[The altar’s seal requires three tokens: Black Conch, Merman Tear Bead, Ambergris.]So it takes three tokens.That complicates things.Also, I don’t even know if this “Merman Tear Bead” is the same as a Merman Pearl.She’d gotten one earlier and originally thought it was for building the Seafloor Ruins Teleportation Array.When she finds the other two tokens later, she’ll try setting a Merman Pearl in place as well—maybe it’ll work.The High-Grade Diving Card was running out; Yun Luohe unhesitatingly used a Sea Stone to extend the time.What made her most anxious was that she didn’t even know what these things were,or where to start looking.Just as she was at a total loss, a faint phosphorescence drew her attention.Following the glow, she found a school of luminous little fish. They were clustered together as if guarding something. Yun Luohe eased closer, startling them into a scatter. Once the fish dispersed,a glowing coral head came into view, something clearly embedded inside—but it wouldn’t open.As Yun Luohe approached, the system chimed:[Mother-of-Pearl required to repair the damaged section]There had to be something good in there.Yun Luohe set a piece of Mother-of-Pearl into the inlay. With a gurgling sound, the coral was wrapped in light and, after a short while, fully repaired.An opening appeared in the middle of the coral cluster.It was just wide enough to slip through sideways. Yun Luohe took a careful look, confirmed there was no danger, and inched in.Sure enough, inside she found two large black conches.The conches were ink-black, big and round; who knew how long they’d been here—grown to a monstrous size, each as large as her head.When Yun Luohe hefted one, she gauged its weight—probably three to four jin.Conches this big… who knew how they’d taste. Since the altar only needed one, she could keep the spare and bring it back.She’d only found one of the tokens, but Yun Luohe wasn’t in a hurry. She’d search another two hours; if it didn’t pan out, she’d head back first.She opened the light screen and pinged Mu Zitang, asking him to dig up leads on ambergris.Tianji Pavilion’s intel network was getting bigger and bigger, and after the forum merge, it was easy to pull intelligence from other districts, so querying for specific leads was now very convenient.She didn’t just sit staring at the light screen waiting for a reply; she kept searching the area.After all, the merman spirit’s quest wasn’t finished yet, and she still had plenty to do here.And the merman spirit kept singing, which meant Yun Luohe’s Sanity was constantly ticking down. She’d already eaten several Sanity-boosting items.She needed to finish the quest fast and get the merman spirit to move on.She searched around and found several hidden seafloor caves.She’d hoped there’d be a surprise inside.Instead, she found only some red mushrooms.Scarlet caps with bluish stalks—quite pretty. @Infinite Good Reads, all at Jinjiang Literature CityRed mushrooms growing under the sea—now that was rare.Yun Luohe plucked one to inspect.[Red Mushroom: a special ingredient from the seafloor, usable in special dishes; harvestable only in seafloor caves.]Not bad. This should be useful.She stripped the cave clean of red mushrooms, not leaving a single one.She’d figure out the recipes back at base.Besides the red mushrooms, she found some seaweed and kelp.There wasn’t much, but the details said they were anti-radiation supplies, so Yun Luohe naturally took every last piece.She combed the surrounding waters, cutting any seaweed and kelp she saw and stowing them in her pack. After an hour, she’d gathered a dozen-plus bundles of each.When she opened the light screen again, she saw Mu Zitang had replied a while ago.Ambergris is produced from whales; you need to find whales to get it.Just hand a Squid Ink Sac to a whale, and it will gift you ambergris.Whales love squid, but squid have a hard inner “bone.” When whales swallow it, they can’t digest it, so they pass it.After the whale’s intestinal processing, a special secretion coats that inner bone—this becomes ambergris.So, giving whales a Squid Ink Sac gives a chance to receive ambergris.Of course, other offerings might work too—it depends on what the whale likes.Yun Luohe had a Squid Ink Sac in her pack, so she immediately went to find those whales from before.Fortunately they weren’t far, and she found them quickly.Having avoided the radiation fog, the Whale Pod