I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 263: Chapter 164: Where’s That Big Ol’ Map?

After spending two hours catching an Indian marlin that weighed nearly five hundred pounds, and then another three hours foraging on the in-game coast, Gu Nan’s work for the night was officially over.

The coastal foraging map had refreshed with a new beach, and with practiced ease, he caught over 230 Spotted Prawn Shrimp. The largest was nearly two pounds—a true king among prawn shrimp.

Gu Nan even kept three of them for himself.

The next day, after waking up, he sent two hundred of them over. They were scheduled to arrive at the shop between four and five in the afternoon.

One hundred fifty of these were destined for Junhao Hotel. They had a standing order to buy as many Spotted Prawn Shrimp as he could get his hands on, so selling them wasn’t a concern.

Gu Nan insisted on keeping the remaining fifty to sell at his own shop.

Over the next few days, he spent his days with Yi Chen. He would also stop by the shop to check on the renovations and begin cycling the water in the fish tanks on either side.

The shop’s renovation wouldn’t take much longer; it would be open in half a month at the latest, so it was the perfect time to start cycling the water.

He had accumulated a good number of large groupers, Emperor Crabs, and massive lobsters. Now, all he had to do was wait for the pools to be finished.

The pool was completed quickly, taking only two days.

A pool the size of a small swimming pool was partitioned into three sections by two large glass panes.

After a few more days for the concrete to set, he could start cycling the water. Meanwhile, the renovation crew was already working on the small kitchen.

The only thing nagging at Gu Nan now was just how to catch the elite BOSS.

Over the past few days, he had completely unlocked the elite compendium, and his Gold Coins had accumulated to 73,000. All that was left was to catch the elite BOSS and fuse a golden fishing rod.

Unfortunately, Gu Nan had tried several methods to no avail. Even increasing the water depth to over two hundred meters hadn’t worked.

Having been bound to the game for this long, he naturally understood that he could only catch the BOSS by finding the correct method. Otherwise, it was a non-starter.

Before he knew it, it was mid-August. Gu Nan had taken his fishing boat out and anchored near Sanlian Reef. He sat on the sofa in the cabin, mulling over how to finally catch the elite BOSS.

The game’s compendium was open in front of him. He studied it over and over, hoping to find some kind of pattern.

As he stared at it, something suddenly clicked for Gu Nan. He had actually found a pattern.

He noticed that the marine life from the Fengqi Coast consisted mostly of coral fish that lived in shallow waters.

The marine life at Seven-Star Rock, on the other hand, was mostly deep-sea fish. Some could, incredibly, survive at depths of two thousand meters.

’Maybe... the places I’ve been searching just aren’t deep enough?’

That was a distinct possibility. The only problem was that there didn’t seem to be any particularly deep spots around Sanlian Reef.

Gu Nan started up the fishing boat and began searching for a deep-water area.

The fishing season was about to open. ’I have to hurry and get the shop in the International Seafood Market up and running.’

’And before that,’ Gu Nan thought, ’I have to make a trip home. I need to talk to my parents about moving here, handing over the Fengnan Seafood Shop to them, and while I’m at it, tell them about Yi Chen.’

He wasn’t sure if her mother had learned her lesson yet, but when the parents from both families met, the main discussion would be with Yi Chen’s father. After all, Yi Linfei had been granted custody of her when she was a child.

Even though Shen Suping was her biological mother, if Yi Linfei and Yi Chen herself agreed to it, her mother really wouldn’t have a say in the matter.

Gu Nan felt that if he just explained things properly, his own parents would surely be fine with it.

His parents weren’t that old-fashioned. They might have some reservations about her coming from a divorced family, but he was sure they would be fine with it once they understood the situation.

As for the seafood shop, his father, Gu Dacheng, had quit his job a while ago and was now running a small fish stall to get a feel for the seafood business.

He wasn’t making much, but he was lucky enough not to be losing money, at least.

He wasn’t expecting to get rich from the stall; he was just waiting for the right moment to open a proper shop over at Yangjiang Port.

Gu Dacheng, for his part, had no idea his son had already arranged everything. His plan was to start the business on his own.

After cruising around the sea for a full hour and a half, Gu Nan arrived in an area where the water was nearly six hundred meters deep.

Within the boundaries of the Seven-Star Rock map, this was the deepest spot.

It couldn’t be helped; it really wasn’t easy to find exceptionally deep fishing spots so close to shore.

Gu Nan took out his Seven-Star Rod, attached a metal jig, and prepared to sound the bottom. He had already used up his daily fishing attempts for the game, but since it was only around ten o’clock and still early, he hadn’t logged off.

He cast the metal jig into the water and flipped open the bail arm. The line flew out at high speed, but at a depth of nearly six hundred meters, it still took a short while for the jig to finally hit the bottom.

He closed the bail, adjusted the drag, and began to slowly turn the handle to retrieve the line, all while jerking the rod up and down in wide arcs.

After jigging so many times, his strength and stamina were much greater than before. Gu Nan’s current Power and endurance were clearly a step above what they were when he first received the physical enhancement.

With higher base stats, the percentage-based bonuses yielded greater returns, so his physique had improved by a significant margin.

For now, this kind of jigging wasn’t strenuous for him at all.

The water’s depth also affected catching the marine life of Seven-Star Rock. Gu Nan worked at it for a full five minutes without a single bite, which would have been impossible before.

Slowly, before he even realized it, he had retrieved over a hundred meters of line, the large metal jig dancing up and down in the water.

Just then, in the gloomy depths, a creature appeared—one so massive it was even larger than Gu Nan’s fishing boat.

It had noticed the anomaly here long ago, having heard a strange sound. Curious, it headed over to investigate.

