A god-tier fishing spot, anglers lined up to give me money.

Upon hearing the good news, Yang Wenshang was completely stunned: "What, what, good news? Really?"

"Really, it's been over half a month."

Upon hearing this, his expression changed from "not quite sure" to "ecstatic", and finally to helplessness, not knowing how to express it.

He patted himself twice with both hands and rubbed them together.

"Zilu, Zilu, you, you, you... I'm going to be a grandfather! Hahaha!"

Feeling embarrassed by Yang Wenshang's stare, Chen Zilu smiled and said, "Dad, keep your voice down, others might hear us."

"Good to hear that! Good to hear that!"

Yang Wenshang put his hands on his hips, threw his head back and laughed loudly, then gave Chen Zilu a thumbs up.

"Zilu, you've worked so hard. Tell Dad what you want to eat, no, tell the whole family! If you want dragon meat, I'll find a way to get it for you!"

Chen Zilu felt even more embarrassed by his words: "Dad, don't exaggerate like that. I'm not a porcelain doll."

"What porcelain doll?!" Yang Wenshang's voice rose instead of falling. "The child in your belly is my grandson! Don't call him a porcelain doll; he'd be treated like a diamond doll!"

Yang Qi patted Yang Wenshang on the shoulder and said, "Hey, say less, don't make Zilu uncomfortable."

"Hiss!" Yang Wenshang, momentarily overjoyed, immediately realized he had gone too far. He scratched his head and changed the subject, "Let's go home, we have to tell everyone this good news!"

As he spoke, he pulled the two of them down the mountain to his home.

Two security guards stood by the guard post near the entrance, still reeling from the commotion.

Old Wei…that seems to be…the real boss? Yang Qi, the son of Boss Yang and the founder of the fishing grounds?

Old Wei, who had just stopped him, swallowed hard: "Really?...I just stopped him...it should be alright, right?"

"No, judging from the boss's personality, he's not the kind of person who can't distinguish right from wrong. Besides, we're just following the rules."

"But that's the boss himself..."

"Sigh, you can't say that. Being punished for doing your job well? That doesn't make sense. Don't worry!"

"...That's true."

Old Wei breathed a sigh of relief, trying to justify himself, saying, "We didn't do anything wrong. He didn't reveal his identity, so how would we know it was him..."

Yang Qi happened to be passing by at that moment, overheard the last two sentences of the conversation, stopped, and smiled at the two security guards:

"Gentlemen, you did a good job stopping them earlier. Following the rules is the right thing to do. From now on, this standard applies to everyone, regardless of whether they're the boss or not."

Upon hearing this, the two security guards stood up straight at the same time and said in unison, "Yes, boss."

Yang Qi waved his hand, "I'm not the boss, my dad is. Keep up the good work, I have high hopes for you!"

Hearing Yang Qi say that, the two of them suddenly became very motivated, as if they could see a future beckoning to them.

Ignoring the knowing expression on Yang Qi's face, Yang Qi followed Yang Wenshang down the mountain.

...

The moment I entered, a great commotion erupted.

Lai Lingling was the first to rush over, walked up to Yang Qi, and grabbed his arm:

"Xiao Qi, you're back! Why didn't you tell me beforehand...?"

As she spoke, she glanced at Chen Zilu beside her, then at her stomach, and asked, "Zilu, are you pregnant?"

Although Lai Lingling learned about it from Yang Wenshang's information, she was still incredibly happy after reading it.

Chen Zilu nodded with a smile.

Lai Lingling burst into tears on the spot, gesturing with both hands as if she didn't know where to put them.

Finally, he gently patted Chen Zilu's arm and said, "Quick, quick, come inside and sit down. Don't stand, it'll be tiring!"

Grandma Su Guanyin emerged from the room with Yang Xiaojin. With her black hair flowing freely, she squinted at Chen Zilu and asked, "Zilu, how many months pregnant are you?"

"It's been more than half a month, Grandma," Chen Zilu replied.

