The Fifteen-Year-Old Angler

Yu Hai only managed to save a thumb-sized piece of bait and didn't continue feeding—that last cast had been his final desperate gamble.

As he cast the line, he saw the Poliwag's soul hooked by the bait on the fishhook, its big black eyes fixed entirely on the bait, ready to leap into the water with it to snatch the food.

To keep the Poliwag from causing trouble, Yu Hai's quick hands acted before his thoughts, reaching out to grab the jumping Poliwag, stopping it from plunging into the water and ruining his bait.

Once held, the Poliwag turned back in confusion, curiously sizing up this human, wondering why he was holding it.

Yu Hai also realized the thing in his hands was a hot potato; before the Poliwag could bite him, he hurriedly set it down.

He rubbed his nose awkwardly and explained to the Poliwag why it couldn't eat the bait, unsure if the Poliwag could understand, but hoping it would.

"Poliwag, you can't eat that—it's for fishing..."

"Yoh? Yoh!" The Poliwag blinked its bright eyes, tilted its head, and wore an expression of half-understanding, as if it found this human strange.

Still, this human wasn't bad. Since he said not to eat it, it wouldn't eat.

Seeing the Poliwag calm down and stay crouched by his feet without any intention of diving back in, Yu Hai waited peacefully for a fish to bite.

Whether it was because his bait didn't agree with the local waters, two days of fishing hadn't yielded so much as a nibble—no reason it should only attract a little foodie Poliwag.

Whether the last cast would catch a fish depended on whether the heavens were willing to throw him a meal; otherwise, two days and one night without sleep would be wasted, his fishing proficiency having only climbed to 9.99%.

Win the gamble, and he'd feast.

Lose, and he'd go hungry until tomorrow to figure something out.

Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't explore the Primeval Forest behind him—that would be like seeking an early death. He only wanted to live, not die.

As things stood, the heavens were generous; that Wishiwashi was the result of his final gamble.

After catching the fish, his fishing proficiency broke 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," Yu Hai hurried over to call the Poliwag off, afraid that if it kept going, it would smash the Wishiwashi to bits.

He hadn't expected this Poliwag to be so sensible; that assist was really something. He silently gave the Poliwag a thumbs-up.

"Yohoo, yohoo," the Poliwag panted heavily after stopping, exhausted from just one Chain Slap.

No help for it—probably starving. One human and one Poliwag really were birds of a feather, both hungry to that degree. Truly, hunger made them acquainted.

When he reached the Wishiwashi and crouched down to check its condition, he found it was just unconscious—nothing that would stop it from being roasted.

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

But as he looked around, he realized with a curse that he had no fire to cook it with. Frustrated, he threw the fish back onto the sand, wanting to smoke a Huazi to calm down.

Tap—

As the flame rose from the Lighter, igniting the cigarette at his lips, it dawned on him belatedly: wasn't this fire?

He'd been so focused on fishing all day, thinking about how to catch a fish, that he'd forgotten the Lighter had come through with him.

By the moonlight, he picked up broken Wooden Boards from the beach and started a fire.

This was the seaside, with a big temperature difference between day and night; the sea breeze at night was still quite cold.

After lighting the fire, he took the Folding Knife off his Keychain, holding it in his hand as he looked at the unconscious Wishiwashi.

There were no humans here; this deserted island was a world that devoured people. If he didn't eat, he'd starve, or be eaten by carnivorous Pokémon.

He knew the fish before him was a Pokémon, but sorry—he wanted to live, to leave this deserted island alive, to experience this dazzling and wonderful world.

If one day he didn't leave the island alive but was eaten instead, he'd accept it.

But he had already made up his mind: on this man-eating deserted island, he would fight out a place of his own and leave alive.

Either be eaten, or become strong—there was no third option.

The Folding Knife sliced gently; he gutted the fish, scaled and cleaned it, then threaded a Stick through from head to tail and set it over the fire to roast.

Only when it was sizzling and dripping oil did he bring the fish to his nose and sniff—this was the first time in two days he'd smelled the aroma of food.

His appetite surged, saliva pooling in his mouth, spilling from the corner of his lips. He couldn't wait to enjoy the Gourmet Food.

