Every once in a while, someone would shout, causing the anglers' attention to constantly shift, either to check who caught a fish or to ask about the latest weighing results. The varying fish catch weights quietly spread among judges, and the temporary rankings of the big fish competition changed from time to time.

Zhang Yang's big carp, weighing less than sixteen catty, didn't stay on top for long. Within half an hour, it was surpassed by another angler's catch on the north bank. By 10:30 in the morning, the record for the champion's fish catch weight was refreshed to 9.77 kg, nearly breaking the twenty catty record.

Compared to most anglers, Zhang Yang was still relatively calm. After catching a little piglet from the nest, Zhang Yang's judgment was fully confirmed. The subsequent fishing just required him to systematically replenish the nest every once in a while and then patiently wait with a soft sticky bait.

The big fish competition, unlike the weight competition, relied more on luck and the ability to seize opportunities. Zhang Yang had made all the necessary adjustments for the big fish's habits; the rest was up to fate.

While Zhang Yang was calmly guarding his big fish spot, Wang Defa, the competition sponsor, was outside, continuously observing the competition dynamics and the real-time ranking updates.

With the weight competition changed to single tail weight, Zhang Yang's team's advantages in hard bait technique were mostly nullified, giving Wang Defa's temporary team a chance to win based on luck.

However, whether it was luck or something else, the team's usual good fishing results weren't showing today. They caught a few qualifying big fish over eight catty, but none that had a chance to break into the top five rankings.

"Damn... how do we fix this!" Wang Defa anxiously sucked his teeth, feeling a bit nervous.

"President Wang, Cheng and the others caught another fish over eight catty!" Wang Defa's follower quietly reminded.

"Damn! A hundred bucks per fish, what's the use! We need big fish with scores to make a name!" Wang Defa said irritably.

"Well, the person leading the score is very familiar with my friend, maybe we could..." The follower left his sentence unfinished.

"Very familiar with your friend? You know him?" Hearing this, Wang Defa suddenly straightened up.

"Yes, a Beijing angler, Liu Feng, my friend is buddies with him!" The follower confidently replied.

"Is he doing livestreams or just a regular player? Does he have his own product?" Wang Defa asked.

"I don't think so. I saw he was using Feipai gear and there wasn't a livestream setup behind him!"

Hearing this, Wang Defa's mind became active.

If the team organized before the competition didn't get results, it's okay to spend some money to develop a temporary "external member" after all, it was a cheap gain. The other side just needed to nod and help with product advertising to get decent rewards, few would refuse.

"Get your friend to talk to him in the middle; we can spend some money when he's on stage to receive the award, help with a product advertisement?" Wang Defa asked in a lowered voice.

"Um… I'll ask! How much are we offering?" The follower quickly grasped the boss's idea and asked before agreeing.

"Okay, ask first. If he wins the championship, I'll add five thousand for advertising expenses!" Wang Defa said generously.

An unknown ordinary player in a black pit, speaking a few words to advertise and earn five thousand bucks, whatever you say, Director Wang was really going all out.

"Okay!"

The follower responded, took out his phone, and called his friend. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Soon, Liu Feng, who was squatting on his fishing box, heard his phone ringing in his pocket, took it out leisurely, glanced, and answered.

"Hello! Dongzi? Any instructions?"

...

Ten minutes later, the follower returned to the boss after receiving feedback from his friend.

"President Wang, it's settled, they agreed!"

"Good! Beautifully executed! Here, take a few packs of products over to him!" Wang Defa continued.

"Okay!"

...

Before long, the follower walked behind Liu Feng carrying a few packs of bait in a black opaque plastic bag. The two communicated briefly before the follower left.

In such commercial competitions, the rules are relatively loose. Movement among people, chatting, speaking, even livestream interactions are not strictly regulated as long as they're not excessive.

If Liu Feng's single tail weight can maintain its lead until the end of the competition, the matter will be settled; after all, both parties were willing, with friends making connections in between.

But in a competition based on luck, who can predict with 100% accuracy? Sure enough, before long, the unexpected happened.

By eleven thirty in the morning, the fish bites around the competition field noticeably slowed.

With two and a half hours left until the competition ends at 2 PM, many anglers in bad spots had become lax in their efforts, placing rods on stands and casually chatting with friends or fiddling with their phones.

YOYO was also very relaxed at the moment.

Regarding fishing skills, YOYO was the least skilled among Zhang Yang's competing team members in this event. The little girl previously only did some wild fishing for fun, and it was only after joining the company that she started learning black pit fishing with Xiaowei while hosting livestream fishing, and her skills slowly improved.

In today's competition, YOYO was practically a half hands-off participant. The bait ingredients were mixed by Zhang Yang into a wet scatter, hand food was a soft sticky mixture adjusted by Zhang Yang, unified rod hardness, unified the bobber lead amount, even the tune and fish-tune were identical.

Settling into the nest, maintaining a certain frequency while waiting and lifting for bites, from this angle, there really wasn't much technical challenge.

The little girl drew a position in the deep waters of the south bank. Since the beginning, fish activity had been underwhelming; she caught over ten fish throughout the morning, only one weighed over eight catty, and she hadn't seen a bite in more than an hour.

Just as the young lady wondered whether to freshen up her makeup, there was movement in the bobber at the fishing spot.

"YOYO, there's a bite!" The temporary livestream assistant behind her immediately notified YOYO.

"Huh?" YOYO's gaze quickly turned to her bobber.

Sure enough, she saw a very brisk and powerful bite.

Poom!

Above the water, the three and a half signs of the fishing tune were suddenly gulped down to three, leaving just the tip of the bobber visible, and when she realized, even that had been completely submerged by subsequent movements.

"It's submerged, let's go!" YOYO fearlessly exclaimed, holding the rod handle with one hand, and her motion was pretty standard.

An immense resistance, as if snagged, came from underwater, YOYO's rod stood about sixty degrees but couldn't be lifted further.

"Wow wow wow, big catch, caught a big one! Tuanzi, help tidy the water basin and odds and ends behind me!" Knowing she had hooked a big fish, YOYO immediately called out.

Having an assistant is great, YOYO remained composed, lowering her center of gravity and carefully bowing the rod, meanwhile instructing the assistant to temporarily clear the water basin and other items from behind.

The experience of having encountered big fish at her livestream base's reservoir helped YOYO now, she mimicked Zhang Yang's fish control posture, and held the rod as she bent down.

Once her colleague tidied up the items behind, YOYO also started tapping the rod wall.

If the big fish can't be lifted, it's likely it's dug in. A few taps on the rod handle can solve over ninety percent of such problems. That's how Zhang Yang taught, and YOYO followed suit well enough.

After tapping for about twenty seconds, the fish moved underwater, instead of charging toward the deep water, it generously swam toward the shore.