I was just fishing, how did I become a Great Old One?

Jianghai City, [Deep Blue No. 1 Ecological Farm] (formerly Sen no Kuro Island).

Ever since Jiang Li treated the incarnation of the supreme mother goddess [Shub Nicholas] like a cow and "petting" it, and reached a "friendly and mutually beneficial" agreement with it, this forbidden island, which was originally gloomy, terrifying, and full of twisted vitality, has completely changed.

On the edge of the black forest, a large expanse of fertile farmland had been cultivated by dozens of Deepdivers (wearing overalls and carrying hoes).

The soil here is ridiculously good, so black it's practically dripping with oil, and it's full of a high-grade fertilizer called "life essence".

On this land, Jiang Li planted some peculiar seeds collected from all over the world (actually from the black market and various relics).

It was late at night.

The pale moonlight shone on the thriving, yet somewhat "overly active," crops in the fields, making them appear eerily vibrant.

"ah--!!!"

A piercing scream shattered the tranquility of the night.

The Deep Diver, number 015, who was patrolling the ridge, came back limping, clutching his backside. His frog-like face was filled with fear and grievance.

Hanging from its rear end is an eggplant the size of a soccer ball, entirely purplish-red, with a large mouth full of sharp teeth...?

【Abyss Demon Eggplant】(C-grade Demon Plant).

This thing not only tastes like meat, but it also has a bad temper and likes to bite any living thing that passes by.

"What's going on? What's that ghostly howling in the middle of the night?"

Jiang Li, wearing a military overcoat and carrying a flashlight, led Da Huang and Wang Ergou out of the makeshift shed.

He had just fallen asleep when the noise woke him up.

"Crunch! Crunch!" (Boss! The eggplant is biting!)

Deep diver No. 015 pointed to the eggplant on his buttocks and burst into tears.

Jiang Li walked over, reached out and grabbed the eggplant that was still being frantically torn apart, and pulled hard.

"Wave!"

The eggplant was pulled down, and it made a threatening "crunch" sound.

"Wow, this eggplant is really lively."

Jiang Li pinched the eggplant's elastic skin. "It looks so tender! Er Gou, pick these eggplants tomorrow and make 'Minced Meat Eggplant,' it'll definitely go well with rice!"

He casually tossed the eggplant into the basket (the eggplant was still bouncing inside), then looked at the injured Deep One.

"Alright, stop howling. You're an amphibian, your skin is thick, a bite won't kill you. Just go to the infirmary and apply some of that 'green slime' (Shoggoth slime, which has healing properties)."

After dealing with this "work-related accident," Jiang Li frowned.

"Ergou, has things been a bit unsettled around here lately?"

"Yes, boss."

Wang Ergou reported with a worried look, "Our vegetables have been going missing lately. The day before yesterday, two rows of 'ghost face cabbages' went missing, yesterday a patch of 'screaming carrots' went missing, and today I see that the 'human face pumpkins' over there seem to be a few missing as well."

"Stealing vegetables?"

Jiang Li's temper flared up instantly.

"People still stealing vegetables these days? Is this some kind of retro trend?"

"I painstakingly planted these vegetables (actually planted by the Deep Ones), used such expensive fertilizer (actually divine blood diluted with water), and they were almost ready for harvest, and someone actually dares to steal the fruits of my labor?"

"This is intolerable!"

Jiang Li waved his hand, "Big Yellow! Turn off the lights! Set up an ambush!"

"I'm staying here tonight! I want to see which shameless thief dares to steal from my Deep Blue Farm!"

……

As night deepened, a thick fog rolled in.

Jiang Li, along with Da Huang, Wang Er Gou, and the Mad Hatter (former High Priest in Yellow) who had come along to "experience life," hid behind a pile of haystacks, staring intently at the vegetable garden overgrown with strange plants.

Time passed second by second.

It was around 2 a.m.

"Shhh..."

A very faint digging sound came from underground at the edge of the vegetable garden.

Immediately afterwards, the soil there suddenly loosened, forming mounds.

"They're here!"

Jiang Li perked up and gripped the shovel in his hand tightly (it was a farm tool he had grabbed casually, but it was actually a B-grade enchanted weapon).

"Pfft!"

A hand with sharp nails, grayish-brown skin, and a desiccated appearance emerged from the soil.

Immediately afterwards, one hunched figure after another emerged from the ground.

They have human-like bodies, but their faces are as prominent as dogs', with a mouth full of fangs, pointed ears, and large feet. They exude a strong smell of rotting corpses and earth.

Ghouls.

This is a well-known lower-level independent race in the Cthulhu Mythos, who mainly live underground and in cemeteries, feeding on carrion, but also often stealing various creatures with spiritual energy.

