Chapter 464: Chapter 464

Meeting someone who can talk and chat is not easy; Wu Yegen was very excited.

Jiang Yuan was also very interested in how he could maintain his current state without a hint of resentment, so he invited him down for a chat.

While talking, another fish got hooked, and without any technique, he caught a big carp.

"I must say, your newbie protection period is quite impressive." Wu Yegen glanced at the two large fish already crowding the folding bucket and joked, "If it were any other fishing enthusiast, they’d definitely carry it around the city for half a day."

Jiang Yuan also thought it was a bit exaggerated; the key thing was the folding bucket from the kit, which was just for show. It’s fine for a few small fish, but it couldn’t hold three big ones weighing six or seven pounds.

He hesitated for two seconds, picked the smallest silver carp out and threw it back into the water, "Go back, I won’t keep you for dinner."

"Looks like you’ve chosen a feng shui treasure land." Wu Yegen sighed, "If my bastard brother had half your luck..."

He paused and then laughed, "No no, for someone without self-control like him, the more he catches, the more addicted he becomes."

Baiting the hook and casting the line, Jiang Yuan sat on a small stool looking at his rather miserable lower half, guessing it was probably a car accident. He wasn’t sure what to talk about, so he casually asked, "Your brother likes fishing too?"

"More than likes fishing, he’s completely obsessed!" Wu Yegen finally found someone to vent to, snorted, "Our family was originally doing well. When I was in college, my parents bought my brother an RV so he could marry and have children.

By the time I graduated, the two of them were ready for retirement. Things were good, but the whole family crashed because of fishing!

My brother doesn’t smoke or drink or gamble, not a bad guy but has zero self-control. He used to be addicted to gaming, but after my parents supervised and scolded him, he managed to get a college diploma, and they arranged a stable job for him.

Thought he’d be reliable once he got married and had a kid. But unexpectedly, a few years back, he suddenly got hooked on fishing.

At first, it was fine, just fishing by the riverbank during holidays. But later on, he would run to the riverbank immediately after work, not returning home or caring for the kid, relying on my parents to help my sister-in-law with the kids and manage all the household affairs.

Our whole family tried persuasion and good words, damn it, but he didn’t listen at all, and even quit his job! Whenever he was broke, he’d throw tantrums to get money from the family, and when he had some, he’d buy fishing rods and bait to fish by the water.

My sister-in-law, a woman with a three-year-old child, had to work to earn money, manage household chores, and keep him for fishing fun, who could tolerate that?

He was away for a month or two, coming home only to ask for money, with no other business. Who wouldn’t want a marriage for living together? He kept messing around ignoring advice, so my sister-in-law divorced him. Then he became even more relentless, wishing he could live in the river channels!"

"Doesn’t that sound like a psychological problem?" Jiang Yuan casually caught another not-so-big fish, removed it, and threw it back into the water, "Didn’t you take him to get checked out?"

Wu Yegen sighed, "At first, we thought it was a couple conflict or stress keeping him from going home.

Later, we consulted with a psychologist, and they said he was purely addicted. No addiction treatment seemed to work. Since he was unemployed, with no wife or kids, we thought just let him fish until he was fed up."

After releasing another small fish, Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, "Makes sense, it’s like being addicted to gaming, playing it like a job every day until it gets boring."

No response from the other side, he lightly sighed.

"The summer before last, there was a lot of rain. One time, it rained for four consecutive days, the reservoir started to overflow. My brother couldn’t stay home, and when the rain eased a bit, he ran out to fish.

When my parents found out, they couldn’t reach him by phone or find him, coincidentally there were news reports about people drowning in various places, so the two got worried and drove out at midnight to find him.

In the end, they didn’t find him; due to the rain, poor road conditions, and visibility, they got rear-ended by a truck. My mom died on the spot, and my dad ended up with lifelong disabilities, and his mind hasn’t been quite right since."

Another fish got hooked, Jiang Yuan realized something was strange. This scenario was exactly like the gamified fishing mode in Wilderness World!

He listened while fishing, even forgetting to bait the hook, yet he still caught fish!

Even though there weren’t any system notifications popping up, it had already been silently affecting the real world?

"Sigh..." Jiang Yuan sighed and asked, "What about your brother? After such tragic events with your parents, was he still obsessed with fishing?"

Wu Yegen nodded, "Not sure if his brain went haywire, my parents went through such dire situations looking for him, yet he didn’t even come to the hospital.

Back then, I thought just treat him as if he’s dead!

Anyway, compensation and my dad’s pension were enough for him to have a decent old age. I hired a caretaker, they look after him during the day while I’m at work; at night I take care of my old father. The two of us were doing okay, but then..."

He pointed to his broken lower half, "I got hit by a red-light-running car on the way home from work. Before I died, my biggest worry was my muddled-headed, disabled-legged old father, using my last breath to tell that bastard: If you don’t take good care of Dad, I won’t let you go even if I become a ghost!

Then I died. Chapters first released on novel{f}ire.net

After dying, I found it’s not exactly as I had heard, no one came for me, no one could see me. I was worried, so I stayed with my father, keeping that damned brother from letting him starve due to his fishing addiction.

Whenever he neglects the old man even slightly, I would send him nightmares and scare him half to death, in various ways. He’s much better now, at least my dad gets fed and watered, enjoying sunshine every day."

While talking, another fish got hooked.

Jiang Yuan finally confirmed that it was just like Wilderness over there; he didn’t even need bait to catch fish!

"So your situation is just without resentment and purely not at ease?" He turned to look at his newfound "friend," asking curiously, "Have you seen anything else while wandering around here for so long?"

Wu Yegen pointed to the river water, "My brother took my compensation money, my parents’ compensation money, and my dad’s pension, no longer needing to worry about livelihood, fishing everywhere with the old man, and I followed.

Sometimes in the water, there would be swirls of black aura, quite scary, I dare not get too close. No idea if it’s water ghosts.

As for other things, none that I’ve seen. Occasionally when someone nearby dies, I go have a look but they don’t seem to see me. Anyway, they get up and leave, ignoring me.

So, for such a long time, no one to talk to, I get bored so I wander near them while they sleep. This area, all the Li Family and Zhang Family stuff, I know all their secrets!"

Jiang Yuan released another fish, "Do you know of any heartless bosses around here running heartless businesses? The ones deserving closure!"

He looked at the interface showing a 1:20 exchange rate, thinking if idle then idle, if only he could find a heartless company to work for, it’d be a good chance to see if it could become 21 points!

"Now, what boss isn’t heartless?" Wu Yegen laughed, "However, I know a cybercafé owner, he’s worse than a real scoundrel! If he goes bankrupt one day, it’d be considered an act of merit—at least he’d stop harming others!"