Chapter 268 - 241: Deep Sea Oxygen
Just as Qin Ziwen was about to head to the coast for a look, Wei Zhaohua hesitantly called out to him. He came out from inside holding a pale yellow, uniformly textured, block-shaped object.
Wei Zhaohua said, embarrassed, "Chairman, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask of you. Could you take a look at this?"
Qin Ziwen took it. It felt slightly hard to the touch, and he smelled a faint, fresh, grassy scent.
"Soap? You made this yourself?"
"Yes." Wei Zhaohua nodded. "I saw that some people over at the Gated Community’s Alliance Association have already started trading similar daily necessities. The principle behind it isn’t complex; it’s just a saponification reaction between animal fat and plant ash. Our hunting yields are decent right now, so the cost of fat is manageable, and I tried making some. I just don’t know if there’s a market for it."
Qin Ziwen weighed the homemade soap in his hand. The scent was simple and rustic, and the craftsmanship already looked solid.
"Get in touch with Jia Liangcai. It just so happens I remember we have a few laundry services that have opened up here. You can try discussing a partnership with them."
He handed the soap back to Wei Zhaohua. Things like soap were minor details; Qin Ziwen couldn’t possibly manage every single matter, big or small.
’For a group to thrive, one person can’t hold all the profits. Only by distributing some of the benefits can you get greater value from others in return.’
Hearing this, Wei Zhaohua’s eyes brightened slightly. He carefully put the soap away.
The two said no more. Qin Ziwen and Wei Zhaohua went to the north side of the Gated Community. Besides the residential area, a school building had also been transported with them. Behind that school building was the center of a shallow bay surrounded by reefs.
There, Qin Ziwen saw the Sea Grapes that Wei Zhaohua had mentioned.
The bay wasn’t large, but it perfectly contained the algae cluster. Vast swaths of the algae, glistening like jade, floated on the clear water’s surface.
Sunlight filtered through the seawater, refracting into fine, shifting specks of light on the "grape clusters."
A rough glance showed that they covered an area of at least seven or eight square meters.
"Does this thing have to live in the sea to survive?"
Qin Ziwen pondered this. He thought of his farmland’s special effect, Abundance. It increased the yield of all crops, and the land itself required no fertilizer or maintenance, remaining permanently fertile. Furthermore, it allowed plants with special growing conditions to ignore those requirements.
’Does a marine environment count as a special growing condition?’
’If so, does that mean the farmland could grow Sea Grapes?’
’The first step is to move it back.’
It would be too tiring for Wei Zhaohua to do it alone, so Qin Ziwen called over a group of people to help.
After everyone worked hard for the better part of a day, they finally managed to transplant the entire cluster of Sea Grapes to the farmland.
The roots, which had originally grown on reefs and sand, integrated perfectly into the farmland’s soil.
Although the Sea Grapes growing right on the soil looked a bit strange...
...they had indeed taken root in the field and successfully survived. They even looked to be in good condition.
Qin Ziwen planned to observe them for a night. If there were no issues the next day...
...then he would use the Plant Breakthrough Card on the Sea Grapes.
「The next day.」
Qin Ziwen woke up early, and the first thing he did was check on the Sea Grapes.
It was worth noting that the Sea Grapes had truly been transplanted perfectly. After one night, the air sacs on the "grapes" hadn’t shrunk; instead, they had become even fuller.
It seemed that its growth in the farmland was even better than it had been in the sea.
He took out the Plant Breakthrough Card.
The Card turned into a ray of dark gold light that sank into the Sea Grapes on the farmland.
In an instant, the Sea Grapes were enveloped in a white curtain of light.
Not far away, the Heaven-Reaching Fruit Tree swayed gently, as if offering a welcome.
When the white light faded and the farmland returned to normal, the Sea Grapes planted there had completely transformed.
It still retained its grape-cluster-like appearance, but each "grape" was now as crystalline as top-grade jade, with a soft light pulsing rhythmically inside, as if it were breathing on its own.
The entire plant was several times larger. Seen from a distance, it looked like a green waterfall rooted in the farmland.
Qin Ziwen walked over and covered a small patch of the Sea Grapes with his hand. He discovered that in the darkness, the evolved "Sea Grapes" actually emitted a soft, shimmering white light.
