The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 728 Let me see what good things the sirens have given me!

When dealing with non-human beings—whether they are land monsters, aquatic monsters, artifact spirits, ghosts, or other intelligent beings that are difficult to categorize—the Special Affairs Bureau has a well-established set of solutions.

Don't want to register your ID number?
It's ok!
Unwilling to pay taxes?
It doesn’t matter!
Distrust of officials, or even agitated at the sight of official personnel?

a piece of cake!
Language barrier?
got used to!
Let's start with bartering... or even, I can put the items here first, then you can come out and place what you're willing to exchange in front of what you want...

Just like when facing the natives during the Age of Exploration, let's take it slow!

All of this is negotiable. It's even more possible to talk about a great sea monster that has already gained sentience, can speak human language, and has Shen Le as its guarantor.

Several special agents worked together to first launch a small boat, which was full of products brought out by the special agents that were popular with the water monsters.

What kind of swords, spears, and halberds are forged from spirit metal!

These are pills made from terrestrial herbs, used to aid in cultivation or directly enhance one's cultivation level!
What kind of array plate gathers spiritual energy?
Forget about talismans that instantly grant status effects! — Of course, given that paper talismans would quickly get wet and smudge in the deep sea, the ones we brought this time were all engraved on bamboo, wood, bone, and jade pieces…

The sirens picked and chose, and quite a few deals were struck. Of course, the greater the sirens, the less satisfied they were:
"None of these weapons suit me!" Xuan Yuan looked through and tried out all the cold weapons, but couldn't find one that suited her, mainly because they didn't fit her fighting style:

"Could you make me a set of braces?"

"Me too!" Embroidered-faced Gong also raised his pliers and snapped them twice:

"Make me a pair of custom-made pliers!"

"No problem, no problem!" The bespectacled Special Affairs Bureau expert patted his chest. Xuan Yuan happily swam closer and opened his mouth:
"Come on! Take my measurement! Feel free to crawl in, I promise I won't bite you!"

"That really isn't necessary..." The expert hesitated slightly, clearly reluctant. "Ma'am, would you like to have your mouth checked?"

There's an outer row, a middle row, an inner row, and several more rows lying further in, ready to replace the broken teeth on the outside at any time.

With so many sharp teeth, just crawling over them would probably tear my legs to shreds! Not to mention, ma'am, your breath is... truly breathtaking...

He hesitated for a moment between "sacrificing himself for the country" and "ensuring his own safety," then raised his head and shouted:

"Mr. Shen! May I borrow your scanner?"

Ah, we have to thank the mansion on Shen Le's ship, the laboratory inside the mansion, and the laboratory filled with all sorts of instruments.

It's much easier to have Xuan Yuan open his mouth wide, have Wenxiu Gong raise his pliers, and have the scanner spin around once than for him to painstakingly climb into the shark's mouth and measure everything one by one with calipers!

Of course, there is an extremely long distance between sampling and customization—about the distance from the port where the reconnaissance ship departed to their current location.

The special affairs bureau members had no choice but to diligently register the sirens, assign them cell phones, and teach them how to use them.

"Once the customized items are ready, we will call you once a day to arrange a delivery location."

Please remember, everyone, after one month, rise up once a day to see if you can receive a call, or you can make the call yourself..."

Wow, this time I've struck it rich!

It opened up a huge market!

Although it's a bit far from the mainland, already outside the first island chain, but... at worst, we can just send our own ships out on patrol a few more times, and have Yun Kun escort them a few more times!

They transferred to ships, carrying a huge batch of sea creatures, and sped back to deal with them. Shen Le, meanwhile, rode aboard the Cloud Kun, swaying gently as it continued forward along the barrier between heaven and earth—

While sailing, they explored the damaged areas of the natural barrier, and meditated to cultivate themselves.

Xuan Yuan's enormous body bobbed alongside the ship, serving both as a guard and emitting powerful energy waves to notify the water demons in the various seas along the way:

come out!

come out!

There's a reliable trading partner! Something good has happened! Everyone come out and get to know them!
Sailing along the edge of the barrier between heaven and earth, the circle they made was enormous, yet the barrier itself wasn't damaged in that many places.

Even if there are any, they are mostly small cracks. Shen Le can fix them all in half a day or a day by meditating on the boat.

