Chapter 6

He waited a while.

A Qing just said: "Brother, I..."

The rod tip dipped.

The fishing line was taut.

The reel let out line.

"I... I got a fish!"

"Yeah!"

"Brother, you're truly amazing."

"This luck is unbeatable; wherever you point, you catch a fish."

He shouted excitedly, quickly reeled in, and soon pulled up a Stone Nine Public; though palm-sized, it at least broke the duck.

He smugly called out to Lin Hu: "We're even now."

Lin Hu raised his middle finger.

Wu An also pulled up a sea bass, not very big; without using a scoop net, it flew straight onto the rocks; without A Qing's help, he fumbled to remove the hook, put the fish in the tackle box, and then baited with rotten shrimp.

The dead fish and rotten shrimp they'd gotten from Lin Hu and the other guy were clearly running low; they estimated they could last until the luck value ran out.

He baited with rotten shrimp, and A Qing had just finished preparing too.

They cast their rods at the same time.

Unsurprisingly, Wu An hooked a fish first.

The fish wasn't large; he had thought he'd caught a Stone Nine Public, but when it came up he saw it was actually a small grouper, weighing about a catty.

A Qing then pulled up a sea bass; seeing the grouper, he exclaimed, "Wow, it's a grouper! This fish is worth money."

"Brother, your luck is still better."

Wu An smiled; in his previous life working away from home, his memory of the local fish had grown fuzzy, but he remembered this grouper clearly.

Why?

Because in his previous life working as a waiter in a restaurant, the most expensive dish was steamed grouper.

Sometimes when customers asked, he also had to explain, e. g., that grouper strengthens the spleen, boosts qi, etc., is low-fat, high-protein, and nutritionally rich.

Its flesh is tender, delicate, and white, similar to chicken, earning it nicknames like 'sea chicken' and 'top-grade delicacy.'

He removed the hook, placed the fish in the tackle box, and noticed the luck value had dropped a bit; it seemed that catching higher-value sea fish caused the luck value to decrease faster.

They both baited with rotten shrimp at the same time.

A Qing shouted, "I feel like we're about to get consecutive hits; let's compete to see who hooks a fish first."

Wu An smiled and nodded in agreement.

The two next door remained completely still.

Our rods show no movement, yet those two are competing to see who hooks a fish first—how annoying, how annoying!

Why don't we change our position?

I already changed it.

Those two must be benefiting from the Newbie Halo.

While they were talking, Wu An and A Qing almost simultaneously hooked a fish, both pulling up black bream; after pulling his up, A Qing compared them slightly: "Brother, yours is still a bit bigger."

They chatted happily, and as soon as they dropped the line they hooked a fish—what could be better than this?

They consecutively pulled up sea bass and black bream; Wu An glanced and saw that both of their rods had only a sliver of luck value left.

A Qing tossed the fish into the tackle box and shouted, "Brother, the tackle box is almost full!"

Wu An said, "That's not bad."

This box of fish could sell for at least six or seven hundred yuan.

"Really?" A Qing, just about to bait the hook with rotten shrimp, heard this and, shocked, lifted his head: "Can it really sell for that much?"

It's 2012 now; if Wu An remembers correctly, doing odd jobs at the dock he could earn at most a little over a thousand yuan a month, and working in the county or city would be a little over two thousand a month.

Of course.

Wu An said with a smile: "This is a whole tackle box of fish; if you don't believe me, ask Lin Hu and Lin Bin."

Lin Hu and Lin Bin, without waiting for his question, simply turned their backs.

A Qing chuckled: "Then, brother, you say we sell these fish for money and buy a few sets of fishing rods—how about that?"

Let's learn from Lin Hu and Lin Bin.

If we come fishing every day and our luck stays this good, the villagers will surely look up to us.

Wu An, surprised: "You really think that?"

A Qing nodded: "Yeah."

Actually... my mom... has never let me play with you, saying you'll lead me astray.

If we can make money from fishing, my mom definitely won't stop me from hanging out with you.

Wu An said: "Good."

Then let's make something of ourselves.

Earn big money, live a good life.

Let the villagers look up to us, and let our family be proud of us.

A Qing nodded firmly.

Before they could get sentimental, they hooked another fish.

They reeled in together; Wu An caught a sea bass, A Qing a black bream.

The luck value was still just one point.

Wu An estimated that after catching one more fish, his luck value would drop.

He then looked and saw only one rotten shrimp left in the bucket; he asked Lin Hu and Lin Bin for it, but they ignored him.

No way.

Wu An gave the rotten shrimp to A Qing.

Following the principle of trying his luck with the last attempt, Wu An gritted his teeth, hooked a small Stone Nine Public, cast it far into the sea; the biggest Black Bream he had ever caught was the one he threw far.

A Qing asked, "Can this catch a fish?"

Wu An shook his head.

He didn't know either, but he trusted the system; on the other hand, he recalled that in his past life there had been fishing enthusiasts who had caught huge creatures here, and since others could do it, he was sure he could as well.

Time passed minute by minute.

A Qing had already hooked a fish, yet he remained still; the line on his reel had been let out quite a bit, and the small Stone Nine Public was still swimming farther out to sea.

Lin Hu and Lin Bin were also secretly paying attention, muttering quietly.

"Wu Erzi is trying to catch a huge creature."

"It's practically laughable, using a Stone Nine Public to catch a huge creature—truly one idea after another; indeed, the ignorant are fearless."

"Never mind them, what's going on with us? We still haven't had any bite."

"It's fine; once they run out of bait they'll have to leave, then we'll go over there to fish; they can catch fish with linked rods, so we can definitely do it too."

……

In the sea, a big fish was swimming near the seabed; it encountered a clueless small fish, opened its mouth and ate it without a second thought; suddenly, a small Stone Nine Public appeared in its line of sight.

It wanted to eat it.

The big fish actively approached.

Upon reaching it, it took a big bite.

As soon as it swallowed it, the big fish sensed something was wrong and darted toward the reef area on the seabed.

On the sea surface.

The fishing line suddenly shot outward, the rod tip bent down, Wu An felt the pull and immediately lifted the rod; the huge force forced his upper body to lean forward.

A Qing noticed and gave him a sharp pull, steadying him; if the fish had dragged him into the sea and he fell from the rocks, below would be raging waves and jagged rocks, the consequences unthinkable.

Lin Hu and Lin Bin stared wide-eyed: "Holy shit, did we hook a big one?"

"Did we really catch a huge creature?"

"What luck, this is utterly unscientific!"

The two were somewhat exasperated and angry.

"It's a big fish!"

Wu An shouted urgently, hastily reeling in; the line wheel squeaked, the rod tip was already pressed close to the rock wall; after less than a minute of tugging, the fishing rod snapped.

Wu An was dumbfounded.

But fortunately, the fishing line hadn't broken.

A Qing looked tense, not daring to breathe, afraid of disturbing Wu An and also afraid that too much noise would shake the line and break it.

After great effort, they had hooked a big fish.

If it got away, they'd be so angry they'd wake up fuming at night.