I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 286: Chapter 186: A Long-Awaited Big Fish at the Shop Entrance

The sea is full of fish. If one gets away, I can always wait for another chance. If not today, then tomorrow. But I only have one life, and that’s what truly matters.

He surfaced to catch his breath. After taking a few deep, steadying breaths, Gu Nan took one last gulp of air, held it, and plunged back into the water.

After doing this three times, his descent speed had noticeably improved, mostly because his movements had grown much more practiced.

Gu Nan picked the entire patch of sea urchins below him clean, transferring them all into the aquarium.

Next, he set his sights on the "little coffins," which were more valuable than the sea urchins.

The "little coffins" were none other than a top-grade bivalve, the pen shell.

Pen shells aren’t particularly famous; folks who don’t know much about seafood would have no idea what they are!

The large adductor muscles served in restaurants are almost always from pen shells.

The adductor muscle of this thing is top-tier—big, delicious, and a single bite is utterly satisfying.

These creatures are usually found along the coast, living in the intertidal zone or in reef areas at depths of around twenty meters.

Pen shells stand upright in the water, their narrow ends anchored in the sand, allowing them to grow larger over time.

They typically grow in patches. If you find one, you’re bound to find a dense cluster of them.

But wild ones are rare these days. You could dive every day and still not find any. Gu Nan hadn’t expected there to be so many in the beachcombing map. ’Looks like choosing to dive today was the right call,’ he thought.

He went down, grabbed a pen shell, and with a forceful snap, broke it off at the base and put it in his mesh bag.

This one was thirty centimeters long, and some were even a bit larger.

The produce from the game map had one major advantage: it was huge. Even the smallest specimens would be considered large at the market.

Gu Nan was having a blast snapping them off, but he couldn’t hold his breath for very long, and harvesting the pen shells was a bit more troublesome. In the same amount of time, he certainly couldn’t gather as many as he had with the sea urchins.

After seven or eight dives back and forth, he finally cleared out the small patch of pen shells on the seafloor.

But that wasn’t a huge problem. This vast reef area was almost entirely covered in pen shells and sea urchins. While there were also many fish, sea snails, and other bivalves, their numbers were nowhere near comparable.

Thus, Gu Nan only bothered to toss other sea snails and scallops into his mesh bag when they were convenient. His primary targets were still the sea urchins and pen shells.

These two items were a guaranteed sell. The demand for sea urchins alone from hotels, Japanese restaurants, and high-end seafood buffets was massive.

Likewise, pen shells were always a hot seller at hotels, but wild ones were becoming scarce.

After who knows how long, the sea urchins and pen shells inside the aquarium had piled into small mountains.

Gu Nan felt that was about enough. Just as he was wondering if he should rent a speargun and try some spearfishing, a notification suddenly popped up from the game.

[Ding! Host’s Spirit is detected to be extremely fatigued. Please exit the game and rest. Note: You will be forcibly logged out in ten minutes.]

’Wait, what? Is my time up already?’

Gu Nan was a little disappointed. Diving in the game felt exactly the same as in real life, right down to the exhaustion.

He was indeed quite tired at the moment, but after reaching a certain level of exhaustion, the fatigue would cap out. This was where the game differed from reality—he wouldn’t pass out from exhaustion, but would instead be warned by the game and eventually kicked out.

But this time, when Gu Nan exited the beachcombing map, he didn’t just black out and fall into a deep sleep as he usually did.

Though his Spirit was utterly exhausted, he only let out a yawn upon returning to reality. He could still manage.

He first checked the beachcombing map. The resource bar in the top-right corner, which had been at 87%, had dropped to 76% after his plundering tonight.

It had dropped by less than last time, but not by much.

The main reason was that last time he had caught a lot of crabs, and they were easy to get. This time, there were also plenty of sea urchins, but he had spent most of his time on the Clam Kings and pen shells.

’Looks like the game map will close after two more sessions,’ he thought. ’What a shame.’

Then, Gu Nan closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He woke up a little after five in the morning, feeling not the least bit groggy. He was far more refreshed than he would be after a normal night’s sleep.

He got up and stretched, his body letting out a series of pops and cracks.

Gu Nan got up, washed his face, and then drove out to Yi Chen’s place.

Carrying breakfast, he arrived at his girlfriend’s house to find the door already open. Zhao Chunlan was in the living room, apparently about to head to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Gu Nan walked in with the breakfast he’d bought. "Grandma, good morning."

"Ah Nan, you’re here so early!" Zhao Chunlan was a bit surprised to see him so early today, but her face still broke into a kind smile.

"Yeah, I went to bed early last night, so I bought breakfast for you and Chenchen. This is pumpkin congee and some side dishes from that shop you like, Grandma."

Gu Nan placed the breakfast on the table and took out the portion he’d bought for Zhao Chunlan, opening it for her.

He had learned a bit about the grandmother’s tastes from Yi Chen. She didn’t cook her own breakfast every day; in fact, she quite enjoyed going out for congee and a chat.

