Li Hao Chen, filled with excitement, slowly reached out his hand. The moment he touched the bead, he was absolutely certain it was the spatial round bead he had discovered back then, as the feeling of blood connection was unmistakable.
Li Hao Chen glanced at the玳瑁 again, seeing its eyes flickering, a mix of determination and reluctance. Seeing that he was not taking it immediately, the creature actually got annoyed. It directly spat the round bead into Li Hao Chen's hand, then turned and dived back into the sea.
Watching the玳瑁 gradually recede, Li Hao Chen had no time to thank it before it disappeared into the vast ocean. He could only shout towards the direction it vanished, "Thank you…"
At this moment, Li Hao Chen was overwhelmed with excitement. He clutched the round bead tightly but did not drip blood to activate it immediately. Instead, he fell into thought, "Back then, the round bead must have disappeared to save me. Now it reappears. Could it be that once its energy is exhausted, it disappears from my body and returns to a certain place in the sea?"
Perhaps this was the only way to explain such a fantastical event. Otherwise, if it were truly like what cultivation novels said, was it just a spirit beast's inner core? Thinking about it, Li Hao Chen felt like he might be losing his mind.
"I really dare to think, even cultivate immortals, hehe!"
As this thought arose, Li Hao Chen himself wanted to laugh. Shaking away these chaotic thoughts, he looked seriously at the round bead in his hand, "Come on, my space!"
Having prior experience, Li Hao Chen knew the method of activating the round bead all too well. However, not having a small knife was a problem. Was he going to bite his finger like on TV?
He put his finger in his mouth, and as his teeth bit into the fingertip, he gradually increased the force. Feeling the pain, Li Hao Chen decisively abandoned this method; it was too unbearable, and he couldn't bring himself to do it.
After thinking for a moment, he decided that a oyster shell was the most convenient and quickest method. Indeed, the white oyster shells on the reefs were chilling to look at.
Li Hao Chen pressed his index finger against the sharp edge of an oyster shell and with a grit of his teeth, he made a swipe. A not-so-shallow cut appeared on his finger, and after two seconds, a trickle of bright red blood began to flow.
Seeing this, Li Hao Chen quickly clenched the round bead with his bleeding hand. The blood was absorbed by the round bead slowly, as always. Only then did he truly breathe a sigh of relief, with no unexpected issues.
Reuniting after three years made Li Hao Chen a bit nervous and expectant. Looking at the round bead emitting a soft white light, Li Hao Chen knew success was near.
Indeed, the round bead suddenly shone brightly and with a flash, Li Hao Chen disappeared from his spot. When he opened his eyes, he was already inside the space. Perhaps it had been too long since he'd had this experience, his head was a little dizzy this time entering.
But the scene before him filled him with some disappointment because it was exactly the same as when he first acquired the space. There was only a small island and the boundless sea, nothing but barrenness. It was as if his phone had been reset to factory settings, returning to its origin.
"Alas, I thought the things inside hadn't changed. It seems I was thinking too much." Li Hao Chen gave a bitter smile and shook his head, but he quickly regained his spirits. It was good enough to be back; what more could he ask for? He then smiled with renewed determination, "Then… let's start again, hahaha…"
Exiting the space, he looked at the large plastic bucket of conch shells and decided to take half of them into the space to raise. He couldn't possibly eat them all anyway, so sending some into the space was just right.
When he returned to the beach, everyone had woken up. Seeing Li Hao Chen return with a smile, carrying the plastic bucket, Liang Min Feng and the others walked over curiously to peek at the bucket in his hand, "Third brother, you didn't find anything good, why are you so happy?"
"The good stuff is in here, you can't see it, hehe!" Li Hao Chen patted his chest, revealing a smile that only he knew, and said.
"Boss, do you guys think third brother's post-amnesia syndrome has kicked in?"
"Hmm, I think so too…"
Li Hao Chen paid no mind to these three lewd men. He took the conch shells to the women to deal with, while he accompanied the children to play in the sea.
In the afternoon, the grown men decided to go out to sea for snorkeling. This time was different from before; the three of them had some snorkeling experience. They were going to an area several meters deep. Of course, Chen He and the others wanted to go deeper, but Li Hao Chen stopped them. Four to five meters was enough; going too deep would increase the chances of accidents.
