Chapter 735: Thief
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du could swim well and had good skills in the water, which was one of the reasons he dared to go into the sea.
But to be on the safe side, he wore an active life jacket.
This life jacket was usually close-fitting on the body like tights. If there was danger, Li Du could open a valve in the front of the life jacket. There would be a chemical reaction inside causing the life jacket to inflate and float to the surface.
When he was ready, he put on his diving goggles and dove into the water. The feeling of coldness wrapped around him. After all, it was autumn in Australia, and the water was still cold.
He dove into the water and with the strength of his body forged by the little bug, he dove down to the bottom of the sea and found a gray and white reef. In the reef, he found a shiny looking abalone.
This was black gold abalone, which was not very “black” at all. Its outer shell was actually very bright. It was called, “rainbow in the water” by Maori people.
Abalone fishermen had special equipment, such as a scaled ruler on the arm of their diving suit, so that when they found an abalone, they could measure it with their arm.
Li Du put his arm across and measured it. Yes, he had not misjudged. The abalone was 14 centimeters long and was big enough to harvest.
However, it was difficult to harvest abalone because they moved so slowly that they had to resort to passive predation in order to get enough food.
This method of eating involved bringing their food to them through the sea’s turbulent current so that they could open their mouth and enjoy the food gracefully.
It could be observed that abalone tended to live in places where the water was turbulent. So in order not avoid having the current sweep their food away, the abalone had to be attached to the reef with an absorption force greater than the current. A larger area of the sucker plate needed to be attached to the reef.
The abalone sucker was its foot, and the strength of its grip on the reef made it hard to remove.
Li Du drew the abalone prying tool from behind his back. It was a professional black gold abalone harvesting tool.
“I pry, pry, pry… Little thing, I’ll definitely pry you up! Oh no, I’m suffocating…”
Li Du had to rise to the surface of the water to breathe immediately. Ah Meow, Ah Ow, and Crispy Noodles were excited and started meowing and howling when they saw him.
He waved his hand, and Ah Ow ran and jumped into the water. Ah Meow and Crispy Noodles looked at each other and sat together on shore with expressions clearly showing they were not willing to get into the water.
Ah Ow swam quickly to Li Du’s side and happily licked his face with her tongue. She licked his head twice and started spitting into the water.
Obviously, the seawater was not tasty.
Li Du laughed. He took a deep breath again and dove into the water. He found the big abalone again. When he was about to continue, he was stunned. “I just used all my might to pry part of it up, and now it is stuck on the rock again!”
He reached for the abalone and shook it as hard as he could but it did not move a bit. It stuck to the rock like it had been stuck there with super glue.
Li Du did not believe this. He held his breath and stuck a prying tool under its body to force it out, but he couldn’t push the tool in at all so he couldn’t leverage his strength there. The board would slide out even if he put just a little effort into it.
He could not hold his breath again, so he helplessly swam out of the water and said angrily, “D*mn, this abalone is so difficult to pry out!”
Lu Guan hurriedly poured him a cup of hot cocoa and said, “Boss, would you like to come up and have a rest? We’ll discuss how we can get the abalone up easily.”
Li Du still had strength, but Lu Guan was right about discussing finding an easy way to separate the abalone from the stone. Otherwise, such a deep dive over and over was a waste of energy.
While he getting out of the water, Li Du hadn’t noticed that one of the abalone fishermen had been watching him. Once he was out of the water, the man dove in.
From the water to the shore, Li Du could feel the temperature rise. Once ashore, Li Du sat on a rock and drank his hot cocoa.
As he rested, he and his three men discussed how to harvest the abalone easily.
“Change the knife. You should have asked Boss Fu to bring his knife. It’s sharp enough.”
“Stupid, the Fishing and Hunting Bureau doesn’t allow cutting abalone with a knife. I think it’s a matter of skill and patience and eventually, he will be able to defeat it.”
“Am I not patient enough? If I were impatient, I would have already broken it!”
“Boss, you have to rely on strength,” Godzilla said, pounding a rock with his fist. The rock broke!
The discussion was useless. Li Du drank the last drop of the hot cocoa and said helplessly, “I’d better go into the water myself and find some way.”
He released the little bug so it could lead him into the water. He was surprised to find that the abalone was gone. Someone was carrying his abalone and was preparing to leave.
Upon seeing this, he suddenly understood what was happening. His abalone was being stolen!
Knowing this, he was enraged. He quickly jumped into the water and at the same time said, “All that can swim come with me in the water, someone is doing something fishy!”
As soon as the abalone thief got his hands on it, the air in his lungs was running out, so he came out of the water to breathe. Li Du took this opportunity to swim over and catch him. Li Du said furiously, “Thief, give me back my abalone!”
The man gave him a rude push and said, “Hey, yellow skin, what’s wrong with you? Who took your abalone? Where is your abalone?”
“Where did you get the abalone in your hands?” said Li Du with a sullen face.
“I found it in the water. What’s wrong?”
Li Du said angrily, “I was the first one to find this abalone!”
The thief said dismissively, “Did you find it? Where’s the evidence? I found the abalone. Did you find yours after I said that no one is allowed to harvest them?”
He wanted to get rid of Li Du.
Li Du grabbed him and said coldly, “Fine, you’re sure you want to be a thief, aren’t you?”
“Don’t f**king frame someone, son of a bitch. Who’s a thief now? If you keep accusing me, I’ll shove you under the water…” Godzilla and Big Quinn swam near before he could finish his sentence.
Looking at Big Quinn and Godzilla’s ferocity, the thief was afraid and pushed Li Du away.
However, Li Du was so strong that his big hand held the thief as firmly as a pair of pliers.
Godzilla swam by and grabbed him by the neck like a chicken, swam ashore, and dragged him up.
Along the way he drank several mouthfuls of sea water, and after landing on the bank, the thief fell over on the reef and vomited.
Godzilla and Big Quinn looked even bulkier on land, especially when they looked up at each other up close. Both of them could strip off their clothes to reveal muscles that were more formidable than boulders.
Finally, the thief got scared and threw away the abalone. “Ok, Ok, I’m sorry for what I did. Please forgive me!”
