Chapter 1111: Chaos ensues

The father and son stood in a corner, waiting. After watching the people they knew finish selling their goods and emerge one by one, the group walked outward with their mouths shut tight, under the pointed fingers and whispers of the locals.

They walked together as a group, and the people brought by Chen Jiannian also walked in a block. The two sides were just a few steps apart, looking like a massive crowd.

None of the small hoodlum gangs in town had as many people as they did, so truly, no one dared to pick a fight with them.

Even though some honest local fishermen were dissatisfied with such a large group coming to their town to snatch resources, they dared not throw an egg against a rock.

Strength in numbers is intimidating; honest, law-abiding people would take the initiative to step aside when they saw them.

As long as they didn't cause trouble, no one dared to provoke them.

The person beside him looked at the noisy crowd that had already left the pier and said, "Dongzi, what they were saying on the pier just now..."

"Dissatisfaction is only natural. Who told us to bring such a large group to their turf? Since they can't do anything about us, they can only vent their frustration with a few words."

"Then they'll definitely all head there tomorrow..."

"Let them go. They already know the location; we can't stop them..."

"Then won't there be even more boats? What's the point of fishing then? The quantity was already so low today; one person couldn't even get a few, and everyone could only wait there and watch."

"There's no other way. We can only hope the quantity is a bit higher tomorrow. It would be best if the peak fishing season arrives quickly."

During the time when the quantity is highest, if we fish for a few days and divide it up, once it's gone later, the conflict will naturally disappear, and we'll have to find our own way, Ye Yaodong thought as optimistically as he could.

"It's really not easy to make money. You were right; you said back home that it wouldn't be this easy to make money this year..."

"You called it all, and it happened even earlier than expected. We hadn't even started fishing before the locals followed us and found out. It's all because too many boats from our town came; we can't even tell their people apart from the locals."

"They probably think the same on their side."

Both sides felt the other had brought too many people.

"I'm starving. Let's go back and eat first. Anyway, soldiers come to block, water comes to cover; since they already know, there's no help for it. We hate them, and they hate us even more for snatching resources."

Ye Yaodong was easygoing; he had thought of this long ago. Now it was just happening earlier, which didn't make a big difference. At most, there was one more group of locals sharing it—a three-legged standoff.

The locals didn't have that many trawlers; by evening, there were only twenty or thirty, mostly small wooden boats. There looked to be one or two hundred of those small wooden boats.

This small town wasn't as prosperous as their own, and the population didn't look as large either.

Everyone discussed it along the way, but they could only curse a few times to vent their dissatisfaction.

After dinner, as usual, everyone gathered at Ye Yaodong's place. Besides discussing the locals knowing the location, they also asked him if they would stop going into the water from now on.

He just perfunctorily said they had to wait until after the jellyfish were gone. After that, besides fishing for jellyfish, he would be just like everyone else—unable to do anything.

As for the longline fishing gear brought back in the evening, it was neatly stacked in a corner of the room. This, too, could only be left idle there until they brought it home when they returned.

Chen Jiannian came over as usual, chatting about the same things. But no matter how they talked, there was still no solution. No one could stop it. The current situation meant everyone could only fish on their own, not interfering with each other, and trying to minimize the occurrence of conflict.

Although they had many people, they were outsiders. They could run if they caused trouble, but then they wouldn't be able to make money. They came out to make money, not to cause trouble.

When everyone asked during their chat, he said these things, then didn't say much more, only urging everyone to rest early and get up early tomorrow.

When Ye Fu returned to his room, he was still full of worry. "We probably won't be able to make much money this year..."

"Dad, do you have some misunderstanding about making money? We've already made 10,000; you still say we can't make much?"

"No, I mean the fellow villagers who came out with us; they probably won't be able to make big money."

"I warned them long ago. I'm not a god; I can't foresee everything."

"We'll probably have to go back early this year..."

"Stop overthinking it. Things haven't reached that point yet; it's useless for you to just sit there thinking about it."

After thinking for a moment, Ye Yaodong asked his father, "Yang Guo and the others haven't been able to keep up with the main group these past few days. Their small boats can only stay along the coast. Have they gone out to sea these two days?"

"I heard they haven't gone. They're all lying at home, and every evening they have to go find your eldest brother and second brother to nag them, begging them, and they also went to find Asheng. Earlier, when I went over to your eldest and second brother's side, I heard them gloating there, saying that since the locals know anyway, everyone definitely won't be able to make money this year, and they'll all have to be like them. Serves them right."

