A commotion ensued, and sleepiness washed over them. Soon, three deafening snores filled Dorm 615.
Hiding under his covers, Li Haochen fumbled with his new phone, successfully migrating all data from his old one.
As soon as he opened WeChat, a barrage of notifications pinged, startling him into covering the phone tightly in his quilt and peeking out.
"Phew, glad I didn't wake them."
"Why so many messages?" Li Haochen stared at the screen, a mixture of trembling and excitement. "It's a message from Yanran."
With a nervous heart, Li Haochen opened the call log.
"Stingy, did you report in?"
"Still mad?"
"???"
...
"Sorry, my phone broke, just got a new one!" Li Haochen glanced at the time, his finger hovering over the send button. After a moment of hesitation, he pressed it.
Seeing no immediate response, Li Haochen felt a touch of disappointment, consoling himself, "She must be asleep."
"Buzz...!"
The vibration of his phone jolted Li Haochen, who was still feeling dejected, into action. He quickly opened Murong Yanran's message.
"Hmph...!"
"It really broke, just got a new one!" Li Haochen earnestly explained, even taking a picture of the old, battered phone and sending it over.
"Hmph, I'll believe you for now. Treat me to something tomorrow, and I'll forgive you!"
"Okay."
"Going to sleep, bye!"
"Yanran, who are you chatting with? You're smiling so happily?" Ruan Shanshan asked curiously.
"Not at all, just a rather special and interesting... friend!" Murong Yanran replied with a slight smile.
Meanwhile, Mai Jiaqi, who was painting her nails nearby, pursed her lips with disdain in her heart, thinking, "Tch, acting so pure."
Sweet dreams enveloped him, and Li Haochen slept soundly that night!
...
"Ugh...!"
Li Haochen sat up, stretched, and glanced at the sky, which was still dim. He quickly washed up, put on his waterproof shoes, cotton gloves, and grabbed his bucket, iron clips, and small hook before heading out of school.
Following his phone's navigation for half an hour, he arrived at Dalong Village, three kilometers from the school. After a brief search, he followed a small path into the village, climbed a rather treacherous and rugged stretch filled with short, thorny bushes, and reached a secluded bay—Butterfly Bay!
Navigating that difficult path had nearly scared the life out of Li Haochen. Fortunately, he made it through without incident.
"Not bad. The online description was right about it being remote, and the environment is truly beautiful with excellent water quality. I should come back for some snorkeling sometime."
Li Haochen didn't immediately start treasure hunting. He found a spot sheltered by large rocks on three sides, set down his gear, scanned the area again to confirm no one was around, and then entered his spatial dimension.
"Jiuzhou Island has expanded by about a meter again." Jiuzhou Island was the name Li Haochen had given to the island in his spatial dimension, inspired by the Nine Tripods of ancient China. In the more than a year since obtaining this space, Li Haochen had carefully observed that the island's growth rate was linked to the species and quantity of marine life within it. This was one of the reasons Li Haochen hadn't sold the sea snails he collected over the past year.
Another peculiar phenomenon was that the spatial ocean only experienced a significant ebb tide on the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar. The current flow within the space remained at twice the speed of reality, not increasing despite the growing number of creatures.
"Not bad. It's growing about ten centimeters a day now. Once I bring in more marine life, perhaps Jiuzhou Island will become a continent one day."
Li Haochen looked at the three thousand-odd coconut trees laden with ripe fruit, and the idea of opening a coconut water shop briefly flickered in his mind before he quickly squashed the unrealistic thought.
"Am I so bored that I'd climb trees to pick tens of thousands of coconuts myself?"
After observing the growth and reproduction of the sea snails and mussels, he nodded in satisfaction. Before leaving the space, he climbed a coconut tree, picked a few, and brought them out, placing them in the hidden spot where he had left his gear.
"Time to get to work...!"
Li Haochen's figure moved with quick bursts, and the sound of sea snails clinking into his bucket echoed.
"What a great spot, I didn't expect so many sea snails," Li Haochen said with a broad grin.
"It's been a while since I've exerted myself, I'm a bit tired." Li Haochen, carrying a bucket full of various sea snails, walked to the hidden spot.
He cupped the sea snails in his hands and placed them into his spatial dimension to be raised. He repeated this process until half the snails were transferred, then stopped. "I'll take some back for them to try."
Li Haochen packed his gear, carried the bucket of snails weighing over twenty pounds, and shouldered three large coconuts as he headed back towards Dalong Village.
"I'm exhausted. I should have just thrown everything into the space and carried an empty bucket. Picking coconuts later secretly would have been fine. My brain really isn't working properly." Li Haochen grumbled as he trudged along the rough terrain, almost wanting to abandon the bucket.
...
"Phew..., finally out."
By the time Li Haochen emerged from Dalong Village, he was drenched in sweat and panting. Even with his enviable physique, honed by frequent sailing, he felt the strain.
"Huh? Why is it so lively?"
Li Haochen saw the opposite beach of Dalong Village bustling with crowds and walked over curiously.
"Old Huang, I'll take these golden trevallies and black sea breams. The same price as last time?"
"Manager Li, these large mud crabs I have are quite big. Your price is a bit low...!"
Li Haochen suddenly realized this was a seafood trading spot, a place for transactions between wholesalers and not individual customers.
"Excuse me, young man."
Hearing someone call from behind him, Li Haochen turned and pointed at himself, "You mean me?"
A middle-aged man, carrying a large bucket of purchased fish, said breathlessly, "Hello, young man. I'm Yang Tao, the procurement team leader from Binhai Grand Hotel. May I see the snails in your bucket?"
Li Haochen blinked, then generously placed the bucket on the ground. "Oh, please do!"
Yang Tao nodded his thanks to Li Haochen, then crouched down and, without being squeamish, began to rummage through the snails.
After a minute or two, Yang Tao stood up and looked at Li Haochen, saying, "Young man, are you selling these snails?"
"What?"
Li Haochen was momentarily stunned, unable to react.
"Not selling?" Yang Tao asked again.
Li Haochen thought, "It doesn't matter if I sell them. I can find a place to pick some from my space later."
"Yes, I'm selling. Please make an offer!"
Yang Tao's eyes darted around. After some calculation, he proposed, "How about twenty yuan per pound?"
Li Haochen's face lit up at the offer, and he nodded emphatically, "Deal, but I don't have a scale!"
Seeing Li Haochen agree, a hint of cunning flashed across Yang Tao's face. "Don't worry, I have the tools."
Fearing that Li Haochen might change his mind, Yang Tao quickly loaded a bucket of fish and a bucket of snails into his pickup truck and said, "Follow me, young man."
For someone of his corpulent build, his swift movements were almost miraculous.
"A total of 19 jin 9 liang, let's round it up to 20 jin!" Yang Tao weighed the snails, quickly pulled out four ¥100 notes, stuffed them into Li Haochen's hand, and then sped off in his car.
Just as Li Haochen was getting excited about earning a few hundred yuan, a voice behind him struck him like a bolt from the blue.
"Young man, you sold them too cheaply!"
"Uncle, what do you mean?" Li Haochen asked humbly, seeing a kind-looking middle-aged fisherman standing behind him.
"That fellow probably saw you were new and deliberately lowballed you. Those snails of yours are so well-sized; they should fetch at least twenty-five, upwards."
"Thank you, Uncle!"
Li Haochen thanked him and thought to himself, "I need to find time to understand the local seafood prices."