Jiang Ye spent ten minutes telling A-Xing about her experiences, her plans for Live stream, and her idea to use an alternate account to post on the game forum and draw in viewers.
A-Xing finished listening and went to check out Jiang Ye’s post, but he was confused.
“Xiao Jiang, you’re saying bad things about your own stream room like this. Will anyone actually come watch?”
“You don’t understand, people have a rebellious mentality,” Jiang Ye replied in a low, mysterious tone, like one of those street fortune-tellers that charges two hundred a reading. “Sometimes, the more you tell them not to do something, the more they’ll do it.”
“Put simply, that’s just being a glutton for punishment.”
“I get it,” A-Xing immediately caught on, excitedly drawing a parallel, “It’s just like that time you and I delivered goods together. I told you not to look inside the box, so you had to look. And then, when you did, it turned out there was a kid inside!”
“That’s because I heard a noise in the box, okay!”
“Alright, Xiao Jiang, I’m not saying you did anything wrong, don’t get mad!”
A-Xing hurriedly explained, then cleverly switched topics.
“Then can I do Live stream too? If I start Live stream, what should I show? Wait, didn’t Yuchi stream before? Maybe I can talk to him about streaming and see how much money he made.” A-Xing’s mind immediately ran elsewhere, seeing that Jiang Ye was making money through streaming, and he started chattering animatedly.
For some reason, when A-Xing said this, an image popped into Jiang Ye’s mind of a mutt wagging its tail and dancing around her.
Though A-Xing had blonde hair, he wasn’t a golden retriever. He didn’t have that air of nobility. Instead, he was lively and cute, just like a country dog.
“You can give it a try.” Jiang Ye couldn’t give A-Xing a solid guarantee, so that was all she could say.
A-Xing acted immediately; without another word, he poked Yuchi Xi in Private Chat.
A-Xing: “Yuchi, Yuchi, handsome guy~ I have a question for you!”
Yuchi Xi: “Speak.”
A-Xing: “What’s streaming like for you? Do you make money? Do a lot of people watch?”
Yuchi Xi: “It’s alright, not profitable, average audience.”
A-Xing didn’t buy it, so he asked Yuchi Xi for his stream room ID and clicked in, discovering that Yuchi Xi was still a newbie Streamer and hadn’t received any Gifts at all.
A-Xing instantly sobered up.
Turns out, making money off streaming depends on luck.
After all, not everyone can be Jiang Ye.
Normally, Yuchi Xi wasn’t the type to meddle in other people’s business, but since A-Xing reached out to him, he decided to mention something.
Yuchi Xi’s voice held a trace of gravity. “Do you know where A Leaf Boat is right now? She doesn’t seem to be doing too well.”
A-Xing’s heart jumped when he heard that, worry surfacing. “What happened?”
Yuchi Xi told him about how A Leaf Boat had asked him to buy her clothes last night.
Yuchi Xi speculated, “She doesn’t even have a warm coat.”
From Yuchi Xi’s perspective, A Leaf Boat was a pitiful gaming master. She was powerful, but sometimes seemed a little off mentally.
Yuchi Xi didn’t press further, just reminded A-Xing, “As her friend, you should check in on her more.”
After hearing this from Yuchi Xi, A-Xing felt even worse.
His little follower was struggling alone, only telling him the good news and not the bad, only talking about earning money and never mentioning she didn’t even have a warm coat.
What a terrible leader he was!
A-Xing silently berated himself, then immediately ran to the novice village tailor shop to buy Jiang Ye some thick clothes.
But as soon as Tailor Li Ernian heard his request, she sneered, “Idiot, it’s the peak of summer, where am I supposed to find warm clothes for you?”
“Tailor sis, please, have a heart, think of something for me?” A-Xing sweet-talked her, completely unfazed by the NPC’s coldness. Smiling, he began to act cute toward Li Ernian.
“You outworlders have some nerve. I’m already this old, and you’re still calling me ‘sis’?” Li Ernian picked up her ruler and rapped A-Xing on the head. When she saw him clutch his forehead in pain, her eyes turned sly. “Still, if you do me a favor, I suppose I could make the clothes for you.”
“What favor!” A-Xing’s eyes lit up.
[System: Tailor Li Ernian has issued you a hidden quest – "Hunt the Deep Mountain Wolf"]
When he saw the words hidden quest, the fire in A-Xing’s heart blazed even hotter. He checked the Quest details and saw that it was a dungeon.
1-4 players allowed.
A-Xing couldn’t wait. He entered the dungeon, planning to finish the Quest and surprise Jiang Ye with a gift, so she could feel the warmth of his leadership.
But as soon as he entered, he ran into two mobs and was instantly killed.
He looked up to see that the mobs were Level 5.
Two levels higher than him.
A-Xing could only quietly exit and go grind through the quest chain to level up.
He also sent Jiang Ye a message.