These ghouls had clearly smelled the overwhelming life force (and the delicious aroma of mutated vegetables) on the island and had specially dug a tunnel to "stock up".

"Squeak squeak squeak..." (There's something delicious here...)

The leading ghoul elder (B+ rank) twitched its nose, greedily staring at the sleeping "human-faced pumpkins" in the field.

"Quickly...dig...take it away..."

Dozens of ghouls swarmed forward, skillfully pulling up radishes and picking pumpkins.

Those originally ferocious demonic plants were so frightened by these monsters that fed on human flesh that they trembled in fear and were uprooted without daring to utter a sound.

Behind the haystack.

Wang Ergou covered his mouth and exclaimed in a low voice, "Boss! Those are ghouls! They're the guardians of the graveyard connecting the real world and the dream realm! They're incredibly ferocious, and they're covered in corpse poison!"

"Ghouls?"

Jiang Li squinted, using the moonlight to observe the group of monsters that were ravaging his crops.

"Aren't they just a bunch of... stray dogs with ringworm? Or maybe upright-walking monkeys?"

Through his filter, these terrifying ghouls transformed into a pack of filthy, hairless stray dogs scavenging for food in the ground.

"This is outrageous! A pack of stray dogs dares to steal my vegetables?"

Jiang Li watched as the elder stuffed his most beloved large pumpkin into his mouth, and his heart ached.

"That's my pumpkin porridge! Spit it out!"

He couldn't hold back any longer, grabbed a shovel, and rushed out.

"Rhubarb! Go! Bite them!"

"Woof—!!!"

Big Yellow had been itching to get started for a long time.

As a Tindarous Hound, it's practically a "god" among canines! How dare these lowly ghouls run wild right under its nose? This is an insult to its canine dignity!

A yellow lightning bolt ripped across the night sky.

Big Yellow instantly appeared behind the ghoul elder, opened its mouth wide, and bit its neck.

"Snap!"

Before the elder could even scream, he was pinned to the ground and rubbed against the ground by Big Yellow.

The other ghouls turned around abruptly upon hearing the noise.

A human wearing a military overcoat, wielding a gleaming shovel, charged into the ranks like a demon descending to earth.

"Snapped!"

Jiang Li slammed a shovel into the face of a ghoul.

The ghoul's face instantly flattened, and it flew out like a rotten tomato, crashing into a tree and breaking it in half.

"Stealing my vegetables! Stealing my vegetables!"

"Slap! Slap! Slap!"

Jiang Li cursed and slapped the shovel as he did so, wielding it with great force.

Each strike carries an irresistible force of the rules—[Dog-Beating Stick Technique] (Physical).

Those B-rank ghouls were like paper in front of him; they either had their legs broken or were knocked unconscious.

"Squeak squeak squeak—!!!" (Help! This human is too fierce!)

The ghouls were terrified.

They're used to running rampant underground; they've never seen anything like this before.

This isn't a farmer! This is clearly Death, the guardian of the grave!

"Run! Quick, get through the hole!"

The remaining ghouls dropped the pumpkins and desperately tried to burrow into the hole they had just dug.

"Trying to run? No way!"

Jiang Li shouted, "Mad Hatter! Block the entrance!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Mad Hatter (the Yellow Priest), who had been eager to show off, excitedly jumped out.

He waved his hands and muttered a nursery rhyme:

"The windmill creaks and groans as it turns..."

As he sang, countless yellow tentacles stretched out from the void, like a giant plug, completely sealing the hole.

The ghouls crashed into the tentacle wall and bounced back.

"Gaa gaa gaa!" (This road is blocked!)

A group of deep-diving farmers also surrounded him with hoes, and began to beat him while he was down.

Ten minutes later.

The battle is over.

Dozens of ghouls, their faces bruised and swollen, squatted on the ground, their hands covering their heads, lined up in a row.

The ghoul elder fared even worse, being trampled underfoot by Big Yellow until his tongue lolled out.

"Tell me, which village are you from? Why are you stealing my vegetables?"

Jiang Li sat on a large pumpkin, holding a shovel, as if interrogating a criminal.

"Squeak...we...we're hungry..."

The ghoul elder spoke in a human voice (a common Abyss language that Jiang Li could inexplicably understand), his voice hoarse.

Are you hungry?

Jiang Li frowned. "You think you can steal things just because you're hungry? Is that a valid reason? Besides, don't you eat rotten flesh? This pumpkin isn't meat."

"This...the food here...has energy..."

The elder drooled as he looked at the vegetables that radiated divine light.

"We live in the cemetery below... Lately, for some reason, no new corpses have come down for a long time... We're starving to death..."

(Note: Because Jiang Li suppressed or devoured all the evil spirits in Jianghai City, the mortality rate in this area decreased. Moreover, the evil spirits were directly recycled and utilized by Jiang Li after they died, so these ghouls didn't get a chance to scavenge them.)

