Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "That works. We’ll find some other good things to reward you with later!"
"Thank you, sir!" Hua Lingfang said, cupping his hands in a fist.
"Chief, based on the chat in the regional channel, we could just harvest some of the dizzy fish grass. That way, we could attract enough fish to the outskirts of the Banyan Forest, which would also make them easier for us to catch," Lu Jiamei suggested from the side.
"That’s a good idea, but we won’t be doing that for now," Ren Yuanyang replied, shaking his head. "If we harvest the dizzy fish grass, it will attract a huge swarm of fish. They might devour all the banyan roots, and it would be hard for our Banyan Forest to grow to a significant size."
Lu Jiamei paused for a moment, then nodded.
Qin Haonan asked doubtfully, "The banyan roots must be massive. Surely the herbivorous fish can’t eat them all, right?"
"The Aircraft Carrier Base has lifted all its crops out of the water, and their planting area is much larger than ours. That alone shows you how massive and crazed the schools of fish are," Ren Yuanyang said, shaking his head.
Qin Haonan froze slightly, then frowned and asked, "In that case, aren’t our banyan roots in some danger? After all, our dizzy fish grass only has a ten-meter range."
"That was before. It’s been upgraded now!" Ren Yuanyang replied with a smile.
Hearing this, Qin Haonan was stunned again. "Something that’s already evolved can evolve again?"
"Of course. The prerequisite is that my Mental Energy continues to increase!" Ren Yuanyang nodded.
"I get it! Boss, you’re incredible!" Qin Haonan exclaimed in amazement.
Ren Yuanyang waved his hand dismissively. "It’s precisely because it was upgraded that I came to remind you. If you want to catch fish, you’ll need to move a bit further out!"
The edge of the Banyan Forest was still within the range of the dizzy fish grass’s effect, so no fish would come near.
"No wonder we didn’t see a single fish, even after throwing in so much bait!" Hua Lingfang said, the realization dawning on him.
"Move another fifty meters out," Ren Yuanyang ordered.
"Okay, Boss!" Qin Haonan replied.
Hua Lingfang frowned again. "But we can’t anchor ourselves out there. It’ll be hard to fish, won’t it?"
"Based on the situation over at the Aircraft Carrier Base, the fish should be starving by now. As long as we have bait, catching them shouldn’t be difficult!" Ren Yuanyang explained with a smile.
Hua Lingfang was taken aback. His phone had been confiscated, so he didn’t know what everyone was discussing in the regional channel.
Qin Haonan drove the speedboat another fifty meters out. He first tossed in some tender vegetable stalks and leaves. After about ten minutes, the water’s surface immediately began to boil as countless fish fought over the food.
"It looks like we don’t even need a net. We could probably just scoop them up with a basin!" Qin Haonan remarked, watching the fish frantically fight for the food.
Ren Yuanyang handed him a basin directly. "Give it a try!"
Qin Haonan was stunned. "I was just saying! You really want me to scoop them with a basin?"
"If it actually works, we won’t have to go through the trouble of weaving nets!" Ren Yuanyang replied with a smile.
Resigned, Qin Haonan took the basin and slowly approached the water’s surface from the gangway ladder on the side.
Perhaps because all the vegetable leaves on the surface had been eaten, the fish all zipped away with a WHOOSH!
Qin Haonan didn’t give up. "Boss, throw down some more leaves!"
Ren Yuanyang immediately grabbed a handful of leaves and tossed them onto the water near Qin Haonan.
The water’s surface began to boil again!
Qin Haonan immediately seized the opportunity. Holding the gangway ladder with one hand, he plunged the basin into the water with the other.
SPLASH!
Countless droplets of water splashed onto Qin Haonan’s face. He looked at the empty basin and said helplessly, "These fish are way too fast!"
"A basin creates drag in the water, which slows you down. If it were a hand net, you might have a chance!" Hua Lingfang said with a smile.
