Apart from a few spider crabs the size of washbasins slowly crawling in the mud, the dense spots of light representing a school of fish were nowhere to be found.
There weren't even many of those reckless, ignorant fish, let alone schools of black cod.
"Stop baiting."
Su Wei withdrew his hand from the gunwale and pulled the brim of his hood down.
There are no fish here.
Aruk had just hung up the heavy lead weight when he heard this and froze.
He looked up at Su Wei, his eyebrows raised high, his brown eyes filled with absurdity.
"No fish? You didn't even cast the hook to try."
Aruk pointed to a few occasional specks of noise flickering on the sonar screen.
"Look at this, there's definitely something down there. Su Wei, I know you're a good hunter, but at sea, sonar is the eyes. Besides, do you think your eyes can see through two hundred meters of water?"
Su Wei did not explain.
He walked to the bridge, reached out and turned the steering wheel, but his eyes remained fixed on the sea.
" Aruk, don't you Alutiiq people always pray before going to sea?"
"Certainly."
Aruk patted his chest.
"This is reverence for the sea."
That's right.
Su Wei was spouting nonsense with a straight face.
"In the East, there's an ancient technique called feng shui. The direction of the sea flow and the angle of the waves are wrong; the negative energy is too strong, and fish don't like to stay in such a stagnant place."
He couldn't possibly tell Aruk that he had a system, could he?
Can you see what's underwater?
Therefore, they simply made up a reason.
As far as he knew, generally speaking, it was difficult for the local Alutiiq people, who were already superstitious about these things, or even for America, to resist such metaphysical ideas.
They believe in religion, and such culture and knowledge are very prevalent.
As expected, Aruk's performance said it all.
Aruk's mouth dropped open, and he nearly dropped his half-smoked cigarette onto the deck.
"Feng... shui?"
But looking at Su Wei's calm face, he felt a strange unease creep into his heart.
"Although it sounds like nonsense..."
Aruk grumbled as he reluctantly put the fishing rod back into the rod holder.
"Then where do you think has good feng shui? My great feng shui master."
"Sail."
Su Wei pointed to the two o'clock position.
"Idle, slowly circle around. Stop when I tell you to stop."
Aruk rolled his eyes and stepped on the gas again.
"Okay, okay. You're the boss, I'll listen to you. But I have to remind you, even though this Yamaha is fuel-efficient, driving around like this is still burning money."
"If we end up empty-handed, you'll pay for the drinks tonight."
"Make a deal."
The Wavebreaker has started up again.
The boat was moving very slowly, at about five knots.
Su Wei stood at the bow of the ship, motionless.
The cold wind stung his cheeks, but he was completely unaware.
All attention was focused on the deep sea beneath their feet.
The sensing range swept across the seabed as the ship moved.
No.
Still no.
Apart from the occasional lone rockfish swimming by, this area of water was despair-inducingly clean.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Aruk began to appear restless in the driver's seat.
He kept checking his watch and then the fuel level, muttering complaints about the gas price and the wasted time.
" Su Wei, we've already circled three times. Further ahead is the rapids of Shipwreck Bay; the waves there can toss this little boat up."
Aruk couldn't help but shout loudly.
"Why don't we just cast our line here? It's better to try our luck than to spin around like an idiot."
Su Wei ignored his complaints.
I sensed that the seabed topography was beginning to change drastically.
The gentle, muddy ground disappeared, replaced by a steep underwater cliff, with huge rocks interspersed, and ocean currents crashing against the rock walls, creating violent upwelling.
In that very instant.
A blinding light suddenly exploded in Su Wei's field of vision.
It wasn't a few scattered spots, but a dense, impenetrable red cloud of mist, clinging tightly to the backflow side at the base of the cliff.
Around those dense red dots, several larger, brighter golden cursors also hovered.
Found it.
This density response definitely indicates a large school of fish.
Stop the ship.
Su Wei's voice came through.
Aruk was startled by the sudden order and instinctively shifted the accelerator back to neutral.
The boat slid forward a few meters due to inertia, then came to a stop bobbing in the waves.
"Here?"
Aruk peered out onto the sea.
The water here was dark black, and the waves were even more turbulent than before; even the sonar screen was blank.
Because of the complex seabed topography, sound waves are scattered by rocks, making it impossible to detect the true situation at the bottom.
"This area is full of loose rocks; it's extremely easy to get stuck."
Aruk frowned.
"And the sonar isn't responding, Su Wei, are you sure you didn't make a mistake with your feng shui?"
"There's a structural zone down here; the upwelling brings abundant plankton."
Su Wei turned and walked to the stern, picking up his top-of-the-line equipment worth two thousand US dollars.
With practiced ease, he grabbed a giant squid from the insulated box, broke its spine with the back of his knife, then plunged a 400-gram glowing metal hook into the squid's body, and carefully secured it with bite-resistant thread.
Trust me this once.
Su Wei handed one fishing rod to Aruk, his eyes calm.
"If you don't get a bite in half an hour, you can fish wherever you want from now on, I won't waste any more time."
Aruk sighed as he looked at Su Wei's serious expression.
"Fine, damn it."
He took the fishing rod and muttered to himself as he baited it.
"I'll go crazy with you this once. If I lose, you'll have to pay me back for this plate."
The two stood side by side on the swaying deck.
"Put."
At Su Wei's command, both reel spools opened simultaneously.
"Zi€€€€"
The heavy iron plate, laden with bait and trailing a brightly colored PE line, plunged into the dark sea.
The metal plate, laden with bait, swooped down.
The spool spun rapidly, emitting a slight buzzing sound.