Chapter 198, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City, goes overseas.
On the vast, boundless blue sea, dozens of kayaks raced across the water, centered around two large ships.
The villagers on the boat felt the sea breeze and waves rushing towards them, and occasionally let out excited shouts.
The sea is not like rivers and lakes. For safety reasons, the elderly and children who came along boarded the second boat, while only the able-bodied men and some young women were on the kayaks.
The men were busy showing off, while the women leaned curiously against the edge of the kayak, looking down at the crystal-clear seabed illuminated by the midnight sun and marveling at it.
"This water is so clean, and it's even blue. It's much prettier than the stream by the village or the waterfall in the mountains."
Wu Yinyin's gaze swept over the rapidly passing seabed, her eyes shining as she said, "I see a lot of conches, shells, and beautiful coral reefs on the seabed."
Seeing something you'd only ever seen in documentaries in person is a wonderfully magical experience; it's like the virtual world has become reality.
Not only the women, but also the children on the second ship were chattering excitedly.
Lu Xuan dropped an underwater probe on the seabed and simultaneously shared the footage with both ships.
The elderly and children gazed in amazement at the blue underwater world, composed of vast coral reefs and countless fish, as revealed by the probe's lens.
"The sea is all blue, it looks so beautiful!"
"There are so many fish! That group over there is all yellow, and there are even red fish on the other side, they look like they've been cooked, haha."
"Those colorful coral reefs are so beautiful!"
"Are there dolphins? I want to see dolphins, why aren't there any?" a child who had seen dolphins in dashcam footage asked with some disappointment.
Xiong Dabao shouted loudly, "I want to see sharks!"
Su Ying pressed his head down hard and said softly, "What are you looking at? A shark is much bigger than you. If you run into one, it will eat you up in one bite."
As they were talking, the ship suddenly jolted slightly and came to a stop.
Lu Xuan's voice came over the ship's loudspeaker: "Get out of the deck."
Everyone immediately ran out of the cabin.
The spacious deck was soon filled with people.
Lu Xuan and the rest of the Lu family walked up the gangway to the second ship and said to the others, "The seabed resources around here are very rich. Anyone who is interested can go down to sea and get some seafood."
The villagers were stunned.
Someone ran to the railing and looked down at the seabed, swallowed hard, and turned back to say, "The seabed here must be over ten meters deep, right? How are we supposed to get down there?"
Others chimed in, "Aren't we going out to sea to fish with large nets? Why don't we just leave the boats behind?"
Many young men in the village have been splashing around in the river since they were little, and most of them can swim. Even those who couldn't learn to swim learned in the water park or indoor pool on a boat during the rainy season.
Being able to swim and being able to hold your breath are two different things.
While observing from the ship, they were indeed captivated by the vastness of the sea, but when it came to actually going down there... they were all still a little scared.
The viewers in the live stream could understand the villagers' thoughts.
Is this what the ancients called "Lord Ye's love of dragons"? Looking is fine, but going down there? No, no, no!
Actually, I'm too scared to go scuba diving. It feels like being trapped in a closed space, surrounded by seawater, with no way to escape. I feel like my claustrophobia is about to kick in.
Lu Xuan remained calm, casually took out dozens of sets of diving equipment he had bought in advance, and explained in detail the function and usage of the diving equipment, while also teaching everyone a few basic hand gestures.
"Those who don't want to go down won't be forced, but those who are interested can put on their diving gear and go down for fun."
"Everyone who goes into the water will be tied with a safety rope and accompanied by a detector camera. If the people on the boat notice anything amiss, they can pull the person back up at any time."
The safety is at least 90%, if not 100%.
As for the remaining 10% of unexpected events, Lu Xuan can also make timely adjustments.
He also carried his home medical pod with him, so the dead would definitely not die.
After listening to Lu Xuan's explanation, the villagers, who were terrified of the unknown, immediately relaxed.
The able-bodied young men on the kayaks couldn't wait any longer and shouted to Lu Xuan, "Save me one of those wetsuits!"
"I want to too! I can go down into the sea and catch fish myself, it sounds so interesting!"
Lu Xuan distributed a set of equipment to each of the interested individuals.
After making sure they remembered how to use it, I didn't rush to let them go into the water. Instead, I personally put on the wetsuit, fins, and other equipment, turned my back to the sea, and flipped myself off the boat.
"ah!"
