Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 404: The Sea King

The Barents Sea, under a sky thick with clouds, resembled a boundless black abyss.

No one could know what lay beneath the seabed.

It was possible that treasures laden with gold coins from the 16th to the 19th centuries were buried there, or perhaps something unknown.

This is why people fear the deep sea…you simply don't know what's at the bottom.

But Yang Yang knew.

Although the girl could only sense the area 300 meters below the sea, it was enough for the crab fishing industry.

Qing Chen thought that if one day Yang Yang grew tired of the world's strife and came to this place to be a captain, she might become the crab fishing captain who ruled the Bering Sea and the Barents Sea.

Looking at all the ports in the world, none of them could compare.

Yang Yang looked at Qing Chen and whispered, "Actually, the Inner World has a life detection instrument that can detect a range of 300 meters, but everyone is thinking about fighting, and doesn't think that bringing this thing to the Outer World would be of much use…It's not useless, it's just not as useful as other technologies."

Qing Chen understood what Yang Yang meant. If the crab fishing boat carried a life detection instrument, the Emperor Crabs on the seabed would be in trouble.

Where the crab grounds were, where the crab groups were active, all you needed to do was use the life detection instrument to take a look.

However, when mankind pursues technological progress, it will always put a little more emphasis on weapons, even if the Time Traveler brings technology back from the Inner World, it's the same.

At this time, Zhang Jian was about to drive the North Pole to the sea area Yang Yang had mentioned.

In fact, Yang Yang couldn't tell exactly which direction it was. Her sensory perceptions were still being affected by the force field, so she was still directionally challenged.

Fortunately, Yang Yang told Qing Chen where she had passed by how many minutes ago, and Qing Chen determined the location of the crab grounds.

"Wait, don't drive over there," Qing Chen frowned.

"What's wrong?" Old John asked suspiciously.

He searched around, then handed the telescope to Old John: "There's a ship following us from afar. Let's circle around with them and don't lead them to where we're going to drop the cages."

Old John was stunned. On the deck, he was the one who had the final say. If a new sailor wanted to seize power, it would be a very serious matter.

But when he saw Alps in the telescope, he still called Zhang Jian: "Zhang, let's circle around with Alps."

Old John looked at Qing Chen in surprise. The Alps in the distance looked like a small white dot, and the boy hadn't used the telescope just now. How did he discover Alps?

Moreover, Qing Chen seemed very certain of the place they were going to, as if there were countless Emperor Crabs.

This crab fishing trip had a tense atmosphere. Long Tail, Killer Whale, and Alps seemed to surround the North Pole.

This menacing posture made Old John feel uneasy.

Qing Chen asked, "What would happen if there were conflicts between crab fishing boats at sea?"

Old John said solemnly, "Someone would secretly go underwater and cut the ropes on other people's floats, causing all your crab cages to sink to the bottom."

Qing Chen was stunned: "That's all?"

Old John said, "They all have a lot of diving suits on board, but Zhang Jian saved money, so our North Pole didn't prepare any."

This meant that they had no chance to fight back.

However, after Old John finished speaking, he found a relaxed expression on Qing Chen's Face^[-].

To be honest, Qing Chen thought that everyone would be fighting at sea. If it was just cutting floats…

It was a little underwhelming.

Cutting floats was actually a very insidious tactic that could cause a crab fishing boat to suffer heavy losses. Several such incidents had occurred in the Barents Sea before, either because a captain slept with another captain's wife, or because the crab fishing forces in the port were preparing to reshuffle.

Qing Chen looked far into the distance at the edge of the vast sea: "Let's go to the destination. Alps is gone."

Old John looked in that direction, his eyes wide, but he saw nothing: "I can't see anything?"

Qing Chen looked at him strangely: "Of course you can't see anything if they've gone."

This almost made Old John angry!

…

…

As the ship swayed, Old John directed Yang Yang to hang herring bait into the crab cages, and then directed Qing Chen and Neidapu to throw eight crab cages into the sea one by one.

Neidapu kept a close eye on Qing Chen, as if afraid that the young man on the opposite side would be lazy when throwing the crab cages.

After all, for a 680-pound crab cage, after Old John used the crane to put the crab cage on the launching platform at the edge of the deck, two people were needed to hang the float rope and then work together to push it down.

If one person was lazy at this time, the other person's physical exertion would be very great.

However, Neidapu felt strange. He seemed to have been much less strenuous than before…

Was it because the crab cages rented by Zhang Jian were of poor quality, so they were lighter?

Neidapu glanced at Qing Chen and secretly tried to lift the crab cage alone… He couldn't lift it.

