Chapter 304

Chapter 304: Shark Fishing in the South China Sea

The conventional submersible "Jing Ke" was undergoing resupply and maintenance. As an escort submarine, it didn’t need to remain submerged for long, which gave Lin Mo the opportunity to fish, as there was no better platform for fishing than a submarine.

Lin Mo had little interest in small catfish; he aimed to catch bigger ones. He swung a specially made steel hook baited with meat into the sea, but only caught a few small fish. Perhaps the noise from the fleet had scared away the larger ones.

“Instructor Lin, you still haven’t caught anything! In two hours, we’ll start our training for submersion!”

Captain Dou Lun had just finished counting the supplies, noting that the two supply ships in the fleet needed to return to the mainland every two weeks for resupply, as it was impossible to support so many people and equipment otherwise.

The Chinese military incurred significant expenses daily to maintain its entire training fleet. It wasn’t an exaggeration to call an aircraft carrier a money-burning machine; small countries could build them but couldn’t afford to maintain them, and those who could didn’t want to suffer losses.

Moreover, it was a burning rate measured in millions, with the nuclear reactor consuming not nuclear fuel, but stacks of the largest denomination bills.

“Oh! Captain Dou! I haven’t caught anything good these past few days, just a few squids! I’ll just toss them on the deck to dry as fish jerky. In an hour, I’m out of here. If I can’t make it back in time, I’ll swim back myself. It’s strange; how come there are no sharks?” Lin Mo glanced at the "Shilang," which was only a couple of hundred meters away, easily within swimming distance.

“Ha ha! This is practically the deep sea; you need a net here. We aren’t near any reefs; where would you catch anything in shallow water?”

Lin Mo suddenly thought of an excellent idea. “I would love to use aerial bombs to catch fish.”

“That’s a bit overkill.”

Captain Dou Lun secretly wiped his cold sweat, hoping they wouldn’t drop any aerial bombs on them. After all, everyone knew that the aviation troops were the nemesis of their naval forces.

Beep beep beep!

Lin Mo’s watch emitted a crisp beeping sound. It was the gold giant dragon trying to get in touch with him, indicating it had found something good and was busy, only leaving Lin Mo a message to check later.

“Hey! I got a message! Captain Dou, help me grab this!” Lin Mo shoved the cannon barrel into Captain Dou’s hands, fiddling with his watch. It had a high-definition LCD screen that could be used like a PDA. Those unaware would mistake it for a wrist computer.

“Alright, alright, but wow, it’s heavy!” Captain Dou Lun did not expect the weight of the cannon barrel and nearly dropped the 30mm cannon onto his sub. Even if it didn’t damage their precious vessel, it would still be concerning.

“Hmm, it’s about a hundred kilograms!” Lin Mo didn’t lift his head as the screen showed the message Gold Coin had left for him.

Lin Mo confirmed he was ready to assist the maintenance crew with the operations of the "Dark Sabre." What belonged to Lin Mo was also Lin Mo’s. Naturally, he took Gold Coin’s labor achievements for himself without guilt.

This dragon was indeed impressive, with its innate abilities in metals, magnetism, and weak electrical control allowing it to process signals at speeds hundreds or even thousands of times faster than humans. Once it grasped the signal input module, it hadn’t needed to use a keyboard again.

Possessing unparalleled talent in electronics and software engineering, tasks that would take ordinary humans a year could be finished by Gold Coin in just a few hours.

Later, he would use the chips stored in this watch to refresh the operating system on a J-15 "Dark Sabre" to determine its performance.

The cannon barrel that served as Lin Mo’s fishing rod had to be left on the outer deck of the submarine since it was too heavy to hold for long.

Captain Dou Lun could not comprehend why Lin Mo could hold it so effortlessly, seemingly feeling no weight at all, leading him to misjudge its heft severely.

Suddenly, a strong pull came from the line. “Something’s on! Something’s on!” Captain Dou Lun shouted in alarm, startled by the possibility of pulling up something strange from the vast ocean. He reacted quickly, diving onto the deck to hold the cannon rod down, feeling a weight tugging at something beneath the water.

The pulling force intensified, and just as he felt about to lose his grip, a hand gripped the fishing rod.

The nylon fishing line tightened to a stiff angle, reaching deep beneath the surface of the sea.

“I’m coming!”

Lin Mo swiftly reached out to take over the cannon rod and gave it a gentle flick, causing a loud splash as the water erupted in waves.

“Whoa! It’s a shark!” Captain Dou Lun yelled, pointing at the dorsal and tail fins occasionally revealing themselves from the surf. “It’s a tiger shark! Hurry, let it go! My God, it’s almost two meters long, and it’s fierce! We need to let it go; it could eat a person!”

