In the blink of an eye, the canoe was replaced by a sleek sailboat. What had once been a cramped five-square-meter vessel had now expanded into a spacious twenty-square-meter ship, complete with a captain’s quarters and a cargo hold. The sail unfurled, white against the sky, and with the addition of the Dinghai Compass, their speed shot up to twelve knots an hour—a world apart from before. The hull was finished in a retro lacquer, glinting in the sunset. Ye Shu stood poised on the deck, flanked by several wooden barrels. Meanwhile, Da Piaoliang was busy grooming herself atop one of the barrels, licking her glossy fur.

To port, two fishing rods had been set aside—one still a simple, optimized stick of weathered wood, the other gleaming silver-grey metal. As Ye Shu’s fingers brushed against that metallic rod, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in her mind:

[Ding ding~ Congratulations, Player Ye Shu, for surviving two days at sea and upgrading to Level 2 Sailboat. Random reward: Backup Fishing Rod.\nFishing Rod Level: Silver Quality\nDescription: Passed down ten generations, never leaving your side. Increases both speed and success rate of treasure chest fishing, with a much lower chance of reeling in unknown sea creatures. Grabbing a chest now takes just ten minutes.]

"You can really game the system like this?" Ye Shu murmured, startled. So the chances of catching strange sea creatures were way higher with the wooden rod? She recalled the heap of junk and that grotesque sardine with a human leg she'd caught before. Grimacing, she picked up the old wood rod:

[Fishing Rod: Just an ordinary rod.\nDescription: Nothing fancy. Likely to hook ocean trash or scrap iron. Wears out easily. 15 minutes to fish up a chest.]

On the canoe, she’d never been able to see this info. Only after upgrading to the Level 2 sailboat did the system reveal its hand.

With two rods in play, her supply-gathering speed soared. Settling beneath the sunshade, Ye Shu took a bite from a frozen watermelon wedge; sweet juice bursting cold in her mouth, pure summer on the open sea.

Da Piaoliang had shrunk down to the size of a kitten, one paw gripping the wooden rod, the other holding half a watermelon, scraping at the flesh in tiny bites, the crunching of crushed ice as steady as the waves. Even the green rind soon disappeared down her throat.

"Mrowww... Master, can I have another piece?" Da Piaoliang looked up, eyes gleaming—not quite sated. Compared to bloody meat, this fruit had a uniquely addictive taste. Honestly? Anything was better than that sardine with a human leg.

Ye Shu shot the black cat a sidelong glance. Who would have thought this creepy little flesh-eater would develop such a fondness for fruit? And truth be told, she looked downright delighted. Without another word, Ye Shu tore off another wedge and tossed it over.

So here they were—girl and ghoul. Sunset painting the sky, rods dipping toward the waves. The world was still, as if time had, mercifully, paused.

The sea offered no time limits, so Ye Shu found herself living the true fisherman’s dream. Mealtimes included: her gaze never strayed from those rods. Even the trash she hauled up—scrap metal, rusted gears—felt like opening a blind box, wonder always a possibility.

Suddenly, she heaved on her line and hauled up a purple starfish the size of half her face. This was no ordinary starfish: it bore the pallid, indistinct features of a human—soaked and blurred, a blank, listless mask. The hair on the back of her neck prickled at the sight.

What in the world...? This thing was even creepier than the legged sardine!

The starfish squirmed along the deck, and no matter where Ye Shu stood, the grin on its human face seemed to widen in her direction.

[Congratulations, Player Ye Shu, on catching a Human-Faced Starfish!]\n[Marine Creature: Human-Faced Starfish\nDescription: Non-toxic, filling, healthy, and notoriously awful-tasting. Sports an oddly alluring human face. Corals’ favorite, and a menace to wooden boats.]

"A pest, too? Da Piaoliang, this is technically fish... You eat it." Ye Shu stabbed the starfish with a knife. Its eerie smile twisted into a weep, as the stench of brine filled the air.