was now cruising leisurely around the Blue Crystal Vortex.Their massive bodies were like moving hills; every sweep of the tail stirred up a small current.Yun Luohe could hear their calls—bright and cheerful.When they saw Yun Luohe, they called even louder; they still remembered how she had helped them with the Clear-Mind Mint Balm.So when they saw her, they were very friendly and circled around her.Yun swam toward the nearest whale—a medium-sized one with gentle eyes—and the whale opened its huge mouth and gulped her offering down without ceremony.Then it flicked its tail happily, rolled in the water, and, after a few minutes,that whale let out a low call; immediately after, a white lump floated out.Yun Luohe’s eyes lit up. She rushed forward and caught it.The system chimed: [Obtained Ambergris ×1]Perfect—token number two secured.After topping off Stamina and Sanity, Yun Luohe headed back to the altar to break the seal.At the edge of the temple again, she noticed some strange tracks.On closer look, a red crab was lying buried in the seabed sand.She smiled and swam over to grab it,but the crab sensed danger and bolted from the sand.Yun Luohe chased it to a hidden burrow.Huh—its den? Then there might be a lot more crabs.Peering down, Yun Luohe saw a faint glow emanating from within.Something was glowing—mutant crabs?She blinked and readied her speargun.But when she lay prone and saw the scene inside, she was stunned.A whole colony of mutant crabs lived there, their shells gleaming with a metallic sheen.But that wasn’t what thrilled her most. What excited her was that one big crab had a crystalline necklace hanging from its neck.The necklace was strung with pearly beads, and set in the center was a blue gemstone, its glow much like the Blue Crystal Vortex.Unreal.A crab wearing a necklace—could this be the necklace the merman quest wanted?Yun Luohe reached for it, but the mutant crabs clearly weren’t letting her take it. They brandished massive claws with a clacking rattle, threatening her to stay back.Smiling, Yun Luohe leveled the speargun at one and was ready to shoot straight through its body.The speargun did nothing.Their shells were hard as iron. The spear tip thudded on impact without penetrating.Yun Luohe’s smile thinned. Looks like I shouldn’t underestimate you.She raised the Thunder Vortex Trident, but the crabs were nimble and even tried to rush her.Yun Luohe triggered [Scanning Eye] and found the weak point at the abdominal joint.She timed it, then drove the trident hard into their bellies.The mutant crabs dropped plenty of crab claws when they died.Yun Luohe scooped up every last one.But the main prize was the necklace.The moment Yun Luohe picked it up, a familiar singing drifted in from outside the burrow.The merman spirit.It had sensed the necklace’s location and swam to Yun Luohe’s side.The instant it saw the necklace, the merman spirit grew more translucent, its glow flaring. It let out a cry, half-sorrow, half-joy.Then it began to sob—soft, mournful, and devastating to hear.The surrounding seawater heaved.Fish around the temple scattered in fright.The mutant crabs hiding nearby fled in panic.Yun Luohe extended her hand with the necklace. The merman spirit gave a slight wave, and the necklace flew into its grasp on its own.With the necklace in hand, the merman spirit became weightless and clear.Suddenly, a dazzling light burst from the necklace; the spirit’s outline sharpened and resolved into a beautiful young merman woman.A light screen flashed before Yun Luohe’s eyes, playing a memory.A young merman woman and a human man had fallen in love. He gave her this necklace as a token of their bond.The necklace could protect the merman woman, but later the merman clan fell into crisis. In the chaos, the necklace was lost.She searched for it, but perished; her soul lingered here, unwilling to depart.“Thank you,” the young merman woman said with a smile.