Eerie Creature Classifications: Initial Mutation and Eerie Mutation

That afternoon, the fleet stopped in a calm stretch of sea.

Some survivors tried fishing there and discovered that their chances of catching normal fish were one or two times higher than elsewhere.

So the fleet simply stopped, planning to catch as many fish as possible to stockpile.

Watching other people occasionally reel in normal fish, Qin Mao enthusiastically took out half a dried fish, used the scraps left over from eating as bait, and cast his line for half an hour.

The bite rate was indeed higher than elsewhere. Fish took the bait soon after he cast.

But that did nothing to change the fact that everything he caught was contaminated.

Qin Mao refused to accept it.

He returned to his cabin, shut the door tightly, and spent another 1,000 Kill Points to upgrade his basic fishing rod. The new rod was called the [Premium Fishing Rod].

[Premium Fishing Rod]: A heavy, tough, premium fishing tool. Material density greatly increased; fishing line toughness greatly improved; snapped line repairs itself automatically; comes equipped with a small lump of all-purpose bait that can automatically regenerate 1,000 times.

This rod is a powerful tool for recreational anglers and competitive fishermen alike, letting you cast and reel with ease and enjoy the pleasures of fishing. It also hurts quite a bit if you need to whip someone with it.

Qin Mao picked up the rod and hefted it. It looked refined, with a simple, old-fashioned design.

But it really was heavy, as though it had been welded together from rebar. An ordinary person would probably exhaust themselves using it.

Luckily, he was a superhuman, so he could use it normally.

"A fishing rod worth 1,000 Kill Points! I refuse to believe I can't catch a big fish now!"

He returned to the deck, mimed spitting into his palms a few times, confidently attached the all-purpose bait, and cast hard!

The float sat motionless on the sea. While waiting for a bite, Qin Mao considered how to spend his remaining fortune of 15,500 Kill Points.

For now, he had enough food and drink.

As long as he didn't starve, that was enough. Spending large amounts of Kill Points on creature comforts would be putting the cart before the horse.

As for his vehicle, this twenty-meter ship was sufficient while he was alone.

With his current physique, handling the helm, sails, and lifting operations alone... was still a little difficult.

As for Curio Materials, the only usable ones he had were the [Soul-Binding Evil Pearl] and three portions of [Cable Blood Leech Remains].

After several upgrades, he had discovered a few patterns:

1. Upgrading something out of thin air without materials cost an enormous amount of Kill Points and wasn't worthwhile;

2. Upgrading [Curios] was more expensive than upgrading ordinary objects;

3. When Curio Materials were added to an upgrade, the resulting Curio's abilities were broadly linked to the materials' own properties.

Overall, he currently had no Curio Materials with suitable properties for upgrading.

He decided to wait a while longer and made a savings plan: save 10% of every batch of Kill Points he earned without spending them, in case of future emergencies.

After that thought formed in his mind, he checked his Kill Points again and found that they had become 13,950.

There was merely an extra string of masked, pale-gray text below, containing his saved Kill Points.

Qin Mao silently grumbled, The ones digit of my Kill Points always seems to be zero... I wonder whether it's rounding or the system is taking a cut.

Suddenly, the float on the sea moved!

"Hahaha, fish on!"

He was full of anticipation for the first fish caught with his new rod!

He tugged hard on the rod. Something enormous seemed to be underwater, violently dragging the line with powerful force as it struggled against him.

A big one! Could it be a huge bluefin tuna?

He licked his lips, recalled the story of The Old Man and the Sea, gripped the rod tightly, and began battling the fish!

Time ticked by. Survivors aboard the other ships were drawn by the commotion on the Ten-Thousand-Li Divine Radiance and kept looking over.

They all wanted to know just what that enormous thing beneath the surface was.

Some even hoped Qin Mao wouldn't be able to finish such a big fish and would share some of its meat with everyone.

After a full twenty minutes, the thing beneath the surface finally revealed itself.

It was a deformed great white shark covered in blood-red barnacles, with five heads!

Some were fish heads, some human heads, and there was even an octopus head. A single glance was enough to find it utterly eerie and revolting.

Many survivors turned away in unison at the sight, their sanity plummeting, nearly vomiting in disgust.

After surfacing, the great white shark fixed its blood-red eyes on Qin Mao. Without another word, it opened its mouth and bit the bottom of the ship, leaving a row of tooth marks.

"Fuck! What the hell is this freakish thing!"

Qin Mao was genuinely revolted.

He couldn't even be bothered to draw his gun. He simply cut the line with his cleaver and released the damned thing.

