After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH2

Chapter 2: Encountering People

Lu Ao had stayed on this deserted island for several days. In his heart, he often had the illusion that he was no longer on Earth.

He had not expected that, after only a few days, he would hear the sound of a motor from human society.

The motor sound drew closer and closer. He could already see a boat cutting through the wind and waves as it headed this way.

It was a typical fishing boat, roughly twice the length and width of a speedboat. It had a cabin, a deck, and railings around the deck.

Lu Ao stared at the boat, crawled forward a few steps, and quietly slipped into the sea.

Wave after wave washed over the reefs on the island, hiding every trace of Lu Ao completely.

Very soon, that group of people landed on the island.

As a freshly minted lizard, Lu Ao silently shrank a little farther underwater.

After those people came ashore, they began setting up cameras and a water pump, then directly started pumping water.

Not only did they start pumping water, they also greeted the camera and introduced today’s itinerary.

Lu Ao slowly understood. They were probably a group of uploaders who specialized in filming short videos of pumping out rock pools and posting them online.

Lu Ao observed quietly from the side.

Their Mandarin was not very standard and carried a heavy regional accent. They were probably from his city.

Even if they were not, they were at least from his province.

It seemed that he had not been washed too far away by the water back then.

If he were still human, he could have jumped out and greeted them right now. As for being a lizard—forget it.

Lu Ao thought slowly and continued hiding underwater beside the reef.

Who would have known that the moment this thought arose, his body and limbs immediately began heating up.

Lu Ao widened his eyes. He wanted to swallow his cry of alarm back into his stomach, but a little sound still leaked out.

“Who’s there?!”

Tian Mingzhi, who was facing the camera, suddenly heard a muffled groan. He instinctively turned his head to look to the side. He did not see anything, but for some reason, a chill ran through him.

“What do you mean, who?” His companion and cameraman, Chen Shengrong, asked in confusion. He lowered the phone and stopped filming while he was at it. “What’s wrong?”

Hu Xingjin, who had been pumping water, also walked over, puzzled. “You’re not filming anymore?”

Tian Mingzhi said, “I think I heard someone cry out.”

When the other two heard him say this, they both felt a little creeped out. “This is the open sea. Where would there be someone crying out?”

Tian Mingzhi stretched out his arm and looked around warily. “I really heard it. Look, goosebumps are all over my arm.”

The three of them looked at one another, all feeling that something was off.

“Did the sound come from over there?” Chen Shengrong swallowed and said, “How about we go over and take a look?”

“Let’s take a look,” Tian Mingzhi said. “Maybe I heard wrong. Or maybe someone is digging for snails over here.”

The three of them drove their boat out every day, searching for rock pools to pump dry and catch fish. They had been to countless islands, big and small.

Although this island was in the open sea, it was not particularly remote.

If there really were people on the island, it would not be too strange.

The three looked at one another. Though they comforted themselves with their words, they all felt somewhat uneasy inside.

If there really were someone here, then after hearing them talk, that person should have come out to look. But now the island was extremely quiet, without even a ghostly shadow in sight.

There were no fewer strange happenings at sea than on land, and among them were many unsolved mysteries. As fishermen, they had heard countless legends.

The transformation was still continuing. Lu Ao felt his body hurting more and more. He gritted his teeth tightly. Even though the pain was so intense that he was about to faint, he did not dare relax even slightly.

He heard what Tian Mingzhi and the other two said. He did not dare let them see what he looked like, so he simply gritted his teeth and rolled on the spot, rolling into the seawater.

Splash—

A faint sound of something falling into the water rang out. Tian Mingzhi and the other two heard it clearly. This time, there was no way for them to comfort themselves by saying there was nothing there.

The three of them forced themselves to slowly move over.

At this critical moment, Lu Ao’s consciousness finally cleared a little. He instinctively waved his limbs, wanting to escape beneath the surface. Only when he moved did he realize that his thin, short claws had somehow changed back into smooth, slender arms. Even the mole on his hand was still in its original place.

Lu Ao’s mind went blank. For a moment, he could not understand what exactly was going on.

When he raised his head, he happened to meet the gazes of Tian Mingzhi and the other two.

The three men’s eyes instantly widened.

?!!!

There was a pair of human eyes in the water!!!

Lu Ao subconsciously surfaced from the water.

“Ahhhhhhh—!”