“In return, I will bestow upon you the blessing of the merman.” As soon as she spoke, Yun Luohe felt a mysterious power surge from the necklace and pour into her body.Tears filled the spirit’s eyes; as they fell, each drop turned into a pellucid bead.She pressed the necklace to her chest, and her form dissolved into the light.The system chimed: [Quest complete! Received Merman Clan Gift: Seafloor Map ×1, Luck +5, Sapphire ×1, Mother-of-Pearl ×10, Merman Tear Bead ×10]Yun Luohe unfolded the map and saw marks for the four Underwater Ruins she’d already discovered, plus several locations marked with shell icons.The shell icons glittered—meaning there’d be good loot there.Overjoyed, Yun Luohe wasn’t just done with the quest—she’d been richly rewarded.And the tears shed just now totaled a full ten beads—she’d struck it rich.Without delay, Yun Luohe returned to the altar.She drew a deep breath and set the Black Conch, Ambergris, and Merman Tear Beads into the altar’s corresponding recesses.In an instant, the altar blazed; the chains trembled and the structure roared.As the light intensified, the chains snapped one by one, and the Merman Tear Crystal suspended above the altar slowly descended.The system chimed again: [Altar seal successfully lifted. Obtained Merman Tear Crystal ×1, Tidal Purifier Blueprint ×1.][Activating temple secret chamber……]With a rumble, the ground nearby collapsed, and a tunnel opened out of thin air.Yun Luohe didn’t rush in. First, she retrieved the tokens she’d placed on the altar.As expected, removing them didn’t make the tunnel disappear, and she already had the rewards.Otherwise, who knew where the tunnel led—if she couldn’t make it back, she wouldn’t be able to bring the items out.This way, the tokens could serve other purposes later.Nodding with satisfaction, Yun Luohe checked the item details as she walked into the secret chamber.There was quite a difference between Merman Tear Beads and the Merman Tear Crystal.The former are naturally condensed when merfolk weep, with broad utility: repairing altars, crafting special fertilizer, and even boosting Sanity if consumed.There are other uses to explore over time.The Merman Tear Crystal is stronger—core material for the Deep Sea Set’s Tide Core and also the energy core for crafting a Tidal Purifier.In comparison, the Merman Tear Crystal is far rarer.[Tidal Purifier:Effect 1: Forms a purification barrier: within a 30 m radius, immunity to green-fog radiation damage.2: Absorbs crop radiation: absorbs radiation from farmland crops within 30 m and converts it to nutrients.Required materials: Merman Tear Crystal ×1, Abyssal Iron ×5, Blue Sapphire Fragments ×5, Umbral Black Serpent Hide ×2, Mother-of-Pearl ×10]After reading the Tidal Purifier blueprint, Yun Luohe decided on the spot: she had to build this as soon as possible.This was likely the single most important device of the entire autumn.——Yun Luohe stepped into the secret-chamber tunnel. Damp stone walls were studded with glowing coral.The dim blue light barely lit the way; the passage was a narrow corridor, only wide enough to edge through sideways.She followed it down and soon reached the end.What lay before her was spectacular.A starry vault spanned the ceiling, aligned to the twelve constellations, and the chamber contained exactly twelve planting boxes.They were full of the anti-radiation kelp Yun Luohe had just found outside—also called Starlight Kelp.In the corner stood a stone table, dusty, with some basic tools and two sheets of parchment.Yun Luohe strode over, swept the tools into her pack, and picked up the parchments.—“Planting Box Log”—[Conch Communicator Blueprint]The planting log recorded the harvest frequency and yield of Starlight Kelp from the boxes in detail.Starlight Kelp seeds sprout in a 48-hour growth cycle, and can be harvested after another 24 hours.Each mature plant yields 3 portions of Starlight Kelp, with a chance to produce Golden Starlight Kelp; consuming 10 portions of Golden Starlight Kelp increases your permanent Sanity cap by 5.Food made from ordinary Starlight Kelp also increases Sanity.Large quantities can be refined into Kelp Essence, a core component of advanced recovery potions.As for the Conch Communicator Blueprint, it described a communication device crafted by merman priests from black conches—capable of cross-district contact.——Autumn, Day 2.Early that morning, Yun Luohe received the system’s settlement slip.The goods she’d put into the Shipping Crate yesterday had cleared, netting her a total of 300 Sea Coins.The statement itemized the sale price of each shipped good.Yun Luohe forwarded her statement to Mu Zitang—just as they’d agreed yesterday—so he could compile it into Shipping Crate intel.Roughly half an hour later, Mu Zitang sent her a standard Shipping Crate pricing sheet.The Mutual Aid Association currently had 500 members; eighteen people had obtained a Shipping Crate.Together with data Tianji Pavilion bought from other players who had Shipping Crates, they summarized the shipping standards.From now on, Yun Luohe could ship according to this baseline.