The final results were not displayed because all boats had to return and complete their settlements. Thus, the astonishing quantity caught by Li Haochen and his team was not yet shown.
At five in the afternoon, dozens of powerful foghorns sounded outside the dock again. This time, it was different from the last; the daytime sound was more direct and clearer, and the entire scene was grand and spectacular, igniting a sense of excitement.
The Japanese team, led by Sato, had long been standing at the bow of their ship, returning against the wind. Their confident demeanor suggested they had already secured first place, and they even vied for the first berth. However, they felt a twinge of displeasure upon seeing the Zhengzhan Hao already docked nearby.
"Hmph, I didn't expect them to return first."
"Hahaha, Mr. Oohara, have you forgotten what Liu Yuxuan said a few days ago about their power system failing within two hours of setting sail? They probably didn't even go out to sea, hehe!"
"So desu ne, hahaha!"
"This time, we will definitely leave the Korean team far behind, hahaha." Sato couldn't help but laugh heartily as he recalled the more than 300-pound bluefin tuna in the icebox.
As boats continued to return, the evaluation teams went back and forth. By eight in the evening, the tally and valuation were finally complete.
A few minutes later, the large screen flashed with lights, and with a whoosh, all ranking data appeared simultaneously. The moment the scores were released, the whole world was stunned. To everyone's surprise, Japan had dropped to fifth place. The current leader was the little-known island nation of Ceylon, while Mongolia, after its fleeting moment of glory, plummeted to eighth.
At this moment, the expressions of the Japanese team members aboard the Orochi Hao were priceless. They looked as if they had just swallowed dozens of flies that tasted like feces.
"This... this isn't real, it's not real!"
"Yes, it must be fake! How could our Japan only be fifth..."
"Baka... return to the hotel immediately for a meeting..."
Less than a minute after the Japanese team left, the entire venue, including all the spectators and participating teams, erupted in a collective gasp. They discovered that in the individual tail data column, the entire screen was dominated by the five-star red flag. Li Haochen, who ranked first, had an astonishing total of 1105 catches, shocking everyone.
"Holy crap, am I seeing this right?"
"Over a thousand? I've been fishing for a month and haven't caught that many."
"I can only describe it with a swear word..."
In an instant, the entire internet was flooded with this earth-shattering news. The keyboard warriors who had been spewing insults online earlier had vanished without a trace. Even those who dared to still speak were quickly silenced by counter-arguments.
"Come, come, cheers!"
"Cheers!"
However, the Chinese team, the source of this sensation, was not out celebrating their glorious moment. Instead, they were gathered in a private room at a bar, singing and drinking.
"Everyone, quiet down for a moment," said Liu Qinghe, smiling broadly, holding the microphone and shouting, "The results are out! Our total score puts us in 18th place for now, and for the individual tail count... the screen is filled with red, hahaha!"
"Ah... that's wonderful."
A group of forty-something middle-aged men, mimicking the younger generation, clenched their fists and cheered loudly. It was incredibly inspiring. Of course, such a scene called for a fitting song.
"The five-star red flag flutters in the wind, the songs of victory are so loud; sing of our beloved motherland, from now on we march towards prosperity and strength..."
Although their voices were not particularly good, the eleven men performed "Song of the Motherland" with utmost passion. Liu Qinghe recorded this moment on Douyin. As soon as the video was uploaded, the views and comments skyrocketed. Within an hour, it had garnered tens of millions of views. It was no easy feat to break the entertainment industry's dominance for the first time.
That night, Li Haochen and his team returned to their lodgings, content but not excessively drunk.
At five in the morning, Li Haochen woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. He decided to go for a morning run to the Xingchen Hao. Upon arrival, he was startled by the scene before him.
"Holy crap, where have all the boats gone? Could it be..."
Just as Li Haochen was about to call Liu Qinghe, his phone rang. "Haochen, get ready quickly, we're departing. The other teams must have realized our strategy and left last night. We gather at the dock in half an hour..."
"I didn't expect it to be this soon," Li Haochen murmured, feeling a bit worried. He wasn't concerned about his own first place, but Zhang Yuan and the others' scores were not insurmountable.
With time pressing, Li Haochen entered his space. He didn't have time to prepare the螺肉 (luó ròu - conch meat, likely a type of seafood) and directly took a hundred catties of mussels to bring out. Fortunately, there was a small cart on the boat; otherwise, carrying them to the Zhengzhan Hao would have been quite a feat.
As soon as he unloaded the mussels, Li Zhigang and the others arrived in a hurry. "Haochen, what are you doing?"
"Brother Li, these are mussels for fishing. It happened so suddenly, I didn't have time to process them, so I had to bring them to the boat to deal with," Li Haochen explained.
"Oh, I see. Everyone, lend a hand and carry them aboard." With that, Li Zhigang and a few others each took a corner and carried them onto the boat. Li Haochen didn't stand on ceremony; he quickly wheeled the small cart back to the Xingchen Hao, unloaded, and returned to the Zhengzhan Hao.
An hour later, as dawn began to break, Captain Wang Lei delivered some unwelcome news. "Director Liu, all the fishing spots we've passed have been occupied by other teams. I suspect the top ten fishing areas in Sanya are in a similar situation. What do we do now?"
Liu Qinghe paced back and forth, stroking his chin. After a moment, he looked at Li Haochen and said, "Haochen, what do you think?"
"Me?" Li Haochen felt a bit embarrassed and casually replied, "Since they've occupied the nearshore, why don't we go further out to sea to catch bigger fish? What else can we do?"
"What Haochen said is quite reasonable. Even if we stay here without good fishing spots, it would be more disadvantageous for us. It's better to venture out and try our luck."
Seeing that everyone agreed, Liu Qinghe immediately walked to the pilot house. Two minutes later, the Zhengzhan Hao turned its starboard rudder and sailed at full speed towards the deep sea.
The dozens of teams that remained along the coast, after experiencing the thrill of frequent catches, were reluctant to leave. As time passed, many teams realized that with so many teams catching small fish, unless a large school of fish appeared, the results would be largely similar. However, they understood the principle of limited spots and excessive demand.
The first to react and leave were the Ceylon team, followed by Mongolia, Australia, and the Hong Kong and Macau teams. Boats began to depart from the coast one after another, but they had already wasted a day, putting them at a disadvantage in this round.
The three countries that stubbornly continued to fight along the coast were Japan, India, and the United States, as they had received top-level instructions the previous night not to allow the Chinese team to dominate the leaderboard.
Around three in the afternoon, after a ten-hour voyage, they finally reached the deep sea. Wang Yan, using sonar fish finders combined with his experience, pinpointed the best fishing spots. The amount of fish caught would determine his value, so Wang Yan was unusually tense.
As soon as the boat stopped, Li Haochen and his team, equipped and ready, emerged with imposing momentum.
"Deep-sea behemoths, we've arrived, hahaha!"