Chapter 2

Back at the rental apartment, lying on the bed, Jiang Tian held a few RMB notes in his hands. He was still unable to calm the excitement in his heart. Ha ha, he had actually earned 36,400 yuan in one day. If his parents knew, they would be overjoyed.

Right, he should call home and let the two elders have a good laugh.

However, when he picked up the phone, Jiang Tian hesitated. How should he explain it?

Should he say that he was favored by the goddess of luck and received a magical boat that not only excelled at fishing but could also be upgraded to become a pirate ship in the future?

After some thought, he decided against it. He would wait until he had a better reason. Besides, the money wasn't that much yet.

Just as he was thinking, his phone rang.

"Hello, Shen Xing, what's up?"

Shen Xing was Jiang Tian's dorm mate. During the summer of their third year, the two of them had interned part-time at a life insurance company. However, Shen Xing had a girlfriend and didn't live with Jiang Tian. College students were all eager to work part-time, accumulate social experience, and prepare for future employment.

"I've invited a client over the phone. We'll go together tomorrow to close the deal, and it will count as our performance!" Shen Xing's voice came from the other end of the line.

Jiang Tian replied, "You're thoughtful, but I have something to do tomorrow and can't make it. Please take a leave for me!"

"What's up?" Shen Xing asked.

"Personal matters!" Jiang Tian didn't tell the truth. Brothers were brothers, but this was best kept as his deepest secret.

"Alright!"

After hanging up, Jiang Tian suddenly jumped out of bed, spread out a piece of Xuan paper on the desk, picked up a brush, and wrote: "Do not lose your will when poor, and do not go mad when rich!"

Years of practice had made Jiang Tian an excellent calligrapher. He was warning himself to maintain a normal heart and not lose himself.

The next morning, Jiang Tian rode his electric scooter to the seaside again. He took out the mini boat from his neck, gave a command, and the mini boat in his palm disappeared, replaced by an old wooden boat at the seaside.

Before setting off, he input the intention: "Catch yellow croakers over 30 cm!"

Then he set off. Today, he brought some food and fresh water, planning to go further. The nearby sea probably had only a few types of fish.

After searching online, he found that the entire East China Sea had only about 400 species of marine fish. Could he possibly detect all the fish in the East China Sea?

Impossible. The detection depth was only 20 meters, and the entire East China Sea could only be scanned for about 200 species. To scan 500 species, he needed to expand the sea area.

He would go to the Yellow Sea, and if that wasn't enough, he would go even further, to the Japanese sea or even the Pacific. The Japanese sea, due to the warm current, had a rich variety of fish.

Of course, if the pirate ship remained in its current dilapidated state after advancing a level or two, Jiang Tian wouldn't dare to go so far. The open sea had many storms, and such a small boat, no matter how powerful, could still be capsized.

On the way, the harvest was not much. Many of the fish were the same as those he had scanned yesterday. Occasionally, there were a few new ones, but only two or three.

Looking at the vast ocean before him, Jiang Tian was already lost. Fortunately, the pirate ship, though dilapidated, had various magical functions, including automatic navigation.

To save time, Jiang Tian always set the speed to the maximum, 20 knots. No matter how fast, as long as it detected something, the pirate ship could collect and record it.

"Coordinates 123.31, 29.73, already 100 kilometers out. Scanned 92/500, just 8 more to advance to the first stage!"

However, these 100 kilometers were not a straight line but a loop, covering a larger area. Otherwise, 100 kilometers wouldn't have taken the pirate ship 8 hours!

The waves in the open sea were much larger than those near the shore. Strangely, despite the waves, the pirate ship remained as stable as a mountain.

Jiang Tian keenly noticed that the waves near the pirate ship were calmer.

It seemed this was one of the pirate ship's functions, which explained why it was qualified for long-distance voyages.

Although Jiang Tian had fully mastered the pirate ship, he wasn't clear about all its functions. The pirate ship wouldn't tell him, and many things needed to be explored on his own.

Some functions existed, but he didn't know about them, like the navigation function. Jiang Tian only discovered it when he needed to check something.

On the way back, Jiang Tian finally collected information on 100 species of fish.

"Completion: 100/500. Do you want to advance to the next stage?"

"Advance!"

The ship's body shook slightly. Jiang Tian looked and was surprised to see the pirate ship had grown and widened. It was about 8 meters long, no longer dilapidated, and looked brand new.

"Scanning range: 100 meters in all directions, depth 50 meters. Speed increased by 20%, storage room: 125 cubic meters!"

"Storage room? What's that?"

In the next moment, Jiang Tian "saw" a 5x5x5 meter space, empty. The appearance of the storage room made Jiang Tian overjoyed. He no longer had to worry about where to put the fish he caught.

Another message appeared: "You have received a special ability reward: Possession. Do you want to activate it?"

"Activate!"

Jiang Tian didn't expect so many benefits from advancing a stage, including a special ability. A large lobster, about 10 cm long, was swimming nearby on a shallow reef. Jiang Tian stared at the lobster and silently said, "Possess!"

In the next moment, Jiang Tian felt a flash before his eyes. He saw a blue sea, coral, and colorful fish passing by.

He could control the lobster's body and made it crawl toward the coral.

It was very magical, really magical. This ability was great, allowing him to experience the deep sea.

Suddenly, a 30 cm grouper, with a black-brown body and stripes and spots on its sides, appeared. It had sharp teeth and fiercely attacked the lobster.

Jiang Tian was startled and quickly withdrew his consciousness. His vision returned to the sea surface.

Looking down, he saw the lobster nimbly hiding in a crevice, while the grouper, unwilling to give up, bit at the crevice, stirring up muddy water.

Jiang Tian found it amusing and focused on the grouper, wanting to possess it.

One minute, two minutes...

Jiang Tian discovered a sad fact: he seemed to have only one chance to possess and couldn't do it at will.

A desire to slap himself arose in Jiang Tian's heart. Such a powerful ability, and he had wasted it on a 10 cm lobster. He felt like crying.

If he had known he couldn't change the possession, he would have been much more cautious. He would have chosen a great white shark, a blue whale, or an orca, or even a giant squid, the true ruler of the deep sea.

It was said that a giant squid could grow up to 80 meters long and weigh 50 tons. The sea monster controlled by Davy Jones in "Pirates of the Caribbean" was a terrifying giant squid, 150 meters long.

A powerful ability to dominate the underwater world had been wasted by him.