Chapter 392: Phantom Moray Eels
Two days later.
The boat pitched violently as a four-metre wave slammed against it. As soon as the water slammed against the bow, it sent a jet spray of ice water against Han Ruochen and Tong Zhaodi’s faces. The open ocean past the four-mile marker had turned into an abyss of churning ink. With waves rising and falling, their boat was tossing around like a little ping-pong ball.
"Sister Ruochen, are you crazy? Were you really going to come here on your own?" Tong Zhaodi screamed as she wrapped her arms around the pole outside the cabin. "This is not a trip to hunt fish but a suicide run. With such deep currents, even the fish must have gone to the deep sea to escape the pressure. There is no point in fishing here. Fishing here is nothing but a death warrant!"
However, Han Ruochen did not say anything. She was too focused on making sure that their boat wouldn’t capsize and they wouldn’t drown. With her hands on the controller, she dug her boots wedged against the floor. Her hands were locked onto the system of the boat. Her left sleeve was soaked because of the jet sprays that were getting splashed on their faces one after another.
"Sister Ruochen, are you listening to me? We cannot fish here. This place is really dangerous." Tong Zhaodi gasped as another mouthful of salty water splashed onto her face. She could not understand why Han Ruochen was determined to fish in these troubled waters. If she wanted, she could have always fished at the sea closer to the shore. Even though it would have taken some time, it would have been safer.
Han Ruochen glanced at the sea-scanning system that was flashing with a brilliant green light. "We don’t have time for a slow harvest." Her dad was still unconscious and even if he woke up, there would be a lot of things that their family would need. From medicines to nutrition and tonics. There were so many things. How could she even think about leaving for the sea every alternative day to collect seafood?
With her mother’s schemes and manipulations, Han Ruochen did not believe that her elder siblings would be able to protect their father. She had to stay with him until everything was done and over. If not, Han Ruochen was worried that Meng Yunhan might take advantages of the situation somehow. She had no idea how that woman might even do it but she just knew that her mother was not the kind of person who would be able to ignore the temptation of such a good opportunity.
Since that was the case, Han Ruochen knew in her heart that she needed a haul so valuable that she would be able to stay with her father until he got better without worrying about the schemes of her mother and sister.
Tong Zhaodi also understood Han Ruochen’s predicament but as she raised her head and looked at the sea that was getting darker with each passing second, she could not help but close her eyes and start praying. She did not want to die yet!
[Ding.]
[System Alert: Thermal Inversion Layer has been detected at 67 metres. Deep-sea migrators are trapped due to the cold undercurrents.]
[specimen trapped: Giant ’Phantom’ Moray Eels and Black Gold Abalone Colony.]
Han Ruochen’s eyes glinted. This should be enough to last them for a while along with the debts that she needed to clear. She turned her head to the left and shouted over the winds, "Get the steel-braided lines and the heavy hooks, Zhaodi. We are not going to fish on the surface tonight. We are going to dig into the trench."
She had never caught the giant phantom moray eels before but Han Ruochen knew that they were currently quite in demand. And not just in demand...there was an insatiable and wildly expensive craving for the deep-sea phantom moray eels going on in the market at the moment. This rare black-and-silver-striped species had taken the market by storm because it was said that the meat of these moray eels could actually grant vitality and help in curing lung ailments as long as the meat was cooked well. However, there was a little problem. These moray eels lived in the jagged rock crevices that were more than seventy to eighty metres deep in the sea. The chances of catching these eels by using the traditional net method were close to impossible.
Han Ruochen sucked in a breath and started rolling her sleeves up. Guided by the sea scanning system, she did not drop the regular line but instead she cast a heavy, weighted wire line tipped with a cluster of hooks and on these hooks there was a thick coat of highly concentrated and fermented paste that she had prepared to act as a bait.
"Let it go!" Han Ruochen continued to release the line with Tong Zhaodi helping her from behind. And when the bait hit the seventy-metre mark, the line did not just tense... it actually snapped taut with a sound that sounded like a rifle shot. The entire motorboat dipped dangerously to one side as soon as the line went taut, as if it were going to tip.
"It is hooked to a reef!" Tong Zhaodi yelled. She turned to look at Han Ruochen and said to her, "We need to cut the line or else we will end up drowning and the boat will capsize."
"Don’t." Han Ruochen stopped her from cutting the line when she saw that Tong Zhaodi had actually taken out the shears from the emergency box. "Look carefully; it is still moving."
Han Ruochen pointed at the line that was still moving.
Seeing this Tong Zhaodi pursed her lips and dropped the shears that she was holding in her hands. "How are we supposed to pull it up?" The line was moving so fast that it looked like it had halted. If they stopped it now, then there was a good chance that they might end up scraping a layer of their skin!
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