Chapter 111 - 112: The Whip-Cracking Angler

Chapter 111: Chapter 112: The Whip-Cracking Angler

The pond was calm and quiet, nothing out of the ordinary.

Chen Dequan was still wandering around aimlessly with his landing net, both ears lined with cigarettes again — the man had truly found a way to never spend a dime on smokes.

Liu Fang had already packed up the takeout boxes and wasn’t by the pond anymore, probably catching some rest in the leisure restaurant.

That was how it should be — rotating breaks during night fishing shifts so nobody ran themselves into the ground.

"Boss Chen, doing your rounds again?"

Almost everyone fishing tonight was a regular, familiar faces who knew Chen Yuan well. They grinned and ribbed him as he walked by, and a couple who were already pulling out cigarettes tossed one his way.

"Life calls me to patrol the pond, first the small one, then the big one~"

Chen Yuan hummed a couple of lines in the sing-song style of Journey to the West.

"Ha! Boss Chen, you ever think about getting your hands on that big pond?"

The anglers around him perked up with interest.

The large pond across the way stretched as far as the eye could see — easily dozens of acres, maybe pushing a hundred. What a dream it would be to fish a body of water like that. Going after the Fish King in there? Absolutely legendary.

Chen Yuan just spread his hands with a shrug.

The anglers all sighed.

"Swoosh~"

Nearby, one angler lifted his rod grip and worked it back and forth to tease the fish, then snapped the rod up in one clean motion — a big, fat crucian carp came up without any fuss.

"Bro, how are you landing fish back to back while I’ve got nothing going on over here?"

The angler who’d come with Heavy Chummer and Three Sticks of Incense stared at his neighbor with undisguised envy.

The neighbor just shook his head with a wry smile, pinched the crucian carp and dropped it into the keep net, then rebaited and cast back out, giving the rod a few gentle lifts and tugs.

After a moment, he responded,

"Can you spot the difference?"

"What difference? You’re both putting bait on and casting. Different bait? Different rod? Can’t be — Boss Chen supplies everything, doesn’t he?"

The angler scratched his head, genuinely baffled.

"Go ahead and lift your rod, then recast with fresh bait. Let me watch."

The guy was willing enough — he yanked his rod up and started rebaiting.

Chen Yuan watched with growing curiosity, cigarette dangling from his lip as he wandered over.

He’d come out at this hour specifically to see what kind of signature moves Heavy Chummer and Three Sticks of Incense’s friend had. Looked like they were about to witness some Air Force Alliance artistry firsthand.

"Whoosh~"

Chen Yuan had barely taken another step when he froze in his tracks, stumbling backward in sheer disbelief.

Holy hell.

The guy finished baiting up, grabbed his rod with both hands, and heaved it forward in a wide overhead swing. Two bait balls the size of eyeballs traced a wide arc through the air and crashed into the pond with a heavy PLUNK, sending water splashing in all directions.

"What the hell~"

Chen Yuan’s eyes went wide. With a casting technique like that, no wonder he couldn’t catch anything.

All around him, anglers were shaking their heads with pained smiles.

"See it now?"

The Fisherman beside him asked, pulling out a cigarette with the expression of a teacher who’d just solved a complicated problem and figured even a pig should get it by now.

"Yeah, I see it — it’s just a big overhead cast. What’s the problem?"

Big Caster scratched his head, not seeing the issue at all.

The angler next to him nearly dropped the cigarette right out of his mouth, caught it with both hands in a blur, and stared at Big Caster in complete speechless disbelief.

"Six-meter-three rod, bait the size of eyeballs — that’s a setup for monster fish. You’ve been slamming the surface so hard you’ve scared off every single bleak in the pond. If you’re not going to blank, who is~"

Chen Yuan pressed a hand to his forehead.

You really had to hand it to anyone who made it into the Air Force Alliance — each one had their own signature talent, something no normal angler could ever hope to replicate.

"Even if there were fish, you’d have knocked them unconscious~"

"This pond isn’t exactly huge. Sixty rods going in and out is already enough to spook the fish. And you’re over here crashing bait in like you’re chucking boulders. Getting a bite would be the miracle."

The anglers around him echoed Chen Yuan’s words.

Whenever someone was doing big overhead casts, you gave them a wide berth — last thing you needed was a hook in your face. But this guy wasn’t just doing overhead casts, he was balling up bait the size of rocks. Each cast was like lobbing a cobblestone into the pond.

Sitting next to him was basically collateral damage.

"You lot don’t get it. This is called attracting fish. You know those street vendors with loudspeakers shouting their heads off? Nobody walks over if there’s no noise. Same principle — you gotta let the fish know something’s happening over here, make them curious enough to come check it out~"

Big Caster actually had a whole theory worked out.

What the hell kind of logic was that?

