With a "hiss," the slightly corroded cutting tool struggled to cut into the tough, dense layer of fat.
The resistance was immense, like cutting through an extremely thick piece of oil-soaked leather.
Thick, golden grease slowly seeped from the cut, emitting a peculiar, fishy smell that was a mixture of marine life and oil.
The robotic arm exerted its force, slowly tearing away. A huge block of whale blubber, with rough edges and a thickness of more than half a meter, was painstakingly peeled off, its cross-section shimmering with a warm, oily sheen.
It was surprisingly successful!
Li Jinshao was the first to use a robotic arm to coat the exterior of his submarine with a layer of glossy whale blubber.
When whale blubber touches metal, it instantly melts into a thin film of oil.
[Item Description: This is a mutated whale blubber film that can isolate highly corrosive substances. It was used for vehicle coating in the early 20th century. Its normal service life is 30 days. Partial damage can be repaired with mutated whale blubber.]
"It works! It really works!!" Even the usually composed Li Jinshao couldn't help but burst into cheers and immediately shared the good news with everyone via the light screen.
The collection work proceeded at breakneck speed: cutting, peeling, transporting, and storing. The tedious process, however, filled Li Jinshao with excitement.
Just as the ninth massive piece of whale blubber was peeled away, revealing a deeper layer of fatty tissue that was darker in color and seemed to have a slightly different texture, another batch of mutated marine creatures were attracted by the aroma of the whale blubber.
Fortunately, Liu Yunyan had set up a teleportation array in advance, allowing everyone to return in time. They used the same trick to lure away the newly delivered "materials" and "food".
Having gained experience, this time, everyone's attack skills and teamwork were more steady and sophisticated, effectively resolving the crisis.
The mutated fish and shrimp that could never be harvested became a "sweet burden." Cheng Xu and his father slaughtered them while discussing how to sell them.
Fortunately, the fish attracted by the "whale fall" are no longer as numerous and ferocious as before, making collection and slaughter much quicker and easier.
On one hand, there was a steady stream of harvests, and on the other hand, there was the arduous task of slaughtering. Both sides were extremely busy.
Finally, Xi Zhongcang took advantage of a break to drive the car to Li Jinshao's place and took over the work of storing the whale blubber.
Just as Xi Zhongcang nimbly dodged a sudden attack from a mutated manatee, the vehicle accidentally struck the head of a whale carcass, which had a darker, brittle "shell".
After the outer shell broke, what was exposed was a large area of material that looked like the finest mutton fat jade.
It is delicate, warm, and translucent, emitting a soft and restrained luster, quite different from the ordinary milky yellow whale blubber that Li Jinshao had collected before.
When Xi Xi returned after dealing with the manatee, this was the scene she saw.
Strangely, on the outer shell of the RV that was hit, the mottled corrosion marks were gradually covered by thick, shimmering whale blubber "armor," and a stronger, more exotic fragrance was released. The previous corrosion marks had disappeared completely, and the RV was restored to its original state!
"This is..." Xi Xi's heart suddenly raced, "Sericite oil?!"
In the original world, whale wax oil is a special organ in the whale's head, commonly known as the brain oil organ. It is extremely rare and is a top-grade lighting fuel!
[Item Description: A mutated whale oil that can remove corrosion marks; commonly used in the early 20th century for repairing various tools.]
Good heavens, it can even remove corrosion marks!
Xi Xi immediately summoned everyone. Li Jinshao carefully used the robotic arm to cut it open, and then applied the amber-colored mutated whale wax oil to the outer shell of each vehicle to repair the corrosion.
When the cetacean oil came into contact with those mottled corrosion marks, the damaged shell began to melt and vaporize silently in the water, eventually swelling up and becoming shiny!
Immediately afterwards, Li Jinshao took out a piece of mutated whale blubber and coated it with an anti-corrosion film, instantly making all the vehicles look brand new!
"Awesome! This is practically a natural super protective material!" Cheng Xu suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
In the following days, everyone seemed to become frontline engineers, working tirelessly back and forth as if they were gathering all their strength to devour the place completely, and before they knew it, it was late at night.
When the mid-term rankings notification for "The Competition" sounded, everyone realized that apart from breakfast, they hadn't had a single bite to eat all day!
Seeing this, Liu Enxi and Cheng Ma quickly put down their work and returned to the car ahead of time to prepare dinner for everyone. By the time everyone had cleaned up the place, dinner was almost ready.
Dinner will mainly consist of various seafood, supplemented with red meat.
Cheng Ma's braised sea cucumber with scallions is absolutely delicious.
After processing, the mutated sea cucumbers were all plump and full, with a glossy black color like ink jade and an oily sheen on the surface. The scallion segments were fried until golden and crispy, emitting a rich aroma of scallions.
[The Mid-Term Rankings for the Challenge: The mid-term rankings will be announced soon. Adventurers, please visit the event homepage!]
[The Race to Win: Each adventurer has one vote. Please place your bets as soon as possible, as they will not be accepted after the deadline!]
"Vote for our 'Shizhu'! Don't sneak away with your votes!" Cheng Xu said as he picked up a piece of sea cucumber and put it in his mouth.
Braised sea cucumber with scallions has a soft, chewy texture. With a gentle bite, the delicious juice bursts in your mouth, carrying a subtle scallion aroma that leaves you wanting more.
"Do you think we can make the list now? We've been stuck in the same place all day..." Chu Zhiqin said with some concern, picking up a piece of fried double crisp.
This is also one of Cheng Ma's specialties. The pork belly and chicken gizzards are carefully processed, cut into thin slices of uniform size, and quickly stir-fried in hot oil until they are white as jade with slightly golden edges.
"Who cares!" Xi Xi took a sip of orange juice. "Compared to the mid-term rankings, we killed a whole mutated whale today!"
"Well said! Rankings don't matter at all! We've already won big today just for that whale brain oil!" Mr. Cheng said, raising his glass.
"Agreed! Agreed!"
"Yes, that's a whale!"
After all, Li Jinshao didn't miss out on the whale meat in the end. Like Xi Xi, he also noticed that the puppet manatee's abilities were greatly enhanced after eating whale meat, and he thought it was necessary to explore the special uses of whale meat as feed.
Speaking of which, Li Jinshao raises three chickens, one rooster and two hens, which need to be fed every day.
The supply of eggs for everyone these past few days has relied on those two old hens, ensuring a stable source of ingredients for all kinds of fresh egg dishes. As for the duck eggs laid by Xi Xi's little white duck, they are mostly used for making salted duck eggs and preserved eggs in the Jade Hand Box.
Liu Enxi used the eggs to make classic scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and then carefully removed the shells and veins from the fresh shrimp she had obtained that day, cooking shrimp and scrambled eggs.
The steamed grouper was steamed to perfection; the fish meat easily fell off the bone with a gentle touch of chopsticks, melting in the mouth with a tender texture and a subtle fragrance, without a trace of fishiness.
[The competition has ended! Voting is now underway...]
[Competition in the Mid-Term: Ding! The mid-term rankings are now officially announced. Adventurers who placed successful bets, please claim your mid-term gift pack from the prize redemption interface.]
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