Chapter 463: Chapter 463

The branches blossom with the lively energy of spring, the sun shines bright and a gentle breeze blows on this Wednesday—a perfect time for workers to be busy in their cubicles and kids to be engrossed in school lessons.

In other words—besides the occasional leisurely strolling retirees by the riverbank, it’s quite peaceful.

"For beginners, I particularly recommend this model, a Generation 2 carbon fiber fishing rod, the set is really economical at 266 bucks, and most importantly, it’s super durable!" The salesman at the fishing rod store expertly pitched, rattling off a bunch of jargon, and even demonstrated how to use it, "You just need to open the rod, thread the line, attach the bait, and you’re ready to fish! The set comes with universal bait suitable for all waters, especially for this river—it’s perfect!"

A passionate explanation of how to cast and control bait ensued, and after Jiang Yuan scanned to pay with his phone, the salesman pointed to the sightseeing boat at the nearby dock and recommended: "Let me point out a great fishing spot for you. About fifteen minutes by sightseeing boat downstream, Binjiang Park’s Jiangxin Island—there, you can fish in peace!"

Is there a Jiangxin Island downstream?

Although he’s lived in this city for quite a while, his past days of hustling for a living left him oblivious to any good eats or fun places.

Anyway, with the mindset of returning to reality for a slow life vacation to adjust and relax, fishing wasn’t important; Jiang Yuan simply wanted to see what Jiangxin Island Park was like.

Not a holiday, Binjiang Park isn’t exactly a famous attraction, and there weren’t many people around at ten in the morning.

Disembarking midway from the bustling sightseeing boat, what lay before him was a quintessential park scene, lush trees and clusters of flowers, distant views of pavilions and towers—modern replicas of ancient styles.

A stroll ashore revealed that "Jiangxin Island" was just a slightly elevated area in the river turned into an artificial tourist site, connected to land by a winding bridge.

The scenery was orderly, and after a lap, there wasn’t much else to see. Jiang Yuan didn’t buy any sunblock items either, so to avoid getting sunburned, he specifically found a cool spot surrounded by green trees to set up his fishing rod, attach the bait.

Then, using the wilderness honed technique of relying solely on strength with no skill, he cast the hook out.

"This is indeed very pleasant!" The tree shadows swayed, blocking the overly enthusiastic sunshine, and gentle ripples shimmered on the river surface as Qingfeng carried a soft hint of moisture towards him, prompting Jiang Yuan to look up at the floral branches and sigh in admiration.

When did he ever have the leisure to sit down, fish, and enjoy the spring scenery before?

Even in the infinitely beautiful Wilderness World, he was always busy, even if he sat down to fish, it was mostly with the mission mindset, ever tense.

Now, catching a fish was an unexpected delight, not catching was as anticipated, just seeking tranquility and comfort.

Lost in thought, the float started to sink slowly and steadily, he was startled but soon realized he might have caught a fish! ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel_fіre.net

The fishing rods in Wilderness World were too simple, once the fish hooked, you just had to throw it up. But now, with this top-notch fishing rod, Jiang Yuan was a bit flustered, instinctively wanting to toss the rod ashore only to remember it wasn’t necessary to exert that much effort.

Besides, he merely set up the fishing rod without even unfolding the collapsible bucket that came with the set.

"Oh, rookie protection period!"

A bit busy, but he finally reeled in a hefty bighead carp, put it in the bucket, and hurriedly added some water.

Just then, he heard a young man’s voice teasingly laughing from behind, "You managed to reel it in—if ’Mediterranean’ saw this, wouldn’t he be green with envy? How much does this fish weigh, six, seven pounds?"

Jiang Yuan didn’t expect to have caught a fish so quickly either, without lifting his head, he replied with a smile, "Just lucky, I estimate it’s about seven or eight pounds, this big bighead carp is quite heavy!"

The laughter behind him abruptly stopped, he removed the hook and looked around, tree shadows swayed, but there was no one there?

Further away, there were only two people fishing under sunshades.

"That’s odd." Jiang Yuan didn’t think much of it, settled back on his stool, attached bait, and cast the hook again.

In less than a minute, another fish hooked!

He suddenly felt like it was similar to fishing in Wilderness World—could it be that the system still granted the same fishing skill bonus in the real world?

Sure enough, another six or seven pound bighead carp was reeled in, struggled and twisted fiercely, water droplets splashed everywhere.

He was focused on removing the hook when he heard soft laughter behind him again, "Cherish your rookie protection period, once today is over, you’ll know the fear of being skunked. Hey buddy, got a light?"

"Sorry, I don’t smoke." Jiang Yuan replied, lifting his gaze only to find there was no one again.

Then he quickly looked up, finally noticing a young man his age perched on a tree branch, hiding in the blossoms like a child, playfully teasing.

"How’s the view up there?" He raised his interest as well, eager to climb the tree but concerned about getting reprimanded by park management; albeit unlikely to cause any damage, it just wouldn’t be appropriate.

While glancing around, Jiang Yuan was drawn to the shiny Mediterranean hairstyle not far away, lowered his voice, and asked, "Buddy, was the Mediterranean you mentioned him?"

The other party looked slightly surprised, nodded, and pointed out, "That old man is obsessed with fishing, constantly figuring out how to bait the spot. Been at it probably for half a year now, yet the river fish don’t give any face to his baiting. He won’t switch spots, just believes that piece of land has good feng shui, hahaha!"

"Maybe it’s just for leisure." Jiang Yuan chuckled along, abandoning the idea of climbing the tree, continued baiting, eager to flaunt during the rookie protection period.

Then he suddenly felt something wasn’t right...

Lifting his head sharply again, Jiang Yuan finally realized what was wrong—he could vaguely see through the person’s body to the tree behind!

Damn, did I develop a special constitution now, no matter where I go, encountering non-human entities?

On second thought, Jiang Yuan felt something off, logically anything roaming in daylight should carry substantial resentment, shouldn’t be this clean and undetectable!

"You don’t have resentment, how are you maintaining form?" Jiang Yuan was very curious, lowered his voice and asked, "Typically, something this peaceful would have moved on?"

"Oh, are you naturally blessed with Yin Yang Eye? You startled me when suddenly speaking earlier! I was pondering if you were ill with weak Yang Energy, accidentally conversing with me, worried about scaring you."

The other person also breathed a sigh of relief, "Not easy, I’ve been wandering for several years and it’s the first time meeting someone with innate special abilities like you. I’m Wu Yegen, what’s your name?"

Looking down at his lower half, he decided staying in the tree was safer, pointed far ahead to explain, "I wasn’t wronged to death, naturally lacking resentment. But I couldn’t reassure my old father, so I stayed. No Ghost Messenger came to catch me, so I’m just leisurely wandering."

Jiang Yuan followed his direction, seeing an elder in his seventies sitting by the river, deep in thought. Knowing the father and son were so close yet worlds apart unbeknownst to the elder, compassion stirred, "Need help? Maybe through a dream?"

"No need!" Wu Yegen waved with a smile, "The old man’s confused for ages, dreams were tried, but useless. Besides, I’m mainly watching my unreliable brother, if dreaming, it’d be to scare him off. Been smooth sailing these past years, I can handle it myself."