Chapter 442 Rent

On the seabed, the tides rise and fall, the waves surge, the stable water flow in the ocean current or the waves rushing forward in the fast-flowing stream will cause strong water flow, which also divides the bottom of the water into layers of undercurrents, just like underwater highways.

Li Qi and Lao Ma followed the mermaid girl and moved quickly on these underwater highways. Even if he couldn't swim, he was just being washed by the water flow, which was quite fast and labor-saving.

However, these tides were not brought by the real Taiyin, but by a pearl.

Li Qi couldn't help but stare at the dreamy, full-moon-like pearl.

Seeing Li Qi like this, the mermaid girl said, "Ah, sir, are you curious about the pearl?"

"I am indeed a little curious. It's so dark under the water, and the light source seems to be all brought by these pearls. What is that thing, and how can it be so powerful?" Li Qi asked.

The mermaid girl smiled and said, "Those are pearls spit out by the mother clam. They are not only used for lighting, but also for the energy under the water of Dongyu Island."

"The energy under the water of Dongyu Island..." Li Qi nodded slightly in thought.

In other words, is Dongyu Island actually driven by these pearls?

Interesting.

Following the water flow down, Li Qi soon felt the pressure. Now he was three or four miles underwater.

That is, it was close to more than two thousand meters deep sea. This was already a terrifying pressure. The sunlight above had completely disappeared, and the surroundings were dark and indistinguishable.

Although this was considered a shallow sea or even a surface sea in the East China Sea, for Li Qi, this was actually stepping into the deep sea. The only light sources around were Dongyu Island and those pearls, which emitted a faint light and illuminated the surrounding scenes.

But in fact, Li Qi found that those mermaids and sea people did not need light at all. Seeing things in the dark was like instinct for them.

But for Li Qi, who was used to using his eyes, there were a lot of fish that suddenly appeared and disappeared in the darkness, and the sea people also appeared randomly around. The complete darkness enveloped the surroundings, coupled with the cold sea water, which made people feel quite uneasy and fearful.

Li Qi knew that this fear was groundless. He had enough firepower and could crush these fish and sea people into pieces with a full burst, but he still couldn't suppress this instinctive uneasiness.

This was the suppression of land creatures by the ocean itself, especially for Li Qi who had never been to the sea.

He might need some time to get used to this feeling.

Looking around, Li Qi could see Dongyu's extremely broad body, which was as trustworthy as the continental shelf, and it was even covered with dark caves.

Although the eyes were useless at this time, Li Qi was a witch after all, and he had more than one sense.

Speaking of this, Li Qi once had the illusion that as his cultivation level improved, his eyes would become more and more powerful, and he would be able to see through everything and transform all information into visualization.

But as his cultivation improved, he found that... although he did master more and more observation skills, and his eyes became more and more powerful, he could see farther and farther, and his dynamic vision became stronger and stronger, but his eyes... were always just eyes.

That's right, the structure of the eyes destined it to always be just an optical sensor. No matter how sensitive this optical sensor is, it is still an optical thing. It is impossible to say that it can suddenly have the function of a gravitational wave sensor.

Therefore, in order to strengthen their ability in perception, real practitioners usually get themselves more other sensors.

So, after Li Qi found that he couldn't see, he took out a translucent, droplet-like insect from his hand.

Then, he put the insect into his eye socket.

Suddenly, the surrounding environment became clear, and all darkness could not be hidden. Li Qi also gained a considerable degree of dark vision, and could even rely on the self-luminescence of his eyes to see things in a lightless environment.

The mermaid girl looked at it in a daze, as if she had never seen this kind of operation of actively stuffing insects into the eyes.

Wudao has always been known for its weirdness, and it also cultivates insects.

Li Qi has also done some research on the art of witchcraft, which he has learned from the study of witchcraft silkworms. What he is using now is the pupil insect he bought in the past.

Pupil insects can convert other things into understandable light signals. With this, there is a means of observation on the seabed.

Li Qi did these things without delaying his journey, so it didn't take long for them to enter the water four or five miles deep, and swam nearly thirty miles to the left side of Dongyu. According to the body part, they were almost at the ribs of Dongyu's puppet.

Here, the mermaid girl finally stopped.

Li Qi could see that there were quite a lot of mermaids living on the rock wall here, both men and women.

The mermaid race seemed to be born unwilling to wear clothes because they were in the water. After all, the resistance brought by clothes was quite huge, far less than the scales and skin of mermaids.

However, female mermaids actually don't have lactation organs, and their upper bodies are flat and smooth.

After all... this seems to be an egg-laying race, with no need for breastfeeding, so it doesn't look that outrageous, so both men and women of this race have slender and smooth bodies.

They are beautiful, but they just feel a bit "alien".

But it doesn't matter. Li Qi is used to meeting all kinds of races. He has even seen Yijun. It's just a few mermaids. What's the big deal?

"Sir, I'm home. Why don't you wait here? I'll talk to my family about the situation and then come. I'll be with you for the next seven days. Please use me as you like." The mermaid turned around and faced Li Qi, saying so.

"Okay, go back and tell your family. By the way, do you mind if I go with you?" Li Qi suddenly said.

"Ah? I don't mind... But I'm just going home to report. Are you afraid that I'll run away?" The mermaid girl was puzzled.

"No, mainly, I'm a little curious about the mermaid's home. I've never seen it before, but it's a bit rude to trespass. It's better to go in with you and see what the mermaid's residential area looks like." Li Qi said so.

This answer is indeed true.

He really just knows how to be curious. Li Qi has always been very curious about the strange race of mermaids.

"If that's the case... then there's nothing wrong with that, but the house is simple, and I'm afraid you won't see any rare scenes..." The mermaid girl seemed a little embarrassed.

