The sudden turn of events turned Li Hao Chen's delighted face into a grimace.
"Damn it, my line..."
Looking at the empty leader, Li Hao Chen remembered the fearsome reputation of the grouper, "This damned toothy snapper, so annoying!"
Even though two thousand yuan had vanished just like that, Li Hao Chen wasn't overly dejected. Good mood meant good luck, he thought. After replacing the leader and hook, and baiting the hook, he continued his endeavor.
Just as he pried open a few mussels, the two fishing bells rang incessantly. His heart leaped with joy. He pressed the button and held a landing net in each hand, preparing for any sudden occurrences.
A minute later, two fish revealed themselves one after another. Li Hao Chen swiftly scooped both fish into his nets: a grouper weighing over three catties, and a sea bass weighing five to six catties.
As he scooped the grouper, the line was bitten through again. Fortunately, he was prepared; otherwise, he would have ended up with nothing.
"This rascal is really strong. Next time, I'll bring some steel wire lines to see if I can't snap your rotten rotten teeth."
Li Hao Chen replaced the leader and hook before resuming fishing. Just seconds after casting, the fishing line tightened again. This made Li Hao Chen wonder, "Do fish really love this mussel bait? Or am I possessed by the Sea God today?"
"Whatever it is, as long as I can catch fish."
Li Hao Chen pondered for a moment and then stopped dwelling on it. He reeled in the line, and two ferocious black sea breams appeared. The excitement had already washed away his doubts into the depths of the sea.
The entire afternoon, Li Hao Chen spent in extreme excitement, constantly catching and unhooking fish, his mouth sore from smiling as if it had been spasming.
Around five in the afternoon, Li Hao Chen hadn't caught a fish for a long time. He had changed the bait several times with no response, feeling as though all the fish in the vicinity had been caught. Seeing no activity for such a long time, he reeled in his fishing rod.
In the sweltering heat, after fishing all afternoon, he had sweated out at least a few catties. Li Hao Chen felt a bit weary. He brought the remaining mussels into the kitchen for an extra dish for dinner, and threw the mussel shells into the sea.
Li Hao Chen was unaware that the mussel shells he threw into the sea became highly sought-after commodities by various marine creatures below, with many fighting over them for the small amount of snail meat clinging to the shells.
Li Hao Chen took a comfortable hot shower and came out shirtless. With a physique like Xiao Yan Yan's, skin tone like Gu Zai's, and his own outstanding facial features, hmm... If those lonely, restless young wives saw this physique, they might just get wet.
He drank a chilled coconut water, feeling refreshed all over. After resting for half an hour, he began preparing dinner.
To celebrate his hard work today, Li Hao Chen specifically brought up a three-catty grouper.
He scraped off the scales and filleted both sides of the fish, separating the flesh from the skin. The fish meat was prepared as sashimi, the skin was pan-fried, and the fish bones were used to make a tofu and mushroom soup.
While steaming the mussels and preparing the dipping sauces for the sashimi, the rice was also cooked.
He moved a small table to the deck, bringing out all the dishes. He even opened a bottle of "Golden Ice Valley," which Li Hao Chen had "borrowed" from home. He didn't intend to drink much, pouring only a glass before sealing it and returning it to the cupboard.
He picked up a piece of sashimi and dipped it in the sauce. It was incredibly sweet and fresh, melting in his mouth with no hint of fishiness. The fish skin was also very delicious, chewy and not fishy, with a full gelatinous texture. Paired with soy sauce and lemon juice, the unique aroma was very special. "Truly worthy of being the king of sea breams; its high price is justified."
A piece of sashimi, followed by a sip of wine—this life was simply wonderful.
Most of the dishes on the table were finished, only a small plate of mussels presented a dilemma for Li Hao Chen. The lingering memory of his diarrhea after visiting Dunhuang Island was still vivid, and he didn't want to experience it again. "Never mind, it's just adding some nutrition to the sea creatures. It's not a waste of food, haha."
Outside the ship's railing, under the light, a group of phototactic fish had already gathered.
Li Hao Chen picked up the entire plate of mussels, including the snail shells, and walked to the side of the ship. He dumped them into the sea with a series of thuds.
Many of the mussel shells were opened in half, and they couldn't sink immediately. Just then, a scene on the sea surface stunned Li Hao Chen. Countless barracuda swarmed, scrambling for the mussels that had just sunk.
As he reacted and picked up his landing net to scoop them up, the school of barracuda had already disappeared. Li Hao Chen could only scoop up emptiness.
"Damn it, why are you running so fast? Would it kill you to let me catch a few hundred catties?" Li Hao Chen cursed and threw the landing net aside.
Recalling the bizarre scene, Li Hao Chen traced the cause. He replayed the entire process again and again.
"I know!" After a few minutes, Li Hao Chen slapped his thigh and exclaimed, jumping up, stating with great certainty, "Mussels, that's right, it must be the mussels. I already found it a bit strange during fishing this noon."
Li Hao Chen rushed into the cabin impatiently. As soon as he entered, he hurried to the reef area and broke off a small bunch of mussels.
He pried open the mussels one by one with a small knife and put them into a fine-mesh fish cage. He threw the mussels, meat and shells, into it, tied it with a rope, and lowered it to his fishing spot.
He turned on the fish-attracting light. In less than a minute, the sea surface below the ship's railing churned. Barracuda, smallmouth grunters, and even black sea bream and sea bass all crowded towards the fish cage. Some of the more aggressive ones even began to bite at the cage.
Li Hao Chen was overjoyed and immediately scooped up the fish pile with a landing net. To his disappointment, he only caught about a dozen clumsy barracuda. He hadn't even touched the tail of the target black sea bream or sea bass; they were too cunning and alert.
Fish are still fish, not very bright. Startled moments ago, they had already forgotten. Look, the mussels in the fish cage attracted them again, including some big ones.
This time, Li Hao Chen seized the opportunity and scooped them up swiftly. The result was the same: about a dozen barracuda and a few smallmouth grunters about two fingers wide.
After several attempts to catch only barracuda and smallmouth grunters, and with their numbers decreasing, Li Hao Chen became somewhat frustrated. Before long, not a single fish was seen. He pulled up the fish cage, "What the hell, which rascal did this?"
Li Hao Chen looked at the fish cage with several large bites on the bottom, finding it hard to believe. He cursed the owner of the fishing tackle shop, "Damn him, he said it was bite-resistant and absolutely safe!"
Li Hao Chen suppressed the urge to go into the space again to get more mussels to try. He sat on the deck and pondered, "How could this happen? Is it related to the space ocean? Or the space seawater?"
He thought of several questions. To unravel this strange phenomenon, Li Hao Chen entered the space again, bringing out various sea snails and even a bucket of seawater.