As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up

Chapter 118: Chapter 115: 2% Chance of Temptation to Trigger [Request for Monthly Tickets]

After a shower at home, Chu Mingcheng was still at the entrance of the scenic area, trying to hawk his goods.

But today, the sales were slower mainly because the fish were too big, and there weren’t enough tourists to eat such a large fish.

In half an hour, he had only sold two Red Friend Fish weighing over two pounds each.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng decided to check out the Seafood Restaurant recommended by Uncle Wei to see if he could sell there.

As for the group chat, he decided to forget about it for today since there were no special fish, and it wasn’t possible to sell off the Xisha stock in just a few days; it would have to wait for some time.

Afterward, he drove to a Seafood Restaurant.

The waiter greeted Chu Mingcheng as he entered, immediately approaching him, “Hello, welcome, how many are you?”

“Hello, is your manager or boss around? I have some fish to sell, could you please check if you’re interested?” Chu Mingcheng politely stated his purpose.

The waiter was slightly surprised to see that he was there to sell fish.

Working as a waiter at the Seafood Restaurant, he occasionally encountered fishmongers trying to sell their catch, but those were usually middle-aged people. It was the first time he had seen someone as handsome as Chu Mingcheng doing so.

“Can I take a look at your fish first?” the waiter asked, having dealt with a few fishmongers before and gained some experience.

Their restaurant didn’t buy just any seafood; if the quality was poor, he could reject it right away. Otherwise, bothering the manager or boss for every vendor could get him a scolding.

“Of course,” said Chu Mingcheng and led the waiter to the trunk of his car, opening it to show his catch.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ƝονǤ0.сο

“Whoa, these fish are pretty big!” the waiter exclaimed. Wild fish weighing around ten pounds were uncommon in their restaurant, and displaying them would be quite eye-catching.

At this point, he noticed the wounds on the fish where they had been pierced by arrows and asked, puzzled, “Brother, what’s up with these wounds on the fish?”

“Oh, I caught these fish using a spear gun,” Chu Mingcheng explained.

“Spear gun?”

Not everyone was familiar with free-diving spearfishing, so the waiter hesitated before asking, “Is that… legal?”

Chu Mingcheng blinked. Directly asking whether something was legal—it was a bit too upfront, wasn’t it?

Even if he was suspicious, shouldn’t he check privately or ask the boss?

But looking at the waiter’s young face, it was normal for him to lack worldly sophistication.

“I do free-diving spearfishing. I have a special spearfishing license; it’s legal,” Chu Mingcheng explained and took out his license from the car to show him.

After seeing the spearfishing license, the waiter smiled again, “I didn’t mean to doubt you; I was just a bit concerned. I could get in trouble if I bring problems to the restaurant.”

“I understand; it’s good to be cautious,” Chu Mingcheng nodded. “Can you call your manager over now?”

“Sure, just a moment; I’ll go call him right away.” The waiter handed the license back and hurriedly went inside to fetch someone.

Chu Mingcheng shook his head with a smile as if he saw a younger version of himself.

After a while, the waiter returned with a man and woman.

He said to the man, “Boss, it’s this brother here who’s selling fish.”

After leading the way, he went back inside to tend to his duties.

“Hello, handsome, did you catch these fish by yourself?”

The middle-aged boss seemed quite interested as he examined the fish and noticed the spear gun in the trunk.

“Yes, I caught them this morning. I had too many, so I decided to sell some,” Chu Mingcheng replied.

“They all look really fresh. Are you here for fun, or are you settled in this area?” asked the middle-aged boss, which gave Chu Mingcheng an inkling of what he was getting at: “I’m settled here. I go out for fishing or spearfishing whenever the sea conditions are good.”

He clarified his work but didn’t discuss a partnership.

In this way, if the price wasn’t right, he could walk away without letting these shrewd business owners ruin his mood by haggling too much.

The middle-aged boss kept picking through the fish without mentioning any partnership.

