Chapter 224 Mutated Songjiang Perch

Chapter 224: Chapter 220: Mutated Songjiang Perch

Lin Feng didn’t hear the news until noon the next day.

"Brother Lin, it seems we can’t let these stone carvings be shown off outside the village."

"It’s all because of those people who were offering to buy them."

If those people hadn’t offered such a high price on the spot yesterday, this theft never would have happened.

Thankfully, no one was hurt. Otherwise, it would have reflected badly on both Lin Xian Village and Wuyuan County.

"Exactly. I heard someone offered a price of thirty million.

I don’t know if there’s something wrong with the person who offered the money. They bid such a high price without even understanding what the stone carvings do."

Lin Feng thought, ’I’ll have to be more careful when I give things like this to other people in the future.’

Those people can’t come to Lin Xian Village to cause trouble, but they have no qualms about going after those who’ve obtained valuable items from the village.

It was just like with the treatment slots. If he weren’t the one controlling them and requiring people to come to Lin Xian Village for treatment, who knows how much trouble would have been stirred up by now.

"Brother Lin, a lot of people have been asking about the Stone Dragon Carvings today. How should we respond publicly?"

"Just tell everyone that they’re ordinary decorative items and have no effect outside the village."

Hu Zhiming sent Lin Feng’s statement to his older sister, asking her to spread the word.

Over at the Stone Workshop, once the tourists heard about the Stone Dragon Carvings, the crowd that had been gathered around the Blacksmith’s Shop all moved over.

"Master Huang, are these Stone Dragon Carvings difficult to learn?" a visitor asked.

The Stone Dragon Carvings were so valuable that many people figured if they couldn’t buy one, they’d just carve one themselves.

"Stop asking, stop asking! If you want to know more, go over there and read about it yourself."

Huang Wenlong stood up and walked toward the studio in the back.

He had just wanted to take a short break, but these tourists were truly a nuisance, pestering him with endless questions.

However, those Stone Dragon Carvings were certainly strange. They had a special effect in Lin Xian Village, but once you took them outside, they became useless.

Watching Master Huang leave, the tourists could only go read the introduction posted outside.

"Do you guys think anyone out there can imitate these carvings?"

"Of course. Even if a person can’t carve it, you could just use a five-axis machining center."

"That method definitely wouldn’t work. Didn’t you see that in Lin Xian Village, they have to be hand-carved?"

"Then just find a professional carver. They could definitely make a copy.

They can make fake antiques that look just like the real thing, let alone a stone carving like this."

The speaker may have been casual, but some in the crowd took the words to heart. A few people slipped away from the group and began to take action.

A single stone carving was worth tens of millions. If they could successfully imitate it, they’d be rich.

Of course, others watched Huang Wenlong leave and started getting ideas about him.

After all, this master could carve the stone sculptures. If they could partner with him, it would be faster than printing money.

If Huang Wenlong knew what these people were thinking, he would’ve pointed his finger in their faces and cursed them out.

Since learning how to make the Stone Dragon Carvings, he had only managed to complete six of them.

And those were just the small, pendant-sized ones. A large-scale Stone Dragon Carving would genuinely take him several months.

Carving just one of these things was incredibly draining.

Looking at the young apprentices who were still learning and the other carvers working on various sculptures, he knew a large-scale Stone Dragon Carving was out of the question for now.

’I wonder when these guys will finally learn how to do it?’

He thought about the task his boss had given him—to create a large-scale Stone Dragon Carving at the village entrance. There was no way he could complete it alone.

As for the various other Stone Dragon Carving projects in the village, those were also far beyond what one person could handle.

He thought of the Woodworking Workshop and the Blacksmith’s Shop next door. He really couldn’t compare to the learning speed of the people over there.

Over at the Woodworking Workshop, Lin Feng had also assigned some tasks. He had broken down the various Mechanical Beasts into individual parts for the workshop to manufacture.

A batch of Mechanical Beast parts was already stored in Lin Xian Village’s Warehouse, they just hadn’t been assembled yet.

