Spotting a wooden stick by the roadside, he casually picked it up to use as an exploration staff, grabbed his bucket, took a deep breath, and walked into the Mangrove Forest.
Choosing a direction where no one was around, he walked about thirty meters and silently recited the skill command "Scan" in his mind.
At that moment, a circular image with a radius of 150 meters appeared in his mind, showing the living creatures within that range.
It clearly indicated that fifteen meters to his right, a crab was hiding.
Moving quickly—two steps in one—he hurried over and took a look. He realized that if you didn't look closely, you really wouldn't notice a crab hiding here, and it was a mud crab at that.
He took the tongs out of the bucket, aimed right at the mud crab, and clamped down. Just as he lifted it up to get a good look at his trophy, after about two seconds, the mud crab broke free from the tongs and dropped to the ground!
He hurriedly stepped forward to pin the mud crab down with his foot. Looking at the crab, which weighed around seven or eight taels, he felt quite proud. No matter what, this was the harvest from his very first time beachcombing.
He used the tongs to pick up the mud crab and put it into the bucket. Looking at the crab inside, he ran into a dilemma once again.
Because mud crabs had to be tied up; if it lost its claws, it wouldn't be worth much.
The memories in his mind told him how to tie up a mud crab, but since he had never actually done it, it was the classic case of:
Brain: I've got this.
Hands: No, we don't.
……
Besides, when he came out just now, he hadn't brought any rope for tying crabs.
"Whatever, forget it for now. If I catch any other crabs later, I'll just store them all in the Space—they won't die in there anyway."
With that thought, he dismissed the idea of going back to get rope.
"Huh? And that mud crab broke free after about two seconds just now—that must have been the Titan Passive's two-second bind taking effect."
Realizing the Titan passive had triggered, he quickly deactivated it.
Thank goodness he hadn't interacted with anyone since discovering his skills; if someone had been judged as a basic attack and bound for two seconds, it would have been a laughingstock!
"Whew~ Looks like I need to pay more attention to this in the future."
Calming his nerves, he relied on the memory from his recent scan and strode quickly toward the next location showing a crab.
This was a small puddle with a bit of water, and a crab was hiding in the mud beside it. This time his strike was steady, accurate, and ruthless, easily capturing the crab.
Taking a look, he saw it was a red-armored crab. He silently recited "Store" in his mind, only to find that the red-armored crab was still clamped in the tongs.
He didn't even need to think about it: first of all, skill descriptions don't lie.
After all, since the scan had been so useful, years of reading web novels told him that he had to touch items with his hand in order to store them into the Space!
So, he brought the red-armored crab close, used his other hand to touch its back, and silently recited "Store." The red-armored crab vanished right before his eyes.
Yet he could clearly sense that a red-armored crab was sleeping inside the Space.
"Hehe~ This Space is really great. Next time I run into seafood that dies easily, I'll store them all in the Space first—after all, live ones are worth more than dead ones."
In no time at all, he had harvested two crabs, filling him with drive. After all, it was his first time beachcombing, and the novelty was at an all-time high.
Right after that, he headed toward the third location from the scan. Because this spot was a bit farther away, he carefully observed his surroundings with his eyes while cautiously probing the path with the stick he had picked up earlier, terrified of accidentally stepping into a quicksand bog.
The distance of seventy or eighty meters took nearly five minutes to cover before he reached the third spot.
According to the scan results, there were two crabs here. After searching carefully, he finally spotted the traces of two crabs—they seemed to be fighting.
Without any hesitation, he made a quick move and clamped onto one of the crabs with his tongs, then stepped forward to pin the other running crab down with his foot.
A glance at the mud crab in the tongs revealed it was a female, so he stored it into the Space. Then he looked at the mud crab under his foot—it was a male. They probably hadn't been up to any good just now!
"Hehe, let the poor Taoist capture you two wicked beasts!"
Judging from the recent scan, these three locations could be considered the easiest to harvest and the most valuable seafood. The rest were either hiding in underground burrows or consisted of shellfish!
He could do nothing about the crabs in their burrows, and as for those shellfish, he had no interest in them.
He raised his head to get his bearings, carefully walked about 130 meters in one direction, and silently recited "Scan" once more.
The biological images presented in his mind this time were even more numerous: not only crabs and fish, but also a long, slender creature that was likely either a snake or an eel.
The reason there were so many seafood items this time was probably because he was heading deeper into the Mangrove Forest.
He walked toward the nearest location and discovered it was actually a coconut volute. He picked up the coconut volute and examined it closely.
"Hmm~ According to the law of web novels I've read over the years, whenever a protagonist picks up a coconut volute, they are bound to find a 'Dragon Ball' inside. Since I now possess a 'Golden Finger', how am I not a protagonist? There is no way I'm selling this coconut volute; I have to open it myself."
Thinking about pulling out a "Dragon Ball," he felt extremely pleased, quickly stored the coconut volute away, and hurried toward the next location.
He visited several spots in a row, and his harvest was plentiful: five mud crabs, three red-armored crabs, fifteen scallops, and an octopus.
He had found this octopus inside an empty conch shell on his way to look for scallops.
Initially, he thought he had discovered another kind of snail and had a chance to harvest pearls, but he never expected Brother Octopus to be living inside.
Based on the memories from the scan, the closest thing to him now was the location of that long, slender creature.
As for why he remembered so clearly? It was simple: some things leave a deep impression.
For example, he remembered those fifteen scallops grouped together very clearly. If the fifteen scallops had been at different locations, he wouldn't have bothered to look for them!
He cautiously walked in that direction, terrified of encountering danger, until he was about five meters away from the spot.
Standing still, he peered cautiously toward the location and felt relieved upon discovering it was just a small puddle, since marine creatures don't easily leave sources of water.
Walking over to the edge of the puddle, he found the water very clear. He could plainly see a marine eel inside. This marine eel was quite large, likely weighing twelve or thirteen catties, making it very difficult to get out with just tongs!
Seeing no other creatures in the puddle, a plan instantly came to mind. First, he activated the Titan passive skill.
Then, creeping closer slowly, he used his right hand holding the tongs to strike at the marine eel's head, binding it in place. With his left hand, he quickly grabbed the eel's tail while silently reciting "Store."
The marine eel in the puddle vanished instantly, and as for its current whereabouts, it was already fast asleep in the "Space"!
"Little guy, don't look at me like that just because you're scary—I can still easily handle you~"
He stood up and deactivated the passive skill, noticing that the tide was already starting to come in, and he couldn't quite remember the locations from the scan anymore.
Figuring his harvest for the day was already quite substantial, if he sold it, it would probably fetch over twenty yuan.
After all, the several mud crabs he picked up later weren't small at all, each weighing around a catty and a half.
"Forget it, I'll go home first and come back to forage another day."
Getting his bearings, he headed out of the Mangrove Forest.