Tian Mingzhi and the other two instantly snapped out of their stunned state. Terrified out of their wits, they turned and ran.

“Wait—” Lu Ao’s voice was somewhat hoarse. His long-unused throat felt extremely awkward.

He wanted to stop the three of them, but Tian Mingzhi and the others became even more frightened. One after another, they scrambled toward the boat on both hands and feet.

In his panic, Hu Xingjin tripped and fell, rolling once across the ground. The fall left him completely dazed.

Before he could even get up, he heard a splash from behind him, as if something had broken out of the water. He was so frightened that his whole body went numb. Unable to care about anything else, he grabbed a nearby stone and threw it toward the water, shouting in a tearful voice, “D-d-don’t come over! I’ll b-b-beat you to death!”

Lu Ao swam a few meters farther into the sea and looked at him. “I’m human.”

Hu Xingjin’s voice still carried sobs. “H-human, human, so what if you’re human!”

That was actually pretty impressive.

Lu Ao’s original nervousness was ruined by their commotion. He felt nothing anymore. Half of his body emerged from the water as he looked at him expressionlessly.

Up ahead, Tian Mingzhi and Chen Shengrong finally came back to their senses. Hearing the voice, they carefully turned around and asked from a distance, “Are you really human?”

Lu Ao frowned slightly. “If I’m not human, what else could I be?”

The three of them stared at him for a long while and felt that he really did seem to be human.

It was just that people this good-looking were far too rare in real life.

Hu Xingjin stretched out a trembling hand. “Let me touch you.”

Lu Ao extended his arm to him.

He touched it lightly, then immediately sprang back as if he had been electrocuted. Turning back, he opened his mouth and looked at Tian Mingzhi and Chen Shengrong. After thinking back for quite a while, he said hesitantly, “Warm?”

Tian Mingzhi let out an enormous sigh of relief and collapsed weakly onto the ground. He asked Lu Ao, “How did you end up here?”

“I was accidentally washed here by the water.” Lu Ao asked, “Do you have clothes? Mine were washed away.”

Ever since Lu Ao had woken up, he had turned into a lizard. He had not seen any clothes, nor had he seen his human body.

Seeing that the conversation was becoming more and more normal, Tian Mingzhi relaxed a little more. “We do, but they’re all on the boat. I’ll go get them for you.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. Wait here a moment.”

Not long after, Tian Mingzhi went to the boat and brought out a clean set of his own clothes.

Lu Ao put them on without any underwear.

Tian Mingzhi secretly sized this guy up. The exact same outfit looked hopelessly shabby on him, but on this guy, it looked unbelievably handsome.

Especially with his tall frame, long legs, and cool, sharp aura, he looked just like a model.

Even though they were both men, Tian Mingzhi’s gaze could not help drifting toward him again and again.

After Lu Ao put on the clothes, the strange feeling in his heart finally lessened a great deal, and he became easier to talk to as well.

Tian Mingzhi and the others bombarded him with questions, and Lu Ao patiently answered them all.

Only then did Tian Mingzhi and the others learn that Lu Ao was the unlucky guy from their city who had been chased by thugs the night before last.

After piecing together the whole story, Tian Mingzhi could not help clicking his tongue. “Bro, you really have a strong life.”

“Luck.”

“That really is incredible luck. Your incident even made the news. The police are looking for you. How about we take you back?”

“Mm. Thank you.”

“No problem. Hey, do you want to call your family first and let them know you’re safe?”

Lu Ao’s family had been a single line for three generations. His paternal grandparents had passed away when he was young, and his parents had died in a car accident when he was in high school. He had little contact with his relatives, so there truly was no family he could call to report that he was safe.

He took the phone from Tian Mingzhi’s hand. His first reaction was to call his childhood friend, Ge Ranzhou.

His memory had always been good, so he directly entered Ge Ranzhou’s number.

The phone rang twice before it was quickly answered on the other end.

Lu Ao said, “Ranzhou, it’s me, Lu Ao.”

“Ao—Lu Ao!” Ge Ranzhou let out a howl on the other end and immediately started crying. Something beside him fell, making a series of clattering sounds for quite a while. In a tearful voice, he shouted, “It really is you! I knew you were still alive!!!”

Lu Ao’s voice softened a little. “Mm.”

Ge Ranzhou was so incoherent that his words came out in a jumble. “Fuck! You damn—this is great! I’ve been worried sick these past few days. I thought you’d kicked the bucket.”