[Private Chat·Young Master With Money: Xiao Jiang, don’t worry, as your boss I will absolutely see to it that you have a nice warm coat!]
But right now, Jiang Ye had no time to check Private Chat.
After roughly explaining what happened yesterday to A-Xing, Jiang Ye was about to head out to sea.
She now treated fishing as part of her daily routine.
Jiang Ye stood on the shore, bathed in the early-morning sunlight. She did a round of radio calisthenics, stretched lazily, then closed her eyes, extended her arms, and dove into the water with the form of a professional swimmer.
Splash!
Jiang Ye landed on a shallows and bit into a mouthful of mud.
Only then did she realize that, as the Island had expanded, a shallows had appeared without her noticing, spreading outward from the edge of the Island.
Her first reaction was cautious.
Did the area of these shallows count toward her island area?
She checked carefully and was delighted with her findings.
These shallows, and similar spots, were like shared property outside your front door—they didn’t count as usable space, so each Island expansion didn’t include them.
Pure bonus.
It was early morning, and all things basked equally in the glow of dawn. The tide surged forward, breaking upon the coastline in foamy waves, then as it receded, always left something behind.
For example, just as Jiang Ye was about to get up from the mud, she spotted a crab swaggering by with its legs splayed, waving its big claws arrogantly right in front of her.
Without a second thought, Jiang Ye reached out to catch the crab.
At Level 10, catching a crab was child’s play. So just like that, she added a new creature to her Island Collector Manual.
[Serrated Mud Crab: Aquatic crustacean, rich in nutrients and delicious in taste. Every part can be properly eaten.]
[Serrated Mud Crab can be naturally produced and stored. Storage limit: 9 units. Skill Cooldown: 30 minutes.]
[Island Collector Manual progress: 7/100]
Jiang Ye waited a bit, but heard no upgrade or expansion chime from the system, so she guessed upgrades would be harder from now on.
The early progress had been so fast, mostly due to newbie buffs.
Jiang Ye wasn’t discouraged. She crawled out of the mud, brushed herself clean, and kept searching the shallows for more creatures.
She was used to this.
When she was little, she lived on an island with her parents. During the tidal season, every time the tide went out, she’d go comb the shore for ocean treasures with the aunts and grannies of the island.
That was coastcombing.
Back then, Jiang Li was still small but loved tagging along with her, collecting things together.
Jiang Li loved collecting shells.
They weren’t worth money, there were no pearls inside, and the taste was nothing special.
Every time Jiang Li found a pretty shell, she’d carefully clean it and give it to Jiang Ye.
“My sister is as pretty as a shell!”
Whenever Jiang Li said this, her eyes were clear and bright like stars.
For a long time afterwards, it was the gaze of those eyes that gave Jiang Ye the strength to keep moving forward.
Even now.
So she could see those eyes again!
Jiang Ye pressed forward with even more determination, working tirelessly to scour the beach for everything she could find.
She wasn’t wearing gloves, so her fingertips and palms were scraped, but Jiang Ye didn’t care. After all, to her, this was just a game.
Unyieldingly, she flipped over a little rock. Stuck in the crevice was a round, black, spiny little fellow. Beside it, another rock-like object lay.
A sea urchin and an oyster!
Jiang Ye’s lips curled with a triumphant, delighted smile. After filling in the basic information for the sea urchin and oyster, she successfully added them to her Collector Manual.
This sea urchin was different from the slightly bitter yellow sea urchins she’d eaten in the past.
The system-generated sea urchin was tender and smooth—one bite was creamy, refreshing, and faintly sweet, with no fishy taste at all, like tasting heavenly nectar.
Oysters, being wild, weren’t very big, but raw, they were still quite plump. The meat was fine and especially bouncy, with a faint briny aroma. They were a bit more ocean-flavored than the sea urchin—but that was the essence of Seafood.
[Island Collector Manual progress: 9/100]
Still, Jiang Ye hadn’t leveled up.
She tried to find more things, but found the shallows had nothing else worthy of the Manual.
Small fish and shrimp, the system wouldn’t accept.
After a while, the Map refreshed and there were no more creatures left to collect on the shallows.
Jiang Ye decided to head into the sea.
She was holding her breath, determined to level up one more time!
No matter what, she’d reach [10/100]!
Her experience as a game designer told her that ten would be a breakthrough.
Jiang Ye was no longer afraid of going underwater.
Maybe it was the Passive skill "Like a Fish in Water," or maybe it was just familiarity.
When her body slipped beneath the water, the pressure on her skin was actually comforting.
Being surrounded by the ocean felt like being embraced.
As soon as she entered the water, the system notified her.
[System: Please complete the designated species collection! Capture the ocean sunfish!]
[Quest reward: 1,000 gold coins, one spin at the island expansion lucky wheel, Island mode upgrade unlock. Please keep going! Complete the Quest!]