There was a well-established, time-honored shop nearby that had been open for over twenty years, and that’s exactly where Gu Nan had bought breakfast.

Zhao Chunlan didn’t say anything about him spending too much money, simply accepting her future grandson-in-law’s kind gesture with a happy smile.

She had a rough idea of Gu Nan’s income, so she wasn’t going to make a fuss. If he only earned a few thousand a month, she would have insisted he save his money for the younger generation’s sake.

"Chenchen is probably still sleeping in. You should hurry on up!"

"You got it!"

Having received the "imperial edict," Gu Nan’s eyes lit up. He immediately dashed upstairs and arrived at Yi Chen’s bedroom door.

With only her grandma at home, Yi Chen had no reason to lock her bedroom door when she slept. Plus, Gu Nan didn’t usually launch sneak attacks this early in the morning, so she was completely unguarded.

Watching Gu Nan bound up the stairs, Zhao Chunlan had a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

The elderly woman was quite open to modern ways of thinking and didn’t cling to the old-fashioned ideas of her generation.

She didn’t mind the two youngsters becoming intimate, especially now that their families were discussing marriage.

In fact, she was even hoping Gu Nan would "work hard" so she could hold her great-grandchild sooner.

Of course, this change of heart had come after the parents from both sides had met. Before that, she would never have let Gu Nan go up to Yi Chen’s room before she was even awake.

Gu Nan carefully opened the bedroom door. It was very dark inside, and the air conditioning was still running.

He was half an hour earlier than usual today, so Yi Chen’s alarm hadn’t gone off yet. Naturally, she was still sound asleep.

She was lying on her side, hugging a human-sized stuffed doll and sleeping soundly.

Her body was covered by the comforter, revealing none of her alluring charms.

Gu Nan pondered for a moment. ’How should I wake her up?’

’I think there’s a stainless steel basin downstairs. Maybe I could bring it up here and bang on it?’

’Or maybe play some creepy, unsettling music?’

’It’s a shame it’s not the middle of winter, or I could just throw open the window and yank away her comforter. That would be awesome.’

Looking at Yi Chen’s peaceful, innocent sleeping face, Gu Nan ultimately decided against his schemes.

’My girlfriend is so pretty and sweet,’ he thought. ’She should be cherished and protected. Better to save those tricks for An Jun when I get the chance.’

「At that moment」 An Jun, who was sleeping at home, suddenly sneezed three times in a row in his dream.

"...Which son of a bitch is scheming against me?"

He woke up groggily, mumbled a complaint, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Yi Chen was in the middle of a dream, practicing her diving. For some reason, she suddenly found her body had become incredibly heavy. Panicked, she struggled to swim toward the surface, but she couldn’t seem to ascend at all.

The oxygen in her lungs was quickly depleted. Hypoxia made her dizzy, and her body grew weaker and weaker.

Yi Chen desperately paddled her arms, trying to get back to the surface for air. She hoped Gu Nan, who wasn’t far away, would notice something was wrong and come save her.

"Help!"

Yi Chen’s eyes flew open, only to find Gu Nan squatting by her bed with a wicked grin, pinching her nose.

Her body reacted instinctively, her mouth falling open as she gasped for air, puffing warm breaths onto Gu Nan’s hand.

Dazed for two seconds, she suddenly understood what was happening. Annoyed, she reached out and slapped away the culprit’s hand from her nose.

She had been wondering why she had suddenly started drowning in her dream when she was swimming along just fine. So, it was all his fault.

"What are you doing here so early?" Yi Chen propped herself up with her hands, sitting up against the headboard.

The comforter slipped down. Her modest, but now rumpled, spaghetti-strap nightgown with a cartoon print couldn’t completely hide her alluring figure. Never mind her deep "career ambition"—even part of the blue bra supporting it was exposed.

Gu Nan couldn’t help but pinch his nose; he felt an itch coming on.

This was the first time he had seen Yi Chen’s figure so... directly. It was simply amazing.

Confused, Yi Chen followed his gaze downward. The next moment, she let out a little shriek and quickly pulled the comforter up to cover herself. Then, pointing at the door with an adorably fierce pout, she ordered, "You, get out!"

"Right away, right away!" Gu Nan chuckled as he went to the door and shut it, making sure it was closed properly. It wouldn’t be good if the commotion upstairs got too loud and her grandma heard.

As he closed the door, Yi Chen’s adorably fierce expression slowly melted into shy alarm and apprehension. "D-don’t you try anything funny! Grandma is still downstairs!"

"I’m not trying anything funny, but who told you to be so tempting!" Gu Nan walked over with a grin and pounced on her. The bed let out a strained SQUEAK.

"Don’t... I haven’t brushed my teeth yet!"

"Then I’ll find another spot!"

"Sob, sob... You’re bullying me!"

A little after six o’clock, Gu Nan and Yi Chen finally arrived at the shop. The doors opened, and a short while later, the tricycle parked at the entrance was once again laden with large fish—a long-awaited sight.