"Good, the Yang family is about to have another member, Zilu..."

Su Guanyin held Chen Zilu's hand, "Don't be afraid, your mother is here. Just focus on your pregnancy!"

Chen Zilu nodded emphatically, "Okay, Grandma."

Uncle Yang Kairong and Uncle Yang Wenhua also came over from the kitchen, followed by Uncle Luo Fagu. The group of people stood around Chen Zilu.

Yang Xiaojin stood to the side, taking pictures with her phone, saying, "I'm going to post this in the family group chat."

"Alright, alright," Lai Lingling slapped Yang Xiaojin's phone away, "Take fewer pictures, let Zilu rest."

Yang Xiaojin retorted, "What's wrong with me taking two pictures? I'm going to be an uncle!"

"Even as the uncle, you should let your sister-in-law sit down first."

Several people moved a chair over and let Chen Zilu sit down.

Yang Qi, the person involved, was unwittingly treated as a transparent backdrop.

In response, Yang Qi could only say that he would get used to it. His family was happy and harmonious, and it was a small problem for him to sacrifice a little and become a background figure.

The old lady sat next to Chen Zilu, holding her hand, while Lai Lingling watched her from the other side, asking incessantly, "What do you want to eat tonight? Did you sleep well tonight? Don't be nervous about being a mother for the first time. Everyone's here."

The eldest and second uncles stood behind the chair, craning their necks to look, while Uncle Luo Fagu stood on the threshold, smiling and saying, "This child is blessed."

Yang Qi was pushed to the outside of the crowd. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, watching the lively scene with a smile on his face.

Yang Wenshang stepped out of the crowd and walked to his side. The father and son stood side by side and watched for a while.

"Dad," Yang Qi asked, tilting his head, "what's going on with your position as deputy director?"

"Answer me first: didn't you say you'd be back in three years? Why are you only back for a month or two?"

"Something came up," Yang Qichao said, gesturing towards Zilu who was surrounded by people. "Zilu is pregnant, so she's back to take good care of herself."

Yang Wenshang was pleased with this perfect reason. "You're smart to take care of your wife. If you were to run around with such a big belly, there would be too many accidents and it wouldn't be convenient. It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."

Yang Qi smiled and said, "Dad, now you can tell me how you became the deputy director of the Xitian Town Tourism Bureau."

Yang Wenshang waved his hand: "The town forced this position on you. I'm just temporarily filling in. Your reservoir has become a major feature of Xitian Town, and the higher-ups insisted on giving you the title of deputy director's unofficial advisor. Since you're not here, I couldn't refuse, so I had to accept it."

He paused, then continued, "It's because your fishing grounds are getting bigger and bigger; the town wants to forge a deeper connection with us."

Yang Qi stroked his chin and nodded, jokingly saying, "Not bad, old man, deputy director, you're more successful than me."

"You brat!"

Yang Wenshang patted him on the back of the head. "This seat is yours. I'm just sitting here temporarily. Now that you're back, hurry up and take it back. This old man doesn't want to sit in an office every day."

"Working in an office is great, you don't even have to be in the sun."

"What a load of rubbish," Yang Wenshang scoffed. "My back is about to give out from sitting so much, and I need to save my energy for taking care of my grandchildren. I don't have time to be your deputy director or boss or anything like that."

"No way. You took the deputy director position, so it's yours. Don't try to push it onto me." Yang Qi laughed, "You know, your son is very lazy."

Just as Yang Wenshang was about to speak, Lai Lingling looked up and called out, "Wenshang, go check on the vegetables in the kitchen!"

Yang Wenshang said "Oh" and had no choice but to turn around and walk towards the kitchen.

Yang Qi stood by the door frame, watching the noisy house inside the old house, with the smoke from the kitchen mixed with laughter pouring into the yard from the doorway.

I really enjoyed it; time always flies when you're having fun.

As evening fell, the setting sun painted the sky a vibrant red.

