Chapter 253, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City: Whale watching, pearl harvesting, sea fishing...
The people on the ship were all drawn to Lu Chen's unusual voice.
"At sea?" Everyone followed Lu Chen's gaze.
Because of the distance, people without special abilities could only vaguely see a patch of darkness and could not make out what was in the distance.
After awakening their special abilities, Lu Qing, Ye Jing, and others had all become more acute in their senses than before. They gasped, "That thing is moving! Could it be a fish?"
"If it's a fish, it's a bit too big."
What made them even more nervous was that the thing seemed to be swimming in their direction.
Lu Chen took out his binoculars and looked over, his expression becoming increasingly excited. "That looks like the whale my brother talked about in class! It's so big! As big as a boat!"
"Are there really whales?!" Zhang Dafu and the other kids, including Xiong Dabao, shouted excitedly as they tried to get Zhang Dafu to come along but didn't help at all.
"I want to see it too! Chenchen, let me see the whale!"
The adults recalled hearing about many amazing creatures they had never seen before when they attended classes with the children. Among them, the most impressive creatures on land were elephants, and in the sea, whales.
They did find it incredible and amazing during the lecture, but... seeing the actual object was a completely different story.
The thought of the comparison picture of people and whales together during class sent chills down many people's spines.
Just then, a splash was heard from underwater, and someone surfaced from the seabed.
"What are you talking about?" Lu Xuan asked as he casually tossed a net full of seafood onto the boat.
Others followed suit and emerged from behind Lu Xuan.
Lu Chen immediately exclaimed, "Brother, look over there! There's a whale!"
"A whale?" Lu Xuan turned his head in surprise and saw a very prominent creature floating on the water in the distance.
The viewers in the live stream also got excited.
[A whale!? Where is it? Let me see!]
[The streamers are really lucky; they actually encountered a whale! This huge creature would be considered an amazing creature even in interstellar space.]
[Actually, I've always found it hard to imagine how such a large creature could exist; humans are like little kids next to it.]
[The key point is that whales are so beautiful! I think whales are the most beautiful creatures in the world!]
Wu Yang's eyesight was second only to Lu Xuan's, and he also saw the huge thing. His pupils couldn't help but shrink. "It's so big!" And it was getting closer and closer to them.
After noticing this, Li Tie quickly said to them, "Come up quickly, it's too dangerous in the water!"
The women also became nervous, "Yes, you all come up quickly."
Lu Xuan initially wanted to say there was no need to worry, but then he thought better of it and went up first.
A group of people stood on the deck, observing the whale with expressions of surprise and wonder.
"I never imagined that there really were creatures like whales in this world," Miao Jinfeng exclaimed in amazement.
The others nodded in agreement; who could disagree?
The largest creature they've ever seen is probably the giant python in the cave, but that's clearly an exception.
According to Lu Xuan in class, whales are just a very common sea creature, only they are a bit large.
"It's so big!" As the whale got a little closer to them, Li Tuo and the other young men who had just boarded the ship couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
Lu Xuan said, "It's not that big. This whale looks to be only a dozen meters long, which is a bit smaller than our ship."
The fishing boat they were on was about 20 meters long, and he had already recognized the whale in the distance as a Bryde's whale.
He recalled the whale science documentaries he had watched before, and if he remembered correctly, Bryde's whales were only about fifteen meters long on average.
Zhang Chengming clicked his tongue in astonishment, "Isn't ten meters long enough?"
The largest fish they had ever seen was an arm-sized fish they caught in a pool deep in the Yunlu Mountains, which was only a little over half a meter long.
Fish that are over ten meters long are really a bit scary.
Lu Xuan pointed to the cruise ship not far away and raised an eyebrow, saying, "A cruise ship is over 300 meters long, and a whale that's over ten meters long, is that very long?"
Zhang Chengming: "..." Compared to this, it really doesn't seem like a big deal.
Despite saying that, Lu Xuan still turned to Li Tie and asked him to make a call to the people left on the cruise ship, telling them to come out and see the whales.
Although the total number of whales in ancient times may have exceeded one million, the chances of encountering one were not very high compared to other schools of fish.
It would be a shame to miss such a rare opportunity.
Soon, the villagers who had been busy inside the house began to appear on the deck.
When these people stood by the railing and saw the huge creature so close at hand, they were so shocked that their eyes almost popped out of the window, and their screams and shouts were carried by the wind to the fishing boat.
But closer to the Bryde's whales than they are the fishing boats.
As they spoke, the whale was less than ten meters away from them.
Generally speaking, as long as the ship doesn't make too much noise that might make the whale think there's danger, the whale usually won't attack, so Lu Xuan wasn't too worried.
Instead, looking at the large vessel that had come to the side of the fishing boat, he asked the others, "Would you like to go down and touch it?"
Everyone present stared at him in disbelief, their eyes wide.
What nonsense are you spouting?!
Such a big animal, they were trying to avoid it, why were they touching it! It was terrifying.
