Chu Mingcheng swam back to the bridge pier, pacing himself to conserve energy. A glance at his watch showed eight minutes had passed—roughly a hundred meters per minute.

For a fleeting moment, he entertained the idea of abandoning everything to become a professional swimmer, breaking records year after year, shaving off fractions of a second with each attempt.

But the thought vanished as quickly as it came. The monotony of an athlete’s repetitive training paled in comparison to the freedom of fishing and hunting in the vast sea.

Chu Mingcheng hung his fish spear on a piece of rebar protruding from the pier. He wouldn't need it for his new undercurrent fishing method.

He then unclipped his live fish stringer and tied it to the rebar as well. If he was going to use the current to catch fish, he couldn't have his previous catch tied to him—otherwise it might get swept up and stab him with its dorsal fin.

Besides, his position was at the edge of the bridge where boats rarely passed. It was unlikely anyone would spot what he'd hung beneath the pier.

With his preparations complete, Chu Mingcheng dove back into the water.

This time, he had no specific target. Groupers were rare finds, so he’d settle for anything valuable. He’d caught a blackhead seabream here before, a prized catch, so he decided to hunt for more.

Ignoring the smaller fish in the upper and middle water layers, he descended to the bottom. After locating the undercurrent, he began his search.

He didn't find his target at the bottom. Instead, when he looked up, he saw a school of four or five blackhead seabream swimming from a distance, leisurely circling a pillar above him.

Chu Mingcheng immediately shot upward. The startled fish scattered, and two of them happened to flee in the direction of the undercurrent.

He followed behind them, expecting them to split up again, but instead, they plunged headfirst into the current.

If the undercurrent was too strong for the grouper from before, it was certainly no match for these two-or three-jin seabream. They were swept away, helpless.

Chu Mingcheng didn’t hesitate—he dove into the current after them.

Last time, he’d gone in feet first, unprepared, and missed the full sensation of being swept away.

This time, he went in headfirst, arms tucked tightly to his sides, his body straight as an arrow.

He shot through the water, the rush of weightlessness and flashing visuals just like a roller coaster plunging from a great height. It was incredibly exhilarating.

If he could have spoken, he would’ve shouted without hesitation—“Awesome!”

This was way more thrilling than a roller coaster, wasn't it? Those cost money and always had lines. This undercurrent—he could experience it over and over again.

The two seabream ahead of him were already dizzy from being tossed around by the current.

This time, Chu Mingcheng specifically checked the time. When he emerged from the current, only about a minute had passed. His speed had reached over thirteen meters per second, almost as fast as a roller coaster. No wonder neither he nor the fish had any chance of resisting once they entered the current.

The two seabream were even dizzier than the grouper. Chu Mingcheng easily caught them, snaring one and holding the other while he bled it. Once they were both dealt with, he tied them both by the tail with the snare and swam back.

Back at the pier, the grouper was still hanging there, unharmed.

After securing the seabream, Chu Mingcheng wasted no time and immediately dove back down to herd more fish.

Zhao Jun would return in about two hours to pull his nets. Once his boat arrived, he wouldn't be able to use the undercurrent to catch fish anymore. It would be hard to explain how he went down at the pier and came up eight hundred meters away.

Unfortunately, the variety of fish under the pier was rather limited.

Among the larger species, there were mostly sea bass and black bream, with the occasional blackhead seabream or yellowfin seabream.

Smaller fish were much more abundant—small yellow croakers, pomfrets, scorpionfish, and several other common types.

When he couldn’t find any blackhead seabream, Chu Mingcheng shifted his focus to sea bass and black bream instead.

By the time Zhao Jun’s boat arrived, he’d already lost count of how many “roller coaster” rides he’d taken.

Since he didn’t feel any discomfort, he simply kept going, only surfacing to wait whenever he spotted a fishing boat approaching in the distance.

“A’Cheng, you alright?”

Zhao Jun called, his voice thick with concern as he fixed his gaze on Chu Mingcheng. Seeing him unharmed, he exhaled in relief, unaware for the moment of the impressive catch dangling from the rebar.

“I’m fine. There were so many fish under the pier—I had a great time today.”

With Zhao Jun’s help, Chu Mingcheng climbed back onto the boat, then hauled up the fish he’d strung.

The twelve clips on his stringer hadn’t been nearly enough. In the end, he’d just run a rope through the gills of the rest.

“Hiss~!” Zhao Jun sucked in a sharp breath.

They were all high-value fish.

As a fisherman, he could tell at a glance—there had to be at least fifty or sixty jin, including a particularly large grouper.

Today’s haul was even better than yesterday’s.

"You caught all this just now?" Zhao Jun's tone was one of disbelief.

"Yeah, there are a lot of fish under the pier, and they're pretty easy to catch with a snare. It's a shame I haven't gotten my spearfishing license yet. If I had a speargun, I could have gotten at least a hundred jin."

Chu Mingcheng wasn't exaggerating. Once he became proficient with a speargun, he could do it. Any experienced spearfisherman, as long as there were fish, could probably land over a hundred jin before running out of stamina.

"You've found the perfect job for yourself. But it's not something just anyone can do," Zhao Jun said with a sigh. Then he asked, "Are you going back in?"

"No, I have a dinner party tonight, so I need to head back early." Chu Mingcheng opened his fish cooler, which was filled with crushed ice he had prepared.

“Brother Zhao, can I borrow an empty crate? I’m not planning to sell this grouper.”

“What, you giving it away? Or keeping it for yourself?”

“Eating it myself, of course.”

Zhao Jun raised his brows in surprise—he hadn’t expected Chu Mingcheng to be so extravagant.

Still, he handed over an empty crate.

“That’s lavish. That grouper’s at least ten jin—far pricier than the green grouper you caught last time.”

"I'm going to Qiongzhou in a couple of days to get my spearfishing license, and then I'm heading straight to Xiamen to start my career. I caught this grouper specifically for my parents to try."

Chu Mingcheng took the crate, placed the grouper inside, then poured half the crushed ice from his cooler over it. He untied the rest of his catch and tossed them into the cooler one by one.

“You’re heading to Xiamen to start your career?” Zhao Jun was a little surprised at first, but then he thought about Chu Mingcheng’s spearfishing skills—it made perfect sense.

In fact, he was a bit tempted himself.

For a moment, he even felt the urge to learn spearfishing too.

But then the faces of his wife and children flashed through his mind, and the spark of excitement was instantly snuffed out.

Unlike the single Chu Mingcheng, he couldn’t afford to be reckless—his life had to be rooted in stability.

Rather than picking up spearfishing, his best bet was to find a few trustworthy partners, pool their resources, and invest in a fishing boat to head out to the open sea.

Back at the pier, Zhao Jun moored the boat and was about to help Chu Mingcheng carry his fish cooler to shore when he noticed a four-or five-jin sea bass on top of his pile of catch.

Zhao Jun knew for a fact he hadn't netted any sea bass today. With a wry smile, he said, “A'Cheng, it was just a boat ride. Take the fish back with you.”

But Chu Mingcheng just played dumb. “What are you talking about? Aren’t all my fish in the cooler?”

Zhao Jun chuckled wryly. "Fine. It's a good thing you're leaving town. Otherwise, if I took you out to sea every day, I'd probably make an extra five or six thousand a month."

Chu Mingcheng simply grinned without answering.

He understood how Zhao Jun treated him.

At the very least, the fact that Zhao Jun’s first reaction upon arriving had been to check on him—that alone had left him feeling genuinely at ease.