Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 541: Chapter 541: Digging for Pearls

Li Xu and his group sailed into the vast Philippine Sea on their yacht.

This is the largest marginal sea in the world, with deep waters and a warm sea breeze.

Li Xu stood on the deck, sipping water while keeping an eye on the GPS device in his hand.

He grew more and more excited as the latitude and longitude coordinates neared the location from his intelligence report.

Although this area was within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, near the edge of its territorial waters, foreign vessels theoretically needed a permit to anchor or conduct any extraction.

But out on this vast, open sea, who would know as long as they were quick and didn’t cause a major disturbance?

Besides, pearl oysters couldn’t possibly grow in the deep sea.

They usually inhabited shallow waters, ten to twenty meters deep.

The nautical charts for this area were blank, with no islands marked.

But this only confirmed Li Xu’s suspicion—there had to be a highland or island base beneath the waves.

In other words, a hidden reef or a submerged ancient island.

"Captain, stop the boat."

Li Xu called out suddenly. "This spot looks great. The water is clear, and there are plenty of fish. We’re in no rush, so how about we stop and do some diving?"

His proposal was met with enthusiastic approval from Song Sisi and Lin Xiaoyu.

They had been rocking on the boat for half the day and were getting a bit bored. The chance to get in the water was more than welcome.

Ding Kaifang, of course, followed Li Xu’s lead without question and immediately ordered the captain to drop anchor.

Around noon, the sun shone directly on the surface, turning the water a translucent, jewel-like blue.

Ding Kaifang stood at the gunwale and looked down, saying in pleasant surprise, "There are a lot of schools of fish! And with this water color... it probably isn’t too deep. I’d guess only ten or twenty meters."

"Ten or twenty meters?"

Lin Xiaoyu was taken aback. "That’s way too deep! The deepest we’ve ever dived is three meters."

"It’s fine," Li Xu said with a smile. "We’ll be wearing diving suits and have oxygen tanks. If you feel uncomfortable, just come back up. There’s no need to go all the way to the bottom."

The four of them changed into professional diving gear.

SPLASH, SPLASH.

With a series of splashes, the four of them jumped into the sea one after another.

The moment they hit the water, a refreshing coolness enveloped them.

After acclimating to the pressure, they began to slowly descend.

The world underwater was always magical.

Just three meters down, they could see schools of colorful tropical fish darting all around them.

The fish weren’t afraid of people; they would even circle them out of curiosity.

Song Sisi and Lin Xiaoyu excitedly swam through the schools of fish, chasing them playfully and occasionally striking poses for Li Xu to photograph.

After playing for a while, the group continued their descent.

At a depth of about ten meters, the water pressure became much more noticeable.

Song Sisi and Lin Xiaoyu felt a painful pressure in their eardrums, and their breathing grew a little ragged.

Li Xu made a hand gesture, signaling them not to push themselves.

The four of them surfaced and removed their respirators.

"I can’t, I can’t. My ears hurt," Lin Xiaoyu said, gasping for air.

"How about this: you two can just swim around near the boat or sunbathe on the deck. President Ding and I will go down to the bottom to take a look and get some pictures for you," Li Xu suggested.

"Okay, okay! Take lots of pictures of those big blue fish."

Although Song Sisi couldn’t dive deep, she didn’t want to spoil Li Xu’s fun.

"No problem. Wait for our good news."

Li Xu and Ding Kaifang put their respirators back on and descended once more.

This time, the two of them headed straight for the seabed.

The deeper they went, the dimmer the light became, but they could still make out their surroundings.

Just as Li Xu had expected, a vast underwater plateau appeared at a depth of about eighteen meters.

It was covered with jagged rocks and dense coral thickets.

The two men didn’t stick together, instead splitting up to search with a silent understanding.

Li Xu followed the line of the rocks, carefully searching every nook and cranny.

’Pearl oysters like to grow in rocky reef areas with gentle currents and abundant food,’ he thought, recalling the description from the intelligence report as he swam.

After swimming for several dozen meters and rounding a massive coral reef, the view before Li Xu suddenly opened up.

On a flat expanse of rock ahead, a vast area was densely covered with shells.

These shells were enormous, each one the size of a washbasin. Their surfaces were covered with algae and other growths, making them look like ordinary rocks at a glance.

These were the legendary giant pearl oysters!

’I found it,’ Li Xu thought with a surge of joy and quickly swam over.

In the center of the colony was a particularly enormous shell, over half a meter in diameter. It lay there quietly like a round table, looking exceptionally dominant.

It was definitely the "Shell King" of this area.

Li Xu swam up beside it. Instead of prying it open like a barbarian, he first observed it.

The giant shell was slightly agape, as if it were filter-feeding.

Li Xu drew a diving knife from his waist, found the right spot, and swiftly inserted it into the shell’s adductor muscle, slicing forcefully.

The shell recoiled in pain and tried to snap shut, but it was too late.

Li Xu pried the shell open, switched on the powerful flashlight on his head, and shined it inside.

Instantly, a soft yet dazzling light reflected back at him.

There, nestled in the thick, fleshy interior, was a massive Pearl.

It was as large as a ping-pong ball, perfectly round, and had a rare, faint pink-gold hue. Its surface was as smooth as a mirror, shimmering with a captivating luster.

It was absolutely the best of the best.

Li Xu carefully extracted the Pearl and held it in his hand.

He could clearly feel its warm, smooth texture, even in the cold seawater.

He examined it closely with his light; there were no flaws or damage.

’This one alone would probably fetch millions, even tens of millions, at auction. And it’s the kind of thing that’s sought-after but rarely available.’

Li Xu placed the Pearl in his mesh bag, then looked up and scanned the hundreds of pearl oysters around him.

’If all of these have one... then this is a massive underwater treasure trove.’

’This trip... I’ve really hit the jackpot.’

...

Half an hour later, the sea surface was as calm as ever.

Ding Kaifang had grown tired of exploring. He surfaced, removed his respirator, and shook out his wet hair.

"PHEW—The seafloor is beautiful, but it gets a bit boring after a while."

He glanced around but didn’t see any sign of Li Xu.

’Where’s Doctor Li?’

He wasn’t too concerned. Li Xu was far more skilled and a much better swimmer than him. ’It’s not like he could get lost in his own backyard, could he?’

’He’s probably still down there fooling around with the fish. I’ll go up and sunbathe for a bit.’

Ding Kaifang climbed onto the yacht’s deck and found Song Sisi and Lin Xiaoyu lounging under a parasol, drinking juice.

"President Ding, where’s Li Xu? Didn’t he come up with you?" Song Sisi asked, taking off her sunglasses with a hint of worry.

"Nope. He’s probably not done having fun yet," Ding Kaifang said casually as he toweled himself off.

However, another ten-odd minutes passed, and the sea surface remained perfectly still. Not even a single bubble rose to the surface.

At this point, Song Sisi couldn’t sit still any longer. She stood up, walked to the side of the boat, and stared anxiously at the deep blue water. "Where is he? It’s been almost an hour! Even with an oxygen tank, shouldn’t he be running out of air by now?"

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