Closer to Revealing My True Self
Chapter 280 - 207: Can’t Run Far_2

Chapter 280: Chapter 207: Can’t Run Far_2

Professor Ding’s gaze shifted toward Teacher Mu’s backpack. "What do you have there? A new product? I heard you made quite a bit of money selling the formula this time!"

Teacher Mu smiled modestly, opened his backpack, and began taking out small bags one by one: "I have developed a new snack with a bit of starfish in it. Come on, everyone, help me taste-test."

While speaking, Teacher Mu looked at Feng Yi, "You’re from Yang City, right? I’m not sure if it’ll suit the taste of people from there. Do you eat spicy food?"

Feng Yi replied, "I’m not picky. I’ve lived in Rong City for a few years, so I can handle some spice."

Teacher Mu grabbed a few bags from his backpack without checking how many, and handed them to Feng Yi: "Here’s one of the original flavor, and one of the soy sauce flavor, which is a bit spicy. Take these, try them all! If you like them, help me promote them later!"

Feng Yi responded promptly, "Sure!"

Professor Ding laughed and pointed at Teacher Mu, "No wonder you were smiling so brightly at Feng Yi; you’re eyeing his popularity online!"

Teacher Mu and the people from the Marine Development Bureau had other business and didn’t stay to chat. After adding Feng Yi’s contact information, they left.

After the two had left, Feng Yi said, "That Teacher Mu..."

"Hmm?" Professor Ding looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Seems to have something on his mind." Feng Yi had noticed that Teacher Mu’s emotions weren’t as high-spirited as they appeared on the surface.

"Ah, you noticed?" Professor Ding was surprised that Feng Yi could see through Teacher Mu’s true feelings, "He and a few of his friends have fish farms, and they’ve suffered quite a loss this time. Luckily, he made some money selling the formula, which is better than the others. But the loss is real, it’s no wonder he’s not too happy. Moreover, although this starfish outbreak is not as large as during the abnormal climate period, it’s expected to be bigger than the one ten years ago and doesn’t look too optimistic."

Professor Li suddenly said, "It’s not expected, it’s certain! This time it’s definitely more serious than it was ten years ago!"

Feng Yi looked toward the cultivators not too far away. If what the professors said was true, in a few days, there would be even more cultivators crying on the shoreline.

Looking at the several bags of snacks in his hand, Feng Yi took out his phone and took a few pictures, then posted them on social media—

[First day back at work, starting with taste-testing! [pic][pic][pic]]

In fact, Feng Yi liked the steamed starfish he ate at the restaurant yesterday more, dipped in a bit of sauce, its slight toxicity adding to the flavor.

Teacher Mu’s snacks underwent detoxification processing for the starfish, which removed some of the toxicity, making it friendlier for the general population.

Online, the people who followed Feng Yi noticed that he had posted a new update today!

Upon closer inspection, snacks? Desserts?

[I just ordered starfish from Mo City online, but I didn’t see this product. What is it? Is it tasty? What brand?]

[Such humble packaging, is it a local specialty? The kind that’s packed fresh in a physical store? Please share the store name! Looking for someone to purchase on my behalf!]

[Where can I buy this?! Is it available online?]

[Where’s the link?! Did you forget something, Brother Se!!]

After posting the update, Feng Yi had already exited the platform and put his phone away in his pocket.

The rest of the investigation team members began to arrive.

There were nearly ten people on the team responsible for investigating the starfish outbreak, but not all those who went out to sea with them were part of the team. Some were temporary hires, while others were students brought along by the experts to help.

Today, there were two boats going out to sea from the team’s side. One was mainly for monitoring and analyzing the data, while the other was responsible for catching starfish.

Feng Yi first followed Professor Ding and the others, handing over tools and recording data. In this aspect, he couldn’t compare to the students brought by those professors, let alone to the professional staff.

After hanging around for half a day, in the afternoon, Feng Yi went to the other boat. He might not understand other things, but catching starfish was much simpler!

Following the starfish outbreak, some fishing tools that were strictly banned were temporarily put back into use. However, the nets used by the investigation team were modified specifically for starfish, different from those used by fishermen and vendors, but they still required multiple people to cooperate.

