Reservoir Administrator, Official Position!

Dragon Country, Du River County, by the reservoir.

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

The instant Su Mu lit a cigarette, the float suddenly plunged deep underwater.

Su Mu swiftly clenched the cigarette between his teeth, though his lighter still fell into the water. He grabbed his Fishing Rod and began reeling it in.

He wrestled with it for five minutes.

Yes, that was right—a ten-pound Silver Carp.

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

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

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

"There's such a thing?"

The two Fishing Enthusiasts onshore looked at each other. "Who knew? He's just some damn reservoir keeper, look how smug he is! Let's go somewhere else."

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

With that, the two Fishing Enthusiasts left unwillingly.

That night.

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

"Su Mu, what were you thinking? You gave up a senior executive job with an annual salary of five hundred thousand to come back and work as a reservoir security guard?"

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

"What good is that? Two thousand a month? When are you going to marry me? When are you going to save up enough bride price?"

"Wait, who are you?"

"I'm Xiao Li!"

"Oh."

Beep, beep, beep—

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

Su Mu coughed up a wad of phlegm and stared fixedly at the glowing night float on the river surface. "My ex-girlfriend."

"No bites tonight, huh?"

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

But he used too much force and sent it straight onto the power pole across the river.

The next second, amid flashing lightning and rolling thunder, Su Mu instantly transformed into Brand, the Burning Vengeance. Flames covered his entire body as he plunged headfirst into the water.

"Old Su!! Old Su!"

As he fell into the icy river, his body continued sinking. The voices from the bank came and went in fragments. At death's door, scenes began flashing through Su Mu's mind, and he knew he was in deep trouble.

He began reflecting on his shitty life. He really was unlucky. He had been guarding this reservoir for less than a month, and life had only just begun to get enjoyable. Was he going to die already? The next moment, who knew how much time had passed? He had long since lost all sense of time.

Su Mu regained consciousness, and his body once more felt the chill. He opened his eyes and found himself floating on the river surface. The water was dark and bone-chillingly cold.

He straightened himself upright, began treading water, and surveyed his surroundings.

What the hell, where did this dump send me? 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!

Upon hearing it, Su Mu, who usually enjoyed reading fantasy novels, instantly 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 bank, crawled ashore, lay on the ground, and panted heavily.

It took him a long while to recover.

Host: Su Mu

Cultivation: None

Controlled Divine Abilities: Water Manipulation, Swimming

Controlled Water Beasts: None

Controlled Rivers: None

River Favor Points: None

Su Mu examined his status panel. Every entry simply read: "None."

After several hours of questions and answers, Su Mu finally figured out what his system did.

His system could refine any water beast within a body of water and make it his own. It could also control rivers. In short, as long as something had even the slightest connection to "water," he could manipulate it.

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

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

Yet Su Mu walked along the riverbank for several days. Apart from the bank and the river itself, he found no homes and saw no trace of human habitation.

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

Su Mu's face had turned sallow from hunger. He sat weakly by the bank, stared at the river before him, swallowed, and could only return to his old trade.

But he did not have a Fishing Rod. How was he supposed to fish? Besides, the water was freezing cold and deep. With his strength drained, going into the river to catch fish was not realistic either.

Am I really going to starve to death here?? This kind of humiliating death would probably put me at the top of the list of most miserable 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 focused his mental energy. After trying for half an hour, his face turned red from the strain! Finally, he managed to control one single drop of water!

"Fuck, isn't this way too weak??!"

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

Su Mu's face went ashen. He dropped to the ground, knelt toward the river before him, pressed his palms together, and prayed devoutly, "Great River God, I don't have any beautiful girls to offer you as sacrifices right now, so put it on my tab. Please, have mercy and send me a fish to eat."

Splash—

The next second, water splashed.

A glittering golden carp leaped from the water and landed before Su Mu.

At the sight, Su Mu was overjoyed. "Please allow me to praise you, great River God. I owe you the beautiful girls, but I'll pay you back someday."

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

After searching for a very long time, he finally found half a piece of dead wood and a cone-shaped pointed stone. No matter how Su Mu rubbed them together, until his hands nearly smoked, he still could not start a fire.

Looking at the raw carp, Su Mu could not care about that anymore. He found a sharp flat stone, cut open its belly, removed the innards, and washed it clean in the water.

Without caring whether there were any strange parasites inside, he began devouring it in huge bites.

The moment he bit down, Su Mu froze, his eyes sparkling.

Holy shit! This fish is unbelievably delicious!

There was not the slightest fishy taste. It was wonderfully fresh, and the flesh was incomparably tender.

After eating half of it, he felt distinctly full. His stomach was warm and comfortable beyond words.

Su Mu put away the remaining half of the fish.

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

In his dream, he seemed to hear a crackling sound like boiling water, endlessly echoing beside his ears.

PS: Cultivation realms from lowest to highest: Qi Refining, 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.