He pursed his lips, looking disgusted. "Same parents, how can the gap be so big?"

"The honest ones are just there to be bullied, and the honest ones don't fit in with them either. No need to worry about them."

"They made such a big fuss just to come along and make money, and now they're just lying there," Ye Yaodong said with a look of disdain. "Sleep. Don't worry about them. It's better if they just lie there until it's time to go home."

Ye Fu muttered a few more times, "It's a good thing we've already made money, unlike the others..."

The next morning, when they gathered at the pier, they found that the number of fishing boats at the pier seemed to have decreased a bit. They didn't need to bring longline gear today, so everyone was empty-handed and didn't need to move things onto the boats.

But the boatman who slept on the boat in shifts said, "Before dawn, I heard the movement of several local boats going out to sea. I walked out to take a look, and I heard them saying they were going to go a step ahead and stand guard."

"Damn it, motherf***er, they're too shameless..."

"Yesterday they secretly followed behind us, and today they want to go ahead and intercept. Truly shameless..."

"Let's hurry up too, don't let them beat us to it..."

"It's dark, and the jellyfish are also sunk to the bottom of the water."

"But it's already dawn now, and we've already been beaten to the punch. We have to hurry too."

Everyone rushed onto their boats and hurriedly sailed out.

They didn't get up late; they were already at the pier just as the sky was brightening. Today was already earlier than the previous two days. When there wasn't much quantity the previous few days, everyone got up a bit later; after all, going early didn't mean they could catch more.

One fishing boat after another hurriedly sailed away from the shore. In a short while, the pier was directly empty, leaving only the small wooden boats.

Everyone was heading toward the sea trench with all their might.

Sure enough, when they arrived, more than a dozen fishing boats were already anchored near the sea trench, all of them already fishing for the jellyfish floating on the surface. And as soon as their dozens of boats arrived, they immediately joined in the fishing.

The jellyfish that had been left on the surface and not fished clean were gone in an instant.

All the local fishing boats looked at each other, and their mouths kept moving.

Guessing they were probably cursing, but since there was distance between the fishing boats, and there was the constant sound of waves and wind, it was hard to hear clearly without loud shouting.

Plus, the jellyfish that hadn't been fished clean were relatively far from their fishing boats and couldn't be reached, so no conflict occurred.

After the fishing was done, the scene suddenly quieted down. All the fishing boats stopped on the sea surface. Since it wasn't convenient to talk, no one shouted loudly, and it appeared to be a standoff.

Before long, the jellyfish on the sea surface were like mushrooms after rain, constantly popping up. The frequency was much higher than yesterday. At this time, no one cared about other boats; everyone stared at the jellyfish popping up on the surface and rowed toward the ones closest to them to fish.

Ye Yaodong had specifically brought all ten small boats today. As soon as they arrived, after fishing the remaining goods, he had them go in pairs onto the small boats, then untied the ropes tied to the back of the large boat, letting them exert themselves on the sea surface.

Ye Fu also took three people to their Boat 002 to fish, with the boats acting separately.

"There's really a lot of goods today..."

"Yeah, is it just going to increase like this? Was it like this for you guys who came last year?"

"When we came last year, this whole stretch of sea was packed full. It wasn't like now, popping up one by one. It was already floating on the sea in a whole patch, just waiting for us to catch them all in one net. From morning till night, we couldn't even finish fishing them."

"Really? Then this is still considered a small amount?"

"Definitely. Where are we even at now? Just popping up one by one like this, how can it compare to last year when it was all in patches? We could fish however we wanted."

"No wonder. Everyone who came last year made 10,000. Now this is just like bamboo shoots after rain, constantly popping up, and it still can't compare to your fishing situation last year."

"It's just that we came earlier this year, and there are more boats, so there's no time for them to accumulate. If they accumulated for two days, it would definitely be all in patches."

Ye Yaodong listened to the boatmen on the boat discussing, and he also thought to himself, how could there be time for them to accumulate now? Floating up one, fishing one, regardless of size. It didn't even attract natural enemies like sea turtles, let alone accumulate.

Someone next to him also said, "How could there be any accumulation now? With so many boats, it's not enough to divide. Don't think about accumulation."

"Now we can only try our best to fish them one by one. Our boats are too big; the small wooden boats are still flexible, rowing on the sea surface without needing oil money. Two people working together can fish up a super large jellyfish."

