469: Chapter 469 The Beautiful Great Atoll

The reason Yang Qi drove the explorer into the shallow waters of the atoll for emergency shelter was simply out of caution.

In fact, as long as it didn't face the super typhoon head-on, the explorer was still very safe.

However, the duration of this storm far exceeded their expectations. The two people and one dog watched several movies in the Cockpit while the wind and rain continued to rage outside.

In the blink of an eye, it was the middle of the night, and seeing no sign of the wind and rain letting up, the two simply went upstairs to sleep.

After washing up, they lay on the soft bed listening to the sound of the wind and rain and fell asleep unknowingly.

The next morning, the two were woken by the bright sunlight and got up to go down to the first-floor deck.

After a storm, the sea and sky outside blended into one, clear as a mirror.

The lagoon inside the atoll was like a boundless piece of jasper, with hardly a ripple.

Completely different from the raging storm and surging waves of last night, the sea was now exceptionally quiet.

Everyone was on the deck admiring the beautiful scenery of the sea and sky, enjoying this rare tranquility.

"Time to eat!"

Chen Gang's voice suddenly came from nearby.

It turned out he had gotten up early to make breakfast for everyone. The group entered the dining room one after another and began to eat.

"Why don't we start working inside the lagoon today?"

Bai Xue suggested.

"Sure, the resources here are definitely good, but in such shallow waters, there definitely won't be any deep-sea fish, let alone Tuna."

Yang Qi said with a smile.

Everyone knew this; the water was too shallow for Tuna to swim freely.

In Yang Qi's opinion, even without Tuna, if they really looked at the financial sense, this lagoon might not be much worse.

He had experience with this; in the great atoll over by the Pratas Islands, he had two bountiful harvests, which were not at all inferior to the outside.

Even if the resources here weren't as abundant as the Pratas Island Great Atoll, the difference shouldn't be too large.

Fishing inside the atoll wasn't something that could be done just anywhere.

The reef area was picturesque, and the underwater coral scenery was no less impressive than the footage from World Geography.

However, everything has its pros and cons; with so many coral areas, they couldn't easily use a Trawling for fishing.

If they accidentally broke the coral on the seabed, they would end up going to prison. After all, coral is a protected species.

For safety last night, Yang Qi had parked the explorer in the shallowest waters.

After breakfast, Yang Qi piloted the explorer further into the atoll, looking for a more suitable area for operations.

Half an hour later, Yang Qi finally found a patch of sea and slowly stopped the vessel.

This area was an underwater depression, with the edges only about ten meters deep, while the center of the basin reached over thirty meters.

The explorer was parked at the edge, so everyone could choose between fishing or casting nets.

In such shallow water, Yang Qi didn't expect to catch any giants. Under his arrangement, everyone began to set up their fishing rods and fish freely.

Yang Qi took a lure rod and started casting. With the whizzing sound of the fishing line, the metal jig lure traced an arc and dropped into the sea with a "thud."

Instantly, the originally emerald-green, mirror-like surface of the sea rippled with concentric circles.

The seabed was filled with reefs, and colorful corals stretched out one after another, like blossoming flowers competing for beauty.

It actually gave one the illusion of being in a magical garden.

He had long heard that the Zhongsha Great Atoll was covered in coral, but when he saw it with his own eyes, Yang Qi was still left speechless.

After a while, Yang Qi regained his senses and began to focus his attention on the marine life.

He saw numerous colorful coral fish darting through the coral thickets. Unfortunately, not many of these beautiful ornamental fish were edible or salable.

Unlike the others' "blind box" style of fishing, Yang Qi quickly screened his prey from the many schools of fish, aiming for precise feeding as much as possible.

Yang Qi soon found his target and gently turned the reel, guiding the metal jig lure toward a Pufferfish.

As he reeled in, the wobbling of the metal jig caught the Pufferfish's attention.

Pufferfish-type species generally have poor swimming abilities; being able to catch up with a tiny shrimp is considered their best effort.

But it never expected that the prey appearing before it would be even slower than a tiny shrimp. The Pufferfish was instantly overjoyed.

So it hurriedly wiggled its round body and lunged forward to bite the metal jig.

Yang Qi immediately raised the rod to hook the fish and reeled in forcefully. The Pufferfish's fins were very small, and it didn't have much strength to struggle.

Under Yang Qi's forceful reeling, a fat Pufferfish was soon swung onto the deck.

"Not bad, a good start!"

Yang Qi put on gloves, took the Pufferfish off the hook, and threw it into the Live Well.

"Hooked one!"

"Hahaha, I got one too!"

For a moment, the sounds of catching fish rose and fell on the boat, making it very lively.

With a whistling sound through the air, Wang Jinxi also swung up a three or four-pound Yellowfin Seabream. He casually took a pair of scissors and bled it.

Because there were too many reefs and corals on the seabed here, and they were visible to the naked eye, everyone was fishing in the upper and middle layers of the water.

Yang Qi was different because he could see the seabed clearly, so most locations didn't pose a challenge for him.

The fish in the Great Flat Reef were almost isolated from the world and lacked alertness toward hooks, bait, or even humans. It could be said they would eat whatever bait they saw!

This caused the nine people on the explorer to catch fish so continuously that their hands cramped, just like catching Sharpbelly when freshwater fishing.

They fished for three consecutive hours, and there was hardly an empty cast.

Wang Jinxi and a few others untied a lifeboat and took a Gillnet to a slightly further location to cast it.

At this time, Bai Xue and Yao Shanshan came to Yang Qi's side and said:

"Hubby, Shanshan and I want to go diving. Is that okay?"

"Go ahead! Be safe!"

Yang Qi nodded and winked.

Bai Xue naturally knew what he meant. With so many people around, they definitely had to wear diving gear; otherwise, if they stayed submerged too long without being noticed, it would be hard to explain.

After seeing the two of them put on wetsuits and go into the water to play and take photos...

Yang Qi couldn't help himself either; he changed into swimming trunks and got into the water. Upon entering the sea, he was stunned by the boundless beauty of the coral.

Even though he had sensed the beauty below from the boat just now, he was still shocked at this moment.

Because there was no light or shadow in the sensed images; all the scenes were like 3D sculptures—clear, but without any changes in brightness or darkness.

So when strands of sunlight filtered through the seawater and cast upon the colorful coral thickets, in Yang Qi's naked eyes, the entire world seemed to come alive.

"My god, is this the Dragon Palace? This is too beautiful!"

Yang Qi couldn't help but exclaim... On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I wish all the bros reading this book a Happy New Year!! May everything go your way!!