"Then what are we waiting for? I'll go get the hook, hook the boat over, and hurry up and harvest."
Ah-chan was getting impatient.
He quickly ran into the cabin, took out the hook used to hook the buoy, and then hooked the boat and pulled it over.
The two boats, one large and one small, collided with each other, making a dull thud.
The barnacles on the boat were startled again and retreated back into their shells, becoming like turtles hiding in their shells.
Ah-chan threw down the hook and was about to jump onto the boat.
Feng Ye stopped him, saying, "What's the rush? Who knows how long this ship has been in the sea or how rotten it is?"
“If you jump over there so recklessly, it will be fine if the plank breaks and you fall into the sea. But if you get stuck and injured, and are stuck in the middle, that will be a real problem.”
Ah-Can was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening and patted his chest in relief: "Brother Ye, you were so thoughtful. I almost acted impulsively."
He paused, then asked urgently, "What should we do? We can't just watch the money that's about to be in our hands slip away, can we?"
"Let me test the sturdiness of this boat first."
As Feng Ye spoke, he picked up a bamboo pole and used the larger end to vigorously stab various parts of the boat.
The boat made a thumping sound, and seemed to be quite sturdy.
"It looks alright."
Feng Ye nodded. "I'll go take a look first, and then I'll let you go over after I've confirmed it."
After saying that, he went into the cabin, took out his water boots, and put them on.
That ship is quite old; there might be sharp nails or pieces of metal sticking out of it, so we need to be careful.
Wearing water shoes provides an extra layer of protection and also offers good slip resistance.
Clinging to the railing of the Rising Sun, Feng Ye carefully stepped onto the ship's wooden deck.
He stomped his feet lightly twice and found that although the deck was somewhat dilapidated, it was still sturdy and showed no signs of breaking.
This relieved him slightly, and his worries lessened a bit.
He then tried the same method on other parts of the body, and they were all fine; at least they weren't crushed by his foot.
Of course, he didn't dare to use too much force.
However, at least it can support the weight of one person without any problem.
"Be careful, you can come over now."
Feng Xuan shook his head: "I won't go. I'll stay on the ship and keep an eye on things, so that we can help each other if anything happens."
Ah-Can immediately beamed with joy: "Okay, I'll be right there."
He followed Feng Ye's example, clinging to the railing of the Rising Sun and carefully disembarking onto the ship.
He then lay down on the deck, poked his head out of the boat, and used a screwdriver to pry open the barnacles.
He couldn't tell the difference between ordinary barnacles and goose barnacles, so he just pried them all off at once.
The ship's outer side was covered with countless growths, especially near the sea surface.
There are barnacles and goose barnacles mixed together.
There are also other shellfish such as oysters and mussels, and even snails that eat oysters attaching themselves to them.
Feng Ye, however, was in no hurry. After testing the ship's sturdiness, he went to the stern to check on the diesel engine.
This is the most valuable thing on the ship.
However, the diesel engine was already badly rusted.
The various connecting pipes were either broken or completely missing, and the fuel tank was riddled with corrosion.
Even the crankshaft and connecting rods are covered in rust, having long lost their original luster and toughness.
He gently tapped the diesel engine casing, producing a dull sound, like an old man lamenting the ruthlessness of time.
"This diesel engine is completely beyond repair."
Feng Ye sighed.
Although this result was within his expectations, he still couldn't help feeling somewhat disappointed.
However, he wasn't going to just give up like that; he still planned to unload it and take it back.
Even though it's unusable, it can still be sold as scrap metal.
Fortunately, there was a crane on the ship, which saved a lot of effort. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult to move this big thing by manpower alone.
Just then, Ah-chan suddenly screamed "Ah!"
"What's wrong?"
Feng Ye and Feng Xuan were both shocked and looked at him.
Ah-Can's foot was stuck in the wooden plank at the bow of the boat, but the plank had broken.
"Damn, this plank looked fine, but it broke as soon as I stepped on it."
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Feng Ye asked with concern.
Ah-Can shook his head: "No, I was just startled."
Feng Ye scolded, "I told you to be careful, but you were still so careless. Falling into the sea is nothing, since you can swim anyway."
"If you get scratched by nails, splinters, or the like, it'll be a real problem. Who knows how many bacteria are on those things? You might get an infection, or even a serious injury..."
"Never mind, never mind, it's good that everyone is alright."
Feng Xuan offered words of comfort aboard the Rising Sun.
Ah-chan protested, "I didn't mean to. I didn't know it would suddenly break. It looked perfectly fine..."
"Alright, stop explaining, hurry up and come on up," Feng Ye urged.
Ah-chan quickly pulled his foot out of the broken wooden plank and looked at it with lingering fear.
They immediately discovered that the wooden board had many holes inside, but it looked relatively intact on the outside, which explained why it suddenly broke.
"Brother Ye, this plank was eaten by ship maggots, no wonder it broke."
Upon hearing this, Feng Ye frowned, walked over, squatted down, and carefully examined the broken wooden plank.
Sure enough, just as Ah-Can had said, the inside of the wooden board was riddled with wormholes, densely packed and shocking to behold.
Looking again at the space below the bow deck, seawater had already seeped in, constantly eroding the wooden planks through the wormholes and further corroding the hull.
Fortunately, the bulkhead hadn't been eaten away by ship maggots yet, otherwise the ship would have sunk long ago.
The ship was in worse condition than he had anticipated, and could collapse at any moment.
He was lucky that he didn't step on any parts of the ship that were infested with maggots, which is why he thought the ship was quite sturdy.
“This ship probably won’t last much longer,” Feng Ye said in a deep voice. “We must speed things up and pry off all the goose barnacles before it falls apart.”
At this moment, Feng Xuan said, "Aye, why don't we stop trying to pry it open and just tow the whole boat back?"
"Why bother dragging it back?"
"Isn't this boat infested with shipworms? Drag it back and chop it up, catch the shipworms!"
Why are you grabbing this thing?
Feng Ye and A-Can both looked at him with strange expressions.
"Eat it!" Feng Xuan immediately retorted, "Otherwise, what do you think we'd do with it?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Ye's eyes widened immediately, and he looked at Feng Xuan with disbelief.
Is this some kind of extreme taste?
Although shipworms are also a type of clam, they are also called ship-spinning clams.
But these are maggots after all!
The thought of maggots sent a chill down his spine.
Because the first thing that came to his mind was those tiny white worms wriggling in the latrine, emitting a disgusting odor...
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