Gurgle!
Caught completely off guard, Su Yu Niang plunged into the water and felt her entire body enter an endless darkness, cold and bleak.
It took her quite a while to come to her senses.
She hurriedly struggled and swam through the icy well water, finally realizing her current situation.
A huge, thick lip hook had been stuck through her mouth.
Was I being used as live bait by some angler?
Were they serious?
Her mind immediately began running wild.
It was also because Su Yu Niang herself was so thick-skinned. If it had been Jiu Cai Rong, who was afraid of ghosts, or Yan Hua, who was timid and easily frightened, they would have been scared witless by now.
This Household had a rather special way of fishing.
She just didn't know whether everyone in this world fished that way, or whether this Household was deliberately going against the grain.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~
She floated on the surface and looked up at the round well opening.
Moonlight spilled down.
Ning Jiaojiao had already begun admiring the moon and brewing tea beside the well. She held a fishing rod in her hand, wearing the elegant air of someone discussing poetry and romance. At last, she was enjoying the same pleasures Ning Zheng usually did.
Su Yu Niang slapped at the water and couldn't help looking up to ask:
"What exactly is the process of fishing?"
Her voice echoed loudly up through the well opening.
"You go down and find the River Monster! Once it swallows you, I'll pull you back up!" Ning Jiaojiao shouted loudly down into the well.
Any ordinary traveler would have been scared witless by now.
But Su Yu Niang's focus was strangely elsewhere. Floating on the water, she grumbled, "Then explain everything from up there! Give me some warning! It's not like I won't accept your commission!"
Ning Jiaojiao shouted down into the well, "When my brother taught me to fish for the first time, he also suddenly hugged me and threw me into the well. He said I would learn faster that way. Was he wrong?"
Su Yu Niang: "."
For some reason, she suddenly felt that Ning Jiaojiao was rather pitiful.
But it was indeed quite reasonable.
From a rational and logical standpoint, acting first and explaining later was more effective.
First, you threw someone into the well. If they refused to tempt the River Monster, you simply wouldn't pull them back up.
It was like skydiving. Someone had to give you a push the first time.
"The hook didn't have to be stuck in my head, though! Couldn't you tie it to my hand or waist?" Su Yu Niang shouted from below.
Ning Jiaojiao thought about it, then explained, "There has to be continuous bleeding to lure the River Monster. It won't come just because you're splashing around in the water. River Monsters aren't that stupid."
Su Yu Niang froze for a moment. "Then why cut my fingers, palms, or soles to let the blood out? Why does it have to be my head? That makes it look terrifying."
"Huh? Do you have a death wish?"
Ning Jiaojiao instead looked utterly baffled. "Cultivators begin by refining their heads. Isn't the head the strongest part of a person? Of course you have to fish with your head!"
"Hands and feet are fragile. What if you haven't cultivated those parts to the Five Bodies Realm yet? What if keeping them bleeding causes the wound to become infected?"
"We're only inviting a guest to go fishing together. Hurting the guest would be terribly discourteous." Ning Jiaojiao said, "Fishing is a risk-free recreational activity. As long as it's done properly, even if nothing bites, there's no danger to your life! After all, River Monsters don't have teeth. They swallow things whole."
Of course, this only applied to fleshly wraiths. You needed flesh and blood to fish this way.
A penniless wraith without flesh wouldn't bleed no matter how much you cut it, and thus couldn't lure a River Monster.
The Su Yu Niang before them was naturally a wealthy wraith with flesh.
That was because the moment she was born, Dao Jiujiu had directly tossed a pile of crow meat from the Blacksmith Shop's stored materials to her, filling the empty shell with flesh and blood.
So Su Yu Niang's head really was made of flesh and blood.
"So fishing with your head is the normal way?" Su Yu Niang shouted, "What the hell!" as soon as she heard that.
Yet the more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Why was that?
It appeared that in this world's system, the head was publicly recognized as the toughest and safest part of the body.
After all, the first part of the Five Bodies Realm was the head!
So whenever people did anything risky, they were always "the first to bear the brunt."
Literally, in this case.
Therefore, hooking the head was, according to their understanding, a perfectly scientific thing to do.
Could everyone in this world really fish like this?
There were simply far too many things to complain about!
After confirming that this wasn't an evil NPC, merely a matter of local custom, Su Yu Niang calmed down. She began testing the hook's strength and her brain's flexibility, and found that it was quite secure.
In all fairness.
If you weren't afraid of dying from a blow to the head, this really was an excellent place to hang a hook.
Open your mouth, take one bite, and getting hooked was fast, simple, and idiot-proof.
Gurgle~!
"I'm going fishing, then! Remember to pull me up later!"
She lowered her head and dove, biting down on the huge, thick fishhook. Bursting with enthusiasm, she plunged into the dark underground river.
