Jiang Nanzhou directly closed the Douyin notification and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
Because he had just heard the system prompt chime in his head.
"System task: obtain three hundred ocean reputation points within one hour. Upon successful completion, the reward will be a high-tech live-streaming drone. If the task fails, the host will suffer twenty-four hours of blindness. Timer starts now. Good luck, host!"
Jiang Nanzhou was dumbfounded. Three hundred ocean reputation points in an hour—how on earth was that possible? But whether it was possible or not, he had to try, because he had zero desire to experience twenty-four hours of blindness.
His pace quickened. A full half-hour had passed, and he had only managed to scrape together a little over one hundred ocean reputation points.
"Brother, come here, hurry up!"
Jiang Nanzhou was startled by Hu Mingzhu's sudden shout, which was accompanied by a piercing scream. Dropping his bag, he bolted toward her.
Jiang Tianfu and Hu Minghao were some distance away and couldn't make out what Hu Mingzhu was yelling, but seeing Jiang Nanzhou sprint toward her in such a panic, they hurried after him.
Reaching Hu Mingzhu's side, Jiang Nanzhou let out a sigh of relief when he saw she was unharmed.
Following the direction of her trembling, excited finger, he looked down and saw a dolphin stranded right there on the beach.
By this time, Jiang Tianfu and Hu Minghao had also arrived, breathing heavily, and stared at the dolphin stranded in the sand.
Jiang Nanzhou saw that the dolphin was light grey and under a meter in length. It must have been a baby dolphin, not yet fully grown. Waves were washing over its body, and its tail was slapping frantically against the sand.
Jiang Nanzhou and Jiang Tianfu kicked off their shoes, peeled off their socks and outer jackets, and waded toward the baby dolphin.
Hu Minghao originally intended to go with them, but Jiang Nanzhou waved him back, saying the two of them would be enough.
Jiang Tianfu turned on the video recording function on his phone and handed it to Hu Mingzhu, asking her to film.
Jiang Nanzhou crouched beside the dolphin, stroked its head soothingly, and then he and Jiang Tianfu grabbed its tail and dragged it back into the surf. The process was quite simple; perhaps sensing that they meant no harm, the little dolphin put up very little struggle.
Watching from the shore, they saw the baby dolphin surface in the deep water, let out a couple of cheerful squeaks, and leap joyfully back and forth as if thanking them. Only after it vanished from sight did they finally turn and head back up the beach.
Hu Mingzhu and Hu Minghao were both brimming with excitement.
Previously, the only place any of them had ever seen dolphins was in an aquarium.
Even Jiang Tianfu and Jiang Nanzhou had never heard of dolphins appearing in the nearby coastal waters. Jiang Nanzhou guessed this must be a baby dolphin that had gotten separated from its pod.
The system's electronic chime rang out once more.
"Congratulations to the host for completing the task. You have obtained a high-tech live-streaming drone."
Seeing his ocean reputation points suddenly jump by five hundred, Jiang Nanzhou figured this must be the reward for rescuing the baby dolphin.
He never expected that saving a single baby dolphin would net him so many ocean reputation points.
He had genuinely thought he was going to fail the task today. Terrified that the sudden blindness would panic his family, he had even been planning to find an excuse to head into the city and hole up in a hotel to ride out those twenty-four hours of darkness.
It seemed that wouldn't be necessary now.
Hu Mingzhu quickly handed over their jackets, urging them to put them back on.
Jiang Tianfu hurriedly zipped up his coat, shivering uncontrollably.
"Let's call it a day and head back for hot showers. My nose is about to freeze right off my face."
"Alright. You guys go wait by the car; I'm going to grab my bag."
Ever since his body had undergone physical enhancement, Jiang Nanzhou had discovered that he was no longer bothered by heat or cold. When that bone-chilling seawater had soaked right through him earlier, he hadn't felt a thing. This system was truly incredible.
Back home and freshly showered, Jiang Nanzhou lay down on his bed, opened the system interface, and activated the ocean reputation store.
[Host Name: Jiang Nanzhou
Reputation Points: 9
Ocean Reputation Points: 935
Lucky Draws: 2
Reputation Store (Pending Activation)
Ocean Reputation Store
System Inventory
......]
Jiang Nanzhou directly tapped on the ocean reputation store, bringing up a shopping interface where only a single item was currently on sale: the Marine Organism Nutrient Solution.
Upon seeing the price, Jiang Nanzhou flew into a rage.
That tiny 5ml bottle of Marine Organism Nutrient Solution cost a staggering 1,000 ocean reputation points.
Jiang Nanzhou was left utterly speechless.
Noticing he had two lucky draws remaining, he decided to take a gamble and spun the wheel.
[Congratulations to the host for acquiring the comprehensive marine biology knowledge skill.]
Jiang Nanzhou immediately applied the skill, and a massive influx of information suddenly flooded his brain.
After taking a moment to digest it all, Jiang Nanzhou used his remaining lucky draw.
[Thanks for playing. Better luck next time, host.]
Seriously? Just like that?
A whole lot of nothing.
Jiang Nanzhou exited the lucky draw interface and retrieved the live-streaming drone from his inventory.
This particular model featured an auto-follow setting, solar charging, and connected directly to a smartphone for easy piloting during broadcasts.
Jiang Nanzhou figured he would find some free time to test it out.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep that night, his phone rang loudly, jolting him awake. Seeing it was Jiang Tianfu, he swiped the screen to answer.
Before Jiang Nanzhou could even speak, Jiang Tianfu's excited voice boomed through the receiver.
"Xiaozhou, you've gone viral!"
Jiang Nanzhou was completely baffled.
"What went viral? What caught fire?"
"What are you talking about? Nothing's on fire—*you* are blowing up!"
"I'm blowing up? That video I posted on Douyin today?"
"It was the video of us rescuing the stranded baby dolphin that I posted on Douyin today. Little Mingzhu's camera work was fantastic. Go online and see for yourself."
Jiang Nanzhou hung up, any lingering sleepiness completely banished, and picked up his phone to open Douyin.
New followers: 138,000
Likes: 402,000
Finding Jiang Tianfu's account in his friends list, Jiang Nanzhou clicked on his newly uploaded video. The camera zoomed in as he approached the dolphin, gently stroking the baby creature. The seawater soaked his clothes, causing the fabric to cling tightly to his torso and clearly outlining his eight-pack abs, while his handsome face was captured in crystal-clear detail. Jiang Tianfu was entirely relegated to a background extra in the frame. The video ended with the two of them waving goodbye to the little dolphin from the shoreline.
Credit where credit was due, Hu Mingzhu really knew how to film.
He tapped open the comment section and spotted the author's pinned comment:
*Family, stop flooding my DMs asking who that handsome guy is. Follow @I_Am_A_Fisherman.*
The netizens' comments were completely unfiltered, ranging from hilarious to deeply touching.
"That baby dolphin is so adorable, and it even knew to thank them before leaving. Such a good little thing!"
"As touching as this video is... once I'm done feeling moved—hunk alert!! Not only am I hitting like, but I'm leaving a comment: you are the apple of this older sister's eye, and my heart is made of durian—every single spike has someone's name on it."
Jiang Tianfu's profile picture happened to be a selfie, and a netizen had actually screenshotted it and dropped it into the comments.
"Sisters, don't follow the wrong person—the author actually looks like this."
"All living things have a spirit. May good people be blessed with lifelong peace."
"Looking at those abs... I'm so shy, but I love it!!"