Long-legged and white-backed, her blonde hair splayed in all directions, the comforter long kicked to the floor. Isabel was completely unclothed, sleeping soundly with a large pillow.
Jiang Ye picked up the comforter from the bedside and covered her.
"Oh! You startled me awake, you..."
"I'm going to sleep for six hours, meaning I'll wake up at seven in the morning. Can you call me then?" Jiang Ye swayed, his eyes bloodshot like a panda's.
"My goodness, how long has it been since you slept? Your eyes are so bloodshot!" Isabel sat up in bed, reaching out to touch Jiang Ye's face.
"No, no, no, I'm going back to sleep. Remember to wake me," Jiang Ye turned and left.
As he went downstairs, a shout came from above:
"You can sleep here!"
Jiang Ye ignored it and headed straight back to the base vehicle, collapsing onto the bed and falling asleep within three seconds.
At five o'clock, he vaguely heard wolf howls but was too sleepy to pay attention.
At seven o'clock, someone shook him vigorously.
Jiang Ye forced his eyelids open, struggled to look up, and saw Isabel, dressed in a delivery uniform, sitting by the bed and looking at him with concern.
"Why don't you sleep a bit longer?" Isabel reached out to touch his face. "You're really tired. Don't tell me you didn't sleep at all the day before yesterday!"
Jiang Ye sat up groggily. "I'm awake. You go back to your work, I'm preparing to go out to sea."
"Are you trying to kill yourself!"
"After this busy period, I'll come back and sleep soundly," Jiang Ye stumbled out of bed, weak, and went downstairs. He bought three cans of meat from the [Galaxy Mall] and left.
Boarding the fishing boat, he tapped the screen and started the engine.
Jiang Ye felt the lingering sleepiness and went onto the deck to feel the breeze, trying to clear his head.
He turned his head to look at the shore. Isabel was standing at the entrance of the base vehicle, gazing at him. The distance was too great to see her expression clearly, but she remained standing there without moving.
Jiang Ye waved to her, and she waved back.
The fishing boat moved forward at full speed, and by nine o'clock, it had reached the beach on the opposite side of the strait.
Before docking, Jiang Ye's heart sank.
The door to the captain's cabin was ajar, and the wind from outside blew in, carrying a strong smell of decay.
When the boat docked, Jiang Ye rushed onto the deck, stunned by the sight before him.
In just a few hours, the water-logged jellyfish corpses on the shore were unrecognizable.
The four most severely decomposed water-jellies had turned a bluish-white, resembling mummified corpses that had lain in coffins for decades. Their hemispherical bodies had completely collapsed, turning into a soft, gooey mass. Foul-smelling green liquid continuously flowed out, seeping into the sand.
The eight slightly better water-jellies were also in a dire state. They had collapsed by more than ten meters, and the color of their brains had changed from the initial orange-red to a withered leaf yellow, then from withered leaf yellow to a mold-like green, like giant moldy oranges.
They were rotting too quickly!
Jiang Ye quickly got into the excavator and continued digging.
He drove directly into the center of the water-jelly's brain, scooping out the brain matter from the inside out.
Yesterday, when the excavator scooped out the brain matter, there was almost no resistance.
But today, as the bucket dug into the brain matter, he could clearly feel the need to exert more force.
Jiang Ye got out of the excavator and poked the adjacent flesh wall with his shovel. The flesh was indeed hardening, changing from the texture of frozen tofu to that of lard.
Moreover, with every piece he dug out, a lot of pale white juice flowed out, like coconut water.
The stench was unavoidable, and Jiang Ye felt as if he were working in a sewer.
He got back into the excavator and continued digging.
One hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
Four hours.
He had lost count of how many sacks of brain matter had been loaded onto the fishing boat for sale. His personal assets had soared to an astonishing one hundred and one million!
If this rate of earning continued, making several hundred million would be no problem.
But to Jiang Ye's dismay, the brain matter was almost completely rotten.
The stench grew stronger, like a septic tank.
Rotten water dripped continuously onto the top of the excavator, more and more, making a pattering sound like rain.
The price of a sack of brain matter dropped from hundreds of thousands to over a hundred thousand.
Then from over a hundred thousand to a few thousand yuan.
The two sacks of brain matter Jiang Ye had just sold earned him only three thousand yuan.
This profit was no longer worth continuing the excavation.
He drove the excavator out from inside the water-jelly and parked it on the beach.
After spending hours inside the corpses, his clothes were soaked with sweat and corpse fluid, reeking terribly. Even the excavator was covered in a greasy layer.
Jiang Ye wanted to fetch some water from the sea to clean the smelly excavator.
But a continuous stream of corpse fluid flowed down the beach into the sea. The surface of the nearby seawater was covered with a layer of oily scum, like dish soap, and even a lot of bubbles.
With no other choice, he had to use the purified water from the fishing boat.
Jiang Ye boarded the boat and went to the bathroom.
He took off his dirty clothes and threw them aside.
He turned on the shower and took a refreshing bath, washing away all the dirt.
Emerging from the bathroom, he stood on the deck, resting for a while in the stench, letting his body air dry.
The captain's cabin had spare sportswear, which Jiang Ye took out and put on.
Then, he picked up an empty pot, went to the bathroom, and filled it with water.
He carried the pot of water off the fishing boat and poured it onto the excavator.
He feared that the water-jelly's corpse fluid might be corrosive and damage the excavator. An excavator cost millions, all hard-earned money, so it needed to be well maintained.
After pouring several pots of water, the dirty water on the excavator's surface was mostly washed away, leaving it sparkling clean.
Jiang Ye was so tired he could barely stand, feeling extremely weak. He immediately decided to go home and catch up on sleep!
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the fishing boat returned to the shore dock.
Jiang Ye disembarked and staggered back to the base.
First, he opened the chat channel.
There were already several private messages.
Li Nannan: Within three days, can you get twenty million in cash?
Li Nannan: This money is for helping me build connections, just trust me.
Li Nannan: Are you there? Reply!
Li Nannan: Where are you? At least make a sound!
These were all messages from last night. Afterwards, Li Nannan had found Isabel to relay the messages.
Jiang Ye immediately typed a reply.
Jiang Ye: So sorry, so sorry, I was busy making money and didn't check the base panel. I'll give you the money now.
His personal account balance was over one hundred and one million, to be precise, 101,425,000 yuan.
Li Nannan had asked for twenty million, and Jiang Ye, after a brief thought, transferred twenty-six million.
His account balance was now 75,425,000 yuan, about seventy-five million.
The extra six million was Jiang Ye's bribe to Li Nannan, to encourage her to be more diligent and handle the matter properly. After all, to gain military support, he could only rely on Li Nannan's operations. He felt that any amount of money spent on her was worth it.
If someone else on this planet gained military backing instead of him, it would be a huge problem. He would likely be exploited for all his earnings, forever unable to grow.
As soon as the money was sent, Li Nannan's reply came:
Li Nannan: Oh? Pretty generous! Alright, kid, you're smart. Don't worry, I'll take care of this for you. However, I need to inform you in advance that this connection is just the beginning of the process, and you might need to send money later. But in the end, the rewards will far outweigh your investment, so keep working hard to make money!
Jiang Ye: Understood, understood. Please take care of it, Commander.