Chapter 228 The fishing begins!
The next day, Zuo Shan and the others got up very early. Today was the first day of the winter hunting carnival at sea, and it would be a lie to say they weren't excited.
Although it wasn't Kang Zhenghao's first time here, it was the first time for all the team members he brought. The men were more enthusiastic about hunting, and they all got up before dawn.
Besides the twenty-odd people holding invitations, many more people who came to buy sea monsters checked into the Dolphin Hotel, and the once quiet hotel was now full.
But the merchants who bought the sea monsters were sleeping in without a care in the world. They were not allowed to enter the hunting area and could only wait anxiously for the hunters to return with their catch so that they could be the first to receive the freshest sea monsters and sell them in other areas.
An hour before the carnival was to begin, Zuo Shan set off with Kang Zhenghao and the others.
They arrived at the bay just as dawn was breaking.
The bay has roadblocks and checkpoints. Outsiders who want to enter the bay to hunt normally need to pay a fee of 3,000 silver coins, and the hunting time cannot exceed one month.
If the deadline is exceeded, a late fee of 200 silver coins per day must be paid.
Residents of this area also need to pay a fee to enter the bay for hunting, but the fee is halved.
The people at the checkpoint responsible for verifying the invitations couldn't help but show a reprimanding expression when they saw the sleeping child on Zuo Shan's back: How dare this mother bring her baby to such a dangerous hunting area?
Left Fan: As the saying goes, "ducks are the first to know when the river warms in spring," and her son, Achen, is that "duck" who foresaw danger!
Of course, this was not the reason she brought Achen hunting. The main reason was that she didn't trust anyone else to leave Achen with, so it was safest to keep him with her.
As dawn broke, Zuo Shan saw dozens of fourth-tier ability users chiseling ice holes on the ice surface not far away.
After the metal-attribute ability user pierced the ice with golden spikes, the fire-attribute ability user threw fireballs at it to bake it, and soon a hole was melted in the ice.
To prevent the ice cave from freezing over quickly, a metal bucket with burning charcoal was placed inside to continuously heat the ice cave, making it larger and easier to cast nets to catch fish.
Pan Duole and Xiao Bao stared wide-eyed at the performance of the high-level ability users. They should all be at least level four, and their skills were indeed extraordinary.
The golden spikes conjured by the metal-type ability user are as thick as a bowl, with conical tips and countless grooves.
As it pierces the ice, the cone-shaped spike spins rapidly, creating sparks on both sides of the ice.
The fireball conjured by the fire-type ability user was as big as a washbasin, and it melted a large hole in the more than one-meter-thick layer of ice in just a quarter of an hour.
The female host from the organizer explained to everyone: "Actually, we could also use machines to chisel holes in the ice, but that would be too noisy and would frighten the sea creatures within a radius of several hundred meters. By the time they gather back together, the ice surface will have frozen over again."
Upon hearing this, everyone sighed that fishing at sea in winter was extremely difficult. Zuo Shan thought to himself, "If a ninth-level ability user came, it would be easier to carve ice caves, right?"
However, big shots are usually proud and aloof, so they definitely can't be invited to an event in District 41.
"Now, the first batch of 21 ice caves has been completely prepared. To avoid chaos, please let the ability users from districts 43, 42, and 41 enter first. There will be 50 people per ice cave, and you can form groups freely," the host announced in an enthusiastic voice.
Kang Zhenghao couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Why are there so few spots for us from remote areas? We're even put at the back of the queue for hunting?"
"They are stronger than us, and they have more residents," Zuo Shan said calmly.
According to information found online, the safe zones in the northern hemisphere of Green Algae Star are currently numbered so that the higher the number, the closer they are to the mutated beast habitats, the lower the safety level, and the fewer the residents.
For example, District 48 has 50,000 people, while District 41 has increased to 700,000 people.
"Hmph! One day, I'll make it into the top 40 districts!" Kang Zhenghao said, clenching his fist.
Zuo Shan couldn't help but chuckle to herself: This person's ambitions didn't seem as great as hers. Her goal was to get into the Thirtieth District, since that's where there were proper schools so her two children could go to school.
After waiting for about 15 minutes, the second batch of 21 ice caves were also opened. The host joked, "Please get the rest of you in action! The sea creatures at the bottom of the ice caves are eagerly waiting to crawl into your fishing nets!"
