Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The village chief immediately called the Yu family. The phone rang and rang, but no one answered, stirring a familiar worry in him. His thoughts instinctively drifted to Ying Yuanxing.

Could it be that while he was out buying groceries, Ying Yuanxing had gotten restless again, gone fishing, and turned his worst fears into reality?

Fortunately, the village chief didn’t have to fret for long. The call was finally answered by Oldest Brother Yu, father of Yu Fei and his two brothers.

"Village Chief Liu, I’ve lost two more…"

"Oldest Brother Yu, your third brother…"

Their voices overlapped, then abruptly cut off.

"You’ve seen Yu Laosan?"

"You lost two more?"

After a moment of confusion, they finally clarified the situation. While searching for his missing sons, Oldest Brother Yu had enlisted help from various sources, while Yu Laoer and Yu Laosan had each tried their own methods. In the process, Yu Laosan had vanished. When Yu Laoer noticed, he went to look for him—only to disappear himself.

The village chief scratched his head. Could his suspicions truly have come true? At the same time, he felt a surge of relief that he had called quickly enough. If Oldest Brother Yu had also been caught by Ying Yuanxing, he wouldn’t even be able to collect his money.

"So, you’re saying both Yu Laoer and Yu Laosan were taken by that Great Weird?" Oldest Brother Yu fell silent for a moment.

"I only saw Yu Laosan being reeled in. As for whether Yu Laoer was taken by Ying Yuanxing, I can’t say for sure since I didn’t witness it myself," the village chief explained cautiously, unwilling to commit.

Though the village chief put it that way, Oldest Brother Yu couldn’t help but think: if his third brother had been caught by Ying Yuanxing, the same fate likely befell the second.

Listening to the silence on the other end of the line, the village chief feared Oldest Brother Yu might impulsively fall into the same trap. He quickly added, "Just prepare the Weird coins. Three days from now, at the market, he’ll be selling the fish. Bring the money, and you should be able to ransom them back."

Oldest Brother Yu gritted his teeth, knowing this wasn’t the time for rash actions. He nodded, having also caught the village chief’s hint, and promised to send his share of the money immediately.

Both Weirds assumed Ying Yuanxing had caught all the Yu family members, unaware that he was actually taking the fall for someone else’s doing.

But technically speaking, Ying Yuanxing wasn’t entirely innocent either.

Not long after Ying Yuanxing left two fish at Li An’s doorstep, Li An returned. As soon as he emerged from the water, he spotted the fish.

The fish themselves were ordinary, but what wasn’t ordinary was the aura clinging to them—it was unmistakably from the fishing rod he had cursed. That rod should have been useless, yet…

Staring at the two fresh fish, Li An opened the door of his fishing gear shop for the first time. He glanced over the equipment inside, picked out the plainest rod, applied a curse to it, then took his usual position and cast his line.

The curse worked perfectly. Li An stood there for a long time without so much as a nibble.

But soon, the rod suddenly jerked—a Weird fish had taken the bait. Normally, Li An wouldn’t bother reeling it in, but after seeing the two fish Ying Yuanxing had left, he opted to reel it in.

When Yu Laoer was hauled out, he was actually excited. He figured he had found a clue to his missing nephew and brother. As for whether the Weird who caught him was too strong to resist, Yu Laoer was confident in his own strength and didn’t think he’d be totally powerless.

But the moment he saw Li An, Yu Laoer froze. There weren’t many Weirds in Taoxi Village he recognized, but Li An was one of them—though only he knew Li An, not the other way around.

Yu Laoer opened his mouth to explain, but Li An shot him a dismissive look, his gaze tinged with something like disdain. Remembering the rumors about Li An, Yu Laoer suddenly felt somewhat relieved and steeled himself to be thrown back into the water.

But after a brief hesitation, Li An unhooked Yu Laoer instead.

Yu Laoer’s brain short-circuited. This wasn’t what he’d expected. Thinking of his nephew and brother, who might have also been caught by Li An, he held back at first—and by the time he thought better of it, it was too late. He could only watch as he was dropped unceremoniously.

Li An continued fishing, but the cursed rod worked too well. Even if Oldest Brother Yu had found traces of his missing family, the village chief’s warning deterred him from tracking. After fishing for a while longer with no success, Li An eventually called it quits as the sky darkened.

He looked down at the single Weird fish he had caught and let out a quiet sigh.

Yu Laoer, confused, saw Li An pick him up, place him by the shop entrance, and then disappear back into the water.

Grateful Li An had left, Yu Laoer relaxed—being near a Great Weird had made him feel like prey, even if Li An didn’t eat small fish. But who knew if he’d be the first exception?

Yet it quickly hit him: Li An had caught him to find his nephew and brother. Now that Li An had left him behind, how was he supposed to track them down?

Worse, no matter how much Yu Laoer struggled, he couldn’t break free of Li An’s restraints. He thrashed around, covering himself in sand, but couldn’t move an inch closer to the river.

