Zhou Xuan had a sudden thought. He realized that the ship had just caught over 40,000 catties of fish, and it would be inconvenient to go to the deep sea. However, they had enough fuel for the voyage. He decided to stop here and dive down to collect the clams. Regardless of their value, he had time and wouldn't lose anything. All he needed to do was to deceive the people on the ship. However, these people were easy to fool, and he could find a suitable and plausible excuse to get away with it.
"Uncle Yu, I've found some wild giant clams with pearls in these waters before, but I don't know if they're worth anything. But I think we have time, and we've already caught so many fish in one net, so there's no need to go further into the deep sea. Why don't we just fish around here and see if we find any clams or pearls?"
Yu Jinshan paused for a moment, then immediately shook his head to stop him, saying, "This might not be feasible because the terrain here is complex, unlike the flat plains. Mussels live on the seabed, and if the net doesn't reach the very bottom, it won't be able to bring up any mussels or other creatures. Besides, mussels generally live in shallow waters, and it's unlikely there will be any here in such a deep area."
Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "Second Uncle, I think there's some diving equipment in the storage room? I'll dive down and take a look; I have some time now anyway."
Everyone on the ship was startled.
Although they are fishermen and are no strangers to going into the water, there is a fundamental difference between fishermen and diving fishermen. Fishermen have ordinary diving equipment such as wetsuits on their boats, which are only for dealing with unexpected emergencies. Diving fishermen, on the other hand, are professional divers. Their equipment and diving operations are well-designed. The water temperature is relatively low now, which is not suitable for diving. Moreover, the water depth in this area exceeds 100 meters. A person cannot withstand such high air pressure in deep water, so everyone is against it.
Zhou Xuan spread his hands and said, "Second Uncle, you all don't need to worry. I've always been a diving enthusiast and often do winter swimming at home. The weather is already springtime, and summer will be just around the corner. The sun will soon be high in the sky, so the temperature is actually quite high. I get itchy to see the sea but not dive in. So let me dive this time."
Fu Gui looked at the sea from the side of the boat. The undulating waves were rocking the boat up and down. He frowned and said, "Brother, I think we should..."
"Don't worry," Zhou Xuan interrupted him before he could finish speaking. He then turned around and went to the storage room to retrieve a set of diving equipment. He took off his clothes, put on a diving suit, slung the air pump over his shoulder, and then put on his goggles.
However, the diving equipment on board is ordinary, only suitable for diving to a depth of no more than 40 or 50 meters, and there is no underwater communication device.
Seeing everyone's worry, Zhou Xuan smiled and said, "I used to go diving all the time, this is nothing. Also, Fugui, go find a small net, tie it with a rope, and I'll take it into the sea. If there's anything, I'll put it in the net and then bring it back up."
Zhou Xuan had already made his decision, so Fu Gui stopped trying to persuade him. He went to the cabin and found a small net that was three or four meters wide. There was also a small winch on the ship, so he untied the rope and tied it securely to the small net.
Zhou Xuan threw the small net into the sea, then smiled and said, "I'm going in."
After saying that, he stood up and jumped straight into the sea without any fancy moves. The people on the boat came over to watch where he entered the water. Some of them even thought that Hu Yun was a bit stupid. He had caught so many fish, so why did he have to go diving in the sea? And why did he go to collect shellfish?
Zhou Xuan's matter was naturally something that couldn't be explained to them, and even those who had been detected by his special abilities couldn't understand it.
Once in the sea, the water temperature was indeed a bit low, around 14 or 15 degrees Celsius. However, after diving to a depth of 20 meters or more, the water temperature rose slightly.
Although the ocean is vast, it is far less terrifying than the underground rivers for Zhou Xuan. In the deep underground rivers, one wrong move and you could be swept away and never come out again. But in the ocean, no matter how you swim, you will not encounter such a situation. The ferocious creatures in the sea are not so scary. They are all within the known range, and Zhou Xuan's superpowers can handle them completely.
As for the water temperature and the depth of about 100 meters, those were not problems at all for Zhou Xuan. He could dive down with his bare hands without any issues.
Zhou Xuan activated his superpower, which spread throughout his body, and probed the surrounding area within 40 to 50 meters. He would know if there was any danger. The light was also good now, as it was the golden hour of the morning, around 8 to 9 o'clock. He could see with his naked eye even without using his superpower when he was 40 meters or more underwater.
Zhou Xuan dragged the small net attached to the rope with one hand as he descended. He felt no pressure at all and easily reached a depth of seventy or eighty meters. His supernatural ability detected that some places had already reached the bottom, and some narrow trenches still had depth. However, Zhou Xuan would not take a detour and swam directly into the deep trench with clams.
The fish swam out of this deep ditch. When Zhou Xuan entered the ditch, the light suddenly dimmed. The ditch was narrow and deep. The width of the initial part was only three or four meters, while the depth was seven or eight meters. It got deeper and deeper as he went in. Using his special ability to detect, the ditch stretched far into the distance, its length far exceeding his detection range. The bottom began to appear forty or fifty meters away, and he could no longer detect the bottom. It seemed that this ditch was more than two hundred meters deep.