This batch of ice caves also includes 21 caves. You can choose to form teams of 35 to 40 people; this is a special offer from the organizers for those of you from remote areas!
Upon hearing that they could move, the superhumans in the remaining five districts immediately rushed to seize the nearest ice cave.
There were only 700 people with superpowers in this batch. Those who ran ahead didn't even hear the host finish speaking before they ran off at top speed.
Many of them had already formed teams of 50 and chosen their spots in the ice cave.
Kang Zhenghao and the other superhumans from District 48 couldn't afford to offend those people, so they planned to wait until they finished choosing and then randomly pick an ice cave.
So when they ran over to choose an ice cave, they found that there were still 10 ice caves left empty!
The host was both amused and exasperated. She hadn't expected the second group to be so impatient. Just because they were a quarter of an hour late, they ran off without even hearing her finish speaking.
To make amends for her mistake, she quietly discussed it with the organizer, then looked at the special guests who were still there watching the spectacle and said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, there are still some extra fishing nets in the ice cave. Would you be interested in joining in? The organizers will provide you with fishing nets free of charge."
These people were originally just unfavored members of their families, which is why they were sent to serve as special guests at events held in such remote areas.
Now that they hear they can participate in the fishing activity for free, some people are tempted, but other well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, afraid of getting their clothes and hairstyles dirty, resolutely refuse.
So about a dozen special guests went, and when they arrived, the two furthest ones were still left in the ice cave.
Zuo Shan and her group originally planned to divide the remaining ten ice caves in groups of five, but Kang Zhenghao was worried that doing so would be too much and that they would have to give way to others if the organizers made other arrangements. In the end, they left two ice caves.
Surprisingly, his prediction was correct.
The others were in groups of eight, but with too few people, they couldn't pull the nets up when they encountered strong and powerful sea monsters.
Kang Zhenghao brought a total of 15 mercenaries from his group with him. He divided them into two groups, while he himself formed a team with Zuo Shan, Pan Duole, and Master Liu. Including Xiao Bao, there were only four people and one beast in total, making a total of five.
Kang Zhenghao's main purpose was to take care of them, and he didn't intend to take care of them forever. He was thinking that since it was only the first day, if they didn't gain much, they would probably be very upset.
Zuo Shan, of course, knew what was good for him and took out his newly bought fishing net and some dried meat made from meat that had been cooked with high-radiation mutations as bait.
Although she also bought some of the mutated red threadworm bait used by the locals, she thought that the sea monsters might also want a change of pace, and they were probably tired of eating those mutated red threadworms.
Winter fishing at sea is actually quite simple. After casting a specially made metal net and bait, you just wait for the mutated sea monsters to take the bait.
As for how much can be caught in one net, that depends entirely on fate.
Kang Zhenghao was a chatterbox who couldn't stay still. He first teased Achen for a while, and then started rambling: "God bless us, let's catch a few more Tier 3 sea beasts in this net!"
This is shallow sea, and the highest-ranking sea beasts that can be caught in the net are only Tier 3 sea beasts. In fact, most of them are Tier 1 and Tier 2 sea beasts. It is said that when you are unlucky, the whole net will be full of Tier 1 sea beasts.
In Azure Bay, this stuff is extremely cheap; a kilogram of poor-quality meat can only fetch 600 to 1000 silver coins, which is less than the price of the wild vegetables from the Left Fan Plantation.
The reason why first-tier sea beasts are so cheap is that most sea beasts have shells or scales, which are more troublesome to process, and there is less edible meat left after processing.
Secondly, there is no barbecue seasoning. These sea creatures taste fishy and smelly when grilled. Apart from locals who are used to seafood, most people from other areas do not like to eat them.
At this time, the first group of people who had set the nets began to pull them in. Since the distance between each ice cave was at least 200 meters, Kang Zhenghao watched them pull in the nets with binoculars.
He was incredibly envious when he saw the plump, one- or two-meter-long sea creatures frolicking in their nets.
Just then, he felt a noticeable pull on the rope he was holding, indicating that there were larger sea creatures struggling in the net.
The group exchanged bewildered glances: Seriously? A second-tier sea beast has already entered the net so quickly?
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