Chapter 355 - 234: A Minimum of 100,000

Chapter 355: Chapter 234: A Minimum of 100,000

The two other orcas quickly followed, and a total of five orcas shared the great white shark’s liver.

As for the great white shark’s meat, it doesn’t taste good, so it’s normal for intelligent animals like orcas to turn their noses up at it.

In contrast, the liver is nutritious, high in fat, and has a smooth, tender texture. The orcas’ preference for the great white shark’s liver might not just be for nutritional reasons.

It might be a delicacy to them, much like how people back home pursue gourmet food.

After finishing the shark liver, the orcas left the area. They didn’t linger because of Gu Nan’s fishing boat, leaving only the eviscerated great white shark floating silently on the surface.

Having captured some excellent footage, Gu Nan put away his phone, satisfied.

Then, he looked at the great white shark’s carcass, his expression conflicted.

Great white sharks are a Class II protected species. Even though it had been killed by orcas, it would still be illegal for him to make use of the remains.

But it seemed like such a waste to let this great white sink to the bottom of the sea when presented with such a good opportunity.

Gu Nan certainly wasn’t interested in the shark meat, but those fins were another story!

After thinking it over, he finally returned to the cabin and moved the Nanchen forward a little.

Once alongside the shark, he placed the crane’s hoisting sling on the gunwale. Then, he went to the bow with a gaff hook, snagged the great white, and dragged it all the way to the stern deck where the sling was.

After securing the sling and hoisting the shark, Gu Nan didn’t lay it on the deck but left it hanging vertically in mid-air.

He took out a filleting knife and cut off the shark’s pectoral fins, pelvic fins, first and second dorsal fins, and its tail.

All of these could be made into shark fins. The larger ones, in particular, would fetch a high price once processed.

Gu Nan had no intention of letting something like this appear on the open market. Some valuable things were best traded privately.

He had joined several fishing groups and three seafood exchange groups, so he’d learned a bit about the ins and outs of the business.

Illegal trades would occasionally pop up in one of the seafood groups, for things like large Flower Dragons and wild leopard coral groupers.

There was even a sale for a Su Mei and a notice to acquire Yellowlip Fish.

This group had an entry barrier. Gu Nan had to pay a thousand yuan to get in, and he was recommended by Wang Junhe, who acted as his guarantor.

Seafood from questionable sources could all be sold here, including this shark’s fins.

However, Gu Nan figured that once these fins were dried, he probably wouldn’t even get the chance to sell them in the group. They would likely be bought by Old Wang and Old Guo, or he might just keep them to have someone prepare them for the New Year’s Eve dinner.

After cutting off the fins, he tossed the great white, now stiff as a log, back into the water. It sent up a huge splash, along with some black ink.

Gu Nan froze. ’Black ink?’

He leaned over to look at the water. Holy cow! A dense swarm of small squid had completely surrounded the fishing boat.

’Well now, bait and chum, delivered right to my doorstep!’

Gu Nan was thrilled. Although he had brought plenty of sardines this time, he had still been hoping to run into some small squid.

Small squid were great for catching both deep-sea fish and tuna, useful as both bait and chum. He had specifically prepared two small cast nets for this purpose and didn’t expect to use them on the very first night.

He quickly put the fins he’d cut off into the refrigerated hold, then immediately went to the storeroom to get a small cast net.

A hand net would also work, but it was nowhere near as efficient as a cast net.

He came out with a brand-new cast net, tied the long rope to his wrist, gathered the net in his hand, and with a sideways flick, sent it flying. The net opened in mid-air like an umbrella before landing on the water and slowly sinking.

Gu Nan held the long rope of the net, and once he estimated it had sunk deep enough, he began to slowly pull it back up.

As the net rose, the water surface started to churn as if it were boiling. ’I didn’t expect there to be fish too!’

However, the commotion wasn’t huge, so there obviously weren’t that many fish.

As the net left the water, its weight increased. Gu Nan estimated it was about thirty-something pounds.

But it was waterlogged. The actual catch would be lucky to weigh over twenty-something pounds.

"Ah Nan, what are you doing?" A voice suddenly sounded behind Gu Nan, making him jump so hard he almost dropped the net back into the water.

