A moment later, Chu Mingcheng's first fish was finally pulled to the surface.

The color distribution was quite striking—four to five short, brown horizontal bands across its back, a white body covered in spots, and bright yellow mouth, fins, and tail.

Chu Mingcheng recognized such a distinctive fish immediately. It was a highly valuable emperor coral grouper, with a market price of five hundred yuan per jin.

Of course, it wouldn't fetch that price here in Qiongzhou.

The resources were so abundant that fish considered rare in other regions weren't necessarily precious here.

This grouper was the second-largest species in the Plectropomus genus, with adults reaching up to one and a half meters in length.

The one Chu Mingcheng had caught was massive—visually close to a meter long, probably weighing around thirty jin.

This species has a relatively slender build, so it doesn't pack on weight like a green grouper or tiger grouper of the same length.

"Damn, you hooked something this big right off the bat?" Zhang Wei and Chen Yang both groaned. They were getting tired of Chu Mingcheng's constant success with large, premium fish.

"It's fate. Can't be jealous of that," Chu Mingcheng chuckled as he handed the fish to a crew member. "Get this in the refrigerated hold, quick."

Flash-frozen emperor coral grouper would sell for significantly less, but with this weight, two hundred yuan per jin would be no problem.

Nothing could be done about missing the live fish price. Pulled up from the deep sea, the emperor coral grouper had already regurgitated its stomach through its mouth. Even if he wanted to keep it alive in the live well, it wouldn't survive.

Seeing Chu Mingcheng land a monster right at the start, the others lost interest in chatting. They focused on their own rods, hoping for similar luck.

What nobody on the boat—or the nearby anglers—realized was that the highest concentration of fish was directly below Chu Mingcheng.

If someone glanced at the fish finder in the cockpit, they'd notice the school was most concentrated around the aft deck area.

Out of every hundred fish, a dozen or so would inevitably be drawn to Chu Mingcheng's hooks, and the attracted ones tended to be the larger specimens.

Furthermore, the fish-gathering effect was continuous. Any new fish passing through the area had a one-in-ten chance of being attracted, causing the school to grow larger and larger.

This meant everyone fishing near Chu Mingcheng benefited too—their catches tonight were excellent.

Not just Zhang Wei and the others, but even unfamiliar anglers nearby were getting in on the action, landing deep-sea fish regularly, likely enough to recoup most of their costs.

Han Baola's face was constantly lit with the joy of a good harvest. When had she ever had such a productive outing?

She usually enjoyed lure fishing, but what was that like?

She was lucky if she didn't get skunked every day.

She'd fished for a while in the morning and afternoon with poor results—only three fish all day.

She never would have imagined that tonight, thanks to Zhang Wei's invitation to fish alongside them, she'd land nearly fifty jin of deep-sea fish in just two hours.

"Mingcheng oppa, do you know there are lots of fish in this spot? Is there some trick to finding good locations?"

Being suddenly called "oppa" caught Chu Mingcheng off guard for a moment, but then he remembered she'd first called Jiang Luoluo "sister" before switching to "unnie," so the address didn't seem strange.

After all, she was from the Korean peninsula—it wasn't unusual for her to default to her native terms.

"What trick? Just ask the crew what depth the fish are at, then fish at that depth, right?"

"But I asked during the day too, and only caught three fish all day."

"That's different. Most deep-sea fish are active at night—this is their peak feeding time, so naturally the bite rate is much faster."

"Oh, I see!" Han Baola nodded, though she hadn't really gotten any useful information.

She knew plenty about lure fishing and had all the necessary equipment. She was naturally aware of optimal feeding times.

Before coming to the Nansha Islands, she'd researched many guides and watched numerous videos, but they all seemed unreliable and weren't much help.

Now that she'd met some experienced anglers, she naturally wanted to learn more.

After fishing for a while longer, Chu Mingcheng decided to switch from his small electric reel setup to the larger one.

Due to the continuous attraction effect, the fish congregating around his bait weren't small.

This made the small electric reel less efficient and harder to manage.

When he switched to the large electric reel, his efficiency immediately jumped up a notch. Fish over ten jin could be brought to the surface in short order.

He'd already caught over a hundred jin of fish, and as usual, his haul was more than double anyone else's nearby.

Just then, a joyful cry came from not far away.

He looked up to see two crew members using a crane to haul up a massive grouper nearly a meter long. The key point—this large grouper was the seven-banded grouper he'd been hoping for.

Chu Mingcheng saw the angler was using a thirty-centimeter fusilier fish as bait, and an idea immediately formed.

He asked a crew member to bring two similar fusilier fish, then reeled in his line, changed his leader and hook, and prepared to go for something big.

The crew member quickly brought over two fusilier fish. Jiang Luoluo and the others knew what he was planning, but didn't blindly follow suit.

Mainly because the fishing was hot right now—they were catching deep-sea fish consistently.

Going for a monster depended on luck. If they struck out and missed the current bite, it would be a net loss.