Realizing what Chu Mingcheng was implying and factoring in the high competition and scarcity of fresh, large, wild fish, the boss relented.

“Handsome, if the fish you bring are always of this quality, we could actually consider a long-term partnership. I won’t shortchange you on the price. As long as you can supply this much fresh, large fish each time, I’ll pay the market rate,” he offered.

“Of course, for some rare, large fish, we can negotiate a different price. But if the fish are too small, I can’t offer a high price here,” he added.

“Sure, if it’s suitable, I’ll bring it here,” Chu Mingcheng nodded, agreeing to the arrangement.

Unreliable partnerships were best; if they dared to lower the price, he would dare to sell to their competitors.

Once or twice didn’t matter, but over time, missing out on this income would be a loss! Even frequent appearances of big fish at other stores could affect his business.

When the middle-aged boss heard Chu Mingcheng’s agreement, he nodded and instructed the woman beside him to tally the fish and calculate the price, while he returned to the Seafood Restaurant.

He had come to the restaurant by chance today to dine with friends and had come down to check things out after hearing about the spearfishing.

Selling dozens to hundreds of pounds of high-quality fish would signify a decent income for his restaurant, especially if it turned into a long-term deal.

Chu Mingcheng quickly finished the tally. Fifty-eight pounds of fish sold for a total of 3,630 yuan.

In just three days, his savings had grown from twenty-five thousand to over forty-three thousand. According to this income, he could surpass fifty thousand in a day or two, and maybe even pay off his fishing boat loan before next year’s fishing ban.

After lunch, Chu Mingcheng pondered whether to go spearfishing in the reef area that afternoon.

Constant diving was quite inconvenient for him at the moment.

Sitting in the car, Chu Mingcheng was browsing on his phone when he thought of the Earth Dragon he had seen at the market, worth six hundred a pound—quite tempting.

Jiang Luoluo seemed to be planning to show off her cooking to her parents at the end of the year, and he also needed to showcase his skills. Quality ingredients were important!

The Pekin duck was easy to buy, but the Earth Dragon was hard to find. He should ask Uncle Wei where he might catch wild Earth Dragon.

“Grandpa, do you know where I can catch wild Earth Dragon?”

Wei Jiaguo was having lunch at home surrounded by several friends of similar age and a few younger relatives.

“Let me tell you guys, even though I’m already in my sixties, I’m still in good shape! That pike sure had some strength; at the start, it nearly pulled me into the lake. I reacted quickly and let out some line. It took me the whole afternoon to reel it in…”

Every now and then, he’d raise his glass to brag, recounting his battle with the pike from the previous afternoon without a shred of embarrassment for bamboozling us, his face so thick-skinned that even alcohol couldn’t bring out a flush.

This was the complete opposite of how Chu Mingcheng behaved when fishing.

Who would have thought the old man, usually quiet and a bit haughty, was actually an old rascal who loved to boast?

He was in the middle of his excited bragging when the notification sound of a text message interrupted him.

He picked up his phone to see it was from Chu Mingcheng, who was asking where he could find Earth Dragons.

Are these creatures something you can just go out and catch?

Wild Earth Dragons must be rare!

But no matter how rare, he couldn’t let someone else disrupt his flow, so he casually made up a location and continued… no, that’s not right, continued drinking.

When Chu Mingcheng searched for the address he’d been given and found it, he went silent; he ended up picking somewhere closer.

It was a vast tidal flat, where the mud exposed above the water guaranteed to swallow his entire lower leg if he stepped on it.

Actually, this spot wasn’t too far from the shipyard. Head further west and slightly southward, and you would reach the mouth of Jiulong River; still, it was some distance away.

Uncle Wei had told him that there were Earth Dragons to be found at the mouth of Jiulong River, although it was a bit far away, so he had come here to look around instead.

However, it only dawned on him after he arrived that these creatures were found in the earth, and seemingly, he had no suitable tools for digging!

But since he had already made the trip, it seemed a bit unsatisfying just to turn back.

