After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH29

Chapter 29: Salvage

Lu Ao never expected the police to come looking for him, and maritime police at that.

He frowned slightly, feeling a little nervous, and tried hard to recall whether he had violated any laws or regulations recently.

Song Zhou heard their conversation and looked up.

Lu Ao set down the soy sauce in his hand and listened intently.

The police officer on the other end continued, “Here’s the situation. Last week, a maritime traffic accident occurred in the waters under Qianyong City’s jurisdiction. Have you heard about it?”

Lu Ao really had not.

He generally only fished near the village and did not go out to the open sea.

“Not really.”

“That’s fine.” The officer gave a concise explanation. “Last Thursday, that is, at 4:46 a.m. on June 18, within our Qianming sea area, passenger vessel Qianming Passenger 0036 collided with cargo vessel Qianming Cargo 0087 along the Yuncang section of the Qianming sea route, resulting in thirteen deaths and twenty-one injuries.”

That number of casualties was already quite serious.

Lu Ao’s heart sank. “The collision happened last week. Did something else happen now?”

“Nothing else has happened. But after the passenger vessel was struck, it took on severe water and has already sunk to the seabed. Among the deceased passengers, one had been carrying a laptop containing important information, and that laptop was also lost in the accident. We heard that you’re very good at diving, so we’d like to invite you to participate in the diving and salvage work.”

Lu Ao breathed a sigh of relief. A moment later, he frowned again. “So the task is to salvage that laptop?”

“Yes. The main goal is to recover that laptop. There may also be a need to retrieve some other items. For this salvage work, we will provide food and accommodation, as well as a daily wage of five hundred yuan. If no one can pick you up or drop you off, travel expenses can also be reimbursed. If needed, we can also provide diving equipment.”

Lu Ao understood clearly that this laptop must be very important. Otherwise, the police would not go to such lengths to salvage it.

He asked, “Are you certain that laptop is still on the seabed? What if someone took it away during the chaos?”

The police officer said, “When the accident occurred, we arrived at the scene immediately. It is basically impossible that the laptop was taken away.”

Hearing his certainty, Lu Ao thought for a moment and said, “I need to consider it. Can I call you back tomorrow morning?”

The officer said, “This matter is rather urgent. Please confirm as soon as possible. Could you call me back before seven o’clock tonight?”

Lu Ao took the phone down and looked. It was already 6:12 p.m.

It seemed this mission truly was urgent enough.

He replied, “All right. I’ll call you back as soon as possible.”

The young male officer, Xiao Du, hung up and looked at his captain. In a low voice, he asked doubtfully, “Is it really feasible to invite this Lu Ao?”

Captain Old Zhang looked up. “If it isn’t feasible, then what? Do you have a way to find that laptop?”

Xiao Du was unconvinced. “I don’t, but that doesn’t mean he can either. The sea is so big and the laptop is so small. If it was swept away by the current, who knows where it went? Even if someone is a strong diver, it’ll still be hard to find. We’re making such a fuss to invite him. It feels like we’re just wasting time…”

Old Gao, a colleague beside them, walked by holding coffee and yawning. Hearing this, he said, “With that man’s luck, maybe once he dives down, he’ll casually rummage through some patch of sea grass and find it.”

“How is that possible?”

The moment he said this, Old Zhang’s face darkened, and he glared at him. “Do you still want to find the laptop or not?”

“I do!” Young officer Xiao Du cried out bitterly. “How could I not? We’ve been working overtime for almost a week. I’m just saying.”

Old Gao said to him, “You know we’ve been working overtime for almost a week, yet you’re still saying such discouraging things?”

A colleague working in the cubicle beside them weakly inserted, “At this point, we’re really just treating a dead horse as if it were still alive. If we find a few more people, the odds of finding it will be a little higher.”

Xiao Du had worked so much overtime that his head was nearly muddled. He muttered, “I think this is more like treating a dead horse as a dead horse.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Old Gao said. “Didn’t the diving team leader say so? We need someone with great fortune. Isn’t Lu Ao fortunate enough? He caught a painted spiny lobster this morning, tsk. That painted spiny lobster has to be at least six or seven jin, worth seventy or eighty thousand yuan. Didn’t the file say he caught an eight-jin-plus large yellow croaker a few days ago too? Easily made several hundred thousand.”

Xiao Du did some mental math, and bitter tears flowed in his heart. Still, he refused to bow to feudal superstition. “Maybe it was just coincidence?”

“Can coincidence also land on a twenty-plus-jin red snapper and an eighty-plus-jin giant grouper?”

“Then maybe his fishing skills are just superb?”

“Perfect, then. For someone that capable, finding a laptop should be no problem, right?”

The police officers used arguing to stay awake, completely unaware that the big fellow worth seventy or eighty thousand had already been served at Lu Ao’s dining table.

He and Song Zhou sat facing each other. With his chopsticks, he first picked up a piece of lobster sashimi.

The milky-white lobster meat was semi-transparent. Eaten plain, it was fresh and sweet, with a slight springiness.

Then he dipped it in a little wasabi soy sauce and tasted it. The faint fishiness was instantly covered by the wasabi, and because of the soy sauce, the lobster meat became even sweeter and fresher.

Even though Lu Ao’s mind was full of worries, tasting such delicious lobster relaxed his mood somewhat.