"Lu Xuan!"
"He fell!"
The people on the boat's expressions changed drastically, and they rushed to the railing. Then... they discovered that Lu Xuan was not only not in any danger, but was also swimming relaxed underwater, with many small fish circling around him.
"..."
Lu Qing and Lei Yan, who had been on tenterhooks, instantly felt relieved again. Lu Chen, watching his brother playing with the little fish, became even more excited, his face turning red.
"I really want to go down and play with the little fish too!"
The children standing nearby, including Zhang Dafu and Xiong Dabao, also showed longing on their faces.
Children are always much bolder than adults.
They didn't even think about whether it would be dangerous to go down there; they only thought it would be fun and they wanted to go!
The adults, however, were more concerned about Lu Xuan's safety.
As seen from the detector's lens, Lu Xuan swam in the shallow water for a short while before diving down. His speed was neither very fast nor very slow.
In a short while, Lu Xuan had reached the seabed, which was more than ten meters below the surface.
Once at the bottom of the sea, Lu Xuan didn't wander around aimlessly; instead, he diligently searched for prey.
Actually, there's not much need to search for it.
In ancient times, the oceans were not overfished, and the marine environment was almost unpolluted, with abundant resources.
On the seabed, you can see a large number of sea snails, mantis shrimps, giant octopuses, pearl oysters, abalone and other seafood that are much larger than when we were beachcombing a few days ago.
After circling the nearby coral reef, Lu Xuan caught a few spiny lobsters, found a small piece of sea urchin, and grabbed handfuls of fresh kelp and laver.
When the net he carried was full, he would casually put it into his spatial storage. When it was empty, he would continue to grab things, and when it was full, he would put it back into his storage space. He did this repeatedly until he saw that it was almost time. In order to avoid worrying the people on the ship, he reluctantly began to rise.
"Swish—"
"They're up! They're up!"
"Finally, he's up!" The people on the boat breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Lu Xuan emerge from the water.
Lu Xuan used his gravity ability to lightly step on the ship twice for leverage, and without even using the rope ladder, he grabbed the railing and flipped back onto the X ship in a stylish manner.
The Lu family members immediately surrounded her, and Lu Qing asked with concern, "Ah Xuan, are you alright?"
Lu Xuan removed the respirator and mask, casually brushing his wet hair back. "I'm fine."
Li Tie complained, "You've been down there for far too long. If you hadn't come up soon, we would have been scared to death."
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow: "Can't we see it from the detector?"
Miao Jinfeng said, "Seeing you is one thing, but I'm still worried until I see you come up."
The other aunties nodded in agreement.
Xiong Mao and the other able-bodied men, however, were not worried at all about Lu Xuan's safety. They simply urged him, "I see you found a lot of seafood down there? Quickly bring it out and let's see what it is."
Lu Xuan casually dumped the last net's catch onto the deck, and a large pile of things fell out of the net with a splash.
Everyone crowded around to take a look, and sure enough, there were quite a few.
Conch, abalone, oysters, clams, a spiny lobster, a dozen or so sea urchins, and a handful of seaweed.
Zhang Chengming grabbed the ornate lobster, which was only half the length of his arm, and exclaimed in amazement, "This is a lobster? It's huge! Thicker than my arm!"
He weighed it in his hand and exclaimed, "This must weigh at least five or six pounds, right?"
The others stared in astonishment at the lively, succulent lobster in his hand.
Compared to this giant lobster, the river shrimp, prawns, and mantis shrimps they had eaten before were far inferior!
Lu Chen, Xiong Dabao, and the other children couldn't help but swallow hard, already imagining in their minds just how delicious this prawn would be.
Not only lobsters, but also conch shells with two heads that are about the same size as a human head, and abalone that are huge and fat.
What surprised people the most was that they brought out a sea urchin.
Liu Chun asked in surprise, "Can you really eat something that's all thorns?"
Lu Xuan nodded, "The steamed egg with sea urchin roe or fried rice inside is very fragrant, with a sweet and fresh taste that melts in your mouth. It's similar to the taste of crab roe, but even more delicious."
"Slurp." Several slurping sounds instantly came from the surrounding area.
Immediately afterwards, several people slapped their thighs in regret, saying, "I found this sea urchin when I was beachcombing yesterday, but I thought it was inedible and didn't pick it up! What a huge loss!"
The others also wore expressions of pain.
