never considered it.

Paying interest to banks felt more painful than losing a fishing boat.

But the next moment, Chu Mingcheng suddenly thought of something important.

For a Chinese man, getting married usually meant preparing a new house. Whether in the city or the countryside, a new house was essential.

He was going to develop his career in Xiamen from now on, so even without marriage, he'd have to buy a house for himself—somewhere comfortable and secure.

But Xiamen's property prices... better not to think about them!

Chu Mingcheng suddenly felt a tingle on his scalp. Should he buy a house first or a boat?

Forget it—he'd go buy a speargun first!

Men in the new century had it tough. The pressure was immense!

The small crane installation was quick. Chu Mingcheng didn't wait long before it was installed, color-matched to the boat in all white.

After paying, he took the fishing boat away.

Back at the pier, he moored the boat. Chu Mingcheng drove to the market for groceries. Since it wasn't yet ten o'clock, he visited some river parks and small ponds to use his scanning function, checking for alligator gars.

He didn't know whether to feel glad or regretful, but after using his three chances, there were no alligator gars.

Since that was the case, he'd go back and make lunch first.

But as he passed a small river, he saw an angler dumping all his caught fish into a mud pit. He couldn't help but stop and ask curiously, "Brother, why are you burying all the fish you caught?"

Even if you didn't want them, releasing them would be better than burying them!

"Sigh, don't mention it. I fished all morning and only caught plecos. Burying them can at least fertilize the soil. Releasing them would be disastrous for the local aquatic ecology."

"Plecos?" Chu Mingcheng's eyes lit up.

He knew many small rivers might harbor plecos, but didn't know the specific waters and couldn't target them. Now that he knew there were plecos here, and he wasn't planning to go to sea, he could come this afternoon to grind for Life Conversion!

The angler saw Chu Mingcheng's seemingly excited expression and felt puzzled. "Brother, what's with that look? You seem happy to hear about plecos?"

"Not happy, but disgusted. I also like to fish, and I hate these invasive species most." Chu Mingcheng's expression changed instantly, showing immediate indignation. "I'll go back and eat first, then come over this afternoon to fish for plecos and eliminate some of these pests."

Without waiting for the angler to react, he floored the accelerator and shot away.

The angler stared blankly at the departing car, and after recovering, rolled his eyes and continued burying plecos.

Chu Mingcheng returned home to make lunch. After eating at noon, he didn't spend much time with Jiang Luoluo and left again under her slightly sullen gaze, this time bringing his hand pole.

Bait made from Yezhan and 918 could work for plecos, but he found it troublesome and went directly to buy pork liver.

Cutting the pork liver into small pieces and hooking them, letting the baited hook rest on the bottom, was sufficient for plecos.

And in waters with plecos, other fish wouldn't appear.

When Chu Mingcheng arrived at the fishing spot, the angler who'd been burying plecos that morning was already gone.

Perhaps because this water was full of these fish, he saw no other anglers by the river when he arrived.

Holding his fishing rod with pork liver bait, he started fishing. Under the lead sinker's weight, the baited hook settled directly on the bottom. He also threw some pork liver to create a feeding area.

A pleco's mouth is on the bottom. When feeding, it slowly sucks with its mouth, and its large appetite makes it very easy to attract.

Sure enough, Chu Mingcheng's baited hook had only been down briefly when his fishing rod reacted.

Lifting the hand pole, he had to admit the feel of a pleco wasn't bad.

For recreational fishing, targeting plecos was quite enjoyable.

He lifted the hand pole with force, and a pleco was pulled from the water.

He removed the fish and threw it onto the muddy ground beside him, then used his diving knife to dispatch it.

This was the first one. To open the new panel in the Aquatic Species Codex, he had to kill the pleco first.

He wouldn't need to do this later. After catching enough, he'd deal with the plecos together.

At this moment, a new panel appeared in the Aquatic Species Codex.

[Pleco (Invasive Species)]

[Ecological Damage Index: 5 Stars]

[Plecos Eliminated: 1]

[Tracking: 1/day (After use, automatically helps the host find areas with large pleco populations. Once daily, you can fish until your hands are sore)]

[Unlock Special Equipment: Net (There are too many—how long would fishing take?)]

[Fish Gathering: 1/day (Can gather all plecos within one kilometer of the host's location, duration four hours)]

[Life Conversion: 0 times (1/50) One conversion for every 50 plecos eliminated]

So many plecos! Using Fish Gathering to lure them over, then casting a net, he could probably catch hundreds or even thousands in four hours.

Chu Mingcheng immediately took out his phone and searched online for how many times stronger Captain America's physical fitness was compared to peak athletes.