Right now, most of them are trembling slightly uncontrollably, swallowing nervously, some have weak legs and feel like they're about to have a megalophobia attack, and they are unconsciously breathing lightly, afraid of disturbing the whale.
Lu Xuan chuckled, "There's really nothing to be afraid of. Blue whales are twice the size of Bryde's whales, which are the true largest mammals in the sea. We can travel around the sea more often in the future and maybe we can see them for ourselves."
The others: "..." They were both excited and scared.
Suddenly, Bryde's whale spouted a very high column of water into the sky.
Lu Chen and the other little ones couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "It sprayed water!"
"I remember Brother Lu Xuan saying that whales spray water when they breathe, right?"
The adults' expressions changed as well; their tense and fearful faces now held a hint of curiosity.
When the Bryde's whale let out a clear, ethereal cry, everyone was startled, their skin crawling with goosebumps.
It wasn't out of fear, but rather a profound, indescribable feeling of being deeply moved.
The viewers in the live stream were equally shocked.
As the Bryde's whale continued its incessant calls, the live stream chat paused for a moment, as if everyone was listening intently to the heart of this great ocean spirit.
About fifteen minutes later, the whale completely disappeared from their sight.
As the tension and anxiety gradually subsided, everyone's emotions suddenly became excited. Chen Rong even slapped his thigh in regret: "Oh, I should have gone down and touched that whale earlier!"
Just like Lu Xuan said, if they miss this opportunity, they might not have a second chance to see whales in their lifetime.
Lu Xuan, who was sorting through the nets they had just brought up, said jokingly after hearing this, "We might still be able to catch up if we chase after them now. Shall I take you there?"
Chen Rong's expression stiffened, his eyes darted around for a moment, and then he said dryly, "...Then forget it, let it live its own life, let's not bother it."
"Hahahaha—!" The people around burst into laughter.
Zhang Chengming patted Chen Rong on the shoulder and laughed: "Look at you, so cowardly."
Chen Rong snorted lightly, his face completely unconcerned.
So what if he's a coward? Anyone else would be just as cowardly.
That is absolutely true.
Having experienced whales brushing past them, the rest of the hunting party stopped going into the water to collect seafood. Instead, they and the women cleaned up what they had already retrieved.
In particular, all kinds of sea snails and shellfish are put together, and they are pried open one by one to see if they can find some beautiful pearls today.
Perhaps their luck was truly exceptional today, as not only did the mollusks yield many more pearls than usual, but they also found several conch pearls, also known as Melo pearls, inside the sea snails.
Lu Qing even found a large, round, pink conch bead with flame patterns inside a beautifully shelled conch shell.
"So beautiful!" Regardless of age or gender, everyone's face showed amazement when they saw these conch shells.
Red, pink, orange, crimson, yellow—each color is dazzlingly beautiful, so beautiful it's mesmerizing.
However, yellow was the color of emperors in ancient times, and it was not appropriate for commoners to possess it. Although Yunlu Village held a special place in the new emperor's heart because of Lu Xuan's extraordinary significance, it was not a big deal for them to secretly possess a yellow conch pearl.
Su Ying, who had obtained the only yellow bead, still took the initiative to say, "Lu Xuan, why don't you help us present this bead to the Emperor?"
The yellow conch beads certainly look very expensive, but the other beads are just as good.
Rather than keeping a bead that could give others cause for gossip, it would be better to give it to the emperor; perhaps it could even bring some other benefits to their family.
Besides, compared to yellow, her personal favorite is still the brighter true red.
She didn't plan to make jewelry from the other, smaller pink konjac bead that came out; instead, she intended to save it as a dowry for her unborn daughter.
Lu Xuan guessed Su Ying's plan and put away the yellow conch bead without any objection.
They thought that finding multiple abalone pearls was already a stroke of good luck, but when they returned to the cruise ship and more women helped clean the abalone, they unexpectedly found even more abalone pearls inside.
Although most of them are aliens, and their colors are mainly blue and green, not as bright as pink and yellow.
However, when it comes to the rarity of abalone pearls, they are even more precious than conch pearls.
At first, the women didn't quite appreciate these special pearls, but their opinions changed after they learned that these pearls were even rarer than conch pearls.
The sea urchins and oysters that the men had specially brought back were no longer important to them. Su Ying, Wu Yinyin, and the other women stared intently at their men.
"Tomorrow you guys go back to sea to catch fish, bring back more abalone and conch, I want to open a few more big conch pearls!"
The men: "..." What could they say except nod?
Lu Qing didn't mention it, but Lei Yan took the initiative to say, "I'll find you some more conch shells so you can collect more beads to make a necklace."
Lu Qing smiled shyly and sweetly, "Okay."
·
The day after encountering the Bryde's whale, Lu Xuan told the villagers and then turned the cruise ship around, heading towards the western land.
The cruise ship is large enough that even with large waves, the people on board hardly feel any turbulence, but it's not practical for the villagers to stay on the cruise ship all the time.
Therefore, Lu Xuan decided that the whole village would go together for this transaction with the various settlements.
Along the way, they weren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Once they had decided on their direction, they continued fishing as usual and relaxing as they pleased.