A pound is about 0.45 kilograms. If you don't calculate carefully, a crab cage is about 610 kilograms. This is something that ordinary people can't lift. Otherwise, why would crab fishing boats need cranes…

However, in this moment of distraction, a huge wave came, and Neidapu was pushed back by the wave, stepping right into the rope reel.

The crab cage quickly sank to the bottom, and the rope flying around was about to wrap around Neidapu's ankle.

Old John shouted, "Cut the rope!"

However, surprisingly, Qing Chen didn't do that. He didn't even pull out the dagger from his work clothes.

Old John was anxious. He knew how serious the consequences would be if the crew didn't do as he said.

If Neidapu was dragged into the sea, he wouldn't survive. In just a dozen seconds, the enormous pressure at the bottom of the sea would kill Neidapu.

However, another wave came.

When the wave was about to hit the deck, Old John clearly saw Qing Chen grab the rope with one hand.

The falling crab cage was also stopped at once!

He was stunned, grabbing the rope with his bare hands?!

Before Old John could react, the wave had already hit everyone, and it was impossible to see what was happening.

When the wave flowed back into the sea along the deck, Old John leaned on the crane and immediately looked towards Neidapu.

Neidapu was sitting on the deck, and Yang Yang was standing beside him.

Just now, Qing Chen had grabbed the rope for a moment, loosening Neidapu's ankle, which had been tightly entangled.

Yang Yang then took advantage of this opportunity to pull Neidapu out. The two of them perfectly cooperated to save Neidapu's life.

But all this was obscured by the waves.

Old John looked at Qing Chen again. The other person didn't have a rope in his hand, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

"What happened?" Old John asked suspiciously.

Neidapu said tremblingly, "I don't know either. I thought I was going to fall into the sea, but then this girl pulled me out in time."

In fact, when the second wave came, Neidapu himself didn't know what happened.

Everything came too fast, and the waves obscured everyone's vision.

Old John hesitated to look at Qing Chen. Even if there was buoyancy in the water, a crab cage shouldn't be something a normal person could pull with one hand. How much strength would that take? Such force slapped on someone's Face^[-], it would probably kill them directly.

Old John wasn't sure if Qing Chen had grabbed the rope, or maybe Yang Yang was faster.

He was full of doubts.

Old John turned to Neidapu: "Are you trying to die?! Don't you know that you can't be distracted on a crab fishing boat? Do you think crab fishermen's money is so easy to earn?"

Crab fishing is one of the most dangerous industries in the world, second only to mercenaries in the Middle East.

Its danger lies in the extremely low operating temperature, excessively long working hours, and extremely large winter waves.

Low temperatures make the crew react slowly, and long working hours also make people tired. Even if the world's top e-sports players don't sleep for 20 hours in a row, they will make frequent mistakes.

In such an environment, facing the worst weather in the world, they could die at any time.

In the port, there are many sailors who leave due to injuries every year. After the crab fishing season, if they don't die a few people, break a few legs or arms, it's as if the money is not earned reliably.

Old John was silent for a moment and asked Qing Chen, "Why didn't you cut the rope immediately?"

Qing Chen said, "Zhang Jian said that if a crab cage is lost, it's worth 1,000 euros, and it has to be paid to the person who rents it. Zhang Jian is so poor, losing a crab cage would surely break his heart."

Old John said coldly, "Losing crab cages is a common occurrence in the Barents Sea. Sometimes, in stormy weather, sailors don't throw the grappling hooks accurately, and they break the balloon floats, losing five or six crab cages overnight. Crab cages are expensive, but human life is more expensive."

Qing Chen smiled, "Okay, I understand. Next time, I'll definitely cut the rope immediately."

Old John picked up the wired telephone on the deck: "Captain, let's set sail. Let's go to the next place."

Zhang Jian asked, "The waves were too big just now. Did you guys have any problems?"

Old John said, "No."

Everyone's work clothes were splashed by seawater. Although they were waterproof, some seawater inevitably poured in from the collar.

However, this was nothing to crab fishermen.

…

…

The crab fishing boat started to move, and the crew members sat in the cabin eating sandwiches.

Neidapu felt as if he could fall asleep at any moment while eating. He was nearing his physical limit.

Another thing that surprised Old John happened. After Qing Chen and Yang Yang ate their sandwiches with tired expressions, they ran back to the deck and sat there, watching the waves on the sea.

At one point, Old John felt that these sandwiches were like props in a game. Eating them would allow the crab fishermen to be fully resurrected…

"Do you think we can encounter the stormy weather you want on this voyage?" Yang Yang asked.

Qing Chen smiled, "That's hard to say. Knight's Trials of Life and Death challenge depends entirely on luck. Thirty-meter waves are rare. Let's just go with the flow."

"Then if we don't wait for it this time, will you keep waiting in Amsterdam?" Yang Yang asked curiously.

