Back to the small fishing village in 1982

Chapter 1844 Hunting
Everyone hoisted up the remaining cargo, and some people went to organize the fishing nets first, while others waited for instructions to continue cooperating with other fishing boats to cast the nets.

By the time the second net was lowered, it was already past midnight.

Ye Yaodong looked out at the sea through his binoculars. The Russian fishing boats he had spotted during the day were still there, and like them, they were keeping a low profile, controlling their lights and only leaving their navigation lights on.

The boat looked like a fishing boat that was honestly fishing, so he relaxed a little.

This is international waters, and fishing boats from all countries are welcome to come and fish. It would be best if everyone behaved themselves; we're all here to make money, so why turn down the opportunity?

Seeing that the work had already started and there was nothing else to do, I went back to my cabin to lie down and handed it over to the person who was supposed to be on night duty.

For three consecutive days, they fished for saury in this area. There were so many fish that they could keep all six of their boats fishing for three days.

After this batch of fish was caught, Ye Yaodong saw that the five cold storage containers were already half full. He figured that in two days he could transfer the goods to the receiving boat and transport them back first, and also let the crew know that everything was safe.

The Russian fishing boats that had been detected a few days ago are still there, fishing at a distance, keeping to themselves. However, another boat appeared today in the opposite direction.

It was too far away for me to tell what kind of ship it was, even with binoculars; I could only vaguely make out a black dot.

He advised people to be vigilant and observe carefully, and otherwise, they could only remain unchanged in the face of all changes.

"Boss, boss... we found two dead albatrosses in the fishing net."

"Huh? Two albatrosses were found in the fishing net? How did they end up in the net? The net isn't in the sea." Ye Yaodong asked as he ran over to take a look.

"It looks fresh, the meat shouldn't be spoiled? Should we just kill it and eat it? I don't think I've ever eaten seabird before. It would be a waste to just throw it back into the sea, since it's already dead anyway."

He stared in surprise at the large black and white bird on the sorting table. "Could it have been bitten by a big fish while catching fish on the surface and dragged into the water? And then crashed into the net?"

Ah Zheng chimed in, "It should be, it's not impossible. Otherwise, how could it have fallen into the sea? Aren't these birds supposed to be able to fly for years without landing?"

This albatross is quite an unusual bird; it can fly and sleep at the same time, and then not rest or land for several years. It is said that it can fly continuously for 5 years.

Unlike ordinary seabirds, they do not have a fixed nest to return to; this boundless sea is their home.

So, whether it's day or night, they can see albatrosses most of the time, and the seabirds they encounter most often along the way are albatrosses, which follow their fishing boats to eat fish.

He guessed that he probably fell into the sea while chasing the fishing boat and ended up in the fishing net.

Ye Yaodong picked up the albatrosses. "Holy crap, they weigh over ten pounds, probably seventeen or eighteen. These two should be enough for us. Let's take them to the kitchen and have them stir-fried."

"Stir-fry it well, stir-fry it to make it more fragrant, add some seasonings, I've never eaten seagull before."

"Bullshit, haven't you eaten pelicans before?"

These were caught a few years ago during the sardine migration.

Back then, they weren't protected animals, so people ate them without a problem. But now it's unacceptable.

“I remember now, we’ve eaten them before,” Ah Zheng said with a smile as he picked up another albatross and weighed it in his hand. “They’re usually not very big when they’re on the boat, but they’re quite heavy. These two big wings are quite large.”

The two men handed over the two albatrosses they had to the crew to take to the kitchen to be processed, which would be a good extra treat for dinner.

"Shall we dry some fish? We'll take a basket of these red fish to dry, just string them together, they look delicious." Ye Yaodong reached out and fiddled with the conspicuous red-eyed carp among the pile of goods.

"This fish is expensive; it costs 10 yuan per pound wholesale."

"Let's eat this. Who would eat it if it wasn't delicious? A basket of these big ones should last us two days."

The worker happily agreed, "Okay, I'll carry a basket to kill and dry it right away."

Ye Yaodong casually wiped his hands with a rag and then walked back up to the ship's deck.

Life at sea is monotonous, with no entertainment, just the endless cycle of casting and hauling in nets day after day.

There was no signal on his mobile phone, so he had given it to his father for safekeeping before he left. His father would answer the phone and relay any issues to the factory managers so they could handle them.

They were slightly better off than the workers; they didn't have to sort the fish or anything like that, and they could even take binoculars and look around—it was like a little entertainment.

