Chapter 285 - 185: Diving Practice in the Beachcombing Map

Chapter 285: Chapter 185: Diving Practice in the Beachcombing Map

"A woman? What woman? You already have a girlfriend, you rascal, you need to behave! Oh my, this gooseneck barnacle meat is so fresh and sweet, even better than lobster. You should hurry and try some."

What’s a man to do when his granddaughter can’t compare in certain areas? Change the subject, of course!

Lin Zhijian picked up an acorn barnacle and gently cracked its outer shell with a small hammer.

The shell had been washed and was mostly clean, but if you weren’t careful while cracking it, you could get little bits of shell in the meat, which would ruin the texture.

He cracked the barnacle’s shell open, pried the pieces apart, and dug out the large, white chunk of meat inside. After wiping off the powdery residue on top and cutting open the meat to remove the innards, he dipped it into the sauce Gu Nan had prepared and popped it into his mouth.

The moment it entered his mouth, his eyebrows shot up. ’This umami flavor is incredible!’

Seeing that he had changed the subject, Gu Nan stopped teasing him. He prepared a piece for himself in the same way, and the fresh, sweet flavor that filled his mouth made him nod uncontrollably.

"These acorn barnacles really do taste good. If they weren’t such a hassle to eat, there’s no way this stuff would be so cheap!"

"A hassle is good! If it weren’t a hassle, they’d be expensive, and we wouldn’t even be able to get any. They would’ve been picked clean long ago!" For the sake of this fresh flavor, Lin Zhijian wished all seafood were cheap and unwanted, just like when he was young.

It was a shame that back then, everyone was poor and rarely ate rich foods, so seafood was often disdained by coastal folks like them.

Now that people’s diets are richer, many types of seafood have become too expensive for the average person to afford.

The Steamed acorn barnacles were delicious, but the steamed egg with barnacle had its own unique character, and since it was all prepared, it was much more convenient to eat.

Because the acorn barnacles were a hassle to eat, the two of them didn’t finish dinner—which they had started at 5:30—until nearly 7:00.

Not a single bite of food was left; they had successfully cleared their plates.

Lin Zhijian’s appetite wasn’t as large as Gu Nan’s. The main reason he ate for so long was that he only had a few bites of rice, having brought a bottle of white liquor to pour and drink by himself.

If Gu Nan didn’t have to pilot the boat back that night, he would have insisted on him having a few drinks.

However, he didn’t drink much himself—just a couple of ounces for the taste, lest he drink too much and affect his fishing later.

After washing the bowls and chopsticks and putting them away, Gu Nan got up to check on the pearl gentian grouger that was still hanging.

The plastic container below was filled with blood. He pulled it out and poured the bloody water away.

Gu Nan then used the hoist to slowly lower the fish, laying it flat on the deck.

Grabbing a bucket, he repeatedly rinsed the fish’s body with seawater, focusing on flushing its gill covers and mouth.

As he worked, more blood flushed out. Fortunately, there wasn’t much left, and after a little while, the runoff was clear. The grouper was now considered fully processed.

Gu Nan didn’t need to deal with the entrails. Unlike with a tuna, most of a grouper’s organs are edible—they’re a real delicacy.

The last step was to cover the grouper with the ice he had brought, a total of four full boxes’ worth.

It took two boxes to cover the grouper, and the rest of the ice was more than enough for the other fish.

Lin Zhijian needed to be home before 10 p.m. Since the pearl gentian grouper was covered in ice, a few hours wouldn’t make a difference; its freshness wouldn’t be an issue.

The two continued fishing at Big Rock Reef that evening. The bite was clearly much better than it had been in the afternoon, but they didn’t catch any particularly "nice" fish.

The catch was mainly black sea bream, rabbitfish, and scorpionfish. Occasionally, they’d get a Yellowfin Gidai or a parrotfish. There were actually plenty of filefish around, but unfortunately, with their tiny, cherry-like mouths, they couldn’t take the hooks and lures the two men were using, so none were caught.

Gu Nan had four prize catches for the day: a thirty-three-pound mangrove jack, an eleven-pound blue-spotted snapper, a five-and-a-half-pound black rudderfish, and the pearl gentian grouper, which weighed over a hundred and ten pounds.

Although the pearl gentian grouper had the lowest price per pound—estimated at around forty-something yuan—it was incredibly heavy!

"Uncle, pick out what you’d like. I’m going to start heading back, and I’ll pack it up for you," Gu Nan said, putting away his fishing rod after seeing it was already 9:20.

Lin Zhijian chuckled and shook his head. "No, no, that’s not necessary. I’ll just take the rock bream I caught and some of the scorpionfish. You can have the rest."

Before Gu Nan could speak, he continued, "Don’t refuse. Thanks to you, I was able to come out fishing, and I had an absolute blast."

"Just consider the fish I caught payment for the boat trip. If you don’t take them, how could I have the nerve to ask to come out with you again?"

Since he’d put it that way, Gu Nan had no choice but to accept.

The fish Lin Zhijian had caught that afternoon and evening were not an insignificant amount. Sold at market price in the shop, they would likely fetch six or seven hundred yuan.

Big Rock Reef was relatively close. A typical boat charter for a similar amount of time would cost between eight hundred and one thousand yuan.

The only difference was that those charters left at six in the morning and returned at dusk, without any night fishing.

Back at the dock, Gu Nan used the hoist to lift the pearl gentian grouper onto his motor tricycle while Lin Zhijian lent a hand.

