Chapter 556. Dangers in the Sea (1/2)
Yu Xiaocao, who didn’t have to corral a bunch of people anymore, finally could watch the competition with her full attention. There were only about a dozen or so short days left in the pearl diving competition. Zhuang Xiaomo was no longer able to stay calm in the face of his poor hauls. Nowadays, he seemed to have a perpetual look of worry on his face. For the past few days, Yu Xiaocao could see that Zhuang Xiaomo seemed to be taking this competition quite seriously and it was probably related to Xiaolian. The reason she thought so was because he often seemed to glance at Xiaolian with a lonely look in his eyes and then sink into deep contemplation afterwards. Yu Xiaocao decided to secretly lend Zhuang Xiaomo a helping hand.
Because there were more pearl divers in the area, it was hard to find and occupy a good spot in the waters now. Thus, Zhuang Xiaomo’s pearl diving boat went out further and further into the deep ocean. With the help of Xiaobu, Yu Xiaocao also followed them every day from afar. In a way, this was her way of keeping an eye out for him. Although Zhu Junyang had already done a lot to make this pearl diving competition safer, there was always the possibility of something out of the ordinary happening. She didn’t want something to happen to Zhuang Xiaomo and end up leaving a shadow in Xiaolian’s heart.
Other than protecting Zhuang Xiaomo’s pearl diving boat from afar, Yu Xiaocao had managed to gather many good quality pearls under the guidance of the little divine stone. The vast majority of them were larger than the first segment of a person’s thumb. Although they couldn’t be considered superior grade pearls, they were still considered above average quality. She was planning on using these pearls to make her mother a pearl necklace. As for the remaining pearls, she was thinking of embedding them into hair jewelry and hoped to get enough to make a full set of head ornaments. Her mother had always been frugal and even now couldn’t bear to spend the money to get a presentable set of hair ornaments.
As it got closer and closer to the last day of the competition, Yu Xiaocao continued to increase her collection of gathered pearls. In fact, in her collection, she had managed to get some pink and deep purple pearls! Every pearl she had gathered was worth quite a bit and she didn’t even need to bring pearl oysters up to shore to get them. That way, none of the pearl oysters she got the pearls from had to needlessly die to give up their contents.
The seafloor was the home of pearl oysters. The vast majority of pearl oysters in the deep waters of the ocean usually were opened, lazily ‘sunning’ their tender inner flesh. Thus, it was easy to see in a glance whether or not they had any pearls in them. However, these creatures were quite sensitive and would immediately close if they sensed any movement in the nearby waters to protect themselves.
However, didn’t Yu Xiaocao have the little divine stone as her cheat item on hand? Even if the pearl oysters shut themselves tightly, she was easily able to use a drop of mystic-stone water to bait them into enthusiastically opening and welcoming this ‘guest who offered presents’. Using a drop of mystic-stone to exchange for a pretty good quality pearl was a business transaction that was satisfactory to both participants.
During the competition, Zhuang Xiaomo had a pretty smooth time. Although he didn’t get any pearls that he was hoping for so far, he hadn’t encountered any dangerous situations that he couldn’t resolve. The most thrilling time was when he had a brief encounter with a group of sharks. Luckily, those sharks hadn’t sensed him. Otherwise, it was likely that Older Brother Jiang would end up pulling up a savaged body later on.
In actuality, what had actually happened was that Yu Xiaocao had lured away that school of sharks using mystic-stone water. Sharks were animals that had a keen sense of smell. If only one lone shark had missed Zhuang Xiaomo that could easily be believed. However, if a whole school of large sharks had missed him, it would only be possible if they were all blind and had lost their sense of smell. Compared to the lure of the mystic-stone water, Zhuang Xiaomo was a much less interesting target for those sharks.
As for Zhuang Xiaomo, who didn’t know what had actually happened, he thought that he was incredibly lucky and rejoiced for a long time. However, there were many dangers in the sea that the pearl divers had to look for. There were underwater whirlpools, dangerous currents, sea snakes, jellyfish, and fierce sharks. In addition, some giant pearl oysters could also end up becoming the downfall for a pearl diver.
On the final day of the pearl diving competition, Zhuang Xiaomo had almost lost his life because of a particular pearl oyster.
Zhuang Xiaomo had managed to find a very good stretch of pearl oysters on the last day. After taking a few round trips to and fro, he had managed to get a decent haul. Jiang Sanshan grinned during one of those interludes and said, “Our haul today is quite good. Perhaps we'll get first place in the competition from a pearl found in one of these oysters!”
His previous poor luck in finding good pearls had given a blow in his confidence. Now, Zhuang Xiaomo only thought about bringing up more pearl oysters in order to increase his chances of finding a good pearl. Thus, he continued to dive and dive again into the ocean to grab more. He didn’t waste his time trying to gather the normal oysters and instead slowly swam around the reef to find the target he was looking for.
Suddenly, there was a faint sparkle of light in the dim seafloor. A shot of happiness ran through Zhuang Xiaomo. His grandfather had once said that superior grade pearls emitted their own light. Perhaps the heavens had heard his prayer and gave him the opportunity to obtain his wish?
He slowly swam in the direction of that light. In the depths of the coral reef, there was a gargantuan pearl oyster quietly resting on the seabed. Its shell opened out and a massive pearl appeared, resting inside the oyster. Zhuang Xiaomo felt his heart start to race and it felt like he had used up almost all of the air in his lungs. Although he was very reluctant to leave at the moment, he remembered the most important thing: a treasure was only worth it if you were alive to take it. He forcefully tugged on the rope around and was quickly towed back up.
When Jiang Sanshan saw that he didn’t have a single pearl oyster in his basket, he was a bit puzzled. He didn’t have enough time to ask what happened before Zhuang Xiaomo filled his lungs with fresh air and dove deep again. Using his above-average memory, he once again approached that giant pearl oyster.