“Eat a person? Then I want to eat it for lunch today!”

Lin Mo was relentless; he had been waiting for this moment for the past few days.

The tiger shark, along with the bull shark and the great white shark, is among the three fiercest sharks in the world, classed as extremely dangerous medium-sized sharks.

In the "International Shark Attack Files," the tiger shark ranks among those known for unprovoked attacks on humans.

It is said that a female tiger shark can carry between 400 to 500 embryos; once the eggs hatch into baby sharks, they begin to cannibalize each other until only one remains. They are truly born killers of the sea.

The tiger shark that got hooked didn’t seem too large, measuring nearly two meters, but it had a tremendous resistance in the seawater. Fortunately, Lin Mo had caught the cannon pipe just in time. Otherwise, if Captain Dou had been holding the rod, he would have either lost it or been pulled into the sea himself.

The submariners, who were enjoying rare free time on the deck, heard the commotion at the bow and Captain Dou’s shouting, and quickly rushed over.

They saw a dark shadow springing from the ocean’s surface, blocking the sunlight for an instant, before crashing back into the water with a loud splash, sending up towering waves. Moments later, the shadow leaped out of the water again, gliding across the surface, and a loud thud shook the "Jing Ke" as it trembled slightly.

“Ah! Lin, you scoundrel, my submarine!”

As the crew rounded the command area, they witnessed a large, gray-black shark, armed with fearsome teeth, slam onto the outer deck, accompanied by Captain Dou’s horrifying scream.

The sailors, who couldn’t see what was happening due to their position, thought Lin Mo had smashed their submarine and were furious, ready to charge in with fists raised.

This aviation crew member sure knew how to make a mess! This was a submarine, not his aircraft carrier’s flight deck. Getting hit like this felt akin to being smashed by a huge rock.

Captain Dou, worried about his precious "Jing Ke," hurried forward, seemingly fueled by an unseen energy. He kicked the massive creature weighing around three to four hundred pounds, sending it flying over a meter. Ignoring the shark’s desperate thrashing on the deck, with its menacing teeth bared, he bent down to inspect the submarine for damage.

“Hiss!”

As the submariners approached, they noticed that the big shark had a robust fishing line tangled in its mouth, with a sharp hook sticking out from its jaws.

Instructor Lin, who had spent the whole morning at the bow, had indeed landed a massive tiger shark. The shark’s gills gasped for air, failing to extract any oxygen, and it sensed the threat of death, thrashing its tail in a panic. Its wide, toothy mouth tried futilely to breathe in the dry air.

This was the deck, not the sea, so the ocean killer had no chance to unleash its power. Lin Mo had skillfully tossed it up, or else the thin nylon line wouldn’t have held the weight of such a beast.

“Little Niu, go grab me the metal detector!” Captain Dou couldn’t care less about Lin Mo’s prize; he was furious at this reckless guy. This was a submarine, not a flat rock! A hit could cause a major problem.

“Ha ha, Captain Dou, no worries, this deck is sturdy enough.” Lin Mo casually brushed his watch against the deck’s surface, and the gold giant dragon swiftly scanned it without detecting any damage.

With a flick of his wrist, even the hidden imperfections of the submarine vanished completely, restored by the gold giant dragon, making it even more resilient than when it came out of the factory.

After feasting in the South China Sea, Gold Coin surprisingly became a bit more agreeable, effortlessly handling minor repairs like it was second nature.

“Hmph! If anything goes wrong, it’ll be your fault!” Captain Dou huffed in anger, still not understanding how Lin Mo managed to haul such a big fish onto the deck.

At that moment, all that mattered to him was the submarine, and he was obsessed with it.

“My submarine, my crew, who dares to touch them?” This was Captain Dou’s true feeling; he started regretting allowing Lin Mo on board. He wished he had kicked him off the boat from the start.

In terms of priority, his submarine far outranked anything else in his heart. There was no denying that his love for submarines ran deep, which was why he was in charge of this advanced vessel.

The sailors worked quickly, bringing over a metal detector that resembled a mine sweeper. Captain Dou snatched it and carefully began to inspect the area where the shark had collided with the deck.

Lin Mo shook his head and approached.

After a thorough scan, he found no signs of damage. Just as he sighed in relief, he saw Lin Mo’s next move, which startled Captain Dou.

He watched as Lin Mo reached for the tiger shark’s tail, and realizing something terrible was about to happen, he yelled, “What are you doing? I warn you, don’t drop that shark on my ship, or get off right now! If you don’t leave, I’ll kick you off!”

This shark weighed hundreds of pounds, not just a small Shadin. The submarine wasn’t a solid chunk of iron either.