The two large round tables were joined together by the eldest uncle and uncle-in-law to form a long table, with bowls, chopsticks, plates, and cups arranged on the table.

Soon the family dinner began, filled with laughter and joy, and the strong sense of family warmth permeated the air. Everyone ate with great pleasure.

...

After dinner, Yang Wenshang pulled Qi to stand under the bayberry tree in the yard.

"Xiao Qi,"

Yang Wenshang said earnestly, "Tomorrow I'll hand over the responsibility of managing the fishing pond back to you. You can continue sitting in the boss's seat."

"Why?" Yang Qi leaned against the tree trunk. "I think you're doing a great job. People are calling you Deputy Director Yang now."

"Don't interrupt," Yang Wenshang glared at him. "You built this fishing spot from scratch, and it's more than twice the size it used to be. This old man can only keep an eye on it to prevent it from falling into chaos. The real management, development, and future direction are up to you."

"But Dad..."

"Let me finish," Yang Wenshang waved his hand, "I'm not young anymore, and your mother keeps telling me to rest more. Now that Zilu is pregnant, I really want to save my energy to play with my grandchildren later. I've been guarding that reservoir for you for a few months, it's time to return it to you. If I keep working like this, my bones will fall apart."

Yang Qi looked at Yang Wenshang, who stood in the shade of the bayberry tree. His official demeanor from the daytime had completely vanished, leaving only the weariness in his eyes.

Yang Qi opened his mouth, but swallowed the joke back.

"Alright, tomorrow it is. But Dad..."

"Um?"

"Can you hold this deputy director position concurrently? Having a father who's an official makes me look good when I go out and brag."

Yang Wenshang was stunned for a moment, then slapped him on the back of the head: "You brat!"

"You can't stand seeing your father idle for even a moment? I wouldn't dare. The position of deputy director is yours, and I'm not going to fight you for it."

Yang Qi chuckled, his neck hunched, and the father and son stood under the bayberry tree for a while longer.

The wind rustled through the treetops, and a month later...

Yang Qi completely took over the work that Yang Wenshang had handed over.

The daily operation of the fishing grounds, personnel scheduling, stall rentals, coordination with the town, and so on—everything, big or small, was piled up on his desk.

He sat in that small registration room typing forms on the computer screen for a week before he could barely sort out the accounts.

Upon learning of Yang Qi's return, the town mayor, Shangguan Que, paid a visit the very next day.

That day, Yang Qizheng was squatting by the reservoir watching the workers replace a section of old guardrail.

Shangguan Que drove his car directly to the entrance of the fishing ground. As soon as the car door opened, he walked over with a smile and shook hands with Yang Qi.

The warmth on his face was even more polite than when Yang Qi first met him.

Yang Qi was no longer as hesitant as before. During his trip to the Great Wall of the Boundary Sea, his courage and insight had clearly reached a much higher level.

Dealing with the town mayor was a piece of cake; after a simple exchange of pleasantries, the meeting ended.

Yang Qi stood up, dusted off his hands, and shook hands with him.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, which consisted almost entirely of empty business flattery.

After chatting for about twenty minutes, Shangguan Que got into his car and left.

Yang Qi stood by the reservoir watching his car's taillights disappear at the intersection, then immersed himself in his work.

Meanwhile, the commotion in the outside world is growing louder.

A large ocean-going shipping vessel from the United States was rammed through the hull from the side by a black slug shark that was over 100 meters long while sailing on the high seas.

The ship flooded and sank, and all 300-plus crew members perished. The casualty figures were suppressed from the news for three days before being reported.

Several mutated beasts have appeared in the waters off Japan, tearing apart fishing boats in coastal ports.

The death toll has exceeded 10,000, and the economic losses are astronomical every day.

What's even more alarming are the unexplained heat source signals from massive objects on satellite cloud images.

Their tracks in the ocean are becoming more and more numerous, and they are getting closer and closer to the nearshore areas where human activities take place.

