Volume One, Chapter Seventeen: The Land of Treasure, with an 80% Luck Rate

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The sea cucumber in Ye Cheng’s hand was slightly thinner than his arm but still counted as a large one. Held firmly, the sea cucumber nervously squirted out a thin stream of water and twisted its body energetically. Since these creatures had virtually no offense or self-defense capabilities, when you finally spot one on the beach, it’s often dead. Most seafood is valuable only when alive.

In high spirits, Ye Cheng tossed the sea cucumber into the bucket, feeling that today’s luck rating of 80 was promising. The small tidal pool wasn’t large; he stirred the water lightly and soon noticed movement beneath, bubbles rising. With his shovel, he dug down and unearthed a sea snail, its flesh fully extended outside the shell. Ye Cheng squeezed it, pressing out a large amount of water before the snail retracted and closed its shell.

It was a cat’s eye snail, about half the size of his palm. While not considered a luxury seafood, cat’s eye snails were tasty and quite popular in markets. Ye Cheng casually threw it into the bucket. He dug a few more times in the pool but found no further signs of life, so he looked up.

Nearby on the beach, a small hole continuously bubbled with water. This spot was likely promising. Crouching down, Ye Cheng carefully parted the opening, and a small stream of water rushed out. “Gotcha, little one,” he chuckled.

He plunged the shovel down hard, digging about ten centimeters deep without yet seeing anything—perhaps it was another sea worm? But it didn’t quite fit the description; it might be a razor clam. Razor clams were quick to escape, so the trick was to dig along their path to catch them.

Estimating the spot, Ye Cheng dug fiercely and indeed uncovered a small hole. Reaching in, he grasped the clam shell and yanked it out. In his hand was a razor clam over a dozen centimeters long.

Though not as famous as sea cucumbers, razor clams were still valuable and delicious—simple scallion oil seasoning, easy to shuck, with tender, soft meat. Ye Cheng usually sucked them down straight away—delicious.

Continuing along the beach, Ye Cheng found a larger pool holding two massive sea cucumbers resting at the bottom, perhaps out for a bit of activity. Without even needing his shovel, he picked them up directly—truly scavenging for seafood.

These two were even bigger than the previous ones, with spiny bumps that pricked the hand, and felt heavy in his grasp.

Nearby, Xiao Hu called out again, “Brother, another sea cucumber! This place is great!”

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Great my foot. Without this lucky aura, you think it’d be so easy? If it were that easy to find, the beach would be swarming with fishermen already. This is better than a day at sea.

In the large pool before him, Ye Cheng still found plenty, digging out two smaller sea cucumbers and several cat’s eye snails. In just a short time, the bottom of the small bucket was already covered.

Though there weren’t many holes on this stretch of sand, Ye Cheng spotted a long, narrow trail. Following it, he was delighted to find a cluster of small holes—at least forty or fifty tightly packed.

“Xiao Hu, come over here, there’s more here,” Ye Cheng called.

“On my way, brother!” Hearing there was something, Xiao Hu sprinted over.

“Look at this patch—I just dug up a big razor clam earlier. I bet there are plenty more here,” Ye Cheng said.

“Razor clams? What are we waiting for? Let’s get digging!” Xiao Hu’s eyes gleamed at the mention of razor clams.

Without waiting for Ye Cheng to finish, Xiao Hu started digging. His beachcombing experience was far better; where Ye Cheng had only dug two holes, Xiao Hu had already unearthed four or five.

However, the yield was low—just two large razor clams. Ye Cheng, meanwhile, had found one in almost every hole.

“Brother, I think your shovel is lucky or blessed or something. I’m finding stuff so easily with it,” Xiao Hu remarked, impressed by his haul after only a short while.

“Blessed shovels only lead to more killing,” Ye Cheng quickly dismissed the idea. The system was a secret and couldn’t be revealed.

Together, the two dug up over thirty large razor clams—quite a haul. Then, they combed the beach, pool by pool, with almost every pool containing something.

After more than an hour, their bucket was full.

“Let’s take a break and have a smoke,” Ye Cheng said, his waist aching and legs sore from lack of exercise.

The two sat on a large rock by the shore and lit cigarettes. The sea breeze brushed against them, soothing and pleasant. Waves crashed rhythmically against the rocks—the unbeatable ocean view was better than any paid scenery.

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After finishing his cigarette, Xiao Hu glanced at the time. “Brother, my second uncle will pick us up in about an hour. Should we try to get some more?”

“Hmm, grab the sack. Let’s take another lap along the beach, just looking for sea cucumbers—I feel like there are more here,” Ye Cheng said, standing up.

Suddenly, his eyes flicked toward the rocks across the water. As the tide receded, the lower part of the rocks was exposed, revealing a gray shell crawling with flesh.

Ye Cheng jumped into the water and crouched down. “Damn, abalone!”

A huge abalone.

He strained and pried it loose from the rock.

“No way, brother, there’s abalone too!” Xiao Hu exclaimed.

Abalone was the pinnacle of luxury seafood, valued purely by size—the bigger, the pricier. They were typically sold by count; small farmed abalone might cost a few yuan each, but this one in Ye Cheng’s hand was probably a four-head size—quite large.

“Hurry, check if there are more!”

Xiao Hu dropped his cigarette and jumped into the water, circling the rocks. “Brother, here’s one more, but smaller.”

He held a smaller abalone, about half the size of Ye Cheng’s—an eight-head size.

With abalone found, who cared about sea cucumbers anymore?

Ye Cheng now deeply understood the old elementary school saying: “Picking up a watermelon but dropping the sesame seeds.” Damn, with abalone around, you go for the abalone first.

If it weren’t for bringing the sack, he might have thrown away those cat’s eye snails.

They circled the coastal rocks once more, finding over twenty abalone of various sizes, all tossed into Xiao Hu’s sack.

It felt a bit unfair to these precious sea creatures, storing them in a simple sack.

There weren’t many rocks here, so the search was quick.

“That’s about enough. Let’s check the beach for sea cucumbers—time’s running short,” Ye Cheng estimated the time.