Chapter 522 - 356: Prey Under the Kelp Forest

Chapter 522: Chapter 356: Prey Under the Kelp Forest

The ocean floor was brightly lit during the day. Beams of sunlight pierced the surface, casting a kaleidoscopic sheen across the coral reefs.

Scattered patches of kelp, only about two or three meters long, dotted the seafloor—a world of difference from the forest-like bull kelp of the deep sea.

As Jin Meiyan descended into the sea again, her eyes went wide. All thoughts of shyness vanished, instantly replaced by awe at the stunning vista before her.

Last night, with only a flashlight for illumination, the seabed hadn’t seemed beautiful at all. In fact, the pitch-black water had been rather unsettling.

’I can’t believe it’s this beautiful during the day!’

’This dive was totally worth it!’

While she was staring, transfixed by the beautiful scenery, Lin Chen swam past her, waving for her to follow him deeper.

He didn’t head for the deepest coral reefs, but swam straight for the patch of kelp below them.

As they got closer, the off-white, sandy seabed became clearly visible. A quick scan revealed several fist-sized crabs scattered about, lazing around. Some were even clinging to the kelp stalks.

Lin Chen quickly approached one of the crabs on the kelp. As Jin Meiyan watched with curiosity, he extended his hand, slowly reaching around from behind it before suddenly snatching it by the carapace and pulling it free.

The greenish-brown crab waved its pincers in protest a few times before quickly giving up the struggle.

Seeing how easily he’d caught a crab with his bare hands, Jin Meiyan’s eyes lit up, a clear eagerness to try for herself flashing in them.

They both surfaced. Lin Chen wiped the stinging salt water from his face and held the wriggling crab up in front of her.

"This is the European Green Crab I mentioned earlier. It’s an invasive species. The local government requires you to take any that you catch. Not only is it not illegal to get rid of them, it’s actually encouraged. Other types of crabs have various catch limits depending on the season and species."

"They taste pretty good, but we have limited space. We should try to save room for Treasure Crabs. Those are the tastiest, and they’re bigger, too."

Jin Meiyan licked her lips unconsciously. She didn’t know what a Treasure Crab was called in Korean, but if it was something that could impress a professional chef, all she needed to do was catch them. The rest wasn’t her problem.

"The technique for catching crabs is simple. If you have proper gloves, you can be a bit more casual, just as long as you don’t grab them from the front. Since we don’t have gloves, the safest way is to grab them from behind. You’re one hundred percent guaranteed not to get pinched."

Lin Chen emphasized the technique for grabbing crabs, then tossed it into the woven basket he was carrying.

They had specially added a lid to the basket on the way here to keep their catch from escaping.

"The features of a Treasure Crab are very distinct. For one, they’re big. They’re the biggest crabs you’ll see on the seabed this season. Their carapaces are fan-shaped. My description might not give you a clear picture, but you’ll recognize one when you see it."

"The only thing you need to be careful about is that the law here only allows you to catch male crabs with a carapace longer than 16.5 centimeters. Do you know how to tell males from females?"

As he expected, Jin Meiyan shook her head blankly.

"That’s fine, it’s normal. People who don’t eat crab often don’t know this. The way to tell them apart is simple: you just flip them over and look at their bellies."

"Crabs have an abdominal flap on their bellies. If it’s a pointed, narrow shape, it’s a male. If it’s round, it’s a female."

"As for 16.5 centimeters... that’s about the length of an iPhone, or the size of an adult’s palm. When you catch one, you can use my hand to measure it."

After he finished explaining all the key points, they both took a deep breath and plunged back into the sea, rapidly descending toward the ocean floor.

After practicing for over an hour late last night, Jin Meiyan’s diving skills had improved by leaps and bounds. She had already reached a level where she could swim freely in the shallow areas.

It was only in the deepest sections that she struggled a bit. The deeper one goes, the greater the demand on skill and ability, which isn’t something that can be improved in a short time. It requires long-term training.

Lin Chen watched with a gratified expression as the girl moved her body gracefully through the water like a mermaid. He was clearly very pleased that she had mastered the skill of diving so quickly.

The proportions of her figure were extraordinarily perfect, curvy in all the right places. It was the product of more than a decade of dedicated dancing and exercise.

To make matters worse, her top wasn’t a standard one, but a tight, push-up style that fully accentuated a woman’s assets. He had no doubt it was a very common and popular style in South Korea.

Last night, the visibility had been poor, and he could barely see anything beyond the beam of his flashlight, so he hadn’t thought much of it.

But now it was daytime, the brightest time underwater, and he found himself at a loss for where he should look.

Jin Meiyan had been a little shy when she first got in the water, but as she became more engrossed in the hunt for crabs, her shyness was slowly pushed to the back of her mind.

