Chapter 431 - 421: Sailing Carnival 23

However, Moira Lynch couldn’t be bothered to check on the situation inside her space just yet.

Her attention was still fixed on the school of Stonefish below the water.

After capturing the largest few Stonefish, including the twenty-meter one, Moira Lynch went on to collect many more of the bigger specimens.

The remaining smaller Stonefish still attacked the cargo ship, but the damage they caused was quite limited.

Under the captain’s command and with the crew’s cooperation, net after net of Stonefish were hauled aboard.

"Stonefish! It’s Stonefish!!!"

Seeing what they had caught, the crew couldn’t help but cheer with joy.

As everyone knew, every part of a Stonefish was a treasure.

Moreover, on a mission like this to explore a new shipping route, everyone on board was entitled to a share of anything caught along the way.

Catching so many Stonefish now meant they would receive a handsome sum after this voyage ended.

"Why do these Stonefish seem a bit small?" a crew member asked, puzzled.

The Stonefish they hauled up ranged from about ten to fifty centimeters, with most being around twenty centimeters and only a few reaching fifty.

’Something about this doesn’t feel right,’ he thought.

However, his confusion didn’t attract anyone else’s attention.

And so, the danger passed without any real harm done.

The crew in charge of the search found nothing amiss in the players’ rooms, aside from the bloodstains and signs of a struggle in The General’s room.

As a result, The General was now listed as a primary suspect.

At the same time, MoonlitTears, who had been close with The General, also came under the captain’s scrutiny.

Moira Lynch had no interest in the matter. After Snowy told her that the seawater in her space had overflowed, she immediately headed for her room.

Back in her room, she checked on her ocean space. She was in for a shock.

It was so densely packed with fish that she could barely see the water.

It was a good thing her space was so powerful; otherwise, with such a high stocking density, the water would have long been filled with floating fish corpses.

But the current situation wasn’t much better.

After a moment’s thought, Moira Lynch decided to pull an all-nighter. She even withdrew the spiritual power she had projected outside.

’It’s time to get serious,’ she thought.

She picked out the larger fish that were ready for processing, gutted them, removed their entrails, washed them clean, and then hung them up to air-dry.

The entrails were valuable, especially the roe, swim bladders, and maws. The rest could be used as feed. The main principle was to let nothing go to waste.

As for the smaller fish...

Moira Lynch took out the swimming pools she had lying idle, filled them with seawater, and temporarily placed the fish inside.

Catching fish, gutting fish, drying fish... Moira Lynch’s spiritual power manifested as countless tentacles, working nonstop. By the next day, she had finally solved the ocean’s problem.

Not only had she solved it, but she had also exceeded expectations.

Except for the fish she had just caught, all the others were now hung up to dry, and the once-crowded ocean instantly felt much more spacious.

Looking at the giant Stonefish inside, she saw it was indeed completely encased in stone. From a distance, it looked just like a rock floating in the sea.

"By the way, Patience, what do Stonefish eat?"

[Stonefish are omnivores. Because they’re slow, they can’t catch other fish. Instead, they eat the stones from inside dead fish. Most of the time, though, they eat things like seaweed. If there’s really no food, they’ll even eat sand, dirt, and what have you.]

In short, they’re easy to raise.

’Easy to raise is good. I love fish that are easy to raise.’

The Stonefish temporarily settled into Moira Lynch’s space.

Since she hadn’t slept all night, Moira Lynch didn’t get out of bed until noon the next day.

[Master, I just received a message from The Federal Government. They can arrive tonight. Also, I’ve already passed on the information about Laina Carlton to them. They express their gratitude to you.]

"Okay, got it."

Moira Lynch’s expression didn’t change much, but inwardly she was thinking, ’Forget the gratitude. Just give me the bounty money.’

As soon as she arrived on deck, she saw a crowd of people gathered around something.

In the crowd, Kai York’s ears twitched. He turned, saw Moira Lynch, and waved excitedly. "Come quick! They caught something good!"

Hearing this, Moira Lynch jogged over and pushed her way through the crowd. She saw a gigantic sea turtle on the deck, flailing its limbs as if trying to escape.

But this wasn’t the ocean, and its enormous body was too clumsy to move here.

"What’s going on?" Moira Lynch asked curiously.

Shane Rhodes pointed to a player and said, "She just caught it. It took all of our might to get it on board. It seems to be some kind of sea turtle. We were just discussing having it for an extra dish tonight."

A turtle this big would be enough to feed everyone here.

Although one player had hooked the turtle, it had taken all the players pulling together to land it. So, no one had a problem with wanting a share.

[Oceanic Gigantauk. A species of giant turtle that lives in the ocean. It is the only sea turtle comparable in size to the Isle Turtle.]

[The Oceanic Gigantauk grows very slowly and has a long lifespan, earning it the reputation of being a legend of immortality in the ocean.]

[The oldest Oceanic Gigantauk discovered by The Federal Government is ten thousand years old, with a body even larger than an Isle Turtle’s.]

After hearing Patience’s explanation, a saying flashed through Moira Lynch’s mind: ’A tortoise lives a thousand years, a turtle ten thousand.’

"Then do you know how old this Oceanic Gigantauk is?"

[For every year an Oceanic Gigantauk ages, a new line appears on its body. According to my scan, this one is over five hundred years old. It’s still a child.]

’A five-hundred-year-old child,’ she mused.

To be honest, Moira Lynch was tempted by such a massive turtle.

Plus, it lived for a long time. If she kept it, it could become a family heirloom.

Other people’s family heirlooms were gold, jade, or antique paintings. Hers would be a giant sea turtle—and a cool-looking one at that. Just thinking about it was... so freakin’ cool.

"How about this? Dinner is on me tonight. Can we release this turtle? It wasn’t easy for it to grow this big, after all. As for you..."

Moira Lynch looked at the player who had hooked the Oceanic Gigantauk. "For the rest of today, any fish you catch are yours to keep."

Hearing this, the player, who had been looking downcast, instantly brightened up. "Are you serious?"

Moira Lynch nodded.

"Okay, I agree."

’I get it,’ she thought. ’There’s probably no use in me disagreeing anyway. It’s better to go along with her than to make an enemy of her.’