After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood – CH90

Chapter 90

The moment Lin Manzhang said that, everyone turned to observe the color of the sea.

Lu Ao had the sharpest eyes. He soon noticed that some of the seawater had indeed turned red, drifting in thin wisps through the deep-blue sea.

Compared with the large-scale red tides that broke out near the shore, the red tide here was not too obvious. No wonder no one had noticed it at first.

The others soon noticed it too.

Lin Gongshang muttered, “Why is there still a red tide in this season? We didn’t see one this spring. I thought the ocean management was pretty decent this year.”

A red tide was actually a harmful ecological anomaly caused by explosive growth or dense aggregation of planktonic algae, protozoa, or bacteria.

It contained red tide organisms, whose suitable growth conditions were seawater temperatures below twenty-eight degrees Celsius.

With the weather this hot, there should not have been an outbreak. No one knew what was going on.

The group looked at it for a while, their hearts heavy.

Lin Manzhang said, “I’ll call the provincial Resource and Environmental Protection Office and the provincial monitoring center first.”

The others had no objections.

Lin Manzhang made the calls. Both agencies took the matter seriously. After asking for the exact location of the red tide outbreak, they promised to send people over immediately to investigate.

“All right. It’s been reported. Let the professionals handle professional matters.”

Lin Qiyan asked, “Brother Zhang, what kind of algae caused this red tide?”

Lin Manzhang’s expression was grave. “Hard to say. It looks like Noctiluca.”

Noctiluca had the most crimson color. During the day, it looked red; at night, it often gave off a faint glow.

It was the most common red tide organism. In the Qianming Sea area, five out of ten red tides were caused by it.

Besides Noctiluca, Skeletonema costatum, Chaetoceros, Prorocentrum dentatum, and Gymnodinium were also common red tide organisms.

Among these red tide organisms, some were toxic and some were not.

Noctiluca was one of the toxic species. It could produce paralytic shellfish toxins.

Once a red tide occurred, it posed a major threat to aquaculture, especially abalone farming.

Most shellfish were filter feeders. When a red tide occurred, they might not necessarily die, but after consuming toxic algae, their bodies would also carry toxins, making them completely inedible.

Lin Manzhang’s boat was still chugging forward. When they passed through the red tide area, they saw many fish floating belly-up on the sea.

These were all fish that had been poisoned by the red tide or suffocated from lack of oxygen.

Everyone looked at the white, rotting fish one after another, their hearts heavy.

Lu Ao felt stifled, as if something were pressing on him and making it hard to breathe.

Once again, he realized that humanity’s protection of the ocean was not particularly effective. Sometimes, it even felt rather powerless.

After the boat traveled for a while and passed through that red tide area, Lin Gongshang spoke up. “The red tide is this serious. Can we still go pump the tide pool today? Any fish we catch would be toxic, right?”

As soon as he said this, everyone on the boat felt terrible.

Lin Manzhang was silent for a while. “That’s true. Then let’s head back.”

Red tide toxins mainly remained in shellfish, but fish and shrimp could also retain some.

At present, there was no specific antidote for red tide poisoning. If patients were accidentally poisoned, they would experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, paralysis of the limb muscles, and damage to the intestines.

Anyone with even the slightest conscience could not sell fish and shrimp contaminated by red tide organisms.

Today, they could not pump the tide pool, and they could not cast nets either.

Lin Manzhang returned to the sea area where he had set the nets and retrieved them one by one. If there were fish or shrimp caught inside, he threw them all back into the sea.

Lu Ao went over to help. He felt as if the man’s back had been bent by life itself, with endless bitterness hidden beneath his dark skin.

The group returned home in low spirits. The appearance of the red tide did not only mean they could not fish that day; it also meant they would not be able to fish for some time afterward.

Even if they caught fish, they could not sell them. Under strict market supervision, their fish would not be allowed to appear on the market at all.

“Well, let’s just rest properly for a few days and see how the authorities handle it.”

Lu Ao did not know much about this. “Isn’t it said that red tides are extremely harmful and that humans basically can’t do anything about them?”

“They’re very harmful, yes, but it’s not that nothing can be done. It depends on whether they’re willing to spend the money.” Lin Gongshang counted the methods for him one by one. “Things like improving the water environment, adding high concentrations of Bacillus and photosynthetic bacteria, all have pretty good effects. Also, after improving the water, they can add Chlorella to fight algae with algae, letting Chlorella take the dominant position in the water.”

Lin Manzhang also nodded. “There are always methods. It depends on whether the higher-ups are willing to spend money. If they are, the red tide will recede quickly. If they aren’t, it’ll last a little longer, but it should still retreat after a few days. Let’s wait for the notice. Generally speaking, a red tide will recede in about a week. Then we can keep fishing. Just don’t eat shellfish.”

After that, they did indeed receive an official notice saying that a red tide had broken out in this sea area, warning people not to eat fish and shrimp produced in this sea area, especially shellfish.

