HDRDTH -Chapter 26 Dad… Why Is This Fish Carrying an Oxygen Tank?

Interpol’s escort service was nothing short of imperial-level treatment.

Three patrol boats formed a sharp triangular formation, surrounding the “Salted Fish No. 2” in the very center.

The posture looked less like they were escorting a fishing boat and more like they were protecting a mobile strategic weapon, terrified that this lunatic might suddenly swing his rod and accidentally hook a nuclear submarine from some major power.

“Mr. Yu, let me repeat this once again. Ahead lies an extremely sensitive disputed maritime zone.”

Captain Smith’s voice crackled through the radio, mixed with static. His tone was filled with both helplessness and professionalism.

“Intelligence indicates that the international pirate organization ‘Deep Sea Octopus’ has very likely already set its sights on this area.”

“Due to diplomatic restrictions, if our official vessels cross the line, it could not only trigger an international incident but also alert those desperadoes and cause them to destroy valuable World War II relics.”

Yu Xian sprawled lazily across his newly re-welded tractor seat, feet propped on the control panel, absentmindedly scratching his toes as he replied impatiently into the microphone.

“Yeah, yeah, spare me the fancy talk. We’re all old monsters here.”

“You just want me, this so-called ‘enthusiastic civilian,’ to act as bait while you guys hide behind the safety line and wait for me to flush the fish out, right?”

An awkward cough came from the other side of the radio.

“Ahem… this is called a joint investigation operation, Mr. Yu. You are our specially invited technical consultant.”

“The supply ship has already delivered the heavy-duty winch and special bait prepared by Miss Qin. The moment you discover any trace of the ‘gold ship,’ our people will provide full-speed support from the edge of legal waters.”

“Keep your support.”

Yu Xian directly cut the signal.

“Stay farther away. Don’t scare off my fish.”

The three patrol boats retreated as if pardoned from execution, slowly withdrawing until they vanished into the thin white line where sea met sky.

On the endless ocean, only the lonely “Salted Fish No. 2” remained.

The supply ship arranged by Qin Yue had operated with astonishing efficiency. Not only had they refueled the vessel completely, they had even airlifted an entire industrial-grade deep-sea heavy winch system according to Yu Xian’s specifications.

The efficiency was so absurd that Yu Xian had begun suspecting this entire Maldives trip had been a giant trap personally dug for him by Qin Yue.

Two broad-shouldered technicians directly welded the massive device onto the weathered blast-proof steel plate at the bow.

The whole setup looked less like fishing equipment and more like preparations to salvage the Titanic.

“Dad! Captain Smith and the others… really left?”

Wang Dafu hugged an old yellowed sea chart so worn it practically had a polished sheen. As the sea breeze blew, his legs trembled violently like sieves.

“With just us few people and this crappy boat, what if we actually run into those trigger-happy pirates…”

“Shut up.”

Yu Xian was replacing the “Poseidon’s Trident” with a brand-new spool of Kevlar fishing line. Under the sunlight, the line shimmered with a faint blue glow and was supposedly strong enough to tow a light truck.

He didn’t even look up.

“With police around, the fish won’t even dare open their mouths.”

“Can gold be used as sinkers? Can it be used as chum?”

“If not, then shut up.”

“It can!”

Wang Dafu’s eyes instantly lit up as though he had discovered the meaning of life.

“If you use gold as chum, wouldn’t you end up hooking the Dragon King’s third prince?!”

“Heh. Vulgar.”

Yu Xian adjusted his posture.

The tractor seat beneath him now resembled the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones.

The swells of the Pacific were completely different from coastal waters. Every rise and fall was heavy and prolonged, like the breathing of a sleeping beast.

The seawater here, once cut open, revealed a thick ink-black darkness that sunlight couldn’t penetrate.

Beneath the hull, deep within the abyss, it felt as though some enormous eye was silently watching.

For ordinary people, this boundless oppression inspired terror.

But for a lifelong skunked fisherman like Yu Xian?

This was pure adrenaline.

“Everyone, stand back.”

Yu Xian rose to his feet and pulled a pair of oil-stained anti-slip gloves from the toolbox, putting them on solemnly.

“This time, I’m going big.”

“I’m using the ‘deep-sea bottom-bouncing method’ to knock directly on the Dragon King’s front door.”

Click.

The cabin door immediately locked from the inside.

Su Wanyi tightly hugged Su Qian and even put noise-canceling headphones on her daughter.

She now suffered severe PTSD toward the phrase “Yu Xian fishing.”

Every time this man swung a fishing rod, it felt like the entire planet was about to shake three times.

Whoosh—!

A specially made teardrop-shaped lead sinker weighing nearly two pounds sliced through the air and plunged into the sea. It barely even splashed before vanishing into the ink-black depths.

The reel emitted a soft humming sound as it spun rapidly.

One hundred meters…

Three hundred meters…

Five hundred meters…

Only when the Kevlar line on the spool was nearly exhausted did the rod tip twitch downward slightly.

Bottom contact.

Yu Xian sat back upon his tractor-iron throne, gripped the rod with both hands, and began rhythmically jerking it.