"The quantity is still too small, not enough to divide. After fishing a few, we can only wait there again."

"It's already much better than other boats. Others still have to look on the sea surface, while we just stay here and guard. If we're lucky and have a few more jellyfish floating by, we make money..."

Other fishing boats on the sea surface were also busy. Seeing them, he didn't let go. He looked at the local fishing boats that had arrived early; the people on the boats were all smiling from ear to ear. The scene today probably exceeded their expectations too.

With many people and little work, he didn't need to work, so Ye Yaodong just idled there, constantly looking at the sea surface, watching either the boats or the popping jellyfish.

Not long after, he noticed that the number of fishing boats had increased again. It really was one passing to ten, ten to a hundred.

Only one night had passed, and he estimated that the number of fishing boats on the sea surface had already increased by 1/3. The local trawlers were probably all here. Everyone stared at the sea surface with golden eyes; as long as a jellyfish popped up, they immediately rushed over, just to see who could fish it first.

Some fishing boats kept moving on the sea surface. After a while, he couldn't tell which were the locals and which were the fishing boats from their town.

Just then, he saw two boats in front that were exceptionally close, and the people on the boats were hitting each other with hand nets. In an instant, others on the boats also poked at each other with bamboo poles.

But after hitting a few times, they stopped and went back to fishing on the sea surface.

Ye Yaodong held binoculars, but he was just a step late and didn't see the beginning. He had no idea why they stopped shouting halfway through and then immediately separated.

However, this seemed to be a signal. Not long after those two boats finished fighting, other fishing boats collided nearby and also poked at each other with long bamboo poles.

And there were three boats next to him that collided because of two large jellyfish floating tightly together on the sea surface. They cursed at each other without giving way. After cursing for a while, they realized two of the boats were from Chen Jiannian's side, and one was local.

So they joined forces to attack the locals. In the end, the locals couldn't snatch them, and the two boats each fished one away first. They couldn't beat the two boats, so they could only sail to the side.

"They're fighting, Adong..."

"I saw it..."

It seemed that at first, everyone was restraining themselves to avoid conflict, but later, seeing that some boats had already initiated conflict, everyone couldn't suppress their nature. When there were benefits to snatch, who would let you?

"Adong, look, that boat just now went to call two more boats to surround and attack..."

Ye Yaodong just turned his head to look, but then heard a burst of gunfire not far away. He widened his eyes, looked toward the sound, and let out a "Holy sh*t" under his breath.

"F*ck, it's only the first day they've been discovered, what are they trying to do?"

The fishing boats that were originally entangled in fighting were also attracted by the gunfire and stopped, immediately sailing their boats away from each other.

"Whose boats are those two?"

"It seems to be our town's and the locals'. They look like strangers; I don't recognize them..."

Ye Yaodong tucked his sunglasses into his chest pocket and held the binoculars, but because of the distance, he still couldn't see their faces clearly. However, he could identify them by their hats, clothes, and boat hulls—they weren't from their village.

"They're already using guns. What will it be like in two days?"

"Maybe it will be better in two days when the quantity increases. It's only when the quantity is low that they need to snatch..."

He squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. He didn't know where that gunshot came from just now. Those two boats were now in a standoff. All the fishing boats on the sea surface instantly became a bit more honest. All the fighting stopped, and they dispersed. Not all fishing boats had guns on them.

And those small wooden boats of his also tried their best to move toward his side from afar. Other boats were about to fight; their small boats were simply not enough to look at. If they collided a few more times, they would capsize.

Just in case, he also went to the cockpit, took out a few guns, and placed them beside him, to avoid having to go up and get them if they were needed temporarily, which would delay things. If he had that time, he'd probably be shot dead by someone else.

He thought that since it was only the first day of the leak, the conflict wouldn't escalate so quickly. He didn't expect that only two or three hours had passed, and there was still most of the day left.

The scene, which had been somewhat out of control, restored a bit of calm, but he always felt this was the calm before the storm, and the boatmen on the boat also began to feel a bit nervous.

"It's only been a short while and it's already chaotic. Will people be killed later..."

"Who knows? It's a good thing our boat is big; no one should dare to provoke us."

"When eyes turn red and it becomes a mess, swords and guns have no eyes. Who cares if your boat is big or not? It's just that they haven't been out long, everyone is still wary, and the conflict hasn't been very big yet..."

"Everyone, restrain yourselves a bit first, just fish what's in front of you."

