Chapter 330: Beginner Aquaculture Boost

Speaking of which, I haven't checked the system carefully in a long time; I just glance at the Luck Value each day and then call it quits.

This time, upon looking, I actually noticed something.

The system somehow added an aquaculture interface at some point; currently it only has the skill 【Beginner Aquaculture Boost】, which lets the host's aquaculture products speed up by 30% and output double.

Damn grandma, it's really the system's doing.

But I like this ghost.

With this, I can speed up my crayfish farming too.

Looking at the upgrade options, it takes ten thousand points to upgrade to Intermediate; Intermediate gives +40% and output +50%.

This is heaven-defying; originally I just wanted to make things easier for my older brother by doing aquaculture.

Now it looks like I can get rich just from aquaculture.

Still, I need to catch more fish; my points are only over seven thousand, I need another two thousand plus to upgrade.

Damn!

Just do it!

Tomorrow I'm going out to sea, no more talk.

Hurry up and upgrade this system, money will flow like water.

No more talk, hurry up and sleep to welcome tomorrow.

Luck Value: 70+20

Points: 7930

Savings: 182,000, external debt 30,000, mortgage 300,000 (including interest)

Seeing today's Luck Value, Ye Cheng didn't think twice, jumped straight up and headed out to sea.

Originally I could ride a motorcycle to the dock, but now Duan Yong took my motorcycle, so I can only have Xiao Hu pull a tricycle for me.

Whenever I go to the city I'll need to buy another one, or else I'll wear out Brother's legs.

Before leaving I glanced at Da Huang, who had run off somewhere again; really, he only shows up when there are two beauties to find.

"Brother, I heard you argued with the Village Chief again yesterday? Next time call me, I'll beat that old thing to death." Xiao Hu said while pedaling the tricycle.

Ye Cheng looked at him speechlessly, "Big brother, you're now a person of some standing; can't you stop fighting all day? Look at your own mouth—you haven't fully recovered from yesterday's fight, yet you're still thinking about fighting.

Let me tell you, from now on fight less, not because I'm afraid of them, but because it's unnecessary. You know? As the old saying goes, we are porcelain, they are cracked pots—don't go knocking yourself against them."

Xiao Hu's mouth twitched slightly; it really did hurt, from yesterday's beating.

"Tch, talking about porcelain and cracked pots—if you dare provoke us, it's just one word: Damn!"

This guy really won't listen.

At the dock, quite a few people had already gone out to sea.

Duan Chunsheng didn't come today; reportedly he's helping Duan Yong collect shrimp.

With his son having such a business, how could he not care?

He must help his son get started.

The two readied the boat and set out; Ye Cheng didn't plan to fish today, he wanted to go to the spot where Da Huang had found pearls that day.

Domestically there are several kinds of pearl oysters; common ones are the horse oyster, white butterfly oyster, and black butterfly oyster.

The horse oyster produces Akoya pearls from island nations, each worth a few hundred yuan; the white butterfly oyster produces South Sea pearls, each worth three to five thousand yuan; the black butterfly oyster produces Australian white pearls, each worth two to three thousand yuan.

Compared to freshwater pearls, seawater pearls have lower yield—each oyster produces only 1-2 pearls, while freshwater oysters can produce many; moreover seawater pearls are rounder and more colorful, so their price is considerably higher.

But nowadays most pearls are farmed; why?

Because purely wild ones are extremely rare, and since wild ones lack the artificially implanted nucleus, truly round pearls are exceedingly rare; most are teardrop-shaped or irregular.

The one Da Huang scooped up already counts as top-grade.

Although few, wild pearls aren't much more expensive than farmed ones, because from a jewelry perspective most people just need good appearance; wild ones can only be said to have higher collectible value.

Ye Cheng doesn't farm this, so he can only go harvest wild ones.

Believe in Da Huang!

Believe in the system!

Ye Cheng had already marked the last position; after over half an hour's drive we arrived—here there's no island, no bay, just this vast expanse of sea.

If Da Huang hadn't been searching here, surely no one would know there are pearls below.

The main task today falls on Ye Cheng; Xiao Hu just needs to "keep watch" up top, and upon hearing this task this guy was delighted.

"What's there to laugh about, next time I'll buy you a set of gear, you can come down too."

Xiao Hu's face stiffened,

"No, brother, give me less, I'm fine up here having fun, just today I bought too few melon seeds."

"Alright, don't idle, make a deeper net bag; I'll go down to harvest, you pull up above."

Swimming up and down in this seawater wastes time and energy; besides, no one sees, Ye Cheng plans to just dive straight for forty minutes.

When the net bag is full, have Xiao Hu pull it up, then drop it again, saving time.

"Okay." Xiao Hu is still happy to do this; he spliced the original net bag rope, making it nearly a hundred meters long, now enough for Ye Cheng to mess around down below.

"Then, watch closely; when I pull the rope remember to pull it up, don't let me pull for ages and you have no reaction."

"Oh my god, brother, why are you so naggy now? Don't you trust me to handle things?" Xiao Hu started to complain.

Ye Cheng gave him the middle finger, then took the net bag underwater.

As soon as he entered the water he noticed it was a bit deep, can't see the bottom at a glance; grandma, could it be forty or fifty meters?

Ye Cheng slowly descended; a jellyfish floated past his side; seeing seafood always gives him an urge to scoop a handful, but thinking about today's main task he let it go.

When he reached a depth of over twenty meters, Ye Cheng finally could see the seabed; this sea depth is about forty meters, quite deep.

If I didn't have the system, I wouldn't dare come down to this depth at all.

Sank all the way to the sea bottom, Ye Cheng gently adjusted his posture, letting himself stand on the sea bottom.

His feet stepped down, kicking up a patch of seabed silt; the tranquil seabed world was broken by this outsider, and nearby several shells that had been open feeding suddenly snapped shut.

Ma's clams mainly live in the shallow sea area when juvenile, and mostly in the deep sea area when adult; of course, the deep sea here means below 30 meters, not the kind of place like the Mariana Trench that is over ten thousand meters deep.

Ye Cheng looked at the seabed conditions; here the current is relatively stable, there is more algae, and many small fish that feed on plankton, this kind of place is indeed suitable for shell growth.

There were several shells under his feet; Ye Cheng crouched down and picked them up; Ma's clams are generally not large, the biggest only about 10 centimeters long.

The shells under Ye Cheng's feet are not bad in size, the smallest being 8 centimeters.

Picking up shells on the seabed involves no special skill; it's just one word: pick!

One step over, pick up a few; another step over, pick up a few.