"Premium Fishing Rod? Are you kidding me?!"

Still refusing to accept it, he wanted to fish from the neighboring ship, but discovered that the survivors were looking at him with varying degrees of fear. The atmosphere was strange.

Presumably, his earlier shooting and killing had left a deep impression on everyone.

His enthusiasm immediately faded, and he couldn't be bothered to go.

Just then, the kindly, square-faced middle-aged man from the Hope came looking for Qin Mao.

"Captain Qin, Captain Yang wants you to come to a meeting!"

"All right, coming."

Qin Mao put away his rod and followed the man to the Hope.

On the way, he also learned the square-faced man's name.

Zhang Licheng.

As first mate aboard the Hope, he helped Yang Fan manage the fleet's everyday affairs.

He was a seemingly dependable, warmhearted middle-aged man with strong management skills.

Uncle Zhang escorted Qin Mao to the Hope's Captain's Quarters, then tactfully stepped out and shut the door.

Qin Mao looked at the other three people sitting in chairs, along with several sets of skeletal remains and three iron buckets on the floor, feeling rather bewildered.

Yang Fan held a small teapot; Yan Qi was playing with his little skeleton; Ye Xuanyin had her head lowered, staring beneath the table, her right hand jerking back and forth quite rhythmically. It was very strange.

"Have a seat first, Brother Qin. I've thought of a few things recently."

Yang Fan got straight to the point and poured Qin Mao a cup of tea.

"The sea air is damp, and some of the tea packaging was damaged. It's a little moldy, but still drinkable."

"That's fine. I don't know anything about tea." Qin Mao shook his head unconcernedly. Only after Yang Fan took a sip did he pick up his cup.

"All right, everyone's here! There are two things to discuss today. Hmm, let's start with the less important one."

Qin Mao pricked up his ears and listened carefully.

"I'm sure everyone's noticed that the eerie marine creatures in the sea differ from one another..."

The first matter Yang Fan discussed was his classification of eerie marine creatures.

The first tier naturally consisted of eerie beings, which possessed supernatural powers that ordinary people were essentially unable to oppose. Eerie beings occupied the mainland and various islands, occasionally appearing in the ocean as well.

Examples included the Chang-Driving Pufferfish, the Bloodfang Warthog, and the Thousand-Faced Eerie Coconut.

The third tier consisted of Initial Mutation creatures. They had strange appearances and low intelligence, acted on their few remaining biological instincts, and were not aggressive, posing no threat to ordinary people.

Examples included fish covered in tumors, with blood-red eyes, or with two heads and foul-smelling slime, as well as poisonous kelp, putrid jellyfish, and so on.

The second tier consisted of Eerie Mutation creatures, whose degree of mutation fell between eerie beings and Initial Mutation creatures. They were more severely deformed and highly aggressive. Ordinary humans encountering them would face mortal danger, but attacks were effective against them.

Examples included aquatic weeds with long hair, fish with legs, crabs that inexplicably spoke, and the five-headed great white shark Qin Mao had just caught.

Yang Fan said, "According to the fleet's rough statistics, the probability of catching an Initial Mutation creature at sea is around 95%, while the probability of catching an Eerie Mutation creature is 2%. Only the remaining 3% is the chance of catching a normal fish!"

With that, he pointed to the three iron buckets in the room as references for everyone.

One contained the Chang-Driving Pufferfish's skin, while the other two contained the corpses of an Initial Mutation creature and an Eerie Mutation creature, respectively.

"Captain Yang! The survivors on my ship have reported something recently." Yan Qi played with a miniature skeleton in his hand, his expression worried.

"They say the chances of catching normal fish have dropped again lately, probably to 1%, or even lower."

"It seems to have started four or five days ago."

"Hiss-that low!"

The bad news weighed heavily on everyone's hearts.

Three percent had already been very low. Now it had fallen to an absurdly low level.

"Four or five days ago... wasn't that when Qin Mao rejoined the fleet?" Ye Xuanyin asked, blinking her large eyes.

Yang Fan pinched his brow in thought. "Could the catch be negatively correlated with the number of superhumans aboard?"

Qin Mao wore an innocent expression and gave a goofy smile. "Hehe, don't overthink it. I guarantee it's got nothing to do with me."

Inside, he cursed furiously, That son-of-a-bitch Eerie Coconut! That confirms it. It has a mysterious attraction to eerie creatures...

He had thought this negative effect would affect only his own ship at most. He hadn't expected its range to encompass the entire fleet!

Yeah, I can't tell them.

If I want to stay with the fleet, I absolutely cannot let them discover this!