I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Hooked, Not Going Back Tonight

’But whatever, at least I’ve got my 1,500. Sweet.’

The Tai Star Garoupa wasn’t a true Coral Trout, but it was still a very famous fish. Even with its high price, it was very popular on the market.

Gu Nan figured that as soon as this fish was in the shop, wealthy gourmands would definitely buy it once they heard it was wild-caught.

It was just like the four-star Large-spot Grouper. Because it was a type of grouper, customers found it very appealing when they heard it was imported and wild-caught. Basically, every one that came in was sold.

The Small-spotted Dart sold relatively poorly. After all, its price was a bit higher than the Silver Pomfret, so you might as well just eat Silver Pomfret.

The Harry Hotlips was unremarkable, just as inconspicuous as its appearance.

He picked up his rod and started fishing again. This time, Gu Nan didn’t cast out with a big swing. Casting farther would make reeling in the fish more difficult, and he needed to conserve his energy.

So he just dropped the line straight down, which would keep the fish a bit closer to him.

He resumed jigging the metal lure. After just a short while, he felt a decent pull on the rod in his hands.

This time, the pull was far weaker than the Tai Star Garoupa’s. The fish clearly wasn’t going to be very big.

So the fish had no chance to put up a fight and was pulled to the surface relatively quickly.

When he saw the fish, Gu Nan was left speechless.

It was another fiery red fish, but its shape was very different from the previous red one.

He had no idea what kind of day it was. If it weren’t such a hassle to go back, he would have definitely floored the gas on his tricycle and bought a whole set of scratch-off tickets from the convenience store.

The fish wasn’t very big, a little over two catties, but Gu Nan immediately collected the 1,000 Gold Coins reward from the handbook, bought the blue-rarity fishing reel, and had 460 Gold Coins left.

His stats had finally reached: Big Fish Bonus +30%, Rare Fish Bonus +18%, and his total Daily Guaranteed Catches had reached 18.

Gu Nan quickly did the math in his head. Selling the green set would get him 3,840 Gold Coins. Adding his remaining 460, that would be 4,300.

The blue-rarity fishing line and bait both cost 3,000. That meant he was still 1,700 short of a full blue set.

’Looks like there’s no way I can do it today. I’ll just have to wait for tomorrow’s daily mission.’

Just as Gu Nan was about to check the fish’s information, the game suddenly issued a notification.

[Congratulations, Host, for unlocking 15 species in the common handbook. You will now have a chance to hook a map BOSS. Each successful BOSS challenge will award an extra 1,000 Gold Coins.]

”So the sixteenth species is a map boss, huh? And I can get an extra thousand Gold Coins, with no limit on the number of times.”

Gu Nan murmured to himself, even pausing his work on installing the new reel.

Then he thought about the Gold Coins he was short. His eyes lit up. ’If I can successfully challenge the boss, doesn’t that mean I can complete the blue set today?’

He had the whole afternoon, and he refused to believe he couldn’t catch it. Besides, after defeating the boss, he could also unlock the elite handbook and new functions.

Gu Nan immediately sped up the process of changing the reel. With the rest of the afternoon still ahead of him, he refused to believe he couldn’t catch it.

In that moment, he even forgot about the new fish he had just caught.

Once the reel was replaced, Gu Nan quickly tossed his bait into the water and started fishing.

He didn’t know what kind of fish the final boss would be, but since the game had given a special notification, it probably wouldn’t be easy to catch.

So he stuck with his previous method and continued jigging near the bottom.

’Jigging near the bottom has already landed me three five-star fish today. There’s no better way.’

However, three hours passed, and Gu Nan hadn’t seen so much as a single spine of the boss.

But thanks to his rod’s improved stats, he did catch another one of the five-star fish he’d just cataloged. Only then did he remember he’d forgotten to read the handbook description.

The Rosy Jobfish, also known as the Rose-colored Star Garoupa or Swallowtail Spot. It looks very similar to the Coral Trout, so unscrupulous shop owners on the market will pass this fish off as Coral Trout to deceive customers.