He turned around and saw it was that goofball An Jun, who had snuck up behind him at some point.

"You bastard, can’t you make some noise when you come out? You scared me half to death, sneaking around like that!" Gu Nan rolled his eyes, took a breath, and continued hauling in the net.

"Hehe, I couldn’t sleep. I figured you’d be bored piloting the boat all by yourself, so I came out to keep you company. I didn’t think you’d be such a chicken, getting scared that easily." Seeing that he’d managed to startle him, An Jun wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. Instead, his face showed a hint of schadenfreude.

"Alright, alright, if that’s how you want to play it. Just watch your back from now on." ’It’s just scaring people, right? As if I don’t know how.’

"No, no, no! We’re brothers, we should get along." An Jun’s expression stiffened. He shivered as he recalled some unpleasant past experiences.

When it came to pulling pranks, Gu Nan was far more vicious than him. He’d finally settled down these past few years, and An Jun had no desire to go through that again.

So, he quickly stepped forward to help, trying to get back in his good graces, and pulled the net up with him.

"Not bad, so many small squid! Whoa, there are some mackerel too, and they’re not small. The big ones look to be about a pound each."

Gu Nan picked up one of the so-called large mackerel to examine it. Its belly also had some patterns; it was clearly a blue mackerel, also known as an Australian mackerel.

The quality of this fish was even worse than Japanese mackerel, making it suitable only for bait.

Still, he picked them all out and put them in the livewell to keep them alive for catching bigger fish.

The remaining small squid were all placed in a box to be put in the refrigerated hold later.

"Are there any more cast nets? I’ll join you," An Jun said, peering at the situation on the water’s surface.

"In the cardboard box at the very back of the storeroom. The box is open, you’ll see it when you go in."

With An Jun’s help, the catch from two cast nets was quite substantial.

When the density of squid was too low in one spot, they’d move to another. The fishing boat was large enough that by the time they’d made a full circle back to the original spot, the squid had gathered again, so every cast yielded a good haul.

Running into the orcas tonight had led to a nice haul. It seemed these creatures, which humans find so adorable, could really bring good luck.

They netted an estimated two hundred-plus pounds of small squid before stopping when the school finally dispersed.

Exhausted, An Jun tossed the net aside and shook out his arm.

Gu Nan, however, picked up a hose to rinse the nets. "By the way, you’re not sleeping this late at night. Is something on your mind?"

"What’s there to be on my mind? I just have insomnia." An Jun shook his head at the question. Among the three brothers, he was the most carefree. What could possibly trouble him for a whole night?

"Is that so? Too bad, you got up a little too late. I got to watch a blockbuster right before you came out," Gu Nan said, taking out his phone and sending the video he’d shot to him.

"HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT, HOLY SHIT!" An Jun was halfway through the video when he saw the orcas sharing the shark’s liver, and he let out a string of curses to express his utter astonishment.

"You usually only see scenes like this in videos from other countries. I can’t believe you were so lucky."

"Speaking of which, those fins and the tail I just saw in the refrigerated hold... they’re not from this great white shark, are they?"

"Of course they are. How could I pass up such a great opportunity?"

"But it’s still a Class II protected species... you’re not going to get into trouble, are you?" An Jun asked, a little worried.

"It’s fine. As long as it doesn’t show up on the open market, there’s no problem," Gu Nan said, waving a hand to reassure him.

He rinsed both cast nets clean, hung them on the gunwale to dry, and then returned to the cabin to get underway again.

An Jun hosed down the deck and quickly followed him inside.

A little while later, the Nanchen, which had been drifting on the waves, started its engines again and set off for the tuna fishing spot to the southeast.

The rest of the journey was uneventful. After they had breakfast and Ye Jing came to take over the shift, Gu Nan and An Jun finally went back to shower and sleep.

When he woke up again, the fishing boat had stopped. The waves were quite rough, though; even lying in bed, he could clearly feel the boat rising, falling, and swaying.

He got out of bed, opened the curtains, and saw that it was raining outside. Fortunately, it wasn’t raining too hard. If a real storm had been brewing, someone would have woken him up long ago.

He was the only one on board with any significant sailing experience. Ye Jing and An Jun were both novices and wouldn’t have the confidence to handle a storm.