Luckily, there weren’t many people at the dock at this hour. Only a few passersby came over to see what the commotion was about; otherwise, they would have certainly been delayed.

The single fish took up nearly the entire cargo bed of the tricycle. While there was some space left on the sides, it wasn’t enough to safely place the fish tanks.

So, he had Lin Zhijian stay on the boat to watch the rest of the fish while he took the grouper back to the shop.

It took two trips to get all the fish back to the shop, after which he finally drove the old gentleman home.

When Gu Nan got home, he showered and lay down on his bed, calculating the day’s haul.

The four prize catches would likely sell for around 12,000 yuan combined, and the smaller, miscellaneous fish could add another 1,500.

His fuel costs for the day had been low, so an income of over ten thousand was excellent.

It wouldn’t be instant cash, though; selling all these fish would take a few days.

It was only eleven o’clock at night, which was still early for Gu Nan.

His Spiritual Power had recently increased by a small amount, and with his enhanced recovery rate, he only needed four or five hours of sleep a day to feel completely energized.

If he exhausted his Spirit inside the Foraging Map before sleeping, he could fully recover in just two hours.

These were details Gu Nan had paid close attention to, as they would allow him to be more flexible with his fishing schedule in the future, preventing it from interfering with his work and other responsibilities the next day.

Since it was still early, he opened the Foraging Map and chose to enter.

SWOOSH~

Gu Nan appeared on an island. The surroundings were familiar—it was the same beach where he had previously dug up a large number of Clam Kings, and not far away, beyond the rocks, was the tiger crab nesting spot.

The Clam Kings in his shop had long been sold out, and he didn’t have any in his aquarium either.

Gu Nan immediately spent one hundred Gold Coins to rent a sand shovel and began digging for Clam Kings.

The tiger crabs were less of a priority, as they weren’t one of the more popular items in his shop, but he definitely needed to stock up on Clam Kings.

After two hours of digging, he saw that he had just over a hundred in his aquarium and decided to stop for now.

A hundred or so would last for several days of sales, assuming he didn’t sell them to a hotel. Besides, he could always enter the map to forage again tomorrow or the day after if he had time.

So, Gu Nan spent one thousand Gold Coins to rent a complete set of diving gear from the game.

He started changing right there on the beach; after all, no one was around.

Even if someone had been there, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. It’s not like you take off your underwear to put on a wetsuit.

Once changed into the wetsuit, Gu Nan waddled into the water in his flippers, one step at a time.

His posture was a bit awkward, making him look like a waddling duck.

The seawater in the Foraging Map wasn’t particularly clear. It was rather green, and once submerged, he could clearly see fine sand and specks of dust suspended in the water.

However, this didn’t hinder his diving; he still had about seven or eight meters of visibility underwater.

Inside the game map, Gu Nan was much bolder. Knowing he couldn’t die, he dared to dive into the deeper areas.

Song Chengdong had taught him not only how to equalize the pressure in his ears but also techniques for practicing breath-holding.

Gu Nan’s static breath-hold was about two and a half minutes, which was his current limit.

But according to Song Chengdong, he actually had a large lung capacity and was in great physical shape. With proper training, if not five minutes, then four minutes should be no problem.

A four-minute static hold would translate to at least two or three minutes while diving and spearfishing.

The water near the beach wasn’t deep enough, so Gu Nan slowly swam out toward the distant reef.

The water was generally deeper over there, and there were often good finds on the seabed. He could practice his diving and forage at the same time—kill two birds with one stone, practice and profit.

Gu Nan swam slowly through the water, surfacing for air whenever he couldn’t hold his breath any longer.

After about twenty minutes, he reached the reef area, where he estimated the water was about fifteen to twenty meters deep.

Although Gu Nan had never dived this deep before, it was actually no problem for him at all.

The practice value at this depth was only so-so; he could probably dive this deep even without practicing equalization. A depth of around thirty meters was actually the most suitable for his current training needs.

However, Gu Nan had swam all the way here underwater, and along the seabed, he had spotted many upright "little coffins," as well as a considerable number of horse-dung sea urchins tucked into various nooks and crannies.

’The training might be less effective here, but I can’t resist all this good stuff!’

Gu Nan immediately rented a large net bag from the game, surfaced for a breath, and then plunged back to the seabed.

He wasn’t slow at all, taking only a little over ten seconds to get from the surface to the bottom.

Once on the bottom, he flexed his nostrils to equalize the pressure in his ears and prevent injury.

Even though an injury in the game map wouldn’t carry over into reality, it would still reduce his active time within the map. Besides, he was here to practice and needed to master these fundamental skills. Therefore, every step of his dive followed the techniques Song Chengdong had taught him.

’It’s a shame I haven’t been to the club yet for some hands-on instruction from him. I’ve only heard the theory, so I don’t know what I might be doing wrong.’

Holding his breath, Gu Nan reached out and started gathering the horse-dung sea urchins from the seafloor into his rented net bag.

There was a professional tool for collecting sea urchins, but he hadn’t rented it, mainly because he wasn’t used to it. It was simpler to just use his hands. Since he was wearing gloves, he wasn’t afraid of the spines.

He cleared a small patch of horse-dung sea urchins. There were still many more nearby, but feeling his breath was nearly spent, he quickly swam toward the surface.

There was one thing Song Chengdong had said that he remembered clearly: never use up all the oxygen in your lungs while underwater. That’s how people get killed.

The moment you felt you were close to your limit, you had to return to the surface for air, especially when spearfishing.