Fishing Livestream

Although Liu Mingyuan was in his forties, he was quite sharp-minded. When live broadcasting platforms just started to gain traction, he discovered them early on. Despite not producing any quality content, he slowly gained over ten thousand followers. Occasionally, when he came across a good fishing spot, he would start a live stream, attracting around ten to twenty live viewers in his room.

"What do those women know? They've had their fill, now clear the table! I'm off to fish by the river and will be back at dusk. Don't call me unless it's urgent!" Liu Mingyuan pocketed his minivan keys and headed straight to the riverbank at Wangjiazhuang.

...

Up to now, Yue Feng was unaware that his presence had caught someone else's attention; at this moment, he was sound asleep behind the counter.

That afternoon, the busy business he anticipated never materialized. Yue Feng stayed put in the shop all afternoon and completed only one transaction, netting $25.

Damn! Had I known this, I would have been better off fishing. It would help promote the shop and increase my lottery points, and I could supplement my income with the catch. This afternoon was a complete miscalculation!

Before closing for the night, Yue Feng recorded the day's sales: $427 in revenue plus 300 additional points. If it weren't for the first-time purchase incentive provided by the system, he would have been shaved bald.

It was supposed to be a good weekend, but it turned out to be the day with the worst revenue so far. After a brief analysis, Yue Feng realized the main issue was low brand recognition and an insufficient customer base.

So, Yue Feng resolved to make a change starting tomorrow; after lunch, he couldn't just sit around in the shop—it was going nowhere.

Otherwise, I might as well make a sign to hang outside the door stating, "Business hours from 5:30 AM to 12:00 noon; in the afternoons, I won't stick around in the shop for nothing!"

No sooner had the idea come to him than Yue Feng found a stiff cardboard, wrote a sign with a marker, and hung it outside the door. Suddenly, he remembered a system notification.

Ding! Challenge task [Shop Popularity] triggered!

[Shop Popularity]: As a novice shop owner, you've realized the problems you face in your business and are attempting to make changes! During the startup phase of a fishing tackle shop, building popularity is the most effective way to improve profits! Within one week, raise your shop's popularity value to 300! Current popularity value: 43/300!

Note: Every new regular customer with a visit frequency of at least once a month counts as one point of popularity value. The popularity value will fluctuate with the increase and decrease of customers.

Task Reward: A random intermediate basic fishing skill or an entry-level advanced fishing skill.

Failure Penalty: Failure will result in the loss of all current popularity value!

Will you accept?

Yue Feng usually happily accepted challenges when tasks were triggered, but the nature of this challenge made him hesitate.

This was a completely different type of task, similar to a trial task, where success would bring rewards, but failure would also carry a penalty—and a heavy one at that.

Master Level Hook Binding had given Yue Feng a taste of its benefits, and he wondered what surprises the system's fishing skill reward would bring,

But the thought of failing and losing all popularity points made him hesitant. If it weren't for the trial task that promised ten thousand yuan, he would certainly take a gamble, but now a failed mission would likely mess up the trial task too.

Torn between the precious skill reward and the daunting failure penalty, Yue Feng couldn't make up his mind after a long hesitation.

Clenching his teeth, Yue Feng pulled a one-yuan coin from his pocket.

Let's gamble! Numbers mean accept, the national emblem means reject!

Yue Feng flicked the coin into the air with his thumb, caught it securely after it traced an arc through the air.

Numbers!

Since it's numbers, let's take a chance!

Accept!

Ding! Congratulations on accepting the challenge task [Shop Popularity]. Please complete the task within 7×24 hours, or you will face the penalty for failure!

Yue Feng's mind began racing as soon as he took on the task.

It had taken Yue Feng three days to increase his Popularity Value by 43 points, which seemed decently fast, but the number of fellow anglers in the area was fixed, and counting everyone, he wasn't even sure there were three hundred people. To complete the task, merely fishing and doing conventional promotion wouldn't be enough. He needed to think of something else.

Just then, his WeChat notification sounded, sparking an idea in Yue Feng—how could he have forgotten about this!

Yue Feng hurriedly took out his phone and dialed Liu Fengnian's number.

"Brother Liu, this is Yue Feng. I have a question for you. Do you have any WeChat groups of local anglers over there?" he asked.

"There are a few, but the group owners are all your competitors. Are you sure you want to join?" Liu Fengnian's words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Yue Feng's head, sending a chill from the top of his head down to his heels.

"Isn't there a group managed by an independent person?" Yue Feng asked, holding on to his last shred of hope.

"There is one, but it's not very popular. I'm the group owner myself, and there are only a dozen or so close friends and acquaintances in it. What are you up to?"

A dozen people were like a drop in the bucket and of little use to Yue Feng, who already had several dozen angler contacts on WeChat. If he were to set one up himself, he might even end up with a few more members than Liu Fengnian.

"Uh, never mind, I'm just thinking about developing a client group. I'll figure something else out!" Yue Feng said.

"Alright! Call me if there's anything else."

With his shortcut idea quickly falling through, Yue Feng reluctantly continued to consider what he could manage, hoping to find a good strategy.

Soon, Yue Feng took a piece of paper and started listing the resources he had at his disposal.

He had a full set of equipment, and his Fishing Skill was passable.

He had a decent stockpile of Bait Wine Rice material.

One formula for Crucian Carp Bait for the spring season.

A packet of Concentrated Version of Wild Fishing Companion.

Master Level Hook Binding Skill.

One Good Person Card.

Less than three thousand cash.

A small shop, and a few dozen anglers he was somewhat familiar with.

After carefully considering the cards in his hand, Yue Feng ruled out the idea of aggressively promoting his shop by giving away freebies because of his limited finances, and the Good Person Card could only add a little to his Popularity Value—it was only a drop in the bucket.

In the end, it seemed that the only things Yue Feng had to offer were those he had acquired from the system, especially the bait formula and Wild Fishing Companion.

After much deliberation, it appeared that fishing and promoting his shop was the most reliable option available to him.

"Damn it, starting from tomorrow, I'm going all in!" Yue Feng gritted his teeth, retrieved the sign hung at the door, and changed the business hours to 5:30 AM to 10:30 AM.

Now that he had resolved to rely on fishing to attract attention and promote his shop to gain Popularity Value, he couldn't afford to mess around like before as the deadline was too tight.

What to do? Yue Feng decided to use a strong remedy for a serious illness and do everything possible to increase his fishing yield. He then promised certain benefits to encourage his fellow anglers to help spread his influence, thereby generating Popularity Value.

Yue Feng had seen the aggressive tactics of WeChat vendors and figured that applying similar strategies could also effectively promote his own shop.

With a rough direction in mind, Yue Feng started to act.