Chapter 26: Burst Skill Activated

Xiao Hu also came down, walking and sighing, "Brother, what could there be? I feel like I came for nothing again."

"Xiao Hu, remember: the strong never complain about the environment; no matter what the external environment is like, we must not lose confidence ourselves." Ye Cheng said solemnly to Xiao Hu.

Xiao Hu scratched his head; now Brother Cheng's words are getting more and more profound—this guy really only has a high school diploma, huh.

Ye Cheng found a slightly larger reef stone; due to last night's tide, the stone still had pooled water, forming a small murky puddle.

Under the reef stone is a place where seafood often hides; Ye Cheng took his shovel and casually probed underneath.

As soon as he reached in, he felt something clamp onto the shovel.

Ye Cheng gave it a light tug—ah, it was putting up resistance; he guessed it was a crab.

He just didn't know what kind of crab it was; if it were a stone crab, that would be boring.

But with this 50 Luck Value, at least whatever's inside is still alive—not bad.

By now he should just grab it directly, but thinking of the crab's big claws made him tremble a little—damn, if it bit him…

Well, better just move the stone.

Fortunately the reef stone isn't too big; Ye Cheng heaved and managed to shift it.

Over there, Xiao Hu saw Ye Cheng moving the stone and immediately came over, "Brother, any catch?"

"Yeah, there's a crab; I'll move the stone and grab it."

"Brother, you can just grab the crab directly—why move the stone?" Saying this, Xiao Hu reached a hand into the water, felt around, and exclaimed happily, "Brother, a big one!"

"Never mind the size—hurry up and pull it out."

"Oh."

Xiao Hu bent over, adjusted his posture, and pulled a mud‑covered crab out from under the stone with one hand.

This crab is big enough—several times larger than Ye Cheng's palm.

Xiao Hu shifted his grip, grabbed the crab and vigorously washed it in the water, then lifted it out and let out an exclamation,

"Brother, it's a blue crab—such a big blue crab!"

Blue crab is a common seaside seafood, with plenty of meat and good flavor—like the few Xiao Hu's second uncle caught in his fish trap last time, though those were small; this one is genuinely big.

Actually, there are other varieties of blue crab abroad that can grow to three catties, but that variety isn't found domestically.

Domestically, the variety tops out at about one catty.

Ye Cheng estimated it weighed about one catty.

"Brother, today's good—having this blue crab is much better than yesterday." Xiao Hu beamed with excitement.

"All right, all right, hurry up and deal with it—should we tie it with a rope?" Ye Cheng recalled that blue crabs at the seafood market are usually tied with rope to prevent them from biting and wandering off.

"Yeah, we need to tie it, but I didn't bring a rope—I'll have to go back and get one."

"Then put this one in the bucket and hurry back to fetch the rope."

"Okay." Xiao Hu casually tossed the big blue crab into the bucket; the crab grandpa opened its two large claws, spun several circles in the bucket, shifted its posture, but still couldn't climb out.

"Don't get too excited on the way, don't run, and don't rush." Ye Cheng suddenly added a reminder.

They'd come out to gather seafood; the village chief would surely send someone to watch, and if he knew they'd snagged such a big blue crab here, who knows what trouble might arise.

Xiao Hu acknowledged and was about to leave—"Wait, go to the dock and call my brother too."

Ye Cheng still felt uneasy; the first crab today was already this big, and with his active Burst Skill later, they should have a big haul—two people might not be enough hands.

"Ah, we also need to call Guowei Brother."

"Just go when I tell you—hurry up."

Xiao Hu nodded, walked back to the seaside, then headed toward the village.

Ye Cheng stayed alone on the rocky beach, idle as he was, and first practiced with the crab in the bucket.

Actually, catching crabs is simple once you overcome the mental fear—after all, a crab's shape makes its back a spot it can't reach.

So as long as you hold down its back, everything's fine.

As for those two big claws, if you give it a shovel, it'll bite down firmly.

After practicing a while, Ye Cheng continued searching.

Sure enough, in the third puddle he detected movement—another crab, likely a blue crab, lying still at the bottom, motionless but with two lively eyes giving it away.

Such a good chance to practice—Ye Cheng wouldn't pass it up; he poked the crab with his shovel.

The crab yelled, "I was sleeping! Dare you stab me? I'll crush you!"

Seeing the big blue crab clamp onto the shovel, Ye Cheng laughed.

He gently pressed his hands onto the crab's large shell, arms spread, steady.

Another big blue crab in hand—its huge claws clicked a few times, as if trying to finish Ye Cheng off.

On the rocky beach, stones were everywhere; Ye Cheng didn't have to work hard and got two more, both decent sized—only problem was the bucket seemed a bit small; a few crabs stacked inside could stretch their arms out like a pile of arhats.

Fortunately, at that moment Xiao Hu returned, with Ye Guowei following, both panting from running.

"A Cheng, what's up? Why the rush to have Xiao Hu call me?" Ye Guowei still didn't understand what had happened.

"Brother, come help us tie the crabs." Ye Cheng cheerfully pointed at the bucket and shouted.

Ye Guowei took a look and almost exclaimed, "That big?"

"Yeah, Xiao Hu has the rope; brother, you help us tie the crabs while I and Xiao Hu go catch more."

"Sure, this is simple—I'll do it." Ye Guowei took the rope from Xiao Hu, bit one end firmly, then grabbed the big blue crab, left hand holding its belly, right hand threading the rope, and after a moment the crab was securely tied.

"Brother, your technique is awesome." Ye Cheng gave him a thumbs‑up in admiration.

Ye Guowei hehe‑ed, "This is just what we usually do at the dock—normal."

With Ye Guowei's help, Ye Cheng also relaxed; he and Xiao Hu split up to search under the stones.

In less than a minute, Xiao Hu's side also yielded a catch—another blue crab, just a bit smaller.

Having confirmed today's haul was normal, Ye Cheng opened the system and directly activated the Harvest Doubler.

Just after clicking, Ye Cheng saw a patch of lines suddenly appear on his Sea-gathering shovel, forming a strange pattern; a flash of golden light appeared and then vanished on the Sea-gathering shovel.

"Brother, what's that thing you have, why does it glow gold?" Xiao Hu's eyes were jerked by the flash.

"What golden light? Just sunlight reflecting." Ye Cheng gave a perfunctory reply.

This ultimate move is different, huh—it even has special effects; good thing there's no sound effect, otherwise it'd be hard to explain.

At that moment, the system interface also showed a countdown of 59 minutes and 59 seconds.