Lin Ye crouched beside the filthy ditch along the moat, clutching a chipped plastic fishing rod. The Nth time he pulled his completely empty hook out of the water, he finally snapped and cursed at the murky river. “You damn System! Keep screwing me over and see if I don’t uninstall you!”
Three days ago, he’d been a corporate drone getting chewed out by his boss. On his way home from work, he’d dodged an electric scooter running a red light and slammed headfirst into a utility pole. When he opened his eyes again, he had a new “Global Fishing King System.”
The System’s opening pitch had been ridiculously grand: “Greetings, Host! This System is dedicated to cultivating a universe-class fishing master. Complete missions to earn divine fishing gear, skill points, and cash rewards. The ultimate goal: catch the legendary ‘Four Seas Stabilizing Needle’!”
Lin Ye had nearly laughed out loud, thinking the System must have fried its CPU when he hit that utility pole. But when he saw that the reward for the beginner mission, “Catch your first fish in the moat,” was “1,000 yuan in cash + a beginner fishing rod,” he quickly dug out the battered bamboo rod his grandpa had used in his youth and crouched beside the river, where the mosquitoes were big enough to carry a person away.
