Chapter 484

Da Wang had a new plan and wasn't going to waste time lingering in Donghai Prefecture. After settling the return journey with Tao Ying, he prepared to head back to sea. Before leaving, he properly said goodbye to little A Tan—after all, the kid hadn't held back in spilling the Tao family's secrets.

"I might not take the water route back," Da Wang said. "When the time comes, just follow our ship to Youzhou. We'll meet again in Youzhou later. This safe-conduct token is for you—if you run into trouble, take it to Wanxiang City in Youzhou, and it'll help you resolve ninety-nine out of a hundred problems!" Da Wang remained fairly modest.

A Tan happily accepted it, thinking the purple jade tablet looked lovely—a gift from his best pond friend, which he vowed to cherish. As for the meaning of the 'You' character engraved on the back of the safe-conduct token, the child had no clue whatsoever.

The Tao family provided Da Wang with fresh water and some melons, fruits, and vegetables. Tao Ying even came personally to the seaside to see him off. Seeing the landing ship at the shore, he let out a deep sigh of relief. No wonder he dared promise to evacuate the entire clan—up close, this ship truly exceeded his imagination.

Tao Ying sensibly offered to pay the ship fare, making up for the reduced fish catch on Da Wang's return trip. After all, his family was quite large, with legitimate channels, and his servants also wanted to come along—abandoning any one of them would leave their fate uncertain.

Da Wang didn't really care about this loss. He hadn't relied on the landing ship for fish hauls anyway; the main haul still depended on smuggling through his warehouse. Soon, several ships would notice—this Donghai trip would hardly fill the holds to capacity.

Hardly had Da Wang appeared at the seaside when the Overlord of Heaven spotted him squarely. Originally, everyone had been drifting together on the sea, Da Wang often diving to the seabed without the Overlord constantly watching. Seeing Da Wang climb aboard the neighboring ship hadn't fazed it either—but who knew that after it had played enough and returned, it found darkness had fallen and Da Wang had vanished!

Fortunately, upon looking back, it saw Bai Ze and the bear were still there, and it breathed a sigh of relief.

This was something no one had brought, and the Overlord of Heaven felt much more balanced in heart.

This guy had come out again that morning, made another round, spotted the landing ship parked by the seaside, and began guarding it, waiting for Da Wang. The moment he saw Da Wang appear at the seaside, this guy lunged forward!

"Human, you finally showed up!"

A cloud-swooping eagle with a wingspan of over three meters dove from the sky, its eyes sharp and fierce, its talons gleaming gold in the morning light—this posture made grabbing one or two people seem trivial!

The Tao family's hired helpers, who had been assisting with cargo, were frightened into scattering in panic. Tao Ying almost reflexively lunged forward and pressed A Tan down beneath him!

Da Wang: ……

That scene need not be mentioned—Da Wang felt quite embarrassed.

He grabbed one of the Overlord of Heaven's legs, and the guy instantly folded its wings, letting Da Wang lift it without exerting any strength of its own. This guy wasn't as tall as before, but Da Wang's height lifting it actually required raising his arms—yet this didn't hinder Da Wang from beating it.

Da Wang swung his small fist and hammered the guy's muscular thigh: "Scaring the little kid! And it's not even a battlefield—who are you trying to impress with your ferocity?!"

Just as A Tan, startled into loud wailing by the sudden change, suddenly fell silent, uncle and nephew looked up. The fierce bird, which had just terrified them to the point of nearly bursting their eye sockets, was now being held upside down by Da Wang and beaten left and right……

Wei Taiping, the man at the top of the food chain.

Everyone reached a consensus.

Da Wang quickly returned to the sea to continue fishing. He made a circuit of each boat, transferring out most of the catch.

Donghai's main catch really differed from Bohai's. Da Wang temporarily couldn't taste the difference, but anyway, the varieties hauled in by the treasure ships had changed. For instance, Da Wang could no longer find that kind of sea cucumber from Bohai. After drifting south for a few more days, he encountered a warm current and found a flower sea cucumber there, making a fortune.

This kind of sea cucumber's giant adult form could be a full meter long. When Bai Yang saw them, these fellows were still wriggling with vitality, and he had already thought about where to place them in the restaurant to attract the most attention.

"You mean a live, water-bearing catty of this can sell for one hundred taels of silver? Then this one-meter-long one?" Da Wang wasn't bad at math—he'd realized hauling in a sea cucumber was no different from picking up a lump of gold. He immediately wanted to return and work overtime, regardless of whether it was day or night down below, since the seabed was pitch black anyway.