"Come on, let's see who gets the most today, except for third brother."
"Haha, don't go digging up another giant clam again, hahaha!" Chen He remembered the time they went snorkeling there years ago and Liu De Hui had unearthed a giant clam.
"Get lost, do you think I'm ignorant of the law? I did my homework before coming here; I know exactly what can be caught and what cannot."
Watching them play, Li Hao Chen just smiled and didn't interject. After reiterating the safety precautions to them, he somersaulted backward into the sea.
"It's been three years since the accident, haven't dived. It feels so good!"
Li Hao Chen swam freely in the water like a fish, gradually moving away from where the others were. His secret must not be revealed to them. Since the space had returned, he naturally had to fill it with marine life.
Seaweed, seagrass, sea anemones, scallops, coral, and so on. He brought in everything he could. He was constantly busy, going in and out, happy though tired, just like before. This time, he wasn't driven by making money; rather, he wanted to make the space's ocean identical to the real world.
While Li Hao Chen was busy, he didn't forget the other three. Checking the time, they had already been diving for nearly two hours, so it was time to go back.
Returning to the assembly point along the original route, Li Hao Chen did not forget to catch some seafood. After all, he couldn't return empty-handed and be laughed at by them.
When he returned, they had also just returned. Judging by their smiles, their harvest must have been good. Indeed, looking at the net bags they carried, their harvest was good, with fish, crabs, and scallops.
Upon returning to the beach, they of course couldn't help but brag a little, and their wives naturally gave them plenty of praise.
That night, Li Hao Chen tiptoed out after his wife and children were asleep. Carrying the plastic bucket and tools, he headed towards the reef area. He would be leaving tomorrow, and he would not miss such an abundance of conch shells.
He spent several hours picking them up. When he returned to the beach, he was thoroughly satisfied, having collected dozens of pounds of conch shells and placed them in the reef area of his space.
The next morning, after another sumptuous seafood feast, they began packing their belongings; it was time to go home.
An hour later, the adults and children, with reluctance, boarded the Starship. This graduation trip had come to a perfect conclusion.
In the evening, after returning to the Binhai pier, Chen He and the others left one after another. Li Hao Chen and his family, however, remained on the ship. After replenishing their fuel and supplies, they set sail again. He decided to visit his hometown, which made the two little ones the happiest, as they could play for a few more days.
Of course, Li Hao Chen also had a purpose for returning this time. The space was bare. It wouldn't do not to plant some coconut trees on such a large stretch of beach. He also planned to catch some sand crabs and dig up some clams, goose barnacles, and other species. Bringing in more species was always beneficial.
Traveling leisurely, they finally arrived at his hometown on the third day. Their arrival made Li De Hai so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.
The next day, Li Hao Chen found his uncle and started a conversation, "Uncle, my parents have been gone for so many years, the house should be rebuilt, right?"
"I was about to mention this to you myself. It is indeed time for a rebuild."
"Yes, if that's the case, I'll find someone to draw up a design."
"Okay, I'll keep an eye on it then."
Li Hao Chen and his family stayed in their hometown for nearly a week before leaving. During these days, he balanced accompanying his family with completing his own tasks, experiencing both happiness and reward.
After this trip to his hometown, Li Hao Chen returned to Binhai University and hired a few outstanding graduates to take over the operation of his foundation. Now that the space had returned, he needed to achieve his goals, so he wanted to reserve time for himself to travel the world.
Soon, the fishing moratorium ended. Li Hao Chen had not rested during this period. He spent a little time by the sea every day, and he could always bring something into his space.
The coconut trees he had planted on the beach in his space from his hometown had grown into large trees, not far from flowering and bearing fruit. This time, he hadn't planted many, only a few dozen. They weren't for making money; satisfying his family's appetite was enough.
After some more time passed, Li Hao Chen's family of four returned to Binhai to live. However, they didn't return to their villa in Dalong Village. Instead, they stayed in Murong Yanran's hotel. She had modified the three presidential suites on the top floor into their residence a long time ago and had also added an independent elevator, which would help avoid many troubles.
