"Whoosh~~"
Underwater, the bubbles from exhaled breath continuously shot up, looking quite striking under the light.
The seabed at night was not silent. Some nocturnal creatures scurried about, their faint sounds clear, and even the tiny bubbles exhaled by small fish could be heard.
After descending about five to six meters, his eardrums felt a slight pressure, like the clogged sensation during a cold, which was quite uncomfortable.
Li Haochen continued to swim at this depth, gradually adapting before descending further. It took three stages of acclimatization to finally reach the seabed.
In the dead of night, even with a powerful spotlight, the pitch-black seabed was rather frightening.
Li Haochen hugged the seafloor coral reefs, his legs extended and kicking alternately. With the aid of his fins, his body felt as if it were floating in space, with no sense of weight.
The seawater was exceptionally clear tonight. Various fish, nestled in seagrass and coral crevices, were exposed by the light. Fish slept as if they were awake, their eyes unmoving, giving the appearance of being alert.
"Grouper!"
The light shone upon a patch of seagrass below. Swaying with the current, a vibrant color caught his eye. A grouper weighing several pounds was hidden at the base of the seagrass, its pectoral fins fanning slowly.
Perhaps disturbed by the light, it seemed displeased, flicking its tail and slowly swimming towards the base of the adjacent seagrass.
Li Haochen moved closer again. The grouper immediately became enraged, darting away and quickly disappearing into a coral crevice.
"Hey, I wasn't planning on catching you anyway. Since you've walked into a trap, it would be rude not to take advantage, hehe!"
Seeing the cornered crevice, the grouper turned to flee. How could Li Haochen allow that? He swiftly grabbed his net and blocked the exit.
With a sudden stop, the grouper ran headfirst into the net. Li Haochen, quick as lightning, grasped the middle of the net, cutting off its escape.
"Heh, thousands of dollars in my pocket."
He tossed the grouper into the net, allowing it to thrash wildly and emit muffled cries. However, it soon quieted down, as if it had fallen asleep, likely resigned to its fate.
There were many fish hidden among the seagrass. The one he just caught was a stroke of luck, a self-trapped fish. Trying to catch fish with a net without a spear was like playing a scratch-off lottery – a fifty percent chance of winning, yet so few people actually did.
After a few more unsuccessful pursuits, Li Haochen finally gave up on the enticing fish and focused on finding crabs, scallops, and conch shells.
Li Haochen swam along the depressions of the coral reef, accumulating a decent haul of scallops, perhaps ten pounds in total, though not of great value.
At some point, Li Haochen found himself surrounded by specks of green light, like fireflies in the darkness, which was quite beautiful. Under the spotlight, they turned out to be a school of small squid, no larger than two or three fingers. If they had been several pounds, Li Haochen wouldn't have minded giving his spear a workout.
As he continued to dive, Li Haochen reached the base of a massive reef. The rock was covered in various snails, which he naturally wouldn't pass up. Checking his oxygen level, he had about ten minutes left, reserving four to five minutes for the ascent. Ten minutes should be enough to gather a good amount.
It seemed that not many people had dived and collected here recently, as the snails at the bottom were quite large, about twenty to thirty making up a pound. In less than five minutes, his net was heavy.
"Big Whelks!"
Suddenly, on the sandy bottom beneath a protruding reef ahead, seven or eight fist-sized whelks were foraging in the sand.
Li Haochen's joy knew no bounds. With a push of his hands, he shot towards them like an arrow. As his hands touched them, the creatures were startled. Their flesh retracted, and their opercula sealed tightly.
This was perfect, as easy as picking up stones. Working with both hands, in less than half a minute, all of them were in the net. "One, two... eight," a total of eight.
Although he couldn't gauge their weight in the water, he could roughly estimate their weight by their age. For instance, this one in his hand, counting from the tail of its shell, had nine circular rings, indicating it had grown for nine years, weighing around 4.5 pounds.
A whelk of this size was rare to encounter even once a year across the entire country. Furthermore, whelks could not be farmed. Most were found only by chance when fishing trawlers dragged their nets. This scarcity contributed to their considerable price. Of course, there were cheaper ones; those weighing around 3 ounces were only a hundred yuan or so. The larger they were, the more expensive they became, with those exceeding 2 pounds fetching 300 yuan per pound or even more.
The one Li Haochen held was estimated to be worth 500 yuan per pound, and many people would still eagerly snap it up. After all, there were too many wealthy people in the country. For them, money was just a string of digits, but these rare items were hard to come by, so they were willing to pay.
Whelks were divided into two types: those with smooth exteriors were called round-shelled whelks, while those with ridged protrusions were known as horned whelks. For the same size, round-shelled whelks had more meat, making them the most favored by merchants and chefs.
Of course, this didn't mean that horned whelks were cheaper. In the case of scarce items, simply finding them was a victory, let alone having a choice.
Speaking of whelks, the first thing that came to mind was Chaoshan cuisine, whose most famous dish was charcoal-grilled whelk. This was considered the pinnacle of Chaoshan cuisine, requiring immense culinary skill to prepare. Moreover, it wasn't something one could simply go and eat; reservations had to be made far in advance.
Eight large whelks! If he weren't underwater, Li Haochen would have let out a roar. Suppressing his excitement, he meticulously searched the vicinity again. Seeing no further finds, he prepared to leave when he was drawn to a few waving tendrils. As he swam closer, a scene before him startled him so much that Li Haochen immediately turned off his light.
"Thump~ thump~ thump"
Li Haochen stood frozen, afraid to make any significant movements. The rapid thumping of his heart was clearly audible in the dark seabed. He slowly turned around, holding his breath, and retreated a few steps before powerfully pushing off, ascending several meters. As he switched on the strong light, the surroundings instantly lit up, and the feeling of darkness and fear diminished significantly.
The scene from before lingered in his mind, and his breathing gradually deepened, greatly increasing his oxygen consumption. Seeing that his oxygen level had reached the red line, he dared not dwell on it further. His life was paramount, so he immediately began his ascent. Of course, he couldn't shoot straight up; he had to gradually adapt to the water pressure, otherwise, a rapid ascent could lead to decompression sickness, which could be fatal.
When he was about two to three meters from the surface, his oxygen was completely depleted. Fortunately, the distance was not far. Li Haochen held his breath, using his hands and feet to propel himself upwards, but without panic. Within seconds, he burst out of the water, quickly removed his mouthpiece, and greedily inhaled the fresh air.
"Ah~ Hoo...... I need to hurry, or they'll get away, and that would be a huge loss."