Bai Yang held him back: "You discovered the warm current, didn't you? This flower sea cucumber is actually extremely rare in Donghai—you were just lucky to encounter it. These giant sea cucumbers mainly live in warmer waters, like the southern South China Sea, which is tropical. Even if you strive harder in Donghai, you might not encounter them again. Better to focus on lobsters—Donghai truly has them."

Da Wang then took interest in the South China Sea: "Are the fish in the South China Sea different from those in Donghai? What rare kinds are there?"

Bai Yang explained to him that the South China Sea was tropical waters—there, besides the flower sea cucumber, there were precious Eastern Star Groupers, coconut snails, large abalones, and most importantly, splendid coral reefs to the south, with coral sea willows also valuable! The coral reefs also hosted gorgeous tropical fish—keeping them in glass tanks would be a delight to behold, and just describing them made Da Wang's eyes light up.

Da Wang had seen a photo of tropical fish once and fell in love at first sight—keeping them at home would be far more colorful than koi!

Bai Yang couldn't be bothered to discourage him, given his current technology made it hard to keep them. Instead, he began painting other big pies for Da Wang: "……This isn't even the most valuable—further south there are yellow-lipped fish and tuna worth several million each. If you encounter a clan, you could turn back immediately."

Da Wang's heart burned with fervor. He immediately began researching what these valuable big fish looked like: "In the future, I'll build large docks outside Bohai, construct large ships, and thereafter fish in the South China Sea and the Pacific!"

Bai Yang spoke with ill intent: "May you unify it soon—ah, you'd better endure short pain than long pain. Believe you are the best, you have this advantage, your family's江山 will shine only in your hands. Your elder brother is still waiting for you to expand the territory!"

Da Wang clenched his fists, marched off with fighting spirit high: "Old Bai, just wait for the restaurant to boom!"

Result: just over an hour later, Bai Yang hadn't gone home to sleep when this guy returned again: "Old Bai! I caught a rare big fish, never seen before!"

Bai Yang thought: What big fish in Donghai could be rare? Truly a blind cat bumping into a dead rat—had he encountered a tuna?

"How big is it?"

Da Wang waved his hand, and instantly a nearly two-meter-long fish appeared in the open space in the middle of the shop.

Bai Yang took a close look and immediately executed a tactical retreat: "Damn! You really……are leaving no effort to send me in there!"

Round head, short mouth, corners of the mouth upturned—on the ground, its 'dry swim' had mouth corners turned up.

Da Wang: "……Not valuable?"

Bai Yang: "Yes, only worth a pair of silver bracelets."

Da Wang was very disappointed: "……Still quite plump—then I'll keep it for myself to eat!"

Bai Yang began trembling: "No no no don't! East Asian finless porpoise, endangered. You've been eating them since two thousand years ago, and they barely held on until two thousand years later before becoming endangered!

In our waters, there are over a thousand of them, some with tags, some without—if one doesn't move, an uncle with a hat will immediately come looking for it, and anyone nearby must hand over silver bracelets to take it in for inspection!"

Da Wang: ……

Unbelievable—just because it's plump and smiles, what's the big deal?

Da Wang caught over a dozen, then reluctantly released them.

Bad luck exhausted, Da Wang the next day encountered a school of bonito—this time big and edible. Bai Yang suggested making bonito flakes for good preservation, wanting to eat something savory—scrape some off……"If you make octopus balls, one is enough to pass down three generations!" Jokes aside, this fish is perfect for dry rations when traveling!

Da Wang reignited his fighting spirit. Donghai, closer to the deep Pacific than Bohai Bay, had far more big fish than Bohai Bay. Da Wang had fallen into the rice bin. Over half a meter long horse mackerel, palm-width belt fish, one-meter-long bonito, even golden-yellow large yellow croaker.

Sperm whales and mirages even helped him find several giant lobsters. The ministers of Youzhou gazed blue-eyed in vain—Da Wang was immersed in the joy of harvest, unable to extricate himself.

In the end, only the finless porpoises, dolphins, and inedible sharks could escape Da Wang's clutches.

Da Wang's warehouse was constantly refreshing, varieties and quantities accumulating at breakneck speed.

He not only went down himself to scrape the seabed, but also harvested what was caught on the ships. Before the ship personnel were completely frayed, Da Wang finally felt this trip had broken even—twenty days were almost up, and he finally stopped smuggling fish hauls from the eternally unsatisfied fish hold.

Da Wang clapped his hands: "Time's about right—let's head back!"

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【(╥_╥) I came late, private Ma Lou!!】