Reservoir Administrator, a Proper Staff Position!

Dragon Country, Du River County, by the reservoir.

A man in a bamboo hat and blue raincoat stared fixedly at the float on the river surface.

The instant Su Mu lit a cigarette, the float plunged hard.

Su Mu quickly clenched the cigarette between his teeth, though his lighter still fell into the water. He grabbed the Fishing Rod and began pulling.

They struggled for five minutes.

Yes, that was right—a Silver Carp, ten pounds.

After reeling it in, he patted its belly and released it back into the water. At that moment, several Fishing Enthusiasts on the bank angrily shouted, "Didn't you say fishing wasn't allowed in this reservoir? Why can you fish?"

Hearing that, Su Mu took one last drag, shoved his hands into his pockets, and said, "You need a permit."

As he spoke, he pulled out a little blue booklet with three large characters stamped on it—"Fishing Permit."

"There's such a thing?"

The two Fishing Enthusiasts on shore looked at each other. "Didn't know that. He's just some damn reservoir guard, look how full of himself he is! Let's go somewhere else."

"Hope he flings his line onto a power line while night fishing!"

With that, the two Fishing Enthusiasts left unwillingly.

That night.

Su Mu was night fishing beside a Fire Brazier when he received a call.

"Su Mu, what's wrong with you? You gave up a senior executive job paying five hundred thousand a year just to come back and work security at a reservoir?"

"Watch your wording. I passed the exam for this. I'm a reservoir administrator, a proper staff position with full benefits and a housing fund."

"What's the use of that? Two thousand a month? When are you going to marry me? When are you going to save up enough for the bride price?"

"Wait. Who are you?"

"I'm Xiao Li!"

"Oh."

Beep, beep, beep—

After hanging up, another colleague stepped out of the duty room and asked, "Old Su, who was that?"

Su Mu coughed up some phlegm and stared intently at the glow float on the river surface. "My ex-girlfriend."

"No bites tonight."

With that, Su Mu picked up his sea rod, took a few steps back, flexed his Qilin Arm, and hurled it toward the middle of the river.

But he used too much force and sent it straight into a utility pole on the opposite bank.

The next second, amid flashes of lightning and crashing thunder, Su Mu instantly transformed into Brand, the Burning Vengeance. His entire body burst into flames as he plunged headfirst into the water.

"Old Su!! Old Su!"

As he fell through the freezing river water, his body sank without stop. The voices from shore came and went, and as death closed in, scenes from his life began flashing through his mind. Su Mu knew he was in deep trouble.

He began recalling his goddamn life. What rotten luck. He had been guarding the reservoir for less than a month, and he had only just started enjoying life.

Was he going to die?

The next second—or perhaps after who knew how long, since he had long lost all sense of time—

Su Mu regained consciousness. His body felt the cold again. He opened his eyes and discovered that he was floating on the river surface.

The river water was pitch-black, cold enough to pierce the bone.

He raised himself upright and began treading water, examining his surroundings.

Goddamn it, where the hell did I end up? Is this even still my country?

Just as Su Mu fell into despair, an ethereal voice rang out in his mind:

River Guardian System successfully bound!

Hearing that voice, Su Mu, who usually loved reading fantasy novels, immediately understood. He had transmigrated!

But why was he still guarding a river?

I've already transmigrated, so why do I still have to guard a river?!

He swam desperately toward the shore, climbed onto the bank, lay there, and panted heavily.

It took him quite a while to recover.

Host: Su Mu

Cultivation: None

Controlled Divine Abilities: Water Manipulation, Swimming

Controlled Water Beasts: None

Controlled River: None

River Favor Points: None

Su Mu checked his status panel. Every single entry read: "None."

After several hours of back-and-forth questioning, Su Mu finally figured out what his system did.

His system could refine any water beast in any body of water for his own use, and it could also control rivers. In short, as long as it had anything to do with "water," he could work with it.

Su Mu looked at the little river before him and muttered, "I'll start with this tiny crappy river."

"But first, I need to find a household and get settled down."

However, Su Mu walked along the riverbank for several days. Other than the bank and the river itself, he found no homes and saw no trace of human life.

He was starving. As an ordinary mortal, going seven days without food was already his limit.

His face was sallow from hunger, and he sat weakly on the bank, staring at the river before him. He swallowed hard. He could only return to his old trade.

But he did not have a Fishing Rod. How was he supposed to fish?

And the water was cold as hell and deep. With his strength completely drained, going into the river to catch fish was unrealistic.

Am I really going to starve to death here??

That kind of humiliating death would probably put him at the top of the list of most pathetic transmigrated protagonists.

Then he remembered that he had awakened a divine ability called "Water Manipulation."

Walking to the bank, Su Mu spread his hands and concentrated with all his might. After trying for half an hour, his face turned red from the effort!

At last, he controlled one single drop of water!

"Holy shit, isn't this way too weak??!"

And what kind of divine ability was "Swimming" supposed to be???!

Su Mu looked utterly hopeless. He dropped to the ground, knelt before the river, pressed his palms together, and prayed devoutly, "Great River God, I don't have any beautiful girls to offer you as a sacrifice right now, so put it on credit. Please show some mercy and give me a fish to eat."

Splash—

The next second, the sound of water splashing rang out.

A glittering golden carp leaped from the water and landed in front of Su Mu.

Seeing this, Su Mu was overjoyed. "Please allow me to praise you, great River God. I owe you a beautiful girl, and I'll pay you back later."

With that, Su Mu grabbed the gleaming golden carp, found several oddly shaped pebbles along the bank, and set up a simple stone grill.

After searching for a long, long time, he found half a piece of dry wood and a pointed, cone-shaped stone. No matter how hard Su Mu rubbed, even when his hands started smoking, he still could not make a fire.

Looking at the raw carp, Su Mu could no longer care about that. He found a sharp flat stone, slit open the fish's belly, removed its innards, and washed it clean in the water.

Without caring whether it contained any strange parasites, he began devouring it.

The moment he took a bite, Su Mu froze, stars practically appearing in his eyes.

Oh my god!

This fish was unbelievably delicious!

It had no fishy taste at all. It was wonderfully fresh, and the meat was incomparably tender.

And after eating half of it, he felt distinctly full. His stomach was warm, and the comfort was beyond words.

Su Mu saved the remaining half of the fish.

However, after eating that half, his eyelids grew heavy and a wave of drowsiness hit him. He lay down on a rock, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

In his dreams, he seemed to hear a series of crackling sounds, like boiling water, echoing continuously beside his ears.

P.S.: Cultivation realms from lowest to highest: Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Purple Mansion, Great Ascension Stage, Transformation Spirit Realm, Tribulation Transcendence Realm, Ascension Realm, Human Immortal, True Immortal, Earth Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, Immortal King, Immortal Emperor.