The park was extremely quiet. Lin Ye sensed his surroundings and found this was a small park near a residential area. There was an artificial lake on one side of the park, with apartment buildings in all other directions.

'It looks normal, just a bit few people.'

Lin Ye temporarily ignored the Penguin Baby that kept sliding around nearby. He walked towards the park exit, planning to find a vehicle by the roadside.

However, when passing by the artificial lake, Lin Ye suddenly stopped in his tracks.

A group of fishing enthusiasts wearing raincoats appeared by the artificial lake, sitting there fishing.

But in Lin Ye's perception, there had been no one there before.

'Is this also part of the festival?'

Lin Ye walked towards the artificial lake. He didn't want to fish, but intended to gather some information.

Those raincoat-clad fishing enthusiasts had already occupied most of the open spots by the lake. Lin Ye found a relatively secluded spot, took a park stone pier to the lakeside, and used it as a seat.

Seeing the fishing enthusiast next to him had no reaction, Lin Ye took out the Dragon Fishing Rod and casually cast a line into the lake.

In Lin Ye's perception, the artificial lake was only a few meters deep, with just a few scattered small fish inside.

But through the Dragon Fishing Rod, he could clearly feel the lake's depth was far more than a few meters, and there were many moving things inside.

Lin Ye hooked a living creature in the lake with his fishhook. He lifted the rod forcefully, trying to hook it out, but found the thing below seemed fixed in a certain position and couldn't be hooked out at all.

Some chaotic information surged into Lin Ye's consciousness through the fishing line. It took him a second to sort out that jumbled information.

'This is... a math problem? No, a rune problem?'

Lin Ye found the answer in just a few seconds, then transmitted his spiritual imprint along the fishing line into the lake.

Then he lifted the fishing rod again, and a seemingly very ordinary small fish was caught out of the lake surface.

The nearby raincoat-clad fishing enthusiasts all turned to look at Lin Ye. They seemed not to expect Lin Ye could catch a fish so quickly.

Lin Ye casually threw the small fish towards Penguin Baby. Penguin Baby jumped up and swallowed the small fish in one gulp.

"Quack quack!"

It was very satisfied with this food.

Lin Ye ignored those fishing enthusiasts looking at him and continued casting his line, trying to catch more fish from the lake.

Lin Ye: Sorry, friends. I've encountered a very troublesome situation. It might take a long time to resolve. I can only meet up with you all later.

Amy: Uh, aren't you fishing by the lake? I saw you casting your line.

Lin Ye: You saw wrong. That wasn't me.

Amy: No, this is my talent ability. I'm on the rooftop of a building hundreds of meters behind you. I couldn't possibly be mistaken.

Lin Ye: ...Do I need to blow up the building to help you come down?

Amy: Sorry, I really did see wrong. That person seems to be wearing blue-gray clothes. It might be a problem with the light and angle.

Caris: If you have time, could you help me think of a solution? They're making me pay 10 trade points, otherwise they'll turn me into ingredients. But I didn't eat this, and I don't have any trade points.

Lin Ye: What a scam. 10 trade points could buy one-fifth of a Rule Crystal.

Caris: Of course I know it's a scam. Could you lend me ten points first? I'll pay back the trade points with spiritual energy materials.

Lin Ye: That's not necessary. We're teammates after all.

Lin Ye transferred ten trade points to Caris through the system's chat room. This was somewhat similar to the transfer function of certain chat software.

Caris: Thank you. I'll pay you back.

Lin Ye: No need to thank me. Just don't come bother me while I'm fishing.

Chess: I'm trapped inside a pitch-black space. In this space, perception is restricted, and no matter how I walk, I can't get out. There might be others nearby, but I can't reach them. Can you help me think about how to get out?

Lin Ye: You're probably circling in the same place. As long as you can find the right direction, you can get out.

Chess: Then how do I determine the right direction?

Lin Ye: That depends on what's affecting you. I'm very busy right now. You can ask that big sister who ate without money to pay to help you.

Caris: Are there any obvious landmarks near you? I can come find you after I get out.

Chess: I can smell a sweet fragrance. There might be a cake shop nearby.

Caris: Okay, I'll investigate the famous cake shops in the city.

Having solved his teammates' problems, Lin Ye continued fishing by the lake. Every time he caught something from the lake, he needed to solve the problem transmitted from the lake. These problems involved various fields. The more difficult the problem, the more precious the catch.

At first, what Lin Ye caught were all small fish, averaging one every one or two seconds. Later, the fish he caught gradually grew larger, and the time Lin Ye spent also gradually increased.

Penguin Baby stopped sliding. It squatted next to Lin Ye's fish bucket, occasionally picking a catch from inside and swallowing it.

Lin Ye didn't stop Penguin Baby from stealing the catch. He still didn't know what use these catches had. Even if they were all eaten, he could just fish another batch.

But Penguin Baby didn't eat all the fish in the bucket. It was picky, selecting fish from the bucket like a gourmet choosing delicious recipes.

As Lin Ye's catches increased, the surrounding raincoat-clad fishing enthusiasts had become numb. Their fishing efficiency was far inferior to Lin Ye's, averaging only one small fish every ten minutes.

After about half an hour, Lin Ye found the catches he was fishing up seemed to have reached a limit. The weight of the catches was all under ten pounds.

"Quack quack!"

Penguin Baby wriggled its plump body and patted Lin Ye's thigh with its wing.

"You're saying you need bait? Right, I forgot fishing needs bait." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Usually accustomed to fishing without bait, Lin Ye only now remembered fishing required bait.

Lin Ye took out a piece of high-tier spiritual energy creature meat from his loot space. He alienated the meat into the shape of an earthworm and alienated some special structures inside it.

"This should work."

Lin Ye hooked the constantly wriggling earthworm onto the fishhook, then swung the fishing rod, casting the hook deep into the lake water.

Not long after the fishhook entered the water, the fishing line began to sink rapidly. Something had bitten the hook.

Before Lin Ye could lift the rod, a large number of problems related to flesh and blood Alienation flooded into his consciousness like a mental attack.

Lin Ye wasn't flustered. He was very proficient in knowledge related to flesh and blood Alienation. The problems transmitted from below were still too elementary for him.

Soon Lin Ye solved all those problems. A large fish with a completely blood-red body was fished out of the water by him. This fish weighed a full twenty pounds.

The surrounding raincoat-clad fishing enthusiasts all looked enviously at that large fish. They simply couldn't catch large fish of that size.