They had practically turned the Fishing Competition into a netting tournament. The netting competition, now in full swing, was even more entertaining than the Fishing Competition. Word of the lively spectacle naturally spread, and more and more contestants who had been unaware of what was happening hurried over to line up by Jiang Hao after others explained it to them.
And so, even collecting money until his hands cramped could not stop the other contestants' enthusiasm for paying him.
Doing the math, even if only half of them chose to pay him, that would still be five thousand Low-Grade Beast Crystals.
Even placing anywhere from five hundredth to one hundred and first only earned a thousand Low-Grade Beast Crystals. It was hardly an exaggeration to say he had already won at the starting line.
The frenzy upstream gradually reached downstream. Under everyone else's envious gazes, Wei Zihan was still skillfully scooping up a fish with his landing net. This was his twenty-eighth today. He believed his abilities should have brought him level with Jiang Hao by now-or at least close.
Just as he was basking in his own success, his fair-skinned young lackey came rushing over. "Zihan, this is bad! That bastard Jiang Hao has three times your points!"
Wei Zihan waved a hand dismissively. "Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
"See this? This is already my twenty-eighth fish. I refuse to believe Jiang Hao can catch forty fish every single day."
His fair-skinned lackey did his utmost to explain. "Zihan, Jiang Hao hasn't fished all day. He's changed trades! Now he's collecting money until his hands go limp."
Wei Zihan scoffed. "What, Jiang Hao got a taste of the profits from selling landing nets and switched to selling nets?"
"Renting them. You'd better go look at the points leaderboard." His fair-skinned lackey knew seeing was believing. Only seeing Jiang Hao's points with his own eyes would make Wei Zihan accept reality.
The points leaderboard was posted at the entrance to the Referee Panel's temporary station.
1. Fifth Competition Zone, Jiang Hao: 197 points 2. Fifth Competition Zone, Song Jie: 190 points 3. Fifth Competition Zone, Gongsun Qianxun: 112 points 4. Fifth Competition Zone, Wen Ruxue: 106 points 5. Fifth Competition Zone, Guo Dundun: 89 points 6. Fifth Competition Zone, Chen Xiaolin: 85 points 7. First Competition Zone, Wei Zihan: 79 points 8. Competition Zone Two, Wang Donglin: 78 points 9. Fourth Competition Zone, Jiang Wenlong: 77 points 10. Competition Zone Three, Qu Jiangjiang: 77 points
Wei Zihan glared fixedly at the top ten on the leaderboard. Damn it, I didn't even make the top five? Impossible.
After a long while, Wei Zihan growled, his face livid, "What's going on?"
"You'd better see for yourself."
Led by his fair-skinned lackey, he arrived at the middle stretch of the lake. A large crowd of contestants had already gathered along the shore to watch and cheer. The commotion rivaled a bustling market.
"It's coming up! How many?"
"Quiet! The referee's counting."
"Boo, only thirty! Terrible! Hahaha!"
Wei Zihan: ???
What the hell?
Only after finally squeezing through the crowd did he see two referees handing a peculiar net to someone else. The tank they were carrying was packed with Snow Spirit Fish. There were far too many.
"Zihan, let's line up and pay first. Any later and we might not get a turn. I heard the queue's already booked out for the next two days."
The sixth day was nearly over already. There was no telling whether their turn would come before the ten days were up.
"You go line up. I'll watch how they net the fish."
Elsewhere, Han Qing, dressed in white furs, her features lovely as a painting and her bearing as serene as a sheltered maiden, focused on fishing. A few meters behind her, a row of ten armored guards stood silently protecting her.
Just then, a young girl came running over excitedly. The guards clearly knew her, so they did not stop her from approaching.
Seeing her expression, Han Qing asked calmly, "Qingqing, what has you so happy? Tell me."
The girl named Qingqing chattered like a lark, brimming with excitement. "Your Highness, I just went to check the points leaderboard and discovered something interesting."
She then recounted the lively netting competition on the opposite shore from beginning to end.
Artificial-Lure Fishing, landing nets to prevent fish from escaping, catching fish with a Hand-Cast Net-she did not leave out a single detail.
"You might not know this yet, Your Highness, but all these strange contraptions came from one person. Here, Jiang Hao, ranked first in the second tier. His points are the highest of all. If he were in the First Tier, you'd probably have to surrender your ranking to him."
With that, she took out a copy of the points leaderboard and showed it to Han Qing.
Han Qing glanced at the second division, and Jiang Hao's name was the first thing she saw. It reminded her of their first meeting in Dragonkeep a few days earlier. Jiang Hao, a boy two years younger than her, had looked at her the same way most men did, dazzled and unable to help himself.
She pressed her red lips together, then looked at the points beside his name. One hundred and ninety-seven. Indeed, far, far higher than hers.
"Qingqing, issue an order to the Wuji City Government in the royal family's name. After the Beast Pet Tournament ends, send people here to establish checkpoints. Without special official permission, no one is to enter Snow Spirit Lake privately to fish. Anyone caught must be punished severely.
"Once others learn Jiang Hao's fishing method, the Snow Spirit Fish won't be far from extinction if we don't stop them. Snow Spirit Fish are the only cold-resistant food supplied to the soldiers of the City of Eternity. We cannot afford to lose them."