"Now I finally see it clearly. That boat that popped up these past two days was actually from Xiao Ri Zi."

Ah Zheng insisted, "Let me see... It really is! I can see that little red flag in the middle."

"Keep an eye on them, but don't bother them as long as they don't get too close. Just like with the Russians, let's keep to ourselves."

"Okay, I'm just afraid they'll shamelessly come over and plunder our resources."

"Pay close attention and observe."

"It's getting dark again. These days are so boring."

"To be strong, one must endure loneliness!"

"That's all bullshit."

Ye Yaodong thought it was good to bring him on board; at least he'd have someone to chat with. Otherwise, chatting with the captain and the others would only involve serious matters, which would be quite boring.

It would be even better if there were a mobile phone for live streaming, so I could chat with the audience and never get bored.

The net we caught at noon wasn't finished until dark.

As night fell, the sea surface lit up with faint blue lights, which startled everyone. Some people even stuck their heads out of the deck while still holding their food.

It wasn't completely dark yet, and the blue glow wasn't very noticeable, but everyone still spotted it in time.

As darkness slowly fell, the blue glow deepened and brightened.

"This must be coming from the fishing net. What's in the net?" Ah Zheng asked. "Could it be luminous grass or luminous algae?"

"I don't know. Since it's in the fishing net, we'll see it when it's hoisted up," Ye Yaodong said calmly.

Since they're all fished out of the sea, what else could they possibly be but marine life?
Those caught in the same batch of fishing nets are usually clustered together. Some of the workers had just finished their shifts and were eating in the canteen when they came out to look, pointing at the sea with their chopsticks in hand.

"Could it be some kind of weird seafood again?"

"I wonder if I can eat it?"

"They all glow blue, would you dare eat them? They'd poison you to death."

"Not necessarily. Squid are still transparent when they come ashore, and they seem to be glowing white. Large yellow croakers are still golden when they are caught, and they can still make croaking noises. Ribbonfish are also silvery. There are many fish in the sea that can glow, and they can all be eaten, right?"

"Let's see what they bring up later, and whether it's edible."

Everyone waited curiously for the strange creature to be pulled up from the fishing net, and the workers became more enthusiastic.

When the fish collection bag was lifted out of the water, the deck was briefly confused.

Instead of the expected waterfall, there was a net filled with a faint blue light, interspersed with some jumping fish of various colors, some of which even poked their heads out of the net.

Those were hundreds of crown jellyfish, crowded together and short, wrapped in fishing nets. They shimmered with a blue light, and you could even see their internal organs pulsating rhythmically.

"Turn off the deck lights!" Ye Yaodong ordered.

The moment the lights went out, the entire net of jellyfish appeared even more beautiful, like a piece of starry sky dredged up from the deep sea.

The blue light alternated between bright and dark in sync with their breathing rhythm, and some startled jellyfish released luminous mucus, drawing brief arcs of light in the air.

The crew members quickly moved away, afraid that the sticky substance would get on their faces. What if it was corrosive or toxic?

The crane moved slowly, and the workers in charge quickly untied the fish collection bags, and large quantities of fish and jellyfish fell onto the sorting table.

Each blue jellyfish has a bell-shaped cap that is over one meter in diameter and tentacles that are several meters long, making it look even more dreamlike up close.

Everyone crowded around, their faces reflecting the blue light.

"A blue jellyfish? It's quite beautiful..."

"Could this be made into jellyfish?"

"How could that be? Jellyfish is jellyfish, and jellyfish is a type of jellyfish. Not all jellyfish are jellyfish and can be eaten."

"Don't touch it! This slime might be poisonous."

"He's wearing rubber gloves."

Someone reached out and touched it lightly—it was cool and supple, like touching a breathing jelly.

"It's bouncy like jelly, what should I do?"

Everyone started talking at once, and then they asked Ye Yaodong.

They had never caught a blue jellyfish before, let alone one as big as a tabletop, though they often saw white jellyfish and sea jellyfish that big.

"Boss, are all these blue jellyfish useful?"

"Wow, this big one can even change color?"

A worker exclaimed in surprise as the blue light on the jellyfish suddenly turned into alternating flashes of red and green, which looked extremely novel.

"It changes color here too!"

"Look, look, everything's changing color?"

"Dongzi, what do we do because these are all changing color? What are they trying to do? Should we just throw them back into the sea? That probably won't work, right?"

