Chapter 25 The Fishermen of the Underworld

"""

An hour later, everyone had finished eating and drinking.

After all, it was already past midnight, and apart from Ye Chen, these fishing buffs were all older men.

Although their homes were nearby, for safety reasons, they didn't drink too much alcohol.

Still, everyone was quite happy.

Of course, Old Liao's mood wasn't that great.

Though everyone had been talking about fleecing Ye Chen, the meal for a dozen people ended up costing only thirty yuan.

In the end, they all agreed to meet at Seyves Reservoir at nine o'clock the next morning.

As they left, many teased Liao Xuexue, telling him to keep his wager and bring his granddaughter to assist Teacher Ye.

With an exasperated "Good grief!",

Old Liao hopped onto his electric bike and, feeling resentful, vanished into the streets.

Ye Chen lived in the suburbs of Jiang City, in a village within the city near Jiang City River.

His house was a small bungalow. Although the bungalow was spacious, there wasn't much inside, and Ye Chen kept it very tidy.

After returning home, Ye Chen quickly washed up and went to bed.

...

At six in the morning, Ye Chen was already getting ready, riding out on his electric scooter.

He didn't bring any fishing gear.

The meeting time with the fishing buffs was nine in the morning.

Before that, Ye Chen planned to buy his own agricultural tricycle and new fishing gear.

However, Ye Chen was unaware.

That the livestream footage of him catching a corpse late at night had spread across the internet all night and was now the fifth trending topic on Weibo!

In the video, he was dressed in a Taoist robe, holding incense, performing rituals by the riverbank, which made some of the fishing buffs truly admire him.

At the same time, Ye Chen also didn't know.

That almost simultaneously, an alarming piece of news broke out in Jiang City!

A giant python was found near the artificial lake in Jiang City's most luxurious Golden Treasure Residential Area.

It has been confirmed that this giant python is likely a Water Python!

Water Pythons are the largest existing snakes in terms of size.

Adult Water Pythons can be between five and ten meters long, with the maximum weight reaching four to five hundred kilos!

Their primary prey consists of terrestrial animals, such as some rodents and birds.

Moreover, these Water Pythons are particularly aggressive!

Generally, such Water Pythons live in tropical rainforests, while Jiang City is in the north of Hua Country.

Although it's unclear why a Water Python would appear here, now that it has, the priority is to control it.

The apartment complex management, together with the police, set up a cordon near the artificial lake overnight and posted various warnings around.

At first, the residents thought their reaction was too intense.

However, in the morning, a resident's small dog was attacked by the python.

The owner went out to walk the dog without a leash in the morning; the small teddy dog ran to the edge of the lake and was directly swallowed by the python lurking in the water!

After that, the python submerged once again into the depths of the lake and disappeared.

And this scene was coincidentally captured by a resident from the building above.

All of a sudden, not just the Golden Treasure Residential Area, but even the nearby residents were scared.

The incident also caught the attention of Jiang City's higher-ups.

In the morning, Jiang City's authorities dispatched a professional capture team, ready to catch the Water Python.

"""

The fishing team dispatched three or four boats, which wandered around the artificial lake for nearly two or three hours, and even some bold divers went directly into the lake to conduct investigations.

But they didn't even catch a glimpse of the Water Python's silhouette, let alone capture it.

With no other options, the fishing team could only send for more hands and set up an even tighter isolation zone around the artificial lake.

...

In stark contrast to the tense atmosphere of the Jindu Neighborhood's artificial lake.

At this moment, in a naturally formed reservoir in Jiang City, Seyves Reservoir.

The place was extraordinarily lively...

A pure-looking girl wearing a fisher's hat was shocked by the sight of fishermen on the shore, each with an urn of ashes at their feet.

Her stunningly beautiful face showed confusion and astonishment.

What on earth were these people, including her own grandfather, actually doing—fishing, or something else...

It was too eerily bizarre!

In fact, the moment the girl appeared here, she had already caught the attention of many fishermen on the shore.

Usually, those who came to this place for fishing were either old men or middle-aged uncles, with hardly any young people around.

Therefore, faced with the sudden appearance of this ravishing beauty, countless gazes were drawn to her.

The girl wore a white dress, her shiny black hair cascading down her back like a waterfall.

Her fair, beautiful skin was so tender that it seemed almost as though water could drip from it.

The girl was named Liao Xuexue, a sophomore studying History at Jiang City University.

Inside the school, many referred to her as the campus belle, though she herself did not favor the title.

Her sole reason for coming here was her grandfather, an avid fisherman.

Her grandfather mentioned that a fisherman needed an assistant.

Also, the assistant position was paid, capable of earning two hundred yuan a day.

The job was simple enough—just helping set up a fishing nest, carry a bucket, and do assorted odd jobs.

Considering it an excellent opportunity, her grandfather thought it would be perfect for the weekend; aside from work, his granddaughter could also keep him company with chat.

So, her grandfather recommended her to the fisherman.

Although a daily salary of two hundred yuan was indeed a lot, Liao Xuexue's family was not short of money.

Because of her grandfather's year-round obsession with fishing, it had become a constant source of arguments in the family.

Even though she was a filial girl, she still harbored some aversion to fishing.

Thus, Liao Xuexue intended to reject the offer.

However, her grandfather insisted, saying he had already agreed with the fisherman, and it was only for a week.

If she didn't go, it would make her grandfather appear to have boasted emptily.

Left with no choice out of filial piety, Liao Xuexue reluctantly agreed to her grandfather.

That's why she was present at Seyves Reservoir today.

Thanks to her grandfather, despite not liking fishing, she was somewhat familiar with it.

But the scene before her was completely overturning her values!

At that moment, along the banks of Seyves Reservoir, there were about twenty people fishing.

Others were sitting, quite normally, on their fishing boxes or small stools.

But near her grandfather, about a dozen people conspicuously positioned some rather eerie urns of ashes at their feet...

And there were also pieces of yellow paper, incense, and most absurdly, several wreaths!

Even her own grandfather had an assortment of funeral items at his feet...

This scene was completely beyond her expectations.