Chapter 42: Peach Blossom Fish

Weather changes directly impacted crop growth. A temperature drop wouldn’t be too bad. With the Fire Spirit Pearl in hand, she could ensure the crops wouldn’t freeze even if it got cold. But what if there was a heatwave or some other disaster?

Lily Rhodes stepped outside into the bright sunlight, a gentle sea breeze brushing against her face.

She looked at the Sunshine Doll hanging in front of the door and checked the weather forecast for the next few days. Seeing that the temperatures would continue to drop over the coming days, her tense nerves relaxed a bit, though not entirely. Even with the Fire Spirit Pearl minimizing the impact of the cold, "minimal" didn’t mean "none."

Lily took a deep breath. She remembered the sunroom fragments she had collected earlier. If she could gather all the pieces, she might not have to worry anymore.

"Forget it. I’ll just keep looking for Treasure Chests," she told herself.

Hoping to gather all the sunroom fragments was less realistic than hoping to find a few Advanced Treasure Chests and pulling some powerful items from them. With that thought, Lily closed her eyes and began to listen to the sounds of the ocean.

This time, she wasn’t looking for ordinary Bronze Treasure Chests. She wanted Advanced Treasure Chests, Golden Treasure Boxes, Diamond Treasure Chests, or even Seven-color Crystal Treasure Boxes. The higher the grade of the chest, the better the loot.

As Lily listened intently, something icy and smooth suddenly brushed against her cheek. She opened her eyes, only to be startled by a magnified orca face right in front of her.

"How... how did you guys get out here?!" Lily asked, staring in astonishment at the two orcas swimming through the air.

It was her first time seeing creatures that could swim in the sky.

Seeing her reaction, Mother Orca said, "We orcas aren’t fish to begin with. We are mammals; we just happen to live in the sea."

Lily paused. That was true, but...

"Can mammals fly in the air?" she wondered aloud.

Mother Orca ignored Lily’s question. She flicked her tail and said, "My injuries are completely healed. Your fishing speed is way too slow, and those fish don’t suit an orca’s appetite at all."

Lily could hear the clear disdain in Mother Orca’s tone.

Just then, Baby Orca swam over and whispered to her, "Don’t be mad. Mom is actually very grateful to you. She just has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. You fish too slowly, so Mom brought me here to help you catch them."

Hearing this, Lily glanced at Mother Orca, who promptly turned her head away to avoid eye contact.

She really was a tsundere.

"Thank you, then. But I’m not fishing for food; I’m looking for Treasure Chests," Lily said. She paused for a moment, then looked at the little calf. "However, I do need you to help me find some fish. Have you ever seen any golden ones or Special Fish down in the sea?"

Baby Orca looked completely bewildered. After all, it had only been born recently.

"The type of fish you’re talking about is extremely rare," Mother Orca chimed in. "Finding one is purely a matter of luck."

Lily looked at Mother Orca. "That’s fine. Just do your best. It doesn’t matter if you can’t find any. Also, please keep an eye out for Treasure Chests."

Watching the two orcas dive back into the sea, Lily cast her line and started fishing.

There was a Treasure Chest right beneath her current location. It was highly likely to be another Bronze Treasure Chest. When she had used her listening ability earlier, she had pinpointed the locations of quite a few chests, though their grades remained uncertain.

For now, it was best to just focus on fishing.

Not long after her hook sank into the water, there was movement below. Noticing the tug, Lily instinctively began to reel it in. But in the next second, a violent jerk from the other end of the line nearly sent her flying off her feet.

If Sprout hadn’t immediately wrapped its vines around her wrist to pull her back, she would be swimming in the ocean right now.

At that moment, the culprit that had nearly dragged her into the sea broke the surface. It was a massive tuna, easily weighing over a thousand pounds.

So this was the thing that had almost dragged her into the water to feed the sharks.

Lily grew angrier the more she thought about it. She directly activated her Water Control skill, scooping up the struggling tuna that was trying to break free and slamming it onto the ground.

This was top-tier ingredient material.

To avoid any waste, Lily dispatched the thrashing tuna with a single swift strike. She then used her Decomposition Technique, and the broken-down ingredients went straight into her inventory.

During the decomposition process, aside from the organs and blood, Lily also obtained some undigested fish carcasses. They were likely the tuna’s most recent meal. What caught Lily’s attention was that these dead fish were pink and looked incredibly unique.

[Peach Blossom Fish: Special Fish. A freshwater species that prefers living in shallow streams. For some unknown reason, it appeared in the ocean. Place it in a suitable environment, and it will thank you.

Peach Blossom Fish Ability: Triggers All Things Revive, rendering the target immune to seasonal and environmental impacts.]

After reading the System’s Introduction to the Peach Blossom Fish, Lily felt a pang of heartache so sharp she could barely breathe. Wasn’t this exactly what she needed?

What a pity it had been eaten by the tuna.

Just then, she noticed that one of the Peach Blossom Fish had a bulging belly. She sliced it open and found it packed full of pink fish roe.

Her heart ached even more.

However, each of the eggs looked glossy and vibrant. They didn’t seem to have completely lost their vitality. Moreover, judging by the condition of the mother fish—its scales were still shiny, and its gills were red, not black—it had probably been swallowed quite recently. Maybe...

These eggs might still be saved.

With that thought in mind, Lily had the glass workshop craft a glass fish tank. She filled it with Healing Water, tossed in a few Crystal Cores, and finally placed the extracted fish roe gently inside.

"Whether you survive or not is entirely up to fate now," she murmured.

After setting up the glass tank, Lily resumed her fishing. After casting her line a few more times, she finally dragged the underwater Treasure Chest up to the surface.

"It really is a Bronze Treasure Chest."

Lily opened the chest. Inside was a massive Luosifen gift pack. There were five large bundles, each containing five packets, totaling twenty-five servings of the pungent river snail rice noodles.

Lily had never eaten Luosifen before. She had heard it was delicious, but she had no intention of trying it. Instead, she listed all of them in The Supreme Shop.

The moment they went on the shelves, all twenty-five packets of Luosifen were snatched up in the blink of an eye. The speed was staggering. Lily even began to suspect that these buyers spent their entire day camping out in The Supreme Shop.

Meanwhile, the two orcas returned several times, bringing back quite a few fish on each trip. Their stomachs seemed to have built-in pocket dimensions. Whenever they opened their mouths, a continuous stream of live fish poured out.

"Are any of these the fish you’re looking for?" they asked.