Chapter 130 - 131: Too Many Fish for a Small Pond

Chapter 130: Chapter 131: Too Many Fish for a Small Pond

"How much water surface can a Level 1 fishing ground cover?"

Chen Yuan never expected the system to play this kind of game. Different levels covered different amounts of water surface.

Level 0 could only cover two mu, so what about Level 1?

If Level 1 could only cover five mu, wouldn’t that mean he’d have to level up to Level 2 right after? Given the difficulty of system upgrades, that would take forever.

"A Level 1 fishing ground can cover ten mu of water surface~"

Phew~

Chen Yuan clearly let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. After the upgrade, he could activate the Old Pond and put it fully into use.

But the problem was, leveling up from Level 0 to Level 1 was also very difficult.

More than half a month had passed, and his upgrade progress wasn’t even one-third complete. At this rate, he probably wouldn’t be done even by next month. He couldn’t just leave the Old Pond empty, could he?

’Upgrade, upgrade, how can I upgrade faster?~’

Chen Yuan’s head started to ache.

The only thing he could look forward to right now was the reward promised by the system mission. Other than that, he could only rely on construction with points. But even if he maxed out his daily revenue, he’d get 15,000 at most.

’What do I do?’

"Thinking about upgrading, Boss Chen?"

Wang Tao walked over just in time to hear this, and his eyes instantly lit up.

’Upgrading is great.’

’If he wants to upgrade, he needs to build. If there’s construction, I’ll have work. If I have work, I can earn points!~’

"I’ve already secured the Old Pond, but my level is too low to activate it completely. If you were me, wouldn’t you want to upgrade and activate it?"

Chen Yuan gave a bitter smile.

"Whoa, you got the Old Pond! Congratulations, Boss Chen. You’re the owner of two ponds now."

Wang Tao’s smile grew even wider.

He gazed at the large expanse of water as if he were looking at a massive project and a continuous stream of points.

"It doesn’t mean shit even if I were the Master of the Sword Hall. I can’t even activate it."

Chen Yuan couldn’t be bothered to deal with him.

He had called Wang Tao over to plan the construction, but it turned out he couldn’t even properly activate the pond.

’What a pain~’

"Then find a way to upgrade."

Wang Tao said it so casually.

"You got any ideas?"

Chen Yuan looked at him.

"There’s no other way. Only construction."

Wang Tao chuckled and pulled out two cigarettes, one for each of them.

"No shit. You gonna pay for the points?"

Chen Yuan shot him a glare.

"You gotta get creative. Like, run some events, set up a membership system, that kind of thing. Then throw some cash at it, too. You’ll definitely upgrade in no time~"

For once, Chen Yuan didn’t argue.

He had avoided spending a lot of cash because he was focused on long-term development, and there would be many expenses down the line. After all, he had just opened for business not long ago and didn’t have much money on hand.

Although he still had plenty of expenses now, like the various contracts signed with the village committee and employee salaries, the biggest expenditure—the Old Pond—was already taken care of.

He definitely couldn’t even think about the Great Pond for now.

Plus, business had been booming lately, with the place being full every day, so he had recouped a good amount of his funds.

It looked like he really would have to start using cash. He might even need to put the membership system on the agenda.

"Boss Chen, you should really look into a membership system. If you set that thing up right, you can bring in cash flow quickly~"

Seeing that Chen Yuan didn’t object, Wang Tao saw a glimmer of hope. He stopped grinning and offered his suggestion seriously.

Don’t be fooled by Wang Tao’s expertise in construction; some of his suggestions for the fishing ground actually made Chen Yuan’s eyes light up, and he even started to see him in a new light.

"Some of your suggestions are good. I’ll implement the membership system as soon as possible. As for the Old Pond, what are your thoughts?"

Chen Yuan handed Wang Tao a cigarette, and the two of them squatted down in the shade of a tree.

"I don’t recommend activating it by section. If you only mark out two mu and put it into use, a lot of problems will get out of control. For example, water quality conditions, fish activity detection—none of that can be represented by data. Most importantly, you won’t be able to control the bite rate."

Wang Tao spoke slowly and deliberately.

Chen Yuan nodded.

The bite rate was the most important thing. Without that function, the Old Pond would be no different from any other ordinary fishing spot.

Even if he bought a remote control, he wouldn’t be able to control the fish if they swam to other areas.

’Guess I really have to upgrade~’

"I suggest you first mark the perimeter of the Old Pond to activate the pond’s boundaries. Once the pond’s location is confirmed, you can start on other construction, like building up the four banks, as well as the fishing spots and their amenities~"

Chen Yuan’s eyes lit up slightly.

No matter when the Old Pond was put into use, construction was inevitable.

The most basic things were the banks and the fishing spots.

Seeing that some of the banks were overgrown with weeds and some areas had a large drop-off to the water’s surface, just setting up the fishing spots would be a considerable project. He could definitely start with that construction first.