"Come on up. It’s more reliable to use our net," Ren Yuanyang called out. He and Hua Lingfang then lowered the fishing net into the water.
Qin Haonan returned to the deck and threw the vegetable leaves over the net. The school of fish immediately swarmed in from all directions.
"Let’s pull up the net!" Qin Haonan said excitedly.
Hua Lingfang gripped the wooden cross that held the four corners of the net and slowly began to pull. Once all four edges of the net were above the water, he called out, "Help me pull it up!"
Ren Yuanyang and Qin Haonan immediately went over and pulled on the ropes, hauling the net onto the speedboat.
The fish themselves weren’t very heavy. The main issue was that the person holding the wooden cross couldn’t easily continue hauling it up alone.
As the net was dragged aboard, the fish inside began to flop around.
"We’ve got over a hundred pounds of fish this time!" Hua Lingfang remarked with some emotion.
Ren Yuanyang nodded. "Looks like we’ll only need to cast the net every few days. Any more than this and we won’t be able to eat it all!"
Hua Lingfang and the others nodded.
"Let’s go. We’ll head back. It’s just about lunchtime, so we can add a couple of fish to the meal!" Ren Yuanyang ordered.
Qin Haonan immediately started the speedboat and steered it back into the Banyan Forest.
Ren Yuanyang currently had no plans to enhance these fish. ’My Mental Energy is limited and needs to be used where it matters most. Plus, I still haven’t enhanced the rabbits and pigs! Besides, there are so many fish, and they aren’t hard to catch. There’s no need to enhance a few to raise at the base right now.’
Just as Ren Yuanyang’s group was returning with their bountiful catch, in a conference room at the Aircraft Carrier Base, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture was urgently pleading with Wang Jun, "Commander, we can’t wait any longer! We have to use the fish-repelling device now, or all those crops will be wasted!"
"No! This is a great opportunity for us to harvest a large amount of fish meat and quickly supplement our food shortages! I suggest we continue using the crops as bait to attract even more fish!" the head of the Logistics Department immediately objected.
"That’s shortsighted! Are you planning on eating nothing but fish from now on, without any other fruits or vegetables?"
"I’m not against continuing to grow crops. I’m just saying we should hold off for now and seize this opportunity to catch more fish. This would greatly alleviate the pressure on our food supply. The growth cycle for crops is too long!"
"You know yourself that the growth cycle is too long, which is all the more reason to plant them now!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Wang Jun suddenly rapped his knuckles on the table, and the two men immediately stopped arguing.
"How long can those crops survive out of the water?" Wang Jun asked with a frown.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture wanted to say they would die quickly, but faced with Wang Jun’s serious and stern expression, he could only answer truthfully, "Under the current conditions, a week is definitely not a problem."
’Without direct sun exposure, with plenty of moisture in the air, and with the nutrient-rich rainwater from the sky, the crops could actually survive for a long time out of the water. Still, I hope to get them planted as soon as possible to harvest more food. Having food reserves brings peace of mind, after all!’
Wang Jun nodded, then said to the head of the Logistics Department, "I’ll give you five days to fish. After five days, we will activate the fish-repelling device to ensure agricultural production."
"Yes, Commander!" The head of the Logistics Department stood and replied. He hesitated for a moment before adding, "Then in the future, can we use the stems and leaves of the crops as bait to attract more fish?"
"We’ll talk about that after agricultural production is back on its feet," Wang Jun said, shaking his head.
The crop stems and leaves had to be prioritized for the poultry and livestock on board.
The head of the Logistics Department sat back down, resigned.
BANG!
The conference room door was suddenly thrown open, and everyone turned to look.
The soldier at the door, seeing so many high-ranking officials staring at him, saluted nervously and said, "Reporting to the Commander! Our monitoring department just detected a disturbance in Blue Star’s magnetic field. There might be a geomagnetic storm incoming!"

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