"Our boat hasn't moved either."

His Dongsheng was fuel-consuming, so it had been fishing in place all along, and the boat hadn't moved an inch.

"Hmm, let's observe first."

Ye Yaodong wished he had eight eyes, looking carefully in all directions, to avoid not knowing where another gunshot would ring out.

He thought that they couldn't fish here either. It was only the first day. As time went on, with the escalation of conflict, wouldn't people die every day?

Because of that gunshot, after everyone's heart trembled, there was a rare few hours of calm.

But as time passed, more and more jellyfish popped up on the sea surface, like colorful bubbles. The fishing boats on the sea surface also moved everywhere following the jellyfish, and from time to time, they started colliding, cursing, and fighting again.

Ye Yaodong couldn't manage others. He could only stand on the bridge, look down from a high place, constantly staring at his few small boats, and his father's side, occasionally glancing at his eldest brother, second brother, and a few friends' side.

He would also glance at the boats from his own village; he knew whose they were just by looking at the hulls.

Just then, he suddenly noticed that a strange fishing boat was exceptionally close to the boat his father was driving, and the people bending over to fish were greeting each other with hand nets.

He felt something was wrong, directly shoved the gun to other boatmen, urged them to act according to circumstances, then climbed into the cockpit and drove toward his father's side.

Looking down from a high place, he saw the other side also took out bamboo poles, and those bamboo poles were sharpened, directly attacking the boatmen on his father's side. People on both sides started fighting with bamboo poles.

And with the surging waves, the two boats got closer and closer. His heart was in his throat. Swords and guns have no eyes. These sharpened bamboo poles were no different from guns. They were so sharp that if they really poked someone, they could directly pierce into the flesh and kill them on the spot.

He added full power, changed direction, and directly crashed into the rear of the other boat.

Everyone who was originally fighting was shaken and fell to the ground. Plus, the Dongsheng was much larger than the other boat, so it crashed directly into it. The raised bow, which was originally nearly two meters high, directly pressed onto the other side's rear deck, causing the other side's bow to rise as well.

The personnel on the boat were knocked dizzy, and because the bow was raised and the stern was low and slanted, people unconsciously slid toward the stern, directly sliding under the bottom of the Dongsheng's raised bow.

If it weren't for the bottom of the Dongsheng's raised bow blocking them, they would have fallen into the sea.

He drove the Dongsheng back a bit, and that fishing boat broke free from the suppression, falling back onto the water surface from the raised state, and the rear deck was also soaked by the accumulated seawater.

The people stuck on the rear deck were all like drowned rats, and they were all tightly gripping the iron railings of the fishing boat to prevent being thrown into the water.

Ye Yaodong was relentless. He changed direction and saw that his father's boat had taken the opportunity to move to the side. After it was a bit further away, he crashed into it again.

With a few splashes, the people who had just stood up after seeing the boat was stable, and hadn't stabilized their bodies yet, all fell into the water in an instant.

Only then did he drive the boat toward his father's side. After docking, he went down to the deck.

Ye Fu also wiped the sweat, took off the hat on his head, and fanned himself. "Dongzi..."

"What's going on? Just saw that boat was exceptionally close, and then you guys started fighting."

"What else could it be? Because of snatching jellyfish, we started fighting."

The person next to him also said, "It was clearly closer to us. The people on that boat saw that the jellyfish was as big as a table, so they sabotaged it and wouldn't let us fish it."

He frowned. "Too chaotic."

"Adong, the people on that boat over there fell into the water, that boat..."

"Just giving them a lesson. They'll be able to climb onto the boat in a while. They're locals, what else do you want? Drive their boat away?"

The boatman smiled awkwardly. "Isn't there still jellyfish on that boat?"

"It's only been half a day, there's not much quantity. Plus, after crashing like that, most of it has already spilled all over the deck, and it's estimated that most of it has fallen back into the sea, or it's starting to melt into water."

"Oh, oh..."

Ye Fu frowned tightly. "Not easy to handle. It's so chaotic today... Earlier, there was already a boat that collided with us, and then we started talking and realized it was from our town, so everyone was safe."

"If it were only our two sides, everything would be easy to talk about. Everyone came from the same place. Now there's a local mixed in, and they already feel like we're snatching their..."

Ye Yaodong was also full of depression. "Can't do it. It's so chaotic, all concentrated in this stretch of sea. Sooner or later, people will die."

Just then, two more gunshots rang out, and everyone immediately looked in the direction of the sound.

