Witch, I'm really not the Deep Sea Ancient God!

Chen Qi walked to the bedside, picked up "Sea Beast Usage Guide," and started flipping through it.

Ghost Fire Fish and Bullet Squid are dangerous small-sized sea beasts that often move in groups. Once targeted by these schools of fish, one would suffer an attack akin to a hail of bullets.

Although dangerous, they are much more valuable than Moonlight Fish.

Seeing that Chen Qi was considering going out to sea at night, Pelu cautioned:

"If you want to follow the fleet and fish at night, never board ships belonging to gangs, especially the Black Rabbit Gang, the Wild Dog Gang, and the Formal Attire Axe Gang.

They might charge less, and have maids on board who'll touch your thigh and compliment your looks!

But once you're ashore, they'll gouge you with tea fees, weapon fees, protection fees, maid service fees—all just ways to rip you off.

So, make sure to choose a proper fishing vessel, which should cost about 50,000 Shell Coins."

As Pelu said this, she imitated one of those money-grubbing maids and teased with a flirty wink.

"Hiss..."

This sudden assault made Chen Qi frown as though he were an old grandfather on the subway.

If Pelu didn't speak, she was quite attractive.

But with Miss Pelu's chaotic reputation in Moonstone City, her wink could scare many into running three hundred miles out of Moonstone City in a tumbling panic.

She continued:

"Right, when you go out to sea at night, make sure you have ship lights and kerosene lamps ready. Recently, there have been six tragedies caused by people trying to save on kerosene by turning off their ship lights."

"Mmm, don't worry, my little boat's ship light is quite expensive," Chen Qi said with a confident smile.

To ensure safe travel at night, he had the foresight to ask the ship repair workers of Maro Town to equip his small boat with a waterproof, impact-resistant large ship light!

Apart from the Steam Hand's engine, the ship light was undoubtedly the most expensive component on his boat.

"Expensive?"

Pelu raised her head, scanning his boat house with the eyes of a wealthy woman, somewhat puzzled.

To me, it's already quite expensive... Chen Qi helplessly closed the book and asked his second question:

"By the way, Miss Reporter, what do you know about the Black Rabbit Gang?"

"What's up, are the rabbits eyeing you now?" Pelu asked.

Gangs are a distinct feature in the civilian areas of Moonstone City.

Gangs supplement the order of Moonstone City. With the Descent of the Crack Tide, chaos is intensifying, and the gangs are becoming more numerous and bold.

"Sort of," Chen Qi replied.

There was no doubt that his trip to the hunting grounds had caught the Black Rabbit Gang's attention.

Not to mention, based on the information he previously had, the Black Whale Group and the Black Rabbit Gang were somewhat connected.

Pelu frowned:

"You've caught their attention then, be careful. According to the intelligence from my informants, many gangs in Moonstone City have begun to make contact with pirate groups recently.

And the Black Rabbit Gang has a close relationship with the Black Whale Group, the leader among the four great pirate emperors.

So you'd better be cautious. A rabbit doesn't care about its reputation when it's about to leave its burrow."

Pelu popped a peanut into her mouth.

The size of the Black Whale Group was growing day by day.

Chen Qi propped his chin, pondering.

Gangs are simply pirates on land, so it's not surprising they would join pirates.

After the advent of the Crack Tide, cracks appeared more frequently in the sea than on land.

In such situations, joining the pirates would indeed be quite a far-sighted decision.

The Black Rabbit Gang is not to be feared, but one cannot fight off a hundred with his bare hands. He would have to be careful when moving around Moonstone City... Chen Qi thought to himself.

Pelu shook her head, expressing a fondness for the boss's cooking skills.

She comforted him:

"But don't worry too much. In the end, the gangs are like rats in the city, especially at ports under naval jurisdiction; they wouldn't dare cause trouble there.

When I have time, I'll go and interview the Black Rabbit Gang to get them to behave!"

An interview, are you sure that's not a threat? Chen Qi was slightly startled; she truly was the most brazen reporter in Moonstone City.

Pelu stood up, somewhat reluctantly stuffing her papers back into her bag:

"It's such a pity, boss. I'm really too busy today to enjoy your cooking, and thanks for the information you provided."

"Goodbye, and have a safe trip."

Chen Qi waved his hand as he bid farewell.

Before leaving, Pelu clenched her fists in encouragement:

"Right, boss, keep up the hard work making money!

Your restaurant is just too shabby and small. If possible, it'd be great to have a cabinet full of fine wine, a mahogany table, and ideally, a musician to add some artistic atmosphere.

And it would be even better if you could add some Transcendent ingredients.

I hope you become a five-star Chef soon!"

Pelu had always wanted to invite friends for a meal here, but regrettably, the small boat house was just too small.

If only the boat's interior were a bit nicer, it would be perfect.

"..."

Easy for you to say... Chen Qi clapped his hands and glanced at his small boat house.

If it hadn't been for Old Beli's rush to sell his boat, he wouldn't even have it now.

To fit a big liquor cabinet while ensuring the speed of the boat, it would be impossible without ten million Shell Coins.

