“Haha.” Fan Ningyue let out a mocking laugh. “I caught a fish… ‘senior.’”

An Muning: “……”

“That’s just beginner’s luck, and don’t think that even counts,” An Muning said, his tone carrying a faint sourness. “That’s bait, not even a proper catch.”

Having been rivals for eight years, Fan Ningyue could instantly tell his mood just from his tone.

“Don’t be sour,” she said, shifting back slightly, her eyes curving with rare good humor. “You don’t even have a big bait on your side yet.”

An Muning took a deep breath. “Don’t get cocky.”

“Mm-hmm, you’re right,” she nodded.

“When did I not realize you were this annoying?”

“Then that famous saying is right.”

“What saying?”

“There’s no lack of beauty in the world, only a lack of eyes that can see it,” Fan Ningyue blinked at him. “You just never noticed my strengths before.”

“Before, every time you saw me you started preaching, like Tang Sanzang.”

“How so?”

“Opening your mouth: truth, goodness, beauty.” He gestured with each word.

Fan Ningyue suddenly laughed out loud.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I just think it’s funny. You remind me of a movie I watched before.”

“What movie?”

“Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.”

“I haven’t seen it,” An Muning shook his head. “Who said that line?”

“Sun Wukong.” she nodded. “You even do the same gestures.”

“That’s fitting,” he nodded. “Anyway—fish on.”

An Muning pulled up a fish: a half-meter-long leatherjacket.

“Tch.” Fan Ningyue clicked her tongue. “Not pretty at all… and not big either.”

A vein visibly popped on An Muning’s forehead.

The next second, the blue-green wrasse beside her exploded into a cloud of blood mist.

The blood dispersed into the seawater like ink in fog, quickly dissolving.

Fan Ningyue looked down. The meter-long fish had already been turned into fragments of flesh.

“An Muning…” she gritted her teeth. “Do you want to duel with me?”

If it were ordinary anglers, they would have already fought him by now.

“Haha,” An Muning laughed. “Don’t get angry. It was going to be cut anyway—consider it bait. This size is perfect for hooking bigger fish.”

Fan Ningyue took a deep breath and kicked his chair.

“Hey, hey…” he almost fell into the sea but steadied himself. “The blood spreads out and attracts bigger ones. Why don’t you understand my good intentions?”

He waved his fingers, and the fish in the net immediately shattered further, blood spreading through the sea before being swept away by the wind.

Perhaps beginner’s luck was real.

Less than twenty minutes later, Fan Ningyue’s rod suddenly bent violently. Without warning, it nearly dragged her into the sea.

“Ah—” she gasped, bracing herself. “It’s here!”

An Muning took a deep breath.

Why was there still no movement on his side?

“What kind of fish has this much strength?” she asked.

“It’s mutated,” he replied casually.

“Can we eat it?”

“No.”

“…Then why catch it?” she deflated.

“Relax, relax,” An Muning said. “After catching it, we can throw it back into the city. The zombies will eat it.”

“…You feed fish to zombies?”

“Occasionally.”

“You really have too much free time.”

“Cultivation,” he said seriously. “What if feeding mutated sea creatures to zombies produces a beautiful female zombie?”

“…You really think about beautiful female zombies all day, don’t you?”

An Muning nodded.

Fan Ningyue was speechless.

The creature in the sea finally surfaced.

A massive shadow rose from below, its dorsal fin covered in bone-white armor plates formed by mutation.

“Wow… that’s a big one,” An Muning blinked in surprise.

Fan Ningyue was now locked in a struggle with it. The fishing rod bent to its limit, as if it would snap any second.

“Wait!” An Muning hurriedly stopped her. “You need to ease off a bit! The rod can’t handle both forces—loosen it so the fish calms down!”

“The rod can’t handle it?” she widened her eyes.

“Yeah.”

“It’s my first time fishing!” she said sharply. “How can I loosen it?!”

“I mean just—”

“I won’t spoil it for it!” she snapped, then without hesitation threw the rod into his arms and jumped straight into the sea.

Splash.

Water exploded into his face.

An Muning: “……”

Yep. That was definitely her.

Waves churned violently, as if the sea itself had been enraged.

Blood soon rose to the surface.

An Muning crouched down and tapped the water. “Hey, you dead?”

Naturally, she couldn’t hear him underwater.

Moments later, a massive shape floated up.

A double-headed shark, its body wrapped in bone armor, mutated, nearly six to seven meters long.

Fan Ningyue surfaced, clinging to the cracks in its armor as she climbed onto the corpse, lying on top of it and letting out a long breath.

She felt a surge of satisfaction in her heart.

She turned her head and gave An Muning a thumbs-up. “How was that?”

An Muning forced a stiff grin and returned a thumbs-up of his own. “Not bad.”

What a pity—it couldn’t be eaten. Fan Ningyue looked down at the shark’s corpse with some regret and sighed.

Her body was still covered in shark blood, clearly showing she had just gone through a fierce and exhilarating battle underwater.

“Why don’t you just come up first?” An Muning said, squatting down with his arms folded. “You’re going to drift away in a bit. I won’t bother saving you then.”

“Like I need your help?” Fan Ningyue took a deep breath. “I need to go take a shower.”

Right now the smell wasn’t too strong, but once her body dried, she would definitely reek of fishy blood.

“Just strip and rinse off in the sea,” he suggested casually.

Fan Ningyue: “……”

Sometimes she really wanted to beat him to death.

“Don’t worry, I won’t look,” An Muning stretched lazily. “If you turned into a zombie, I might take a second look.”

Fan Ningyue sighed, rolled over, and climbed back onto the platform. “Help me pull this thing up.”

The shark was enormous. The bone-like armor on its belly had been smashed open by Fan Ningyue’s punches, leaving several huge bloody holes that nearly cut its body apart.

“Can this thing… really not be eaten?” she swallowed, still reluctant.

After all, it was her first catch—and such a massive one at that. And yet she couldn’t eat it…

“Does this look like something edible to you?” An Muning pointed at the shark’s murky, gelatinous, almost decayed eyes, then at its flesh-ripped maw. “If you eat this, you’re afraid you won’t mutate on the spot?”

“Sounds fine. If I turn into a zombie, I’ll bite you first,” Fan Ningyue said, wrinkling her nose. “Didn’t you say you wanted to be eaten by a beautiful female zombie?”

“Hiss…” An Muning stroked his chin. “That actually sounds okay.”

“…I’m not agreeing to that,” she said flatly. After a pause, she patted his shoulder. “Human beings shouldn’t, at least they shouldn’t.”

He didn’t respond.

He was thinking.

No matter how beautiful something was when alive, once it became a zombie, it would turn ugly.

“I actually want to interview you,” Fan Ningyue sighed. “Why do you like zombies so much?”

“Zombies are better than humans. They’re straightforward, honest, and most importantly, there’s no scheming. Much easier,” An Muning said with a smile. “Living with zombies is a lot more relaxing than living with people.”

“…I don’t think so.”

“Spend a few more years living with zombies like I did, and you’ll understand,” he said, patting her shoulder. “Go take a shower. You smell like fish.”

Fan Ningyue sniffed herself and awkwardly patted her sleeve. “I’ll borrow your villa’s bathroom.”