Ye Yaodong looked at it for a while, and then said in line with his words, "Throw it back into the sea. It's useless. It will die within two hours of coming ashore and turn into water. No matter how valuable it is, it's useless."

Unless it can be transported back within two hours, it might be donated to an aquarium or marine park to be kept.

Now, it's completely useless; it just looks pretty and unusual, and it broadens people's horizons.

The boatswain called out, "The boss said to release these jellyfish. Push them onto the slide and put them back into the sea."

Everyone immediately did as instructed, muttering to themselves as they touched the sticky jellyfish, patted them a few times, and pushed and played with them.

"It feels like I'm being patted on the butt... *thud* *thud*"

The jellyfish swarm slowly glided back into the dark sea along the slide. Hundreds of them flowed back to the surface, where the water shimmered with red and green light before instantly turning back to blue.

It's a bit like a chameleon; its colors change incredibly quickly.

Ye Yaodong felt that the color change was due to dehydration and a sense of crisis. Now that he was back in the familiar sea, he felt that the crisis had been resolved, so the color changed back to blue.

The sea is vast and unfathomable, teeming with all sorts of amazing creatures, more of which are unseen than known.

"Dongzi, I feel like the ship in the distance seems closer to us? And we can see the flag more clearly now."

Which ship?

"A simple life."

"Let me see."

I knew the little one was restless. After three or four days of peace, the little one had just started to act when I sensed something was up.

Ye Yaodong picked up the binoculars and looked. They had indeed gotten a little closer. "Let me go to the cockpit and see how much the detected distance has decreased?"

"Go ahead, I'll keep watching with the binoculars."

Ye Yaodong went up to the cockpit and asked the captain, who said, "We got a little close, but we're still about three nautical miles apart. It doesn't seem like a big problem. We'll keep monitoring it and report back immediately if anything happens."

"Also, notify other fishing boats to be vigilant."

"clear."

The captain used the station's internal channel to explain the situation to other fishing boats and exchanged information.

Seeing that there was nothing else to do, Ye Yaodong went to rest and left the monitoring to others.

The next day, he was woken up by the boatswain, "Boss, boss, there's something going on! The fishing boat 'Little Life at Sea' is in trouble, it's very close to us..."

The ship's machinery was so noisy that even after a night's sleep, Ye Yaodong's head was still foggy. He had a headache, but the mention of "Xiao Ri" immediately woke him up.

"How close? When did this happen?"

"As for what's happening now, they're getting closer, so they sent me to wake you up. They were slowly approaching during the night, but they weren't within the warning range yet, so I didn't wake you to avoid disturbing your rest. Now that it's just dawn, we've discovered they've taken another big step closer."

Ye Yaodong threw on a piece of clothing and rushed out without even washing his face or brushing his teeth. He could clearly see the flags on the other fishing boat with the naked eye as he looked at the sea.

"Damn it, they're so close, let's blast them to pieces."

"Yes, that's what everyone just said too. If they dare to get any closer, all of us will ram them to death. The other boats are also preparing to cast their nets and are on high alert."

Ye Yaodong went to get the binoculars and also went to the bridge to talk to the captain or first mate. The bosun, having nothing else to do, continued to observe from the deck and arranged the net-hauling operation.

The captain had stayed up all night, his eyes were bloodshot, but he looked energetic.

"Boss, the Russian boat is still far away and hasn't made any unusual movements. But the Russian boat is getting closer and closer. I feel like they're chasing after some kind of fish, and that's why they're getting closer and closer."

"Didn't it detect anything?"

"They detected a large light source, which is why they said they were catching some kind of large fish, and that's why they were chasing it and getting closer."

"Now let's use the loudspeaker to warn them not to come any closer, and if they do, they'll have to bear the consequences themselves."

"Understood. I'll also inform the other fishing boats and warn them collectively."

"Ah."

The captain immediately took control of the internal communication channel to notify the other fishing boats.

"The fishing boats from Xiao Rizi are continuing to approach. The boss has instructed us to warn them first, and if they continue to approach, they will bear the consequences. I'll broadcast this on the public channel first."

"Damn it, I knew they'd cause trouble..."

"Damn it, warn them right now, I've been wanting to yell at them for ages."

“My fishing boat is closer to them, and I saw it through my binoculars. It looks like they’re hunting killer whales right now…”

"Ah! Hunting orcas?"

P.S.: I'll try to update another 4000 words before midnight.

(End of this chapter)