The High Seas

The group decided to go diving, so they took the yacht to find a suitable spot nearby.

Mo Qiong immediately pointed the Large Pearl in a direction, guiding the boat closer to their target.

Undoubtedly, the place where pearl oysters were found couldn't be the deep seabed; it must be located about ten to twenty meters below the surface.

There were no islands nearby, yet there were pearls. Mo Qiong guessed there must be a submerged landmass underwater.

These were islands that were below sea level. Only if the sea level dropped would they become islands; otherwise, they were just underwater highlands.

Around noon, Mo Qiong looked at the sea surface and said, "This should be a great spot for diving."

Zhang He jumped in for a quick dive and said, "There are so many schools of fish down here. It shouldn't be too deep."

"How deep is 'not too deep'?" a girl asked.

Zhang He estimated, "Thirty meters at most."

The four girls immediately gasped, "That's too deep! We've only ever dived to ten meters at most."

These girls were brought along by the guys to have fun; they weren't people who went out to sea often.

"It's okay, if you feel uncomfortable, just come up. No one's forcing you to reach the bottom," said a young man named Xiao Kun.

The girls asked, "How deep can you guys dive?"

"I've dived to a hundred meters," Xiao Kun boasted, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

Zhang He chuckled, "Don't listen to his bragging. At a depth of a hundred meters, he came up after only thirty meters."

"Forget the girls, but for us guys, are we all planning to go to the bottom? I've dived fifty meters before, so thirty meters is a piece of cake," someone said.

Zhang He replied, "Whatever you guys want. What about you, Mo Qiong?"

After Zhang He bumped into Mo Qiong's boat, was rescued, and considering Mo Qiong believed in and respected his dreams, Zhang He now considered Mo Qiong a friend, even closer than some of the friends he came out to sea with.

Mo Qiong smiled, "I'm fine with anything."

As the group chatted and laughed, they changed into their diving suits.

Mo Qiong had one too; he had deliberately kept it safe when his boat sank earlier.

"Splash!"

Everyone took turns jumping in. After adjusting to the water pressure, they began to descend.

At a depth of ten meters, they could see schools of fish swimming by. They passed through the schools, startling and chasing them, enjoying themselves.

After taking a few photos, they continued to dive deeper.

When they reached over twenty meters, the girls couldn't go any further.

Laughing, they all surfaced together.

"How about this, you guys just swim around near the boat. We'll go down and take pictures for you," Xiao Kun suggested.

"We saw so many fish! Take lots of pictures," the girls said.

Xiao Kun replied, "No problem, you guys just wait here."

After leaving the girls behind, the five men joined hands and descended.

They stopped around thirty meters when they saw rocks.

Holding onto the towering underwater rocks, they explored and looked around. There was a lot of vegetation covering the area, and schools of fish darted through it.

The group chased them playfully but didn't stray too far.

No one noticed that an undercurrent was swirling around Mo Qiong, sweeping along the rocks and into the distant darkness.

"Pearl oysters are usually only found at ten to twenty meters. This one seems unusually deep."

Mo Qiong, enduring the water pressure, felt his way along the rocks, exploring and tracking.

After tens of meters, Mo Qiong finally saw his target. A few meters away from him, there was a large patch of shells.

They were laid out one after another, covering the rocks.

One of them was particularly huge, with a hole smashed into it by a can...

"I took protective measures, the pearl should be okay, right?"

Mo Qiong leaned closer and looked into the hole in the shell. He could see a large pearl, and next to it was his can.

He ignored the can, found a spot to bury it, and then took out the pearl. The oyster meat inside had already been eaten by the fish, leaving only an empty shell.

Holding the pearl, Mo Qiong examined it under the light from his headlamp. There were no obvious damages.

"Just this one is worth who knows how much. If all the ones next to it..." Mo Qiong scanned the surrounding hundreds of pearl oysters and thought it was a worthwhile trip.

Half an hour later, they got bored and wanted to go up.

But Zhang He looked around and couldn't find Mo Qiong.

However, everyone else wasn't too concerned. Mo Qiong was such a good swimmer; how could he get lost? They decided to go up first.

Yet, when they reached the surface, Mo Qiong still hadn't come up.

After waiting for a while, Zhang He became anxious, "Where is he?"

"He swims very fast, maybe he swam too far chasing fish?" Xiao Kun said.

Just as everyone was about to go down to look, a large mackerel suddenly leaped out of the water, and an arm holding the fish appeared before them.

Mo Qiong surfaced, tossing the mackerel onto the deck with one hand.

The girls screamed in surprise, and Zhang He laughed, "You actually went to catch fish? Amazing, how did you catch it with your bare hands?"

Humans are naturally not as fast as fish. Although large schools of fish look like they can be caught with a simple grab, in reality, you can't catch a single one.

The few of them tried underwater, but quickly gave up. The fish that were too small were too slippery and hard to catch, and the fish that were too big were too strong.

Catching fish with bare hands is a skill. At best, they could only use nets to catch fish.

Everyone thought Mo Qiong had gone to catch fish, but they didn't know that the fish was just a tool for him to ascend faster.

Mo Qiong shook his head and said, "I caught this fish on the way. I mainly found this."

As he spoke, another hand emerged from the water, and a large, bright white pearl broke through the surface.

"Holy crap!" The crowd erupted in amazement. The pearl in his hand was perfectly round and full. The sunlight reflecting off it made it even more dazzling.

The women all screamed and leaned over the railing, staring intently.

"You actually found such a big pearl?" Xiao Kun exclaimed.

Zhang He also said, "The size isn't the most important thing, I've seen bigger ones. But one this round is truly valuable!"

Everyone hurriedly called for Mo Qiong to come up, and then gathered around him, staring at the pearl.

