Absolute Destiny Game-Chapter 423 - 41: Fishing Village, Old Man, Koi Fish

Early the next morning, Xiao Jie logged onto the game.

He headed to the inn’s lobby to meet up with the others, and thanks to their fruitful haul from the day before, everyone’s spirits were high.

Especially I Want to Be Immortal who, despite not getting a single piece of equipment, had divided over 180 taels of silver for himself. This brought him immense joy.

That was equivalent to over 2 million yuan, indeed, following Brother Feng guaranteed a hearty share of the spoils.

Everyone proceeded as usual to take quests from the bounty board, and what surprised Xiao Jie was that although Niu Dali was no longer listed, a Grey Rat Spirit had appeared in its place. It seemed that the 36-name bounty list was fixed; as soon as one was killed, another would be refreshed. He wondered just how long the demon disturbances in Canglin State would continue.

After accepting the bounty from the mission officer, this time’s quest turned out to be a bit more troublesome because Li Jinlin did not have a fixed respawn coordinate. It was only known to be around the Zhuoyu River.

The Zhuoyu River stretched for dozens of miles, so finding the target was not going to be easy.

The group made their way to the riverbank of the Zhuoyu River, facing the endless green waves. Xiao Jie helplessly opened up the map.

After checking the length of the river, which continued all the way to the East Sea Coast, he wondered how they were supposed to find their target.

Flipped Cake suggested, "Why don’t we just follow the riverbank?"

An Ran countered, "That’s useless. Li Jinlin is likely to respawn in the river. Even if we come across him, if he’s hiding beneath the water, we won’t see him. We might walk right past and not even know it."

Zishan asked, "Then what do we do? Should we get a boat and search by boat?"

The group discussed for a while but couldn’t come up with a suitable solution.

Jiu Jianxian proposed, "How about we switch to a different Boss?"

Hao Mie disagreed, "No, these few bottom-ranked Bosses are the safest. If we go any higher, the difficulty will be too great. We’re short-handed and can’t take too many risks."

Although yesterday’s fight went smoothly, Hao Mie hadn’t lost his head. The ease was predicated on the Boss being of a lower level and the terrain being advantageous.

If they were to encounter a Boss above Level 30, the likelihood of a wipe increased substantially.

His gaze turned toward Xiao Jie and the other two, who, I Want to Be Immortal and Ye Luo, had yet to join the discussion.

"Brother Sui Feng, do you have any suggestions?"

Xiao Jie indifferently said, "I think we can start by investigating the fishing village where Li Jinlin used to live."

Everyone was enlightened by the idea; indeed, that was a direction to follow.

According to the Boss’s backstory, Li Jinlin used to live in a small fishing village upstream of the Zhuoyu River. Although it was unlikely he would still be there, it was at least a clue.

The group followed the river upstream. After walking for over half an hour and killing a few small monsters like crabs and turtles, they indeed came across a dilapidated fishing village at the confluence of the rivers.

"This is the place. Li Jinlin used to live here."

They walked around the riverbank but failed to discover any useful clues.

A dozen or so ramshackle wooden huts appeared long uninhabited, several fishing boats nearly rotted away, and broken frames still held nets awaiting repair, all painting a picture of decay.

Xiao Jie observed the surrounding river channels and admitted to himself that this was still too vague.

Suddenly, An Ran said, "I have a way. Watch the sorcery I’ve just learned."

She stood by the river’s edge, transformed into a giant bear, and with a mighty leap, she soared into the air.

Ox Demon Split Earth Wave—Shake the Earth!

Boom!

With a heavy strike, the ground within a thirty-meter radius instantly shattered, and the river waters erupted into a column of spray.

Xiao Jie was taken aback. The Skill Book that cost 200 taels truly lived up to its dazzling reputation.

"What are you doing?"

An Ran explained, "We can continue to cause tremors along the riverbank. Since Li Jinlin is a Boss, his alert range is bound to be large. Once we disturb him, he’ll surely come out to confront us."

Xiao Jie was speechless. "How long do you plan to keep shaking?"

"We’ll shake every fifty meters, starting here and heading south for 5000 meters. If we don’t find anything, we’ll head north and shake another 5000 meters. I think that should be enough. freёweɓnovel_com

Based on my mana recovery rate, without taking potions, it may take around three days to flush him out.

With potions, maybe about a day, but you’ll have to reimburse me for the cost of the potions."

Xiao Jie had no idea what to say to that. An Ran’s approach was simple and brute force indeed.

But you couldn’t deny its potential effectiveness, although just the thought of it made his scalp tingle. What’s more, what if the Boss wasn’t within this ten-kilometer radius?

He certainly didn’t have the time or energy to waste on such a tactic.

"Sister, let’s not go through all that trouble. Why don’t we try my method? Who knows how to fish? Help me catch a fish, and I’ll have a chat with it."

"Ask a fish for directions?"

The group was stunned for a moment, except An Ran, who seemed to have realized something.

"Right, you know the Beast Language Skill, so you can talk to animals?"

"I’m Master Level at fishing; I’ll do it." Hao Mie said as he took a fishing rod out of his bag and cast the hook into the river. It wasn’t long before he caught a grass carp.

"Here, you ask," Hao Mie traded the grass carp with Xiao Jie.

Xiao Jie looked at the grass carp in his bag and paused...

[Grass Carp (Food Item)

Item Introduction: A common fish in rivers, named for its preference for aquatic plants. Can be used for cooking.]

He clicked on it, yet he found no option to converse.

Xiao Jie right-clicked to discard it, dropping the grass carp on the ground, but that didn’t work either. The fish lay motionless on the ground without showing a health bar, still listed as [Grass Carp (Food Item)].

Xiao Jie, resigning himself to the fact, thought that once a fish was caught, it turned into an "item" and was no longer an entity you could communicate with.