Seeing that the small boat had stopped about three meters in front of him, Qin Haonan called out, "Let’s see those potato sprouts of yours first!"
The other party, hiding in a makeshift cabin, extended a wooden plank. On it sat a small, sprouted piece of potato that looked like it had been sliced off a whole one.
Qin Haonan frowned slightly. "That’s awfully small."
"It might be small, but if you cultivate it, it’ll produce a lot of potatoes!" the other person retorted.
"If it were that easy to cultivate, would you be trading it away for food?" Qin Haonan snorted. "None of us are three-year-olds. There’s no need for such blatant lies."
The person on the other boat frowned. "Your people already agreed to the trade. Are you backing out now?"
"We keep our word, but that little piece of potato won’t get you much fish!" Qin Haonan began to haggle.
Hearing Qin Haonan’s exchange with the other man, Lu Jiamei said softly, "Qin Haonan’s not very old, but he’s surprisingly savvy!"
Ren Yuanyang nodded, then shook his head and warned, "Get your pistol ready."
Lu Jiamei was taken aback.
"At this distance, they can probably see the fish on Haonan’s plank," Ren Yuanyang explained.
"You mean they’re going to try and snatch the fish?" Lu Jiamei frowned. "But don’t they know we have grenades?"
Ren Yuanyang’s eyes narrowed. "They’re trading with one of our own, so they’re betting we won’t use grenades. Plus, their boat is motorized, so they must be confident they can dodge them. Even so, it’s still a huge risk, but for the sake of food, they’re likely to take a chance."
Lu Jiamei nodded, immediately drew her pistol, and aimed it at the small boat.
Just as Ren Yuanyang had predicted, the men on the other boat had indeed seen the one and a half fish on Qin Haonan’s plank.
They had finished their last half of a potato yesterday and were now starving.
After a long silence, the other man spoke again. "So, how much fish are you offering?"
Qin Haonan tore a small piece of meat from the prepared half-fish.
"This much. That’s all."
"That’s not nearly enough! Give me a little more!"
Qin Haonan shook his head firmly. "If you don’t think it’s worth it, then take your potato and leave."
"Kid, you don’t know the first thing about business, do you? A take-it-or-leave-it price just scares customers away. Good business is about building relationships. Or do you only plan on making this one sale?" The man sighed, sounding helpless.
"So, are you trading or not?" Qin Haonan retorted, unyielding.
"Sigh... fine, so be it. We’ll trade." The man seemed to relent.
Two bamboo poles extended from the other boat’s cabin. The sprouted potato was tied to the end of one.
The other pole, which was bare, was extended toward Qin Haonan first.
"Tie the fish to the pole," the man explained. "Once you’ve done that, we’ll hand over the potato."
Qin Haonan paused for a second. He hadn’t expected them to conduct the trade this way.
But he recovered quickly and agreed, "Alright."
Qin Haonan moved to the side of the pole. He grasped it with one hand and, with the other, began to tie the small piece of fish he’d torn off onto the bamboo.
Just then, the bamboo pole was suddenly yanked back. Simultaneously, a figure leaped from the small boat, lunging at Qin Haonan.
Seeing this, Lu Jiamei instinctively went to fire, but Ren Yuanyang stopped her.
"Qin Haonan was ready for him," Ren Yuanyang said in a low voice. "We’re low on ammo. Let’s see how this plays out first."
Lu Jiamei nodded slightly.
Qin Haonan’s reaction was incredibly fast. He instantly let go of the pole, dropped the piece of fish he was tying, and whipped out a cleaver, holding it defensively in front of him.
The yank on the pole had barely affected Qin Haonan, but the sudden appearance of the cleaver shocked the man lunging at him.
But the attacker was already mid-air, unable to change direction. He could only bring the kitchen knife in his hand up to meet the cleaver.
CLANG!
The attacker’s forward momentum was immense. Though Qin Haonan was prepared, he was at a disadvantage due to his lighter weight and build, and the impact sent him stumbling back two steps.
The plank wasn’t very large to begin with. The collision knocked Qin Haonan off-center, and the plank lost its balance, flipping to one side.
The cleaver had been a surprise, but overall, things were still going according to the attacker’s plan.
The attacker’s plan had been to ambush Qin Haonan, knock over the plank, snatch the fish, and swim back to his own boat underwater. He was extremely confident in his swimming skills.
Both guns and grenades were far less effective underwater—if they worked at all.
Furthermore, with both him and one of their own in the water, the others would surely hesitate to use grenades for fear of hitting their friend. They might even have to waste time and effort on a rescue, which would make it even easier for the attackers to get away.
Coupled with Qin Haonan’s young age, the plan had seemed foolproof.
They never expected Qin Haonan to react so quickly. Not only had he not been budged by their pull, but he had also produced a cleaver and thwarted their sneak attack.
Although the attacker had failed to injure Qin Haonan, he had still achieved his primary objective of capsizing the plank.
The burly man who’d jumped out landed in the water and immediately started searching for the fish from Qin Haonan’s plank.
Qin Haonan, however, ignored the fish after he hit the water. Instead, he clenched the cleaver between his teeth and swam rapidly toward the attackers’ small boat.
"Should we do something?" Lu Jiamei had developed a decent impression of this earnest, somewhat theatrical teenager, and asked when she saw him fall into the water.
"It’s fine," Ren Yuanyang replied with a smile. "I’ll keep the man in the water busy for him. Let’s see what he does."
"Isn’t it too dangerous for him in the water?" Lu Jiamei asked, frowning slightly.
"Anyone who dares to jump into the water to fight an Evolutionary Black Fish and make it back to his plank safely has to be an excellent swimmer," Ren Yuanyang explained. "Don’t worry. As long as I have the burly man under control, I’m sure he’ll be fine."
Ren Yuanyang had already directed the tendrils of the bitter grass to wait underwater. The burly man had fallen in at a different spot than Qin Haonan, and his large build made him an easy target for the tendrils, which quickly found and entangled him.
The burly man had located the sunken fish and was just about to grab it when he suddenly felt something grab his leg.
Shocked, he began to struggle frantically, his thrashing churning the water’s surface.
The accomplice hiding on the boat saw his boss struggling in the water. Alarmed, he forgot about staying hidden and rushed out, shoving a bamboo pole into the water to try and pull his boss to safety.
Just then, Qin Haonan hauled himself up onto the other side of the boat.
He was light and agile, so he made little noise climbing aboard. Plus, the accomplice was completely focused on saving his boss and didn’t notice someone had boarded the boat behind him.
Meanwhile, the burly man in the water finally managed to grab the bamboo pole extended by his accomplice and held on for dear life.
The accomplice was overjoyed. Just as he was about to pull the burly man up, he felt a sharp pain in his back, followed by a kick that sent him flying off the boat.
"Boss, it’s done! No one else on the boat!" Qin Haonan shouted from the small boat, as if looking for praise.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "Good. Get back on your own plank for now."
"Got it!" Without hesitation, Qin Haonan jumped into the water, swam to his plank, and climbed back on.
He gathered up the items that had fallen into the water, but was disappointed to find the fish was gone. It was nowhere to be seen on the surface.
’The boss will probably give me some food as a reward,’ Qin Haonan thought. ’I’d say this mission went pretty well!’

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