A new round of "stocking up" began. The 7% capture bonus wasn't bad at all—in just a short while, his rod started twitching. As usual, he got a bite before anyone else.

However, the school of fish must have been quite large, as Zhang Wei and the others hooked up not long after him.

Chu Mingcheng watched the numbers on the screen, waiting for the fish to be reeled in.

But when there were still over thirty meters of line out, the rod suddenly began trembling violently.

He didn't know what to make of it—he'd never encountered a situation like this before.

The retrieval speed was erratic, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, which made Chu Mingcheng guess it was probably the fish struggling.

But deep down, he knew that wasn't how a fish's struggle felt.

Fortunately, the trembling didn't last long, and the line began reeling in even faster than before.

Chu Mingcheng relaxed and waited patiently.

A moment later, to his utter astonishment, a large fish head was pulled to the surface. It was the head of a greater amberjack.

"Damn it, there are sharks!"

Now Chu Mingcheng finally understood why that greater amberjack had leaped into his arms earlier. The school was being attacked by sharks and had fled toward the Sky High in terror.

"What rotten luck! Sharks?" Zhang Wei looked at his own violently shaking rod and had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, when his line was reeled in, he too had pulled up nothing but a fish head.

"Damn it! How are we supposed to fish like this? We're just feeding the sharks!"

With a "smack," Zhang Wei angrily threw the fish head onto the deck.

Judging by the size of the head, the greater amberjack must have been over ten jin. That was several hundred yuan worth of fish, gone just like that.

"Looks like there's more than one shark," Chu Mingcheng said, observing the others. He noticed many people's catches had been eaten.

This meant it was a pack of sharks underwater, not just one or two.

However, Jiang Luoluo and Han Baola were quite lucky. Their fish were pulled to the surface intact, and a nearby crew member quickly gaffed them aboard.

"So, are we still fishing or not?" Chen Yang asked helplessly, holding up his fish head. His catch had been eaten too.

"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we?" Chu Mingcheng chuckled as he put away his electric jigging reel. He then took out another heavy-duty boat rod and mounted a conventional reel on it.

Then, he made sure to put on his fighting belt. He'd forgotten it when fighting the tuna last night, and his stomach had been sore from the rod butt.

Next, he picked up the amberjack head left by the shark and hooked it onto his line.

Seeing this, Chen Yang was surprised. "Don't tell me you're going to fish for sharks?"

"You bet I am. Since the sharks are here anyway, it's hard to fish for anything else. Might as well have some fun with them," Chu Mingcheng said with a grin, tossing the fish head into the water.

Not many shark species were protected domestically, and with his cheat system increasing the reproduction rate of aquatic life, he could safely catch and sell any that weren't endangered.

Jiang Luoluo looked at him and asked, "Will you need my help later?"

"Nope, you guys just keep fishing," Chu Mingcheng replied, waving her off.

The fish head he'd tossed in was still emitting the scent of blood, and it quickly attracted a large nearby shark.

It was a tiger shark.

Nearly three meters long, bigger and heavier than the tuna Chu Mingcheng had caught last night.

But it wasn't fully grown yet—still a sub-adult.

It smelled the blood from the fish head, swam over, and swallowed it in one gulp.

The sudden sharp pain in its mouth made the tiger shark instinctively shake its head, but it was clever.

Instead of subconsciously fleeing like other fish, it turned back, preparing to spit out the hook.

But Chu Mingcheng wasn't about to let it go. He immediately yanked the rod upward with all his might, and the hook dug deep into the soft flesh of the shark's mouth.

The tiger shark, enraged by the pain, was instantly spurred into a frenzy. It shot off into the distance, beginning its tug-of-war with him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Chu Mingcheng hadn't expected the shark to be so big. He was pulled off balance and slammed right into the ship's railing.

As expected, the fishing rod bent into a deep arc, and the line screamed off the conventional reel as if it were free.

"Zhang Wei, give me a hand! Hold onto me!"

Chu Mingcheng braced himself against the railing, struggling against the shark. But he had no intention of getting into a protracted battle—otherwise, he'd spend the whole afternoon on this one shark.

So he asked Zhang Wei to help him land it.

Zhang Wei agreed and was about to come over when Jiang Luoluo stopped him. "Let me do it!"

"Ah Cheng, just hold on for a second. Let me take off my fighting belt first."

"Okay!"

Jiang Luoluo unstrapped the belt, fastened it around her own waist, then wrapped her arms around Chu Mingcheng's waist and pulled with him, getting him away from the railing.

After a brief stalemate, feeling that the shark's pull had lessened, she took the opportunity to slip into Chu Mingcheng's embrace. She gripped the rod with both hands and braced the butt against her own fighting belt.

"Well now! I didn't know you had that move up your sleeve!"

Chu Mingcheng was very surprised. He hadn't expected Jiang Luoluo to slip into his arms to fish with him.

Jiang Luoluo was quite petite compared to him, so her being in front didn't hinder his ability to hold the rod.

