10: Reporter interview

The recording of Gao Xiaofan's livestream went viral online once again.

"Brother Wo Zi Night Fishing Again, Kneading oligie with a Look of Ecstasy?"

"Brother Wo Zi Asks for a Price On-Site After Night Fishing, Unhappy with the Slightly High Cost."

Most of the videos were just pure screen recordings. Only one video analyzed Gao Xiaofan's fishing data from a professional perspective.

"Showing Off Skills? Mysterious Bait? A New Star is Rising in the Fishing World."

"The bait used by Brother Wo Zi during the livestream was similar to a golden-yellow oligie. Judging from his reaction when sniffing the bait, it should be an aromatic type of bait."

"Throughout the entire livestream, Brother Wo Zi cast his rod 284 times, with a fish-hooking probability... reaching an astonishing 100%."

"The fastest time to hook a fish was 1 second: the float sank, the fish swarmed to snatch the bait, and the rod was lifted to hook a fish in one second."

"The slowest time to hook a fish was 5 seconds. Astounding data, terrifying."

"Such bait has never appeared on the market before, so it's highly likely that Brother Wo Zi secretly formulated this bait himself."

"One interesting point is that this bait actually works on all fish species, from small ones like White Striped Fish and Yellow Catfish to large ones like Black Carp and Grass Carp."

"I believe the professional Anglers also breathed a sigh of relief. After all, in professional tournaments, only catches of the designated target fish count as valid. Bait that attracts too many other fish is actually a disadvantage."

A professional data analysis video once again pushed Brother Wo Zi into the spotlight, capturing the attention of all Anglers.

Countless Anglers left comments under the video.

"A blessing for wild fishing! For us wild fishers, the most common spots are wild rivers. With this bait, we'd never have to worry about going home empty-handed again."

"A 100% hook-up rate, this bait is awesome."

"So that's why Brother Wo Zi could hook a corpse. Now it makes sense."

Gao Xiaofan lay in bed, watching the comments on the video while curiously asking the system.

"Can this bait be mass-produced? Is there a formula?"

"No, it is only for the Host's personal use."

Gao Xiaofan sighed. If he could start a bait factory with this, he'd make a fortune. What a shame.

However, his mood quickly improved again. Originally, the rate of new followers had slowed down after the livestream ended. But now, with the appearance of this video recording, the growth rate had picked up again.

He now had 590,000 followers.

In just one hour, he had gained 100,000 new followers.

After scrolling through TikTok for a while and noticing his phone battery draining, Gao Xiaofan thought for a moment and placed an order on the platform for the latest model phone.

His previous phone had been used for three years, and the battery had long since degraded. A single livestream required two power banks constantly supplying power to keep it going.

The new phone cost him 9,000 yuan. He hugged his pillow in pain and fell asleep.

In his dream, he happily paid the 200 yuan, scratched his crotch with a satisfied look on his face.

The next morning, Gao Xiaofan was awakened by a phone call. After chatting for a few minutes, he got up and made himself breakfast: an egg pancake and a glass of milk.

He wasn't planning to go fishing today. On one hand, his newly bought phone was scheduled to arrive today. Another reason was that someone was coming to interview him.

The morning phone call was from the local TV station, wanting to interview him about the incident where he fished up a corpse the night before last.

Having not been on TV for so many years, hearing that someone was coming to interview him, he had to prepare properly.

So, he immediately got up and started getting himself ready.

At nine o'clock, there was a knock at the door.

Gao Xiaofan smoothed his hair with his hand and opened the door.

Outside stood three people: a cameraman and two women.

After introducing themselves, seeing the cameraman holding the long camera lens, he couldn't help feeling a bit nervous.

Perhaps noticing Gao Xiaofan's nervousness, the younger girl comforted him softly.

"Hello, Mr. Gao. No need to be nervous. We haven't started filming yet. We just want to interview you about what happened the night before last. If the station uses the footage, we'll pay you for it."

The older woman didn't say much. She took out an ID card and handed it to Gao Xiaofan.

Gao Xiaofan didn't really understand these things. Waving his hand to indicate he didn't need to see it, he invited everyone to sit on the sofa.

"Mr. Gao, you can start by telling us what happened that night. Then we'll ask you some questions based on the events," the girl said after sitting down, tucking the hair that had fallen by her ear behind it, and opening a notebook.

Gao Xiaofan gave a general account of what happened that night.

The younger girl was still jotting something down in her notebook. The older woman beside her wrote for a while, then put her pen down, a hint of impatience appearing on her face.

Before Gao Xiaofan could finish speaking, the older female reporter glanced at her suddenly vibrating phone and stood up.

"We probably can't use this material. Sorry for wasting your time."

After saying that, she headed for the door. The cameraman followed behind her, leaving only the young girl sitting stunned on the sofa.

Gao Xiaofan was stunned for a moment, then looked at the girl in front of him.

"Mr. Gao, I'm so sorry. Here's my business card. The station must have had something urgent come up. I'm really sorry," the girl in front of him said apologetically, then took a business card from her bag and handed it over.

"If you have any news in the future, you can contact me. I'm really sorry about this time."

The girl apologized again, quickly stood up, and ran out.

Gao Xiaofan stared at the business card in his hand, completely baffled, having no idea what had just happened.

Zhao Yuling.

Zhao Yuling jogged to catch up with the two outside and asked softly.

"Sister Mei, isn't it a bit inappropriate to leave so suddenly?"

The older woman said indifferently.

"It's already news from two days ago. Reporting on it now is meaningless. Besides, nothing particularly strange happened. The police also said the body was a drowning victim, ruling out homicide. So there's even less of a selling point."

"Xiao Zhao, you've just graduated. You still have a lot to learn. Not every piece of material can be turned into news."

Just then, the elevator arrived. Sister Mei stepped in first, saying as she did.

"The reason we're leaving now is because there's a follow-up on the previously reported news about the monster in the villa district. We have to hurry to follow up on that, lest someone else at the station beats us to it."

Gao Xiaofan heard the conversation of the people outside his door. He smiled indifferently and closed the door.

He flopped onto the sofa, breathed a comfortable sigh of relief, took out his phone, and started scrolling through TikTok.

So what if he didn't get on TV? As long as people watched him on TikTok, that was enough.

Gao Xiaofan could only think positively. After fermenting overnight, the number of followers on his homepage had reached 640,000.

"Shocking Monster Appears in Pond of H City Villa District, Ornamental Fish Disappear Overnight."

Looking at the information on the video he was scrolling through, Gao Xiaofan stroked his chin.

H City was his city.

Didn't that reporter just say something about a monster in a villa district? Could it be this?

Ding-dong.

WeChat notification: Received a message.

Gao Xiaofan opened the message.

Dali Fishing Tackle Shop: Bro, you caught over 400 jin yesterday? At Laobing?