Chapter 341: A Boat Is Following

Just after three o'clock in the early morning.

Under the night sky, on the open sea, a small fishing boat slowly approached Xuan Ya Dao.

Lao Fu Tou watched the crab pot's float bobbing in the lamp light, then stretched his somewhat stiff limbs.

He lowered his head to look.

Ash covered his front, so he quickly reached up and brushed it off.

He had no idea how many cigarettes he'd smoked in those hours, not daring to be careless, not daring to squint, not daring to let any slip.

Running a boat at night is really no joke.

He turned his head to look.

Wu An and the others were still snoring loudly, so he walked over and shouted twice.

No one responded.

The snoring continued.

Lao Fu Tou grabbed a pot lid and began pounding it hard.

Wu An and the others jolted awake, then sat up.

Each had hair like a bird's nest, sleepy-eyed and half-closed, looking dazed and foolish, which looked especially funny.

Wu An rubbed his face and asked in a hoarse voice, "Have we arrived?"

Lao Fu Tou nodded: "We've reached Xuan Ya Dao."

"What's the procedure?"

"Shall we haul in the crab pots first?"

Wu An said nothing; still not fully awake, he hurried to fetch a basin of clean water, washed his face, and his mind cleared a little.

After he washed his face, Wu Ping, A Qing, and Mei Wu also used that same basin to wash up, with no complaints.

Wu An hooked the float, checked the system, and found that the crab pot still had a bit of Luck Value.

So there was no rush to pull it up.

"Let's go a bit farther out and drop the adhesive net first."

He wasn't just saying that casually.

Drop the adhesive net, then come back to haul in the crab pots; after the pots are up, take a break before pulling the net.

If they lower the adhesive net twice, they should finish the work before dark.

Wu An thought it over; the whole process still seemed reasonable.

"Go farther out?" Lao Fu Tou frowned, and although Wu An's luck had always been good, facing this unprofessional advice he still felt a bit uneasy.

"What's wrong?"

"I just saw you buy adhesive net; normally it's set in shallower waters."

"Huh?" Wu An blinked: "There's such a thing?"

"…" Lao Fu Tou fell silent for two seconds: "Right."

"The adhesive net sinks to the bottom to catch bottom-dwelling fish."

"Adhesive nets are prone to damage, and setting them too deep makes them harder to retrieve."

Wu An said, "What you say makes sense."

"So you mean we should go to Huo Ming Dao side?"

Lao Fu Tou nodded.

Wu An thought for a moment: "Let's change spots."

"We've been back and forth between Huo Ming Dao and Xuan Ya Dao many times; each haul is decent, but we shouldn't overfish them to death."

Lao Fu Tou nodded.

That's the reasoning.

Wu An said, "Let's go to where we last set the longline yesterday, near those two islands."

"The deeper the water, the bigger the fish surely are."

"Fishing at sea is inherently risky; if you don't take risks, how can you make money, right?"

Lao Fu Tou nodded.

Actually, the waters near those two islands aren't shallow; they're about the same as Xuan Ya Dao.

But since Wu An had already made up his mind, he didn't feel right saying anything else.

He'd said all that just to give a heads‑up, doing his duty.

On the boat, the only one who can make the call is Wu An.

The boat set off.

Mei Wu shouted from the stern.

Wu An walked over; Mei Wu pointed into the distance and said, "A An, there seems to be a boat following us."

"I've noticed it for a while."

"At first that fishing boat was just drifting like us, not working, but when we moved, they moved too."

Wu An took a look, but couldn't make out any details.

The sea belongs to everyone.

Running into a fishing boat is quite normal, but if it's really as Mei Wu said, it is indeed a bit strange.

The distant fishing boat was slightly larger than his, not a trawler, and exactly what kind of operation it was conducting wasn't clear.

Even if it was following him, he didn't care.

Let it follow, then.

He can get the catch, basically by cheating.

If the other party can get a catch by following him, then he's got skill.

Nothing to say.

Wu An shook his head: "It's so dark you can't see anything."

"Come on, let's go rest."

"I estimate after the boat runs for half an hour, it'll be time to work."

The two went back under the boat's awning.

Sleeping is out of the question; they just eat, drink, and smoke.

Four o'clock.

The horizon already had a hint of blue.

Everyone began work deploying the Adhesive Net; deploying the Adhesive Net is relatively simple. Under Lao Fu Tou's operation, they placed it along the right-hand island and extended it toward the left-hand island.

The Adhesive Net went down smoothly, much simpler than Longline Fishing.

Lao Fu Tou's eyes showed some worry.

If we can't retrieve it, that'll be trouble.

He endured it, not saying those words; hearing everyone talk about the Adhesive Net, A Qing even said it was still quite simple, and he couldn't help but say: "Deploying the Adhesive Net is easy, but retrieving it is more troublesome, needing organization."

"If not organized well, it's just a waste."

"Does anyone of you know how?"

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes revealing clarity and confusion.

Lao Fu Tou nodded: "Alright, then when the time comes I'll operate first, you watch."

He felt a bit weary.

The boat isn't big.

There are really many variations.

Many variations aside, they still don't know how to do any of them; they're complete novices, feeling their way across the river by feeling for stones.

He didn't say much more.

Precisely for this reason, Wu An sought him out; this is exactly his value.

The Adhesive Net has been deployed.

The horizon shifted from blue to white.

The sky gradually grew bright.

Wu An quickly served the rice noodles; everyone had a bowl, finished the noodles and drank the soup dry, feeling much more refreshed all over.

A Qing and Mei Wu voluntarily cleared the bowls and chopsticks.

Wu An took the binoculars to the stern and saw that fishing boat following.

Not long after.

A Qing walked over, took the binoculars, had a look, and suddenly said: "It's that boat."

"It's been following me and Lao Fu before."

"That time when it rained, I and Lao Fu hid in the bay, and they came over to check if we were in trouble."

"I didn't expect to run into them again."

He shouted "Lao Fu Tou!"

Lao Fu Tou also looked, confirmed it was the fishing boat they'd encountered before, and said: "Looking at it, our previous encounter wasn't a coincidence; maybe they've been following us."

"During this time, our fishing boat has been making a big splash at the dock."

"It looks like we've been targeted."

Everyone looked at Wu An; Wu Ping asked: "A An, what should we do?"

Wu An thought: "Cold dressing."

"As long as they don't do anything excessive, we'll just let them be."

"Start the boat, we'll go back to collect the crab pots."

This is the main event of today.

Others aren't clear, but Wu An is full of anticipation.

With 190 points of Luck Value thrown in, if we don't catch something good, it's hard to justify.

Arrived at Xuan Ya Dao.

A Qing held up the binoculars to warn, that fishing boat is still following; Lao Fu Tou was also speechless, feeling the master of that fishing boat is even more outrageous than Wu An.

"What kind of person is this, following them out to sea?"

"Isn't fuel money also money?"