Chapter 44: Are Animal Compendiums Also Ranked by Levels?

"Your account ending in... has received a deposit of 103,357.00 yuan. Current balance: 2,065,788.55 yuan!"

The payment from Zhizhen had arrived today.

Chu Lin glanced at his balance—he had once again broken the two-million mark.

Now, could he be considered wealthy? With a daily income of a hundred thousand and two million in his bank. Yet, he had only paid the deposit on the villa, and the Panamera still carried a hefty loan.

If he wanted to pay off everything at once, this two million would not be enough.

Luckily, he had his cheat. His income was sustainable, and the Atlantis map could still be upgraded.

Before long, Liu Fa returned with a brand-new fishing net.

"We’ll head to the five hundred mu bay and see what fish we can catch," Chu Lin instructed, leading Liu Fa to the expansive bay.

The water level was normal, just over a meter deep. Once the net was spread, the two could wade through the water to fish.

Liu Fa gazed at the crystal-clear sea, full of awe. "President Chu, the water is so clear now; you can see the oysters and crabs at the bottom plainly."

"It cost a lot," Chu Lin lied casually.

Indeed, the bay’s floor was scattered with numerous small oysters—seedlings he’d bought to disguise his intentions, and intentionally chosen semi-mature ones. After refreshing the Atlantis oysters, he’d thrown in many mature oysters as well.

There were also several other semi-mature seafood juveniles.

Liu Fa was an honest man, never prying into the farm's secrets. So, when Chu Lin said he’d spent a fortune, Liu Fa believed him without question.

But water quality was something Chu Lin realized he’d need to consider. If others took notice here, not everyone would be as easy to fool as Liu Fa.

That’s why he hadn’t hired any security—he lacked trustworthy people.

If the game system could somehow provide a cover-up, it would be ideal.

After all, the Atlantis Blessing Stone worked too well; the bay's waters were so clear that someone would eventually notice.

Soon enough, both men stripped down and entered the water, each taking one side as they waded and dragged the net, slowly closing it after reaching a certain distance.

As the net was gathered, splashing and thrashing erupted—many fish had been swept in.

Wild fish had flooded in lately; this haul was considerable, with more than a dozen large fish and some shrimp.

There were also plenty of small fish and the semi-mature fry he'd released earlier.

Small fish and fry didn’t need testing—they wouldn’t meet the collection criteria, so he simply released them back into the bay.

After two full nets, Liu Fa was amazed. "President Chu, you really picked the right place. Who would have thought there’d be so many wild fish? Even the anglers don’t catch them like this!"

The wild fish coming in were indeed numerous. Chu Lin fetched ten large half-meter-high barrels for the catch.

These barrels were left over from the original farm—each could hold dozens of kilograms.

Chu Lin and Liu Fa continued netting fish, spending half a day to sweep the entire five hundred mu area and fill all the barrels with coastal varieties.

Some were even over ten kilograms apiece.

Altogether, they had several hundred kilograms.

There were also some types of shrimp and crab netted.

By noon, Dr. Li had finished fertilizing the forty-character oysters and settled them in a breeding pool.

Dr. Li advised, "President Chu, the oysters are fertilized. Next, be vigilant about water quality and temperature, observe their activity, or else even the slightest oversight could lead to oyster deaths."

"Understood, I’ll be careful," Chu Lin replied, though he had no concerns here—thanks to the Atlantis Blessing Stone, this was the least of his worries.

He took out his phone and transferred five thousand yuan to Dr. Li.

Artificial oyster fertilization was a technical job, after all.

Dr. Li accepted the payment with a broad smile. "President Chu, remember to call me next time you need this done."

These fishery veterinarians didn’t earn much, nor did they get many side jobs. Chu Lin was a valuable client, generous and prompt.

"Certainly, I’ll trouble you again in the future," Chu Lin replied offhandedly. So far, Dr. Li had been reliable and caused no trouble; his skills were solid.

Satisfied, Dr. Li departed.

Chu Lin showered, then cooked a pot of seafood noodles, sharing lunch with Liu Fa.

In the afternoon, he found a moment to speak to Liu Fa. "Master Liu, please go to the fish markets and see if there are any wild seafood or large, mature farmed fish and shrimp. Buy as many as you can."

He transferred twenty thousand yuan to Liu Fa as he spoke.

Firstly, he wanted to send Liu Fa away quickly so he could bring the wild fish into the game and see if they could be catalogued.

Secondly, he wasn’t sure if this batch would be enough to complete the level two Atlantis collection, so having Liu Fa buy more might help.

Liu Fa didn't question his boss’s instructions, hurriedly driving off.

Chu Lin began transporting the wild fish into the game.

[Grouper: Ordinary!]

[This is an ordinary wild grouper, with richer value than its farmed counterpart...]

Grouper was abundant in the first barrel.

He immediately placed a grouper in the collection catalogue.

[The current animal does not meet the catalogue collection standard. Please place a qualifying animal for collection!]

He removed the grouper and tried another.

[The current animal does not meet the catalogue collection standard. Please place a qualifying animal for collection!]

...

Repeated messages of non-qualification.

One fish after another.

When he had taken out more than half from the first barrel, finally a larger Uge triggered a different message.

[Congratulations, you have collected an animal. Current map level: 2. Collection progress: 1/5!]

Chu Lin’s face lit up, quickening his pace and bringing the remaining barrel of fish to the collection, but no more qualified.

In the second barrel, he grabbed a large yellow croaker and received a different notification.

[The current animal exceeds the current map catalogue level. Please upgrade the map before collecting!]

Chu Lin was stunned by this.

The Atlantis map's animal catalogue was tiered?

For example, the yellow croaker could be collected, but at map level two, it couldn’t be catalogued.

Wasn’t this an invisible way to raise the difficulty of collection?

He could only place the yellow croaker in a corner of the map for later, knowing it wouldn’t die due to the map’s properties.

He would wait until the map level increased, using it as material for the next stage.

Chu Lin continued, bringing each fish and shrimp to the central catalogue. After the second barrel, a clearly longer-jointed green shrimp met the collection criteria.

Catalogue progress: 2/5.

The third barrel yielded nothing.

The fourth barrel was the same.

A sinking feeling crept in—would he not have enough fish to finish five catalogue entries?

...

[Congratulations, you have collected an animal. Current map level: 2. Collection progress: 3/5!]

...

[Congratulations, you have collected an animal. Current map level: 2. Collection progress: 4/5!]

...

[The current animal does not meet the catalogue collection standard. Please place a qualifying animal for collection!]

When Chu Lin placed the last fish in the catalogue and received the non-qualification message, he felt numb.

What you fear always comes to pass.

Only one was missing—how infuriating!

Now, he could only pray that Liu Fa would find a suitable seafood at the market.

Otherwise, being stuck at 4/5 in collection progress would be unbearably frustrating.