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Chu Mingcheng guessed that the typhoon had swept the mud shrimp onto the shore as it passed by their sea area during the day and turned northward.
He had already inquired with the fishmongers who had come to buy, and they only wanted ones larger than twelve centimeters, and they had to be plump.
The purchase price for those over 12 centimeters was 12 yuan each, and the Red Mother Shrimp over 20 centimeters was quite expensive, selling for 40 yuan per jin.
This price was a bit exaggerated, almost half less than the retail price in the market, but it wasn't strange to have prices pushed down under such special circumstances.
Chu Mingcheng initially wanted to notify his family and friends to come and help collect, unfortunately, it was too late and his parents were already asleep, and his friend had an important business deal tonight, so couldn't come.
Since that was the case, he could only pick up the money himself!
Thus, he quickly picked out the live mud shrimp that met the size requirement, throwing them into the bucket and sorting them roughly by size.
In just one hour, his two buckets were full.
He decided to sell these first. There were hardly any Red Mother Shrimp; after half an hour of collecting, he had only found three that were over 20 centimeters, so he hadn't sold them yet.
The other two buckets of mud shrimp, totaling 47 jin, sold for 564 yuan, transferred directly to his mobile phone.
Did he just earn the equivalent of two and a half days' wages in one hour?
The negative emotions in Chu Mingcheng's heart instantly vanished completely. Indeed, the most stress-relieving method was picking up money!
The data panel for the mud shrimp in his mind also changed.
[Mud shrimp, also known as pipi shrimp (Level 11)]
[Current Experience: 48/120]
[Size +11％]
[Deliciousness +11％]
[Catching Probability +11％]
Level 11, just like that?
Chu Mingcheng was astonished, had he leveled up so quickly?
He calculated the experience value and discovered that each level required an additional 10 points of experience, which meant that reaching level 10 would only need 550 mud shrimp.
Now at level 11 with 48 experience points, he had caught 708 shrimp in one hour, which averaged out to be almost 15 shrimp per jin.
Unfortunately, this was a special occasion. Normally, with the marine animal guide only unlocking hands and fishing gear as methods of capture, leveling up was not so fast.
Moreover, to reach the full level required catching more than ten thousand mud shrimps, which would take a very long time with any method other than using a fishing net.
Having a general understanding of the leveling patterns of the Golden Finger, Chu Mingcheng continued to pick up money.
He didn't know if it was because he had leveled up, but he found that he encountered big mud shrimp at a higher rate than before.
Theoretically, since everyone had been catching for so long, most of the remaining ones should be smaller.
He kept busy until about two in the morning, by which time all the larger mud shrimp had been almost completely collected.
The small ones left over, as well as those that had recently died, actually had buyers too, as there were farms along the coast that could use them as feed.
But these fishmongers weren't buying those, and Chu Mingcheng, who had come to make money, naturally didn't bother picking them up anymore.
During this time, he sold another three buckets, a total of 66 jin, for 792 yuan.
He had caught a total of 13 Red Mother Shrimp over 20 centimeters, with each one weighing about four taels.
Unfortunately, the mud shrimp could only grow so big. If it had been the Spiny Mantis Shrimp, then one reaching the size of a forearm would be considered normal, weighing in at eight or nine taels, or even one jin.
The 13 shrimp he had added up to 5.6 jin, and at 40 yuan per jin, he sold them for 224 yuan.
So, after working for several hours, his total earnings were precisely 1580 yuan, almost a week's wages for him.
The mud shrimp had also reached level 17, with an experience value of 168/180.
```
Chu Mingcheng saw this and casually grabbed twelve mud shrimps in an attempt to round up to a whole number, and advance to Level 18. However, his experience only increased slightly, reaching 169.
What was going on?
Chu Mingcheng was puzzled; he checked the mud shrimps in his bucket and discovered that only one was alive, while the rest were dead.
With some understanding, he dumped the mud shrimps from his bucket, including the live one.
Seeing that his experience was still at 169 and hadn't changed, he spent some more time finding eleven alive ones.
Seeing his level successfully rise to 18, Chu Mingcheng finally grasped the leveling up pattern.
Simply put, only live catches could increase his experience points; the dead ones were useless.
And now, the mud shrimps on the beach had probably been stranded for quite a while, and were mostly dead. It had taken him several minutes just to catch those eleven live ones, without even considering their size.
Based on this efficiency, even if he went back to get a shovel to scoop them into boxes, he estimated he wouldn't be able to level up much.
It was already past two in the morning, and Chu Mingcheng, who had effortlessly made one thousand and five hundred, naturally had no interest, so he directly returned to his rented room in the city, took a bath, and hurried to sleep.
He arrived back to his rental close to four in the morning, but work started at eight.
The moment his phone alarm went off, Chu Mingcheng struggled between continuing to sleep in and the penalty for being late.
But thinking about why his hard-earned money should be taken away by Boss Chen, he sat up immediately and then squinted his eyes while heading to the restroom to freshen up.
Ever since his awakening of the Golden Finger last night, Chu Mingcheng had been considering resigning.
It was indeed not easy to make money with the Golden Finger in the early stages, but once the levels of most of the seafood improved, it wouldn't make a fortune, but it would certainly be much better than now.
The most important thing was freedom, not having someone lording over him.
Yet even if he resigned, he did not want Boss Chen to find an excuse to take advantage of him.
Today was the twenty-ninth of September, and the day after tomorrow was the National Day holiday. Chu Mingcheng planned to resign after finishing work tomorrow.
The small company he worked for didn't even have the "Five Insurances and One Housing Fund" benefit, and upon resignation, one could basically leave at any time. His salary would be deposited into his account on the tenth, and Boss Chen didn't dare to withhold it.
Before, there was an employee whose business capabilities were weak, and Boss Chen forcibly terminated him. That person was honest and didn't make a fuss about being fired.
But Boss Chen still held on to the salary with no intention of paying. This immediately angered the honest man.
After a trip to the labor bureau, the company was fined, and Boss Chen also had to compensate an extra month's salary.
According to the labor law, if one has been employed for more than six months but less than a year, they are entitled to compensation of one month's salary.
Although the honest man ended up with an extra month's wages, in this county town, he was unable to find similar work.
Boss Chen's company wasn't large, but he had decent connections. After word got out, the honest man was rejected by several companies and eventually had to leave dejectedly.
This also was why Chu Mingcheng had always refrained from clashing with Boss Chen—his hometown was near, and without switching professions, he really couldn't afford to offend him.
As for changing companies, they were all pretty much the same and it only made a difference if one moved to a big city to find a company with overtime pay. While the salary might be higher in a big city, the cost of living was also high, so after calculations, it didn't really make a difference.
Moreover, having worked at the company for four years, even if he simply worked regular hours without overtime, Boss Chen wouldn't be foolish enough to dismiss him.
Chu Mingcheng also didn't want to continue working at this company where he was unhappy, so resigning himself was the best choice.
He arrived at the office right at eight o'clock, and Boss Chen was standing right at the entrance of the office.
Seeing Chu Mingcheng clocking in just in time, he glanced at his watch with a sly grin and said, "Ah Cheng, you are a bit late today, remember to come earlier next time."
"Don't worry, there won't be a next time!" Chu Mingcheng replied and went straight to his seat.
Boss Chen didn't catch the implication and, seeing that it was time, he instructed the receptionist to record all the latecomers and report them to finance later on.
Then he leisurely returned to his office, brewed tea, and continued with today's health-conscious lifestyle.
As for yesterday's "urgent" project, it suddenly wasn't such a hurry anymore.