Li Hao Chen continued to sneak to the rear and to the side, not using his thrusters this time, as he wasn't in a hurry.
After about seven or eight minutes, besides scattered king crabs, he surprisingly found several treasure crabs. This was an unexpected delight. Although treasure crabs were not as expensive as king crabs, they were still considered a high-value commodity. These crabs had a very high meat yield and were very popular with diners, being hot sellers in San Francisco and our Magic City.
These treasure crabs were very large, weighing at least 1.5 kilograms each. This size could be considered a behemoth among treasure crabs.
However, to capture these creatures, one had to be swift. They were proper crabs and crawled quite fast, unlike the clumsy king crabs.
After some thought, Li Hao Chen decided it was best to use crab traps. His mussel meat was the bane of billions of marine creatures, so dealing with a few treasure crabs was no problem.
Li Hao Chen dashed into his space, retrieved two boxes of mussel meat, placed them in the bait boxes, and set them in the traps before heading out. The treasure crabs hadn't moved; they were still lurking in the mud and sand below, searching for food.
He placed the traps not far from the treasure crabs. The sudden noise made several treasure crabs wary. They raised their pincers and stared at the traps nearby, wondering what these things were and why they smelled so fresh.
Soon, one treasure crab couldn't resist the temptation and slowly approached. Watching all this, Li Hao Chen smiled. He knew he would soon catch them all in one go. Since the outcome was known, he decided to continue searching for other valuable items, as wasting time was shameful.
Swimming along, Li Hao Chen discovered more treasure crabs. Therefore, he decided to retrieve all the smaller crab traps. Although they weren't as concentrated as the king crabs, he found two or three every ten meters or so. This sea area spanned tens of kilometers, so the total number was considerable.
It was naturally time-consuming and labor-intensive for one person to catch them, but the harvest was immense. It was worth the hard work.
After setting all fifty small crab traps, over three hours had passed. Now, he could go back to collect the king crabs, which he expected had yielded good results.
He quickly found the first large crab trap he had deployed. Shining his powerful beam, he saw six king crabs of various sizes inside. While not as full as he had hoped, he consoled himself by thinking that even the super crab traps used by Alaskan fishing boats might not have caught more than his.
There was no rush to deal with them; he would take his time. Li Hao Chen brought the entire trap with him before leaving to continue. The second, the third... After another half hour, all thirty king crab traps were recovered, and the harvest was undoubtedly generous. Although each trap only contained five or six, or seven or eight crabs, the total number was enormous.
The quantity was not small, but the size was not impressive, only two to three pounds each. It seemed most of the crabs in this area were juveniles. But that was fine; they would mature eventually.
He placed a few pairs of large male and female crabs into the aquaculture cages and poured the rest into his spatial sea. He wasn't worried about not being able to find them. He would buy some marine life tracking devices later to attach to the king crabs before releasing them, which would definitely help him locate their lairs in his spatial ocean.
Li Hao Chen didn't stop there. After replacing the mussel meat in the bait boxes, he went to find new areas to deploy large crab traps, and after setting those, he returned to collect the smaller crab traps.
It was a cycle.
In a flash, Li Hao Chen had been in this sea area for five days. During these five days of intense fishing, he had caught at least twenty thousand king crabs, not to mention countless lobsters and treasure crabs. He had also captured a significant amount of the local red sea cucumbers and red sea urchins. The harvest from these five days was undeniably huge.
"I came with grand ambitions to harvest this country's leeks, but I didn't expect to only take this much from them. I was truly arrogant, hahaha!"
Although Li Hao Chen said this, his heart was filled with joy. Twenty thousand king crabs were a cause for celebration, and once they reproduced, it would mean millions. The thought alone was terrifying.
Of course, it was hard not to be tempted when faced with tens of millions of king crabs in the distance. However, his equipment and other aspects were not sufficient to support him in venturing into deeper waters for fishing. Still, catching so many crabs on the outskirts was a worthwhile trip.
Too much time had been spent. There was a more important destination.
After a brief rest, Li Hao Chen returned the way he came. He saw many good things along the way, but he decided to ignore them. Rushing was the priority.
Li Hao Chen traveled from morning to evening, changing batteries for his thrusters more than ten times. After more than 10 hours, he finally returned to the nearshore waters. However, he didn't dare to land directly. He decided to hide in his space until nightfall before coming ashore, which would be safer.
Just as he was about to enter his space, he unexpectedly discovered many fan scallops below. These were the world's largest scallops, growing up to over 20 centimeters in diameter when adult. Their roe, the size of eggs, greatly increased their value. These were high-end ingredients found only in upscale restaurants and were very expensive. A plate of three scallops could fetch over two hundred yuan, and the dried scallops made from them cost thousands per jin.
Although his condition was not good at the moment, he couldn't miss them since he had encountered them. Anyway, these creatures were hermaphroditic, and the current small patch was enough.
It took another half hour to sweep the nearby area. With a smile, he brought these fan scallops into his space.
Li Hao Chen picked out two large ones, and the rest he released in a suitable marine area.
After a hot shower and a bowl of hot ginger soup, the chill in his body began to dissipate.
Li Hao Chen took a small knife to pry open the two large scallops and extracted the snow-white roe. Just looking at it made him want to eat.
He took out a non-stick frying pan, added some butter, and placed the washed roe in the pan to sear for two minutes. No further seasoning was needed. It had a hint of the sea's saltiness and the rich, heavy aroma of butter. The taste was sweet and left no residue, making it incredibly delicious. It was no wonder they were so expensive.
After eating, Li Hao Chen went to rest, utterly exhausted. Without needing an eye mask, he fell asleep as soon as he lay down. He slept so soundly that he woke up 12 hours later.
Upon waking, he was startled by the time on his diving watch. But it was good. Only 6 hours had passed outside. It should be around 3 AM outside, and landing at this time should be fine.
He changed his equipment and left his space, using the lowest gear to propel himself back. Ten minutes later, Li Hao Chen retracted his thruster into his space. He slowly surfaced, carefully observing the surroundings of the beach. Confirming it was safe, he quickly went ashore. To his surprise, his tent was still there after a few days. This was even better, as he didn't need to find another place to shelter.
He entered his space again to change his clothes and came out. It was only 5 AM. He still had to wait a while. Calculating the time, it was noon back home. He had been missing for five days, so he naturally had to report his safety to his family.