I Can Fish Up Everything!

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Fishing Game Synchronized with Reality

Yangjiang Port in Bazhou City is located in the South China Region. As June began, the weather became extremely hot. Especially around one or two in the afternoon, if you looked outside, you could see the very air shimmering and distorting in the heat.

Heat waves rolled across the nearly empty streets.

Yangjiang Port, situated on the coast, had several large harbors.

With its booming fishing industry, it naturally also had two large seafood markets.

Fengnan Aquatic Products was one such small shop, nestled inside one of the seafood markets.

Sitting in front of his computer, Gu Nan stared at the month’s income and expense report, his mood sinking.

He had opened this small seafood shop with the money he’d saved from two years of work after graduation, plus some help from his parents.

He hadn’t been expecting to strike it rich, marry a beautiful bride, and live happily ever after; he just hoped it would be better than working a nine-to-five.

Reality, however, was far crueler. The grimace on his face said it all: not only had he failed to turn a profit, but he’d also lost nearly all his initial investment.

And it had only been half a year since he’d opened!

The main problem was that Gu Nan had been too naive. To run a seafood shop, you needed good supply channels.

A complete novice entering a business as treacherous as seafood? He was a lamb to the slaughter.

He could rarely get reasonably priced seafood from his suppliers; his purchasing costs were consistently higher than everyone else’s.

And forget about imported seafood. With high prices and high taxes, there was virtually no profit margin for him.

Often, the seafood would be dead on arrival, and when he tried to complain, his suppliers would simply ignore him.

Rent and utilities also cost a fortune. He didn’t even want to think about how much electricity the two massive freezers in the shop consumed each day.

Just thinking about it was stressful, so Gu Nan decided to put it out of his mind. Business should pick up once the seasonal fishing ban ended in a little over a month.

He could still turn a small profit if he bought his stock directly from the fishermen at the docks.

Business before the ban had been passable, at least enough to cover the shop’s daily expenses.

Shoving his worries aside, Gu Nan pulled out his phone and opened a game called *World Fishing Enthusiast*.

It was a casual fishing game where you could catch different fish on each map to earn Gold Coins and experience points.

Gold Coins were used to buy equipment like fishing rods, while experience points were for leveling up to unlock the next map and more species of fish.

He had just downloaded the game and only given it a quick look; he hadn’t actually started playing yet. He was used to playing other fishing games.

The reason Gu Nan had opened a seafood shop in the first place was that he’d gotten into fishing last year. He had quickly become an enthusiast, and since he knew a fair bit about aquatic products, opening his own shop seemed like a logical next step.

In his free time, he would also fish from the shore by the docks to supplement his income.

Unfortunately, with coastal resources becoming more and more depleted, he usually sat there all night only to go home empty-handed.

Nowadays, with transparent pricing, the profit margins for middlemen were shrinking. Many customers just went straight to the docks to buy seafood from the fishermen themselves.

He sighed. The game had loaded, and a tutorial prompt immediately tried to guide him through his first catch.

But these fishing games were all pretty much the same, so he skipped the tutorial.

Just as he was about to tap the "Fish" button, his vision suddenly went black, and an electronic voice rang in his ears.

[DING. *WORLD FISHING ENTHUSIAST* HAS SUCCESSFULLY LINKED WITH REALITY. BINDING TO HOST. PLEASE WAIT...]

’What the hell?’

The electronic voice seemed to resonate directly inside his head. It was so clear that Gu Nan knew he couldn’t be hallucinating.

Sure enough, the voice rang out again a moment later.

[CONGRATULATIONS, HOST. BINDING SUCCESSFUL. PLEASE FIND A REAL-WORLD LOCATION SIMILAR TO THE FENGQI COAST. UPON SUCCESSFUL ACTIVATION, THE FENGQI COAST WILL SYNCHRONIZE WITH THE CHOSEN LOCATION, AND THE GAME WILL OFFICIALLY BEGIN.]

[THE HOST CAN CATCH AQUATIC PRODUCTS FROM THE GAME MAP IN THE REAL WORLD. THIS WILL NOT AFFECT THE HOST’S ABILITY TO CATCH NATIVE, REAL-WORLD AQUATIC LIFE.]

[THE GAME HAS SUCCESSFULLY LINKED TO THE HOST’S BANK ACCOUNT. UPON OBTAINING AQUATIC PRODUCTS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES, THE GAME WILL AUTOMATICALLY FILE IMPORT TAXES AND PROVIDE PROOF OF PURCHASE TO LEGALIZE THE HOST’S CATCH. PLEASE ENSURE SUFFICIENT FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN ADVANCE.]

[NOTE: IF FUNDS ARE INSUFFICIENT, THE COST WILL BE DEDUCTED FROM YOUR IN-GAME GOLD COINS. THE GAME CAN COVER THE PAYMENT.]

