A Very Unreasonable Price

Garfield suddenly jumped down and stretched out his paw, pulling a Flower Koi out of the water.

Li Yi saw it but didn't stop him. Garfield didn't want to eat the fish. He just wanted to play with it.

But as soon as it happened, the referee walked over.

"Sir, congratulations on choosing Koi number 0898!"

As he said this, he took out a number plate and handed it to Li Yi.

Li Yi was a little confused and asked, "Uh, I didn't choose it?"

"Your cat came into contact with Koi number 0898. This counts as your choice."

When Li Yi heard this, he just had to go with it. After all, he did not think highly of Garfield's choice.

"Alright, this one then."

Just then, the referee received a call. He picked up the phone and nodded repeatedly. After a few grunting sounds, he hung up the phone.

He then looked at Li Yi and said, "Now that you have made your choice, I will tell you the price."

"This koi has been evaluated by our expert group. It is an extremely rare fish, and has a high probability of winning. If you choose it, it will at least get into the top three!"

"So, the price may be a little higher than normal."

Li Yi nodded slightly. "In the case, it's fine if it's a little higher."

"Very good. The fee is 300,000 yuan. Pay up."

Li Yi was stunned for a moment. He asked, "300,000 yuan? Are you joking?"

The referee said very seriously, "I don't have time to joke with you. It's only 300,000 yuan. And you've already chosen it. There's no chance to go back on your word!"

Li Yi was baffled. 300,000 yuan was absolutely ridiculous!

No one else's fish cost that much. It was simply ridiculous!

The most important thing was that 300,000 yuan was precisely the amount of money he had on him at the time.

With all of that gone, he would have trouble putting bread on the table!

Li Yi thought for a moment and asked, "Well I'm withdrawing then. I don't want to buy this koi anymore!"

The referee shook his head slightly. "I'm sorry. You can't take it back. Since you've already selected the fish, you must buy it!"

"What is the prize for first place?" Li Yi asked.

The referee chuckled. "Eight million yuan. Is that enough?"

"What about second and third place?" Li Yi continued to ask.

"The second place is five million, and the third place is three million."

Li Yi thought for a moment. If this koi could get into the top three, it would be a win no matter what. This might be worth the risk!

"I'm telling you now! I'm definitely going to get first place!"

As he said this, Li Yi handed over his bank card.

The referee shrugged his shoulders disapprovingly and took the bank card. With a single swipe, 300,000 yuan was gone.

"It isn't that easy to get first place. You'll find out later."

With that, the referee turned around and left.

Li Yi took back his bank card and felt his heart ache. Buying a fish worth so much money really stung!

He would have to earn it back here and now!

Meanwhile, the referee went beneath a tree not far away, where he found Liu Cheng.

"Director Liu, I did what you said just now."

Liu Cheng's warm smile from before was gone. Instead, with a gloomy face, he cast a distant glance at Li Yi.

"That bastard opened his hospital near us and stole our business. Now he dares to steal my limelight. I must teach him a lesson!"

Said Liu Cheng while gnashing his teeth.

The referee asked further, "I did you a favor. Where's my reward?"

Liu Cheng took the Zhengyang Pet Treatment Center's VIP card out of his pocket.

"Here, you're a VIP from now on."

Having taken the card, the referee's face burst into smiles.

"Thank you, Director Liu. I look forward to doing more business with you in the future!"

"Alright, Alright, now let's start the competition!"

Having said that, Liu Cheng went back to Li Yi, while the referee returned to his seat and prepared to start the competition.

Liu Cheng came to Li Yi's side and said with a smile, "Brother Li, have you chosen?"

Li Yi pointed at a koi fish at the bottom of the pond. "I've chosen, it's that one."

"The competition is about to start. These fish are about to start their migration. This is gonna be a great show!"

Liu Cheng said with an excited smile.

He couldn't wait to see Li Yi's face when the koi fish he spent 300,000 yuan on lost miserably!

Li Yi had become quite the thorn in his side!

Not only did he steal his business, but he also stole his limelight!

As the director of Zhengyang Treatment Center, this was absolutely intolerable!

Li Yi's focus was locked onto the koi fish in the river. He did not care about Liu Cheng at all.

"Let the competition begin!"

Finally, with the referee's order, the competition began!

In the northern part of the river, people began to throw in bait to lure the school of fish forward.

Afterwards, they threw some more bait in. They kept on doing so until the school of fish reached the final sprinting position.

The school of fish dashed forward in a frenzy, snatching up all the bait they could get their mouths on.

A large group of people was standing on either side of the river. The eyes of their nervous faces were trained at the school of fish in the river. At the same time, they were also employing their own methods to get their chosen koi to speed up.

Meanwhile, Li Yi was squatting by the river with a gloomy face.

All the fish were swimming forward. But there was one floating in the same spot, motionless.

This was No. 0898 that Li Yi had bought.

Li Yi was speechless. He had spent all that money to buy a salted fish? (TL: a salted fish gives the impression of a corpse or a lifeless fish.)

"This young lad here is truly unlucky. The fish he chose is salted."

"Damn, and I just heard that he spent 300,000 yuan on that fish!"

"Really? He spent so much money on that?"

"Too unlucky. It's simply bad luck!"

"Even if I chose a fish blindfolded, I couldn't have chosen such a trash fish."

The voices of onlookers had become ear-piercing.

Liu Cheng, who was standing at the side, faintly revealed a cold smile. This was music to his ears. He was beside himself with joy.

By now, Li Yi couldn't wait any longer. He checked the Status of the koi fish.

It was all too ridiculous! The fish actually had a Salted Status attached to it!

"Really? A naturally-salted fish!"

Li Yi was a little speechless. He reached out his hand and grabbed the Salted Status Shard hovering over its head.

Now that the Salted Status was gone, the fish swam forward for a distance. But soon it had stopped again.

Li Yi looked and saw that the Salted Status was back!

Helpless, all he could do was keep removing the Status.

After repeating this a few times, Li Yi collected a full five Status Shards and fused them into a complete Status Shard!

This fish was insanely lazy! Li Yi felt unlucky. He couldn't have chosen a worse fish!

Seeing the other koi fish swimming further and further away, Li Yi couldn't wait any longer. He took out a Hungry Status and threw it at the fish's head.

Feeling the hunger, it began to swim forward in search of fish food.

Seeing that it finally was taking action, Li Yi heaved a sigh of relief.

Soon, the school of fish had reached the upper reaches of the rapids.

Any further and they would reach a waterfall called Longmen Waterfall!