Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Fishing Contest
With the power cut out in most places and cell phone towers down, Rayne no longer had access to what was going on around her. She knew that there was chaos, as she had seen glimpses of it as she left the city, but she really had no way of knowing exactly what was happening.

She was currently eating a scrumptious meal made with the homemade dumplings she had made herself.

“Wow, Rayne, these are amazing!” Julian exclaimed, savoring another bite. “These are even better than the fried chicken!”

“Haha, thank you! I wasn’t kidding when I said that I liked to cook!” replied Rayne happily. They both ate until they were full.

Julian wanted to get up to do the dishes, but Rayne stood up faster and didn’t let him.

“You need to focus on recovering. Don’t worry about the dishes, although I appreciate the offer,” she smiled.

Julian sat back down, a grateful smile on his face. “Thanks to that ice pack you gave me earlier, the swelling’s gone down a lot.”

Rayne nodded, happy to hear that the ice pack had helped. She quickly gathered all of the dirty dishes and walked them into the camper.

Before she walked back outside, she pulled out two fishing poles along with a tackle box of different lures. She noticed that the river they were next to had a lot of fish and felt that fishing would be a fun way to pass the time.

She walked toward Julian with the two fishing poles. “Hey, Mr. Master Marksman, how good are you at catching fish?”

Julian looked at the two fishing poles she was holding, wondering where she kept pulling these items from.

He decided to ignore it for now and smiled. “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever gone fishing, but I’m confident I can catch a few fish!”

“Haha, perfect! Let’s have a little contest to see who can catch the most fish today!” declared Rayne, laughing.

She brought out two fold-out chairs and placed them at the edge of the river while Julian slowly made his way over.

The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze, and so far there hadn’t been a single earthquake today.

Rayne filled a bucket with some river water to place the caught fish in and cast her line out.

Her movements were fluid, looking like a seasoned fisherman.

“How often did you go fishing? You look like a pro,” asked Julian, watching her graceful movements.

Rayne grinned. “Actually, this is my first time. I’ve just watched a decent amount of fishing videos before. I’m actually not sure if I’m doing this right, haha.”

Julian, eager to impress, lifted his rod and tried to mimic her. But when he cast the line, he put too much force behind it. The hook caught in the grass behind him instead of landing in the water.

Rayne burst out laughing, her amusement infectious. “Hahah! Maybe try again?”

Julian laughed with her. “Hey, hey, I’m just getting warmed up!” He pulled the hook out of the grass and set up his fishing rod to try again.

This time, he managed to get the hook and lure in the water, but the force from the cast sent it straight to the bottom of the river.

“Oh, I feel something tugging!” exclaimed Julian excitedly.

Rayne placed her fishing rod down and quickly walked over to Julian’s side, excitedly watching the water.

Julian reeled in the line with vigor, convinced he’d hooked a giant fish.

“Wow, it feels like a massive fish!” he exclaimed as he continued to reel.

“Ah, how exciting!” Rayne stood by the edge of the water with a fish net, ready to help Julian once the fish jumped out.

After a few more minutes of intense reeling, Julian exclaimed, “Here it comes now!”

Swoosh!

A large shadow ripped from under the water’s surface, flying upwards and landing behind Julian.

Rayne ran over to see it, while Julian quickly turned around to face it.

“Hahaha, oh… my… goodness! Hahah!” Rayne nearly fell on the ground laughing so hard.

Julian looked down to see a large clump of grass mixed with twigs on the ground.

His face was full of disbelief. “How!? I felt it move! I swear I felt it move and fight back!” he exclaimed, utterly baffled.

Rayne clutched her sides, tears streaming from her eyes as she laughed uncontrollably. She couldn’t remember the last time she laughed to the point of tears.

Julian continued to look at the bundle of grass, unable to wrap his head around how all of that tugging and pulling had been caused by a bundle of grass!

He shook his head and smiled; he felt that Rayne’s laughter was even better than catching a fish.

“Okay, this time I’ll catch something for sure!” he smiled and said as he went to untangle his lure from the grass.

Rayne wiped the tears from her eyes, calming down a little bit, and nodded her head.

“Yes, I believe you! Maybe I can get lucky enough one day to be your student,” she joked, smiling brightly.

Julian shook his head and put on a very serious-looking expression. “Hmm, I’m not sure about that. I’ll have to get my assistant to get back to you on that… but you do look like a promising fisherman, so maybe I can squeeze you into my schedule,” he stated jokingly.

Rayne clasped her hands together, pretending to pray. “Ah, I’m so lucky! The almighty Pro fisherman Julian will grace me with his immense fishing skill!”

Julian chuckled and waved her off. “Alright, alright. Now go, my pupil. Show me what you’ve got!”

Rayne gave him a salute and went over to pick up her fishing rod.

She gracefully cast her line, her lure landing on the surface of the water right in the center of the river.

She gave her lure a few moments to sink down and began to slowly reel it in.

A few seconds later, she felt something bite, and she quickly jerked the rod, snagging whatever it was that her lure caught.

She continued to reel in, her heart racing!

Julian watched the water’s surface intently, and before long, Rayne pulled out a long silver fish!

“Wow! Oh my goodness! I caught one!” she cheered, showing the squirming fish to Julian.

“Well, looks like my student learns fast!” he joked while clapping at her success.

She pulled the fish into the bucket of water and watched it swim around.

Seeing that Rayne caught a fish, Julian’s competitive spirit kicked in! He didn’t want to be unable to catch a fish, so he tried his best to mimic Rayne’s movements.

For the rest of the afternoon, the two cast their lines, the peacefulness of the moment only broken by the occasional laughter and playful teasing. They didn’t stop until Rayne’s stomach growled, signaling it was time to call it a day.