Cheng Ye released his hand and pointed to the back of the pickup, "I have a few methods, give me a hand with this. We’ll test them out a few times, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll head back to the city. As long as it’s still here, there’ll be more opportunities in the future."

"Alright!"

Jiang Chuan nodded firmly, wasted no more time, and reached out to zip up the opened zipper, fastening each button tightly.

"Try throwing the net again first. Give it all you’ve got and accelerate like before. If you can trap it even for a second, I’ll fire the shot."

"Okay."

Jiang Chuan picked up the remaining fishing net, took a deep breath, and once again assumed a Martial Path stance.

This time, his speed was even faster, but the Fish King had obviously learned its lesson. Before the net could get close, its massive body suddenly sank.

The net fell empty again, catching only a few panicked, fleeing black streaks.

Failure.

But Cheng Ye had anticipated this. Since this creature had intelligence and could grow to such a size within the fish school, it certainly wouldn’t make the same mistake twice in the same spot.

The same goes for shooting it. If the first shot misses, it would be even harder to take down this Fish King later.

"Help me find some big rocks, and then some wooden sticks. I’m going to prepare some special bait."

As Cheng Ye spoke, he opened up the waterproof bag containing the malaria mosquito flesh from yesterday. There were still some remnants of dark red meat paste at the bottom, emitting a faint fishy smell.

Jiang Chuan didn’t question him and immediately went to the nearby bushes to look for stones and sticks.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cheng Ye quickly opened the panel and clicked into the guide function.

The Fish King doesn’t eat ordinary bait, but the regular fish fight over it like crazy. Clearly, the problem isn’t with the bait itself but with its lack of allure.

He entered the Mutated Malaria Mosquito entry.

This was his first time redeeming a trait, lacking any prior experience, but now was the perfect time to test its effects.

"How much charging value should I use?"

Glancing at the top right corner, he still had 89% of the charging value left, more than enough.

Cheng Ye gritted his teeth, mentally selecting [Bait Meat Pouch], and directly dragged the progress bar down to 50%.

With an effect five times the base value, surely it would lure the Fish King, right?

The guide flashed slightly.

After the charging value was deducted, the white light on the progress bar slowly receded, finally turning gray.

Lines of prompts flickered.

[Trait exchange complete]

[Bait Meat Pouch has been automatically placed in the storage space]

[Current storage space: 4/4]

He pulled out the pendant, and as expected, the familiar malaria mosquito flesh appeared in the hollow part at the lower right corner.

It looked no different from ordinary malaria mosquito flesh, but with a thought, the moment the flesh appeared in the bag, an intense fishy odor spread rapidly, several times stronger than before!

The fish in the water instantly went crazy, drawn as if by a magnet, and a few even leaped out of the water, flapping towards the shore on the snowy ground!

Even the Fish King, originally hiding in the distance, lost its earlier laziness. Its massive body tensed slightly, its tail gently striking the water surface, parting the frenzied fish, and slowly moved towards the shore.

A sharp glint flashed in its long eyes, and its momentum subtly changed.

"It’s working!"

Cheng Ye couldn’t help but grin, excitement gleaming in his eyes.

As expected of a beast; even with intelligence, in the face of instinctual allure, it would still forget the danger.

However, he also noticed that after the Fish King approached the shore, it warily sank back into the water, still mindful of the recent threat.

"Playing mind games with me, huh?"

Cheng Ye’s mind raced. While Jiang Chuan hadn’t returned yet, he quickly poured out the remaining ordinary bait from the bucket and divided the newly exchanged malaria mosquito flesh into five portions.

Each portion was incrementally larger, mixed with ordinary bait, and molded into fist-sized balls.

"Hey, this Fish King..." Jiang Chuan returned carrying several large stones and a bundle of wooden sticks, and saw the frenzied fish in the water and the slowly approaching Fish King.

But before he could finish speaking, Cheng Ye interrupted him.

"Mash the freshly slaughtered fish meat from the car into pulp, mix it into the bait, and prepare the spot!"

"Hurry, before it gets suspicious."

"Alright!"

Jiang Chuan immediately put down his things, picked up a flat stone to use as a cutting board, and swiftly hammered the fish meat with a wooden stick.

About fifty fish were used entirely for the spot preparation, with waves of fish pulp scattered into the water, attracting competition.

The remaining ten freshly pulped fish were mixed with bait and malaria mosquito flesh. The intense fishy smell was slightly moderated but added an even more enticing aroma.

The fish frenzy underwater intensified, with the water surface gently rippling.

Cheng Ye arranged the five bait balls in order by size and lowered his voice to instruct, "Throw them in order, don’t throw them directly at the Fish King. Aim four to five meters away... This time I’ll throw the net."

"Got it." Jiang Chuan picked up the smallest bait ball and, with a flick of his arm, threw it accurately into the water to the left of the Fish King.

As Cheng Ye predicted, the first bait ball only mixed with small pieces of malaria mosquito flesh fell into the water, and the Fish King merely swept its tail lightly, its body moving slightly without really approaching, still being cautious.

The surrounding ordinary fish, however, went crazy, rushing to grab it, and Cheng Ye seized the opportunity to cast the net with all his might.

The speed of the net casting was fast, but compared to Jiang Chuan’s speed, it was noticeably slower.

With a loud splash, at least thirty big fish were caught in the net, almost bursting it, and the force was so great it nearly dragged him into the water.

"Wow, what power!"

Cheng Ye gritted his teeth, pulling the net backward as Jiang Chuan quickly put down the bait to help. Together, they managed to drag the net onto the shore.

The fish caught in the net thrashed wildly, splashing both of them with water.

"Keep going!" Cheng Ye untied the net, tossing the fish aside, his eyes fixed intently on the water’s surface.