He used Insight.
[Deep Sea Oxygen (Extraordinary): ① Deep Sea Oxygen will continuously purify the environmental quality of nearby bodies of water. ② Consuming an Oxygen Bag grants temporary underwater breathing. Multiple Oxygen Bags can be consumed to stack the effect, up to a maximum of 3 stacks.]
Qin Ziwen focused on the second effect.
’After consuming an Oxygen Bag, one can gain the ability to breathe underwater temporarily.’ If he wasn’t mistaken, these thumbnail-sized, emerald-green bubbles were the Oxygen Bags.
He did a quick count. A single Deep Sea Oxygen plant seemed to have over a thousand Oxygen Bags.
’That quantity...’
’But I don’t know how effective they are.’
"Teacher Wei," Qin Ziwen said, "from now on, you’ll be in charge of looking after and documenting this ’Deep Sea Oxygen.’ Record how long its fruits can be stored after being picked, and also the time it takes for new Oxygen Bags to grow."
Wei Zhaohua was already stunned by the sight of the evolution. Hearing this, he quickly suppressed his excitement. "Yes, Chairman! I’ll be sure to record everything carefully!"
Qin Ziwen picked an Oxygen Bag. It was cool to the touch, like jelly, and elastic.
He placed it in his mouth. The Oxygen Bag dissolved instantly, and a sensation as crisp as a mountain spring slid down his throat.
He walked straight to the edge of his Fish Pond, took out his phone to start a timer, stripped off his clothes, and jumped in.
He had to test the Oxygen Bag’s effects for himself. Nothing was clearer than a personal experiment.
No matter how others described it, it would always be a secondhand account.
After entering the pond, Qin Ziwen felt a strange sensation. It was as if he didn’t need to breathe at all; a continuous supply of oxygen from within his body was sustaining him.
He swam around the bottom of the pond, surrounded by fish.
The light from the surface was shattered by the ripples, casting dappled spots on the back of his hand.
He reached out, feeling schools of fish pass through his fingertips.
He tried to swim. The effect of his movements was no different than before.
The water’s resistance was still there, and his swimming hadn’t become any smoother or faster.
It seemed the Oxygen Bag didn’t improve the user’s swimming ability. If someone who couldn’t swim took one, they still wouldn’t be able to swim; they just wouldn’t drown for a while.
He stayed at the bottom, and his body temperature began to drop. ’Looks like the Oxygen Bag has no insulating effect,’ Qin Ziwen thought to himself.
’Body heat still dissipates just the same.’
’This is also a problem.’
’If I’m going in the water, I’ll still need to wear insulated clothing.’
When the sensation in his chest that provided him with oxygen began to fade, Qin Ziwen started counting silently in his head. He waited until the feeling disappeared completely before surfacing and climbing out.
The time he had just counted was about 120 beats, which was roughly two minutes.
It seems you get a warning when there are only two minutes of oxygen left from the bag, probably to prevent you from being too deep to return to the surface in time.
However, after the oxygen provided by the bag runs out, the body’s own stored oxygen is still there, providing a little extra time to hold one’s breath.
Having climbed ashore, he hit pause on the timer, took the towel his younger brother handed him, dried himself off, and put on his clothes.
He looked at the time again: 60 minutes and 8 seconds.
Subtracting the time lost during the intermediate steps, it should be 60 minutes—exactly one hour.
A single Oxygen Bag could provide one hour of underwater breathing time. With a maximum of three stacks, that meant three hours.
Taking one would be enough to support a short underwater battle.
Taking three would allow for a longer, three-hour underwater hunting expedition.
’That should be enough for now.’
Qin Ziwen considered this. The current production of Deep Sea Oxygen was limited. Although a thousand units sounded like a lot, if more people used them more often, they would run out quickly.
’So, for now, we have to focus on a specialized team.’
’The number of people can be refined to around 20 to 30.’
’They shouldn’t go too far from the reefs. On one hand, to be wary of underwater Giant Beasts, and on the other, to make training more convenient.’
’Of course, while training, they can also hunt underwater and gather resources from the seabed near the reefs.’
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