The Fifteen-Year-Old Angler

Yu Hai had only managed to save a thumb-sized piece of bait and did not feed any more to it. That cast had been his final, desperate gamble.

When he cast the bait, he saw Poliwag become utterly captivated by the bait on the fishhook. Its large black eyes were fixed entirely on it, ready to leap into the water after it and snatch a bite.

To keep Poliwag from causing trouble, Yu Hai swiftly grabbed the Poliwag that had jumped up without a second thought, preventing it from diving into the water and ruining his bait.

After being caught, Poliwag turned back in confusion and curiously examined Yu Hai, wondering why this human was holding it.

Yu Hai also realized that what he was holding was a hot potato. Before Poliwag could Bite him, he hurriedly set it down.

He awkwardly rubbed his nose and explained to Poliwag why it could not eat the bait. He had no idea whether Poliwag could understand him, but he hoped it could.

"Poliwag, you can't eat that. I'm using it to catch fish..."

"Yoh? Yoh!" Poliwag blinked its bright eyes and tilted its head, looking as though it only half understood. This human seemed rather strange.

Still, this human was pretty nice. Since he said it could not eat it, then it would not.

When Yu Hai saw that Poliwag had settled down and was still squatting by his feet, with no intention of going back into the water, he waited patiently for a fish to bite.

He did not know whether his bait was not acclimated to the local conditions, but after fishing for two days, he had not even seen a single scale. There was no way it only attracted a little glutton like Poliwag.

Whether he could catch a fish on this final cast depended on whether heaven would provide. Otherwise, his two days and one night without sleep would have been for nothing, and he had only managed to grind his fishing proficiency to 9.99%.

If he won the gamble, he would have a hearty meal.

If he lost, he would starve until tomorrow and figure something out then.

Unless he had no other choice, he would not explore the Primeval Forest behind him. That would be no different from rushing toward an early death. He only wanted to live; he did not want to die yet.

Judging by the current situation, heaven was indeed providing. That Wishiwashi was the result of his last desperate attempt.

After catching the fish, his fishing proficiency had also broken through to ten.

He looked at the Proficiency Panel again. The nine was gone, replaced by ten.

[Proficiency: (Fishing/10%)]

"Poliwag, that's enough. Stop slapping it," Yu Hai hurriedly stepped forward to stop Poliwag, afraid that if it kept going, it would slap Wishiwashi to pieces.

He had not expected this Poliwag to be so sensible. That assist had been excellent. He silently gave Poliwag a thumbs-up.

"Yohu, yohu." After stopping, Poliwag panted heavily. It had only used one Chain Slap, yet it was already exhausted.

It could not be helped. It was probably starving. One human and one tadpole really were birds of a feather, both hungry to that extent. They had truly become acquainted through hunger.

When he reached Wishiwashi and crouched down to inspect it, he found that it had merely fainted. That did not stop it from being roasted.

He picked up the unconscious Wishiwashi from the ground, preparing to start a fire and roast it.

But after looking around, he suddenly realized—how the hell was he supposed to roast fish without fire? Frustrated, he tossed the fish back onto the beach and wanted to smoke a Huazi to calm down.

Click—

As a flame rose from the lighter and lit the cigarette at his lips, he belatedly realized that this was fire.

He had been so caught up in fishing that he had forgotten. He had spent the entire day thinking about how to get fish and had not expected his lighter to have come through with him too.

Under the moonlight, he gathered broken Wooden Boards from the beach and made a fire.

This was the seaside, where the temperature difference between day and night was considerable. The sea breeze at night was still quite cold.

After lighting the campfire, he removed the Folding Knife from his keychain and held it in his hand as he looked at the unconscious Wishiwashi.

There were no humans here. A deserted island was a world that ate people. If he did not eat, he would starve to death or be eaten by carnivorous Pokémon.

He knew the fish before him was a Pokémon, but he was sorry. He wanted to live—live long enough to leave this Deserted Island and experience this dazzling, wonderful world.

If one day he failed to leave the Deserted Island alive and was eaten instead, he would accept his fate.

But he had already made up his mind. On this man-eating Deserted Island, he would fight his way into a place of his own and leave it alive.

Either be eaten, or become strong. There was no third choice.

The Folding Knife sliced lightly through the fish. He gutted it, scaled it, cleaned it thoroughly, then ran a stick through it from head to tail and set it over the fire to roast.

Only once it sizzled with dripping oil did he bring the fish close and sniff it. This was the first time in two days that he had smelled the aroma of food.