It seems that this trench leads to the south. Because the trench is long and deep, the water above does not easily flow down, so the water temperature is higher than that above. Some cold-sensitive marine creatures dive into the trench, which is their safe haven. Although the trench is very deep, it is only a few meters wide, which makes it difficult for some large marine predators to operate. Therefore, other marine life prefers it because the temperature is right and it is safe.
You can't see deeper from the ship; only by being there in person can you truly understand the situation.
Once inside the trench, Zhou Xuan could no longer observe with the naked eye and could only use his special ability to detect things, as light was almost completely blocked.
At the entrance of the nearly 100-meter-long trench, the slope extends downwards. In this nearly 100-meter-long trench, there are hundreds or even thousands of clams, with very obvious rings of texture on their shells.
This is somewhat like the rings of a tree. Zhou Xuan estimated that this might be the age of the clam. One ring represents one year. He pushed his superpower to the limit, protecting a range of about 40 to 50 meters around him while probing the size of the pearl inside the clam. He left the small pearls alone and picked up the larger ones and put them into the net.
When Zhou Xuan picked up those large clams, he could feel their weight in his hands, probably no less than four or five pounds. He had never seen clams this big before. In this ditch, there were at least a hundred clams of this size. The rest were slightly smaller. Judging from the patterns on their shells, these clams were probably thirty or forty years old. The smaller ones were also within the range of ten years or so, but the pearls inside them were obviously much smaller.
There are dozens of pearls inside these larger oysters, but only a few are the largest and well-formed, with the largest being a single pearl with a diameter of over one centimeter.
Because if the net were pulled into the trench, it might become too heavy to drag out, and if the net got caught on the rocks when the ship's winch was turned, it might break. So Zhou Xuan could only put the net on the surface of the trench and carry two at a time, shuttling back and forth between the bottom of the trench and the sea above it.
Because of repeatedly performing the same actions, Zhou Xuan became more demanding when selecting clams later on. He discarded those with smaller pearls and only selected those that were over fifty years old. When he reached the trench a hundred meters away, the number of clams began to decrease. The deeper he went, the heavier and larger the clams became, but their numbers decreased dramatically.
Later, the trench reached a depth of about two hundred meters. Of course, this was just Zhou Xuan's estimate; without a deep-water measuring instrument, the exact depth was unknown.
When Zhou Xuan reached the later areas, he moved almost every clam he encountered, because at this depth, each clam was over fifty years old and contained a large pearl.
Once in this area, the number of clams could only be counted individually. After two more trips, the area was almost over. Further exploration revealed even greater depths, but thirty or forty meters ahead, Zhou Xuan detected an even larger clam, which appeared to be almost the size of a small washbasin.
Zhou Xuan had never seen such a large clam before. On the ship, his special ability couldn't detect this place. It was more than 300 meters above the sea surface and 100 meters deep. Once on the seabed, the depth of this trench was close to 200 meters, which was beyond the limit of Zhou Xuan's detection ability. Therefore, Zhou Xuan couldn't detect this largest clam on the ship.
This clam has rings all over its shell, and each ring has some small bluish moss-like things on it, just like rusted iron. It can only be said that it is very old.
Zhou Xuan swam over to the large clam while probing it.
Inside the giant clam was a large pearl with a diameter of over two centimeters. Such a large wild pearl is rare. In Zhou Xuan's memory, he had never seen such a large pearl.
Mussel pearls are different from other types of pearls. They are formed slowly by the growth of mollusks. Therefore, the larger the pearl, the harder it is to find. This oyster looks to be over a hundred years old.
Zhou Xuan found it strange; could a clam live that long?
Although it was hard to understand, Zhou Xuan still had to move this clam. There were probably more than a hundred clams that had already been moved into the net. He had already moved so many and spent time diving to the seabed. If he didn't move this king clam, which was his trump card, then the whole trip would have been for nothing.
Zhou Xuan slowly swam over and reached the giant clam. Because he touched it with his hands, he could feel its size even more clearly. When he lifted it up with both hands, it weighed almost ten kilograms. He had never seen such a large clam before.
As Zhou Xuan picked up the giant clam, he suddenly sensed danger—a subconscious feeling of danger in his mind.
Several dark, long rope-like things suddenly rose from the ground and wrapped around Zhou Xuan.
When Zhou Xuan was suddenly wrapped around this thing, he felt a burning pain all over his body, as if he had been electrocuted. His neck was also strangled, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.
The attack was so sudden that Zhou Xuan's special abilities couldn't detect it; it was as if the thing suddenly sprang from underground, leaving him completely unprepared.
Volume 1, Chapter 459: The Ferocious Giant Squid
Chapter 459 The Ferocious Giant Squid
The reason Zhou Xuan was unprepared was not because his supernatural abilities couldn't detect it; rather, after using his abilities, he focused on living things and moving creatures. He simply didn't notice this motionless thing lying on the ground, letting it slip by like a rock.
After being attacked, Zhou Xuan struggled for a moment before realizing what was happening. He then quickly used his ice-energy ability to freeze the thing.
In an instant, the tentacles and tendrils that were wrapped around him were covered by ice. Although he was still wrapped around, the pressure was gone.