Chapter 94: The Sweet-Toothed Fish

Lily Rhodes removed the entrails from the fishhook and swapped them out for high-quality fish meat, ready to try again.

Another half hour passed.

Still, no fish took the bait. It would have been one thing if they simply refused to bite, but the bait remained completely untouched.

"Entrails don’t work, and neither does fresh fish. Fishing without bait didn’t work earlier either. The fish around here have ridiculously picky appetites. No, this isn’t working. I need to find someone and ask," she muttered.

Working blindly in isolation would get her nowhere. Besides, the System had explicitly stated that violence was strictly prohibited during this event. With that in mind, Lily began scouting for a target.

After circling the area, she finally locked onto a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties. She had been observing him for quite some time. He had not moved an inch since sitting down, yet he had already reeled in several catches.

Lily had initially wanted to go over and ask for advice. However, seeing his dead-serious expression, she reconsidered. Interrupting a dedicated angler would likely just get her shooed away, let alone yield any useful tips. If a direct approach was off the table, she would just have to steal his techniques from afar.

Fortunately, she brought a comprehensive set of gear, including binoculars. She found a good vantage point and began observing the most successful anglers through her lenses. She quickly discovered that they used a bizarre variety of baits. Some used fish meat, while others used completely different materials. The reference value was not zero, but it meant little to her—she did not possess any of the alternative baits they were using. It looked like they had formulated their own custom mixtures.

"Forget it, I will just try a few more times. If worse comes to worst, I will dive straight in and catch them by hand."

Her sailboat was capable of submerging, after all.

With that thought, she brought out every single item she brought that could potentially serve as bait. Nine lunchboxes contained her food for the next three days—though fish probably wouldn’t eat that. Then there were the fruits and vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, apples, grapes, peaches, and bananas. Oh, and the snacks: gummies and biscuits.

Lily stared at the pile and fell into silence.

Could these things really be used as bait? It was time for a blind leap of faith.

Her gaze grew determined. Why couldn’t they be bait? Back on Azurea, she had seen someone fish using a lollipop. They didn’t even have a fishing rod—just a string, a stick, and a lollipop—yet they hauled up a fish, leaving a whole row of veteran anglers utterly dumbfounded.

With this in mind, Lily decided to test the waters with a lollipop first; she had brought plenty of such Spirit Stones with her.

Even as she cast the lollipop out, she felt no real confidence. Yet, barely three seconds after the candy hit the water, a familiar tug pulled at the fishing rod.

Her eyes lit up. She quickly reeled in the line. At the end of it, clamped firmly onto the lollipop, a twenty-centimeter-long, gem-like dark blue fish thrashed wildly.

Without hesitation, she hauled the fish aboard before it could break free. She tossed it into her spatial storage. The display panel, which had previously shown a "0", suddenly blinked and updated to "20".

This single fish was worth twenty Points.

Immediately after, a block of information materialized in the air above her.

[Sapphire Fish: A fish species living approximately twenty meters underwater. Its entire body is sapphire blue, possessing extremely high ornamental value. It prefers to live in schools and has a fondness for sweets.]

Lily’s gaze landed on the last few words. *A fondness for sweets.* No wonder the lollipop had worked. The Sapphire Fish she just caught was undeniably beautiful, its blue scales practically glowing.

"Keep going, keep going," she told herself.

The System Introduction had mentioned that the Sapphire Fish moved in schools, which meant there had to be more of them swimming below. Lily continued using lollipops as bait. She had not been able to get a single bite earlier, but now, it was as if she had turned on a cheat code. She would drop the bait, and the very next second, a fish would hook itself.

As she continuously reeled in Sapphire Fish, she eyed the sparkling blue creatures with growing desire, wondering if she could bring some back alive.

Pausing her fishing, she walked to the back of the sailboat. There was a live-water tank down there specifically designed for keeping fish. Right now, it was completely empty, and the water had not been changed in a long time. She drained the stale water, refilled it with a fresh batch, and then resumed her angling.

By now, her Points had reached two hundred—ten Sapphire Fish in total.

She checked the event leaderboard. The first-place contender was already closing in on a thousand Points. The top ten scores were locked in a fierce, tight race, separated by only a dozen Points or even just a few; a single fish could easily bridge the gap. Meanwhile, Lily’s ranking sat way outside the top thousand.

"Looks like there’s really no hope of winning the championship this time." She sighed.

Others might have gritted their teeth and fought tooth and nail just to prove a point, but Lily was different. The way she saw it, since things were already like this, she might as well just slack off and let it be. In an event like this, the rewards for anyone outside the top one hundred were basically just consolation prizes—better than nothing, but barely.

As for the first-place reward...

She looked at the top spot on the leaderboard. The reward listed there was simply a question mark. Other than that, there was absolutely nothing.

Ever since she decided to slack off, her mindset had become significantly more peaceful.

It was only the first day, yet a faint scent of gunpowder already lingered in the air. Humans were social creatures. Having drifted alone on the sea in the sweltering heat, everyone had been suffering from cabin fever. Now that they had finally arrived here, surrounded by so many others, the atmosphere instantly became lively.

While the Survivors were still fishing diligently, their family members had already begun chatting and even trading supplies with one another.

"Young lady, looks like you’re out here all by your lonesome! You gonna want a boxed meal? Freshly made egg fried rice, absolutely authentic flavor!"

While Lily was fishing, a gray-haired middle-aged woman slowly rowed over in a wooden boat. In front of her sat a large stainless steel bucket—the kind used for seaweed and egg drop soup in school cafeterias—filled to the brim with golden egg fried rice. Next to it were several side dishes: stewed fish, grilled fish, pan-fried fish, and ocean fish stewed with tofu.

"No thank you, ma’am. I have my own food," Lily declined with a smile.

Seeing the rejection, the older woman didn’t pester her. She simply continued rowing toward the others, hollering as she went.

"Fried rice! Fried rice! Delicious egg fried rice, fresh from The Supreme Shop! If it ain’t good, it’s free!"