So soon, the voyage became boring. With Yun Kun's speed, Shen Le could only say that he had nothing to do most of the time.

Tired of looking at the sea, tired of fishing, even when encountering beautiful coral reefs, I'm too lazy to go snorkeling and see the bizarre underwater world.

Aside from his cultivation, he spent most of his time rummaging through the things the water demons had given him or exchanged with him:

"This star marrow giant clam shell is quite beautiful. It would probably be very useful to a cultivator who practices star-based magic. It's a pity I can't use it—Lan Zhuang, you like it? It's yours!"

"This Nine-Bend Dragon Tendon Ginseng smells really good... I need to resist the temptation, I can't take too much nourishment, I'll get a nosebleed... I'd better go back and give it to the proprietress, see if it can be used for alchemy..."

"This stack of moon-transformed silk...it's very beautiful, but I'm really not good at needlework...Xiaoling, do you like it? You like the wedding dress and the skirt too? Take them! Use them to make clothes!"

"This piece... Thunder-patterned copper? Take it to the alloy tycoon, it's a rare underwater mineral, I doubt he's ever tasted it before..."

"This fruit smells delicious, let me try it... Ouch!"

Why do fruits that look like blueberries contain electricity?!

My tongue is completely numb from the electric shock!!!

As Shen Le walked, he examined these things, categorizing the various spiritual objects.

Keep edibles separate, group things you can use yourself, group things the little ones can use, and group gifts for friends.

The rest, packed up and ready to be handed over to the Special Affairs Bureau, to give them a headache: Yun Kun has been wanting to install a vertical hairpiece on the ship for a long time, and they've been pestering him for a while now, hoping to get more points so they can ask the Special Affairs Bureau for help...

Various reconnaissance ships and coast guard vessels came and went, taking away a wide variety of spiritual items from Shen Le. They treasured these items as if they were precious gems, sending them to experts for analysis and research, and to craftsmen for refining and forging.

Finally, all that remained on Shen Le's ship was a large pile of miscellaneous, indescribable junk:
"Cleansing spell! Cleansing spell! Cleansing spell!... Uh, this plate is at most from the Ming Dynasty, ugh, late Ming export porcelain! Worthless!" *Thud*, tossed aside, and a paper figure caught it with both hands, packed it up, and sealed it. Shen Le scooped up another unidentified object:
"Cleaning spell! Cleaning spell! -- Uh, who gave me this thing? You're treating rusty ship nails like treasure?"

"Well... well, this dressing case is rather interesting. It's a pity it's been soaked in water, and everything inside is washed away. Otherwise, if it were sent to a museum for careful restoration, it could serve as an exhibit..."

He absentmindedly searched through and cleaned the items one by one, revealing their true nature, before casually tossing them aside.

Xiao Ling sat close by, holding a small notebook, scribbling down every word Shen Le said;

Qingdeng placed himself in front of a laptop, the keyboard moving up and down, bringing up the location of each miscellaneous item on the screen... well, the approximate location, to help Shen Le deduce the location of the shipwreck;

The clay figures lined up, carrying the junk over, opening the boxes, unpacking, roughly cleaning it, and delivering it to Shen Le;

The paper figures took the antiques that Shen Le had cleaned up like a flowing stream, and packed them up and sealed them...

Shen Le could devote almost all his energy to sorting out the antiques. He leisurely examined the large pile of Haidilao items one by one, intending to find some fun in them.

After half a month of investigation, Yun Kun had crossed the Strait of Malacca from outside the first island chain, almost reaching the place where he had fought the Firebird last time. Shen Le picked up a lump of something again and suddenly paused:
"This……"

I found something good!

I've struck gold!

Although it was covered by a large, unidentified object, and it was impossible to tell what it was for the time being, Shen Le felt a different pulse as soon as he touched it with his five fingers!

It's alive!

No, it can't be said to be completely alive yet—it's asleep, it's very weak, it's even broken into pieces, and what Shen Le touched was just a small piece of it.

However, Shen Le sensed two completely opposite auras within this strange lump:

A profound and weighty feeling, like the unchanging earth, supporting and nourishing everything upon it, carrying boundless patience and expectation;
Another kind of cold and desolate feeling, carrying a sense of isolation from the world, yet containing endless longing and sorrow.