A chilling thought struck him—what if he was trapped here indefinitely? If his brother found him, fine. But if not…

Yu Laoer shuddered. Even among familiar Weirds, he couldn’t be sure they’d resist the urge to devour him. If another Weird came across him, the outcome was all too predictable.

So, to avoid becoming someone else’s meal, Yu Laoer kept struggling.

After dinner at the village chief’s house, Ying Yuanxing saw that it wasn’t too late and decided to go fishing again—partly to pass the time, but mostly to burn off his excess stamina. He returned to the river with his rod.

As soon as he arrived, he heard faint noises coming from where he had left the fish earlier. Curious, he walked over and was amused to find another bully fish—one he had caught before—lying there.

But why would someone leave it here?

Ying Yuanxing looked around. The two fish he had placed earlier were gone, and there were no animal tracks nearby. Had someone taken his fish and left this one as a replacement?

With a shrug, Ying Yuanxing grabbed it and tossed it into his backpack. Since it was the same species, it fit neatly into the same compartment.

Before Yu Laoer could process what was happening, he was shoved into the backpack—only to see another familiar fish inside.

"Yu Laosan?" he exclaimed.

"Second Brother!" Yu Laosan had been trying to figure out how to escape ever since being caught. But after being trapped in the backpack’s pocket dimension for so long, he’d realized it was impossible. Hearing a familiar voice, he turned and saw his brother had also been captured.

The two exchanged stories, comparing notes on what had happened.

"So, only Elder Brother is still free," Yu Laosan said after a moment of silence.

"As long as he hasn’t been caught… probably," Yu Laoer replied. "He wouldn’t act recklessly, right?"

Yu Laoer had initially thought the fisherman who caught him was just lucky, but after hearing Yu Laosan’s account, he realized the situation was far worse. Remembering the fishing rod in Ying Yuanxing’s hands, he grew uneasy.

The brothers waited anxiously, unsure how much time passed before they were suddenly pulled out and plunked into a water tank. No new fish joined them, which gave them some relief—at least their elder brother hadn’t been caught.

Their joy doubled when they saw their three nephews also being placed into the tank by Ying Yuanxing.

"Second Uncle! Third Uncle!" Yu Fei was stunned to see his uncles in the farm. While his younger brothers rushed over excitedly, Yu Fei remained slightly more composed—and quickly realized the implications.

If he had been caught this way, how had his uncles ended up here?

Poking his head above the water, Yu Fei watched Ying Yuanxing nervously, afraid he might pull out their father next. But thankfully, Ying Yuanxing only took out ordinary fish, not Weird ones.

Yu Fei let out a relieved sigh.

Seeing Yu Fei surface, Ying Yuanxing assumed he was hungry and tossed some fish feed into the tank.

The two uncles instinctively swam in front of their nephews, ready to resist if Ying Yuanxing made a move. But their guarding stance went unappreciated—especially by Yu Fei and Yu Ye, who blew happy bubbles at the sight of the fish feed and immediately rushed over to eat.

Though they had eaten at noon, years of starvation meant they were still ravenous. The earlier meal had only relieved some hunger, but it made them even hungrier.

The little fish’s eagerness amused him. Even though he saw them as just merchandise, their enthusiasm was endearing. He added another couple of handfuls of fish feed for the bigger fish.

After feeding the fish, Ying Yuanxing went back to cutting grass. Considering how much the fish liked the grass, he left a bit of each clump, hoping it would grow faster.

Ying Yuanxing thought nothing of casually feeding them, but Yu Fei and Yu Ye’s ravenous eating caught their uncles’ attention in a troubling way.

Once, a type of Weird Food had quickly taken the Weird World by storm. Countless small Weirds became obsessed with it, and those who survived to this day often had a doting Great Weird willing to buy it for them.

But before long, someone discovered the Weird Food was problematic—it was made from the flesh and blood of certain Weirds, containing highly refined Weird Qi. Consuming it led to addiction, leaving them desperate for daily fixes. Small Weirds became controlled by it, and even Great Weirds who sensed something was wrong couldn’t find a solution.

In the end, the Weird behind the Weird Food provoked the wrong enemy. Unconcerned with how many Weirds were involved, their enemy obliterated them, erasing even the recipe, cutting off the source at once.

The two brothers immediately stopped Yu Fei and Yu Ye from eating, urgently warning them the Weird Food was toxic.

After starving, finally getting food—only to be denied—it was agonizing. Yu Fei and Yu Ye couldn’t hide their distress, which only deepened their uncles’ misunderstanding.

To them, their nephews had only been captured for a little over a day, fed a few times, yet the addiction took hold even faster—and more viciously.

If Ying Yuanxing dared to feed such Weird Food to their nephews, perhaps capturing them had been deliberate all along. Just what kind of game was Ying Yuanxing playing?