Lu Xuan also specially brought out dozens of sea motorcycles so that the hunting team or the daring women could experience the feeling of riding on the sea.
We tried out all the equipment on the cruise ship one by one.
Adults can go for a spin on the go-kart track and experience the speed and excitement, while kids can ride bumper cars and crash into each other.
The women go to soak in the hot springs, and then have the intelligent machines in the massage parlor massage them and give them a spa treatment. The experience is so relaxing that it can only be described as amazing!
Middle-aged and elderly people don't like overly exciting entertainment, so they just put up an umbrella on the deck, lie on a deck chair, cast their fishing rod, and go sea fishing.
Different fish require different baits, and after catching them, you need to play them first. There are also considerations regarding time and light... These fishing techniques, which Li Tie, Zhang Wende, and others had never paid attention to before, made it seem as if they had opened the door to a new world.
In just a few days, they all became fishing enthusiasts, gathering together every day to study fishing knowledge. Apart from eating and working, they were unwilling to leave their seats.
Even if all they do all day is talk about decoupling and air force operations, they still enjoy it immensely.
On the fifth day of sea fishing, a surprise arrived.
Zhang Wende's fishing line suddenly tightened.
Zhang Wende was overjoyed and was about to pull the line when he suddenly saw a long 'sword' appear in the sea and bite his fishing hook. He was so frightened that he almost dropped the fishing rod in his hand.
"What is this?!" Zhang Wende gripped the fishing rod tightly, his face turning red, and he was almost pulled against the railing by the force from the other end.
"It's so heavy!" he cried out in a panic. "Quick, quick, help me!"
Wu Cheng and Ge Yuan quickly came over and pulled the person away, while Li Tie hurriedly called Lu Xuan over.
Others who heard the commotion also came over to watch.
At this moment, the true nature of the 'sword' in the sea was revealed to everyone.
"It's a fish!"
"A fish with a sword growing from its head?"
"Ha! This head looks big, at least two or three meters tall!"
Seeing the movement on the sea, Lu Xuan said, "It's a swordfish."
Swordfish can weigh up to four or five hundred kilograms, which is equivalent to a small domestic cattle. It's not something a novice like Zhang Wende, who has just started sea fishing, can catch.
Even Lu Xuan, he had no interest in sea fishing before, and he wasn't particularly professional at it.
Normally, just playing a fish this big would take an hour or even longer.
Lu Xuan didn't have that kind of patience.
He took the fishing rod from Zhang Wende, told everyone else to step back, and then suddenly exerted force in his hand.
There's absolutely no need to fish out of water.
With the Star Alliance's sturdy, unbreakable fishing line and rod, Lu Xuan used sheer force to haul the ferocious swordfish up.
The swordfish, more than three meters long, drew an arc in the air before crashing heavily onto the deck with a 'bang'.
The others were startled and quickly backed away, exclaiming, "What a huge fish!"
Chen Rong clicked his tongue in amazement and said, "This must weigh at least seven or eight hundred jin, right?"
Wu Cheng's gaze fell on the longsword on the swordfish's snout. He gestured at it from a distance, feeling that the sword was longer than his arm.
After imagining the scene of a person or fish being pierced by a sword, Takeshi's expression became somewhat solemn.
Even after being caught, the swordfish was still thrashing about on the deck, and no one else dared to approach it; they could only stand far away and talk.
"I wonder if this fish will taste good," Li Tuo said, stroking his chin.
Zhang Wende glared at him: "What are you eating! Aren't there enough sea fish for you to eat? Of course, we should keep such rare fish for our collection."
Lu Xuan had never eaten swordfish before and didn't know if it tasted good. However, since Uncle Zhang had caught the fish, and he didn't want to eat it, they might as well keep it alive for now.
There are several small aquariums on the cruise ship, which were all empty before, so we can put this swordfish in them to keep it.
Lu Xuan told Zhang Wende about his plan, and then said to the other fishermen in the village, "If you catch a rare fish that you don't plan to eat, you can put it in the tank to keep it."
Of course, if the big fish eats the small fish, then it's none of his business.
Li Tie and the others' eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.
Just as Zhang Wende said, they don't lack fish to eat now, and fishing is not for eating, but for entertainment.
Imagine being able to admire your catch anytime after you catch it – that would be wonderful.
Over the next two days, everyone's enthusiasm for fishing became noticeably stronger, with even many members of the hunting teams joining in.
Unfortunately, swordfish are not so easy to catch.
It's a miracle that Zhang Wende managed to catch even one swordfish; the others, let alone swordfish, barely managed to catch any ordinary fish.
It was time, and the cruise ship finally arrived west of the mainland.
From afar, the people on the ship could already see the western land appearing in their line of sight.
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Author's Note: Thanks to "Lan Zhiyi" for throwing a landmine. (Time of throwing: 2025-07-02 22:10:25)
"Lan Zhiyi" threw one landmine. Throwing time: 2025-07-02 22:10:19
"Lan Zhiyi", irrigate with nutrient solution +109
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