Chapter 297: He's just a stinky fish seller

Oh, Wu Bin, right? Okay, go on, I still have something to do here. Wang Ke gave a perfunctory reply, planning to leave.

But Wu Bin wouldn't pass up such a good opportunity; he took a half step forward and asked tentatively,

"President Wang, I saw you seeing off guests at the door just now—do you know that person?"

Wang Ke stopped, looking at him puzzled, not knowing what he meant.

"Oh, President Wang, this person looks a bit familiar to me—I didn't expect you to know him too." Wu Bin didn't say they were classmates, because he couldn't tell whether Wang Ke was just being polite or actually knew him.

"Oh, if he looks familiar, that's right—he's just a stinky fish seller; you might have bought his fish."

After saying that, Wang Ke left satisfied. Yeah, Ye Cheng is just a stinky fish seller—damn it, let you curse my uncle's deceit.

Wu Bin relaxed upon hearing that; President Wang said he was a stinky fish seller, so Ye Cheng must have come to deliver fish.

That evening's class reunion made Ye Cheng feel sick; afterward, nothing he ate smelled good, and he couldn't understand why an ordinary class reunion had to be so vulgar.

He had planned to keep going out to sea these days, but the weather suddenly turned gloomy and windy, making the sea too risky; mainly his Luck Value was low, so Ye Cheng could only stay in the village.

Ye Guowei had been crouching on the tidal flats these past two days, watching the clams, afraid the wind would blow them away; Ye Cheng followed and worked there for two days as well.

That morning Ye Cheng again took Xiao Hu to the tidal flats; as soon as they arrived, under the overcast sky they saw Ye Guowei standing at the sea's edge, looking out.

Ye Cheng ran over and saw the beach in disarray, the barrier net pulled loose and sagging.

Ye Cheng's face darkened. "Brother? What's wrong? Did someone sabotage it?"

Ye Guowei shook his head. "Not likely. Look closely—the barrier net seems to have been torn and trampled by something, and there's some of this on the net."

Ye Cheng took it from his older brother's hand and saw—damn, a crab leg.

Looking at the ground, scattered clams lay broken open from bites.

"Brother, are you saying a crab came over, ate the clams, and then ran off?" Ye Cheng ventured.

When did crabs get this smart?

"Probably. Look at this trail—it goes straight into the sea."

The two looked over and, sure enough, several rows of clear footprints marked the tidal flats, leading all the way into the sea.

"Brother, there seem to be a lot—feels like several hundred." Xiao Hu estimated.

"Damn, several hundred coming up to steal clams—we'd lose big!" Ye Cheng shouted.

Ye Guowei pointed along the line of footprints,

"Look for yourself—they're all dead clams."

"Brother, what should we do? Put up a concrete block to stop them?" Ye Cheng said.

Before Ye Guowei could speak, Xiao Hu interjected, "Brother, are you stupid? Crabs can climb concrete."

Ye Cheng slapped his forehead—yeah, he was being a bit stupid. A crab's legs aren't exactly smooth on concrete, but they can definitely manage.

If you really wanted to stop them, you'd have to use something smooth like glass.

But putting glass on the tidal flats has no precedent and would easily break.

"Glass definitely won't work—I've never seen this before and don't know what to do. I was just standing here wondering how to handle it." Ye Guowei looked worried.

These clams were his first time raising them; he knew there'd be difficulties, but he's always relied on his diligence to keep losses minimal.

Now, dealing with this crab thief left him a bit dumbfounded.

Ye Cheng looked at Xiao Hu,

"What about you? Any ideas, or have you heard of anything?"

Xiao Hu shook his head like a rattle drum, "Brother, I've never raised these things—I don't know. If we can't stop them, we'll just catch them and sell them for money."

Hearing Xiao Hu say that, Ye Cheng had an epiphany and slapped his thigh,

"Yeah, brother—just kill them and be done with it."

Ye Guowei gaped. "How do we catch them? Should we camp out here tonight and keep watch?"

"Brother, why keep watch? Nobody knows when they'll come—attack is the best defense. I'll go straight into the sea and handle it; I could scoop them up with my hands." Ye Cheng hadn't dived in a while and felt a bit restless.

"You dive? Can you do that?" Ye Guowei was a bit worried.

"Brother Guowei, don't worry—my older brother is awesome. You go watch the clams, and I'll help my older brother catch the crabs."

"Yeah, brother, go over there—we can handle it."

Ye Cheng and Xiao Hu sent Ye Guowei off, then didn't need any special gear—Ye Cheng just took a glove and a net bag and went into the water.

As soon as he went under, Ye Cheng headed straight to the seabed; crabs sink to the bottom, so this gang of bandits shouldn't have gone far.

Sure enough, after just a few minutes of swimming, Ye Cheng saw a large "trash pile" on the seabed less than ten meters down.

Actually it was just a dirt mound, with some cables and feed bags tied on it—probably washed up and snagged there, looking grimy.

Yet on this trash mound hung all kinds of crabs.

Holy crap, it looks like a crab tree—no wonder the older brother's clam losses are so huge.

Ye Cheng first surfaced for a breath—actually not necessary, just wanted to check in, afraid Ye Guowei would notice he'd been underwater too long.

As soon as he surfaced, he saw Xiao Hu lounging on the shore, "Brother, why'd you come up? Get back down—finish quick and be done."

"Damn! Why aren't you coming down?"

"I can't stay underwater that long—you're the one who has to do more, brother."

Okay, in a short time he's become increasingly crafty.

Fortunately the older brother wasn't around, so Ye Cheng dove straight down toward the trash mound.

The crabs on it sensed something approaching and shifted a bit, but they seemed to have claimed the mound as theirs—any movement stayed on it, so it didn't affect Ye Cheng's ability to grab them.

Ye Cheng reached out and grabbed a swimming crab in one go; the little guy leapt from the mound, kicked into the water, and paddled with its eight legs trying to escape.

But its claws aren't suited for swimming, and Ye Cheng easily caught it in his hand.

To be efficient, Ye Cheng didn't even use tongs—he went barehanded, his thick rubber glove making him immune to pincers.

This swimming crab isn't small—looks like it's been feasting on the older brother's clams; now karma's come around.

Ye Cheng threw the swimming crab into his pocket, then without moving at all, he directly reached out and picked it up from the trash heap.

This is faster than digging for crabs in the Sea Bottom mud; the Sea Bottom crabs still need to figure out where they are, but these don't need that—they just jump around on the trash heap.

Ye Cheng just reaches out directly, and they will jump into the seawater, then he just scoops them up.