Chapter 219: There’s No Jelly at the Bottom of the Sea
Chapter 219: Chapter 219: There’s No Jelly at the Bottom of the Sea
"Open sesame!"
Lu Wu shouted, opening her Grotto Heaven and letting out some of the demon beasts that were still awake.
There might not be any people, but she had beasts.
Why wouldn’t selling cotton candy to demon beasts count as selling?
’Hehehe, mission progress, here I come.’
It was a beautiful dream.
Lu Wu bustled about for a full hour, finally managing to give every demon beast a piece of cotton candy. Seeing their blissful faces, Lu Wu then looked at her progress bar, which hadn’t changed at all. She felt completely numb.
’The system actually wouldn’t let me exploit a loophole.’
’The audacity!’
Lu Wu pulled the sticky cotton candy strands from her hair, forcing the corners of her mouth into a smile to reciprocate the demon beasts’ enthusiasm.
Stretching her sore limbs, Lu Wu sat down on the beach, on the verge of bitter tears, and struck a pensive pose.
’Exhausted.’
After a long sigh, seeing that there was still a lot of time before her stall-tending for the day was over, Lu Wu, with no form of entertainment, started browsing through her inventory.
A golden fishing rod appeared in Lu Wu’s palm.
She’d gotten this thing from a lottery draw after the Rabbit Head mission. She had scorned it before, but now...
’Who said this fishing rod was useless? This fishing rod is a godsend!’
’Just look at how considerate the system is. It anticipated this part of my mission and gave me a fishing rod so I could enjoy fishing on this vast ocean.’
’This will be the first step in the rise of an ocean tycoon.’
After weighing the fishing rod in her hand a few times, Lu Wu cast the line straight into the sea.
The hook sank.
"Woof?"
Gou Aotian lay beside Lu Wu, his tail sweeping across the back of her foot as he let out a questioning sound.
He remembered that humans needed to put bait on the hook when they fished. Why was his master fishing with a bare hook?
"Dahuang, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was an old man with a white beard named Jiang Taigong. He loved to fish..."
Lu Wu told Dahuang the story of Jiang Taigong fishing. Of course, she didn’t remember some of the details, but never mind that.
But Lu Wu still managed to clearly convey the meaning of "the willing will take the bait."
It clicked for Gou Aotian. This was the advanced realm of master anglers.
Just trying to kill time out of boredom, Lu Wu held the fishing rod in one hand, tilted her head back to look at the countless stars, and zoned out.
She had no expectation of any fish taking the bait.
Lu Wu sat alone on the beach, a bleak and desolate figure from behind.
’Ah, life. A loneliness like snow.’
"Squeak squeak."
The little squirrel tilted its head and watched for a moment, then, unable to bear it, came to Lu Wu’s side and offered her half a piece of cotton candy as a comfort.
"You eat it."
Petting the fluffy creature, Lu Wu’s attention was actually on the system’s backend interface.
The stall-tending timer was counting down there.
[10...9...8...]
In the last few seconds, Lu Wu stood up, ready to reel in her line and then pack up the stall.
She’d gotten a big fat zero on her first day of business, and she didn’t want to tend this stall for a second longer.
Just then, on the sea surface rippling in the night wind, the ripples began to spread and grow larger.
The golden fishing rod in Lu Wu’s hand suddenly dipped.
The force was so strong it nearly ripped the rod from Lu Wu’s grasp.
"WOOF WOOF WOOF!"
A fish was on!
Dahuang barked excitedly, leaped up to bite the fishing rod, and began to pull.
’A stupid fish actually took the bait?’
Lu Wu snapped back to reality. She concealed the surprise on her face and started pulling with Dahuang.
"Heave, ho! Heave, ho!"
Lu Wu tugged on the rod and started reeling in the line, discovering that the stupid fish below was quite heavy. ’Could it be a big one?’
’I heard that beginner anglers have a 100% catch rate.’
’The newbie buff is working.’
Lu Wu decided to just use her Spiritual Power. But as the Spiritual Power flowed into the fishing rod, the stupid fish under the sea suddenly thrashed its tail like a Divine Dragon. The force was so great that Lu Wu staggered and nearly fell.
As she poured in more Spiritual Power, Lu Wu began to suspect she had hooked a great white shark.
’Why is it so heavy?’
"Heh!"
The silly little fish still wanted to resist? Now Lu Wu was getting fired up.
She withdrew her Spiritual Power and started a tug-of-war using only her physical strength.
"Someone help! No, somebeast help!"
’One person isn’t enough, but I have plenty of beasts!’
Answering Lu Wu’s summons, the demon beasts all ran over. Some bit onto Lu Wu’s clothes, while others wrapped their tails around the fishing rod and began to pull.
On Lu Wu’s orders, none of the demon beasts used Spiritual Power, only their pure physical strength.
But there were just too many beasts.
Besides, demon beasts were naturally much stronger than humans.
The many bullying the few, a human leveraging her beasts’ power, a master feigning might through her minions...
SWOOSH!
After another round of tug-of-war, the force from under the sea suddenly vanished. Something flew up from the depths, broke the surface of the water, and landed with a thud beside Lu Wu.
In short, after Lu Wu’s arduous efforts, the scales of victory tipped completely in her favor. The little tug-of-war competition was won.
Lu Wu hummed smugly.
"ROAR!"
The pack of beasts roared; they were cheering for Lu Wu’s victory.
The sound shook the high heavens.
On a distant island, Ye Chi, hidden beneath the sand, heard the roars of the demon beasts and shrank back even further.
’So scary.’
"Chirp chirp?"
Huohuo flew down from Lu Wu’s shoulder and circled the prize, letting out a questioning chirp.
’What is this thing?’
And that was a question Lu Wu wanted to ask as well.
She had thought she’d landed a big haul, a great white shark even, but it turned out not to be a fish at all.
No, it wasn’t even a living creature.
All she saw was a red, palm-sized stone lying on the beach, its weight causing the sand beneath it to sink.
The stone’s surface was flawless, with a high gloss, as magnificent as a gemstone.
’Very pretty.’
Lu Wu crouched down and poked it with her finger.
No reaction.
She was contemplating a serious question.
’This stone, with no mouth, no arms, and no legs—how did it bite the hook?’
’Or could it be that my fishing rod can catch anything and everything in the universe?’
’Whoops, wrong genre.’
Lu Wu prodded the stone a few more times with her hand. It was heavy.
Seeing no danger, Lu Wu picked it up. At first, it felt no different from an ordinary stone—cold to the touch, just with a much smoother surface.
But, whether it was an illusion or not, she felt the thing starting to warm up, and its texture was changing too.
It was getting soft.
In the blink of an eye, the stone seemed to melt, becoming a puddle in Lu Wu’s palm.
’A slime transformation?’
"Ew!"
Lu Wu threw the thing onto the ground.
Upon hitting the beach again, it actually bounced a few times. It was very springy, much like a piece of red jelly.
"Meow."
’Can I eat it?’
Mimi stared at the soft thing and let out a questioning sound.
It could only be said: like master, like beast.
"I don’t think this thing would taste very good."
Lu Wu mused for a moment before making her judgment. After all, you might find SpongeBob under the sea, but not jelly.
"..."
"Shouldn’t you be saying it’s inedible?"
A voice suddenly popped into Lu Wu’s mind. It was clear and crisp, but childish, like a little brat’s.
"You’re the little brat! Your whole family is full of little brats!"
The childish voice flew into a rage.
"You can read minds?"
Lu Wu’s eyes lit up. ’What a treasure! Maybe I should lock it up and sell it when I get back?’