NOVPUBIt changed his worldview and his entire outlook on life.
It was just too unbelievable.
Fang Hao had also become the most sought-after person on the ship, with a constant stream of visitors, all eager to form a good relationship with him.
And without exception, these people were heavyweights in the realm of cultural relics or other fields.
Everyone knew the value of Fang Hao.
This was only the beginning; the antique treasures that he would fish up in the future would only increase in number.
Who wouldn’t take such a person seriously?
Especially people from other regions, who were thinking about taking any opportunity to invite Fang Hao over for some fishing, to see if they could fish up some relics or perhaps discover a sunken ship or an ancient tomb.
That was the real deal.
...
Online, Fang Hao’s popularity remained sky-high.
It had always been high.
"He’s really impressive."
"He hooked airplane wreckage parts last time, and now he’s caught the Yongle Encyclopedia and discovered a sunken ship."
"Right, he’s caught quite a number of sunken ships."
"And the good stuff inside those sunken ships is just too much."
"I wish I had that ability."
"Absolutely, if we could fish up sunken ships too, we’d be rich."
Netizens were having various discussions, each one envious, wishing to be a fishing figure like Fang Hao.
"Fellas, I’ve also set out to sea for fishing, wish me luck."
In fact, some netizens had already followed suit and gone out to sea to fish.
"666, brother, don’t forget the good fortune of your friends."
"Woo, I’ve been fishing at sea for almost half a month, why haven’t I caught anything?"
"Everybody’s constitution is different."
"..."
Fang Hao sparked a fishing craze, prompting many people to start fishing.
Some who had never fished or had no experience with fishing also started to dabble and learned to do it quite competently.
And those who used to fish, or had to fish secretly due to family objections, now experienced changes too.
Their families no longer discouraged them from fishing; instead, they were encouraged to go.
Even when they rested at home, they’d be pushed as to why they hadn’t gone fishing that day.
Their wives stopped complaining, and sometimes they’d even be asked to take them along to experience the uniqueness of fishing.
A fishing trend took hold.
It had almost become the most popular leisure activity.
Fang Hao never imagined he would ignite such fervor; once, he had just been a newbie fishing streamer.
Back then, he barely had a few dozen people in his live stream.
Unlike today, his popularity was close to breaking fifty million.
He was unquestionably the top figure in the live streaming world and the first in the Fishing World.
Never had anyone’s popularity been so terrifying.
"Anyone at the sunken ship site?"
But it seemed nobody responded.
They seemed to forget the fact that there were no signals at sea, or that the signal was very weak; even if someone made it to the site, it would be difficult to respond.
Not everyone had broadcasting gear like Fang Hao’s, which used its own satellite signal, unaffected by local conditions.
This was prize equipment rewarded by the system—how could it not stream well if it was meant to be top quality?
...
The salvage operation of the sunken ship was not something that could be completed quickly; it required a lot of time.
More and more items were being retrieved from the sea.
Later, another metal box was salvaged, still containing the Yongle Encyclopedia.
Another twenty or so volumes.
The three metal boxes held together amounted to sixty or so volumes.
Keep in mind that the entire National Library only possessed a little over two hundred volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia; this find accounted for nearly a third of that.
One could only imagine how valuable this discovery of the sunken ship was.
Besides the priceless Yongle Encyclopedia, several chests of gold, silver, and jewels were found on the ship, along with two chests of calligraphy and paintings, some stone carvings, and some statues...
The value of these items combined was incalculable, beyond estimation.
And the salvage operation wasn’t even finished; they were still pulling more items from the depths.
With such a bounty being retrieved, the folks over in Japan had grown restless again.
After all, they were envious of so many fine treasures.
Who wouldn’t be envious?
So much wealth was about to be taken away by the other side; they definitely were not content.
Moreover, the shipwreck was related to their cherry blossoms, it was their ship.
So just like with the Apowan incident last time, they also wanted to negotiate with us.
They wanted a share of the spoils.
But we couldn’t be bothered to entertain the idea.
They were really overthinking it.
We didn’t demand compensation from them, which already showed we were being nice.
And they wanted to claim our possessions?
This also led to many of our online friends cursing them out.
"Dammit, where do these little shits get the nerve?"
"If we really started counting, we should begin from the Great Ming Dynasty..."
"Starting from the Great Ming Dynasty is a bit too far back, how about we start from the First Sino-Japanese War?"
"Damn, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. Why not just send over Miss Qiu as a gift?"
These little shits were getting too bold, so why not just make them all disappear?
That would be the simplest solution and the most satisfying.
It’s just a pity that there hasn’t been a reason to do so.
...
The salvage operation of the shipwreck lasted for three days.
Afterward, another Coast Guard Ship arrived at the scene to provide support, and Fang Hao and his team were finally able to disengage.
They could continue with their satellite retrieval mission.
The experts from the Aerospace Department breathed a sigh of relief.
At last, they could move on with the satellite retrieval mission.
This satellite was also very important.
It involved a lot of new technology and some new materials, so it was necessary to recover it.
These were all very important.
Otherwise, it would mean all previous efforts were wasted, and they would have to start the experiments all over again.
This would be time-consuming, costing too much money and wasting a lot of time and effort.
They had spent two years preparing for this satellite.
If they had to start over, even though they’d done it once, it would take at least another year.
And now, time was of the essence for those in the aerospace field, who wished they could split a minute in two.
So retrieving this satellite would mean minimal loss.
This was also the best approach.
That’s why Fang Hao’s abilities were so highly valued and sought after.
But things weren’t going as smoothly as imagined.
After all, fishing for satellites was unpredictable.
No one knew when it could be retrieved, or if it would be possible at all.
Even Fang Hao himself wasn’t sure.
They were anxious, but there was nothing they could do.
The aerospace expert hesitated, wanting to say something, but he also knew that retrieving the shipwreck was a stroke of luck.
And the items inside the shipwreck were invaluable treasures that couldn’t afford any mishaps.
He had no choice but to wait.
Fortunately, Fang Hao and Captain Yu could see the expert’s urgency and knew they couldn’t delay any longer.
Each additional day brought more uncertainty.
More risk.
This was an urgent matter that couldn’t be postponed.
Once someone came to take over their current operation with the Coast Guard Ship, Captain Yu and his team could resume their original mission, satellite retrieval.
Thankfully, they had prepared for a prolonged mission before setting sail, so they could continue without needing to resupply.
"Eh?"
"Why did the streamers leave? Is there something more important than this salvage operation?"
As Fang Hao and his team set sail once more, preparing to change locations to continue fishing,
the area around the shipwreck had already been explored with no sign of the satellite, meaning it wasn’t in that vicinity; they needed to move to a new location.
The coordinates provided by the Aerospace Department weren’t precise, just a rough area, which was vast at sea.
If it wasn’t here, they would have to shift to a new location.
"Oh, right, didn’t the streamer say they were fishing for something ’up in the sky’?"
"It seems so."
"But what exactly is this thing? Why is it so mysterious? The streamer still hasn’t revealed it."
People really couldn’t guess what it might be.
They could only watch Fang Hao’s performance.
