Chapter 7

Opening the aquarium, Jiang Tian laboriously fished out the large lobster and measured it with a ruler—it was 15.3 centimeters long.

It wasn’t his imagination, nor was it a mistake in his memory. In just one day, the lobster had indeed grown by 5.3 centimeters.

"Could it be because it was possessed by my ability and underwent a mutation?"

This thought suddenly appeared in Jiang Tian’s mind. At first, he thought it was impossible, but then he reconsidered. Since bizarre things like the pirate ship already existed, why couldn’t this be possible?

In the next moment, the lobster that Jiang Tian had treated like a piece of trash became a treasure in his hands. His eyes lit up with joy. Could this mean that the lobster had the potential to grow to 10 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters...?

The thought of having such a colossal pet in the ocean filled Jiang Tian with anticipation and satisfaction. Such a cool thing must be unique in the world.

"My little treasure, you must grow quickly!" Jiang Tian gently stroked the lobster’s claws, showing a tenderness that made him seem like a doting father, which was enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.

Over the next few days, Jiang Tian focused on going out to sea. The farthest he went was over 200 kilometers from the coast. The variety of fish in the open sea was indeed richer, but that time he encountered a storm. The 8-meter-long pirate ship made Jiang Tian feel a bit uncertain, despite its excellent ability to withstand the waves.

Still, he decided to wait a bit longer and see if he could advance to the next stage!

During these few days, Jiang Tian could basically harvest a valuable sea fish every two days. Sometimes it was a wild yellow croaker, other times it was a market favorite, the white butterfly fish, and so on.

He maintained an income of about 20,000 yuan every two days, which made him quite satisfied.

The only regret was that the yellow-lipped fish seemed to require luck. Jiang Tian had wandered around the estuary of the Lan River several times but came up empty-handed each time. He eventually gave up on this idea and focused on scanning and collecting information about sea fish. Perhaps the most urgent task was to upgrade the pirate ship, as fishing was just a side job.

On the tenth day, Jiang Tian broke his own record. Looking at the information fed back by the pirate ship, he was already 250 kilometers from the coast, and the scanning progress had reached 196/500.

Half an hour later, the scanning progress finally reached 200/500.

"Advance to the next stage!"

Silently, the pirate ship evolved to 12 meters long, capable of scanning a 100-meter radius and 100-meter depth, with a 40% speed increase to 33.6 knots. The most significant change was the addition of a canopy, making it look like an ancient wu-pong boat, though it was quite ugly, it could protect against wind and rain.

Jiang Tian had a premonition that the pirate ship might undergo a revolutionary change in the third stage. Given its material and structure, it clearly wouldn’t evolve into a modern warship, so the most likely scenario was that it would evolve into an ancient warship.

Checking the storage room, he found that the space had changed significantly. It was now a 10x10x10 meter space, totaling 1,000 cubic meters, which was quite spacious.

"Stage advancement reward: 50% increase in physical abilities!"

This meant that in terms of strength, speed, and endurance, Jiang Tian’s abilities were enhanced by 50%. This was a terrifying ability. Jiang Tian had not wasted his three years of college, consistently exercising and maintaining good physical fitness. Even in his dorm, the tall and strong Shen Xing couldn’t last more than half a minute in an arm-wrestling match with him.

With a 50% increase, Jiang Tian felt his energy was abundant. He stripped off his clothes and plunged into the sea with a splash, swimming several laps before feeling slightly tired.

Lying in the canopy, Jiang Tian felt as if he had entered heaven after enduring the scorching sun for days. He took a can of drink from the storage room, sipping it leisurely while directing the pirate ship back.

It was already quite late.

On the way back, Jiang Tian didn’t deliberately take an S-shaped route to expand the scanning area, but even so, his return trip was quite fruitful. Scanning a 200-meter radius and 100-meter depth expanded the pirate ship’s detection range several times, especially in depth, as fish living below 50 meters were now being detected.

By the time he reached the shore, the scanning progress had reached 225/500, and he had also caught two decent-sized wild yellow croakers.

To test his strength, Jiang Tian found a branch as thick as his wrist on the beach and snapped it with a "crack." In the past, he could break it, but it wouldn’t have been so easy.

Following his usual routine, Jiang Tian rode his electric scooter to the seafood market. The two yellow croakers were weighed and priced, totaling 23,000 yuan.

Zhou Daha looked embarrassed. "Brother Jiang, I have 20,000 yuan in cash, and I’ll give you the remaining 3,000 next time, okay?" The payment for the previous batch hadn’t been recovered, and these 20,000 yuan were from the commission Jiang Tian had given him last time.

"Sure!" Jiang Tian didn’t mind such a small amount.

Nightlife in the south was very lively. When Jiang Tian came out of a restaurant, the streets were bustling with people, and neon lights were flashing everywhere. In the hot summer, short skirts and bare legs were common.

Jiang Tian sighed, summer was truly a wonderful season!

Suddenly, a commotion nearby caught his attention. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw four thugs blocking the way of a man and a woman at the entrance of a bar next to the restaurant.

The thugs’ lecherous laughter and the woman’s screams could be heard. There were onlookers, but no one stepped forward to help, though someone had already called the police.

Jiang Tian shook his head; this was a common occurrence in bars.

"Move aside!" The main road was full of vehicles, so Jiang Tian had to pass by the bar entrance.

The crowd parted to make way, but the four thugs continued to surround the man and woman, speaking lecherously and touching the woman. The young man tried to intervene but was punched.

"Move aside!" Jiang Tian said again, trying to be patient.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, I’ll shut your mother up!" One of the thugs glared at Jiang Tian, his eyes wide. "Get out of my way, or I’ll crack your head open!"

As he spoke, another thug threw a beer bottle at Jiang Tian. Fortunately, Jiang Tian dodged quickly, or he would have been hit.

The thugs laughed, reveling in their "domineering" behavior, especially when they saw Jiang Tian almost fall off his scooter.

Jiang Tian parked his scooter and walked over, his face expressionless. "Apologize to me!"

In the past, although Jiang Tian would have been upset, he would have endured it, thinking that it was better to avoid trouble. But now, with the pirate ship, he felt more confident and wouldn’t back down from such provocation.

A drunk thug said, "Who the hell are you? Get lost before I get angry!"

"Brother, don’t act on impulse!" The young man who was surrounded suddenly spoke, though he had been punched, he didn’t beg for mercy like a commoner.

Jiang Tian nodded at the young man.

"Shut up, you! I’ll give you half a minute to decide—your life or the woman!"

"Yeah, how dare you compete with Brother Sheng for a woman!"

It turned out that the thug leader, Brother Sheng, had spotted a woman in the bar and tried to chat her up but was rejected. The next minute, the young man approached with a drink and chatted with the woman, and when they left the bar together, Brother Sheng and his gang surrounded them.

Damn, for a one-night stand, does a pretty face really make a difference? Is his fighting ability stronger than mine?

Brother Sheng was very upset, feeling that it was a society that favored looks.