Seeing this, the others could only comfort them, saying, "If it's gone, it's gone. There are plenty more underwater. Just go down and retrieve more."
Then Lu Xuan took out the haul from the previous batches of nets.
The total harvest exceeded 100 jin (50 kg), with spiny lobsters accounting for half of the weight.
With Lu Xuan's demonstration and successful examples, the young men's enthusiasm for diving soared like never before, and they eagerly put on their diving suits and went into the water.
However, at first, Lu Xuan led them to get used to a depth of two or three meters before gradually letting go, making sure they could handle it.
A group of people slowly descended to the seabed, first observing the coral reefs for a while before starting to frantically collect seafood from the seabed.
Sea snails, mantis shrimps, giant octopuses, abalone, and vast stretches of kelp and seaweed several meters long...
Lobster, sea urchin, oysters... there are just too many kinds of seafood to pick them all, there's simply not enough.
The young and strong men stuffed the "buffet" into their pockets as quickly as mice falling into a rice jar, wishing they could take away all the seafood from the entire seabed.
Those on the boat who dared not disembark were filled with envy.
But... even if they were asked to go down by themselves, they still wouldn't dare. They could only think about waiting for the people who went into the sea to come back and then using other supplies to exchange for some fresh goods to try.
Especially the lobster, it looks so tempting!
And it wasn't just them who were craving it, but also the audience.
[Wow, the underwater resources there are so abundant!]
So much seafood! The kids are drooling!
I can't take it anymore! I'm heading to Ocean Planet right now, immediately! Beachcombing, diving, I want it all!!!
[Haha, I'm a local from Aquamarine. While you're all still envious and jealous, I'm already at sea, ready to go into the water.]
My family's private spaceship has already set off, but Aquamarine is too far away; it will take at least half a month to arrive. So sad.
[I'm too poor to travel to other planets, and I don't have a private spaceship. Just waiting for the streamer to start cooking, *clapping*.]
...
In the village, there were only about thirty adults who dared to go to sea, most of whom were young and strong, and a few were daring women, such as Li Yue, Wu Yinyin, Su Ying and Wei Xiang.
Ji Xiuling was afraid of the deep sea and dared not go down.
Lu Qing wanted to go down, but unfortunately she was pregnant, so Lu Xuan and Lei Yan wouldn't allow her to go.
As for Lu Chen, Xiong Dabao, and the other little brats, Lu Xuan will personally take them down as long as their parents agree.
To prevent their still-developing bodies from being unable to withstand the water pressure, they were not taken to the seabed, but were simply allowed to experience the joy of diving at a depth of two or three meters.
Although the kids were disappointed that they couldn't catch seafood like the adults, the diving experience was enough to make them grin from ear to ear.
A group of people stayed in this sea area for most of the day, during which time villagers who had gone into the sea came up several times to deliver their catch.
Those who remained on the ship continued to observe the situation on the seabed while processing the seafood brought up by others, spitting out sand where necessary and opening pearls where needed.
There are quite a few pearl oysters in this sea area. Lu Qing, who can't go into the water, and Ji Xiuling, who is too scared to go into the water, and several other women sat together and happily opened pearls.
The pearls harvested today are of significantly higher quality than those from the beachcombing trips of the past two days.
The luster is brighter, the size is larger, and there are fewer irregularly shaped beads. Half of them are relatively perfect circles, which are great for making necklaces, pendants, or earrings.
The colors are fairly ordinary, mainly white, pink, and purple, with white and pink being the most common.
Lu Qing and the others naturally didn't mind that the color was too monotonous; every time a new pearl was unearthed, the women couldn't put it down.
Holding a rather large pink pearl in her hand, Ji Xiuling was unusually excited: "I once saw the wife of the county magistrate wearing a very large pearl necklace. At the time, I thought the pearl was big and shiny, but now it seems that it is far inferior to what we thought."
Liu Yu said with a delighted expression, "Doesn't that mean we can make these pearls into jewelry and wear them, thus experiencing the fantasy of being an official's wife?"
Lu Qing chuckled and said, "It's not like having pearl jewelry makes you an official's wife."
However, even the pearl necklace worn by the county magistrate's wife was not as good as theirs, and the women were indeed quite pleased with themselves.
Lu Qing said, "I remember there's a master craftsman who owns a jewelry shop in the Huo family's camp. Let's divide these pearls and ask someone to make jewelry for us when we get back."