Once the notice was released, who knew how many fishermen cursed online. But there was nothing anyone could do. They could only listen to the authorities and temporarily shut down operations, no longer going out to fish.

When they were not fishing, fishermen still had to tend to crops in the fields. They could not truly be idle.

That afternoon, Lin Gongshang rode his motorcycle to the fields to find Lu Ao.

The moment he saw Lu Ao, before he even had time to say what he came for, he said enviously, “Your vegetables are growing really well. There are fruits everywhere. How did you do it? I don’t see you taking care of them that much.”

“Water them often, fertilize them often, weed them often. That’s probably enough.” Lu Ao straightened his waist and looked up at him. “What do you need me for?”

“Hey, can’t I come find you if there’s nothing?”

Lu Ao looked at him. He laughed. “But I really do have something to ask you. Haven’t we worked hard fishing lately? I want to invite you all to my house for barbecue.”

“Sure. What kind of barbecue?”

“Seafood barbecue isn’t really suitable right now. I’ll treat you all to grilled meat instead. Roast chicken, roast duck, grilled beef bones… Anything works. I went to the market this morning and bought a big basin of beef bones. They’ve already been sawed open. Tonight we’ll eat roasted beef marrow.”

Roasted beef marrow sounded extremely tempting.

Lu Ao did not hesitate for even half a second. “All right. I’ll go after I finish the work in the field.” After thinking about it, he added, “Can I bring someone?”

“Who? Song Zhou? Bring him, of course. We’re all so familiar with each other. No need to be polite.”

“Mm. Then I’ll come with him tonight.”

After getting a definite answer, Lin Gongshang rode his motorcycle away with loud chugging sounds to invite other people.

After Lu Ao watched him go far away, he looked around. Seeing that there was no one nearby, he raised his hand and brought down a fine drizzle over the few mu of fields.

As soon as the rain fell, the weather cooled.

Lu Ao sat by the ridge between the fields, stared blankly for quite a while, then took a bamboo basket, picked some vegetables, and returned to the village.

Recently, his field had been producing many melons, fruits, and vegetables. He could not finish them by himself, and he could not bear to use the good ones to feed the geese, so he usually delivered them to the elderly people in the village.

After Lin Gongshang and the others found out about this, they often teased him, saying that these vegetables were basically grown for other people and that he himself could not eat even half of them.

They teased him, but after picking their own vegetables, if they had extras they could not finish, they no longer thought of selling them. Instead, they sent them to the elderly people in the village.

After the village elders received vegetables, they did not take them for nothing either. On Lu Ao’s side, the elderly knew he raised geese, so they often carried over leftover rice and dishes from their homes to feed his geese. Whenever they cooked something good, they would also bring him a bowl.

Lu Ao’s unintentional act had actually improved the atmosphere around them.

There were noticeably fewer quarrels in the village.

Song Zhou had been getting off work rather late recently. Lu Ao ate dinner once at home first, eating while waiting for him to return.

When Song Zhou came back, Lu Ao had just finished eating and was about to collect the bowls. Seeing him, Lu Ao said, “Lin Gongshang invited us to his house for barbecue tonight. Are you going?”

Song Zhou smiled. “What made him suddenly want to invite us for barbecue?”

Song Zhou went to the kitchen to wash his hands. When he passed by Lu Ao, Lu Ao caught the fragrance on him.

The scent was not obvious, but it was rather domineering, drifting leisurely into his nose and making itself impossible to ignore.

Lu Ao subconsciously touched his nose and said, “He said fishing has been too exhausting and everyone’s gotten thinner. Since we’re not fishing now, he wants to nourish everyone properly.”

“Then let’s go. It’s been a while since we had barbecue with everyone. Do we need to bring anything?”

“No. We don’t really have anything to bring anyway. He said he’s prepared everything and we don’t need to worry.”

Song Zhou finished washing his hands and came out, drying them with a towel. “Are we going now or later?”

“Let’s go now and see if there’s anything they need help with.” As soon as Lu Ao finished speaking, he was reluctant to let Song Zhou go over and work, so he changed his mind. “Forget it. Let’s go later. It’s still too early. It’s not even dark yet.”

“Either is fine.” Song Zhou sat down on his exclusive reclining chair. “Are you not fishing these next few days?”

“No. There’s a red tide, so we can’t fish.”

The nearby sea still looked clear, and it was impossible to tell that anything was wrong inside. But since a red tide had broken out, the waters in their area were unsafe.

Under market supervision, they could not sell any fish. If they were eating it themselves, there was no need to go out fishing at all. So everyone simply took the chance to be lazy for a while.

Song Zhou nodded.

Lu Ao said, “It’s fine not to fish. I can use this chance to tidy up the mountain forest.”

“You’ll be busy?” Song Zhou smiled. “I happen to have a project here. I was just about to ask whether you wanted to go out with me.”

After Reincarnating as the Dragon King, I Made a Fortune with Seafood [Farming]