"Let’s do as you say. After Zhou Jianming clears the pond, we’ll build up the banks and the fishing spots first."

Chen Yuan agreed with Wang Tao’s suggestion. He stood up and was about to start marking the pond’s edge when he suddenly thought of something and turned back to add,

"I’m planning to make this pond a ’lunker’ pond. I’ll definitely need to get some fish that are a hundred jin or more. You’ll need to manage the spacing between the fishing spots, and plan out the floating bridges as well."

When it came to construction, he still had to rely on Wang Tao.

Handing over the planning for the floating fishing platforms to Wang Tao was the more professional choice.

"He can clear his pond, and I’ll do my construction. There’s no conflict~"

Wang Tao chuckled.

"How’s the farming area coming along?"

Chen Yuan understood what Wang Tao meant, but construction had to be done step by step.

"That’s just a small project over there, and there are no customers, so it doesn’t affect the construction. We’re working on it 24/7. It’ll be done before tonight. You can get the chicks ready."

"Great. Whatever materials you need, you can use the points."

Since there were no problems, Chen Yuan naturally wouldn’t hold up the construction. At Wang Tao’s request, he spent all the points he had on his account again.

"Leave the rest to me. Boss Chen, you go ahead and work on the membership stuff and get some points as soon as you can. If the project needs it and there aren’t enough points, you’ll have to use cash, you know~"

Chen Yuan waved his hand, not refusing.

He had to max out his upgrade speed and get the Old Pond operational as soon as possible.

As long as he had spare cash, he would use it~

"Oh, right. I’m planning to stock the fish tomorrow morning. Have them delivered along with the chicks. Remember to arrange the time~"

Chen Yuan reminded him.

’A hundredfold multiplier—how could I not use it?’

The fish stocks had been low recently. Although the Fish King was there to keep things interesting and the customers’ enthusiasm up, it definitely had some impact. It was time to give the customers a frenzy.

Wang Tao acknowledged and headed for the farming area.

Chen Yuan began marking the perimeter of the Old Pond. By the time he had walked a full circle, the sun was about to set.

He didn’t linger there. Once he was done, Chen Yuan hopped on his tricycle and rode home. On the way, he selected the option to make the Fish King bite, since it was almost eight o’clock.

"Dad, someone’s landing a Fish King at the small pond. Go handle the prize redemption in a bit. And please help out when the night fishers are leaving."

Chen Yuan went straight to the kitchen when he got home. Chen Jun was there alone, preparing vegetables. He probably knew they would be busy with the night fishers leaving later, so he hadn’t asked him to help in the vegetable patch.

By getting things done at home, he could rest a bit earlier at night.

"From now on, you can leave handling the end of the night fishing sessions to me."

Chen Jun said with a nod.

"We’ll sort it out properly when my sister gets back~"

Chen Yuan picked up the food left for him in the pot and sat down in the kitchen, shoveling it into his mouth.

"Arrange it however you want~"

Chen Jun shot Chen Yuan a sidelong glance.

’If my daughter stays, she definitely wouldn’t let me handle the night sessions either. The little brat will have another helper. What’s the point of him saying anything?~’

"Oh right, Dad, the farming area will be finished tonight, and the chicks will arrive tomorrow. Please let Great Uncle and the others know. They’re the employees I hired specifically, so they’ll start work tomorrow."

Chen Yuan spoke about the serious matter while taking a mouthful of rice.

"So fast? That kid Wang Tao is pretty efficient~"

Chen Jun chuckled.

Ever since the construction on the small slope was completed, Chen Jun’s impression of Wang Tao had done a complete 180. Now that he had finished the farming area in a single day, he was even more satisfied.

’My son didn’t pick the wrong construction team~’

After dinner, Chen Yuan washed the pot and bowls, said goodnight to his dad, and went upstairs. After washing up, he flopped onto his bed and eagerly summoned the system.

He went straight to the missions tab.

The mission progress showed 10% completion.

The system mission required him to take over the competition across three districts and eight counties. Since the top fishing ground in Chong City’s business spanned two of those districts, this meant Chen Yuan needed to take over a total of ten establishments.

Today he had taken over Fisherman, which left nine more to go.

’Let’s see the rewards~’

There wasn’t much to see with the mission itself, so Chen Yuan directly opened the rewards space.

Hundredfold Multiplier Reward:

Grass Carp: 2,000. Black Carp: 1,500. Silver Carp: 1,300. Bighead Carp: 1,200. Common Carp: 800.

He had caught 68 fish at Fisherman. With a hundredfold multiplier, that came out to 6,800 fish. If converted to weight, that would be 42,000 jin. What an incredible amount~

Even if he did nothing else, with his current haul of fish, he could guarantee that business would be booming for the next one or two months.

’So many fish... the small pond can’t hold them all~’

Chen Yuan’s face flickered with shock and joy as he looked at the quantity of fish stored in his rewards space.

’A shortage of fish?’

’This isn’t a problem of lacking fish anymore; it’s a problem of not having enough space to put them!~’