The others nodded in agreement, "Yes, print them all out. They can wear them occasionally, or keep them as betrothal gifts or dowries for the children in the future."
·
When the young and strong men who went diving to harvest seafood returned exhausted, a fresh seafood feast was ready.
Stir-fried conch slices, steamed oysters, stir-fried octopus with soy sauce, braised abalone, cold seaweed salad, steamed spiny lobster, steamed sea urchin with egg, takoyaki, and sea urchin fried rice.
The villagers had already eaten conch and oysters, so they roughly knew what they tasted like. Therefore, the first dishes they made were steamed sea urchin with egg or spiny lobster.
And the taste of these two high-end seafoods did not disappoint them.
The moment the smooth and sweet steamed sea urchin egg hits your mouth, many people can't help but widen their eyes in surprise.
It's so smooth and tender, it almost melts in your mouth!
The texture is delicate and rich, and it has a slightly sticky feel but is not fishy at all. Every bite is filled with the unique sweetness of sea urchin.
That's absolutely amazing!
It tastes similar to crab roe, but it's clearly much tastier!
Delicious!
Lu Chen ate with gusto, making loud noises, while the villagers, in an exaggerated manner, even had tears in their eyes from eating.
There's also the spiny lobster, whose meat is thicker than an adult's wrist. The meat is firm and bouncy, and when you bite into it, your whole mouth is filled with the sweet lobster meat. The satisfaction is far beyond what you get from ordinary small shrimp.
Steamed lobster retains its original flavor to the greatest extent. It can be eaten directly with the minced garlic on top, or dipped in the special spicy and sour sauce.
It's a pity that the lobsters didn't have any roe this season, otherwise the taste would have been even better.
Takoyaki made with the freshest octopus tentacles is also delicious.
There's also braised abalone with thick, tender flesh that's soaked up all the sauce; Lu Xuan could easily fill a whole pot of it by himself.
All the shouts in the live stream about going diving to catch seafood disappeared at this moment. All the viewers were busy showing off and had no time to send comments.
Why dive and catch seafood? Isn't it better to just eat it right here in the live stream?
Audience: Tanking! So comfortable!
"Even if I died, I would feel it was worth it after eating this meal." Someone suddenly sighed.
Although others found the analogy somewhat ominous, they couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Of course, many people were thinking, "I'm going to get lots more sea urchins and lobsters later!"
Such delicious food can't be satisfied with just a few meals; we must make plenty more and eat until we're completely satisfied!
After eating and drinking their fill and regaining their strength, the able-bodied men went back into the sea.
To avoid a smaller harvest, they even slightly shifted the search area.
During the polar day, there is no distinction between day and night, so the villagers don't need to worry about the dim light at all. On their first day at sea, they spent a full seven or eight hours fishing for seafood.
It's thanks to the strong physiques of the superhumans and ordinary people who have taken the evolution fluid, and the fact that the Star Alliance's diving equipment can minimize water pressure and prevent decompression sickness, that ordinary people would be able to withstand this intensity.
However, looking at everyone's harvest, it's clear that the hard work of the whole day was worthwhile.
Each person received at least a thousand kilograms of seafood, with a considerable number of sea urchins and lobsters. On average, each family got about a hundred lobsters and a thousand or eight hundred sea urchins.
Lu Xuan's gains were even greater, increasing four or five times on top of what he had already gained.
·
That night, the boat did not return to shore. The villagers simply moored in the middle of the sea and went to sleep. Having experience with the rainy season, they were quite familiar with spending the night on the boat.
However, there is still some difference between spending the night in the waves and mooring on the hillside during the rainy season.
Even though the large ship has excellent soundproofing, and you can't hear the sound of the waves at all while sleeping, the feeling of the ship rocking slightly is still very clear.
So much so that I felt a little dizzy when I woke up the next morning.
That day, Zhang Chengming and the others were still eager to continue diving, but Lu Xuan said, "No diving today."
Li Jing asked, "So what are we doing today?"
Lu Xuan said, "Fishing."
While beachcombing and diving are certainly fun, large-scale fishing with nets is the most rewarding.
Especially for a village with dozens of superhuman eaters, the harvest of 1,800 jin (500-400 kg) from beachcombing and diving is barely enough for a small feast.
To truly enjoy a feast, one would need to catch thousands or even tens of thousands of kilograms of fish at once, just like during winter fishing.
