After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH38

Chapter 38: Coelacanth

Lu Ao and the others had only just boarded the ship.

The ship was still near the dock, so they did not need to work for the time being.

After finishing his noodles, he went back to his cabin to catch up on sleep.

The weather was very good today too.

The sea was calm and still. Sleeping in the cabin felt no different from sleeping on land.

Lu Ao slept until eleven-thirty, then got up and went to lunch.

By the time he arrived, the dining hall was already packed.

The moment Lu Ao walked in, he saw quite a few foreigners with deep-set eyes and high brows. They were gathered together talking in the language of Country U, speaking extremely fast.

Lu Ao had passed Level 6 in the language of Country U back in university. At this moment, he could barely make out that they were discussing a kind of fish. As for exactly which fish it was, he could not tell.

Fish classification was actually quite complex. There were all kinds of subspecies, each with its own specific terminology.

Those words all belonged to obscure vocabulary. Without a relevant academic background, ordinary people rarely came across them.

From this point, these people should indeed be scientific researchers.

Lu Ao was looking at them, and many people were also looking at him. He was tall and long-legged, with excellent bearing, and his face was especially striking. When ordinary people saw him, it was easy for them to associate him with models and the like, so they often took a few extra glances.

He was used to other people’s gazes and did not care. He continued looking toward the people from Country U.

The people from Country R and Country U both noticed his gaze, especially those from Country U. When their eyes met his, amazement flashed across their faces, and they all smiled at him.

Lu Ao glanced at them, nodded slightly, then calmly went to get a tray and serve himself food.

When Lu Ao signed the contract, meals were included on the expedition ship. The food was buffet-style and all-you-can-eat.

He did not stand on ceremony either. He directly loaded up a large plate of meat and vegetables. It looked to weigh at least six or seven jin, and he carried it back to his seat to eat heartily.

Halfway through his meal, a tall bearded man from Country U came over. He walked to the chair across from Lu Ao and sat down, blinking. “Hi, hello.”

“Hello.” Lu Ao looked up at him, sounding a little perfunctory.

“My name is King Lee. Nice to meet you.”

“Lu Ao.” Lu Ao did not care whether the other man understood or not. After giving his name, he continued eating.

King said, “I know you. You’re the lucky boy Wu mentioned.”

“Mm. Maybe.”

King completely ignored his coldness. His blue eyes were full of interest. “How long have you been fishing in these waters? Have you ever seen any unusual fish?”

“What do you mean by unusual fish?”

“Something especially rare. For example, you caught a fish you didn’t recognize at all, and even the people at the market didn’t recognize it, so you couldn’t sell it. Have you ever had that happen?”

Lu Ao swallowed the rice in his mouth and said, “Generally speaking, we only catch unprotected fish we’re certain can be sold. Even if we see other fish, we don’t touch them.”

“Even if they’re very expensive?”

Lu Ao stared at him for a moment and asked, “What do you mean by very expensive fish?”

King met his eyes and took out his phone to show him a picture. “Have you seen this kind of fish?”

“Let me see.”

Lu Ao examined the picture on the phone carefully.

It was a rather strange fish. Its whole body was a stone-like grayish-brown, covered with white spots, and its mouth protruded forward.

Its body was somewhat long and slender, with smooth lines, yet its tail was round and blunt, bulging in the middle. The whole tail looked like a flattened cake.

Other than that, its fins were especially eye-catching, like branching limbs growing from a tree. They looked much longer than the fins of ordinary fish.

This kind of fish was actually easy to identify, if one already knew it.

Lu Ao knew it was called a coelacanth, a precious lobe-finned fish.

This fish had lived in the world hundreds of millions of years ago. It was said that its genes had remained unchanged for three hundred million years.

The reason the coelacanth looked strange was because its fins had developed muscles and bones and had begun evolving toward limbs.

This was also one of the reasons scientists were interested in it. After it appeared, the theory of evolution gained powerful supporting evidence. People could clearly see in it the transitional process from fish to four-limbed vertebrates.

People had once thought it was extinct, until the last century, when fishermen accidentally caught one. Only then did this fish reappear in people’s sight.

The importance of such a fish to marine biological research was self-evident. Many scientists would want to capture this kind of fish for study.

However, catching this fish was illegal. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classified it as critically endangered. No matter which country it was in, it was one of the highest-level protected animals.

If they dared help these foreigners catch coelacanths, they would probably end up rotting in prison.

Without changing expression, Lu Ao returned the phone to King, with no intention of helping them catch it.

Even if it were legal, he would not catch it.

Chinese scientists had not yet been able to research this kind of fish, let alone foreigners.

King gripped the phone Lu Ao handed back, full of anticipation. “Do you know this fish?”

“No. Are we supposed to catch this kind of fish?”

“Yes, if we can. They all say you’re a lucky boy. If you can catch one, we’ll give you a reward of ten thousand yuan per fish.” King smiled and blinked. “A separate reward. The kind with no tax deduction.”

Lu Ao was suspicious. “Are you sure this kind of fish exists here?”

“Yes. Someone caught one some time ago. If you’re lucky enough, perhaps you’ll find one as soon as you dive.”

“Are there many of this fish here?”

“Who knows?” King shrugged. “We’ll only know after we go and see.”

As they spoke, another woman from Country U came over to probe for information.

The two of them sounded Lu Ao out both openly and covertly.

Lu Ao told them some irrelevant things.

Soon, Lu Ao was invited over to their table.

Lu Ao was not a talkative person. After going over, he did not say much either. He only silently ate while listening.

