Chapter 178: Chapter 178: The Old Fisherman

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“Holy crap, you call that thing a fish?” Lin Shen was secretly astonished.

Only part of the creature’s body had emerged from the water, but it looked nothing like a fish.

Its body, covered with black scales, was like dark jade, with the part that was exposed being over two meters long. It even had wavy fish fins, and Lin Shen even spotted what looked like an eagle’s claw.

The water below grew even more turbulent, revealing more of the creature. The more Lin Shen looked, the more he felt it shouldn’t be called a fish—it seemed more appropriate to call it a dragon.

A dark jade dragon over ten meters long, lacking only the dragon horns, was otherwise very similar to a dragon in appearance.

Undoubtedly, this was a crystal-based creature. Lin Shen had thought the man would at best catch a steel creature, but he never expected him to hook a crystal-based creature that resembled a dragon.

“Who is this guy? Can he really do that?” Lin Shen watched the man in shock. His fishing rod didn’t look impressive, but it held its own against the crystal-based creature for so long without breaking, which was no ordinary feat.

While Lin Shen was still in shock, the man had completely gained the upper hand, forcefully pulling half of the dark jade dragon’s body out of the water.

The dark jade dragon struggled desperately in the air, its tail slapping the water’s surface and causing waves a yard high.

But no matter how much it thrashed, it couldn’t escape the hook.

The man quickly retreated, pulling half of the dark jade dragon’s body onto the shore. Then he picked up a net next to him and struck the dark jade dragon’s head with force.

The dark jade dragon’s eyes rolled back instantly, its body went limp, and it no longer reacted, even as the man pulled it onto the shore.

“Impressive!” Lin Shen sincerely admired, as it was his first time seeing someone fish for such a creature.

“Not bad, although a bit small,” the man said nonchalantly, yet anyone with a discerning eye could see his lips were curled up more than if he were holding an AK.

After completely pulling the dark jade dragon onto the shore, Lin Shen thought the man would start harvesting base mutation fluid from the creature. However, the man unexpectedly produced a very retro-styled camera and handed it to Lin Shen, saying, “Take a photo for me.”

Fortunately, Lin Shen knew how to use a camera. His third brother had some antique cameras at home and had taught Lin Shen how to take photographs, although Lin Shen was never really interested in learning.

At first, Lin Shen followed his third brother with great interest to take photos, but after one attempt to capture a sunrise, they ended up squatting in the chilling wind on a mountain for half the night, which was terribly boring.

The few times Lin Shen had left Dark Bird Base had mostly been to go photographing with his third brother, and the experiences were far from pleasant, leading to a lack of interest in going again.

However, there was one time when Lin Shen was waiting in his third brother’s room and, out of boredom, casually flipped through some of his photo albums. He was utterly astonished by what he found.

The landscapes and plants they had gone to photograph were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were many pictures of scantily clad beautiful women.

At the time, Lin Shen wondered if his third brother had intentionally brought him along to photograph those landscapes just to dissuade him.

If he had known he could take photos of such things, Lin Shen would never have given up.

After taking a few photos of the man with the dark jade dragon, Lin Shen returned the camera to him.

The man checked the pictures and seemed quite satisfied. After putting the camera away, he also removed the fish hook from the dark jade dragon’s mouth.

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The man’s next action left Lin Shen dumbfounded; he actually pushed the Dark Jade Dragon back into the river.

Once it felt the water, the Dark Jade Dragon seemed to come to its senses a bit. It swam around near the bank, unsteadily at first, and then with a flick of its tail, it plunged into the deep water and disappeared without a trace.

“Why did you let it go?” Lin Shen felt it was such a pity, as the creature could very well be a mutant.

“No use keeping it,” the man said as he settled back onto the rock, rebaited his hook, and resumed fishing.

“Are you just messing around? Why catch it if you don’t want it?” Lin Shen looked at the man with a complex expression.

He hadn’t taken the man’s words seriously at first, but seeing him actually fish up a Crystal-based Creature, that seemed off.

He said there were ghosts in the forest across the river. Maybe there really was something wrong; it might not be real ghosts but just his unusual way of putting it.

“Big brother, you mentioned before that there are ghosts in the forest across the river. Could you possibly elaborate?” Lin Shen asked after some thought.

“I’ve never been to the other side myself, but I’ve seen some people go over and then never come back. The only one who did come back was insane as if possessed,” the man paused before adding, “If you want to go over, you’ll need to figure out how to get across this river first.”

“Do the Base Variant Creatures in this river attack people crossing it?” Lin Shen asked.

“That’s rare, but the gravity above the river is much stronger than in other places. Wood can’t float on it, and even balloons will sink, so it’s not easy to get across,” the man explained.

Lin Shen was taken aback and quickly took a metal lunchbox from his backpack and tossed it toward the river.

A metal lunchbox should float just like a boat upon touching the water’s surface.

But it didn’t even reach the water. In midair, it was as if a huge force yanked it, deforming instantly and plunging into the water, vanishing without a trace.

Lin Shen was startled, “Such strong gravity. It’s a good thing I didn’t try to jump across just now. With such strong gravity, I might have been pulled down while still in the air.”

With that thought, Lin Shen regarded the man with even more awe. This river was so mysterious with extraordinary gravity, yet he could reel in a Crystal-based Creature that was more than ten meters long—just the strength required was frightening.

“Friend, may I ask your name?” Lin Shen asked casually.

The man merely smiled without responding. Lin Shen quickly realized that when the man had asked his name earlier, he hadn’t answered, and now it was his turn not to receive a response.

“That was a quick payback,” Lin Shen didn’t mind, as he was the one who had chosen not to reveal his identity first. But inwardly, he gave the man a nickname—”The Fisher.”

“Friend, I’ll be taking my leave now. May we meet again if we’re fated,” Lin Shen was ready to leave. He wasn’t a good swimmer and didn’t wish to force his way across the river, especially since the forest on the other side might harbor oddities. Better not to go.

“May we meet again if we’re fated,” The Fisher responded amicably.

Lin Shen had only taken a few steps when he suddenly saw a familiar figure in the distance in the sky, heading this way.

“Huh! Why is Tian Xin over here too? It should be quite far from the hillside to the seaside, right?” Seeing Tian Xin, Lin Shen was no longer in a hurry to leave.

Since Tian Xin had come here, it must mean that the seaside wasn’t far away. If he could find out which way to go, heading to the seaside wouldn’t be bad. There were many mutant creatures there, and with Lin Shen’s current strength, he wasn’t afraid of encountering Mutated Crystal Base creatures. It was an excellent opportunity for swiftly reaping mutations.