"That's right! Why didn't I think of that? Your Highness truly sees far ahead. I'll take care of it right away."
She had underestimated Jiang Hao. His Hand-Cast Net might help her solve a major problem. Their soldiers would no longer have to worry about freezing and starving every day. An endless supply of food that warded off the cold would not only raise morale but greatly improve their chances of holding off the North Sea Army.
How did he come up with this method?
With the Hand-Cast Net, the contestants felt as though they had found a shortcut to victory. Their enthusiasm remained high even after nightfall, much to the suffering of the referees, who had to stay up all night with them.
But Jiang Hao could not worry about all that. Those who had already paid were booked through the ninth day anyway, so he simply sent away the contestants who had yet to pay and told them to return tomorrow to line up.
Once everyone dispersed, Jiang Hao realized he had gone an entire day without eating.
Sure enough, nothing made a person happier than counting money. Nothing.
This money could be considered the first real pot of gold he had earned in his life. Together with the rare beast crystal he had used as his stake in the bet with Song Jie, he could now count himself a financially independent man.
In his delight, Jiang Hao considered feeding beast crystals to Big Hen to see whether he could improve his beast pet's quality. On second thought, however, he gave up the idea. In Liao Yunxiao's lessons on developing beast pets' potential, she had mentioned that the first time a beast pet was fed a beast crystal was crucial. It affected how well its potential developed. The greater the development, the higher the beast pet's quality, and the less resistance it would encounter in future development.
For example,
If your beast pet's quality was ordinary, and the beast crystal you chose for development was rare, the potential unlocked in its first development might bring it up to high-grade quality. With bad luck, it would still reach at least mid-grade. If the emperor of luck stood guard over you, it might even reach rare quality.
The higher its quality, the faster a beast pet would grow stronger afterward, and the easier it would be for it to comprehend or inherit powerful skills from beast crystals.
His beast pet Big Hen was, at best, an ordinary-quality beast pet right now. That meant he had to finish in the top three in this Beast Pet Tournament, no matter what. Then he would receive at least one beast crystal of exceptional quality or above, which he could use to improve Big Hen's quality.
If he was going to do it, he would do it right. Breaking his usual habit, Jiang Hao fished while roasting fish.
Not far away, Wen Ruxue saw that Jiang Hao had actually stayed up this late instead of going to sleep and nearly thought she had seen a ghost.
She put down her fishing rod and went over to him, squatting beside the fire to warm herself. With a teasing note in her voice, she asked, "What, did seeing Song Jie net so many fish make you feel threatened?"
"Yeah. Men are competitive, and I'm no exception. Otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed to his bet. Besides, aren't I working this hard for you? If I lose to him, won't you have to agree to be his girlfriend?"
The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. In the firelight, a shy blush quietly crept over Wen Ruxue's rosy cheeks. It looks like he really does care about me.
At least he did not want to see her become another man's woman. For that alone, as long as she was a little more patient, the clouds would someday part and reveal the moon.
"The fish is ready. Call those two over to eat with us."
Jiang Hao's voice pulled Wen Ruxue out of her daydream. Too embarrassed even to look at him, she stood and hurried away. Only after she was out of his sight did she pat her cheeks, trying hard to clear her head.
That night, Jiang Hao worked until deep into the night before finally agreeing to sleep. Over the next few days, he collected money by day and fought on by night, giving no one a chance to overtake him.
By the end of the tenth day, his score was still fifty-two points higher than the runner-up Song Jie's, reaching an astonishing, record-breaking three hundred and fifty-three points.
In third place was Wei Zihan, the most competitive of them all. His score was only one point below Song Jie's, at three hundred. Despite usually presenting a facade as placid as still water, he was ruthless through and through-ruthless toward others, and even more ruthless toward himself. Others might fish until the middle of the night before going to bed, but he was the sort who did not sleep at all, as the faint dark circles beneath his eyes made clear.
Fourth was Gongsun Qianxun, with two hundred and sixty-seven points. This girl was ruthless too, her competitive spirit rivaling Wei Zihan's. That had been clear from the moment she first met Jiang Hao and immediately wanted to fight him.
Fifth was Chubby, the prince of Gongsun Qianxun's devoted bootlickers, with two hundred and twelve points. The two had worked together seamlessly over the last few days. Although most of their Snow Spirit Fish had gone to Gongsun Qianxun, he had received plenty as well.
Sixth was Chen Xiaolin, with one hundred and ninety-three points. As Song Jie's lackey, he had copied Chubby and Gongsun Qianxun's method with him, and their haul was quite good. Song Jie ate the meat, while he drank the broth.
Seventh was Wen Ruxue, with one hundred and sixty points. Held back by her reserve, she had not asked Jiang Hao for help or partnered up the way Chubby and the others had, so her haul was naturally much smaller.
Eighth was Hou Dashan, with one hundred and fifty-five points. Like Chen Xiaolin, he benefited from being Wei Zihan's lackey. At least Wei Zihan had not let him lose out.
Ninth and tenth were Wang Donglin from Competition Zone Two, with one hundred and five points, and Jiang Wenlong from Fourth Competition Zone, with one hundred and forty-nine points, respectively.
Next came the third stage of the competition, which would determine their final rankings: the Survival Match.
Before you continue