I started on a rocking horse and relied on watching ads to dominate the highway survival charts.

"I can't exchange it here."

The watermelon-headed boy sounded very disappointed.

Huo Yunzhi always felt that the reason for his disappointment was that it could no longer make money from her.

"However, Lord Ghost Messenger can earn pearls himself!"

Watermelon Head thought for a long time, then took out a work permit from his pocket: "This is a temporary work permit for their Merfolk pearl mine. With this, you can enter their mine."

Huo Yunzhi turned the work ID over and saw a line of small print engraved on the back of the card.

[Certificate holders can participate in three days of mining at a primary mine; 30% of the pearls obtained will be submitted to the management fee.]

"Where is this mine located? And why are there work hour restrictions?"

"The entrance to the Merfolk's mine is located on the edge of the trench, making it impossible to approach by ordinary means."

The working hours are set by their merfolk, which I don't quite understand, but every time we go there, we are automatically teleported back to our original location when the time is up.

"My lord, after you write your name on this work permit, you will be teleported there. Once there, simply show your permit, and the gatekeeper will let you through."

"Do I need to prepare some underwater breathing equipment?"

Huo Yunzhi stared at the watermelon head; if it said it needed it, she would have no choice but to borrow it from Miaomiao.

"No need. Although it's underwater, all species can breathe freely there because of a special barrier."

Watermelon Head was counting the remaining gold coins in his pocket when he looked up and thought for a moment: "However, the Merfolk have many rules. Although they are polite to the Ghost Messenger, that's only a small part. Ghost Messenger, please remember that they don't like others touching their tails. There's even a legend that touching them will bring three years of bad luck."

Huo Yunzhi nodded to indicate that she had made a note of it.

After seeing the watermelon-headed man off, she picked up a pen and wrote her name on her temporary work permit.

The teleportation was faster than she had expected.

About two minutes later, Huo Yunzhi opened her eyes and saw that she was underwater, with a stone wall running across the seabed in front of her.

An arched entrance was carved into the stone wall, and two mermaids stood at the doorway.

Their skin had a warm, pearly white sheen, their hair was adorned with jewels of all sizes, their lower bodies were covered in large scales, and their colorful fish tails swayed gently.

Huo Yunzhi took out her work ID from her pocket and handed it over.

The merman on the left took it and looked at it, then looked up and glanced at Huo Yunzhi, before scraping the shell in his hand and making a mark on the shell with some ink.

"Humans can become ghost messengers? This is the first time they've come to our mine."

She returned the work permit, her voice muffled as it traveled through the water: "Turn right after you go in, that's the initial mining area. Don't go left, that's the deep mining zone, and it's easy to get into trouble if you go down there without proper training."

Huo Yunzhi nodded her thanks, put the documents back in her pocket, and walked through the archway.

Behind the archway is a narrow waterway with glowing corals embedded in the stone walls on both sides. The light is broken up by the water and becomes specks of light like scattered gold floating all around.

At the end of the waterway, a huge underground mine suddenly appeared.

The layers of rock walls on the pit are like the rings of a tree, each layer inlaid with countless pearl shells.

Dozens of merfolk were scattered throughout the mine. Some were chiseling the rock walls, some were cleaning the shells they had collected, and others were holding up freshly extracted pearls to examine them carefully in the light.

"A newcomer?" A voice came from Huo Yunzhi's right.

She turned her head and saw an elderly merman with worn edges on the scales on his fishtail and fine lines around his eyes.

She held a small hammer in one hand and a freshly cracked seashell in the other.

"I came today." Huo Yunzhi took a few steps closer to her. "I'm a temporary worker at the mine."

The old merman tossed the pearl he'd taken from the shell into the net at his waist, then looked Huo Yunzhi up and down: "Humans rarely come here to harvest pearls. Can you find the right spot?"

"I can't find it."

Huo Yunzhi had actually seen through the distribution of all the pearls in the entire mine by spreading her Qi Sea when she first arrived, but she still pretended to be honest on the surface.

The old merman grinned upon hearing this: "Then you can come with me. But the pearls you collect on the first day are mine; they'll be yours after three days."

Huo Yunzhi remained silent, her expression turning into one of distress and reluctance.

The old merman rolled his eyes, tucked the hammer back into his belt, and gestured towards the rock wall on the right side of the mine: "You don't have to come with me if you don't want to. That's the training area. If you don't want to work for free for three days, find an experienced master to learn from."

Huo Yunzhi thanked the old merman and walked towards the teaching area under her gaze.

Once the old merman's figure disappeared from her Qi Sea vision, Huo Yunzhi quickly found a spot without any mermen, took out her hammer, and began digging for pearl oysters.

The shell is about the size of an adult's fist, with a layer of dark red calcium deposits on its surface, and the crevices are hidden in the curved corners at the bottom of the shell.

Huo Yunzhi raised the hammer and struck the edge of the shell three times. The shell split in two along the seam, and she picked out the round pearl in the middle with her fingernail.

"Why do I suddenly feel like I'm opening oysters in a craft workshop?"

Huo Yunzhi didn't have time to go to the craft workshop before, so now she has shown an amazing interest in pearl harvesting.

Throughout the day, Huo Yunzhi used the cheat code of Qi Sea Vision to collect a whole basket of pearls.

Of course, this was all on the surface. In reality, all the pearls she mined were thrown into the compartments of her backpack.

At night, a thin layer of moonlight shines down from the sea, breaking into long, thin silver threads through the water.

The merman guards at the entrance began to drive people away.

The temporary work permit in Huo Yunzhi's hand also began to glow.

In the blink of an eye, you're back in the vehicle.

Fufu has already completed today's mileage in her vehicle.

After taking a bath, Huo Yunzhi sat on the bed with Fufu and counted pearls.

There are more than 3000 white pearls of normal size.

"Isn't this color beautiful?"

Huo Yunzhi held up the three pearls to the moonlight and looked at them, then showed them to Fufu.

The three pearls are all slightly different colors: one is white with a hint of gold, another is light pink, and the last one is pure purple.

"Sister, you're so pretty."

Fufu seemed to really like that purple pearl; her eyes never left it.

"Then I'll use this to make a little pendant for Fufu in a bit."

Huo Yunzhi held up the purple pearl to Fufu and said, "Fufu can wear it or put it in her little pocket."

Fufu happily hugged Huo Yunzhi and kept rubbing against her.

Huo Yunzhi smiled as she put away the other two pearls, then lay back on the bed to rest with Fufu.

She closed her eyes and went through her experiences at the mine that day in her mind.

At that moment, a soft sound suddenly rang out on the water.

Huo Yunzhi opened her eyes and sat up, but when she peeked out, she found nothing.

"Clatter".

A crisp sound of something falling to the ground rang out.

Something was thrown into the window that Huo Yunzhi had opened.

She reached out and caught it, only to find it was a ring smaller than a coin.

"Take this to the entrance of the deep mine in the east tomorrow."

The ring seemed to be just a simple sound-transmitting object; after saying those words, it slowly disappeared into the air.

Deep mineral belt?

Huo Yunzhi stared intently at the spot where the ring disappeared, recalling what the watermelon-headed man had said about the "many rules of the merfolk" and the guard's warning, "Don't go deeper."

"I have a feeling there's some kind of conspiracy going on."

Huo Yunzhi stared blankly at the sea outside the window for a while. The moonlight couldn't penetrate the seabed, and it was so dark that nothing could be seen.

She reached into her pocket and touched the pearls in the deep mines, pearls that few people mined. After taking a deep breath, she gritted her teeth.

Never mind what it is, we'll find out tomorrow.