Legendary Fishing Rod

Ling Chu unpacked the Blind Box while silently praying that it wouldn't be Wood. Even if she didn't get a weapon, some food would be nice.

The moment she opened the Blind Box, a slender item appeared in her hand.

[Lucky Jelly Octopus Fishing Rod]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Comes with Jelly Octopus Bait that gives off a strange aroma and has an incredibly strong suction. You're guaranteed to hook something every time you fish, and your chances of catching special fish and special items are greatly increased. Of course, certain eerie creatures may also be attracted to it, so please use it with caution.

Fishermen Never Come Back Empty-Handed!]

Ling Chu's eyes lit up. Talk about just what she needed! With a fishing rod that came with its own bait, she wouldn't have to worry about finding any.

It was even legendary quality. Before transmigrating, she'd played those online games where you could deal 999 damage with a single slash. Just hearing the word "legendary" made this sound a lot more impressive than the ordinary daggers people had shown off in the channel earlier.

It was a shame it was a fishing rod. She'd much rather have had a weapon for self-defense.

Still, she couldn't be too greedy. Compared to the players who'd drawn five Wood, Ling Chu figured she'd gotten an incredible start.

She examined the fishing rod in her hand. Its craftsmanship was clearly much finer than that of a beginner's rod, and the handle was carved with ornate patterns. At the end of the fishing line hung a tiny transparent octopus, glistening like jelly.

She poked the jelly with her finger. The little octopus was actually alive, and its eight tentacles clung tightly to her finger. Ling Chu got to experience firsthand just how strong that "incredibly strong suction" was. She couldn't pry it off at all.

"Let go."

She tapped the octopus on the head with her other hand. Only then did it seem to realize it had latched onto the wrong thing, and it quietly released her finger.

Facing the open sea, Ling Chu gripped the fishing rod and cast it in a graceful arc.

This was a legendary-quality fishing rod. She refused to believe she wouldn't catch anything.

As for the warning in the item description telling her to use it with caution, Ling Chu ignored it completely.

She was practically starving to death. Who cared about eerie creatures?

Whatever she caught, as long as it was edible, that was good enough.

Barely two minutes after she cast the bait, the bobber suddenly sank beneath the surface.

Ling Chu's wrist dipped, and the rod's tip bowed into an arc under the force of the pull.

Something was hooked!

The pull wasn't very strong. Ling Chu swung the rod up onto the raft in one go, and a little fish, shimmering silver, landed on the boards and flapped its tail.

[You obtained Horse Mackerel*1]

[Automatically disassemble? (Fish meat and materials disassembled by the system will be reduced)]

Ling Chu selected "Yes." She didn't have any tools handy to gut the fish. She couldn't exactly gnaw it whole while it was raw.

[You obtained Mackerel Slices*3]

Weighing the slices she'd received, she figured the Horse Mackerel had weighed about a pound. After disassembly, more than three hundred grams had vanished. The system had probably skimmed a third off the top. Ling Chu decided that once she had the right tools, she'd gut her own fish from then on. This system was such a cheat.

After puttering around for most of the day, Ling Chu was getting hungry. She picked up a slice of fish and took a bite. It was soft and tender, with a lingering sweetness—more delicious than the sashimi she'd had at Japanese restaurants.

As expected, freshly caught fish really was different.

She finished the slice in a few bites, but it only filled her halfway. There was no helping it; the fish was just too small.

Ling Chu tightened her grip on the fishing rod and cast her bait back into the sea. With a rod that never came back empty-handed, how could she possibly run out of food?

Before long, the bobber sank, and another fish had taken the bait.

Ling Chu reeled in whatever had bitten with little effort.

The sun was sinking in the west, and the light had already begun to dim. Against the dusky sky, the thing glittered brilliantly. Ling Chu thought her luck was in and that she'd caught some kind of treasure, but when she leaned closer, she saw it was a starfish.

[Fluorescent Starfish]

[Not edible. It glows in the dark and can serve as a cute little bedside lamp.]

Ling Chu's mouth twitched. She only wanted edible fish. This starfish could only glow; it seemed to be nothing but a pretty waste.

After she pulled it aboard, the starfish neither moved nor tried to escape, so Ling Chu tossed it aside.

However, after that, she only caught two Horse Mackerel and one sea bream. Everything else was Fluorescent Starfish. They soon nearly covered the raft, in blue, green, pink... They seemed to have made an agreement to bite her hook one after another, making Ling Chu wonder if she'd stumbled into a starfish den.

Against the pitch-black backdrop, with no moon or stars, the pile of Fluorescent Starfish became the only source of light. Blue, green, pink, purple—every color mingled and shifted, casting an eerie, otherworldly glow over the entire raft.

Ling Chu's face, her hands, and the boards beneath her feet were all dyed in shifting, unreal colors. The light even spilled across the surrounding dark sea, making it seem as if the raft were sailing through a magical sea of stars.

The raft had no sail, but it kept drifting in the direction of the waves. Ling Chu couldn't help wondering if she happened to be in a stretch of sea where Fluorescent Starfish grew, which was why she kept catching them.

Ling Chu rubbed her aching wrist and heard a system notification.

[Friendly reminder to all players: it is now eleven at night. From now until five in the morning, the odds of catching eerie creatures and special items while fishing will be doubled. We recommend going to bed early and getting up early. Staying up late is bad for your health~]

The three fish she'd caught today weren't large, so her haul had been rather meager.

Besides making sure she had food for tomorrow, she wanted to trade some fish for Freshwater with the other players. Still, the system's warning made her uneasy. She decided to cast one last time. If she caught another starfish, she'd go rest.

She cast the line into the water again. A few minutes later, the rod grew heavy in Ling Chu's hands. This time, the pull on its tip was clearly much stronger!

It had to weigh at least fifty or sixty pounds. Ling Chu put all her strength into reeling it in, silently relieved that this time it wasn't a Fluorescent Starfish.

Ling Chu had always been more athletic than her peers. She'd won most of the long- and short-distance running events at school sports days, and even in college, she'd been strong enough to carry a bucket of Mineral Water with one hand. When she rolled up her sleeves, the muscles in her arms stood out clearly.

Ling Chu tugged on the fishing line and realized that whatever was on the other end didn't seem to be alive. It wasn't pulling back and forth.

Could she have hooked a piece of coral or a rock?

Ling Chu reeled in at an unhurried pace. Once she'd dragged it to the edge of the raft, she hauled it aboard with her bare hands.

It turned out to be a Wine Barrel nearly half her height.

Ling Chu didn't open it right away. First, she leaned over and knocked on the lid to make sure there wasn't anything alive inside. Then she inserted a plank into the gap along the edge of the lid and pried it open.

As soon as the lid came off, a long-sealed stench of decay wafted out.

Ling Chu covered her nose and peered inside. Curled up within was an intact human skeleton.

The skull wore a large tricorn pirate hat, and an Eyepatch covered its face. Its left hand clutched a Rusty Revolver, while something glimmering—a Ring, perhaps—sat on the finger bones of its right hand.