With plecos available, was he afraid of insufficient Life Conversion?

Reaching Captain America's physical fitness would be easy!

Oh, it turned out to be four times that of a peak athlete. Then the template for a peak athlete could be... Shaquille O'Neal.

Peak O'Neal's physical fitness was formidable. He'd set a small goal first: achieve four O'Neals.

After understanding this, Chu Mingcheng put away his fishing rod. Why bother fishing individual ones!

He immediately drove to buy a small cast net and a short-handled iron shovel.

Plecos weren't like lungfish. They'd die if buried in soil, just not immediately.

Returning to the previous fishing spot, Chu Mingcheng first found a suitable position and used the iron shovel to dig a large pit nearly one meter in diameter.

The depth was moderate, only about thirty centimeters.

It had rained these past days, so the mud wasn't that hard to dig.

By the time he'd quickly finished, nearly twenty minutes had passed.

Then Chu Mingcheng took out the cast net, activated the Fish Gathering function on the pleco data panel, and prepared to cast.

He didn't know how to cast nets, but there were ready tutorials!

He opened his phone and clicked on a video.

"Demon! I can tell you're not human at a glance! You dare show off your petty tricks before me—Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon..."

After a session of Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon, Chu Mingcheng successfully learned how to throw a kasaya... ah, no, how to cast a net.

He grabbed the net's rope, then gathered the net three times in succession, holding the weighted net mouth in his right hand.

Then he assumed his stance, and the cast net swung like a pendulum at his side twice to build momentum.

On the third swing, he threw it skyward. Under the lead sinkers' pull, the net's mouth rapidly opened.

It was just that he wasn't very skilled the first time—the net mouth only half-opened before falling into the water.

But this showed his method was correct. Master Fahai was indeed an expert at catching water snakes. Maybe he'd been a net-casting fisherman in a previous life?

[TN: Master Fahai is a Buddhist monk from Chinese folklore, famous for using nets and spells to capture demons in "The Legend of the White Snake."]

Chu Mingcheng pulled the rope and waited for the cast net to completely sink before hauling it up.

But with this pull, his eyelids twitched. It was quite heavy, and many fish seemed to be struggling and thrashing in the net, transmitted through the rope.

As he pulled more rope, the cast net was slowly drawn to shallow water. The mass of plecos inside left him speechless.

A rough count showed over twenty.

This was just after using Fish Gathering. Many plecos probably hadn't arrived yet!

And the net mouth hadn't fully opened. If he became more skilled, wouldn't one cast equal one Life Conversion?

The Captain America goal—should he change it to... the Hulk?

He pulled the net up completely, feeling it weighed eleven or twelve jin.

Having often spearfished and angled, he was now very sensitive to weight. He could basically estimate approximate weight by feel, usually close to the actual weight.

Chu Mingcheng didn't count and directly dumped this net of plecos into the pit he'd just dug.

Anyway, after all the plecos were dead, he'd know exactly how many he'd caught today.

After dumping them, he straightened the cast net and made his second cast.

This time, the net opened more fully, and more plecos were caught—at least thirty-something.

As time passed, Fish Gathering's effect improved. As long as they were within the covered range, all plecos living there would gather.

After four more casts, the pit Chu Mingcheng had dug was filled with fish.

This pit of plecos made one's scalp tingle. The count was estimated at one hundred fifty.

There were large and small ones, mostly around two to three liang or smaller. However, there were also over ten exceeding one jin.

Plecos are only two to three liang when adult, with very slow growth rates. One could imagine how long those over-jin specimens had been growing.

Their appetites were enormous. Adult plecos didn't just eat moss and algae, but also loved fish eggs.

They could consume three to five thousand fish eggs daily. No wonder they looked so harmless yet were classified as five-star invasive species by the Aquatic Species Codex.

The pit was full. Chu Mingcheng didn't bury them first, nor dig another pit, but continued casting while Fish Gathering time remained effective.

But for the next three casts, the numbers caught decreased progressively. By the fourth attempt, only four or five were netted.

Chu Mingcheng didn't mind the effort and continued casting at this position, only stopping when he couldn't catch any more.

He first buried all the plecos in the pit, filled and compacted the soil, then dug a smaller pit for the overflow plecos thrown on shore.

Then he took his tools and drove along the river to a position one kilometer away, continuing to dig and cast nets there.

Because he didn't pile the plecos on the ground in heaps, and some relatively lush wild grass between the road and river blocked the view, his actions didn't attract much attention.

Passing cars ignored him. Otherwise, if someone discovered he'd netted hundreds of plecos, it would draw onlookers, then more and more people would gather.