Ge Ranzhou was so emotional that Tian Mingzhi and the others standing nearby could clearly hear their conversation.

They quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, up until just now, they had still been wondering whether the young man in front of them was actually human.

Both his looks and his aura were far too unusual. On top of that, he had suddenly appeared on such a deserted island. It was hard not to be suspicious.

Now that they heard him talking to someone on the phone, they could basically confirm that he was human.

Tian Mingzhi and the others lowered their guard and became a little more enthusiastic.

After Lu Ao hung up the phone, Tian Mingzhi asked, “Lu Ao, you’ve been on this deserted island for two or three days, right?”

“Yes.” Lu Ao asked, “Were the thugs who chased me arrested?”

“They were. You didn’t see it, but even the armed police were dispatched. Every single one of those brats was handcuffed and taken back. That night, they were howling like ghosts and wolves all the way until midnight. It went completely viral on Moments.”

Once gossip came up, all three of them became animated.

After hearing this, Lu Ao finally felt a little more balanced inside.

After Tian Mingzhi and the others finished gossiping, they continued working.

They made a living by going onto islands to catch fish and film videos. Since their work was not finished yet, they did not dare rest.

Tian Mingzhi asked, “Lu Ao, do you want to appear on camera? Making videos is pretty fun.”

Lu Ao shook his head. “No. I can help you scoop water.”

Tian Mingzhi looked at Lu Ao’s face and swallowed, a great wave of regret rising in his heart. If this guy appeared on camera, how many more followers would they gain?!

The pool on the island was not big. Tian Mingzhi and the others spent over two hours pumping the water out of the pool, then filmed a video of themselves catching fish. Only then did they pack up their equipment and prepare to take Lu Ao back with them.

Their boat was a small fishing boat, with a tiny cabin. Most of their things still had to be piled on the deck.

“Come, come, come. Eat something first to fill your stomach.” After Tian Mingzhi finished packing, he took out instant noodles and other things.

Chen Shengrong was steering the boat. Seeing this, he said, “Cook one extra pack. I’m a little hungry.”

“I’m a little hungry too.” Hu Xingjin came over. “Just cook all the noodles. Throw in that octopus we just caught too. It’s not worth much anyway.”

Lu Ao stared quietly as they took out a six-pack of instant noodles, along with eggs, ham sausages, and other things. In an instant, he felt so hungry that his stomach burned.

Judging by his appetite over the past two days, this bit of food would not even be enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

His Adam’s apple moved. He turned his head and asked Tian Mingzhi, who was dealing with the octopus in preparation for the instant noodles, “Do you have a fishing rod? I’ll see if I can catch some fish.”

“We do, but we don’t have much bait left.”

“That’s fine. The octopus innards will do.”

The octopus innards had not yet been thrown away. Seeing that Lu Ao wanted to fish, Tian Mingzhi simply went and found the two fishing rods on the boat for him. Then, with a shameless grin, he asked, “Can I film a video of you fishing?”

Lu Ao thought for a moment, then agreed. “As long as you don’t film my face.”

Tian Mingzhi immediately set up his phone and prepared to start filming.

Hu Xingjin came over. “Are you going to fish while the boat is moving?”

“No. We’ll find a place to stop the boat first.” Lu Ao looked at the water not far away and said, “There aren’t many fish here.”

Hu Xingjin was unconvinced. “Hey, how do you know there aren’t any fish here?”

Lu Ao raised his head and glanced at him. Not knowing how to answer, he simply did not answer.

Tian Mingzhi was still filming. Seeing him act so mysterious, he was happy not to interrupt him.

The boat chugged forward.

After another twenty minutes or so, Lu Ao looked at the water and suddenly said, “This is fine. We can fish around here.”

Hu Xingjin raised his head and shouted toward the cabin, “Old Chen, stop the boat. We’re going fishing.”

Chen Shengrong turned off the engine and let the boat drift on the sea. He walked out and asked, “Can you really catch fish?”

Lu Ao hooked the octopus innards onto the fishing hook, looked around, found the right direction, and cast the line. “We’ll know once we try.”

He put out two fishing rods in total. After setting them up, he stayed beside the rods and watched them.

Hu Xingjin lit the stove to cook the instant noodles. First, he added the seasoning packets, then the octopus to blanch it, and finally the noodle blocks.

