Chapter 23: I Always Said This Kid Was Straightforward
Chen Sui recalled the Terror Crab and let Fishfolk Wavecrest out.
Having survived the first wave of sea beast attacks, they just needed to stay careful from here on out.
Wavecrest stood at the bow, his long spear whirling like the wind, precisely cutting down one sea beast after another as they leaped past.
"My Fendou!"
Douziyü's face was full of grievance, tears swirling in her eyes.
Chen Sui tried to comfort her: "It was such a good pet — you could've just sat there and done nothing, but instead you sent it to its death."
"Ahh——"
Douziyü burst into tears. "My Fendou! I raised it for so many days!"
"……"
Since comforting her wasn't working, Chen Sui stopped trying and just let her cry.
"Row! Let's go a bit deeper."
"Okay."
Douziyü rowed alongside Chen Sui, crying all the while.
Chen Sui quietly nodded to himself — fair enough. She was actually cuter when she was crying than when she wasn't; at least she wasn't arguing with him.
As for that red Swordkiss Tricolor Fish, he could only feel a twinge of regret.
After a good while, Douziyü stopped crying. She sidled up to him, red-eyed, and asked, "I'll pay you — can you catch me another one? Just beat it to within an inch of its life and let me do the catching."
"Sure thing."
Chen Sui nodded. "What kind do you want?"
"Help me catch something strong. I only have 7,000 Fish Coins left — you can have all of it."
Douziyü fished a large pouch of Fish Coins out from her chest.
"……"
Chen Sui's rowing faltered for a moment. He turned his head to look at Douziyü.
This straightforwardly honest?! She just handed over everything she had left?
Chen Sui thought it over and didn't take it right away.
"You don't have any specific requirements?"
"None. Whatever you think is worth my 7,000 Fish Coins, that's what you go catch."
Douziyü sniffled pitifully.
Well, what more was there to say?
This girl might be a little naive, but she had a good heart.
Chen Sui reached out and took the coin pouch, giving her a thumbs-up. "Alright, milady — you trust me that much, so today, Buddy is going to catch you something big, no matter what."
"Terror Crab!"
Chen Sui recalled Wavecrest and stood up at the bow. The Terror Crab appeared on the sea surface before him the instant he spoke.
All for the sake of these 7,000 Fish Coins.
Even the Old Man and the Sea would have to become the Old Man and My Sea!
"What are you doing?"
Douziyü's eyes went wide.
"Wait here."
Chen Sui pushed off with both legs and jumped straight into the sea.
He mounted the Terror Crab and sank beneath the surface.
Watching the bubbles gurgling up from the water, Douziyü stood there in a daze, a kind of bewildered, incredulous shock written across her face.
"What on earth?!"
She scrambled to the side of the fishing boat and peered down — there were only the crisscrossing shadows of fish beneath the surface, and beyond that, nothing but deep, cerulean water.
"Hey!"
A ferocious leaping fish drove her back onto the boat.
Douziyü huddled on the fishing boat, her expression shifting through several emotions, and could only wait in place.
The sky was vast, the sea was wide, and the waves pushed the fishing boat along without a single sound from below.
A full ten minutes passed. Just when Douziyü had convinced herself that Chen Sui must be dead, a sudden surge of waves broke the surface.
A long, slender fish landed on the boat. It resembled some kind of shark in shape, over two meters in length, but protruding from its forehead was a round, glowing lantern — like the little light atop an anglerfish's head. Beneath its belly ran a dense row of strange little legs, packed together like centipede limbs.
The sea beast was covered in wounds. It had collapsed onto the deck barely clinging to life, half its gills beaten clean off.
Immediately after, the Terror Crab's massive black body surfaced.
Chen Sui leaped off the Terror Crab and landed on the boat. He wrung the seawater from his clothes and pointed at the sea beast on the deck, saying to Douziyü:
"Go ahead and catch it. If you can't manage, I'll go back down and get you another one."
