The Boss Behind The Game

New Year's Eve.

Countless players walked out of the Mansion of the Dead in pairs toward the coast of the Underworld Sea in Liuli District.

That was where the activity would start.

With the arrival of dusk, the coast was seen to fill up with ships and rafts of various sizes while the shore was crowded with people.

The players rubbed their hands together, waiting for the activity to start. They were getting ready to compete with each other by sailing out to sea.

Lu Wu, who was already prepared beforehand then began to condense an enormous clock above the sea.

[The activity is about to start. Everyone, please get ready, any player that leaves the shore to enter the ocean before the activity starts will be deemed to have forfeited their competitive rights!]

Accompanying the countdown on the clock were countless brilliant fireworks that filled the air above the coastline, illuminating the sky.

Soon after, the sound of the countdown bell rang.

Dong! Dong!

Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven…

One!

At the end of the countdown, the game notification sounded again.

[The New Year's activity has officially started! This activity will last for six hours, all fish caught during this time guarantees an accumulated reward. The fishing contest begins!]

Gazing at the sky overflowing with fireworks, all the players cheered as they set sail with their mates, heading toward the direction of the brilliant moon hanging above the sea line.

The players who did not have guild warships or ships followed along, rowing their small rafts.

This activity relied mainly on the enthusiasm of the players because it really did not depend on how strong one's ability was, but how much luck that one had.

However, because many players had already seen the video of Ba Mu fishing, most of the players moved around in small squads. After all, if the Spiritual Fish was of a higher class, it would be harder to handle for one person. Furthermore, if there were more people, they could look after each other.

As for the players who had neither Specter Ships nor rafts, they fished around the shoreline. Even though the chances of getting a Spiritual Fish were lower, they decided to try their luck since this activity was based on luck. Maybe fishing near the shore would bring about a lavish reward.

Not only did the New Year's activity this time attract all the players, even the Wood Spirit Clan had rushed over due to curiosity.

They smiled widely as fireworks burst open in the skies and the cheers of the players rung in their ears.

To them, this was one of the celebration ceremonies for the players' culture, so they joined in curiously as well, looking at the players fishing. They were so enthusiastic that they even set up a barbeque, grilling fish for the players that were fishing.

As the first player caught a fish, the ranking board appeared as well. All the players could clearly see the translucent ranking board hanging on the upper right corner of their screen, stating their current ranking.

Below the ranking board was an activity chatroom, an area where the players could communicate with each other.

After about half an hour, a hundred Guild Level Specter Warships sailed into the Void Ocean. Once they entered this part of the ocean, they then went their separate ways, each choosing a different spot to start fishing.

At the same time, the ranking board was changing almost every second, the ranking of the players moving back and forth. At this stage, it was hard to tell who would be the winner.

…...

At the edge of a cliff along the coastline, a bald man held a fishing rod in his right hand and a bottle of Wood Spirit liquor from the Wood Spirit Clan in his left. He took a sip of the liquor every now and then lazily, but his piercing gaze remained on the water's surface.

Shi Hu was absolutely sure that he would not win any of the top spots in this fishing competition. After all, a boorish and unrefined person as himself had no knowledge about fishing. Moreover, he was clumsy when it came to fighting monsters to level up. He had entered this competition just for fun.

That was why he had chosen not to work with a small team. Instead, he had found himself a remote cliff edge to casually fish upon while watching the moon and feeling the sea breeze.

As for the potential harvest, Shi Hu was still very excited about it.

He was excited to send the fish that he had caught to the shore for the brothers of the Wood Spirit Clan to cook scrumptiously and did not really care for the marks accumulated in the competition.

From his point of view, he was just as useless as a salted fish. Rankings and rewards did not exist for him! The most important thing was to wine and dine to his heart's content.

Shi Hu effortlessly excused his mentality by calling himself a player for life. All the fighting and killing was too bloody for him. In his mind, to live a life of ease and leisure was the real relish of being a human.

Drowned deep in his thoughts as the sea breeze swept across his face, Shi Hu fished calmly, not even the slightest bit as nervous as other players.

He had pretty good luck as he had already caught three marine fish, three Lischke, and a huge lobster within two hours.

The elated Shi Hu glanced at his creel, preparing to send his catch to the Wood Spirit Clan's barbeque stall after catching one more fish.

Subsequently, he cast his fishing rod and waited patiently again.

At that moment, the sound of the game notification could be heard, while a line of red-colored words appeared on the ranking board in the upper right corner.

[Congratulations to player Sun Qi who caught a Tiger Fish (Spiritual Sea level), obtained 500 points, currently placed second on the board!]

When the notification appeared, a picture appeared in the chatroom.

The picture was of a white puppy enthusiastically holding a fish bigger than the size of its own body in its jaws with a line of words below the picture.

"Sure enough, Gou Zi is the king of the game, obtaining a Spiritual Sea Fish, hehe, the Myth Guild blesses you!"

Shi Hu cast a brief look undisturbed, then went on to admire the moonlight.

[Congratulations to player Meng Shao Chun who caught a Blood Spirit fish (Spiritual Sea level), obtained 500 points, currently leaping to third place on the board!]

Another notification appeared, causing Shi Hu to sigh. He gazed at the ocean and nagged uncontrollably.

"Those with great luck like to show off all the time, while those who have bad luck can only look in their empty bags and weep. I curse all of the lucky ones and hope that they'll stay single for all of their lives!"

After speaking, Shi Hu felt his fishing rod quiver slightly. He realized that a fish had taken the bait and snapped out of his distracted mood as he started to reel in the fishing line.

It was just as he thought, the rod was easily lifted. Clearly, there was no good outcome.

Yet after Shi Hu lifted his fishing rod, his mind went blank for a moment. What kind of trick is this?

A weird-looking fish with the head of a dragon and the tail of a fish was hanging on the fishhook. He remained stunned for a while before he started using the Artifact to analyze.

After he saw the analyzed characteristics, Shi Hu widened his eyes as a notification was announced throughout the whole region.

[Congratulations to player Shi Hu who caught an extremely rare fish called Ao (Spiritual Sea level), obtained 1000 points, currently leaping to the first place on the board!]

[Ao (Spiritual Sea level)]:

Legend has it that during the olden times, the golden-colored and silver-colored carps wanted to jump over the dragon's gate to fly into the clouds and become dragons, but the moment that they jumped over the gate, it closed, so they could only have the head of a dragon with the tail of a fish. Thus, they were named Ao. Male Ao are golden-scaled and gourd-tailed while female Ao are silver-scaled and hibiscus-tailed. Always roaming the sea, this kind of fish is a branch of the offspring of Ao, and its blood is not pure.

(Note: This fish does not have the pure blood of an Ao, although it is listed as a rare fish, it will be divided into the Spiritual Sea level. After the conversion of the accumulated marks, it will be listed as the lowest type of rare marine species at 1000 points.)

Looking at the Ao in his hands, Shi Hu had a mental breakdown.

He had accidentally just levelled up as king of the game…Can I take back my words now…