Lu Xuan ordered them to pack up the kayaks and have everyone board the large ship. Then, while using radar to search for targets, they moved to a different location.
The two large ships spotted the first school of fish, mackerel, in less than an hour.
Boats number one and two were not dedicated fishing vessels; they lacked the necessary equipment to haul in the catch.
Therefore, just like during winter fishing, after precisely casting the extra-large fishing nets specifically designed for catching fish into the school of fish, once it is confirmed that the fish have been caught, the catch must be directly stored in the space.
The first haul was a great success, yielding tens of thousands of kilograms of mackerel.
The fish population was not large to begin with, and one net caught more than half of them, with the remaining fish quickly scattering.
Lu Xuan did not insist on exterminating them all, but continued radar detection to find the next batch.
There aren't many different schools of fish in a single sea area, so once you find a group, you move on to a different location.
As time went on, the villagers reaped more and more rewards.
A large number of pomfret, sardines, ribbonfish, and even yellow croaker were also found.
Modern wild large yellow croakers have become extremely rare due to overfishing, driving up their prices.
In ancient times, it was different. Large flocks could be found from time to time, and a single net could easily yield tens of thousands of kilograms.
Lu Xuan thought to himself, if modern fishermen saw such a bountiful harvest, they would probably drool all over the place.
The last time Lu Xuan took Lu Chen out to sea, they only cast their nets six times and caught less than 30,000 catties of seafood. This time, they came specifically to catch seafood, so it's naturally a different story.
After two consecutive days of fishing, the final harvest exceeded one million catties.
On the afternoon of the third day, they even encountered a group of dolphins.
Lu Xuan didn't know much about dolphins and didn't know what species these dolphins were, but they looked almost exactly like the dolphins he remembered, and their color was a beautiful silvery-white.
Lu Chen and the other kids kept talking about wanting to see dolphins while they were fishing.
Upon spotting the dolphins, I was so excited that I almost jumped off the boat and pounced on them.
"It's a dolphin!"
"There really are dolphins!"
"Ah! They jumped up!!!"
A group of little ones excitedly pointed at the dolphins leaping in the sea and screamed.
When the plump dolphins let out melodious calls, not only were the children even more excited, but even the adults' eyes showed amazement.
"Is that what dolphins call? It sounds so beautiful."
"Brother, can I play with the dolphins?" Lu Chen looked up at Lu Xuan with eager eyes and asked.
Lu Xuan nodded and said, "Okay."
Eating dolphins is definitely not allowed, but playing with dolphins—no, I mean having fun with dolphins—is acceptable.
However, dolphins are not entirely without danger, especially wild dolphins; you need to play with them under their supervision.
Seeing that Lu Chen could play with the dolphins, Xiong Dabao immediately started tugging at his parents' sleeves and said, "I want to play with the dolphins too!"
Li Kangbao, Zhang Dafu, and Zhang Xiaofu also looked at their father with eager eyes.
Li Jing: "..."
Zhang Chengming: "..."
What could they do but accompany them?
Put on your wetsuit and mask, take your child into the sea, and play with the dolphins that have already approached you.
Besides guarding Lu Chen, Lu Xuan also paid some attention to the other children. If the dolphins showed any intention to attack, his supernatural power would be ready to crush them at any time.
Fortunately, the dolphins were very friendly. They didn't get angry when touched and would even whine and rub against each other.
Even with its dorsal fin being pulled, it patiently swam quickly in the sea with its constantly screaming pups.
Initially, only the baby dolphins played with the dolphins, but some of the women in the village couldn't resist and urged their husbands to take them down to play. This included some women who were previously afraid to go diving.
This shows just how captivating dolphins are.
Lu Qing originally wanted to get close to the dolphins, but unfortunately, she was forbidden from going into the sea again because of her unborn child. She could only touch the dolphins that came close to her from the kayak.
Li Tie, Grandpa Zhang, and others felt that they were too old to join the young people in going into the sea, but they were still happy to touch the dolphins, and after touching them, they all showed a big smile.
The dolphins played with them for most of the hour before leaving to hunt for food.
The villagers, still wanting more, started a new round of fishing.
On the morning of the fourth day, the group finally finished their fishing and headed home.
Almost as soon as the ship docked, Huo Tiankuo made a call.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Special thanks to: Changyushan for throwing a landmine.
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