Chapter 245: Chapter 242: School of Fish

Winter always makes it easy for people to want to go back to sleep in their cozy beds.

Bi Fang was no exception, especially after confirming there was no danger, he found the cold stimulating and wanted to crawl back into his tent. However, after taking a few deep breaths and quickly increasing his blood oxygen level, he perked up and stood back on the raft.

The sky was silent because of its gloominess.

Suddenly, the silence shattered as rain fell with a hiss, turning the sea into a white expanse.

The raft remained stable. Bi Fang reached out his hand to touch the water, feeling the coldness of the raindrops splashing on his skin.

“Not every rainfall at sea is a storm. Sometimes it’s just a calm rain like this, with no strong winds or big waves. This is the best opportunity to collect rainwater.”

Exhaling a breath that turned foggy in the cold air, he retreated into his tent, untied his jacket that was set up to collect rainwater, and reached out both hands to start gathering the rain. He even took out the plastic bottles and containers from the water purifier to catch the water.

But this time, Bi Fang stood under the tent’s shelter, extending only his arms outside, using his jacket to catch the rain.

“This isn’t a storm. In fact, the sea is even calmer than usual. So, there’s no need to worry about waves contaminating the fresh water or the raft shaking so much that it spills. In these conditions, you can just stay in the tent to collect the water. There’s no need to get as drenched and cold as I did last time.”

An astonishing coldness spread up Bi Fang’s arms, but it was undoubtedly more bearable than last time. Previously, he had been soaking wet and started to lose body heat. This time, only his arms felt the chill, merely a drizzle by comparison.

“But you can’t be too careless. If you were in the Arctic Ocean, it might be worse because the extremely cold environment could cause cell necrosis and worsen the situation. So, the method you use to collect rainwater must depend on the specific circumstances.”

While speaking, Bi Fang noticed that the jacket in his hands had grown significantly heavier. It seemed the rain was not light, and once the rain stopped, it would be a great time to fish. He might even encounter a school of squid surfacing. He hadn’t eaten for days and found himself missing the taste of squid cooked on a slate.

After half an hour, Bi Fang’s arms grew stiff with cold, but the jacket had become much heavier, almost full. The rain started to lessen. After taking a few sips of water, he hurriedly tied it up again with a towel.

“Now to wait for the rain to stop.”

Bi Fang capped the water bottles and secured the containers with the tent fabric, then stowed them inside the life raft.

The consumption of tent fabric had been significant these past two days. Luckily, it was raised, providing a larger coverage area than the life raft itself; otherwise, it wouldn’t even cover the raft by now.

Today marked the twelfth day of survival at sea, with only nine days left until the mission’s end. Yet, Bi Fang had already stored over ten liters of rainwater, meaning he no longer had to worry about his fresh water supply and could drink about a liter and a half each day.

Even after finishing the water in the containers and bottles, he could continue to use the purifier to get more water, almost reaching healthy drinking standards.

[Awesome, damn it, surviving in such harsh sea conditions, that’s incredible, seriously incredible!]

[Plus one. I thought at first that Old Fang was going to fail, but he’s got water and food, and can even have barbecues. It’s like compound interest, feels like he could live there for months.]

[Just break Pan Jinlian’s record and live stream for three months!]

[It’s Pan Lian, goddammit, not Pan Jinlian!]

[Impossible, Old Fang could only shorten the time, not lengthen it, very tiny indeed.]

[By the way, what about the guy who said he would write a novel? He promised to start a document. Has he written anything at all?]

[He has. That guy is in the fan group, there was a chat about it, and he’s reportedly written a 100-word beginning.]

[Holy shit, I want to see it too.]

[All ten fan groups are filled up…]

“Oh, he really wrote it?”

Bi Fang was equally surprised, as he rarely engaged with the fan group. It was quite unbelievable to hear that someone had truly started writing.

[Yes, and I’ve seen it. The writing is elegant, the diction exquisite. It’s a rare gem, sure to hit ten thousand orders once published, and destined to be legendary upon completion. The world of online literature has gained another great author.]

