Tide Collecting: I Rely on Unrivaled Luck, Leasing the Entire Ocean

In 2012, Wu An, a university dropout expelled for fighting, returns to his small fishing village and becomes a delinquent. He smokes, drinks, steals, and fights, bringing shame to his father, a village cadre. One day, he steals a sea bass from two fishermen, Lin Bin and Lin Hu. While running away on a rocky beach, he slips and falls, hitting his head. The fishermen think he is dead and flee. Wu An survives but finds himself reborn to that exact moment. Memories of his past life flood in: after this fall, he was hospitalized and became a village joke, then left home to wander, working dead-end jobs. His father disowned him via the village loudspeaker after he beat up his ex-girlfriend's new lover and borrowed ten thousand yuan from a loan shark for compensation. His father later died of illness while Wu An was too far to return. His brother cut ties. Now with a second chance, he resolves to change.

He discovers a Luck Value system. The system shows his Luck Value as 11, with a daily luck pool of 10. By expending luck points, he can add buffs to tools, enhancing their performance. It tells him that hard work increases luck. He tests it on an old manual water pump, adding two points, and the pump works immediately. Luck decreases with use and resets based on his daily actions. He understands that if he works diligently, his luck will grow.

His friend A Qing, a short, dark, slow-witted young man who has been his loyal sidekick, finds him. A Qing offers him cigarette butts hidden under the mattress. Wu An refuses, feeling ashamed. A Qing brings pickled vegetables, dried kelp, and rice. Wu An cooks a meal with the stolen fish, showing culinary skills from his past life struggling. He tells A Qing he wants to make money legitimately. A Qing is confused but supports him.

To earn his first capital, Wu An decides to fish. He and A Qing encounter Lin Bin and Lin Hu, who are relieved he is alive but mock him, bringing up the loudspeaker announcement. Wu An uses their words against them, saying he wants to reform and asks for their support by lending him fishing rods. Trapped, they lend their worst rods along with bait and a landing net, under the condition that if he fails to catch anything in an hour, he must return them. They follow to the rocky beach to watch.

Wu An and A Qing fish without success initially. Lin Bin and Lin Hu catch a couple of small fish and taunt them. A Qing suggests running away with the gear to sell it, but Wu An refuses. He then uses the system, adding three luck points to his fishing rod, the maximum for that rod. The system states that with the buff, he will definitely catch seafood under ten catties. Moments later, the rod bends. Wu An pulls in a large sea bass, bigger than Lin Bin's. A Qing cheers. He catches another quickly, and then another. Lin Bin and Lin Hu watch in disbelief. Wu An continues to catch fish, each time hauling in a decent catch. The luck buff works perfectly.

With these catches, Wu An feels confident. He plans to sell the fish to repay the loan shark and start a new life. He is determined to work hard every day, knowing that the system rewards effort. His ultimate goal is to reconcile with his father and brother and become a responsible member of the village. The story captures the beginning of his journey, as he walks away from the beach with his catch, starting his transformation from a good-for-nothing to a hardworking man.