Chapter 232: You

"Gurgle, gurgle."

In the Changle River section outside Changping Village, a black shadow slowly rose to the surface—its entire body covered in black scales, with edges fading into reddish hues. The strange fish surfaced reluctantly, glancing at Fuli Master on land and letting out a "gurgle, gurgle" in greeting.

"Is this… a giant arapaima?"

As the strange fish rose further, Chen Zhiyu, who had deep knowledge of animals, immediately recognized its species by its laterally compressed head and the hallmark absence of a lower jawbone.

The giant arapaima is an invasive species; adults range from two to six meters in length, with scales so thick they've been recorded up to six millimeters—among the largest freshwater fish in the world.

"Hm?"

An Sheng looked at Chen Zhiyu: "Do you know what it is?"

Though Chen Zhiyu couldn't understand fox speech, she could interpret some meaning from Fuli Master's body language and facial expressions.

"It's a giant arapaima—the same as what we in Xia Nation commonly call Jin Long fish," Chen Zhiyu said, studying Fuli Master. "Its color isn't the best for ornamental viewing, but if put up for auction at a fish expo, its appearance and size alone would easily fetch over ten million."

Though the Jin Long fish market has collapsed, specimens with exceptional appearance and auspicious coloring—commonly called Fish Kings—still sell for hundreds of thousands.

This fish in the river has outstanding appearance, no typical upturned eyes, festive coloring, and a body length that breaks the world record. At auction, a price over ten million is perfectly normal.

If you factor in its status as a spiritual beast, the price would firmly exceed one hundred million.

"Boop?"

The strange fish turned to Chen Zhiyu, its fish-face clearly showing a look of confusion mixed with terror.

Wait, what's Fuli trying to say?

You've bullied me daily, but now you're bringing humans here to gawk at my looks? Are you both insane for money?

"What? This thing's worth over ten million?" An Sheng was stunned—he never expected the strange fish could sell for such a price.

Three million was the ceiling for Huang Lian fish—not the ceiling for all fish.

"Fuli Master…"

After observing the strange fish and Fuli Master for a moment, Chen Zhiyu asked quietly:

"Last month you said you'd give me a fish. Was the spiritual beast monarch you mentioned… this one?"

"!"

The strange fish instinctively sank slightly, eyeing Fuli Master with wary suspicion.

That's too much!

No wonder you came crashing over in that big boat before—you've been planning to sell me whole all along.

"Come up here!"

An Sheng rolled his eyes and snapped: "I don't even have a bank card. I can't sell you, you worthless fish!"

"I called you out today for serious business. This person beside me is the village chief of Changping Mountain Village. You're the king of this river stretch. I'm arranging a partnership—you handle the river, we handle business, and I'll introduce you to a big brother from the sea."

"Boop, boop." The fish looked skeptical, its trust in Fuli Master low.

"Don't make me sound so bad—I promise, tonight I'll sell off that fish trap on secondhand market."

"You saw the scene by the river yesterday—those people are rich. Their fishing rods? Each one costs enough to buy two hundred kilograms of fish feed. Get it?"

"We can totally cooperate. I'll guarantee it, Zhiyu-jie runs operations, you herd the fish in the river—we turn this into a fishing resort. We make money, and the fish get tons of feed."

"Once we make money, whatever you want—you can buy it through Zhiyu-jie: food, a villa on the riverbed, a ROG computer, even foot massages."

"But don't spoil the anglers too much. Have the big fish surface and spit at them. Every now and then, drag a big one underwater for high-intensity PvP."

"Then throw in protected species—river dolphins, sturgeon, things like that. They can't take them away, but they can claim rewards from the Forestry Bureau. You get it?"

Fuli Master stood upright on the stone railing, explaining the concept of "biao tang" to the fish.

Black pits are leisurely fishing—kinda fun, but only kinda.

Biao tang is the upgraded version: the big fish inside are marked. Catch one, and you can exchange it with the pond owner for goods or cash.

With our approach, we can totally trick anglers into coming here just to feed the fish.

Then, have the big fish humiliate them. Wait till they're red-hot with rage—and then toss them a prize.

Like a fish as big as the sky—but it won't be easy for them to take it away.

That's exactly the feeling we want: they've hooked a hundred-kilo fish, yet always fall just short—or lose the battle in the water.

Only regret creates memory. They'll wake up slapping themselves.

Hating themselves for not using thicker fishing line.

Fuli Master painted the fish a bright future: every fish eats well, no more struggling, just flick a tail and anglers come running.

Anglers aren't here to fish.

They're here to pay tribute!

And the fish can earn money, buy whatever it wants, spend at Hailinglong, hire professional vets to give its scales a full-body massage, or even import a few giant arapaima "foreign beauties" from overseas.

"Boop, boop."

The fish called out to the riverbed, summoning several large carp to leap onto its head, bumping against it to scratch the itch from mental overload.

Is this real… can I buy a wife?

"Like Fuli Master would lie to you? Bring your fish head closer!"

An Sheng opened an online shopping platform, snapped a photo of the fish, and searched for similar items.

"See? Thirty centimeters is 780. Two meters? Just over twenty thousand."

"Boop, boop, boop."

The fish stood upright, thrashing its tail, using its fins to grip the stone railing, leaning in to stare at the fish images on the shopping site.

The fish watched with rapt delight, its expression like someone seeing aliens—pure bliss.

"Boop, boop."

An Sheng swiped to the large fish category, but the fish, without instruction, manipulated its tentacles to scroll back to the small fry.

Those three- to forty-centimeter giant arapaima.

"Huh?"

An Sheng froze, staring at the fish with a confused expression.

"Can you please just adapt to local customs? Stop bringing your foreign fetishes here!"

"Boop."

The fish showed no reaction, continuing to stare.

"So… what's going on now?" Chen Zhiyu watched the fox and fish huddled together scrolling through short videos, a faint vein twitching on her temple.

Animal experts aren't gods.

Understanding animal body language requires prior knowledge of their habits.

She had no idea what fish could possibly express.

(End of chapter)