Chapter 45: The Map Upgrades Again! The Game System Hands Out More Rewards!

Chu Lin gazed at the 4/5 progress bar and sighed, realizing he had no choice but to move all the fish and shrimp out of the game once more.

He began sorting the fish and shrimp into categories. Those of the same species already collected in the illustrated guide were set aside. After all, only one animal of each kind could be added; duplicates wouldn’t count. As for the other wild fish, he decided to release them back for a while—perhaps they’d reach the guide’s collection standards in the future.

Before long, Liu Fa drove back, hauling bags of seafood out of the car. Twenty thousand yuan’s worth of seafood was a considerable haul. Once he’d unloaded everything, Liu Fa asked, “Boss Chu, I’ve got everything you asked for. Anything else you need?”

“I’ve sorted the fish we caught earlier. Put these ones, the ones not collected by the guide, back into the bay,” Chu Lin instructed, pointing at the fish and shrimp that didn’t have their kind already in the guide.

“Of course, Boss Chu,” Liu Fa replied, rolling up his sleeves without another word and setting to work.

Chu Lin glanced over the fish and shrimp already represented in the guide. There were about two hundred jin altogether. These were all wild-caught, and quite valuable—some could fetch as much as two hundred yuan per jin. They were more nutritious than farmed fish and were considered delicacies in the market.

He decided to set up another pond to keep these wild fish. More wild fish would surely be drawn in over time, and as long as a type had its kind in the guide, it could go in. They could be kept for his own meals to enrich his daily fare, or given away as gifts.

He also checked the seafood Liu Fa had bought—mostly shellfish, shrimp, and crabs. Liu Fa had done a thorough job, picking out the largest and plumpest ones.

He hoped that among this lot, there would be at least one suitable for collection by the guide.

It didn’t take Liu Fa long to return the wild fish to the bay. When he came back, Chu Lin, now with the guide-collected wild fish at hand, said, “Master Liu, when you get off work, pick two of the bigger wild fish to take home.”

“Thank you, Boss Chu,” Liu Fa replied gratefully.

Although he hadn’t received his first paycheck yet, Liu Fa was already certain that he’d found himself a good boss. Not only did he get to share the same seafood meals as Boss Chu every day for lunch, but Boss Chu would often tell him to take some food home. Even his wife had remarked that he’d finally found a decent employer and should work hard.

This was exactly the attitude Chu Lin wanted. It was rare to find an honest, reliable, hard-working employee, so it was worth it to win his loyalty with small gestures now and then. There was no point being stingy.

As for those slippery, scheming types—no matter how much you tried to win them over, they’d never be satisfied. In fact, the better you treated them, the more likely they were to betray you.

But someone like Liu Fa, if you treated him well, would repay you with double the enthusiasm and unwavering loyalty.

Time slipped by. Another day passed.

When Liu Fa left, he picked out two wild fish. He didn’t greedily choose the largest ones as instructed, but rather two of moderate size.

After all, wild fish weren’t cheap. He was content with what he had.

As night slowly descended, Chu Lin made himself a simple dinner. After eating, he carried all the seafood Liu Fa had bought into the game and began testing them one by one at the guide.

[The current animal does not meet the requirements for collection. Please input a qualified animal for collection!]

…

[The current animal does not meet the requirements!]

[The current animal does not meet the requirements!]

One prompt after another appeared. He finished trying all the shellfish in the first bag—none met the guide’s requirements.

He quickly grabbed the second bag and tried again. Still, none qualified.

The third bag… the fourth bag… still nothing.

It was just as he suspected: farmed seafood from the market was of inferior quality. Even after picking the plumpest ones, not a single one met the guide’s standards.

Fortunately, Lady Luck hadn’t abandoned him entirely. In the very last bag, the prompt he’d been hoping for finally appeared:

[Congratulations! You have collected a new animal. Atlantis Map Level 2 — Current collection progress: 5/5!]

Seeing this message, Chu Lin’s face finally lit up with joy. At that moment, he truly wished he could embrace Lady Luck and shower her with affection.

As before, with the collection progress complete, two more prompts immediately followed:

[Congratulations! You have completed the Atlantis Map Level 2 illustrated guide. The map is upgrading…]

[Congratulations! Atlantis Map Level 2 has met the upgrade conditions. Reward: a batch of special pearls produced by unique marine shellfish!]

Upon seeing this reward notification, Chu Lin knew the game system was about to make him rich again.

Immediately, beams of light flooded the entire Atlantis map, and within it, new pearls appeared, each one shimmering with a peculiar glow.

Chu Lin stepped forward, eyes sparkling as he looked at the pile of pearls. What stood out was that none were perfectly round; instead, each was an irregularly shaped oval.

This meant they were all rare, wild, non-nucleated pearls.

How did he know this? He had his first love to thank—not that awkward reunion at Huang Bin’s party…

But that was beside the point.

What mattered was that his first love had actually worn a wild, non-nucleated pearl in a very unusual place.

And she had even explained that pearl to him.

He had been stunned at the time, marveling at how little he really knew.

The key point was, she’d told him that the 15mm wild, non-nucleated pearl was worth over twenty thousand yuan.

He’d been amazed—just a little stone grown inside a shell, and yet it was so expensive.

In fact, many people in the country shared his earlier doubts. Pearls had a polarizing reputation; some dismissed them entirely. Whenever people saw a video about a pearl worth tens of thousands, they’d say they’d rather buy gold than pearls.

Others would remark that even a pearl worth tens of thousands would be mistaken for a cheap plastic bead from a street stall.

Later, he learned that pearls had their own target clientele. For these true connoisseurs, pearls never looked like cheap trinkets. In fact, at first glance, they exuded luxury.

That clientele was usually the wealthy daughters of the elite, or celebrities.

Ordinary women rarely wore pearls; if they did, people tended to assume they were just cheap decorations. So, given the choice, they preferred to buy gold—it was flashy and unmistakably valuable.

On the other hand, those wealthy heiresses and celebrities rarely wore gold or silver. Just look at photos of actresses at events—they almost never wear gold or silver jewelry, but are often adorned with gemstones and pearls.

That’s why pearls held a unique, prestigious place among jewels.

With these thoughts in mind, Chu Lin picked up a pearl and checked its description.

[Atlantis Pearl: Quality 1]

[This is a unique, wild, non-nucleated pearl produced by a special marine shellfish through abnormal cell proliferation and long-term secretion of nacre. Luster +1!]

Chu Lin’s eyes grew brighter as he read. His first love’s wild, non-nucleated pearl was worth more than twenty thousand yuan. Not only did these have the luster +1 attribute, but they were obviously larger, brighter, and more beautiful.

These features were, after all, measures of a pearl’s quality.

Which meant these pearls were worth even more than the one his first love had worn in that rather private spot.

Looking at the pile of pearls, he knew another fortune was about to come his way.