It was too difficult to catch it with bare hands, and it would run away if he wasn't careful. He thought about bringing a hand net with him after he got ashore to rest, which would be more convenient.
He didn't think that only one trap in a row would get stuck. When he continued to collect traps later, there would definitely be more that would get stuck. Moreover, there were so many traps on the seabed, so he had to go into the water. But now he had to fill the net bag first.
The feeling of catching it yourself is different. It is much more exciting and more fun than catching it in a cage. If it weren't underwater, he would definitely be more excited.
However, the little blue dragon was too active and could jump around, so it was a bit time-consuming and tiring to chase the little blue dragon. He had limited energy, and it was not worth it to keep chasing the little blue dragon. He planned to look for sea cucumbers first and dig some abalone.
The seabed here is a muddy and sandy bottom layer, which is suitable for sea cucumbers to survive.
But there were quite a few rocks around, big and small, pointed, round, and all kinds of strange shapes. He thought it was because of the earthquake some time ago, so they were scattered everywhere, and even the corals were broken and fell on the mud and sand.
There are also large reefs, and fishing nets cannot catch anything here. Perhaps it is because of this geographical environment that this place has become a refuge for small blue dragons.
He walked around carefully and saw two sea cucumbers lying on the surface of the mud in front of him, crawling forward, a bit like a big caterpillar, and moving extremely slowly.
It takes no effort to get it.
He caught two of them, but then he saw half a fish lying in the seaweed in front of him
He stuffed the two into the net bag as he walked, and when he stepped forward to take a look, he saw that the one lying there really only had half a body, but it was alive.
Sea cucumbers are a bit like earthworms and have amazing regenerative abilities. Even if half of them are eaten or even cut into three pieces, they will repair themselves as long as they are not completely eaten. It usually takes 2-7 months to repair the wound, and each section will heal into a complete sea cucumber.
He can keep this half for himself to eat, and then secretly hide a few more later. He should kill them first and report to his father later, otherwise his father will be heartbroken again.
It just so happens that both the old lady and A-Qing need some nourishment.
He picked at the surrounding seaweed and found two more.
There are quite a lot of sea cucumbers here. Maybe because they move slowly, sea cucumbers often stay in one place and rarely move. It is very convenient to catch them. As long as you see them, they are in your pocket.
He searched forward all the way and unknowingly walked to the side of the shipwreck. He was not interested in the fishing boat that had just sunk. It was not an ancient shipwreck. There was no treasure for him to find, so he simply ignored it.
But at this moment, a stonefish swam out from under the boat, which scared him immediately.
Just as he was about to move away, the stonefish swam to his left front, and then lay motionless on the edge of the reef.
so far so good!
He couldn't help but feel lucky that he saw...
There are a lot of abalones around that reef...
The stonefish looks unremarkable, with a body length of only about 30 centimeters. It likes to hide on the seabed or under reefs, disguising itself as an inconspicuous stone.
But it is the most poisonous fish in the world, and its protective coloration blends perfectly with the seabed. It does not actively attack its prey, but if someone accidentally steps on it, it will immediately fight back without hesitation, emitting deadly poison.
The 12 to 14 needle-sharp dorsal spines on its back can easily penetrate the soles of shoes and pierce into the soles of feet, causing people to be quickly poisoned and in severe pain until death.
Ye Yaodong shuddered at the thought. Fortunately, he saw it in advance, otherwise the fish would be easily overlooked and people would mistake it for a rock and step on it casually.
You really can’t touch anything in the sea, unless you know it, otherwise you don’t know whether you can make it to shore alive.
After he memorized the hiding place of the stonefish, he moved away and planned to dig a few abalone nearby, fill the net bag and float up, so as not to delay too long and make his father worry up there.
It’s my first time diving so deep, so I have to go up and report my safety first.
He carefully looked around for places to stand, and only when he saw no unknown creatures did he feel at ease standing in front of a small reef.
This place should be an abalone nest. There are no conchs on the small reef, only abalone.
He took out the small knife from his pocket, which he had prepared in case his feet got tangled in seaweed.
Aim the iron sheet at the gap between the abalone and the stone, and thrust it in suddenly...
Pry it upwards again and flip the abalone over.
After just prying for a while, he felt a little tired and exhausted. Moving in the water was too exhausting, and he had been out for quite some time.
When he felt a little tired, he decisively gave up the abalone in front of him, put away his tools, and swam upwards with his flippers.
He tried his best to avoid the fish swimming around him. After a while, he floated to the surface of the water. Before he climbed up, he heard his father's anxious yet relieved voice.
"You bastard, you were just going down to fix the trap net. You took so long. I thought something happened to you. You scared me. I was just about to jump down to take a look."
Ye Yaodong took off his goggles and looked at his father, who was only wearing an autumn shirt, standing at the side of the boat with a grim expression, glaring at him fiercely, as if he wanted to pull him up and give him a good beating.