"Yeah," Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "Next time I travel through time, I might encounter something very dangerous, so I must improve my strength."

According to Qing FamilyShadow's plan, the next time they exchange Qing Mu with Shendai, it might not be in the city.

Shendai would definitely choose a relatively neutral place, and it was highly likely to be in Forbidden Zone 065, 410 kilometers northeast of City 10.

It was not suitable for large-scale military entry, and the most important thing was that 065 had a known rule: deals made could not be broken.

Anyone who made a deal here and then acted dishonestly or reneged on their promises would die for violating the rules.

Therefore, there was even a production base outside Forbidden Zone 065 that had become a town, where many Wildlanders and Federation people conducted transactions. After the transactions, they made agreements with each other, leaving from the east and west directions respectively to avoid dishonesty.

It has to be said that humans are always able to make the best use of nature from all angles.

Qing Chen had heard of the town outside Forbidden Zone 065 on the Outer World's Weibo hot search. It was called the new Dragon Gate Inn of the Inner World…

Although trading Qing Mu there seemed safe, Qing Chen always felt something was wrong.

After all, it was in the wilderness, still in a Forbidden Zone, and danger always existed.

Six hours later, Old John, holding a cigarette, stood in front of the crane and said vaguely, "Qing, throw the grappling hook. We need to pull up the eight scout cages we deployed earlier!"

Zhang Jian in the cockpit tightly gripped the steering wheel, his palms wet with sweat or seawater.

If the scout cages still couldn't find the crab group this time, it would mean that he needed to continue changing to another place and consume more fuel.

Qing Chen hooked the float again.

When the crane's rope tightened, Old John immediately sensed the situation: "There's something!"

This is the intuition of an old sailor. Just by looking at the speed at which the crane pulled up the crab cage, he could tell whether there were Emperor Crabs in the cage.

Now, Old John was also nervous. He looked at the end of the crane, and the taut rope was constantly pulling the crab cage upwards.

When the crab cage appeared on the surface of the water, Old John was stunned.

The crab cage was full of Emperor Crabs, packed tightly together. Neidapu stared blankly. He swore that he had never seen anyone catch so many Emperor Crabs in one cage in his life.

Qing Chen turned to Old John: "Crane!"

Old John came to his senses and quickly controlled the crane to hang the crab cage above the deck.

Qing Chen untied the rope at the bottom of the crab cage, and countless Emperor Crabs fell down.

"Hurry up and count how many there are?!" Old John said eagerly.

Qing Chen glanced at them: "132."

Old John was stunned. He put on his heavy work clothes and ran to the wired phone: "Boss, we've found the Golden Crab Ground!"

Zhang Jian in the cockpit was stunned, Golden Crab Ground?!

This is such an old name.

Legend has it that only crab grounds in the Barents Sea that could produce 120 Emperor Crabs per cage were worthy of being called Golden Crab Grounds!

Old John roared into the phone: "You've made a fortune, do you hear me? You've made a fortune!"

Then, Old John directed the crew on the deck: "Quickly get the calipers. Let's see how many undersized crabs there are!"

Qing Chen happily used the calipers to measure them. The qualified ones were thrown into the cargo hold, and the unqualified ones were thrown into the sea. Out of 132 Emperor Crabs, only 6 were unqualified.

This was a true Golden Crab Ground!

At this moment, Old John looked at Yang Yang differently. He was now very certain that this young Chinese couple must have some kind of magic!

Their saying that they found this place pleasing to the eye was just an excuse. They must have really discovered a group of crabs on the seabed and guided the crab fishing boat back here.

Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence?!

Also, if this girl was so amazing, then what he saw just now, Qing Chen pulling the falling rope with one hand, must not have been an illusion!

Thinking of this, Old John's gaze towards Qing Chen also changed…

However, before he could think any further, a red and black crab fishing boat quickly approached from afar.

"Long Tail!" Old John's Face^[-] immediately fell: "No good, quickly put all the Emperor Crabs into the cargo hold and pretend we haven't caught anything."

This was the Golden Crab Ground. The crab ground that could produce 132 Emperor Crabs per cage absolutely could not be known to other crab fishing boats.

Otherwise, Killer Whale, Long Tail, and Alps would definitely come to share the Emperor Crabs here.

Seeing Long Tail quickly approaching, Old John stood on the deck with an indifferent expression.

More than ten meters away, a middle-aged white man on the deck of Long Tail looked at North Pole's empty crab cages and laughed loudly: "Old John, is North Pole going to have nothing again this year? You might as well come to my boat now. I'll give you a ride."

Old John shouted angrily: "When I went out to sea to fish for crabs, you were still being bullied in school like a snotty-nosed kid. Get lost, stay away from my scout cages, don't bring your bad luck to us!"