Only Chu Mingcheng, with his already impressive catch and consistently good luck, would think of targeting something huge.

He baited the hook with a fusilier fish and cast it into the water. With the weight of the sinker and bait, the line spooled out rapidly.

When the depth counter hit eighty meters, Chu Mingcheng closed the bail and locked the drag.

A thirty-centimeter fusilier fish immediately eliminated all the small-mouthed species at the bottom.

Due to the fish-gathering effect, they constantly circled his bait.

Some of the more aggressive groupers even tried gnawing on it with sharp teeth, leaving the fusilier covered in bite marks.

Just then, the school that had gathered around the bait suddenly scattered in panic.

The next moment, a large, chunky fish rushed over at high speed and swallowed the fusilier in one gulp.

The impact of this monster was tremendous. The boat rod immediately bent into a deep arch.

"Damn, you really hooked something huge?" Zhang Wei's jaw dropped. It had only been five or six minutes, and he'd hooked a monster? It made him suddenly want to try his luck with big bait, too.

Chu Mingcheng reacted quickly. As the rod bent down, he immediately lifted to set the hook, but couldn't lift much. The fish was far larger than he'd imagined.

He pressed the button on the electric reel, and as expected, the line wouldn't budge.

In this situation, he couldn't reel in with the electric motor. Overloading it could cause overheating and burn it out.

So Chu Mingcheng had to grab the handle, turn off the electric reel when it started getting hot, and reel manually.

"This doesn't feel like a grouper. More like a tuna."

The line couldn't be reeled in. After turning off the electric reel, line was continuously being stripped out, leading Chu Mingcheng to guess that what was hooked was definitely not a grouper.

After all, a large grouper didn't have the speed to pull line that fast.

"A tuna?" The others' eyes lit up. Tuna usually travel in schools. If it was tuna, didn't that mean they had a chance too?

So Jiang Luoluo and the others immediately reeled in, also changed leaders and hooks, and asked crew members for fusilier fish to try for tuna.

Chu Mingcheng's attention was now completely focused on his fishing line, observing its condition.

The fish started running wild. The entire rod swung right, and the line was being pulled in that direction.

His position wasn't at the corner of the stern. If the fish ran right, it could easily tangle with someone else's line, causing a break-off.

"Excuse me, coming through!"

Chu Mingcheng decisively loosened the drag by several clicks, took the rod from the holder, and before the fish could run all the way right, he quickly raised the rod and made his way to the stern.

The corner of the stern was prime real estate and naturally occupied. After arriving, he could only move aside to avoid interfering.

But there was no rod holder here, which meant he had to hold the heavy rod and electric reel and battle the deep-sea beast with his own strength.

After getting into position, he locked the drag again.

"Whoosh!"

"Oof!"

He'd underestimated the fish's power. The moment he locked the drag, Chu Mingcheng was slammed against the boat's side with a thump.

The fish was in its first powerful run, at peak strength. Even with his current physical condition, he couldn't overpower it. So after steadying himself, he quickly backed off the drag one click, loosening it slightly.

The spool spun with a "zzzz" sound, letting out line. Only then did Chu Mingcheng feel some relief.

Jiang Luoluo was genuinely worried about him. She was afraid he'd need help with no one around. So after baiting her hook with a fusilier fish, she didn't cast out but ran over to watch, ready to help if needed.

But Chu Mingcheng didn't need assistance at the moment. He held the thick rod in his arms, and even with the loosened drag, he was still being jerked around.

He tried bracing his hip against the boat's side, leaning his upper body back, and gripping the handle tightly, trying to gain some line, but it wouldn't budge.

He'd managed to land an eight-hundred-jin swordfish before. He hadn't expected such a struggle with what was probably a three-to-four-hundred-jin tuna.

But he'd used tricks with the swordfish. The rod was in a holder, with the boat taking the strain.

And they'd chased it with the boat for over an hour. He'd just held the handle and maintained a stalemate, so it wasn't as strenuous.

Later, when the fish was resting, he'd gotten on the inflatable boat, which also wasn't a direct confrontation.

Today's conditions were worse. The electric reel couldn't pull it in, so he had to go head-to-head with this monster himself.

So just maintaining the situation was a victory. Trying to overpower the fish by sheer force was something even a world champion weightlifter couldn't do.

Jiang Luoluo stood to the side, not knowing how to help. After a moment, she noticed Chu Mingcheng's lips were dry and instantly knew what to do.

She quickly bought a bottle of mineral water, opened it, and carefully brought it to his lips. "Ah Cheng, here, drink some water."

Chu Mingcheng was parched. He'd been about to ask her for water, and was surprised how quickly she'd reacted.

He took two big gulps, and the moisture in his mouth and throat made him feel much better.

"Want something to eat?" It was already nine at night. In about an hour, it would be time for a late-night snack.

But Chu Mingcheng was fighting a monster right now and probably burning energy faster. Jiang Luoluo worried he was getting hungry.

"No need. I'll call you if I need something later!"

"Okay, I'll be right here. Call me if you need help!"

"Alright!"