His appetite was immediately stirred. Saliva kept filling his mouth and could not help but trickle from the corner of his lips. He could no longer wait to enjoy the gourmet food.

Just as he was about to bite into the fish on the stick, Poliwag beside him stared at him with its black eyes brimming with tears. He could only swallow hard, too embarrassed to take a bite.

The little guy had contributed quite a lot too. Should he share some with it? Yu Hai thought.

But then he shook his head. The little glutton had already eaten his bait, so it probably was not that hungry. He could share the next fish with it instead.

He turned his face away and ignored Poliwag's pleading gaze. Out of sight, out of mind.

His own survival had to come first. There was no question about that.

If he himself was about to starve to death, yet still went around helping others—

All he could say was that such people were great, and he would not be stingy with his praise. But he would not become one of them.

More than twenty years of life experience in his previous life had taught him one thing: he needed to learn to be a cold-hearted person. It would save him a great deal of trouble.

Of course, nothing was absolute. When it was within his abilities, he would help others too, but he would never leave his name behind. That was his principle.

When Yu Hai turned away and took his first bite of fish, the image that came to mind was Poliwag's teary, pleading eyes. It lingered in his mind and would not go away.

It even made the fish in the mouth of someone who had been hungry for two days taste less appealing.

Crack—

In the end, he still softened. He snapped the branch in half, split the fish in two, and tossed the head portion to Poliwag.

When Poliwag saw the grilled fish Yu Hai had thrown over, it leaped up happily and caught the fish head in one bite. It chewed the flesh in huge mouthfuls, making delighted cries at the delicious taste. "Yoh yoh, yoh yoh..."

For one starving human and one starving tadpole, this fish was nowhere near enough. Still, it could at least fill their stomachs a little and keep hunger from making their stomachs ache.

After finishing the grilled fish, Yu Hai added more firewood to the campfire. He had gathered this firewood nearby, and it should be enough to burn until dawn.

The temperature difference between day and night at the seaside was huge. Without this campfire, he would probably freeze to death.

And after the grilled fish he had just eaten, he was terribly thirsty too. His throat felt like it was about to smoke.

Even though he was dying of thirst, he could only endure it. It was best not to wander around recklessly in the Pokémon World at night. People could die.

With his hands behind his head, he endured the dryness in his throat and leaned back against the massive boulder behind him. He stared blankly at the campfire, pondering how to survive on this uninhabited Deserted Island.

Rather than wait for some vague, illusory rescue, he should find a way to survive on this island.

Desert Island Survival in his previous life had not been an outdoor activity ordinary people could handle, let alone Desert Island Survival in the Pokémon World. The difficulty was not even on the same level. He was no professional survival expert, just an angler.

Still, he had the Proficiency Panel. That was an advantage. If the Proficiency Panel could also work on Pokémon...

When he had held Poliwag earlier, the Proficiency Panel had shown no reaction. He was probably still missing something.

"Right, a Poké Ball." Yu Hai thought of the predecessor to the Proficiency Panel, that improper Pokémon game. It displayed every stat of a Pokémon clearly. If it worked on the Pokémon in this world too, that would be interesting.

But he did not have a Poké Ball, so he could not verify his idea.

On this uninhabited Deserted Island, let alone Poké Balls, there were not even any people.

If he were in a city with people, he could at least take odd jobs and buy a Poké Ball. But he had no such opportunity.

Besides, he was an undocumented person with no identity at all. He would be lucky if slave traders did not capture him.

After coming to this world, even his age had become ten years younger.

He had returned to that unbearable fifteen years old. He was still a youngster...

If readers spot any issues with this book, feel free to point them out. I will read every comment.

Readers often argue about the lighter and the first two days after transmigration. The beginning of the book said he was night fishing, so the first day was definitely incomplete and only included the night. Yet many readers insist on treating it as a full day. I'm speechless. Was the hint about night fishing not clear enough?

Since he transmigrated at night, it was pitch-black and he could not see anything. He simply did not dare run around recklessly...

You can flip over even at home when you cannot see at night, let alone in the wilderness.

There is also the issue of the protagonist forgetting the lighter. While that is rare, it does happen. It is perfectly normal, right? He did not dare wander around at night, had no dry firewood, and did not dare start a fire. Once dawn came, the sun would warm him up, so he would not need fire either.

Then he got so focused on fishing that he forgot about it. He only remembered after catching a fish and wanting to roast it. Not eating it raw is a completely normal reaction for a normal person, right?