At the last moment, Li Haochen finally arrived in time.
As the saying goes, insiders see the skill, outsiders see the excitement. Many crew members were stunned by the draft line of the Starship.
"Did you see that? Absolutely busted."
"I noticed it too, busted for sure."
"Do you think there's a chance for a comeback?"
A man shook his head, "Hard..."
The Starship's last-minute arrival kept the hearts of all contestants and spectators tense. After the stunning reversal caused by the dark horse's attack just now, most people held onto the hope of a major comeback.
As soon as the Starship docked, dozens of staff members were ready.
The cabin door opened, and Li Haochen walked out. His resolute face was met with countless camera flashes, a feeling akin to the glory of first and last place in an Olympic competition.
Seeing Li Haochen emerge, Murong Yanran wished she could rush over, but today was special, so she suppressed her restless heart.
"Mr. Li is indeed timely, hahaha," Li Pengfei quipped with a laugh.
Li Haochen felt a little embarrassed and could only scratch his head as he opened the live well and ice hold. "Team Leader Li, I'll trouble you."
Li Pengfei nodded and immediately instructed all personnel to board quickly for inventory and estimation. He dared not keep the esteemed figures on the podium waiting for too long.
Many hands make light work. One group was responsible for the live well, another for the ice hold. When the staff saw the scenes in both holds, they were all dumbfounded. Dozens of staff members showing such expressions caused the entire venue to erupt in discussion, creating a moment of clamorous noise.
Li Pengfei quickly snapped out of his shock and shouted, "Hurry up, don't just stand there, they're waiting for the announcement."
The staff members also recovered and, under Li Pengfei's command, began the inventory and estimation in an orderly manner. As live fish and baskets of iced fish were carried off the Starship, the entire crowd fell silent.
Five minutes... ten minutes, it took a full half hour to move all the catch to the weighing area. The entire venue gasped, and the anglers who were also competing were filled with admiration, in addition to surprise.
There were too many types of live fish, and it took at least twenty minutes to complete the clearance. The total value reached a staggering 68,000 yuan. This figure alone was enough to amaze.
Even more breathtaking was the anchovy. It wasn't that they were expensive, but their quantity and weight. Dozens of baskets of fish, weighing 2,100 jin. If these were tuna, it would be nothing, but the key was that these were small fish, about one jin each. At this weight, it would take at least over a thousand fish to catch them all. A super terrifying data, even using nets, it would be difficult to catch so many.
The inventory and estimation were quick. The anchovies were priced at 35 yuan each, totaling 73,500 yuan. Adding the live fish, the total was 141,500 yuan. When the final score of 351,500 yuan was announced, the audience once again gasped.
"Awesome. Among all the Chinese characters, I can only find these two to describe it."
"I'm at a loss for words, all I can say is 'too damn awesome'."
"..."
One boat, one person, one month, without catching tuna, just these ordinary small fish, and he earned 350,000 yuan? And that was just the official estimate; the actual amount was considerably higher.
Not making it into the top eight, Li Haochen was undoubtedly the pinnacle of the fishing world. Many people had two words in their hearts: "Fishing King."
Li Haochen's total score only ranked 16th. The eighth-place finisher was the Yu Duoduo, with a total of 526,000 yuan, just 500 more than the ninth place, and only one step away from seventh place. It was a pity, but more joy.
Huang Pinliang was celebrating with his crew. He had even changed into new clothes to welcome this moment of glory.
Just then, a shout from the weighing and clearing area drew everyone's attention again.
A staff member responsible for clearing stumbled and bumped a box of anchovies, causing them to scatter on the ground.
This bump was no small matter. A sharp-eyed staff member nearby noticed that two of the scattered fish were different and immediately crouched down to inspect them. "Golden croaker..."
Li Pengfei, attracted by the exclamation, also rushed over and examined the fish. "That's right, it's wild golden croaker."
"What?"
Even Li Haochen, standing nearby, was bewildered.
Li Pengfei looked at the dozens of baskets of anchovies and had a bold idea. He walked over to Li Haochen and said, "Mr. Li, the golden croaker and anchovies have similar appearances. Sometimes fatigue or other factors can cause confusion. Perhaps there are more in here. I'd like to re-examine them, what do you think?"
Li Haochen had no idea that among these two thousand jin of anchovies there were golden croakers. This unexpected discovery caught him off guard.
However, Li Haochen was naturally delighted to find the golden croakers. One could be worth several baskets of fish here. How could he refuse? "No problem, I'll trouble you."
Upon receiving the reply, Li Pengfei quickly reported this special situation, completed the re-examination procedures, and promptly organized all staff to conduct the re-examination.
"Wow, there's one in this box too."
"Quick, I have one here too."
"Here, there's one here too."
Exclamations continued to erupt. Ten minutes later, after all had been re-examined, Li Haochen's mouth twitched as he looked at the 16 golden croakers laid out on the ground. If they hadn't been accidentally knocked over, he would have suffered a huge loss.
"Damn, I really want to slap myself twice."
The 16 golden croakers, the heaviest weighing 3 jin and 2 liang, the lightest weighing 8 liang, totaled 40 jin. After weighing and estimation, they were valued at 180,000 yuan. Deducting the cost of 40 jin of anchovies at 1400 yuan, Li Haochen's final score became 530,100 yuan.
As soon as the results were announced, the rankings immediately changed. Li Haochen shot up from 16th place to 7th. Li Haochen never expected this outcome and burst into a silly grin on the spot. The prize money for seventh place was 1 million yuan, so it was no wonder he was grinning foolishly.
Li Haochen was smiling, but Yi Shun, who was originally in seventh place, and Yu Duoduo, in eighth place, could no longer smile. Their expressions were as if they had eaten a fly.
This major reversal was full of twists and turns, and such an exhilarating turnaround made the atmosphere at the venue even more heated. The process itself could be written into a novel.
On the podium, Murong Yanran was also very happy about Li Haochen's unexpected reversal to secure seventh place. This 1 million yuan did not go to an outsider.
Half an hour later, the awards ceremony commenced as scheduled. First, several provincial leaders gave speeches, congratulating the successful conclusion of the fishing competition, and so on. Then came Ling Hanfeng, whose speech was largely similar, though not as comprehensive as the provincial leaders. Finally, there was Murong Yanran's speech. Having spent tens of millions, it was only right to promote her.
The last segment was, of course, the most exciting moment: awarding the prizes.