Every lift caused the sinker, hundreds of meters below on the seabed, to peck repeatedly against the silent ocean floor like a suicidal woodpecker.

Ten minutes passed.

Half an hour passed.

The sea surface remained calm, with only the monotonous sound of waves.

Wang Dafu yawned so hard tears came out.

“Dad, maybe the intel was wrong? There isn’t even a shrimp down there.”

“Shut up.”

Yu Xian’s voice squeezed through clenched teeth.

“Don’t jinx it at a time like this.”

The moment the words fell—

THUD!

No warning.

No probing.

The rod tip suddenly plunged downward as though an invisible giant hand had violently shoved it into the sea!

The impact was crude, heavy, tyrannical beyond reason—

like the hook had snagged a high-speed train racing across the ocean floor five hundred meters below!

“Holy shit!”

The tremendous force instantly yanked Yu Xian half a meter off his seat!

While suspended midair, he twisted his waist with an utterly unscientific movement and slammed both feet back onto the deck!

BANG!

The two-centimeter-thick blast-proof steel plate beneath him actually dented with two shallow footprints!

“HOOKED!!”

He let out a suppressed roar. The muscles in his thighs bulged like stone as he forcibly halted the momentum dragging him toward the sea!

SCREEEECH—!!!

The reel screamed as its metal components ground together at their limit, even producing wisps of blue smoke. The smell of burning engine oil spread through the air.

“It’s moving! It’s running sideways!”

Wang Dafu pointed at the fishing rod bent into an extreme C-shape and screamed so hard his voice cracked.

Yu Xian gritted his teeth, veins bulging along his arms like twisted dragons.

Cold sweat soaked his back.

This feeling was wrong!

There was none of the rhythmic struggle of a giant fish shaking its head, nor the dull heaviness of snagging a shipwreck.

This was a brutal dragging force powered by something continuous—like an engine!

He entered “human crane” mode.

His body moved with the rhythm of the swells, borrowing strength from every incoming wave as he frantically cranked the winch, inch by inch battling the monster beneath the sea.

Forty minutes passed.

It felt like an entire century.

The blisters on Yu Xian’s palms had long since burst open. Blood mixed with sweat into a sticky mess, yet the light in his eyes only grew brighter.

“Break… the surface!!!”

With a furious roar using every ounce of his strength—

SPLASH—!!!

A black humanoid object was violently dragged out from the ink-dark ocean!

The thing wore a black rubber diving suit, with a metallic oxygen tank strapped to its back and several green grenades hanging from its waist.

“Huh?!”

Wang Dafu rubbed his eyes violently.

“This is… some new species of fish that looks like a special forces soldier?”

Yu Xian stared at the thing dangling from the hook by its shoulder strap, flailing in midair like a hanging salted fish, and instantly felt ten years older.

“This is… a frogman?”

he muttered blankly.

“Why the hell is there a frogman at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean?!”

The diver was clearly just as confused. Hanging helplessly from the hook with a breathing regulator still in his mouth, he could only let out muffled screams.

“Mmmph! Mmph!”

He pointed frantically at his waist.

Yu Xian followed the direction of his finger, and his pupils instantly shrank to needlepoints.

An extremely thin metal detonation wire was attached to the diver’s waist.

The other end…

disappeared into the unfathomable depths below!

“Wait! That’s a detonator cable! He was conducting underwater demolition work!”

“I reeled him up, which means I tightened the fuse!!”

Before the words even finished—

BOOOOM—!!!

A muffled explosion powerful enough to rupture eardrums erupted from the ocean depths!

The “Salted Fish No. 2” jumped violently beneath their feet!

Then a gigantic water column dozens of meters wide blasted skyward like the wrath of Poseidon himself!

Countless black ship fragments and flashes of gold erupted alongside the geyser, launched hundreds of meters into the air!

“I-Is it raining gold?!”

Wang Dafu stared upward in complete shock.

Ancient gold coins engraved with old crests rained down like sudden hailstones, clattering loudly across the deck.

“The gold ship! The gold ship got blasted out of the ocean!!”

Wang Dafu instantly lost his mind. He dropped to his knees and stuffed a handful of gold coins into his mouth, trying to bite them to verify authenticity.

But Yu Xian’s gaze remained locked onto the sea.

At the center of the explosion, a massive whirlpool was forming.

And within the whirlpool, an enormous object was slowly rising upward.

It was a pitch-black miniature submarine with a vicious octopus emblem painted across its hull.

The symbol of the “Deep Sea Octopus” pirate organization!

Click!

The submarine hatch burst open.

More than a dozen pirates carrying automatic rifles stormed out, radiating murderous bloodlust as their dark gun barrels uniformly aimed at the “Salted Fish No. 2.”

The one-eyed pirate leader glanced first at the deck covered in gold coins, then at the subordinate still dangling from the fishing hook like a slab of dried meat.

Shock filled his single eye—

followed immediately by endless killing intent.

Clink.

The gold coin fell from Wang Dafu’s mouth onto the deck.

His voice trembled with tears.

“Dad… did we just… steal the pirates’ treasure first?”