As for when to put these Mechanical Beasts into use, Lin Feng hadn’t decided yet.

Down the mountain in the Barracks, Li Baihui visited Lin Xian Village again. Seeing the change in Yao Enlong, she found it incredible.

"Enlong, how long have you been training to get like this?"

Yao Enlong said excitedly, "Sister Li, the training effects here are truly amazing.

Especially when you follow the programs the trainers set up. I feel like I’m changing every day."

This wasn’t him just boasting about Lin Xian Village. Everyone in his group had undergone a major transformation.

Although their physiques weren’t as good as his, everyone’s physical condition had clearly improved.

’It seems I need to speed up the process of bringing some of the company’s other artists over to train.’

With results like these, even she was tempted to train in Lin Xian Village for a while.

"Did you find out about that thing I asked you to look into?"

"Sister Li, the company behind that celebrity, Chen Yi, hasn’t contacted Lin Xian Village.

However, I found out that his agent, on the other hand, has a very close relationship with the village."

Hearing this, Li Baihui perked up instantly. She felt something was off.

With a place like Lin Xian Village, for them to not involve the company and have the agent contact the village directly... no matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t normal.

’Could it be that this Wang Xiaoxiao has other plans?’

But the entertainment industry today no longer supported agents doing that kind of thing.

Ever since the incident where an agent left with their artist, the companies in the entertainment circle had long since changed.

Unable to figure it out, Li Baihui decided to look into this agent’s situation after she got back.

"Keep an eye out. If any entertainment companies come to Lin Xian Village to discuss a partnership, notify me immediately."

"Understood, Sister Li."

After leaving the Barracks, Li Baihui called Hu Xia and then went to the office to discuss the partnership.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng was standing on the Wharf, watching a truck deliver and release Songjiang Perch into the fish farm.

Originally, he had only wanted to raise some Flower Sea Bass, but after Professor Zhou learned of the situation, he mentioned the Songjiang Perch.

This species of perch is listed as a national Level 2 protected animal, and catching them in the wild is currently prohibited.

Moreover, the artificial breeding techniques for it aren’t very mature yet, and it’s also known as the "Number One Fish of Jiangnan."

So when Professor Zhou mentioned it, he hadn’t actually intended for Lin Feng to raise this type of fish.

But having heard about this perch, Lin Feng was naturally unwilling to give up on the idea.

It wasn’t easy to get a chance to create a mutated fish species, and he had no idea when the next opportunity would arise.

Besides, given the conditions in Lin Xian Village, he didn’t believe it was possible for the fish he was raising to die.

To ensure the Songjiang Perch would mutate, he was only stocking the fish farm with this one type of fry for now.

Only after he used his "mutated fish species" reward would he add other types of fish.

The fish had a strange appearance, looking like an enlarged tadpole.

Its front was flat and broad, its middle was nearly cylindrical, and it tapered toward a laterally compressed rear. It had a large, wide, and flat head with a broad mouth.

Its coloring was also strange, with dark brown transverse bands on its body that made it look more like a saltwater fish.

After the truck left, Lin Feng observed the water and was relieved to see that the Songjiang Perch fry were very active.

Zhou Yongqiang walked over and said, "Boss, this kind of Songjiang Perch really isn’t suited for farming here."

He somewhat regretted mentioning this fish to Lin Feng. If they ended up dying, he would feel terrible even if the boss didn’t blame him.

He really didn’t understand this aspect of aquaculture and had been consulting with relevant researchers for the past few days.

The answer he got was always that the environment here in Lin Xian Village was completely unsuitable for raising this fish.

"Professor Zhou, don’t worry. Look, the fry are still very active in the water."

Zhou Yongqiang glanced at the water. The fry were indeed very active, but he was still worried.

"How about we put some herbivorous fish in there?"

"Yes, let’s put some shrimp and small fish in first, and then add some herbivorous fish later."

Only then did Zhou Yongqiang feel at ease. Even if all the Songjiang Perch died, they could at least harvest the other fish, so it wouldn’t be a total loss.