Song Zhou poured him a cup of coconut juice and did not disturb him.

Lu Ao thought for a while, accepted the coconut juice, and took a big gulp. “Song Zhou, did you hear about last week’s accident?”

“I know. The matter was reported to me.”

“Was it really serious?”

“Very serious. One of the most serious maritime disasters in nearly ten years.”

Hearing this, Lu Ao no longer felt much like eating. He looked at Song Zhou and said, “They invited me to salvage a laptop.”

His eyes were clear and bright, as though he was expecting Song Zhou to give him some advice.

Song Zhou asked, “Do you want to go?”

“I feel like I should.” Lu Ao said quietly, “Since the police personally came forward to ask for help, this matter must be fairly important and related to national interests. If I can help, I should do my best to help. I just don’t understand why they came to me. I’m not in that circle, and I don’t have much of a reputation.”

“Maybe they learned about you through other channels.”

“From your side?”

Song Zhou shook his head. “No.”

Lu Ao asked, “Don’t your official organizations cooperate with each other? In this situation, shouldn’t they invite someone or some yao more capable?”

“No. We do not cooperate with official institutions at this level,” Song Zhou said. “We only supervise and manage anomalous persons and affairs. That does not include helping humans with other matters.”

“In other words, you’re actually outside the official system. Although you’re called an official institution, it’s more that you cooperate with the authorities?”

“Yes,” Song Zhou said. “We generally do not intervene in non-anomalous human affairs. If we do, it can cause a tilt in fate and easily lead to irreversible consequences.”

Lu Ao became worried. “Then what about me? If I intervene—?”

Song Zhou said, “You’re fine. You already have deep ties with humans.”

“Is that so?” Lu Ao was still not quite at ease. “Then I’ll agree?”

Seeing his uneasy appearance, Song Zhou nodded. “Agree. If anything happens, call me immediately.”

After saying this, Song Zhou focused on enjoying the butter-fried lobster and lobster noodles.

The lobster meat was delicious, especially the lobster noodles. The chewy noodles were wrapped in smooth, rich broth, and every bite was the ultimate enjoyment.

Lu Ao, however, was in no mood to enjoy the food.

He slurped down the noodles in a few bites, drank all the soup in one gulp, then finished the coconut juice in his cup to moisten his mouth before calling back the number from earlier.

“Lu Ao?” Xiao Du became fully awake the moment he answered the phone. “You agreed?”

“Yes, it’s me. I agree. When do we leave?”

Xiao Du immediately said, “If it’s convenient for you, please come to the city tonight. I’ll have one of our colleagues pick you up.”

“I want to know roughly how many days the salvage work will take, so I can arrange things at home.”

“If it’s quick, three days. If it’s slow, about a week.”

“No problem then.”

“All right. I’ll contact our colleague right away. Once that’s arranged, I’ll call you back later.”

Lu Ao agreed.

He hung up.

Across from him, Song Zhou was still slowly enjoying the food. His movements were elegant and pleasing to the eye.

Lu Ao gathered up his empty bowl, carried it to the kitchen with a patter of footsteps, and called out after coming back, “Song Zhou, I’m leaving later. Can you help water my vegetables for the next few days?”

“No problem. What about your geese?”

“I’ll call Lin Gongshang later and ask him to come take care of them.”

Song Zhou said, “No need for him. I’ll do it.”

“Ah, you’ll help me raise the geese?” Lu Ao asked, “Will that interfere with your work?”

“No. I only need to make time to come feed them.”

“Then all right. I’ll give you the keys later.” Lu Ao said, “I’ll go pack first.”

Song Zhou waved him off.

There was not much to pack in summer. Mostly T-shirts, shorts, and underwear. Since he was going diving, he would also bring his equipment.

A twenty-four-inch suitcase was more than enough.

By the time he finished packing, Song Zhou had already washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

Lu Ao wanted to help, only to find that even the floor had been mopped clean. He could only retreat again. “Thanks for your hard work.”

“It’s nothing. You cook, I wash the dishes. All packed?”

“All packed. The police just contacted me. They said they’ll arrive soon, and someone is driving over to pick me up.”

Song Zhou estimated the time. “If you leave at seven, you’ll arrive there around midnight. Do you want to sleep a bit?”

“It’s fine. That’s not too late.” Lu Ao said, “Let’s chat for a while. I just ate, so I can’t sleep anyway.”

The two sat in the courtyard and chatted.

Soon, the car that came to pick him up arrived. It was a low-key official vehicle, not a police car.

The person picking him up was a middle-aged man. Lu Ao shook hands with him, and the other man asked, “Can we leave now?”

“Yes, no problem. Wait a moment. Have a cup of tea first while I tidy up a little more.”

What Lu Ao called tidying up was only taking out the household keys and handing them all to Song Zhou. “Then I’m going out. I’ll leave the house to you.”

“All right. I’ll help take good care of your home.”

Lu Ao lightly wiped his palm against his pants. He could not think of anything else to say, so he only said, “Then, see you in a few days.”

Song Zhou’s eyes curved. “See you in a few days.”

Lu Ao carried his luggage and left with the police officer. After going out and getting into the car, he sat in the passenger seat. When he turned back, he could still see Song Zhou, dressed in white, standing at the doorway to see him off.

Like a young wife.

The thought rose in Lu Ao’s mind and startled even himself. He hurriedly turned his head back around.