Back to the Past to Become a Fishing King-Chapter 577 - 331: Roast Whole Lamb Prince (Part 2)

To be fair, Comrade Han is not only unconventional in his work but also a top-notch drinker. He downed nearly two cases of beer by himself, hardly visited the bathroom, and when the battle ended and it was time to pack up, his face was still fresh and his hands steady as he helped load everything into the car, then got into the passenger seat and let the designated driver take off.

Honestly speaking, Zhang Yang and Han Mocheng were originally just strangers, but after sharing a whole lamb and a round of drinks, their relationship quickly warmed up.

Zhang Yang isn't the type to take advantage. In the following two days, he found an opportunity to invite Han Mocheng out again, treating him to a feast of spicy crayfish, and another hearty beer battle ensued.

Originally in Zhang Yang's plan, the team would stay in the hotel to conserve energy and wait for the competition to start.

But these two rounds of heavy drinking completely derailed the plan.

What, you're asking how the plan got disrupted?

It's simple: with an average of one and a half to two cases of beer per person, including Zhang Yang, everyone drank so much that they barely knew their own name, let alone their father's last name. The next day, they couldn't even remember how they made it to bed; they were blacked out.

In such a state, how could they possibly conserve energy?

They woke up the next day feeling like their heads were still swimming in booze, a bit hungover.

Everyone in the team was in the same state, except for Zhou Chu who didn't drink and was relatively normal.

Until the night before the competition, Han Mocheng invited everyone to dinner again. This time, Zhang Yang refused outright. What kind of international joke is this? Another round of drinking, and they wouldn't even need to play the preliminary round; they'd just go home!

...

The next morning, at 5:30 sharp, Zhang Yang was awakened by his alarm clock. He quickly got up to wash up, then knocked on his teammates' doors to wake them up.

When it comes to important matters like competitions, everyone who came was quite clear-minded, quickly washing up and brushing their teeth, soon gathering in the lobby downstairs.

With a competition of several hundred people, it's needless to say that the venue would be crowded. Zhang Yang and his team learned that breakfast was provided for anglers at the competition base, so they skipped breakfast and hit the road by 6:00, heading toward Jiulong Mountain Villa.

Leaving so early, the roads weren't too crowded. By around 6:30, Zhang Yang and his team's vehicles easily reached the gates of Jiulong Mountain Villa.

On the day of the competition, the mountain villa was vibrant with flags flying and drums beating; banners were visible from afar, showing the organizers had put a lot of effort into the event.

Guided by the staff, they drove smoothly through the gates and followed the winding concrete road up the mountain, soon arriving at the mid-mountain fishing base.

They found a parking space near a small square, parked the car, and started unloading their gear quickly.

It was still before 7:00, but quite a few athletes had already arrived.

With just a quick glance, Zhang Yang spotted several familiar faces.

Fishing king Liu Wenjun, the fair-faced Xu Xiao, and Fengcheng's Wu Tianming—all were present!

The competition area in Antai City covered most of Dongshan Province, and Zhang Yang's W City was under Dongshan Province's jurisdiction, so he naturally knew many familiar people.

It's fair to say that most of Dongshan Province's famous anglers showed up.

Before the competition starts, there's the opening ceremony and declarations from athlete and judge representatives, so the seasoned veterans were relaxing, chatting in groups with friends and acquaintances.

In contrast, Zhang Yang's team was relatively quiet, preparing in a corner, reorganizing their gear to ensure they wouldn't lose anything during the competition. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

At 7:20, the opening ceremony officially began.

Local leaders gave speeches, followed by the athlete and judge representatives taking the stage to make declarations.

Notably, the athlete representative was Liu Wenjun, a Fishing King Cup champion from a previous year, back again with his vast experience to aim for a finals spot.

When the opening ceremony was complete, the first round of the competition quickly commenced.

Instead of the usual drawing on stage, the organizers arranged an advanced WeChat mini-program draw system, using personal ID and CAA registration numbers for quick, efficient mobile draws.

Four ponds, eight matches, spanning two days, with each morning and afternoon hosting two matches.

The first match of the opening was crucial. As the staff announced the start of the draw, Zhang Yang was a bit nervous.

What, you ask why he's nervous? Even with such high skills, isn't Zhang Yang still tense in competitions?

When it comes to other contests, Zhang Yang might not be nervous, but the Fishing King Cup preliminaries are a different story.

Out of 300 competitors, only ten spots advance. Besides fishing skills, luck plays a significant role.

In his past life, Zhang Yang participated in the Fishing King Cup preliminaries but got knocked out with two bad draws. He swore this time would be different and planned carefully.

Hearing the staff prompt to start drawing for entry, Zhang Yang logged into the draw page on his phone, tapped the draw function, and soon a number popped up.

Pond Two, A11

Pond Two is the fast fishing pond for target fish, with A11 being the 11th position in the A zone—a pretty ordinary spot, not a major edge or middle section with an aerator.

Even though it's not a prime spot, Zhang Yang was quite pleased with the number.

In his past life, his first draw placed him in a mixed slow fish area, missing the chance for initial advantages.

Before the draw, Zhang Yang worried whether he'd repeat past mistakes with a poor draw. But his current spot was completely different from his past life's memory.

Drawing a fast fish zone for target fish in the first match indeed provided a slight edge.

In previous contests, it was noted that if two anglers scored the same, they would have tiered comparisons.

The first tier is the best tail count of target fish.

Now, landing in the fast fish target zone first thing, the tail count should be relatively higher as fishing progresses since fish become less responsive, making later results poorer.

"Boss, what number did you draw? I'm on the south bank mixed fish pond three!"

"I'm on pond two, in the middle of the north bank!"

"Haha, I lucked out on the first try, got a middle section aerator in pond four mixed fishing!"

...

The group eagerly shared their draw results.

Zhang Yang displayed his draw result to everyone: "Not bad, fast fish target A11!"

The conclusions from previous trial fishing were already shared with everyone, so remember, the match only lasts an hour, don't zone out!"

"Relax, definitely no problem!"

"Go, go, go!"

...

Five minutes later, the field control PA started prompting anglers to enter for pre-match preparations, as Zhang Yang and his team shouldered their fishing gear and headed to their designated spots.

The prep time before the match is quite long, allowing half an hour from entry to competition start.

Zhang Yang carried his fishing box to his drawn spot, took out the bait bowl and basic bait, and started mixing his match bait on-site.

With the high-density target fish having slick mouths, Zhang Yang was in his element, already preparing during bait setup.

He mixed the bait to make it fluffy, quickly absorbing water and expanding, dropping it to attract more fish quickly. The bait balls were also adjusted for soft bites from slippery fish. Two small fluff balls with each pull worked brilliantly.

With his bait mixed and his tackle ready, all awaited the sound of the opening whistle for the first match!