He laughed and said, "Isn't it because I saw too much sea goods and I couldn't bear to leave..."
"Get up here quickly, you haven't soaked in enough water, have you?"
"Right up."
He climbed up using his hands and feet, and once he was there he immediately collapsed on the deck and gasped for breath.
He thought that after working hard for half a year, he should be in good physical condition. He took out the watch from his coat pocket and found that only 20 minutes had passed. Combined with the time he had spent adapting to the sea, he had not been in the sea for that long.
So empty...
"You're such a grown-up, how can you still be so unreliable? You went into the water to find a trap, and when it was ready you should have come up, but you stayed down there for so long that I pulled up the trap, but you didn't show up. Luckily I'm your father, if it was any other boatman, they would have thought you were dead down there and would have just sailed back..."
Ye's father was so angry that he pointed at him and scolded him, then went to the corner to get a stick.
The more I thought about it, the more worried I became. I almost burst into tears. He is my own son. I couldn't give up and had to go in and take a look.
"Ah? Dad, why did you pick up a stick? Is it necessary? Ah... Don't hit me... Let's talk it over nicely, let's talk it over nicely..." Ye Yaodong hadn't even taken off his flippers yet, but he was already using his hands and feet, rolling and crawling to avoid the attack.
"Talk about your mom! The more I think about it, the angrier I get!"
Ye's father took a stick as thick as his arm and hit him mercilessly, directly on his perky butt.
"Oh~ it's true! I have to go into the water later, and the net bag hasn't been collected yet..."
He was hit hard by the stick and grimaced in pain, but he was wearing flippers and had a net rope tied around his waist. The net was still in the sea and had not been pulled up, so he could not run away.
"Still going down? You still want to go down? I can't kill you... You are such a grown-up, yet you still make people worry..."
"Hiss~ Okay, okay, I'll fight you later, I'll fight you later..."
After being hit several times in a row, Ye's father finally stopped.
Ye Yaodong covered his butt and took off his flippers first. They were in the way and prevented him from running away.
"I didn't mean to do that. I saw there was a lot of stuff down there, so I thought I'd fill up the net bag before I came up."
"If you finish setting up the trap and come up first, it will be too late?"
"Isn't this just to save time?"
Father Ye gestured with the stick again, and Ye Yaodong immediately shut up, "Okay, okay, you are my father, whatever you say is what it is, you can hit me if you want, now let me collect the net bag first..."
He made a surrender gesture with his hands, then grabbed the rope tied around his waist, walked to the side of the boat, and pulled the rope hard.
After a while, with a bang, a net bag full of seafood was pulled onto the boat by Ye Yaodong.
A full net bag, stuffed with lobsters, large abalone, and sea cucumbers.
When he just came up, he felt a little exhausted. Thinking of saving as much energy as possible, he let out the rope tied around his waist, came up first, and then pulled up the seafood on the seabed.
Father Ye was a little surprised when he saw the full net bag. It contained 4 small blue dragon fish, a dozen sea cucumbers, and half a bag of large abalone. Ye Yaodong didn't count how many there were, but it was a lot anyway.
“There are so many sea cucumbers down there?”
"You have nothing to say now, right? Do you know why I am reluctant to come up here?"
Father Ye glared at him, "You're right. You can come up first and go down later. I can't beat you to death, but your skin will itch after not being beaten for a while."
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. He was already in his 20s, but his father still wanted to beat him whenever he wanted. It was so infuriating. Fortunately, no one saw it.
"When did you pull up the trap? I was so busy looking for sea cucumbers down there that I didn't notice it."
"About ten minutes after you went into the water, I saw you hadn't come up for a long time, so I tried to pull the trap and found that you could be pulled up. Who knew that the people who had been waiting for you for a long time thought you couldn't come up..."
"Ah, that's enough... My fault... My fault..." Hearing his father muttering again, he quickly changed the subject, "How many traps did you pull?"
"We just pulled up two, but they're stuck again."
"Wait a minute, I'll take a break first, and then go down. There are a lot of small blue dragons down there, and it's hard to catch them without a net bag just now. It's a waste of time and energy, so I have no choice but to look for sea cucumbers and dig abalone."
"Is it safe? Can you see the bottom of the sea? How deep is it?" Father Ye was a little worried. He was almost scared to death just now.
"Be careful and don't touch anything you don't recognize. It's basically not a big problem. There may be a reef underneath. It's only a dozen meters deep. Visibility is okay. The weather is good today."
"You just came up, so you should rest for a while. The traps can be left here first so they won't disappear. Go collect the hooks first, and I'll do it while you rest. Come back after I'm done. Otherwise, you don't know how long you'll be delayed."
"also."
It’s time to collect the hooks. Take a break and come back later.