This group did not know his command of the language of Country U was fairly good, so they did not guard against him much. Although they did not say anything important, from certain details, it could be inferred that they had official backgrounds from Country U and Country R.

Once the ship set sail, it took most of the day. Around four in the afternoon, they finally reached the first destination.

Brother Wu and the diving team leader, Xiang Xingchang, came over and told them to prepare to enter the water.

The scientific researchers, together with the crew, began collecting seawater, sea mud, and other samples.

Lu Ao glanced at them once more, then silently put on his equipment.

Brother Wu came over to help him put on the oxygen tank, then clipped a camera onto his buoyancy control vest. “When you go down, stay close to Xiang Xingchang and the others. Pay attention to safety, and pay attention to the camera angle. Try to record as much underwater footage as possible.”

Lu Ao nodded.

Brother Wu also handed him sample bags. “Collect whatever you see underwater. If you gather anything valuable, the research team will give you a bonus.”

“Mm.”

Xiang Xingchang came over after putting on his own equipment. He carefully checked Lu Ao’s gear, especially the oxygen tank.

After confirming there were no issues, Xiang Xingchang asked, “How long have you been diving? Have you ever dived this deep before?”

“Yes. I just did a dive like this a few days ago.”

Xiang Xingchang’s expression eased a little. “Alright. Do you still remember the underwater precautions?”

Lu Ao recited the precautions once.

Xiang Xingchang nodded and said, “We’ll be using safety lines later. Stay alert yourself. Pay attention to what needs attention. If anything feels wrong, come up immediately. Your life matters most.”

Lu Ao answered seriously.

Xiang Xingchang might have been prejudiced, but he was very conscientious in his work.

He checked every team member’s equipment and confirmed the precautions with each of them before leading everyone into the water.

This was Lu Ao’s first time working with them, so Xiang Xingchang placed him in the middle.

The sea was simply too vast. Even if five or six of them went down together, they were nothing more than sesame seeds, scattering in an instant.

Fortunately, they were not too far apart.

Everyone exchanged hand signals to confirm there were no problems, then continued slowly descending.

This sea area was more than two hundred meters deep. They might need to dive all the way to the seafloor.

They could not descend too quickly. They had to go down slowly and let their bodies adapt.

When they ascended later, they would have to rise even more slowly. Otherwise, they could easily get decompression sickness.

The light beneath the sea surface was actually not very good. Although sunlight could theoretically reach two hundred meters below sea level, in reality, once they went down several dozen meters, visibility became poor.

Lu Ao turned on his flashlight and continued descending.

Xiang Xingchang and the others were nearby.

When they had descended to around one hundred meters, Xiang Xingchang, who was diagonally ahead to the left, suddenly swam upward.

Lu Ao looked up and saw one team member making an emergency hand signal.

Lu Ao hurried over too.

Only when he arrived did he discover that the team member’s buoyancy control vest could not inflate. He was rapidly sinking out of control.

Xiang Xingchang quickly checked it for him and soon found that the inflator valve had suffered a mechanical failure.

Encountering this kind of malfunction during deep-sea diving meant they had to return. Otherwise, that tiny fault could cost a life.

Xiang Xingchang signaled for the team member to adjust his weights, then used his mouth to inflate the man’s buoyancy control vest.

Lu Ao helped stabilize him.

The nearby team members were dozens or even over a hundred meters away. Only the three of them were here.

After working for a while, Xiang Xingchang decided to escort the team member up first, while Lu Ao decided to continue descending.

The two communicated with hand signals for a while, then split into two groups—one going up, one going down.

The one going down was only Lu Ao.

The fishery resources in this sea area were fairly abundant. Lu Ao saw many large fish.

When he was usually spearfishing, if he saw fish, he would chase them. Today, however, he had to avoid them as much as possible.

He descended all the way, constantly checking his depth and equipment.

Logically speaking, he was a dragon and did not need to pay too much attention to such things.

However, beneath the sea surface, it was far too quiet. He could hear his own heart thudding. Even though he knew the chances of him encountering danger were very low, he could not help feeling nervous.

Continuing downward, the instrument showed that he was already one hundred and seventy-three meters underwater.

Below him, it was very dark. There were still several dozen meters left before the seafloor.

Lu Ao checked the oxygen gauge. There should be enough air for him to use for about another hour.

That amount of air was sufficient to ensure his safe return.

Lu Ao relaxed a little. Gradually, he began to enjoy the empty, solitary feeling of being in the deep sea.

He swam downward nimbly. His chest warmed faintly, and he wanted to change back into dragon form, but his reason forcibly suppressed the urge.

Twenty meters. Ten meters. Five meters… He was about to reach the seafloor.

Lu Ao narrowed his eyes and continued swimming downward.

He had already sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Suddenly, a fish shot toward Lu Ao like a cannonball. He was startled and instinctively dodged to the side.

The fish was frightened and darted away, vanishing in an instant.

Lu Ao steadied himself and looked closely. He felt that the fish’s rounded tail looked especially familiar.

He had no idea what kind of damned luck this was. On his very first dive, he had discovered the target.

Lu Ao froze in place, his feelings complicated.

After a long while, he raised his hand to the camera fixed to his buoyancy control vest. With a twist of his fingers, he crushed both cameras one after another.

Since this was not a Chinese scientific research team, the fact that he had found a coelacanth could not be leaked.

At most, he would help them fill two extra bags with sand.

And that sand would have to be collected somewhere else, so they would not be able to analyze any traces.