"Mrow, mrowww... I’ll have to pass, Master. I’m not hungry—and honestly, this thing’s just too ugly." Da Piaoliang wrinkled her nose at the starfish. Eating it was unthinkable; staring at it was bad enough.

[Sea Survival System Friendly Reminder: Killed marine life cannot be preserved. Eat quickly!]\n[Human-Faced Starfish Freshness: 70%.]

It was, after all, food. She couldn’t waste it. Ye Shu activated the chat panel, and began rapid-fire trading.

[ImYourDad: Starfish up for trade! Not 998, not 98—a human-faced starfish, bring it home for just ONE plank!]

She thoughtfully attached a photo of her catch.

{What is that thing? A mutant? You call *that* a starfish?}\n{Holy... Is that a human face? Am I seeing this right?}\n{Good lord, that’s hideous. Can you *really* eat it? Don’t tell me it’s poisonous...}\n{Even if it’s edible, it’s gotta taste horrible.}\n{Am I the only one noticing the crying face on its back? Creepy as hell. I couldn’t even look at it, let alone eat.}\n{ImYourDad: Just a totally ordinary starfish, I swear on my life, absolutely non-toxic, and there’s plenty to go around.}\n{Taotie: I’ll take it! One plank, right?}

Among the chorus of disgust and disbelief, a user called 'Taotie' insisted on phasing out Ye Shu’s bizarre catch. She put the starfish on the trading platform and swapped it for a plank of wood.

Then, legs dangling from her folding chair, she went back to fishing.

[Congratulations, Player Ye Shu, on catching another Human-Faced Starfish!]\nYet again? Ye Shu’s gut twisted with foreboding.

Over the next two hours, the pattern repeated:

[Player Ye Shu caught a Human-Faced Starfish.]\n[Caught a Human-Faced Starfish.]\n[Caught... a starfish.]\n[Starfish.]\n[Caught a Human-Faced Octopus.]

She looked at the basket behind her, now overflowing with human-faced starfish. “...”

Surely the game was screwing with her—otherwise, how else could her top-tier silver rod still fail to hook a single treasure chest? If she’d at least been hauling up regular fish, she could write it off as bad luck. But this? These weren’t fish at all—they were something else entirely.

Still, Ye Shu pressed on, determined to gather more supplies:

[Caught a Short-Legged Bread Crab.]\n[Caught another Short-Legged Bread Crab.]\n[Bread Crab: Non-toxic, healthy, but tastes terrible. Covered in armor, with six stubby legs. Loves to pinch fingers.]

Without a flicker of emotion, Ye Shu flicked a crab with a human foot off her rod and into a barrel.

[Congratulations, Player Ye Shu, on catching a strand of seaweed!]\n[Seaweed: Rich in Vitamin C. Tasty in cold salads or hearty stews.]

Spotting the yellow-green tangle, Ye Shu smiled—finally, something normal. With this much-needed ingredient, tonight’s soup would be a triumph. She’d never had seaweed in her storage, which made this a true delicacy.

No sooner had she reeled in her prize than the line groaned again, this time producing an exquisite glass bottle:

[Player Ye Shu caught a virus-containing message bottle!]\nIt might look like an ordinary bottle, but Ye Shu never let anything go to waste—one quick optimization, and the lurking virus vanished.

[Optimized exquisite glass bottle, upgraded to Obsidian Glazed Vessel.]\nThe five-pointed star-shaped bottle in her hand instantly darkened, shimming with deep, oily hues.

[Description: Pretty star-shaped vase. Sea creatures love this fancy decoration. Toss one their way, and who knows? You might get lucky.]

Meanwhile, at the other end of the deck, Da Piaoliang gazed with satisfaction at her growing pile of worthless junk.

"Master! I did it—I caught *another* treasure chest of trash!" The black cat’s furry face was alight with human-like delight.