He had already watched how the workers used the nets and cages in the morning. Now, he was ready to dive in and lend a hand.

The person in charge on this side asked Feng Yi, "Do you have a license?"

Feng Yi: "I do."

The person in charge wanted to say a few words of caution, but stopped short. With someone else, he could spend half an hour on safety precautions, but Feng Yi was part of the expert group, and probably didn’t need him to emphasize too much.

In the end, they only told Feng Yi where new nets needed to be laid and where it was time to collect the nets, as the workload for catching starfish was not significant that afternoon.

Feng Yi put on his diving gear and went into the water with two other divers.

Various chemical signals are distributed in the water environment, almost controlling every aspect of marine animal behavior.

Feng Yi wasn’t a marine animal, but he could also sense the information conveyed by the chemical substances in the water environment. It was just that his diving gear prevented him from receiving signals.

To put it simply, if he licked the water here, he would know approximately how many marine creatures were nearby.

Of course, he would never do such a thing!

To facilitate the recording of data and real-time communication with the experts, their diving equipment was equipped with a communication system.

One of the divers told Feng Yi, "We will first collect a few sets of data, which won’t take long. You haven’t been underwater for a while, so familiarize yourself first, swim around nearby, and find your rhythm."

Feng Yi returned a "fine" hand signal, "Call me when you guys are done here, I’ll come right back."

Watching Feng Yi slowly swim forward, the two divers smiled and began to record data.

They were already proficient in these tasks, and the instrument readings were quick.

As Feng Yi swam forward, the farther he got from the two divers, the faster he moved.

Looking for the right state?

There’s no need to actively seek it!

The moment I’m in the water, it’s there!

It’s just the diving suit that limits my performance.

With that thought, Feng Yi shot a long distance ahead.

There indeed were a lot of sea stars underwater.

In other places, they’re not commonly seen, and many coastal tourist spots might not feature many of them.

The outbreak in the waters of Mo City didn’t mean they all lived here.

The sea stars were attracted by the food from the local farms, and sea stars from other areas, receiving the signal of "food availability," rushed over, forming a massive sea star army.

These seemingly harmless and somewhat cute creatures had caused the local farmers considerable economic losses and psychological distress, not to be underestimated.

Feng Yi changed the muscles, bones, and organs in parts of his body, allowing him to walk freely underwater. Although he looked no different from a regular diver, the changes inside were significant. He didn’t need a buoyancy compensator at all.

He picked up a sea star to examine.

Where are its eyes?

Not every creature possesses what humans typically define as "eyes" or "noses."

It must be, rather, sensors.

Allowing them to detect light, sound, and chemical substances spreading through the sea.

When it comes to external stimuli, it’s essentially one of two things—

Edible? Or not?

And the substances released by the marine ranches in Mo City told them:

Come here! Have fun! Feast!

And so, the sea stars came flocking.

Feng Yi looked around at the sea stars, here primarily composed of Multi-spined Sun Stars.

He threw the sea star he was holding like a dart, then flipped over a large one below his feet, wanting to see how it would right itself, but it was too slow, and Feng Yi couldn’t wait.

He picked up an even larger sea star, stood it on its side, and threw it forward so that its body was vertical to the ground. Before it hit the bottom, Feng Yi had already swum there, flicked his hand, and continued forward.

As Feng Yi swam, he tossed the sea star along for fun.

If those sea stars could talk, they surely would be cursing up a storm.

Feng Yi, while throwing sea stars, reveled in the vast sea around him.

I used to want to save up for a big swimming pool, but now I’ve realized, there’s nothing more refreshing than swimming in the sea!

How about, making money to buy an island?

On the other side, the two divers aboard the boat had entered several sets of data and looked around, but Feng Yi was nowhere to be seen.

They didn’t immediately use the communication system to contact him, curious as to where Feng Yi had gone off to play.

One diver took out the positioning device he carried. Everyone on underwater missions was equipped with a locator.

The device in his hand would display the location of team members within a radius of one kilometer.

With that amount of time, Feng Yi couldn’t have gone far with his speed.

However...

[Target not found]

The two divers were stunned.

Where is he?!!