Several girls wanted to touch it, and Mo Qiong handed it over nonchalantly.

After the girls took turns examining it, they said, "The luster is quite good too, it's really beautiful."

"It's a shame there's wear and tear, there are obvious scratches here."

Zhang He said, "It's okay if there are scratches, with this little bit, it won't be visible if placed on a tray facing down."

"Dude, you're really lucky. Such a large natural pearl is very rare. I didn't expect to find it here. People usually don't come to pearl dive in places like this."

This sea area belonged to the deep sea. The nearest shallow waters were over two hundred kilometers away, yet they found pearl oysters at the bottom.

"There should be more down there, right? It's unlikely there's only one oyster," Xiao Kun suddenly said.

Mo Qiong smiled, "There are hundreds more, but none as big as this. You can go take a look."

He pointed in the direction without any hesitation, and everyone was immediately delighted. They steered the boat over, and everyone went into the water again.

"Bring tools, it would be exhausting to pry them open with your hands," Mo Qiong reminded them.

He had already pried open dozens of them. Some had no pearls, and some had very small ones. He hadn't found a second one as good as the one in his hand in half an hour.

Let alone one as good, even slightly inferior ones were nowhere to be found.

However, if hundreds were opened, there should be some with good quality, but compared to this one, those were just small change.

With his guidance, everyone immediately dived down to search.

Even the girls, who could originally only dive to twenty meters, managed to dive to thirty meters.

They weren't short of money. They were looking for pearls for the surprise and the fun of treasure hunting.

After more than a dozen trips up and down, this group of people completely ravaged that patch of pearl oysters.

Hundreds of pearls, large and small, were brought onto the boat.

Mo Qiong took the opportunity to say, "This is within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, such large-scale harvesting..."

Xiao Kun quickly laughed, "It's fine, who knows about this place? We'll just head back from the high seas."

Mo Qiong nodded. He had now dragged everyone into this. Everyone had gotten pearls, and no one felt anything was wrong with it.

Moreover, these people all had connections to help sell these pearls. Mo Qiong could also use this opportunity to his advantage.

Two hours later, they re-entered the high seas and headed towards their home country.

Inside the cabin, everyone gathered around the table, appraising their haul.

Zhang He had also found pearls before and was very familiar with the market.

He said, "These two hundred-plus are useless, the girls can use them for face masks."

In one go, he picked out over two hundred pearls of average quality.

"These few are okay, and this one, this one..." Zhang He picked out thirty with commercial value.

Xiao Kun said, "I'll take these thirty, name your price."

Zhang He said, "These few are only worth around ten thousand yuan, but you'll have to pay a premium for these four. Their roundness, luster, and surface are all perfect. This one alone is a hundred thousand, and for every millimeter larger it is, the price doubles. You do the math."

Xiao Kun laughed, "Easy peasy, I can't afford this one."

He said, pointing to the largest pearl in front of Mo Qiong.

Mo Qiong was stunned, looking at the small pearl, then at the one in his hand.

The two were at least thirty millimeters apart in size.

Mo Qiong stammered, "An extra millimeter doubles the price? Then mine is... three million?"

"Huh? Three million? I'll buy it then!" Xiao Kun said quickly.

Mo Qiong looked at him, knowing it was more than three million.

However, if selling it was too much trouble, selling it to these rich second-generation heirs wasn't a bad idea; he wouldn't mind selling it cheaper.

Zhang He glared at Xiao Kun, then smiled at Mo Qiong, "He's joking. What I said earlier was about the specifications for making jewelry. Yours is exceptionally large, so it's different. It belongs in the category of collectibles. If you put it up for auction, six million is no problem."

Mo Qiong took a deep breath. "I'll sell it to you for six million, will you buy it?"

Zhang He was taken aback. "Do you really want to sell it? If you put it up for auction, it could go for even higher, depending on whether there's a buyer who really wants it."

"If you want it, I'll sell it directly to you. Whether you auction it off later or keep it yourself is up to you," Mo Qiong said.

For him, six million was enough. He knew that if he put it up for auction, he might not get the money for a long time, as auction houses needed a lot of time for promotion, planning, and preparation.

Zhang He smiled. "I have no problem buying it, I definitely won't lose money. Think it over carefully."

"I've thought it over. If you want it, take it," Mo Qiong said, as if he were selling vegetables.

Just then, Xiao Kun suddenly spoke up. "How about this, I'll take it for six million too. I'll give you the money when I get back home."

Zhang He chuckled, "He's selling it to me. I didn't say I wouldn't buy it."

"Seven million, I'll take it."

Xiao Kun rolled his eyes. "Are you crazy? Why are you bidding against me?"

Zhang He smiled, "Tell you what, if you want it, you can pay seven million, and I won't buy it anymore."

Xiao Kun hesitated for a moment, then actually said, "Okay, I'll take it for seven million. But you owe him a favor, so just give him the money. Why are you bothering me with this?"

Mo Qiong was stunned. Anyone could see that Zhang He's words had helped him raise the price by a million.

Zhang He laughed, "Don't listen to his nonsense. This isn't about repaying a favor. I consider you a friend and I don't want you to lose out."

"To be honest with you, if he takes this pearl for seven million, he's guaranteed to make a profit."

Mo Qiong asked, "Why? Will he definitely find a good buyer?"

Zhang He explained, "It doesn't matter if he can't find one. His family runs an auction house. If it doesn't reach their target price, they'll just bid ten million themselves to buy it."

"After a while, their family will send someone to put the item up for auction again. If it doesn't sell, they'll bid on it themselves and keep it."

"They can do this twice a year, and eventually, someone will take it off their hands. Don't worry, with enough time and hype, his family will eventually make their money back."