"Tsk, just a bunch of pitiful stray dogs."

Jiang Li's heart softened upon hearing this.

He looked at the group of dirty, emaciated ghouls, and then at the mountain of kitchen waste (fish bones and rotten vegetable leaves left over by the Deep Ones).

Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed into his mind.

"Huh? Don't you guys like to eat rotten flesh and bones?"

Jiang Li pointed to the pile of garbage.

"Do you guys want to eat that stuff?"

The ghoul elder glanced at the pile of garbage.

Inside were the bones of deep-sea fish-men, the internal organs of giant penguins, and even a few remnants of divine creatures.

What's trash to ordinary people is trash to ghouls...

That's a Manchu Han Imperial Feast!

"Eat! Eat! Let's eat!"

The elder was so moved he almost cried.

"That makes things easier."

Jiang Li slapped his thigh, "It just so happens that my farm generates too much garbage, which is too troublesome to deal with. Moreover, those bone fragments decompose too slowly when buried in the ground, affecting fertility."

"Since you like to eat it, let's make a deal."

Jiang Li stood up, revealing a capitalist... no, a philanthropist's smile.

"I'm hiring you as 'environmental guardians' of Deep Blue Farm, and part-time 'organic fertilizer production specialists'."

"You're responsible for eating all the kitchen waste, rotting plants, and all that other random scraps! Then... cough, the resulting 'fertilizer' will just stay in the field to fertilize the crops!"

"Food and lodging included! And if you perform well, I'll often give you extra treats (like unwanted offal)!"

The ghoul elder was stunned.

It has lived for hundreds of years, and this is the first time it has heard of such a request.

Someone invited them to...eat garbage? And even gave them official positions?

"Really...really?"

"Of course it's true! I, Jiang Li, keep my word!"

Jiang Li pointed to the Mad Hatter and the Deep One beside him, "Look, they're all my employees. How well are they doing now? Not only do they have new clothes to wear, but they also don't have to worry about being hunted down by the Night's Watch."

The elder glanced at the Mad Hatter, dressed in a clown costume and looking blissfully happy, and then at the Deep One, who had gained weight.

It was tempted.

Ebbing away in a dark, damp underground tomb is nowhere near as good as working in this sunny (though toxic) place with plenty of food.

And this man's thighs are really thick!

"We...we'll do it! We're willing to join!"

The elders immediately led their clansmen to kneel down and swear allegiance.

"very good!"

Jiang Li nodded in satisfaction.

"Ergou, go and give them work uniforms! I think we should give them those orange vests like sanitation workers' vests; they're easy to spot!"

"Oh, and remember to give them a pre-job training, telling them what they can and cannot eat (such as uncooked vegetables)."

……

then.

Deep Blue Farm now has a special "cleaning team".

These ghouls, dressed in orange vests, patrolled the fields every day, eating whatever they saw—garbage, dead rats, and even weeds.

And with their diligent "fertilizing," the vegetables on the farm grew even more wildly.

The screaming carrot is thicker than a person's thigh; the ghost-faced cabbage has every leaf plump and fresh; and the human-faced pumpkin is all smiles.

"This is ecological circular agriculture!"

Jiang Li stood on the edge of the field, looking at this thriving scene, filled with emotion.

"It seems that another piece of my business empire has been completed."

……

Just as Jiang Li was immersed in the joy of the harvest.

A luxury cruise ship flying a strange flag slowly entered the port of Jianghai City.

On the deck of the cruise ship stood a middle-aged man in a white suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a refined and scholarly demeanor.

He held a glass of red wine in his hand, his gaze peering through his glasses at the distant Deep Blue Plaza.

"Is that... the legendary Deep Blue Seafood Restaurant?"

The man smiled slightly, a smile carrying an unfathomable depth.

"I am the president of the World Gastronomy Association, and also... a follower of the King of Gluttony."

"I've heard there's a chef here who can cook gods?"

"Hehe, interesting."

"I'm here not only to savor the food, but also to... launch a 'Chef Showdown'."

"The winner will receive the [Gluttony Cauldron] (S+ Rank Artifact). The loser... will become the opponent's food."

The man licked his lips, a greedy red glint flashing in his eyes.

"Jiang Li... I hope your flesh will be even more delicious than those ancient gods."

……

Deep Blue Seafood Restaurant, kitchen.

Jiang Li, who was chopping vegetables, suddenly sneezed.

"Achoo!"

He rubbed his nose.

"Who's talking about me? Is another big client coming to the door?"

He glanced at the bubbling stove beside him.

"Perfect timing! I've recently been working on a new dish—[Steamed Ghoul... no, Steamed Immortal Bones]—and I've been worried about finding someone to try it out."

"I hope our guests will have a good appetite this time."