From then on, besides accompanying his children, Li Hao Chen spent a lot of time going out to sea, fishing, and setting traps. Most of his catches were sent into his space.
Thus, the days were simple yet fulfilling. Soon, a year passed. At this time, the space had completely changed. It could be said that it was no less than its original state, but it only had an advantage in quantity. In terms of quality, it was still far from the original space. Those king crabs and abalone alone were incomparable to what he had now, not to mention the prized large yellow croakers and blunt-toothed yellow croakers.
One day, Li Hao Chen made arrangements for his home and boarded a flight to Hawaii. He hadn't visited his supermarket in years, which was inexcusable. After all, he was the boss, and it was time to check on it and distribute some benefits.
It was indeed time to give benefits to his employees. Under the management of Zhang Chao and Thomas, the supermarket in Hawaii brought Li Hao Chen nearly ten million US dollars in revenue annually. It was a very good company.
More than ten hours later, Li Hao Chen arrived at his supermarket. Unbeknownst to him, the supermarket had undergone many changes.
Without disturbing the employees who were working diligently, he called Zhang Chao and Thomas to meet at a coffee shop across the street.
"Boss, you're unreliable. You haven't shown up for four years, and you've made us both work like dogs." Upon meeting, Thomas gave Li Hao Chen a big hug, then joked, "Look, you've lost so much weight."
"You two have worked hard these past few years, but with you here, I'm at ease. I have to fly to other places later, so I'll keep this brief. This time, I mainly want you to expand your territory.
Take some time to visit other states. If you find anything suitable, acquire it. I don't care how you manage it; you two will decide. I'll just collect the money.
Additionally, I've decided to give you both a ten percent stake. Brother Chao, contact a lawyer to handle the relevant procedures."
Li Hao Chen looked at the time and said again, "I have a flight at seven in the evening. Will it be processed by then?"
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
Zhang Chao agreed without a second thought. Was there even a need to say it? Giving him a ten percent stake meant an annual income of a million dollars, which would be about fifty thousand dollars in his hands. Not agreeing would make him a fool.
Zhang Chao's efficiency was very high. By past three in the afternoon, all matters had been settled. Li Hao Chen didn't linger. After giving them some instructions, he took a car to the airport.
The first stop of his trip to the United States was, as usual, Alaska.
And so, Li Hao Chen stayed in the United States for a full half month, visiting all the major coastal areas. His harvest, of course, was abundant. Although the quantity was not large, the variety was diverse, including king crabs, abalone, blue crabs, and so on. As for how many species, he wasn't quite sure, but there were many, many…
After returning home, Li Hao Chen stayed for a while before setting off for other countries again. Every sea area was his target.
Time flew by, and soon, Li Hao Chen's footprints had spread all over the globe, even reaching the poles. The ocean in his space at this moment likely lacked only marine life living in the ultra-deep sea regions; most marine creatures had already fallen into his possession.
And over the past year, the marine life in the space's ocean had increased significantly. Even the conch shells in the reef area of Jiuzhou Island could be described as terrifying, showing how astonishing the development of his space was.
Another year passed, and the space underwent another upgrade. This time, the upgrade was completely different from before. The space had become exactly like the outside world, with night and day, wind, thunder, ice, and frost.
What surprised Li Hao Chen even more was that the flow rate inside had reached three times that of the outside. This was no small matter; a year outside meant three years inside. One could imagine how terrifyingly the marine life in the ocean inside reproduced.
Three months quickly passed. On this day, Li Hao Chen's seafood restaurant, located in the city center of Yuan City, officially opened for business. It offered a dazzling array of seafood, from cheap to expensive, rare to common, all at fair prices, with no dishonesty. The business could be imagined; it was bustling with people.
The first day's inventory startled him. He hadn't expected the net profit from a single day's operation to reach as high as a million. It was astonishingly formidable, thanks to his rare seafood.
From then on, Li Hao Chen opened a seafood restaurant every once in a while, to the point where he eventually lost count of how many branches he had opened.
Time flies, and the days and months pass like a shuttle!
Another three years passed, and Li Hao Chen had entered his thirties. It was in this year that his wealth had reached a terrifying level. It could be said that he had surpassed