Douziyü looked at Chen Sui's soaking wet figure, finally snapping back to her senses, and turned to look at the sea beast before her.
The panel that appeared made Douziyü's eyes go wide.
[Lanternshark]
Quality: Superior
Talent: Ferocious (all attributes +15%)
Level: Wavecrest Rank, Tier 6
An extremely aggressive shark. If you ever fall into the deep sea, you'd better pray you don't encounter a swaying, warm-yellow glow.
"Ah… ah ah…"
Douziyü's eyes were wide with shock. She stammered for a moment before looking at Chen Sui and asking:
"A Superior Quality sea beast? With top-tier stats? You caught me a Superior Quality sea beast? And you went underwater to do it? How did you manage that?"
Chen Sui laughed and patted the Terror Crab beside him, its body still half-emerged from the sea. "Do you really think my partner here is weaker than it?"
The Terror Crab's combat power needed no elaboration — this creature relied entirely on brute force to bulldoze its way through everything. Even Wavecrest would need considerable real-combat skill to beat the Terror Crab; in raw power, there was simply no comparison.
In this game, players had the ability to breathe underwater, but since most people didn't need it during the early stages, it was something of a forgotten feature.
Douziyü looked at the Terror Crab beside her. The longer she stared, the more terrifying and grotesque it seemed. She asked:
"If you have a sea beast like that, why have I never seen you on the leaderboard? I…"
"Alright, alright, milady — whatever questions you have, ask them later. Hurry up and capture it. You have a Capture Net, right?"
Chen Sui cut her off and pointed at the Lanternshark, urging her on.
"Yes, yes, sorry about that."
Douziyü came back to her senses, pulled a Capture Net from her chest, and tossed it over.
The Capture Net draped over the Lanternshark. Whether it was Douziyü's exceptional luck or Chen Sui's particularly heavy-handed beating, the Lanternshark struggled twice and then went still.
Douziyü waved her hand, and the Lanternshark vanished.
"Got it! Got it!"
Douziyü cried out with delight, then waved her hand again to release it — a massive Lanternshark appeared beside the boat, its tiny lantern swaying gently at the side of the vessel.
The moment it appeared, all the fish shadows in the surrounding water scattered without a trace.
Douziyü happily interacted with it for a while, and even gave it an affectionate name: Dengdeng.
……What a terrible naming sense.
Chen Sui silently mocked her in his heart and sat down at the bow.
"Alright. Let's row deeper — there probably aren't any more fish in this area."
"Hey, your sea beast wasn't that cheap, was it? Who knows what it'd sell for on the market right now. I feel like I got the better end of this deal. How about we add each other as friends, and I'll pay you the difference when I get back?"
Douziyü said, coming back to herself.
The last crab had sold for a hundred thousand — granted, some big shot had bought it at a premium — but if this sea beast were listed, it would genuinely be worth several hundred thousand.
"No need," Chen Sui shook his head. "We made a deal — money for goods, fair and square. I think you're a good person, so I gave you the sea beast. Don't worry about it."
Even if this sea beast could fetch a lot on the trading market, he genuinely didn't care.
It came down to four words: he felt like it.
"You know, you're not so annoying after all." Douziyü rummaged around in her chest and pulled out some kind of object, handing it over. "Here, take this — consider it a gift from me."
"What's this?"
Chen Sui took it and looked.
It was a damaged token, very light in weight, seemingly made from some kind of coral. The center of the token was engraved with indecipherable ancient seal script.
[Damaged Teleportation Token]
Quality: Superior
A teleportation token that can be set to teleport to a designated island. The power contained within can still be used three times.
Uses Remaining: 2/3.
"I got this item by chance. I've already used it once — hope you don't mind."
Douziyü's voice drifted over.
Chen Sui smiled.
He knew it — this girl was a straightforward one.
This thing looked like an ordinary item on the surface, but in reality, it was a ticket to staking out prime territory in the early game.
Even in the early stages, it was worth far more than that Lanternshark.
And it was exactly what Chen Sui needed.