But they saw that when they weren't paying attention, four or five boats collided together. They were all driving their boats and constantly colliding with each other, and everyone was holding long bamboo poles, poking at each other.

On the sea surface, fishing boats were at a distance, and short weapons were useless. The most useful thing was still the sharpened bamboo pole, which was a must-have for every boat, and its use was second only to guns.

After the two gunshots rang out, everyone stopped there again.

Ye Yaodong's heart was in his throat. He didn't know if anyone had been hit. He discovered that two of the boats were ones he was familiar with.

"Dad, those are Azheng and Hearing Xiao Xiao's boats, they had a conflict with the locals. I'll drive over to take a look. You stay here, be careful, and stay with those small wooden boats."

He also urged the boatmen, "You guys hide better, hold guns for self-defense. If they don't hit us, then just hide."

Ye Fu was full of worry. "Then you be careful, or don't go. It looks like they aren't fighting anymore..."

Ye Yaodong didn't hear the second half of what his father said. He had already pulled up the anchor and walked toward the cockpit.

The fishing boats on the sea surface that had fought like crazy instantly sobered up a bit. When he drove the boat toward his friends' side, he also looked at the watch on his hand. It was just past 12 o'clock. Only half a day had passed and so many things had happened. It looked like they couldn't stay here...

As he closed the distance, he saw Azheng and Hearing Xiao Xiao holding guns. They were pointing the guns at the opposite side, and their mouths were opening and closing, probably threatening them to leave.

And the two boats that were originally sticking to them also hurriedly ran away.

By the time he arrived, all the fishing boats around them had run away, staying far from them. He also breathed a sigh of relief.

After going down to the deck, he saw that there were people injured on their boat, and the fresh blood stained a small patch of the deck. His heart also rose.

"Someone was injured?"

Hearing Xiao Xiao spat, his face full of a fierce expression. "Motherf***ing dog sh*t, I really want to blow them away with a gun. Two people had their shoulders and arms stabbed. I have to drive back to take them for bandaging."

Azheng also said indignantly, "If it weren't for having some reason left, those two gunshots just now would have been aimed at them. At least I could have blown one to death."

Ye Yaodong breathed a long sigh of relief. It was fine as long as they were just injured. With so many boats and so many people on the sea surface, no matter which side died, it would be a big deal. It was all seen, and it was impossible to silence everyone.

If their guns had been aimed at people just now and directly killed them, if they hadn't killed everyone else on the boat, they would be finished when they went back. The best result was to run away directly, and all of them would have to run away in a hurry.

"Blowing one person to death is fine, the most afraid is that you only blew one to death and didn't blow everyone."

"Damn it, really bad luck. Just came out, it looks like we can't do anything, it's so chaotic." Hearing Xiao Xiao cursed a series, and the gun in his hand also knocked the side of the boat with a bang.

"It's fine as long as people are fine. Just now I was afraid that the ones who fired were them. No matter who you guys hit and killed, we wouldn't be able to find out who did it."

When he came just now, he also thought of this. The ones who fired should only be them. The locals didn't prepare in advance, and there might not be guns on the boats. And they, the outsiders, came over, and most of the boats were prepared with guns.

And they, the outsiders, would also have some scruples. They were all still thinking about making money, and wouldn't directly aim at people to hit, unless they could directly silence everyone and no one would know.

"These people are like lunatics. They snatch as soon as they see it, like they've never seen things before."

"They've been carrying emotions since yesterday, feeling that such a treasure land, they locals hadn't discovered it, but it was occupied by us outsiders. And last year we made a fortune, they all saw it, but they were helpless."

"Damn it, dog-born, f*ck their ancestors for eighteen generations. What can you do if you're blind yourself?"

Ye Yaodong frowned. "It's only been half a day and the conflict is so big. If it accumulates for another day or two, even gunshots won't stop it. It'll have to be a fight to the death."

"Just blow a few of them to death and run directly."

Hearing Xiao Xiao looked at the injured people on the boat, and the anger in his heart couldn't stop rising. One of the injured was his own brother. He was usually quite calm, and only Azheng would be impulsive. Today he looked even more impulsive than Azheng.

His other brothers advised from the side, "Drive the boat back to find the health center first. It's too chaotic here, better leave first."

Azheng looked into the distance and pointed his finger. "Fighting again over there. Sooner or later people will die. Today is just the beginning, everyone isn't that hot-headed yet..."