Cave Refuge

Mr. Thompson, after hearing what Dong Tianyu had said, thought about it and realized there really wasn't much going on recently. Since their son was staying at the base, living in a hotel, it might be better to let him leave directly.

Besides, the couple had already gotten used to life without Dong Tianyu. Although they eagerly hoped every day that Dong Tianyu would return, they actually felt somewhat uncomfortable when he actually did return.

The house was still being decorated, so Father Dong and Mother Dong did not insist on him staying longer, and they said goodbye to Dong Tianyu very straightforwardly.

Because of the Storage space, there were no personal belongings of Dong Tianyu in the hotel, so he didn't need to go back to his room to pack; he left immediately after saying goodbye to his parents.

Having gotten used to Dong Tianyu's prolonged absences, Father Dong and Mother Dong, when seeing him leave again, didn't feel as lost as before, and the sense of loss at this departure did not last long before they put it out of their minds.

By the time Father Dong and Mother Dong returned to the hotel, they saw Ye Liuyun standing at the hotel entrance looking around, apparently searching for someone.

Just as Father Dong and Mother Dong were getting closer to the hotel, Ye Liuyun noticed them too and seemed relieved, running over to them.

Before coming to a stop, Ye Liuyun immediately asked Mr. Thompson, "Uncle, where has Tianyu gone? I have urgent matters for him! I sent him so many messages, but he hasn't replied, and his phone just says 'out of service area.' I'm really worried here."

Seeing Ye Liuyun's anxious manner, Mr. Thompson wasn't too nervous and chuckled, "Don't worry, getting anxious won't solve anything. Calm down first, then let's talk about what's going on."

Ye Liuyun took Mr. Thompson's advice, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly, which helped him calm down quickly.

He then started explaining why he had come. It turned out that this morning he had taken Dong Tianyu to the Plantation Area to inform him that he had completed the procedures for contracting the area and wanted to urge Dong Tianyu to collect soil from underwater as soon as possible.

Although Dong Tianyu had said yesterday that he was going to collect soil underwater, Ye Liuyun didn't think that Dong Tianyu could have collected enough soil yesterday, so there were actually two reasons for bringing Dong Tianyu today.

First, he wanted Dong Tianyu to see how large the contracted area was so that he could estimate how much soil needed to be collected.

Second, he wanted to let Dong Tianyu know that he had finished the procedures on his side, and now just waited for Dong Tianyu to collect enough soil. This was also a way to subtly add some pressure on Dong Tianyu.

Little did Ye Liuyun expect that, having just arrived here and before they had much conversation, Dong Tianyu had already filled the area they had contracted yesterday.

Ye Liuyun also didn't expect that Dong Tianyu could collect enough soil in just one day, so he had not arranged for someone to keep watch. Therefore, when he saw Dong Tianyu leave, he didn't follow him but instead stayed and called for help.

If Ye Liuyun had known Dong Tianyu had already collected enough soil, he wouldn't have let Dong Tianyu fill the pit all at once but would have chosen a more prudent method to fill it gradually.

The Plantation Area wasn't just occupied by him and Dong Tianyu; when Dong Tianyu filled the pit instantly, other people looked as though wolves had spotted their prey, their eyes gleaming with desire.

If it hadn't been for Dong Tianyu decisively leaving early, he might have ended up like Ye Liuyun, surrounded by people and unable to escape.

According to Ye Liuyun's idea of filling the pit in several phases, though the process might be troublesome, it probably wouldn't attract so much attention like what happened now.

Unfortunately, there were no ifs. When other people saw Dong Tianyu could release so much soil all at once, everyone present was tempted.

In fact, the people most wanted to find Dong Tianyu directly, as direct communication would avoid the middleman, Ye Liuyun, making a profit.

At that moment, Ye Liuyun already had a bit of a reputation in the base; after all, they were all business people, so it wasn't strange that there were people there who knew Ye Liuyun.

Unfortunately, Dong Tianyu left too abruptly, so they could only surround Ye Liuyun, who hadn't left yet, and then tried to extract the information they wanted from him.

Although the Dong and Ye families had a good relationship, among the crowd that surrounded Ye Liuyun, there were a few with significant backing, though Ye Liuyun resisted the pressure and did not directly betray Dong Tianyu.

But after all, they were on the base, and if the others wanted to investigate, it actually wasn't too difficult; thus, in order not to let those people directly disturb Dong Tianyu, Ye Liuyun agreed to help relay messages for the others.

The content of the message was easy to guess—it was nothing more than wanting Dong Tianyu to help collect some soil without wanting to pay too much.

If they really needed the soil urgently, they would have already compromised with Lone Wolf, who possessed the Submersible Companion Spiritual Treasure. Because they didn't want to pay too much, this matter had been dragged on until now.

After all, in their view, the soil, which was originally everywhere, wasn't worth paying too much for. Any sensible person could sense the issues with their original generous promises—unless they were fooling a fool, no one would believe them.

When those people heard that Ye Liuyun had agreed to help relay the message, they wanted Ye Liuyun to immediately go and find Dong Tianyu to deliver the message.

However, Ye Liuyun was very cautious. He knew that if he left now, by the time he returned, the Plantation Area that was supposedly filled with soil by then might have its newly added soil disappear in an instant.

So, no matter what the others said, Ye Liuyun firmly decided not to leave until the duty personnel came.

Seeing Ye Liuyun's firm attitude, the others stopped persuading him further. Ye Liuyun waited until the duty personnel came to take over his shift before he left the Plantation Area.

After Ye Liuyun explained the cause and effect of the matter, Mr. Thompson somewhat helplessly said to him, "You're too late; Tianyu left the base this morning. Now if you want to contact Tianyu, you can only send him a message."

Hearing Mr. Thompson say this, Ye Liuyun was startled and asked with some doubt, "Tianyu left? Didn't he just come back? Why did he leave today?"

Seeing Ye Liuyun's incredulous expression, Mr. Thompson straightforwardly explained, "You know our house is currently being renovated and we don't even have a place to stay, so we're temporarily living in a hotel. Besides, he has nothing much to do here, so Dong Tianyu didn't stay longer. After fulfilling his promise to you, he didn't even go into the hotel and just left the base directly."

Hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Ye Liuyun suddenly had a lot on his mind, all bottled up, not knowing how best to speak.

In fact, seeing how easily Dong Tianyu collected so much soil, Ye Liuyun also harbored the idea of becoming the local lord.

As long as Dong Tianyu collected the soil fast enough, Ye Liuyun was confident he could lease more Plantation Areas from the Officials.

After all, it was clear to anyone with eyes that the Officials were opening up the lease of Plantation Areas not to earn much rent but to acquire more soil.

So, since the purpose was to obtain more soil, who actually got the soil or who leased the Plantation Area wasn't important to them.

What those decision-makers cared about was how much time it would take to acquire enough soil.

Although the soil in those Plantation Areas temporarily didn't belong to them, the external lease came with a lease term, and once the lease term ended, unless it was renewed, even the vegetables grown by the leaseholders would be taken away.

But as long as the soil was still there, it wouldn't cause too much loss to the Officials.