The Fish I Catch Can Level Up-Chapter 1: Aquatic Species Codex

"Alright, see you tonight then!" After hanging up the phone, Chu Mingcheng glanced at the time with a bright smile. He had about ten minutes left until the end of his shift, so he immediately started packing up his things, ready to head home.
Just then, his supervisor—a middle-aged man who often used overtime as an excuse to avoid his domineering wife at home—approached with a document in hand.
He tossed the document onto Chu Mingcheng's desk and said curtly, "Ah-Cheng, stay late tonight and revise this proposal. The client needs it urgently."
"…"
Chu Mingcheng, twenty-eight and edging closer to thirty, felt his stomach drop.
Why now? Why wait until the last minute before clocking out? This was downright frustrating.
"Manager Chen, whoever drafted this proposal should be the one to fix it. I have a date tonight!"
Manager Chen paused for a second before adopting a weighty, earnest tone. "I'm giving it to you because I trust your abilities. This is also your chance to prove yourself. This deal is significant, and if the client is satisfied, I'll give you a bonus."
"You've been with the company for several years now, and you've got the skills. Next year, I'll see about getting you a promotion and a raise. Girls these days are practical, you know. Once you have that, will you even need to go on dates?"
"Do a good job with the proposal. Don't let me down!"
"But I—" Chu Mingcheng wanted to say more, but Chen Jie didn't give him a chance, turning around and heading back to his office.
Staring at the file, he felt a powerful urge to march over and throw it right back in his boss's face, to tell him he quit.
Unfortunately, jobs were hard to come by, and he wasn't some rich kid with a trust fund. Resigned, he could only pull out his phone and message his date to explain the situation. He was working overtime. Again.
"That old bastard Chen is going too far, isn't he? Making you revise a proposal after hours? He's just messing with you." After Chen Jie left, a male colleague sitting next to Chu Mingcheng grumbled in his defense.
Chu Mingcheng simply smiled without answering. He was certain that if he agreed with his colleague, even just a few dissatisfied remarks, that old bastard Chen would likely find out he'd been talking badly about him and was unhappy with his work. Then, he'd probably be forced to work overtime every single day for weeks, with all sorts of errands and tasks waiting for him.
With a boss like that, the office atmosphere naturally wasn't great. As for overtime pay? Ha! The company considered it a sign of how much they "valued" you. Who would even mention overtime pay then? This was why nobody wanted to stay late, and naturally, everyone tried to pawn it off on someone else!
It wasn't until ten o'clock that night that Chu Mingcheng finally finished revising the proposal. He stretched, looking around the empty office, muttering a curse at Chen Jie, and then began packing up, ready to go home and sleep.
Just as he picked up his phone, he saw a message from his date. Clicking it open, Chu Mingcheng's expression froze.
"I'm looking for someone who can spend a lot of time with me. You probably work overtime often, right?"
"Even if we were together, you wouldn't be able to be by my side. You're not the person I'm looking for. How about we just leave it at that..."
Slowly lowering his phone, Chu Mingcheng sat powerlessly in his chair, staring blankly for a long time. It wasn't that he was sad about being rejected by his date; after all, they had only exchanged photos and chatted for three days, never even meeting in person.
He was just wondering... was this really the life he wanted?
He earned seven thousand yuan a month and was constantly expected to work unpaid overtime. In a small county, that salary would have been pretty good. But he lived in a southern coastal city, where the cost of living in even a county-level city was as high as some provincial capitals up north. After buying a modest car for a hundred thousand yuan two years ago, he hadn't saved much.
Because of work, his previous girlfriend broke up with him, and three dates had also run away.
Chu Mingcheng felt that this kind of life was pointless. But to survive, he couldn't just throw the proposal in his boss's face. He had to endure it all, even the constant corporate manipulation.
He rubbed his face, took a deep breath, and shoved his turbulent emotions down. He decided to head to the beach to clear his head.
