After finishing his meal and resting for a while, Li Haochen carried his fishing rod, net, and bucket into his space, then walked empty-handed towards Butterfly Bay.
Upon arrival, he found the gate covered in a thick layer of dust. After a few drops of sewing machine oil on the lock, he used his key, fiddled with it a few times, and opened it.
Standing on the highest reef in Butterfly Bay, Li Haochen surveyed the entire bay. A smile curved his lips. "To benefit the people, one must first become wealthy. To become wealthy, one must first create oceans. Now, I must work hard for my space ocean. Heh heh."
He walked down and inspected the recovery of the conchs within the bay, nodding with satisfaction. "To recover this much in over a month is beyond expectation. Very good."
Without picking anything up, he changed into his snorkeling gear, a mesh bag and a small shovel clipped to his waist, and holding a net and forceps, he plunged into the sea with a "plop."
Li Haochen's arrival startled the surrounding marine life, sending them scattering. Soon, Li Haochen was drawn to the colorful ornamental fish like clownfish, butterflyfish, and orange-tailed butterflyfish in the coral reefs not far away. They were truly beautiful.
The various sea anemones attached to the coral reefs were also exceptionally vibrant.
Li Haochen took out his small shovel and began searching the seabed.
"This piece is good. Not too big, I can dig it up and let it slowly propagate within the space."
Just as he was about to act, he stopped, remembering something. "No, digging up a piece like this and taking it back into the space... I'll be exhausted before I can get even a few pieces. I need to find a better way."
Li Haochen surfaced and pondered. A few minutes later, he dove back into the water, and with a "whoosh..."
At this moment, Li Haochen had entered his space. He took off his mask and said through his mouthpiece, "It really works. Anything on my body weighing less than 20 catties can enter directly, no matter where I am. However, I'll still need to swim out to deeper waters to do this, so the efficiency is still not high..."
Looking at the spot where he had entered, he fell into thought again. "I've never really noticed this before. It seems I always enter from this same spot. Can this location be changed? Let's try."
Li Haochen walked into the shallow water, and with a thought, his figure immediately appeared in the water where he had just been. "Ah... Glibberish..."
"Cough, cough, cough... phew, I almost drowned." When Li Haochen emerged from his space, he had forgotten to bite down on the mouthpiece and, in his surprise, had swallowed several large mouthfuls of water.
After adjusting himself for a while, Li Haochen dove back into the water. With a thought, he entered his space and laughed heartily as he appeared in the shallow water beneath the beach. "Hahaha, this is great, it's perfect! The efficiency will be greatly improved now."
To prevent a repeat of the choking incident, Li Haochen put on his goggles and mouthpiece and swam to a farther sea area. After making some adjustments, he exited his space.
Outside in the sea, he did not choke this time, but he still felt a bit unaccustomed.
"Heh heh, the ocean creation project officially begins."
Li Haochen took out his shovel and dive into the seabed. To facilitate collection, he specifically targeted newly formed coral polyps.
Digging in the sea was not easy; it took several ascents to breathe before he could complete digging up a single piece. The sea anemones were quite easy to dig. He didn't let any scallops or conchs he encountered slip away; the mesh bag was full, so he sent them into his space ocean.
During this time, he saw many sea bream, sea bass, groupers, and other fish, and in considerable numbers. Li Haochen's eyes burned with desire, but he couldn't do anything empty-handed. If he had brought a speargun, his catch would have been much larger. Unfortunately, that thing was too cruel; it pierced straight through the fish, and they wouldn't die immediately.
After several hours, his space ocean had twenty-odd small coral polyps and some unknown seaweed and plants. Li Haochen wanted to dig up larger ones, but they were too heavy and difficult to excavate, so he gave up.
Don't underestimate these twenty-odd small coral polyps. In a few years, this area would grow into a considerable coral reef. Although coral growth is very slow, only about a dozen centimeters a year, remember that the time flow in his space is twice as fast as outside, so a large area could grow in just a few years.
After another sweep around, and finding no more suitable small corals to collect, he swam to the eight wooden stakes in the middle area. He had been eyeing those dark masses of mussels for a long time and wouldn't forget them. He spent another two full hours transferring most of the mussels to the reef area of his space ocean.
Once on shore, Li Haochen didn't plan to fish anymore. After hours spent in the sea, coupled with constantly entering and exiting his space, his head was already spinning.
He changed his clothes, left Butterfly Bay, and walked home. Just as he reached the village entrance, he encountered Huang Haibo, who was returning from construction.
"Haochen? Haven't seen you in a while."
"Uncle Bo, it has been a little while."
"Hmm... I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have time?" Huang Haibo seemed hesitant but eventually spoke.
"Uh? Yes..."
Li Haochen got into Huang Haibo's car, and they went to his stainless steel shop. Huang Haibo brought out a pot of good tea. "Haochen, try this Dancong. It's quite good."
Li Haochen took a small sip and then put it down. "Uncle Bo, just tell me what's on your mind."
"This... it's like this. You mentioned last time about enclosing Butterfly Bay. Do you still have that plan?"
"I do, but my wallet isn't strong enough, ha ha!"
"If we talk about installment payments, are you interested?"
"Installments?"
Li Haochen was taken aback, feeling a bit tempted. He then fell into deep thought...
A few minutes later, he asked with a serious expression, "Uncle Bo, how would the installments work? You know my house is under construction, and I have many expenses. If the period is too short, I can't afford it."
"How about one year? Also, the price of steel bars and cement has dropped recently, which has significantly reduced the cost of making concrete pillars. Now is a great opportunity."
"Is that so? Let me think about it again."
Li Haochen took a sip of tea, pinched his chin, and pondered again. About ten minutes later, "Uncle Bo, what's the total price? And regarding the installments, what about the interest?"
"Don't worry, there won't be any interest. The total price is 8.6 million, almost 500,000 less than before. It's a very good price."
Li Haochen's eyes lit up. No interest was very attractive. After careful consideration, he agreed.
An hour later...
"Uncle Bo, the deposit has been transferred. Make sure to construct it according to what I just said."
"You can rest assured when I handle things."
"Alright then, please carry on. I'll head back now."
After Li Haochen left, Huang Haibo's wife came out from the back room, saying with some worry, "Haibo, if we put all our capital into this, I'm afraid..."
"Hey, that kid has settled down in Yangcheng. Do you want him to rent a place his whole life? Don't worry, Haochen is trustworthy."
"Let's hope so..."
Li Haochen had just returned when Murong Yanran and the others arrived shortly after, laughing cheerfully, in very good spirits.
"What's wrong? Why are you smiling so happily?"
"Of course, I'm happy! I just took a super big order, a full hotel buyout for three days! Hehe!"
"Three days?" Li Haochen was also startled. Murong Yanran's hotel was at least a quasi-five-star establishment. A full buyout for one day would cost at least ten million. Three days would be truly astonishing.
"Could it be that they took a liking to you? Hehe!"
"Perhaps, hehe!"