It wasn’t worried about its own safety, as there were very few creatures in its domain that could pose a threat.

After a moment, it spotted a strange little thing moving restlessly in front of it.

’Doesn’t this little thing know that being so conspicuous will get a fish killed?’

Curious, it extended a tentacle to touch the small object, but the result was something it had never anticipated.

Its tentacle passed right through the little thing. It hadn’t made contact at all.

As a highly intelligent creature, this was the first time it had encountered something it couldn’t comprehend.

It tried again with several more tentacles, but the result was the same.

’Are my eyes playing tricks on me?’

Unable to figure out what was happening, the giant creature immediately lost interest in the little object and slowly swam away.

After it left, all sorts of other creatures appeared. Some, out of curiosity, tried to touch the object. Others opened their massive jaws, intending to swallow it whole. But none of them could make contact with the little thing... until a 1.7-meter-long fish appeared.

”Haha, I actually hooked it!”

After jigging for a full ten minutes, Gu Nan had been on the verge of giving up. But against all odds, he had emerged as the final victor.

”CREAK... CREEEAK...”

The purple Seven-Star boat rod bent into an inverted U, a testament to the fish’s power. In truth, the sheer depth of the water was a major contributing factor.

A two-hundred-pound fish in five-hundred-meter-deep water is exponentially harder to land than one on the surface. Simply pulling the fish up is more strenuous than fighting a beast of the same size at the surface.

Seawater buoyancy doesn’t just push things upward. Anyone who has dived knows that at a depth of forty to fifty meters, you enter a zone of negative buoyancy.

Negative buoyancy doesn’t mean a complete lack of it; rather, the seawater’s buoyant force isn’t as strong as it is at the surface. It’s like being in fresh water—a person won’t float but will continue to sink.

The deeper one sinks, the greater the negative buoyancy. That’s why deep-sea fish are so difficult to catch by hand, and it’s also why electric reels are used for deep-sea fishing.

If you tried to fish by hand, your arms would be exhausted in no time. You wouldn’t have any strength left to actually land the fish.

The veins on Gu Nan’s arms were bulging. Clearly, this fish was giving him a real workout.

But the fact that this was an elite BOSS filled him with adrenaline.

He had spent so much effort trying to catch this fish; right now, he was ecstatic!

Gu Nan didn’t know what kind of deep-sea fish could be this powerful. It felt like it was putting up a much harder fight than the Long-bodied Saw Perch, so it was probably bigger.

He held onto the rod for dear life, having already locked the drag completely, forcing the fish to expend a massive amount of energy for every meter of line it took.

Fortunately, the fish wasn’t exceptionally fast. Among all the fish he had caught, its speed was merely average.

His clothes were already soaked with sweat. It was a good thing it was summer; sweating this much in heavy winter clothes would have been far more miserable.

Especially since winters in the East China region were a kind of magical attack—the moment that cold wind hit you, it was a uniquely agonizing experience.

The elite BOSS had incredible stamina. Only after a stalemate that lasted more than half an hour did it finally begin to run out of energy and slow down.

Gu Nan gasped for breath. Even though he was used to catching big fish, the exhaustion that followed was still unavoidable.

But now the time was right. Gu Nan began the process of constantly lifting the rod and reeling in the line.

The fish would struggle occasionally, yanking away the line he had worked so hard to retrieve. It was a constant tug-of-war, but thankfully, he was gaining line faster than he was losing it.

All told, it took an hour and a half for Gu Nan to drag the fish from the depths of over five hundred meters to the surface.

It was an entirely black fish. Under the lights, its fins had a hint of dark blue. It looked a bit like an oilfish, though its color wasn’t quite as dark.

Due to being hauled up from the deep sea, the fish had suffered barotrauma. Its internal organs were forced out of its mouth, and its eyes were bulging as if they were about to pop.

Looking at the fish, Gu Nan heaved a deep sigh. He had finally conquered Seven-Star Rock. His experience points had already reached Level 20 yesterday, meaning he could now unlock a new map.

But first, he had to secure the fish. He didn’t recognize what species it was, but he wasn’t in a rush. He used the crane to lift it into the game’s Chilled Storage, and only then did he check the compendium.

Smallscale Antarctic Toothfish. It had many other names: Antarctic Round Cod, Chilean Sea Bass, White Cod, and so on.

However, this was not a cod, but a species of Antarctic Dogtooth Fish.

This fish had a seven-star flavor rating because it came from the unpolluted deep sea. Furthermore, its meat was white, tender, and free of fine bones. Its smooth texture and exquisite flavor had earned it the title of a rare global ”delicacy.”

Consequently, it was very expensive. At its priciest, it could fetch up to 380 yuan per jin.

In reality, the price of Dogtooth Fish fluctuated wildly. Domestically, it was almost entirely imported from countries in the Southern Hemisphere that harvested it.

The long shipping distances meant that the standard of freshness varied greatly by the time the fish reached the domestic market.

Like cod, this fish was often imported with its head and tail removed. If it had been frozen for a long time at low temperatures and its freshness was compromised, it would only cost around eighty yuan per jin. Better-preserved ones went for over a hundred.

The game provided two price points: three hundred for sea-freighted, low-temperature frozen fish.

And three hundred eighty for air-freighted, low-temperature frozen. There was no price for chilled, unfrozen fish.

His fish were guaranteed to be of the highest quality, so their price was calculated at the highest standard.

He felt a surge of satisfaction after reading the description. Gu Nan spent fifty thousand Gold Coins to fuse the fishing rod and immediately looked for the newly unlocked...

’What the fuck? Where’s the map?’

’Where did my great big map go?!’