It was late, but at that moment, he desperately needed to vent all the negative emotions in his heart.
This had always been his habit.
Whenever he felt exhausted, upset, or unhappy, he would go to the beach alone. If no one was around, he'd even shout at the waves. The vast, open space of the sea was a stark contrast to his cramped office, and the environment always made him feel exceptionally relaxed.
The place Chu Mingcheng was headed was, in fact, his old hometown.
It was a small island in the southern part of Zhejiang Province. Back then, his father had specifically bought a house in the town so he could get a better education, and later the whole family moved to live in the town. The old house on the island was usually empty, though they would occasionally go back for a few days during the holidays.
Chu Mingcheng didn't live with his parents. The commute from their town to his company in the city took nearly an hour by bus, so he simply rented a place nearby. He hadn't moved back even after buying a car, but the vehicle did make it much more convenient to visit his old home.
It was an island, after all. Fishing with the boatmen, foraging on the beach at low tide, angling, camping—for men, these were pastimes that never got old.
A little over an hour later, after crossing the sea bridge connecting the island to the town, Chu Mingcheng finally arrived at his usual spot on the beach.
Normally, at eleven at night, you might see one or two people foraging if the tide was out.
But today, the beach was packed with a dense crowd of people constantly bending over to pick something up. Chu Mingcheng was stunned. What was going on?
As he stepped onto the sand, the familiar briny scent of the ocean filled his nostrils. Under the beams of the foragers' flashlights, the entire beach seemed to be alive with wriggling mantis shrimp.
"Holy shit!" No wonder the beach was swarming with people. Who would pass up the chance to literally pick up free money?
Even fishmongers had been drawn to the scene, setting up shop right on the spot for immediate transactions.
Without a second thought, Chu Mingcheng drove back to his old house, ran inside, grabbed every bucket he could find, and rushed back to the beach to join the gold rush.
The moment he grabbed a lively mantis shrimp—a good fifteen centimeters long, not including its head and tail—a data panel suddenly materialized in his mind.
[Aquatic Species Codex (Level 0)]
[Current Experience: (1/50)]
[Unlocked Capture Tools: Hands, Fishing Gear]
[Aquatic Species Maximum Level: 50]
[Unlocked Species: Mantis Shrimp (Oratosquilla oratoria)]
[Special Ability: None]
[Note: All functions of the Aquatic Species Codex are only effective on aquatic creatures!]
Chu Mingcheng blinked. Was this his cheat? And it only worked on aquatic creatures?
But why didn't it have a tutorial or description?
He studied it for a moment, but the so-called Aquatic Species Codex had no other information. The only thing that stood out was the species name, "Mantis Shrimp (Oratosquilla oratoria)," which was displayed in blue text. Was that the key?
He tentatively tapped the words, and sure enough, the data panel changed.
[Mantis Shrimp (Oratosquilla oratoria), aka Pee-pee Shrimp (Level 0)]
[Current Experience: 1/10]
[Size +0% (Larger fish of the same species are more likely to bite, affected by percentage chance)]
[Deliciousness +0% (Fish with higher fat content and better meat quality are more likely to bite, affected by percentage chance)]
[Capture Chance +0%]
Seeing this new panel, Chu Mingcheng instantly understood.
Anyone who had played a game would get it. The current experience of 1/10 meant the "1" came from the single mantis shrimp he had just caught. The "10" likely meant that after catching ten of them, the species entry would level up, and the "(Level 0)" would become "(Level 1)".
Following that logic, the "Max Species Level: 50" on the main panel meant the mantis shrimp's entry could be leveled up to 50. As for the stats, all currently at 0%, they would probably increase with each level. He'd have to catch ten mantis shrimp to find out by how much.
With the entire beach covered in them, was there any doubt he could level it up?
As for the main Aquatic Codex's experience points, it was probably related to the number of different species he unlocked. He'd likely find out more when he caught something else.
But the most important thing right now was to cash in. An opportunity like this was incredibly rare.