Moreover, becoming a five-star Chef, which required passing the Chef's Union assessment, was a very difficult thing as well.

After Pell left, Chen Qi sat on the boat and began to plot his journey ahead in simple terms.

The Monster Night would take place the evening after tomorrow.

He could take time tomorrow to go to the market at Moonstone City and sell the items he obtained from the hunting ground.

Then he would spend the rest of the time practicing his breathing techniques and Body Forging Skill, as well as training the deep-sea Water Elf.

...

...

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

At the port of Moonstone City, the afterglow of the setting sun shimmered on the sparkling sea.

Chen Qi sat atop his small houseboat, counting his money.

Life had been very ordinary in the past few days, with only occasional probes from members of the Black Rabbit Gang, but he had encountered no troubles.

He spent some time selling the spices he had obtained from the crack, as well as the small Mechanical Armor from the Black Rabbit Gang.

The Devil Pepper sold for one hundred thousand Shell Coins, and the small steam-powered armor from the Black Rabbit Gang sold for two hundred seventy thousand coins due to a damaged neural connection system.

With the sale of other items and some expenses, in and out, he now had a total of four hundred thousand Shell Coins.

For someone who had just begun to make his way at sea, four hundred thousand Shell Coins was a significant sum.
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For non-Transcendents, as long as they avoided frequenting places of ill repute and had no family members to support, four hundred thousand was enough to last a very long time.

But for a Transcendent, the amount was still too little.

Chen Qi finished counting his money and carefully placed it into his backpack card.

Outside the boat cabin, the hearty voices of sailors could be heard.

"We're preparing to set sail, call the sailors to get ready!"

"And hurry up and find someone to greet the five esteemed Second-tier Hunters, our cannons have limited power, and if we don't want to be attacked by Sea Beasts, we still need to rely on them."

"This operation is extremely dangerous, remind the fishermen who have paid that they absolutely must not lose sight of us."

"May the Goddess bless us, bless us, Goddess, please bless us."

The flames of the day were gradually extinguishing, and night was about to encompass the sea.

Chen Qi opened the window of his boat and looked out.

At this moment, beside his small houseboat, there were five large fishing vessels, equipped with cannons, powerful steam engines, and large trawling nets.

And ten medium-sized vessels.

Beyond that, there were over twenty personal boats, just like his.

"So many people..."

Chen Qi remarked.

Since the arrival of the Crack Tide, the number of people setting out to sea from Maro Town had noticeably decreased.

But in Moonstone City, there was absolutely no sign of decline!

In the night, sailing in small boats was a very dangerous affair.

However, not going out to sea meant that many fishermen with meager savings would go without food, and their entire families would suffer.

"Life is not easy."

Chen Qi packed up, came out of the boat cabin, leaned against the wall of the cabin, blew in the sea breeze, and listened to the noisy voices of people.

The fishermen on the small boats mostly hung their heads, clearly filled with fear about setting out to sea this time.

On the large vessel beside him, the voices of the captain and first mate were particularly loud.

"There's really a lot of people heading out to sea today, but speaking of which, how come there are so many small boats? It's the night of the Crack Tide! They really aren't afraid of dying!"

"Afraid of dying? That's Moonlight Fish, one Moonlight Fish can be worth ten fresh big fish! You're not supporting a wife and children.

Have you ever thought about how much it costs to want to attend a Transcendent school and to cultivate Transcendent abilities?"

Saying this, the two men on the boat lowered their heads and glanced at Chen Qi.

The coarse-looking first mate, seeing the flag on Chen Qi's boat, spoke out loudly:

"Young man, you're a chef, right? Your little boat won't even be able to catch a single Moonlight Fish before being buried at sea!

Eighty thousand Shell Coins to follow behind our vessel, and our Hunters will protect you! All registered!"

"No thanks, I don't have the money!"

Chen Qi loudly refused.

His target was the group of Sea Beasts, and he had no interest in following behind the large ships to pick up their leftovers.

The first mate laughed heartily:

"No money, eh... Well, that's that, but I have to warn you, the boats around you belong to gangs, and they don't follow the rules like we do."

Chen Qi glanced to the side and saw a skinny man in a small boat's cabin, staring at him with unabashed malice.

The man's Spiritual Power field was not weak, at a Second-tier level.

He was an executive of the Black Rabbit Gang.

"After watching for so many days, finally someone with a bit of skill has come..."

Chen Qi did not worry too much and walked straight into the cabin, lit the lamp, and started the engine.

With the deep-sea Water Elf, he could even destroy some large vessels with weak defenses on the sea.

If they truly dared to attack, he would ensure they had no return!

In the sky, as if a giant hand suddenly snuffed out a flame, the day's fire was completely extinguished, and the world plunged into darkness.

Night had arrived.

Rumble rumble!

The Lighthouse lit up, and the ships started their engines and switched on their lamps.

"To the sea!"

The sailors on the large vessel shouted!

With the leading of the large vessels ahead, a bunch of small boats lit their lamps and followed close behind, like lanterns afloat on the sea, sailing into the pitch-black ocean.