Back home, he sold ten jin of sea worms to Zhao Xia for six hundred yuan.

He also called Zhang Wei and told him to come over later to pick up his fish.

When his friends arrived, however, they came bearing beer and snacks, clearly planning to have dinner at his place.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng took out the small hairtail he'd caught the night before, sliced them into sections, and dropped them straight into hot oil.

The great thing about hairtail was that they had no scales. The silvery layer on their skin was secreted oil, highly nutritious. He also boiled one and picked the meat off the bones to give Mimi an extra treat.

"Ah Cheng, how did the boat search go?" Inside, the three of them clinked their beer bottles and took a few sips before Chen Yang asked.

He had the money ready, but Chu Mingcheng hadn't come to borrow it yet.

"Do you guys have any idea how much a twelve-meter Category III fishing boat costs?" Thinking back to his original plan of spending a hundred-something thousand on a fishing boat, Chu Mingcheng now felt incredibly naive.

"How much? Didn't Brother Zhao Jun say it was around a hundred thousand?" Zhang Wei asked curiously.

"Brother Zhao Jun was probably talking about a boat similar to his. In reality, a fully equipped Category III fishing boat costs at least half a million. So I borrowed some money from my dad and bought one for eight hundred thousand."

"Hiss~!" Zhang Wei sucked in a sharp breath at the price. "Ah Cheng, you put way too much chili powder on this fried hairtail!"

"A little spice whets the appetite," Chen Yang said with a laugh. "I didn't realize you were going for something so high-end. Won't that be a lot of pressure?"

He knew a bit about boats and had assumed Chu Mingcheng was just buying a small vessel to fish around the island. He hadn't expected him to go so big.

Chu Mingcheng nodded. "There's pressure, which is why I'm planning to move to Xiamen. The fish resources are better there. I'll also learn to freedive so I can go spearfishing for valuable fish in the future."

"Combining angling with spearfishing—and if worst comes to worst, I can always charter out the boat and buy fish from others to sell at a markup. I think I can make back the eight hundred thousand in a year."

Chartering the boat was his last resort. If he could make enough money on his own, he certainly wouldn't choose to go out to sea with others.

"As long as you have a plan," Chen Yang said, seeing that he'd thought it through. He said no more.

Zhang Wei, however, looked a little disappointed. "Man, I can't believe you're moving to Xiamen. I was hoping you'd take me out fishing on your days off!"

"You can always come to Xiamen when you have time. I'll take you out then."

"You said it!"

Since they'd been drinking, Chu Mingcheng had them sleep over at his place, saving them the cost of a designated driver.

—-

Zhao Xia had already collected her ten jin of sea worms, but he still had seven jin at home, which meant he needed to dig another thirteen jin.

He had nothing on his schedule today. The physical exam report would take a few days, and he couldn't register for his license without it, so Chu Mingcheng decided to use the time to dig for sea worms.

He had Chen Qing and the others come pick them up, earning another twelve hundred yuan.

Next, Chu Mingcheng maintained all his fishing rods and waited for He Zheng's call about the large yellow croaker trip.

But a full day passed with no call. Unsure what was happening, he decided to continue searching for new aquatic species to level up his Codex to Level 1 as soon as possible and unlock the "Effortless Swim" ability.

That way, even without a spearfishing license, he could secretly dive and catch some of the easier creatures.

In the morning, he first dug up some loaches, then caught some rice paddy crabs, earning +2 experience points.

In the afternoon, using the hand net he'd used for river shrimp and spotted creek chub, he went to the ditch outside the sluice gate of a fish farm and caught some prawns and greasyback shrimp.

Dried greasyback shrimp were what people called xia pi【TN: "Xia pi" literally means "shrimp skin"—dried tiny shrimp used as seasoning】. If it weren't for the Aquatic Codex's notification, he wouldn't have even known he'd caught them; the things were tiny.

There were also mudskippers here. It took Chu Mingcheng some effort to catch a small one.

And while catching the mudskippers, he unexpectedly caught two types of crabs.

They were the red-clawed crab and the mitten crab.

The red-clawed crab, also known as the fiddler crab, was small but had one exceptionally large red claw. In the past, some people around here would specifically catch these crabs just to break off that claw. A stir-fried plate of them was incredibly fragrant.

In some places, they also used this crab to make drunken crab or crab paste.

The mitten crab was a similar small crab, also mainly used for drunken crab and crab paste.

But this crab was a type of shore crab, different from the one Chu Mingcheng had caught before. This one could be sold for money—about ten yuan per jin.

Any catch that could be sold for money would be recorded by the Aquatic Codex. His experience was now at 42 points. Only 8 more to level up.

But Chu Mingcheng was stumped. He couldn't think of any other seaside creatures he hadn't caught yet. He had no choice but to head back to Yanmen Island and try his luck at low tide in the afternoon.

He checked the time. Without realizing it, it was already October 22nd.

Today was the twenty-seventh day of the ninth lunar month, a medium tide. The evening low tide would be roughly from four in the afternoon until eleven at night.

After dinner, Chu Mingcheng went out with a bucket, sea salt, tongs, a headlamp, and a small beachcombing shovel.

He first went to the same beach where he'd caught the mantis shrimp. After so many days, the beach had long since returned to its usual tranquility.

The swarm of mantis shrimp back then must have attracted many other sea creatures to feed on.

But that also meant many people had probably been beachcombing here during that time. He likely wouldn't find much now.

However, Chu Mingcheng was just here to collect new species today; he didn't care how many he caught.

Beachcombing on a sandy shore usually meant looking for clams, razor clams, and some types of sand-dwelling snails.

It was nearly six o'clock. The tide had receded, and the sun had already set.

Chu Mingcheng put on his headlamp and turned it on, then began searching for any signs of life on the beach.

Before long, he spotted a small vertical hole. There was seawater in the hole, constantly rising and falling.

Chu Mingcheng's eyes lit up. There was something in there—most likely a razor clam.

He used his small shovel to dig away some of the surface sand, then sprinkled a little sea salt into the opening.

A moment later, something resembling an elephant's trunk suddenly shot out of the hole.

Chu Mingcheng didn't rush to grab it. He waited until it had extended further, revealing its shelled body, before he reached out, grabbed it, and pulled the razor clam from the sand.

This razor clam was about the size of his index finger, but its suction was surprisingly strong. He could feel distinct resistance as he pulled.

One razor clam harvested, +1 experience point.

Chu Mingcheng continued his search on the beach. After three minutes, he finally found a second small hole.

But this one had a small mound next to it. That meant it wasn't a razor clam inside, but most likely a clam.

Chu Mingcheng dug deep with his shovel and scooped out the creature inside. It turned out to be a channeled whelk.

Wrong guess.

For the next five minutes, Chu Mingcheng found nothing. Beachcombing on a sandy shore was truly inefficient.

But he decided to search for another hour before heading to the rocky area.

Patience was key for beachcombing. Chu Mingcheng walked to an area still covered by water and immediately spotted a starfish.

It was a decent size, larger than his palm. He picked it up, put it in his bucket, and gained another experience point.

In the next hour, Chu Mingcheng found three more types of seafood: ark clams, jellyfish, and sea anemones.

He checked his experience. It was at 47 points. With only 3 more needed to level up, it was time to head to the rocky area.