So Chu Mingcheng rolled up his trouser legs and waded in anyway, figuring that pickling some mud snails could actually be quite tasty (ಥ_ಥ).

Besides, he could also improve the experience points of his High-quality Aquatic Products Atlas; he couldn’t go back empty-handed.

Stepping into the mud, he soon found some mud snails and scooped them into the plastic bag he had brought.

As he continued to search, trudging through the mud was proving to be rather difficult.

After struggling through about five or six meters, Chu Mingcheng noticed a round hole that looked a bit like a crab’s burrow.

He dug into the mud with his hands and, unexpectedly, really did unearth a small crab, but his High-quality Aquatic Products Atlas remained silent, evidently indicating it had no economic value.

He then moved to another spot and found another similar hole.

Knowing it was just another small crab burrow, his interest waned, and he instead picked up mud snails nearby.

What Chu Mingcheng had forgotten, though, was that the High-quality Aquatic Products Atlas had a fish gathering function, albeit with only a 2% chance of success.

Unlike with Tengxin company, where a 99.9% chance of winning a lottery is pretty much the same as zero, the Aquatic Products Atlas was reputable—the gathering function was successfully triggered at this moment.

Nearly two meters deep inside the hole, an Earth Dragon hiding inside sensed an incredibly strong attraction at the entrance of its burrow.

With its tiny brain capacity, it couldn’t understand why, but it simply followed its instincts and started to crawl toward the opening.

Chu Mingcheng was busy collecting mud snails when something moving in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Turning to look, he saw a sea eel crawling out of the hole, heading straight towards his foot.

Chu Mingcheng paused, silent for two seconds before suddenly grabbing the sea eel with his hand.

The eel was startled awake and immediately twisted its body, trying to escape.

Covered with a very slippery mucus, it was nearly impossible for Chu Mingcheng to hold on, and soon the eel slipped out of his grasp.

But his reaction was quick, and using both hands, he managed to hold on tightly.

The sea eel opened its mouth and spouted a mix of water and salt, soaking Chu Mingcheng’s trouser leg.

It was not much harm, but highly insulting!

However, its fate had been sealed the moment it left the burrow. Before it could slip from Chu Mingcheng’s hands, it was stuffed into the bag full of mud snails.

Afterward, he took a good look at the sea eel.

It was a pig-nosed, rouge-tailed Earth Dragon, also known as a crab-eating fangtooth moray.

Chu Mingcheng was puzzled as to why the Earth Dragon crawled out, so he checked his High-quality Atlas and instantly understood.

Gather Fish level 2, with a 2% chance to attract high-quality aquatic products within a 2-meter radius to voluntarily approach the host. [High-quality Aquatic Products Atlas (Level 2)]

[Current Experience: (21/300)]

[Usable Tools: Hands, Fishing Tools (hand tearable), Harpoons (including spears and lasso nets), Longline Hooks (locked)]

[Gather Fish (Level 2): High-quality aquatic products within the host’s vicinity meeting certain criteria have a 2% chance of being attracted, thus appearing within the host’s line of sight (they will still flee if startled by the host).]

[Affected Range: 2-meter radius] (Data update: replace cubic meters with radius for future reference; it’s easier to calculate.)

[Taste Bonus: +2%]

[Size Increase: +2%]

Standing in the mud, sinking his body down a few tens of centimeters, he just happened to encompass the Earth Dragon within this range of attraction.

“What a conscientious system indeed!”

All this time, Chu Mingcheng had believed the level of the Atlas was too low to be of any use, but he had just proven himself wrong!

This Earth Dragon wasn’t very heavy—probably just over a pound.

At six hundred yuan per pound, it was quite expensive, but for just a single eel, considering Chu Mingcheng’s current income, it wasn’t much.

But by now, he had lost interest in picking more mud snails and instead started searching for various holes, whether they were Earth Dragon burrows or not, he’d wait beside them for a minute.

A 2% trigger rate was very low, but what if luck struck again?