Using the noise of a massive overhead cast to draw fish in — where does that leave your groundbait and your actual bait?

"Whatever, everyone fishes their own way. I like my overhead cast. The fish can take it or leave it."

Seeing the contempt on the faces around him, Big Caster went a little red, quietly went back to his overhead casting, and adopted a thoroughly zen attitude about the whole thing. Take it or leave it.

That heavy THUNK THUNK of bait hitting the water had everyone around him wincing.

Especially the guy right next to him.

"Keep that up and you’ll scare every fish out of my swim."

"Heh heh, we can all blank together — it’ll be fun."

Big Caster chuckled with a grin.

"Who’s blanking? I’ve already landed a bunch."

One line. Instant shutdown. Big Caster had nothing to say to that.

"Ha ha ha, told you the overhead cast wasn’t going to cut it. Bro, practice your casting — fish Boss Chen’s pond properly and you’ll actually feel what it’s like to hook one."

Heavy Chummer to the right burst out laughing.

"Heavy Chummer skipping the heavy chum, me ditching the ritual — we’re still landing fish and running back-to-back. Just cast normally, bro. Give it a go."

Three Sticks of Incense tilted his head and grinned.

"Oh yeah? Have either of you actually hooked anything?"

Big Caster turned to look at them with a smirk.

Oh, shit~

Heavy Chummer and Three Sticks of Incense’s smiles froze solid on their faces.

They hadn’t landed anything either.

All three of them were blanking. None of them had any room to talk.

"Look, if you’re just going to feed the fish, at least do it properly. Why do you even bother with the rods?"

The angler next to them really went for the jugular — landed three in quick succession, and even Big Caster couldn’t find anything to laugh about anymore.

The three of them united in shared indignation and shot him matching glares.

"Oh — float’s gone under. Well, this is embarrassing — got another bite the second it hit the water. I’m running so many back-to-back I can barely keep up."

The angler didn’t rush to strike, just grinned and kept needling the three blankers.

"Then why aren’t you striking? You’re not doing it, I’ll do it for you."

Big Caster made a show of starting to get up.

"No rush. Let it eat a bit longer. With my skills, there’s no way it’s getting off~"

He chuckled twice, then snapped the rod up — to absolutely nothing.

"Ha ha! Lost it, didn’t you."

The Air Force trio roared with laughter.

That’s what you get for showing off. How does that feel?

"Came off the hook."

The angler stared at the bare hook with a surprised look, then calmly began rebaiting.

"Doesn’t matter — I’ve already caught plenty. Not like I blanked. Unlike you lot, sitting there watching your floats not move. Feeding fish isn’t even worth the effort."

The trio got shut down again.

When you’re blanking, you’ve got no standing in the argument.

"Ha, ease up on them a bit, bro. Blanking already feels bad enough — you’re just piling on. Watch out, they might steal your fish."

An angler further down the bank sounded like he was playing peacemaker, but he put just a little extra weight on the word "blanking," and the grin on his face was impossible to hide.

The Air Force trio felt thoroughly hard done by.

But what could they say — they hadn’t caught a single one.

"Alright, boys. Time to bring out our real skills and defend our dignity as anglers."

Big Caster turned serious.

"Initiating Plan A."

Heavy Chummer gave a firm nod.

Chen Yuan and the anglers nearby watched with curiosity, wondering what kind of fishing strategy the Air Force trio could possibly have cooked up.

"No more talking. Let’s get some bait in the water first."

All three started rolling bait balls, muttering to themselves as they worked.

"If the fish aren’t fed, what the hell are we even fishing for~"

Chen Yuan stood there dumbfounded.

The anglers around him erupted in a chorus of what-the-fucks.

So this was Plan A.

Heavy chum first, then pray?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa — hold on."

Chen Yuan rushed to stop them. He didn’t mind if the anglers took over all fish-feeding duties, but one Heavy Chummer was already a headache — three of them going at it at once and the fish would literally be overfed to death.

"Heh heh, don’t worry, Boss Chen. We’re not doing a heavy chum. Just a couple of small balls, real simple. We haven’t even put any feed in yet today."

Heavy Chummer turned around with a warm smile.

Then he looked at the two bait balls in his hand, thought for a moment, put one back, and split the other in half.

Three Sticks of Incense and Big Caster watched and halved their portions too.

"And cut out the overhead cast — you’re going to hook someone and there’ll be hell to pay. Just cast normally. I’ve got your backs if you blank, so what’s there to worry about."

Putting in a little feed was fine, but the overhead cast had to go. Even without barbed hooks, catching someone with that swing was going to hurt, and that was the kind of thing that started fights.

"Thing is, if I cast normally, I can’t guarantee I’ll actually land it in my own swim every time."

Big Caster looked a bit sheepish.

Every angler within earshot was completely lost for words.

What level of angler was this guy, exactly?