’The game map syncs with reality, so I can catch fish from the game in the real world?’

’I’ve seen the locked maps in the game—they’re all based on foreign rivers, lakes, and seas. Does this mean if I keep leveling up and unlocking them, I can catch all sorts of imported seafood right here in my own country?’

’And the game is even thoughtful enough to handle the taxes on foreign catches. Otherwise, even if I caught something, I wouldn’t dare sell it. One audit and I’d be ruined!’

’A comeback! This is definitely my comeback!’

’I can earn back my investment, the shop can be saved from ruin, and if I make enough money, I might even be able to marry a pretty, capable wife!’

Overcome with excitement, Gu Nan immediately closed up his shop, hopped on his electric scooter, and sped toward the coast under the blazing sun.

The game’s Fengqi Coast was just a stretch of coastline with beaches and reefs. Plenty of places along the coast in his country fit that description.

As a frequent angler, Gu Nan knew exactly where to find such a spot, and it was close to the seafood market.

After a ride of less than ten minutes on his scooter, he arrived at his destination.

Swapping his helmet for a baseball cap, Gu Nan immediately headed toward the rocky reef area by the shore.

He knew of a hidden gem: the back of a huge reef that offered a bit of shade from the sun.

There was also a small tide pool there. He wouldn’t even need a fish basket or a livewell; he could just toss his catch into the pool and then scoop them out with a landing net when he was ready to leave.

Once he reached the spot, he opened the game and selected "Activate."

[TERRAIN SIMILARITY TO FENGQI COAST DETECTED AT 81%. REQUIREMENT OF 60% MET. FENGQI MAP ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL. SYNCHRONIZED WITH REALITY.]

[CONGRATULATIONS, HOST, ON ACTIVATING THE FENGQI COAST. THE GAME SHOP IS NOW OPEN. YOU HAVE BEEN GIFTED: BEGINNER FISHING ROD, BEGINNER SPINNING REEL, BEGINNER LURE, BEGINNER FISHING LINE, AND BEGINNER LIVEWELL.]

[GAME BONUS: THE HOST WILL HAVE TEN GUARANTEED-BITE ATTEMPTS PER DAY.]

[DAILY QUESTS UNLOCKED. PLEASE CHECK THE MENU AT YOUR CONVENIENCE.]

Gu Nan was pleasantly surprised; he hadn’t expected the game to give him starter gear. He glanced around. No one would be out fishing in the middle of a hot afternoon like this, and there were no security cameras in sight.

So, with a flick of his will, a plain-looking lure rod materialized in front of him.

The spinning reel was unremarkable, the fishing line was a paltry hundred meters long, and the lure was just a standard minnow plug.

"Tch, this stuff really is for beginners," Gu Nan muttered with a look of disdain. After all, he wasn’t a true novice and had little regard for such basic equipment.

But when he opened the game’s shop and saw that this basic equipment could be replaced for free an infinite number of times if it broke, his eyes lit up.

’So I can get it for free! Why didn’t it say so earlier!’

This gear was more than enough for fishing at the docks or in local rivers. ’Not bad, not bad at all.’

The system-provided gear had another special feature: when using one of the daily guaranteed-bite chances, the line and hook could handle anything from a half-pound fish to one weighing dozens of pounds. It wouldn’t snap the line or break the rod, no matter how big the fish was.

The only ways to lose a fish were if you ran out of line or if your technique was poor. A guaranteed bite wasn’t the same as a guaranteed catch.

During normal fishing, however, snapping lines and breaking rods were still a possibility, and he would have to provide his own bait.

Next, Gu Nan checked the items for sale in the shop. It was all fishing gear, and everything had the prefix "Fengqi"—clearly, it was special equipment for the first map.

The equipment was divided into four color-coded tiers of rarity: white, green, blue, and purple.

Gu Nan selected a white fishing rod to inspect it. It cost five hundred Gold Coins, but it came with special attributes.

(Effective only on the Fengqi Coast map): Large Fish Bonus +5%, Rare Fish Bonus +3%, Daily Guaranteed Bites on Fengqi Coast +1.

The highest-tier purple rod, meanwhile, offered a Large Fish Bonus of +20%, a Rare Fish Bonus of +12%, and +5 to the daily number of guaranteed bites on the Fengqi Coast.

But the price was worlds apart—a full twenty times more expensive, costing ten thousand Gold Coins for a single rod. The reels had the same prices and attributes as their corresponding rods.

The line and lures were a bit cheaper. A purple set cost sixty-eight hundred Gold Coins, and while they didn’t have bonus stats, they provided a buff that accelerated stamina drain on large fish. The livewell had an effect that slowed the rate at which a fish’s vitality depleted.

He drooled at the stats, but unfortunately, Gu Nan didn’t have a single Gold Coin to his name. He quickly opened the daily quests tab; this would be his main way of earning them.