Chapter 71: Catch Whitefish to Exchange for a Boat

Chapter 71: Catching Whitefish for the Boat

"Holy crap, is this Blaze member without spiritual energy insane?

Charging straight at the fisherwoman as soon as they enter the dungeon—isn’t that just suicidal?"

"No sane person would do something like this. Does she really think she’s being clever?"

"Going to such lengths just to stand out."

"Heh, losing a teammate before the captain even arrives. I can already predict how Blaze’s attempt will end this time."

Wu Chong looked worried. "Yue Yue, isn’t this too dangerous?"

Wu Yue replied, "Don’t worry, I’ll be right back."

There was a brief pause before Wu Yue approached the fisherwoman. The closer she got, the more she could see the girl’s corpse-pale face, her stiff and eerie smile, as if her entire face had been sewn shut with thread.

Her eyes had no pupils—just a solid expanse of blood-red.

"Stranger, crossing the river?"

Wu Yue shook her head. The fisherwoman’s voice turned sinister.

"Then, stranger, come to meet your end?"

The moment those words were spoken, Jie Chen, who had been meditating nearby, instantly opened his eyes.

Wu Chong, standing to the side, coiled like a spring.

Wu Yue, however, acted like nothing was wrong and calmly said,

"We’d like to charter your boat. Is that possible?"

The fisherwoman fixed Wu Yue with an unnerving stare. Just as everyone thought she would attack, she suddenly let out a chilling laugh.

"Fine. But chartering my boat for a day costs 30 fish—it *must* be from the Bottom River," she added.

Thirty fish per day for the boat, and they had to be from the Bottom River. Wu Yue noted these two conditions.

Wu Yue nodded. "Alright, I’ll be right back."

With that, she turned and walked toward the riverbank. The fisherwoman suddenly hissed after her,

"Stranger, I’ll only wait until dusk.

After dark, even I wouldn’t dare cross the river by boat."

Another rule: No boat rides after dark.

Wu Yue beamed. "Understood. Thanks for the reminder."

Watching this surreally civil exchange between a human and a ghost, Zhang Peng wondered if he was hallucinating.

"You're kidding? That was all it took?"

And here he was, waiting for the bloodbath.

Wu Yue gave him a sidelong glance, "This is a story dungeon. The ghosts won’t attack on their own in the first two days. Isn't that easy to understand?"

Zhang Peng’s face flushed with anger.

Wu Chong perked up with interest, "Wow, I never thought it could be done this way. We always just used a slash-and-burn approach before."

In fact, in the past, under Blaze's influence, story dungeons had always followed a kill-everything path. But in later years, people gradually discovered that the ghosts in these dungeons actually had some capacity for communication, each with their own simple side quests.

Wu Yue was essentially using future knowledge to solve it, and she was lucky enough to stumble upon success.

Wu Yue, "I just got lucky."

Wu Chong was enthusiastic, "Might as well, since we’ve got time. I’ll go fishing with you."

Wu Yue shook her head, "Don’t come over. The water in this riverbed might be poisonous. It’s best not to get close."

Then, under everyone’s puzzled gazes, Wu Yue pulled out a massive, fully automatic remote fishing net.

Zhang Peng was dumbfounded, "...Why did you bring this in?"

Wu Yue, "Uncle Zhou told me there’s always a survival segment in the dungeons every year. See? It just came in handy."

The fishing net was huge—thirty fish was child’s play; even a hundred wouldn’t be a problem.

Jie Chen took the net from Wu Yue, "Give it to me. You're not strong enough."

Wu Yue handed over the net and started digging through her inventory again.

This time, she pulled out a handful of bloody, reeking guts that looked like they belonged to a beast.

Zhang Peng pinched his nose and jumped aside, "What the hell is that? Disgusting!"

Wu Yue sighed, "No bait, no fish—simple as that. Unless you want to volunteer as bait and take a swim."

Zhang Peng retreated further, "No way!"

She chucked the guts near the water’s edge, and as the stench spread, ripples soon appeared on the previously still surface.

The members of Blaze watched intently as large whitefish, each the size of a small piglet, emerged from the depths of the river.

These whitefish were in no hurry at all, drifting belly-up like they hadn’t a care in the world, their relaxed manner almost making them look downright unemployed.

Zhang Peng watched for a while, surprised that Wu Yue had actually managed to lure the fish. Unable to resist, he leaned in for a closer peek.

Fu Yanqi drawled, “There’s a legend about water ghosts that pose as fish, floating near the shore to lure curious and greedy humans.

Once a human enters the water, these water ghosts extend the claws hidden beneath their fish-like bodies and drag them under.

By the time the human resurfaces, they’ve already been replaced by the water ghost.

The trapped soul then waits silently for the next human to come along.”

Zhang Peng’s neck prickled with dread. When he looked at the whitefish again, their chubby, harmless act had vanished.

Their eyes glowed an eerie green, blinking unnervingly like a person’s, and their bodies looked shadowy, like something lurked beneath.

As they stared at him, a creepy pull urged him closer.

"Come closer… come on…"

Under such temptation, Zhang Peng couldn’t help but walk toward the river.

Just as he was about to step onto the riverbed, the whitefish—no longer lazy—began thrashing excitedly in the water, scrambling to snatch at Zhang Peng.

Seeing the whitefish finally swarm together, Wu Yue called out, “Jie Chen, now!”

With a loud *bang*, Jie Chen pressed the button on the fishing net, and the massive net launched, sweeping out and capturing all the hundreds of fish at once.

When Jie Chen dragged the fish ashore, everyone was stunned. These fish all had legs—legs that could retract into their bellies at will, allowing them to alternate between swimming and crawling.

Jian Suiyu remarked, “Looks like these fish can come ashore when the conditions are right.”

Richard looked at the vast, endless river. “How many of these fish could be in this river?”

Jian Suiyu shook his head. “Hard to say, but there’s gotta be thousands—maybe even tens of thousands.”

Once the fish were on land, Zhang Peng suddenly snapped back to reality. Seeing the whitefish, now looking like bullfrogs, right in front of him, he screamed,

“Just now, these fish were luring me—they wanted to drag me into the river!”

Wu Yue teased, “You fell for it? Tsk tsk tsk. Stay single too long, even bullfrogs start looking good.”

Zhang Peng, "...". He felt no other spy had it worse than him.

The whitefish, hauled ashore and dehydrating fast, started wailing like shrill infants—their cries searing into the mind.

Soon enough, Wu Yue felt a pounding headache and the urge to puke.

Richard frowned. “Wu Yue can’t listen to this much longer. Her mental resistance is too weak—it might damage her brainstem.”

Jie Chen carried the fish over to the fisherwoman and handed them to her, bowing slightly.

“Here you go, ma’am—the fish you wanted.”

The moment the whitefish, which had been screaming moments ago, landed in the fisherwoman’s hands, they instantly cowered like mice under a cat’s gaze, blinking obediently.

Wu Yue immediately felt better. She asked, “How long will these fish get us a boat?”

The fisherwoman smiled in satisfaction. “Good. With these fish, my mother’s illness can be treated.

Feeling generous—you can have the boat.

By the way, I only need the meat. Keep the white pearls in their bellies as my thanks.

Head to River Village’s east end tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. My house is the one with fish meat hanging everywhere. Don’t be late, or I’m gone.”

With that, the fisherwoman grabbed the fish in one hand, stepped onto a small boat, and glided off leisurely.