Once the water boiled, the rich aroma of instant noodles drifted out. Right on cue, Lu Ao’s stomach gave a loud “gurgle.”

The sound was too loud. For a moment, all three of them turned their eyes toward his stomach.

Expressionless, Lu Ao pretended that it was not his stomach growling.

Tian Mingzhi laughed so hard that the hand holding his phone trembled. Chen Shengrong and the other man also snickered silently.

Lu Ao ignored them. Just then, one of the fishing rods trembled lightly.

Hu Xingjin had sharp eyes and hurriedly shouted, “There’s a fish!”

Lu Ao picked up the rod, dragged the line, and gently guided it to one side. “Get the landing net.”

Chen Shengrong hurriedly went to bring over the landing net.

Lu Ao pulled the fish closer toward himself. Very soon, a dark fish back broke the surface of the water.

Chen Shengrong, who was watching from the side, immediately perked up when he saw the fish’s back. “It’s a black sea bream! So fat too. At least two jin!”

Tian Mingzhi hurriedly pointed the camera at Lu Ao.

Lu Ao was afraid the fishing line would snap, so he deliberately played the fish for a while longer.

When he guided the fish to the side of the boat, Chen Shengrong was quick-eyed and swift-handed. He used the landing net to scoop the fish up in one motion.

The black sea bream left the water and struggled desperately, slapping the deck with loud smacks.

Chen Shengrong wiped his face hard. “Good grief, this black sea bream is really lively.”

Lu Ao said, “Continue.”

Chen Shengrong quickly removed the hook and put the black sea bream into the live well.

Lu Ao continued baiting the hook and cast the line back into the sea.

By this time, the instant noodles were ready. Hu Xingjin called out, “Come, come, come. Eat noodles first. We’ll talk after eating.”

Today’s instant noodles were pickled cabbage flavor, and the taste of the pickled cabbage was extremely strong and domineering.

Hu Xingjin specially served Lu Ao a large bowl.

The piping-hot instant noodles were wrapped in rich, sour, and spicy broth. Lu Ao took one bite and could not help narrowing his eyes. He immediately picked up a second large mouthful.

The noodles were smooth, the ham sausage rich, the octopus springy, and the egg tender.

In just a few bites, Lu Ao finished the large bowl of noodles.

Tian Mingzhi secretly glanced at his phone. Less than a minute had passed, and the noodles were gone.

If he had not watched the time with his own eyes, he never would have imagined that Lu Ao could finish such a large bowl of noodles in less than a minute while eating with such an elegant posture.

Chen Shengrong could also tell that Lu Ao was truly hungry. He guessed that Lu Ao probably had not eaten much during the two days he had been stranded by the sea, so he thoughtfully brought the pot in front of him. “Come, come, come. Have another bowl. If it’s not enough, we still have biscuits.”

Lu Ao nodded at him and, without the slightest politeness, ate another bowl. Again, in less than a minute, he swept the noodles in the bowl clean.

There was only a little more than one bowl of noodles left in the pot.

Tian Mingzhi hurriedly said, “I won’t eat. Let Lu Ao eat.”

Lu Ao was clearly still not satisfied. He looked at the pot, then suddenly turned his gaze away and said, “The fish are here.”

Sure enough, the fishing rods trembled.

This time, both rods moved at once.

Hu Xingjin quickly said, “I’ll do it too.”

Lu Ao nodded and handed one of the fishing rods to him.

Chen Shengrong hurriedly stood by with the landing net.

Very soon, the fishing rods were pulled up, revealing two more black sea breams, both over one jin.

As Tian Mingzhi filmed, he could not help praising, “Lu Ao’s luck really is pretty good.”

Lu Ao nodded.

By now, they had no bait left.

Chen Shengrong said, “Let’s kill one black sea bream and eat it. We can use the innards and some fish meat as bait.”

None of the three had any objections, so Chen Shengrong chose the smallest black sea bream and killed it, cutting off the innards and scraps to use as bait for Lu Ao.

While preparing the fish, he also washed the half bucket of snails they had just collected from the drained pool and cooked them together. He even added the five eggs left on the fishing boat.

The fish and snails made another big pot of food.

They were all already full, so this generous fish-and-snail feast was enjoyed by Lu Ao alone.

Lu Ao was not polite either. He ate while fishing, and after finishing such a large pot, he finally felt a little full.

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