Just as he was about to bite into the fish meat on the Stick, the Poliwag beside him stared with big black eyes, tears welling up as it fixed its gaze on him, forcing him to swallow his saliva and hesitate to take a bite.

This little guy had put in some effort too. Maybe he should share a bit with it, Yu Hai thought.

But then he shook his head. Remembering that this little foodie had already eaten his bait, it probably wasn't too hungry yet. Maybe he'd share the next fish with it.

He turned his face away, ignoring the Poliwag's pleading eyes—out of sight, out of mind.

His own survival came first, no question about it.

If he were starving to death and still gave to others, he could only say such people were noble, and he wouldn't skimp on praise—but he wouldn't become one of them.

Over twenty years of life experience in his past world had taught him a lesson: learn to be a cold person—it saved a lot of trouble.

Of course, nothing was absolute. When he could manage it, he would help others, but he never left his name—that was his code of conduct.

Yu Hai turned his face away, but when he bit into the fish, the only thing that came to mind was the little glutton's tearful, pleading gaze—it lingered in his thoughts, refusing to fade.

It made the fish in his mouth taste bland, even after two days of starvation.

Crack—

In the end, his heart softened. He snapped the branch in two, splitting the fish as well, and tossed the head half to the Poliwag.

When the Poliwag saw the roasted fish flying toward it, it leaped up joyfully, caught the head in one bite, and chewed loudly on the meat, letting out happy cries of "Yoo-yoo, yoo-yoo..."

This fish was nowhere near enough for the starving boy and tadpole, but at least it took the edge off their hunger, keeping their stomachs from aching.

After finishing the roasted fish, Yu Hai added more firewood to the blaze—wood he'd gathered nearby, enough to last until dawn.

The temperature difference between day and night by the sea was huge. Without this fire, he figured he'd freeze to death.

And after eating that dry fish, he was parched too, his throat practically smoking.

Even dying of thirst, he had to endure it. The Pokémon World at night wasn't a place to wander recklessly—it could get you killed.

He laced his hands behind his head, forcing down the dryness in his throat, leaned back against the boulder behind him, and stared blankly at the fire, thinking about how to survive on this deserted island.

Rather than waiting for some vague rescue, he should focus on figuring out how to survive here.

Back in his past life, Desert Island Survival was an outdoor sport that ordinary people couldn't handle—let alone Desert Island Survival in the Pokémon World. The difficulty wasn't even on the same level. And he wasn't a professional survival expert; he was just a fisherman.

Still, at least he had the Proficiency Panel—that was an advantage. If the panel could also work on Pokémon...

Earlier, when he hugged the Poliwag, the Proficiency Panel hadn't reacted at all. He probably still needed something.

"Right, a Poké Ball," Yu Hai thought back to the panel's predecessor, that unserious Pokémon game, where every stat of a Pokémon was displayed clearly. If it worked the same way in this world, that would be interesting.

But he didn't have a Poké Ball, so he couldn't test his theory.

On this uninhabited island, there wasn't even a Poké Ball, let alone another person.

If he were in a city with people, he could at least work odd jobs to buy a Poké Ball—but he had no chance.

And on top of that, he was an undocumented person with no identity at all. It'd be lucky if he wasn't captured by slavers.

After crossing over here, even his age had shrunk by ten years.

Back to the miserable age of fifteen—he was still a Youngster...

If readers see any issues with this book, speak up—I read every comment.

There are often readers arguing about the lighter and the first two days' timeline. The book's opening mentioned night fishing, so day one obviously isn't complete—only the night part. But many readers get hung up on it being a full day, which drives me crazy. Isn't the "night fishing" hint clear enough?

Since it was night when he crossed over, pitch black, he couldn't see anything and didn't dare wander around...

You can't see at night—you'd Flip Over even at home, let alone in the wild.

And about the protagonist forgetting the Lighter—that kind of thing is rare but happens. It's normal, right? He didn't dare move around at night, there was no Firewood, so he couldn't start a fire. Once dawn came and the sun warmed things up, he wouldn't need fire either.

Then he got caught up fishing, forgot about it, and only remembered when he caught a fish that he needed to roast it. Not eating it raw is a completely normal reaction.