Bi Fang smiled and, unconcerned with copyright issues, showed interest, “Well, I’ll have to check it out when it’s published.”

After the chat, the rain had almost stopped, and Bi Fang hurried to the front of the raft, ready to fish.

Sea fishing is quite interesting, especially the moment the prey is hooked and breaks the surface. There’s a strong sense of satisfaction—the bigger the fish, the stronger the satisfaction.

No wonder so many people enjoy being anglers.

Since it had just rained, the raft was still a bit damp. Bi Fang stood at the front, waiting for a fish to bite.

The audience was curious to see what he would catch this time, and if it might be possible for him to reel in the legendary Bluefin Tuna.

“Bluefin Tuna?”

Bi Fang scratched his eyebrow and then shook his head. He stepped on the raft and pointed to the fishing line in his hand.

“It’s unlikely, although bluefin tuna mainly live in the Atlantic Ocean and have a very high temperature tolerance, the force of these creatures is too great. Just with my setup here, it’s tough to haul them up. Remember what happened the day before yesterday? The line broke because the fish was too big.”

The audience nodded, recalling Bi Fang’s encounter the day before.

That day, when he was fishing, Bi Fang caught something extremely heavy, and before it even surfaced, the line snapped with a loud pop, costing him bait and a bone hook.

A wood raft, fishing line, and a bone hook—if they could catch a fish of ten pounds, it would be quite an achievement, let alone bluefin tuna. Not to even talk about catching one, they dared not even dream of it.

[Ah, that’s really a pity.]

[When will Old Fang go deep-sea fishing for tuna, maybe break a world record?]

[Master Fang: ???]

[A world record isn’t something you can break just because you say so. Isn’t that about luck? So many people are fishing, why should you be able to catch the biggest one as soon as you go out to the sea?]

Bi Fang smiled, finding the comments of the netizens quite interesting. Just as he was about to respond, suddenly the fishing line in his hand sank.

A fish was on the hook!

His relaxed concentration instantly tightened. Bi Fang immediately grabbed the fishing line, but when he looked down to pull up the fish, everyone was startled by what was happening underwater.

The clouds had just dispersed, and the sun had just risen.

Thousands upon thousands of fish formed a vast school, shimmering like the morning glow. Some traced upward spirals, while others swirled down into the sea’s depths. Some fish shone bright as silver, some appeared nearly transparent under the sunlight, and others even reflected a faint blue luminescence. They circled like black holes in the ocean, moving swiftly, with ripples and reflections of light everywhere you looked.

The scene before them was vast and magnificent.

The dreamlike beauty was beyond the limits of imagination, making one mistake the sunset-colored waters for the sky before dusk, with the fish inviting guests to swim in the heavens.

Herring!

Thousands of Atlantic herrings!

Bi Fang momentarily forgot to pull up the line.

[Damn, so many fish? Are they all crazy?]

[What’s Old Fang doing staring? Get to work!]

[After this haul, we won’t have to worry about eating and drinking ever again!]

[Doesn’t that look like herring?]

[Damn, those smelly canned herrings?]

Seeing the school of fish, the audience exploded with excitement. When had they ever seen such a spectacular scene? How many fish were there? A few thousand, tens of thousands, or even millions?

There were too many to count. Too many!

Faced with the audience’s excitement, Bi Fang remained unmoved but furrowed his brows.

The whirlpool formed by the school of fish seemed to be contracting?

The fish were already packed tight, yet they were still compressing further. Suddenly, Bi Fang’s heart raced. Only one thing could explain this behavior.

There was a predator nearby!

[Something’s coming!]

The audience exclaimed as the camera swiftly switched.

Through the underwater drone’s footage.

In the sunset-colored waters, a sleek shadow moved, its long tail swaying slowly. It moved leisurely, but anyone could tell it could burst into incredible speed at any moment, like a torpedo aiming at its target. Each dive caused the school to shrink a bit more.

Shark.

A school of sharks!