The meter-long lobster became the centerpiece of the "Spicy Lobster House." With Zhang Dazhi's promotion, the restaurant's fame was expected to soar.
It might not have been enough to dethrone the "First Lobster House," but if Zhang Dazhi played his cards right, overtaking it to some extent wouldn't be an issue.
Li Yang didn't pay much attention to this. He was more focused on his cultivation and exploring the ocean.
Early the next morning, Li Yang returned to the seashore.
The sea has its high and low tides. Beachcombers rush out to find things as the water recedes, but Li Yang didn't need to pay any mind to that.
He found a deserted spot and quickly slipped into the water.
Soon, he reached a depth of fifteen meters.
He searched for quite a while but still found nothing.
'Sigh, finding treasure on the seabed is so difficult.'
Li Yang had been ecstatic when he first discovered he could walk on the seabed, but now, he was growing increasingly level-headed.
The idea that he could strike it rich in a short time just because he could walk on the seabed was, without a doubt, wishful thinking.
After searching for three straight hours with no results, Li Yang finally caught a large, three-pound blue crab and prepared to head ashore.
Just as he started to move, a massive creature suddenly swam over from the distance.
Seeing the creature, Li Yang smiled. It was the very same sea turtle he had helped by removing its barnacles the day before.
The sea turtle looked at Li Yang, circled him affectionately, then swam over to a nearby spot and settled down.
Li Yang glanced over and smiled, then looked away.
'Hm?'
He was about to leave, but his gaze immediately snapped back.
'Is that...?' A hint of uncertainty flashed in his eyes, mixed with a flicker of anticipation.
A portion of a seashell was poking out of the sand where the large sea turtle had settled. The shell looked conical, with a reddish-yellow exterior. At first glance, it looked a bit like a cow patty.
A few days ago, Li Yang probably wouldn't have given it a second glance. But he had recently done specific research on valuable items from the ocean, paying close attention to seashells!
For example, the four great sea shells—the Treasure Cone, Nautilus, Tang Crown Shell, and Conch Shell—were all very valuable, but other shells were even more precious!
His heart filled with anticipation, Li Yang quickly went over, brushed away the sand, and held the complete shell in his hands.
When he saw the item in his hands in its entirety, an expression of utter astonishment and joy erupted in his eyes!
'It's really... a Dragon Palace Slit Shell!'
The Dragon Palace Slit Shell was arguably one of the rarest and most valuable seashells in the world, earning it the title "King of Shells." It was a collector's dream, and its price had always been steep; Taiwanese collectors had even dubbed it the "Millionaire's Shell." Its value wasn't just in its rarity and beauty. What made the Dragon Palace Slit Shell so precious was that its appearance had remained virtually unchanged for over 500 million years, making it a true "living fossil of the ocean."
Over such a vast expanse of time, most species had either gone extinct or evolved, yet the Dragon Palace Slit Shell had kept its original form. This showed it possessed a unique quality that allowed it to survive for hundreds of millions of years without extinction or mutation. Biologists hailed the Dragon Palace Slit Shell as a "living fossil" among marine mollusks, considering its scientific value to be on par with the giant panda on land.
The total number of Dragon Palace Slit Shells in museums and private collections worldwide was just over 300. It remained a rare treasure and a collector's dream, with its price consistently high.
The centerpiece of the Qingdao Shell Museum was a massive Dragon Palace Slit Shell with a diameter of twenty-two centimeters. It was ranked first in Asia and fourth in the world for its size, with an estimated value of six million yuan.
You could almost say that any Dragon Palace Slit Shell could easily become the centerpiece of a museum's collection.
And the one in Li Yang's hands right now had a diameter that was definitely over twenty centimeters!
The Dragon Palace Slit Shell wasn't much to look at. It wasn't beautiful; to put it bluntly, it was shaped like a cow patty.
But to those in the know, it was a completely different story.
To Li Yang's eyes, however, it was a marvel. The shell's reddish-yellow exterior was marked with patterns like clusters of flames leaping upward, shimmering with a crystalline, pearlescent luster. At a glance, it looked like a fiercely burning volcano, or a pyramid bathed in the sunset's glow. It could even be a majestic palace plated in red-gold, so stunningly beautiful it was breathtaking. 'Ah, the allure of money.'
He marveled inwardly. It was impossible to describe just how thrilled Li Yang felt at that moment.
'This Dragon Palace Slit Shell in my hands should be at least as large as the one in the Qingdao Shell Museum,' Li Yang thought with delight. 'That one was valued at six million. Mine should be worth even more.'
Over six million yuan! To him, that was an absolute fortune.
'The ocean is truly something else!'
He looked at the large sea turtle and patted its shell. If it hadn't been for this creature, he would have completely missed this treasure.
Come to think of it, this sea turtle was truly his lucky star. Yesterday, it led him to a giant lobster that sold for two hundred thousand yuan.
And today, because of it, he had found this treasure!
"I'll come find you again next time."
He said to the turtle, then prepared to head ashore immediately. He planned to tell his parents and then sell the Dragon Palace Slit Shell.
Although his family had some money, it was mostly tied up in their house. Li Yang knew his father, Li Guohai, would never sell the house to pay for his own treatment; that was his bottom line. Therefore, the family didn't have much left for medical expenses.
Cancer treatment technology was constantly advancing, but the costs were also astronomical. Hundreds of thousands could be spent in the blink of an eye.
'Now, Mom and Dad won't have to worry about money anymore.'
Li Yang's mood was light. He scanned his surroundings on the seabed, then found a spot to surface.
...
「In a hospital in Hu City.」
Zhao Rou was holding a lab report.
Today, Li Guohai had another round of chemotherapy. Including various medications, she had just paid a lump sum of one hundred thousand yuan, and the balance in their account had dwindled once again.
Never mind the Anticancer Agent; even now, new targeted cancer drugs were constantly being developed. With Li Guohai's condition as severe as it was, he likely wouldn't have lasted a month just a few years ago; the cancer cells would have spread too rapidly.
But now, he could hold on for at least a few months.
These drugs were getting more and more effective. They could significantly slow the spread of cancer cells, greatly extending the lives of terminal patients who might otherwise have only had days to live. But they were incredibly expensive.
'There's still 300,000 in the account. With the best medicine, that will last for a month. But Xiaoxue called yesterday and said the family could come up with 300,000 anytime. And Yangyang got lucky and caught that giant lobster yesterday, which sold for 200,000...'
Zhao Rou calculated their finances. All told, using the best treatment methods and the best drugs, they could afford nearly three more months of care.
Within those three months, she would definitely find a way to get more money to prolong Li Guohai's life as much as possible.
Because she was waiting—waiting for good news about the mass production of the Anticancer Agent.
In fact, it wasn't just her. Every cancer patient was waiting for another breakthrough in the Anticancer Agent's production bottleneck.
The day that technological breakthrough arrived would be the day they were reborn.
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