Petrified Wood

The rising sun climbed into a cloudless sky, marking the start of another day.

www.

Ye Yuan's fishing boat sailed across the sea to the sound of waves slapping against its hull. The Water Controller had entered the high seas Ye Yuan had been thinking about for so long.

Last time, they had only been a few hours away from this place, but for various reasons, they had not come.

Under international law, the high seas referred to the parts of the ocean beyond the internal waters, territorial seas, archipelagic waters, and exclusive economic zones of all nations, areas not governed or controlled by any country's sovereignty.

According to the 1958 Convention on the High Seas, the high seas encompassed all waters not included in a nation's territorial sea or internal waters. As marine technology advanced and humanity developed ocean resources, coastal nations expanded their jurisdiction, creating new concepts and systems such as exclusive economic zones and archipelagic waters, thereby reducing the area of the high seas.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulated that the high seas included all waters not within a nation's exclusive economic zone, territorial sea, internal waters, or the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic state.

The high seas were available for equal use by all nations. They were not part of any country's territory and therefore fell under no nation's sovereignty. No country could claim any part of the high seas as its own or exercise jurisdiction over the high seas themselves.

The high seas were a shared expanse of water, and also the place where fishing boats most often came into conflict. After all, coast guards managed a country's own waters, but there were far fewer restrictions on the high seas.

The fishing boat cruised steadily across the high seas. Ye Yuan extended his senses and found that the schools of fish here were clearly more numerous than in domestic waters.

After sailing for some time, they neared R Country's waters. Along the way, Ye Yuan spotted several R Country fishing boats conducting salvage operations.

Just then, Second Brother emerged from the cabin, stretching and yawning. Yesterday had truly worn him out, and he had slept until nearly noon.

"Fourth Brother, don't ever do that again. This body of mine really can't take it. I'm still aching all over after getting up." He yawned as he spoke, looking out at the sea and Ye Yuan.

"Your body is far worse than it was in school. Back then, you could play two basketball games in a row without saying you were tired. It's only been a little over a year since graduation, so how did you end up like this? Remember the old saying: wine is poison that passes through the intestines, and lust is a steel blade that scrapes the bones. You've got both covered, haven't you?"

Ye Yuan had no intention of letting Second Brother off and bluntly pointed out the "sins" he had committed over the past year.

Second Brother merely rolled his eyes and did not continue the topic.

Ye Yuan could not be bothered with him either, so he let him move about freely on the boat. Since they had finally made it to the high seas, he had to go down and take a look.

Second Brother lay directly on a deck chair, closed his eyes, and basked in the sun. His attitude practically said, Do whatever you want. I'm resting today no matter what.

Once in the sea, Ye Yuan swam straight downward. The seabed here was covered by a vast coral reef, teeming with all kinds of fish. Some smaller fish, chased by predators, darted into holes among the rocks.

When he reached the bottom, the light had become extremely faint. He followed the coral reef in one direction.

He did not know how far he had swum when he suddenly spotted a log nearly a meter in diameter buried beneath the seabed sand, with only a small section exposed. Had Ye Yuan not been moving so close to the seafloor, he might not have noticed it.

Ye Yuan brushed away some of the sand and discovered that a much longer section remained buried beneath it. There was no way he could pull it out by himself.

After observing it carefully for a while, he still could not see it clearly because of the poor light. The wood was entirely black. He squeezed it hard and found it incredibly solid, as though he were gripping a stone. It immediately reminded Ye Yuan of a rare item he had often read about: Petrified Wood.

Petrified Wood generally formed over periods ranging from 2,800 to 8,000 years. It was not old enough to be considered plant fossilization, nor was it a mineral.

Petrified Wood was merely a collective term. It formed when trees such as nanmu, Chinese toon, hemp willow, and ironwood were buried in silt by natural disasters and underwent carbonization for thousands or even tens of thousands of years under oxygen-deprived, high-pressure conditions.

Its market value varied depending on the tree species, with Golden Silk Nanmu being the most valuable among nanmu varieties. The older it was and the better preserved it remained, the higher its price.

If this really was Petrified Wood, then he had truly struck it rich. This was not something that could simply be measured by rarity. Many valuable pieces of Petrified Wood required tens of thousands of years to form.

Because this piece of Petrified Wood was simply too large, Ye Yuan could not get it out himself. He could only go back up and use the fishing boat for help.

After returning to the boat, Ye Yuan first had the fishing boat sail to the designated coordinates. Then, carrying a shovel and an extremely long rope, he led two crew members into the water. One end of the rope had already been secured to the crane.

The group arrived at the spot where they had discovered the Petrified Wood. They first used the shovels to clear away the large amount of sand around it, then fastened the rope to one end of the Petrified Wood.

One crew member surfaced to notify those on the boat to start the crane.

As the crane began operating, the Petrified Wood was slowly pulled upward. Ye Yuan and the other man continued clearing away the surrounding sand to reduce resistance.

After thirty minutes of work, a piece of Petrified Wood a full fifteen meters long was hoisted onto the fishing boat by the crane.

Throughout the entire process, Ye Yuan had Ding Er record everything. If anyone discovered it in the future, he could explain that it had been salvaged from the high seas and avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

"Fourth Brother, you made such a huge fuss just to haul a piece of wood up from the seafloor? Was that really necessary?" As he spoke, Second Brother walked over and kicked the "wood."

"Ow! Is this a rock? Why is it so hard?" Second Brother rubbed his foot, which had already started to go numb.

"Wood? Second Brother, you're supposed to be a rich man. Don't tell me you don't even know what Petrified Wood is?" Ye Yuan shot an annoyed glance at him, where he sat on the deck still rubbing his foot.

Second Brother.

"You're saying this thing is Petrified Wood? What species of tree is it?" Second Brother ignored Ye Yuan's mockery and instead focused on its variety.

"I don't know. It was too dark down there to see clearly. Didn't I bring it up so we could take a closer look? I'm not very familiar with trees, so I'll need to check some information."

Ye Yuan truly did not know what kind of wood this piece of Petrified Wood was.

Upon hearing that, Second Brother immediately took out his phone to take pictures. Ye Yuan hurriedly stopped him.

"Don't. This is sensitive. I don't plan to sell it, and I don't plan to let anyone know about it."

"What are you afraid of? We pulled it up from the high seas, not from our own waters. Isn't anything found on the high seas owned by whoever finds it?"

Second Brother looked at Ye Yuan in confusion.

"It's troublesome. I don't plan to sell it. Wouldn't it be great to keep something this good for ourselves?" Ye Yuan rolled his eyes at Second Brother.

He immediately ordered Ding Yi and the others to get the boat moving, then dragged Ding Er straight into his cabin.

"Starting now, learn carving. How long will it take for you to reach a master's level?"

Ding Er thought about it and said it would take around a week. It would be best if he had some material to practice on.

"No problem. Go learn now. We'll deal with the materials after we make landfall."

After Ding Er left, Ye Yuan began looking through reference materials to determine exactly what species this Petrified Wood belonged to.

After consulting a large amount of information and comparing it with the Petrified Wood, he finally confirmed that it was actually the most precious Golden Silk Nanmu.

Never mind Petrified Wood—even a Golden Silk Nanmu tree this large would be worth a fortune.

This unexpected discovery made Ye Yuan feel as though he had stepped in dog shit. If the system had not lacked a luck stat, he would have thought his luck was truly off the charts.