Her long, shapely legs kicked up and down, her body moving back and forth through the water like an agile mermaid.

After searching a few areas, she quickly spotted a Treasure Crab with the fan-shaped carapace Lin Chen had described.

From a distance, she could see it was enormous, in a completely different league from the European Green Crab they had caught earlier.

The green crab, body and legs included, was barely the size of her palm, but the Treasure Crab’s carapace alone was wider than her hand.

Including its long legs, it was at least as big as two of her hands put together.

’A crab this huge, with a fan-shaped carapace... it’s got to be a Treasure Crab!’

Her eyes lit up and she instinctively kicked her legs to swim over, but just as she was about to reach it, her body sent a clear signal that she was running out of air.

She then remembered that she had used up too much time searching the previous areas. She took a deep look at the surrounding terrain, quickly memorizing a few prominent features before turning and heading for the surface.

Lin Chen was a few meters away, acting as cameraman. Seeing her surface, he didn’t film her from below, but instead dove to the seabed, picked up a common Rock Crab, and stuffed it into the basket.

Lunch today was crab meat with mashed potatoes, so the more crabs, the merrier. If possible, he also wanted to catch some sea fish to render for oil, since eating too much crab meat wasn’t good for you.

Plus, it wasn’t mating season, so the amount of roe and milt inside the crabs would be low. He wasn’t sure how that would affect the taste. To be safe, catching a variety of crabs was definitely the right move.

When Jin Meiyan dived back down to the seabed, the Treasure Crab was still in the same spot, as if it had been waiting for her. She easily captured it, grabbing it by its back carapace.

Compared to king crabs and snow crabs, the Treasure Crab’s legs are thick and short. This is why, when they are motionless or curled up, they look more like a rock on the seabed, allowing them to cleverly evade predators.

Additionally, most of these deep-sea crabs are red. Only the crabs that live closer to shore and get regular sun exposure tend to be brown or green.

This is because there’s no light in the deep sea, and the color red disappears in the darkness, serving as a natural camouflage for them.

As for why red and not some other color, he didn’t know the reason. After all, he wasn’t a marine biologist, and the basic knowledge he’d acquired didn’t include such in-depth details.

By the time the two of them returned to the shallows and stood on the sandy bottom, the woven basket was already filled to the brim with their harvest.

Peeking through the gaps in the basket, one could see not only many crabs, but also a mix of purple and red sea urchins, as well as a sea cucumber.

There wasn’t much sea cucumber, just one. In the entire world, the Da Xia People were pretty much the only ones who ate them in large quantities, even considering them a high-end seafood product.

Although South Korea also has sea cucumber dishes, they follow the same simple and crude sashimi style. Like sea squirts, they’re considered novelty dishes at seafood markets that most people try once and never want to eat again.

He only picked it up for a change of pace and to get some extra protein.

When they got back to shore, he noticed that Jin Meiyan was also holding a long strand of kelp.

Needless to say, the girl must be craving some kelp soup.

Korean kelp soup is very simple. They call it kelp soup, but it’s mostly made with wakame. You just boil it in water and call it a day. Those with more resources might make a silver-fish broth to add flavor.

He happened to have a lot of crab shells that would be a waste to throw away. Making a crab broth to go with the fresh kelp would be nutritious and delicious. He could also toss the sea cucumber in to add some gelatin.

Before that, he had to cook the crabs first. He would pick out the meat while tossing the shells into his mess kit.

Although people in South Korea also eat crab, they mainly eat large, deep-sea types like king crab and snow crab. Smaller crabs are mostly eaten by people living by the coast. City dwellers usually only have them in flower crab soup or as soy-marinated raw crab.

The mess kit had limited space, so he could only boil the smaller Green and Rock Crabs. The Treasure Crabs would have to be piled next to the fire and slowly steamed by the heat.

While waiting for the crabs to cook, Jin Meiyan took her clothes and went over to the stream to wash up. She deliberately chose a spot at a suitable distance—far enough that she could see Lin Chen, but not so close that he could see any details.

She didn’t dare stay too far from Lin Chen for long. After quickly wiping herself down with fresh water, she air-dried for a moment before changing into a dry T-shirt and compression leggings. She then soaked the two-piece she’d taken off in the fresh water and washed it clean.

The whole process only took about ten minutes.

Just as the crabs over here had finished cooking, she returned, slightly hunched over with one hand behind her back.

Lin Chen glanced at her and quickly looked away. He didn’t need to guess what she was hiding behind her back. He pointed to a rack of branches he had just built.

"You can hang it on there to dry. And you should warm yourself by the fire so you don’t catch a cold."