414: Revisit Endless Island

After Yang Qi and the other person finished their meal and rested for a while, they headed back into the sea. They brought the two dogs along again, first stopping at the small island to let them play freely on the beach.

The two then drove the inflatable boat back out into the open water and dove into the sea once more.

Yang Qi dove to the seabed and discovered that the Abalone on the reefs were as numerous as acne on a teenager—so densely packed they were a bit unsettling to look at.

Without a second thought, he grabbed his knife and began prying off the larger ones. Occasionally, he would spot some Lobsters and manage to catch a few, though most escaped by scurrying into rock crevices.

"Hmm, these Giant Conches are pretty good. They're over three jin; I'll take them!"

Yang Qi grinned as he picked up several Giant Conches. The dish Native Chicken Stewed with Conch had already been highly acclaimed by everyone.

Whenever Zhang Jun and the others came to his house for dinner, this dish was practically a must-have. Since he also enjoyed it himself, he had started keeping any Giant Conches he caught for his own use and never sold them again.

The same went for the Coconut Shell Snails, though despite catching so many since then, he had never found another melo pearl.

Actually, it wasn't surprising when he thought about it. If melo pearls were that easy to find, they wouldn't be so valuable.

The two of them spent four hours covering the southern side of the island from east to west.

They filled the three-meter inflatable boat six or seven times, basically sifting through the largest Abalone, Sea Cucumbers, and various Sea Conches.

The whole process was tedious and repetitive, but the joy of a bountiful harvest was written all over their faces.

Yang Qi estimated that if no typhoon passed through the area, he wouldn't return to the southern side of Endless Island for another three to five years.

It wasn't that there was no more seafood here, just that there weren't many "big goods" left. There was still a massive stock of smaller Abalone weighing less than half a jin.

If they came back next time, they would have to go to the northern side of the island.

While Bai Xue was cooking, Yang Qi took out a box of frozen fish, chopped it up, and chummed the spot below.

Finally, he drove the inflatable boat to pick up their things from the island and retrieve the two dogs.

"Gold Bar, Coal!"

Upon landing on the island, Yang Qi didn't see the two dogs. After moving the rest of the items onto the inflatable boat, he called out toward the island's jungle. The dense shrubbery discouraged him from venturing further inside.

Before long, he noticed a patch of bushes shaking as something approached. Sure enough, the two dogs came running out, one after the other.

"Don't just run off. If something happens, I won't even be able to get in there."

Yang Qi didn't care whether the two of them could understand him; he pointed at them and gave them a lecture.

Ever since his previous failed attempt to explore the island with Bai Xue, he had lost all interest in clearing paths. He had a feeling that even if there were treasure buried on the island, he wouldn't be lucky enough to enjoy it.

Yang Qi poured some fresh water into the dog bowls and then ignored the two of them, starting to fish on his own.

He had already seen that the spot he had chummed with fish chunks was swarming with fish, churning the water as they competed for the food.

These fish weren't very large, mostly around three to five jin, including various Sea Bream, Yellowfin Seabream, red seabream, Grouper, and so on.

Yang Qi switched to a String Hook and started fishing with both an Electric Reel and a boat rock fishing rod simultaneously. As long as he dropped his hooks near the school, fish would rush to bite.

He caught three or four fish with every cast. Often, just as he hauled in one line, the other rod would hook another fish.

Since the fish weren't large, Yang Qi's skill and equipment made catching them effortless. However, it still kept him quite busy.

"Hubby, dinner's ready! How much have you caught?"

Bai Xue came over to call Yang Qi for dinner and casually asked about his catch.

"Here, there are plenty of fish, but they aren't worth much."

Yang Qi gestured behind him, where there was already half a basket of fish, and several Grouper were being kept in the Live Well.

"Let's eat first. I just chummed your spot too. You can fish when we get back."

Yang Qi put down his fishing rod and followed Bai Xue to the table. By the time they finished their meal, darkness had fallen.

Once it got dark, the Grouper that usually hid in the rock crevices became more active and came out to forage.

Bai Xue had great luck, catching three Grouper and one yellow seabream on her very first cast.

To be honest, before they had visited the South China Sea, the resources of "Endless Island" had left them in awe.

That was why they had named it "Endless Island," implying that its resources were inexhaustible.

But since they had been to the South China Sea, Endless Island only held an advantage in Abalone and Sea Cucumber.

For other seafood, especially fish resources, it couldn't compare at all to the abundance of the South China Sea.

This was also due to their lack of experience back then. If they were naming it now, they certainly wouldn't have called it "Endless Island."

Ultimately, it came down to the resources; it was like "picking the tallest among dwarves." However, the resources of wild Abalone, Sea Cucumber, and Oysters were indeed plentiful and not to be underestimated.

While there were many fish, in terms of value, they simply couldn't compare to those in the South China Sea.

Nevertheless, Yang Qi and Bai Xue still caught a huge amount. They fished until one in the morning, when the bites began to thin out, before Yang Qi called it a night.

"Xiao Xue, let's rest! No more fishing!"

The two calculated that they had caught about eight or nine hundred jin in total. It was mainly because the fish were a bit small and didn't weigh much individually.

The biggest one was a Tiger Grouper caught by Bai Xue, weighing about fifteen jin.

After washing up, the two went to the Rest Cabin to sleep. Naturally, the two dogs couldn't sleep in the Rest Cabin.

Yang Qi placed the dog bed in the corner between the Cockpit and the kitchen; they would head in themselves once they were tired from playing.

Early the next morning, the two got up to retrieve the Longline Fishing gear. Bai Xue steered the fishing boat near the buoys, and seeing them bobbing up and down, she knew they were in luck.

Yang Qi hooked the buoy back onto the boat. As he pulled the line by hand, he thought about a Winch again. Doing it all manually was truly "choosing to suffer"!

That scientific research vessel was equipped with a Hydraulic Winch System; if he needed to pull things up from underwater in the future, it would be a breeze.

Yang Qi slowly pulled the Longline Fishing gear to the surface. When it was two or three meters deep, he saw white shadows.

"Good luck, it's a big one! Hubby, pull slowly, I'll land it."

As Bai Xue spoke, she raised the Landing Net. With a stretch of her arms, a fish was scooped into the net.

The first one was a Jinmu Sea Bass weighing over eight jin—good luck. Then came the second, the third...

Out of the two hundred hooks, they caught 136 fish and 8 Sea Eels. The hook rate was over 70%, a near-perfect performance.

The only downside was that Yang Qi's arms were sore and aching from the pulling. If his body hadn't been enhanced, he basically wouldn't have been able to keep going.