What is this?

What the hell is this?

His fingertips curled slightly inward, a cleansing spell about to be cast, but he subtly dispelled it. Shen Le abruptly stood up, carrying the unidentified object, and strode into the laboratory:
He carefully secured the unidentified object to a specially made tray. He took photos from all angles, filmed videos, and weighed it.

Set up the scanner and scan it carefully, making sure to scan every direction so that it can be directly reproduced in the 3D model;
Next, a CT scan is performed, followed by an X-ray diffraction scan, and so on...

After checking all available non-destructive testing methods, I put this thing into a temperature- and humidity-controlled storage box before opening each file one by one and examining it carefully.

Based on experience, it's not that magic can't be used when restoring these spiritually imbued artifacts, but it's best to use it sparingly in the initial period:
The more magic is used, the more likely it is to interfere with its own spirituality, preventing that tiny flame from growing freely.

If possible, it is best to use standard cultural relic restoration methods to repair it bit by bit so that it can shine with its greatest brilliance.

Using magic is not forbidden, but it's best not to use it right away...

Shen Le patiently waited for the CT scan to produce the 3D images, then opened them on the computer, rotating them and examining each image frame by frame. The more he looked, the deeper his brow furrowed.
"What is this thing...?"

The thick layers covering the outside were probably mud, a mud shell, or something similar.

A little further in, the pieces are scattered haphazardly; some look like sand, some like seashells, and some like broken coral. Further in… further in…

Is this a high-density shadow or a low-density shadow?

In short, it's a strange, very strange, and hard-to-describe thing. Its shape is uneven and very irregular; it doesn't resemble a human, an animal, or a plant.

Shen Le racked his brains but still couldn't figure out what this thing was, so he had no choice but to do it himself:
He picked up a wooden stick and scraped away, bit by bit, the sand and mud that had solidified on the artifact and were almost stuck to it.

The rhythmic swishing sound of the wooden skewer carving echoed, accompanied by the soft rustling of sand falling.

As Shen Le cleaned up, he used his spiritual power to sense the sand that had fallen, sensing its texture and the faint spiritual energy contained within it:
"This thing has been moved to more than one place..."

The outer layer of mud is exceptionally fine and imbued with a spiritual quality, as if it had been carefully preserved for many years in the seabed, in the lair of some water monster.

The middle layer—no, to be precise, two layers—was filled with various kinds of snails and shellfish. Shen Le carefully used a wooden skewer to pry and pick at the remains from different places, trying not to damage them.
Perhaps we can see part of the drift trajectory of this thing from them?
"I always felt that these two floors were not quite the same."

Beside him, a young man from the Special Affairs Bureau, who had finished his work for the day and was observing from the sidelines, muttered something under his breath. Shen Le didn't even look up:
"What's the difference?"

"It's hard to say... but it's definitely different..." The young man's eyes darted back and forth, from the outer snails, shells, and coral fragments on the left tray to the snail shells and clam shells on the right tray.

After thinking about it, I simply took out my phone and opened a special app for identifying objects:

"I knew it was different! The bunch on the left is from the sea, but the bunch on the right, this snail is from freshwater! And this little clam shell is too!"

I knew something was wrong!

Shen Le suddenly realized. So, this thing was wrapped in two layers, first it fell into the water on land, then it was coated with an outer layer, and then it fell into the sea, right?

He suppressed a groan and continued cleaning slowly. The further he went, the more difficult it became; towards the end, the sand and shells were completely stuck to the surface of the vessel.

If you use too little force, you won't be able to knock it down at all; if you use too much force, the antique underneath will shatter right before your eyes.

Shen Le silently repeated countless times, "This isn't difficult. As long as you're patient and have a steady hand, you can clean it up." "The teachers in the museum also clean it manually." Using wooden skewers, a knife, a toothbrush, and her mental strength, she finally managed to restore the contents to their original state.

He held the dirty, heavy, and crooked thing in his hand, and felt completely unwell.

"What is this? A pig... a sheep? A monster? Or something else?"

It's so ugly! You can't even tell its shape anymore!

And it is quite obvious that it is only part of a large vessel—what was this large vessel supposed to be?
Where can I find the rest of it?

(End of this chapter)