Although their position meant neither could exert full strength, the effect of one plus one was still greater than one, and Chu Mingcheng immediately felt the strain lessen considerably.

"Wow, how romantic!" Han Baola swooned at the sight.

As a woman who loved fishing, at that moment, she too yearned for a strong man to hold her while they fished together.

"Maybe we should give it a try?" Zhang Wei, seeing her reaction, took the opportunity to suggest.

"No way. I only do this with my boyfriend," Han Baola replied, shaking her head.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Not yet..."

"Actually, my nickname is 'Boyfriend.'"

"???" Han Baola was momentarily stunned. She'd expected Zhang Wei to say something like, "Then I'll be your boyfriend." She hadn't expected that line.

But a second later, she caught on, covering her mouth as a pleasant laugh escaped. The jiggle of her laughter made several nearby men stare. "I didn't know you were so funny."

"Thanks for the compliment." Zhang Wei knew when to quit while he was ahead and didn't press his luck.

He was quite interested in Han Baola and didn't plan to use his usual, more direct approach.

If she was willing to play along, he was willing to put in the effort tonight.

If she wasn't, he'd just find a different way to exert himself tonight.

With the two of them working together, Chu Mingcheng found that landing this even larger tiger shark was much faster than fighting the tuna the day before.

The tiger shark thrashed wildly in the water, the commotion not only scaring away the nearby fish schools but even causing its own kind to keep their distance.

However, its companions had only moved to the other side of the Sky High, which meant the anglers on that side were now having their catches stolen by sharks.

One after another, they cursed or sighed in frustration, but none were willing to give up fishing.

After all, the chance of landing a fish was still higher than having it stolen, and everyone felt their luck would be better.

Back on Chu Mingcheng's side, with his and Jiang Luoluo's combined effort, it took them just under an hour and a half to pull the shark alongside the boat.

The shark, pulled up to the side, opened its mouth wide, revealing rows of sharp teeth, looking extremely ferocious.

"Is that... a tiger shark?" Chu Mingcheng identified it immediately.

"This shark is huge! Should we take a picture and then let it go?" Jiang Luoluo suggested.

"Let it go? Why let it go? We can sell it to Agong Wei!" This fish could be sold to Wei Jiaguo, but not to Brother Sea King. A shark like this would be controversial—there were too many bleeding hearts online.

Catching a near-threatened species was generally discouraged.

The reason Chu Mingcheng was going to kill this tiger shark was because of his cheat Codex, which could accelerate the reproduction of commercially valuable aquatic species in domestic waters. That's why he felt no pressure about dispatching it.

Of course, he wouldn't be foolish enough to film a video of the tiger shark and post it online.

If he did that, a horde of idle online keyboard warriors would swarm his comments section in minutes, like sharks drawn to blood.

"Can you sell this shark? Isn't it a protected species?"

"The tiger shark is listed as 'near threatened' by the IUCN, but its population is actually still quite substantial. Our country has excellent shark resources, but not many species are protected, and the tiger shark isn't one of them."

"This thing is very aggressive, with records of attacking humans. It's considered 'one of the most dangerous sharks.' After putting in so much effort to catch it, we certainly can't just let it go for nothing."

Hearing that it wasn't a nationally protected animal, Jiang Luoluo was relieved.

Chu Mingcheng was able to recognize this type of shark because of his spearfishing training.

Learning to spearfish involved not only identifying the most edible and huntable fish but also distinguishing other marine creatures that could be dangerous to humans.

The tiger shark was specifically highlighted, as its record of attacks meant freedivers needed to know to get back to the boat immediately if they encountered one.

When the crew member heard that Chu Mingcheng wanted to keep the shark, he used a gaff to hook its head and kill it.

Then, without waiting for the shark to die completely, he quickly tied a rope around its tail and hoisted it up with a crane to prevent its blood from agitating its companions and triggering cannibalism.

Sharks generally don't attack their own kind, but the stimulus of blood could still drive them into a frenzy.

Although this tiger shark was only three meters long and a sub-adult, it already weighed over five hundred jin.

An adult tiger shark can grow to over four meters and weigh more than eight hundred jin. They have high economic value and are also edible.

People say shark meat doesn't taste good, but that's relative.

Sharks urinate through their skin, so as long as the skin is processed correctly, the meat can be made quite delicious.

As the shark was hoisted up, blood dripped down, quickly forming a small stream on the deck.

Only after it was completely dead did Chu Mingcheng prepare to process the shark.

Of course, the photo-op was essential. After their group had taken pictures, some other anglers came over to join the fun.

Once the pictures were done, Chu Mingcheng began to butcher it.

To prevent the meat from spoiling, he bled the shark completely, which would also prevent the meat from having too strong a fishy taste.

Then he removed the internal organs. The shark's liver and maw were valuable.

Chu Mingcheng took special care to clean these two parts, then had a crew member vacuum-seal them to be placed in the refrigerated hold with the rest of the shark for freezing.

As for the large shark fin, he couldn't be bothered to cut it off. He'd just sell it all together later.