The Swallowtail Spot’s habitat is similar to the Coral Trout’s, found in Southeast Asia, including southern Japan and the southern parts of Taiwan.

Its taste, however, was a bit inferior, with a flavor rating of only six and a half stars.

Naturally, its price was also lower. The price of Coral Trout is typically about 30% higher than that of the Swallowtail Spot.

The game’s suggested price reflected this, recommending it be sold for two hundred yuan per catty.

The cooking methods were pretty much the same, but the Swallowtail Spot also had a subspecies called the White-edged Rosy Jobfish, also known as the Swallowtail Star Garoupa.

The taste and other qualities of these two fish were similar, but the Swallowtail Star Garoupa is generally smaller, reaching a maximum of only sixty centimeters.

The Swallowtail Spot, however, can grow up to eighty-one centimeters, approaching forty catties.

But you basically never see them that big. It’s like how the Coral Trout can reach a meter long and weigh around fifty catties—one that size might only appear once every many years.

Of course, that wasn’t the point. The point was, it was already past three in the afternoon. Where was the shadow of the boss?

’Another hour of fishing, and I’ll have to head back.’

Gu Nan pinned all his hopes on that last hour, but when the time was up, there was still nothing.

’Go back or keep going?’

He took out his phone, transferred twenty yuan to Yi Chen, and sent a message: ”Yi Chen, I’m busy tonight and won’t be back. Get dinner for yourself. If business is slow, you can close up early.”

In the shop, Yi Chen was a little surprised to see the message. She hadn’t expected Gu Nan to not come back at all tonight.

But he was the boss, so it was his prerogative whether he showed up or not. She replied, ”Okay, Boss.”

Receiving the twenty yuan, she thought Gu Nan was quite generous. Other bosses would give a meal allowance of ten yuan at most.

You had to know, a bowl of seafood noodles cost twenty-one yuan these days, and things like pork ribs, pork liver, or pork intestine noodles were all eighteen yuan.

Ten yuan would only get you vegetarian options like egg and vegetable noodles or a hot and sour shredded potato dish with a bowl of rice. Even shredded pork noodles cost eleven yuan now.

It couldn’t be helped. The cost of living in coastal cities was just that high.

Although Yangjiang Port was just a fishing port county, the cost of living here was higher than, or at least on par with, some inland provincial capitals.

Yi Chen herself had actually just arrived at the shop not long ago. She was inspecting the fish tanks when she saw the Star Chicken Fish and the Bushi Golden Needlefish, and an idea came to her.

That afternoon, she had gone looking for ways to sell fish in bulk, starting with a seafood stall.

The owner was a distant relative of her grandmother, and they were fairly well-acquainted since they lived in the same village.

In the afternoon, she had recommended two of the shop’s one-star edible fish, lowering the price of both by three yuan.

So, the owner of the seafood stall agreed to try selling them tonight to see how customers reacted before deciding whether to stock them.

Originally, Yi Chen had wanted to act first and report later—just take the fish over for a trial run and cover the loss herself if it didn’t work out.

But after thinking it over, she decided to ask Gu Nan and see what he wanted to do.

”Boss, I found a seafood stall this afternoon and recommended the Javelin Grunter and Golden Needlefish to the owner. I discounted the price for both fish by three yuan.”

”The stall owner asked me to bring two of each for them to try selling. Do you think we should give it a shot?”

When Gu Nan saw the message, he raised an eyebrow, surprised at how quickly Yi Chen worked.

Four fish wouldn’t cost much, and he had no idea how many sets of four he’d caught today. So he replied, ”Just take them. You can discount it by up to five yuan. I’ll leave it to your discretion.”

If the stall found them acceptable and was willing to stock them, they would naturally earn more in the long run. This small loss was nothing.

When Yi Chen saw how decisive Gu Nan was, she couldn’t help but smile, pursing her lips.

’Working for a boss like this is truly a pleasure. Those other ones who want good business but are so wishy-washy about everything are just annoying to watch.’