"What kind of rare scene can compare to the traditions that the mermaids have followed for tens of millions of years? What I want to see is the ordinary home of the mermaids. You know, the more ordinary things are, the more universal the avenues they contain." Li Qi said.

What kind of wonders can compare to the mermaids themselves?

In other words, the life traditions and family structure of the mermaids themselves are already a wonder that has been developed for countless thousands of years. For the mermaids themselves, they may have become accustomed to it, but for Li Qi, this is much more interesting than any garden scenery.

However, when this sentence was said, the mermaid girl in front of him was slightly stunned.

As the gentleman in front of him said, the more ordinary things are, the more profound truths they contain. It's not because the avenue is ordinary, but because the avenue constitutes everything, and it becomes ordinary when you see it too much.

To make an analogy, it is like this… high-end avant-garde modern art, which seems to be very cutting-edge and cutting-edge, and can be hyped up and sold for tens of billions, but without him, it will be gone, and there will be no special impact.

But in daily life, the daily necessities of three or five yuan are extremely ordinary and can be found everywhere, but this is the real way to make society function normally. The countless circulation rules hidden in it are nothing at first glance, but the deeper you go, the more you can find that it contains countless wisdom of predecessors. If it is gone, the whole society will explode.

It is not because it is ordinary that it is popular everywhere.

It is because it is popular that it seems ordinary.

This light sentence made the mermaid girl suddenly fall into deep thought. Li Qi did not disturb her, but stood quietly waiting.

After a long time, the mermaid girl suddenly stood up, and then bowed to Li Qi with very unskilled etiquette: "Thank you, sir... Please take this back, sir. I dare not accept your reward for these seven days of commission."

As she said, she handed over Li Qi's lamp with both hands.

Li Qi smiled: "It's good that you can do your best. This magic weapon is nothing to me. Take it."

Li Qi could see that during the period of silence just now, many of the chaotic qi in her body had dissipated. Those should be the 'new trends' that this little girl pursued.

Brand-new cultivation methods and brand-new techniques are useful, but they have nurtured a restless heart.

But when she figured it out, she took the initiative to cut herself with a knife and cut through these 'new modern techniques'. Focusing on the foundation, although it has become weak temporarily, it is good for the long run, so she will take the initiative to worship Li Qi.

In this way, she should be dedicated when she is a tour guide.

But the mermaid girl nodded gratefully, and then said: "My name is Leifang, you can call me by this name directly, please slow down, I will go to greet you."

"No need, everything is normal, what's the point of making it grand? Let's go, don't delay." Li Qi urged.

Lei Fang nodded, not daring to oppose Li Qi, and swam towards the depths with a flick of his tail.

Li Qi led the old horse and followed behind.

The old horse spit out a few bubbles at this time.

Li Qi rolled his eyes: "What do you mean I pretend to be a master to deceive the little girl... I am a master, okay? Besides, everyone has their own specialties. What's wrong with not being able to swim? Run your way!"

The old horse stuck out his tongue and slid slightly, then accelerated and caught up with Lei Fang.

However, while running, Li Qi suddenly discovered something.

There are indeed many mermaids around, and... they are all engaged in the pearl planting industry, both men and women, but the industries they are engaged in are basically the same.

Why?

Is it nature? Or is it just an accident?

According to Li Qi's understanding, the mermaid settlement should have all kinds of people, and the cultivation methods should also have their own merits.

You know, even in Baiyue, where the skills are so inferior, there are still various industries, and there are still various skills circulating within the human race.

But at first glance, although the surroundings are active and there are many mermaids, they are all cultivating pearls!

They inlay pearl oysters on the shell of Dongyu, and then put a trace of air and sand into it, so that the pearl oysters can continuously produce pearls, but other than that, they have no other industries.

The sea shepherds that Li Qi saw outside were also other races, not mermaids.

Such a single industry? This is not conducive to the development of the race. Are all mermaids like this, or are they only the mermaids in Dongyu like this?

With such doubts, Li Qi finally came to Lei Fang's home.

Lei Fang rushed in happily.

She shouted loudly: "Father, mother! I'm back! By the way, I also brought a nobleman. This gentleman hired me to be his guide for seven days. By the way, this is the reward this time. He also bought a hundred beads. The rent for this moon phase is enough!"

Li Qi looked at this "home" not far away.

Mermaids are a race in the water, and naturally they will not live on a flat and solid ground like humans.

Humans are accustomed to living in a flat world, with only east, south, west, north, front, back, left, and right, and rarely use up and down.

But the mermaids live in a three-dimensional world, with up and down, all around... No, there are more than all around, but a three-dimensional spherical range, so their houses are not standing on a plane, but a hole dug on a vertical cliff, and this hole has a wide extension.

Dongyu's body is obviously similar to a tower, it is vertical, and they built a complex nest system on the vertical mountain wall, and it looks quite practical.

Vertical, but not flat, Dongyu's body has many tiny protrusions. Of course, it looks very tiny to Dongyu itself, but in fact Dongyu's body is extremely huge, hundreds of miles high, so these small protrusions even form a "terrain", just like a horizontal hill.

These nests of the mermaids are built in all directions on the hills on these walls. Not only do they not seem crowded, but they are more than enough, and a lot of places are used to grow pearl oysters.

If Li Qi must describe it, this is a... beehive?

Almost, the surrounding environment is like entering a beehive, a three-dimensional nest hanging in the treetops, but the scale is surprisingly large.

However, when Li Qi observed the surrounding environment, he was also thinking about one thing.

Did Lei Fang just say "rent"?

In other words... this area has rent?

Who are they paying rent to?

Is this the reason why they are all engaged in the pearl planting industry?