Chapter 361: Catch Halved

Wu An went to operate the boat, letting Lao Fu Tou handle the tuna.

Lao Fu Tou hurried to handle it.

Upon handling, he couldn't help but feel delighted: "Huh, strange."

These bigeye tuna look like they just died not long ago.

Great, great.

Tuna are swimming champions; they have a "die if they don't swim" disease. If they've been dead a long time without processing, the meat quality drops, the texture becomes poor, naturally affecting the price.

Cut the tail to bleed.

After the operation, Lao Fu Tou smiled even more brightly, because the meat quality of the two bigeye tuna was unaffected at all—truly an unexpected joy.

After processing, he called A Qing to help put them into the storage.

At this moment, Wu An had also hauled up the last hundred meters of the adhesive net.

The adhesive net was completely destroyed and could no longer be used.

The adhesive net had only entangled one bigeye, yet it was much larger than those two; Lao Fu Tou glanced and clicked his tongue: "I've never seen one this big—must be six or seven hundred catties."

Previously, when catching bigeye tuna with the cast net, Wu An searched and knew adult bigeye tuna usually weigh around four hundred catties.

A Qing suddenly realized: "That's great—this one is the king of bigeye tuna, it will definitely fetch a higher price."

A Qing nodded.

Finally, this section of adhesive net drifted farther out; this fish's strength exceeded that of the two, although A Qing's comment was a bit chuunibyou, it was also correct.

Lao Fu Tou hurriedly stepped up to process it.

Whether we can get a better price still depends on the meat quality.

One look and it can be bled.

Lao Fu Tou revealed a relieved smile, saying: "Good, good. I estimate these bigeye tuna struggled for a long time; though tangled in the adhesive net, they were strong enough to drag the net around."

"Running back and forth, they got no food and finally died of exhaustion."

"We also arrived just in time."

After processing, the three quickly resumed work, lowering the three-hundred-meter adhesive net into the sea; the time reached twelve thirty, considered fast.

The adhesive net became more familiar with each haul, and the trio's coordination grew more seamless; sometimes no words were needed, just a glance or a gesture, and the other two would respond.

Wu An sighed: "Too bad two hundred meters of the adhesive net were ruined; today we can only deploy three hundred meters."

Lao Fu Tou smiled: "But we harvested three bigeye tuna."

"Two hundred meters of adhesive net costs only a few coins."

"We've struck it rich."

A Qing also nodded happily.

In response.

Wu An didn't give the adhesive net too much luck value—only 15 points; he realized that giving too much would easily attract big fish.

This time luck was good; the bigeye tuna had just died. Next time, if luck is bad, these tuna might have been dead a long time before being hauled up, ruining the meat quality and making them unsellable.

The adhesive net is too fragile.

It can't withstand strong impacts.

In short, for him, adhesive net operations have some limitations and are troublesome to retrieve.

Between longline fishing and adhesive net, Wu An still prefers longline fishing; he'll go back and ask Zhao laoban about a stable, large‑scale, long‑term supply.

As for shore gathering and Panshuikeng, he really has no time to do them now.

Like this, he's already overwhelmed.

If he keeps getting busier, problems will arise.

In short, there aren't enough hands on the boat.

As long as the weather is good, the days he can go out to fish have never dropped below a hundred luck points; Wu An mused that the system likely outputs luck values based on situational predictions.

From this, we can see that future daily luck values will only keep rising.

So increasing manpower is still on the agenda; if really impossible, he'll ask Lao Mai and Qiang Ge whether there are suitable hands.

He doesn't plan to hire casually; he'd rather trust recommendations from his own people.

They arrived at Xuan Ya Dao.

A Qing held up the binoculars: "Brother, the Fan clan father and son are still there."

Wu An nodded.

After approaching, he expressed thanks; although the Fan clan father and son originally intended to stay at sea to guard the crab pots, they ultimately helped watch his crab pots.

Fan Lao Tou wasn't too polite, asking: "You said you'd come at dawn, why are you only arriving now?"

Wu An said: "We came after retrieving the adhesive net, delaying your return?"

Fan Lao Tou still wanted to speak, but Fan Dali replied loudly: "No, we haven't hauled anything yet."

"Did you call the police?"

Wu An nodded.

"Then..."

"The police brought me to search the dock, but found no clues."

"Hmph, then we must first go to the police station to file a report." Fan Lao Tou shook his head, saying: "They surely still suspect us."

"Originally we could have stayed out of this."

Fan Dali nodded.

The old man said that, still blaming him for meddling; the old fellow is addled in his old age, doesn't listen to others, truly regrettable—after all, it's not because you insisted on following Wu An and them that you brought disaster.

But as his son, it's also hard to speak plainly and let the old man save face.

Fan Xiao Zhu said, "Dad, brother did right."

Fan Lao Tou huffed angrily.

Fan Dali said to Wu An, "Then we'll go do the salvage operation now, and then go to the Police Station. We'll tell everything we know, hoping those police can find some clue from it."

Wu An thought for a moment and said, "I'll give you a contact method; you can contact him directly. If it's not a mandatory request, you should still not go to the Police Station."

"If it drags you into retaliation, that wouldn't be good."

Fan Dali said, "Don't say that. We'll follow you to find the nest for dropping the crab pots, after all..."

Fan Lao Tou interjected, "We still don't know if there will be any harvest."

"Dad, you better not say any more," Fan Xiao Zhu tugged Fan Lao Tou; the latter, knowing he was in the wrong on this matter, closed his mouth sulkily.

Wu An smiled, and didn't engage in false pleasantries with Fan Dali any longer; the two boats separated and each began the operation.

A Qing whispered, "Brother, these two brothers are okay, but that old man isn't much."

Wu An nodded.

No more words.

Work.

Wu An had already given up resisting, going to salvage the float.

Fortunately, the winch had been installed early, requiring no manpower; he wasn't tired. The first row of crab pots came up, still mainly Nine-section Shrimp, but much worse than yesterday's.

Roughly half of the Nine-section Shrimp in the crab pots were missing.

A Qing cursed, saying it must have been the thieves who stole the crab pots and ruined brother's luck.

The second row's crab pots were about the same as the first row's.

Lao Fu Tou watched, lowered his voice and said, "Could it be that the Fan father and son, taking advantage of our absence, salvaged first...?"

Wu An was silent for two seconds, shook his head and said, "No."

"These Nine-section Shrimp will leave even when they arrive; would they wait here for us to drop the crab pots and crawl back in?"

"After we finish this catch, we'll move to another spot and drop them again."

Lao Fu Tou and A Qing then stopped chattering and focused on work.

Wu An said that on his lips, but if he didn't think it over, it would be false; actually, verification is easy—later, by inquiring about the Fan father and son's catch, he could find out.

To know more accurately, one could also have someone keep tabs.