’Next time the boss asks about something like this, I’ll keep my mouth shut even if it kills me.’

After Zhou Yongqiang left, Lin Feng immediately used the mutated fish species reward, just in case something unexpected happened.

After he used the reward, the Songjiang Perch fry in the water began to change, their markings growing more unique.

[Songjiang Star-spotted Perch (Mutated): Flesh is more tender and delicious. Skin develops star-like spots. As an adult, it surfaces at night, creating a starlight reflection. Possesses the special effect of stabilizing pregnancy.]

Lin Feng watched as the mutated Songjiang Perch turned into the Songjiang Star-spotted Perch. Needless to say, its meat was now even more delicious.

But the part about the skin changing and creating a starlight reflection on the water’s surface at night was a bit confusing to him.

’Does this mean that when these fish grow up, they’ll be like the stars in the sky?’

If that were the case, this fish could become a special tourist attraction in Lin Xian Village in the future.

As for the final special effect, stabilizing pregnancy, it didn’t seem very useful to him.

Of course, for a pregnant woman, this effect was practically a miracle cure.

Looking at the fry in the water, he couldn’t see any obvious changes yet. He’d just have to wait until they were grown.

Fortunately, the Wharf had a function that accelerated fish farming. Otherwise, it would take a year for the fry to grow into adults in the wild.

Zhou Jun walked over and asked, "Lin Feng, you’re really raising Songjiang Perch?"

"The fry are already in the water."

Zhou Jun glanced at the fry in the water. He had thought Lin Feng was just talking.

"Lin Xian Village may be magical, but raising fish is different from raising land animals. They have very high requirements for water quality and environment."

"It’s fine, it’s fine. Look over there. I had a pipe run over specially to let the spring water flow in."

Zhou Jun glanced over and was left speechless. The effects of the spring water had already been tested by the outside world.

Using the spring water to raise fish... if people on the outside found out, he couldn’t imagine how they would feel.

You have to understand, many people had to pull all sorts of strings just to buy a little of that water.

The amount of spring water currently produced by Lin Xian Village wasn’t nearly enough to meet the demand from the outside world.

From what he knew, ever since the test results on the spring water came out, many people had started using it for all their drinking and cooking.

Furthermore, in the world of tea culture, Lin Xian Village’s spring water was considered the absolute highest tier.

Whether it was foreign glacial spring water or some special groundwater, none of it could compare to Lin Xian Village’s Spiritual Spring Water.

And it wasn’t just the wealthy in the country scrambling to buy the Spiritual Spring Water; rich people from abroad were also trying every method they could think of to purchase it.

"I hope this fish proves to be worth the cost of raising it."

Lin Feng thought, ’It definitely will be. Besides, the spring water isn’t a rare resource for me at all.’

"Lin Feng, about the Farmland last time, someone had me ask you: they’re offering you that mountain over there for planting. Do you want it?"

Lin Feng looked at the mountain Zhou Jun was pointing to. It was the peak next to North Mountain.

"I don’t need it right now. Next time I develop more Farmland, I’ll look for a flat piece of land. I don’t plan on putting it inside Lin Xian Village."

Lin Feng had realized that agricultural development, as well as livestock farming, was too restricted by the terrain.

These could easily be moved to a new location, a dedicated zone for farming and cultivation.

The only trouble would be that he wouldn’t get a notification when a mutation occurred.

But it didn’t matter. He could just have his employees keep an eye on things and notify him if anything changed.

"Are you sure you want to find a new area?"

"I’m sure. What’s wrong?"

Zhou Jun said, "You’d better not voice that idea publicly for now. Otherwise, a lot of people will come knocking on your door."

There were some things Lin Feng truly didn’t know. Many people were green with envy over Lin Xian Village’s development and its impact on Wuyuan County.

If they found out that Lin Feng’s development didn’t have to be restricted to Lin Xian Village, the implications would be enormous.

Right now, everyone assumed that Lin Feng was developing Lin Xian Village because he was constrained by geographical limitations.

This was also why many people, despite being envious of Wuyuan County’s tourism boom, hadn’t taken any action.