To be honest, as a rich second-generation heir, she had been passionate about diving for a while.
So she was quite experienced in this area.
That was also why Jiu Cai Rong had sent her out.
An enthusiast of multiple outdoor sports who also knew some wilderness survival skills would have plenty of room to shine in this ancient mountain village.
"Fishing is really interesting."
"So this is a hidden quest map now, an underground underwater maze?"
"A fish caught using my enormous body will definitely be huge too. In other words, is there a second monster-beast population here besides the crow swarm?"
"Then this place is very likely the game's second large-scale monster-spawning area!"
Her eyes lit up.
Most monster beasts, including Money Boy, could see in the dark.
She soon discovered a small karst cave on the side of the well below, just barely large enough for one person to squeeze into. It was probably a temporary resting spot, so she continued swimming underwater.
She swam seven or eight meters forward along the dark, freezing river channel and found three forks at the branching point. She analyzed the situation:
"There are so many branching currents. This is a fishing monster-spawn point. According to what Ning Jiaojiao just said, this might be a tutorial for the fishing system! It's teaching us players how to fish from the well opening."
"As expected of the Dog Planner, so considerate. There's even a beginner tutorial. The details are everywhere."
Su Yu Niang's imagination was as bizarre as ever, and she was the type to launch into wild deductions. If she saw a cloud, she'd suspect rain was coming tomorrow.
A beginner tutorial might be a hint that life professions were about to be unlocked!
As expected of a leisurely Mountain Villa: eating dirt, smithing, picking up trash—and fishing too!
Now and then, small semitransparent fish with visible bones swam past.
She tried to reach out and grab one, but the fish simply swam away with the current.
Money Boy had always been an extremely sluggish creature. Even after death, it retained its habits from life, and the water made it even slower. It was impossible for her to move efficiently underwater.
After swimming for a while,
she saw several more forks. Since this was her first exploration, she silently memorized the distances and drew a map, only to see a pitch-black creature suddenly rush toward her at astonishing speed.
Gulp!
It opened its mouth and swallowed.
The River Monster clamped onto Su Yu Niang below the waist and frantically dragged her deeper into the water.
At the same time, Su Yu Niang's neck was suddenly yanked. Ning Jiaojiao at the wellhead had clearly sensed something biting the bait and had begun pulling furiously from the other end as well.
"They've started pulling the bait over there. Is this the next part of the fishing tutorial, demonstrating advanced fishing techniques?"
She instantly felt that this game was unbelievably cool.
This was way too fun.
She was personally experiencing what it was like to become a worm, enjoying being pulled back and forth by a fish and an angler!
This game was outrageous in every way and constantly shattered one's worldview. A game this fun and interesting could never have been made by anyone who wasn't at least ten years insane!
The Dog Planner really knew how to have fun!
This fishing tutorial was genuinely spectacular!
"Awesome! Dog Planner, are you watching? I approve of this gameplay! Turn it up! Add this fishing system to Sword Forging Manor!"
In her delight, she raised a thumb and began praising it, silently enjoying the tug-of-war from both ends—one side pulling her head, the other pulling her legs.
But then she suddenly felt her neck being pulled harder and harder, making the corner of Su Yu Niang's mouth twitch violently.
Was this person a beginner?
Could this girl really be fishing for the first time?
Miss, you have to play the fish!
Fishing required technique. You couldn't just pull recklessly; you had to learn to tug back and forth.
Loosen, tighten, and wait until the big fish ran out of strength before pulling it up. Pulling like this, engaging in a head-on tug-of-war with the fish, would snap the fishing rod—
"It broke, it broke!"
Sure enough, she felt her spine crack. Her head rapidly separated, and her headless body was about to be dragged away by the River Monster.
Quick as a flash, she raised both hands in fright and grabbed the twin tails of her severed twin-tailed girl-loli head.
"Ahhhhhhh! My neck broke, it broke! If you keep pulling, I'll be gone! You'll only be able to drag a head back! That's not how you're supposed to fish! If you don't know how to fish, hurry up and get your brother!"
She frantically hugged her head, her heart going numb.
Hmm.
Don't panic.
This was probably a demonstration of the negative example in the beginner fishing tutorial?
Hold it together!
Su Yu Niang felt that she had to stay calm.
Logically speaking, a fishing tutorial wasn't supposed to kill anyone. They had already said that fishing was a risk-free recreational activity, as long as it was done properly. But clearly, the person before her was doing it wrong!!
Crack!
The next second, the pulling force grew even stronger. Her head was completely torn from her grasp and swiftly swept backward with the rushing current, dragged away by the hook.
"Ah! My head!"
At the critical moment, the headless body suddenly stretched out both hands again and grabbed the twin tails on the head, forcibly keeping herself alive. In her daze, she felt somewhat relieved.
"Thank goodness I tied my hair into twin tails."
Before you continue