——Raw ingredients—unprocessed basics like pumpkins and potatoes: 1 pumpkin for 5 Sea Coins; 1 potato for 3 Sea Coins.Processed foods with basic processing—like grilled fish or bread—go for about 10–25 Sea Coins.Complex processing—like honey bread, garlic-grilled fish—earns significantly more Sea Coins.Rare dishes with special effects—e.g., Clear-Mind Mint Balm—go for 75 Sea Coins.Mutant materials—like phosphorescent moss and Mutant Mint—sell for 20–30 Sea Coins.Gold-quality goods or foods convert to even more Sea Coins.Yun Luohe’s 300 Sea Coins came largely from gold-quality foods.Currently, the highest Sea Coin exchanges are for gold-quality rare species.Someone traded a gold-quality bluefin tuna for 100 Sea Coins.After studying the Shipping Crate intel, Yun Luohe quietly plotted her next steps.Meanwhile, Tianji Pavilion officially posted the Shipping Crate intel for sale on the forum.The moment it went up, the forum exploded. Players from other districts piled into the thread; the comments filled with questions about price and detail depth.District 2 chat went wild as well.“Tianji Pavilion’s pulling another big move! Shipping Crate intel? Gotta grab that!”“Wonder what it’ll cost. Hopefully not too steep. Sea Coins will be huge later; you have to stockpile early!”“Shipping Crates only dropped yesterday, right? Can Tianji Pavilion really sell intel this fast? Is it accurate, or are we wasting money for nothing?”Soon, Tianji Pavilion posted the sales tiers: a Standard report at 50 Sea Coins covering baseline price ranges and patterns,and a Premium report at 200 Sea Coins, with detailed prices by category, techniques to boost shipping revenue, and short-term demand forecasts.People still called it pricey. @Infinite Good Reads, all at Jinjiang Literature CityMu Zitang appeared in the chat. @Infinite Good Reads, all at Jinjiang Literature City“This is an S-tier member package, but we’re running an Autumn Fest special—District 2 only. Other districts don’t get this.”“Two hundred Sea Coins is a steal—you’ll make it back in a day.”Pricey or not, plenty of deep-pocketed players eager to seize first-mover advantage on the Shipping Crate meta bought in.Within a few hours, Tianji Pavilion had raked in over ten thousand Sea Coins selling intel.Due to the confidentiality rules—enforced by the system—players wouldn’t leak the reports privately,so the intel alone would net Tianji Pavilion a fortune.The Sea Coins would be split among all Tianji Pavilion members; thirty percent distributed out, twenty percent to Mu Zitang, and the remainder reserved for Yun Luohe.Since founding the Mutual Aid Association, Mu Zitang had also been running Tianji Pavilion,so Yun Luohe now barely had to lift a finger and still got a hefty cut.Before this, she’d received massive supplies, free intel, and top-tier talent working for her.Now it was a haul of Sea Coins, too.Yun Luohe hadn’t anticipated the Mutual Aid Association growing to this point.She received several thousand Sea Coins from Mu Zitang. She didn’t yet know where she’d spend them, but at least in District 2, she was far ahead.She did wonder how players in other districts were progressing.Maybe there were others like her who established organizations from the start.But the big influx of Sea Coins didn’t keep Yun Luohe happy for long—there was still a lot to do.She’d hauled in a mountain of materials from the seafloor yesterday, and getting back so late last night meant she hadn’t sorted any of it.From the secret chamber’s planting boxes she harvested a solid thirty bundles of Starlight Kelp, three of them gold-quality.She also obtained Starlight Kelp seeds, but unfortunately they only grow in planting boxes.The secret room’s boxes couldn’t be moved, and Starlight Kelp required a special environment, so she’d just have to come back every few days to harvest.Once she’d sorted the materials, Yun ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Luohe headed back to the seafloor to search for Abyssal Iron.She was determined to build the Tidal Purifier within the next few days.Radiation on the Reef was getting worse by the hour. If she didn’t handle it fast, plants and animals wouldn’t survive.

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