The middle-aged white man looked at North Pole carefully again, then waved his hand to the helmsman behind him, signaling him to sail away.

Before Long Tail had gone far, the middle-aged man said to the sailor behind him, "Attention! North Pole found a crab ground!"

A sailor asked strangely, "Their crab cages are empty."

The middle-aged man sneered, "Didn't you notice that the crab cage has been lifted to the middle of the deck? It clearly just unloaded a cage of Emperor Crabs. Also, didn't you see how nervous Old John was? He stood still on the deck. In the past, he would have jumped up to send my mother away! Use the radio to tell Finn and Craig that there must be a crab ground under North Pole!"

…

…

On North Pole, after Long Tail left, Old John happily directed the crew to pull up the remaining scout cages.

Second cage, 113.

Third cage, 119.

Fourth cage, 127…

None of them were empty.

Old John said happily, "Right here, we'll put down 80 crab cages, each 400 feet apart!"

At this time, he hadn't realized that his poor acting skills hadn't fooled the captain of Long Tail, and Killer Whale and Alps were also on their way.

Qing Chen whispered to Yang Yang, "How many crab groups are there below?"

Yang Yang silently sensed it, wanting to give a precise number like Qing Chen, which would make her look impressive.

But she counted for a long time and couldn't count them clearly, so she answered briefly, "A lot."

Qing Chen: "…Does this answer require a lot of thought?"

Yang Yang calmly said, "I'm a little tired."

Qing Chen didn't dwell on this detail. He turned to Old John, "Let's put down all the crab cages. I think Long Tail won't leave so easily. If they come back to play another prank, I'm afraid it will affect North Pole's income."

Old John was about to object, but he realized that Qing Chen and Yang Yang were acting strange, so he thought for a moment and asked, "Do you think I didn't fool them just now?"

Qing Chen said seriously, "The acting was too obvious. The body language was a little stiff, and the language expression wasn't rich enough…"

Old John was stunned. Why was he giving comments, as if he were a professional actor.

Before he could make a decision, Qing Chen had already picked up the phone on the deck and said to Zhang Jian, "Zhang Jian, circle around at 15 knots. We need to put down all the crab cages here!"

Zhang Jian was stunned: "What does Old John say."

Old John beside him remained silent for a long time: "Do as he says."

After hanging up the phone, Old John looked deeply at Qing Chen. He didn't know when, but this new sailor who had been ridiculed by everyone in the port was about to become the backbone of North Pole.

North Pole slowly started moving.

Generally, crab fishermen would cast a wide net, throwing 30 crab cages here, then leaving and throwing 30 more a few nautical miles away, because the number of Emperor Crabs in one place is limited.

After the crab cages were thrown, they would go to other places to wander around and come back to retrieve the crab cages after eight hours.

But now it was different. Knowing that there was a Golden Crab Ground below, they would throw all the crab cages down and not leave!

Qing Chen's plan was simple. He thought Long Tail would definitely return, so they would stay here and wait!

This was their Golden Crab Ground!

Night fell.

The deck of North Pole was brightly lit, and everyone was sitting in the cabin, waiting for the time to come and pull up all the crab cages to see how much they had harvested.

Only Qing Chen and Yang Yang remained standing on the deck, remaining upright no matter how the ship swayed.

North Pole had dropped anchor, and Zhang Jian rarely had the chance to sit in the cabin and eat something peacefully.

He silently looked at the backs of the young couple on the deck until today, when he realized that these two people… might have some problems.

Old John secretly told him a lot of things while eating, and as a result, Zhang Jian's expression towards the two changed.

Who would have thought that these two new sailors who had been ridiculed by the port for two days actually led them to the Golden Crab Ground?!

And, Old John said that Qing Chen pulled the falling crab cage with one hand… This was a little unbelievable, and Zhang Jian was still doubtful.

But just as he was looking at their backs, suddenly, Qing Chen turned his head: "They're here."

Zhang Jian put down his dinner plate and went to the deck to look around: "I don't see the ship's lighthouse. John, is there any movement on the radar?"

Old John replied, "No."

Qing Chen said, "Then they must have turned off the lights and radar before approaching. They're coming with ill intentions."

Zhang Jian became nervous.

Then, he watched Qing Chen stand on the freezing deck, take off his heavy work clothes, leaving only the swimsuit shorts underneath.

"You… what are you going to do?" Zhang Jian was stunned. The other party had actually put on a swimsuit inside?!

The next moment, Qing Chen jumped into the icy water, without a diving suit or oxygen tank, he just jumped down like that.

In an instant, Zhang Jian felt like he was watching DC's movie "Aquaman"!

Zhang Jian stuttered and looked at Yang Yang: "He… he!"

Yang Yang smiled in the darkness: "Don't worry, he's fine."

…