Meanwhile, even more explosive news broke in the anglers' circle.

Diao Wangzun Michael and Protin were sentenced to death by a military court for crimes including desertion from their positions during the fall of the Great Wall at the border and unauthorized use of nuclear weapons.

On the day of their execution, the execution convoy was intercepted on the road by a group of unidentified men in black. The two men were taken away in the chaos and disappeared.

After the news spread, there was a lot of discussion within the anglers' community. Some said they already had a backup plan, while others said they had powerful forces protecting them, but no one could provide conclusive evidence.

This is something only people in the fishing community know about.

However, public opinion regarding the behemoth was suppressed, and various governments held one emergency meeting after another, with closed-door meetings becoming longer and longer and public statements becoming fewer and fewer.

The world is gradually gripped by a panic over megafauna.

The headlines of major media outlets have shifted from social news and entertainment gossip to a uniform theme: "Ocean behemoth attacks, the age of giant beasts has arrived, where will humanity go?"

The military has also discovered that more and more of these mutated behemoths are becoming virtually ineffective against ordinary firearms and ammunition.

The bullets only left shallow dents on the hard, scale-covered outer skin, not even drawing blood.

At the same time, it was also discovered that these giant creatures would gradually lose their vitality once they were out of the water and fished ashore for a period of time.

...

Of course, these things didn't matter much to Yang Qi, who lived inland.

He only saw images of unrest in coastal cities when he was scrolling through the news on his phone every night.

Then he locked the screen, put down his phone, and turned his head to look at his wife, Chen Zilu, next to him.

That afternoon, Yang Qi, who had nothing to do, really didn't want to stay at his desk any longer. He stood up, locked the office door, and stepped into the underwater world with a thought.

A warm breeze blew in, and Yang Qi took a deep breath standing beside the reeds.

I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and looking up at the pale blue sky, I sighed:

"The underwater world is so much quieter... The old man just turned around and left, not caring about anything. I'm exhausted."

He stood on the shore for a while, muttering to himself, "I wonder if Jiutian has woken up yet..."

It turns out that the Nine-Headed Lionfish had been dormant in the deep waters of the aquatic world ever since it swallowed the 60-pound Black Dragon Eel.

He's been busy taking over all sorts of miscellaneous tasks at the fishing grounds lately and hasn't had a chance to check on it.

Thinking this, Yang Qi focused his mind on the deep sea area where the Nine-Headed Dragon Lion Sea Lion Fish was sleeping, and his figure flashed and disappeared from the shore.

Appearing on the shore of the waters where the Nine-Headed Lionfish lived, it gazed at the scenery of its life at sea.

Just as he was about to use his mind to probe downwards, the sea suddenly began to churn.

Ripples spread outwards in concentric circles, and then several large bulges suddenly appeared on the sea surface in front of us.

Immediately afterwards, the water surface exploded, and a head emerged from the water.

The head was several times larger than Yang Qi remembered, and the length of the two horns on the top of the head was as long as two swords.

The color of the scales changed from the previous multicolored to a deeper, overlapping sheen.

Then the second head broke through the water, and the third, the fourth, the fifth... nine heads rose from the sea.

When the nine heads were lined up and raised on the water, Yang Qi stood on the reef and craned his neck to look at them.

The nine heads formed a broad barrier in front of him, blocking out most of the sky.

"Nine Heavens?"

Yang Qi opened his mouth, somewhat surprised, and said, "You, you broke through to... a fourth-tier Fish King?"

Nine heads simultaneously pointed at him.

The one in the very center lowered slightly and gently touched Yang Qi's outstretched palm.

Yang Qi touched the bony horn branch, feeling the cool touch on his fingertips, and said, "Over 60,000 jin?"

Jiutian nodded again.

But soon, Yang Qi withdrew his hand, frowning as he looked at it: "That's not right. You ate that 600,000-jin black dragon eel, and you only grew to a little over 60,000 jin? That conversion efficiency is too low!"