"I don’t really need to worry about how to cook these fish!"
"Are you going to eat them raw?"
"I’ve evolved. I’m a Fire-Type. Grilling a fish is a piece of cake for me."
"Holy crap, so you’re an Evolver! My apologies, my apologies!"
"Aren’t you afraid of being forcibly recruited by the higher-ups at the Aircraft Carrier Base for revealing yourself like that?"
"Nope. The Aircraft Carrier Base already put out a clear notice. As long as you register, you can choose not to join the base. I’m still a free agent!"
"Dude who posted above, aren’t you being a little naive? No base would allow such an unstable element to exist!"
"I know. I even know they have people specifically watching me. Anyway, I’m not going to cause any trouble, so they can watch all they want!"
"Man, you’re really laid-back about it!"
"But Fire-Type Evolvers are kind of weak under the current conditions!"
"Yeah, there’s water everywhere and it’s always raining. The strongest right now should be Water-Types, and the most useful should be Wood-Types. At least they can make plants grow!"
"That makes sense. I think that heroine who escaped from the Feixiang last time was a Water-Type."
"If she wasn’t a Water-Type, she probably wouldn’t have been able to escape at all!"
"Speaking of which, after our aircraft carrier fleet took down the Feixiang, did they also capture Lvzhi Country’s lab? If we continue their research, can we develop a perfect Evolution Potion faster?"
"Researching the Evolution Potion... wouldn’t that mean more human experimentation?"
"All you guys who joined the Aircraft Carrier Base better be careful!"
Staff on the aircraft carrier fleet who were specifically monitoring the regional channel saw these discussions and immediately reported the situation to the captains.
The three captains conferred for a moment, and then Wang Jun issued an announcement.
"Please rest assured, fellow survivors. The Aircraft Carrier Base will absolutely not force any of our compatriots to participate in experiments for the Evolution Potion in any way."
"See? The captain himself came out to clarify things. Relax!"
"You believe everything he says? You’re too naive!"
"If you don’t even trust the Aircraft Carrier Base, who can you trust? The other big ships?"
"I don’t trust anyone. I only trust myself!"
"If the Aircraft Carrier Base develops an Evolution Potion, are you going to use it or not?"
"If I get the chance, I’ll definitely use it!"
"But didn’t you just say you don’t trust the Aircraft Carrier Base?"
"That depends on the situation!"
Ren Yuanyang saw this, shook his head slightly, and then started a video call with Qin Haonan.
"Boss, what are your orders?" Qin Haonan answered the video call immediately.
On the video feed, Qin Haonan was sitting on a banyan branch, trimming the aerial roots from the trunk.
"How’s the cleanup of the aerial roots coming along?" Ren Yuanyang asked, instead of answering.
"Just a small section left. Probably another half an hour!" Qin Haonan replied.
Ren Yuanyang nodded slightly. "Other survivors are reporting that there are more fish in the sea now. We should catch some too, to add variety to our food supply!"
Qin Haonan was taken aback for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I’ll take the boat out to fish as soon as I’m done with these aerial roots!"
After saying that, he immediately realized they didn’t seem to have any fishing gear. He said sheepishly, "Boss, we don’t seem to have any equipment. Should I just try to catch them with my bare hands?"
"If you can manage that, go right ahead!" Ren Yuanyang retorted irritably. "You need to use your head and make full use of what we have! You can use some of the bigger plastic bottles, or ask Elder Hua to help weave the thin aerial roots into a fishing net. It’ll be easy to lure the fish in with some bait!"
The strength of the banyan branches had been enhanced, and the aerial roots were enhanced as well. They were extremely tough; an ordinary fish definitely wouldn’t be able to bite through them.
Hua Lingfang had realized this, which was why he had woven the aerial roots into curtains to serve as the four walls of his small hut.
"Great idea! I know what to do now!" Qin Haonan replied cheerfully and ended the call.
Lu Jiamei asked curiously, "Did the boss tell us to go fishing?"
Qin Haonan nodded. "Yeah, other survivors are saying there are more fish now, so he wants us to give it a try. But we’ll have to trouble Elder Hua to help us weave a fishing net!"
"I don’t think we have enough rope to weave a fishing net, do we?" Xin Wan frowned slightly.
Hua Lingfang held up an aerial root he had just cut down and said, "We can use this. It’s very flexible. If we find some thin ones, we should be able to weave a net!"
"Right, that’s what the boss meant too!" Qin Haonan nodded.
"Elder Hua, you can go ahead and start weaving the net. We’ll take care of clearing the rest of the aerial roots!" Lu Jiamei said.
"Alright!" Hua Lingfang nodded, immediately jumped back onto the speedboat, and began selecting thin aerial roots.
By the time Lu Jiamei and the others had finished clearing the banyan’s aerial roots, Hua Lingfang had already woven a fishing net three meters square.
"Elder Hua, your craftsmanship is truly amazing!" Xin Wan exclaimed again, looking at the evenly-sized mesh of the fishing net.
Hua Lingfang waved his hand dismissively. "It’s not as good as one woven from hemp line. For now, we can only make do with this."
"It’s more than enough for now. With our limited resources, we can’t be too demanding!" Lu Jiamei said with a smile.
Qin Haonan looked at the net and suddenly asked, "So... who knows how to use this thing?"
Everyone was stunned into silence.
None of them were fishermen. They’d never cast a net to catch fish before; Xin Wan had never even seen it done.
"If none of us have used one before, let’s just do it the way we used to fish in small rivers!" Hua Lingfang spoke up. "We’ll hold the four corners of the net, put a weight and some bait in the middle, and let it sink below the surface, forming an inverted pyramid shape. As soon as a fish goes in to eat, we just pull up the net and we’ll catch it!"
"Sounds good enough. Let’s do it that way!" Qin Haonan agreed.
Following Hua Lingfang’s instructions, Qin Haonan went and found two sturdy wooden sticks.
Hua Lingfang fastened the two sticks together in the shape of a cross, then used four ropes of equal length to connect the ends of the sticks to the four corners of the net.
Once everything was ready, the group took the speedboat out of the Banyan Forest.
Outside the Banyan Forest, the sea breeze was noticeably stronger. Qin Haonan tied the speedboat directly to the trunk of a banyan tree, then lowered the net and bait into the water.
When Ren Yuanyang learned they had gone out to fish, he immediately rowed his own boat out to join them.
When Qin Haonan saw Ren Yuanyang approaching, he excitedly explained their fishing method to him.
"Not a bad idea!" Ren Yuanyang gave him a thumbs-up.
"It was all Elder Hua’s idea. We’re just the hired hands!" Qin Haonan didn’t try to take the credit.
"Looks like Elder Hua has made another great contribution!" Ren Yuanyang said with a smile.
Hua Lingfang waved his hand dismissively again. "No matter how many ideas I have, without the materials from your plant, Sir, I would be helpless!"
"Even with the materials, Haonan couldn’t have thought of it!" Ren Yuanyang shook his head. "When we catch some fish later, make sure to set aside a few extra for Elder Hua!"
Qin Haonan froze for a second. ’What does that have to do with me?’
But Hua Lingfang hurriedly waved his hands. "Absolutely not, Sir! You’ve already taken me and my grandson in, given us food and shelter. We are already incredibly grateful. Any fish we catch naturally belong to the group as a whole!"

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