Chapter 284: 284: Outlandish Ideas

Translator: 549690339n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Li Li was stunned, “Not beads? Then what is it?!”

“It’s light.” Bai Youwei responded.

“Light?” Li Li couldn’t understand, “Why light? The rain in summer was so heavy, you couldn’t see where the treasure was hiding in the darkness  Why would the treasure be light?”

Bai Youwei explained: “The nursery rhyme did not say that the Water Monster cannot find the treasure, only that it cannot see the treasure.”

“But that doesn’t mean it’s light.” Li Li disagreed, frowning, “Besides, how do you explain those beads? Why did they suddenly appear in areas that were flooded?”

Bai Youwei was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s not hard to understand. If a bear can bring fish, then a fish can bring beads.”

Li Li was dumbstruck upon hearing this.

Yes

If a bear could bring fish, then why couldn’t a fish bring beads?

Could it be that the beads they found were actually the reward for the second round?

“Try to recall that nursery rhyme again.” Bai Youwei murmured softly, “Spring Bear is awake, it loses two children and gets really worried; Heavy rain in summer, can’t see where the treasure is in the darkness; Who’s here in autumn? Look, the Nail Tooth Monster opens its mouth and where are his teeth

Spring and Autumn both mentioned the names of the guests, so why doesn’t summer? The nursery rhyme could have been made like this——

The Water Monster can’t see where the treasure is.

Why did they not write it that way and instead say, can’t see where the treasure is in the darkness?

Because ‘Darkness’ is the name of this Water Monster. It is ‘lightless’ and can’t see its own treasure, it can’t see anything!

And we  we were all misled by the term ‘treasure’!”

“So, what you’re saying is, what we need to do now is not to find the treasure,” Yan Qingwen asked, “but to help it see the treasure?”

Bai Youwei nodded, saying: “When I fell down earlier, it was really dark underwater, even when the fish swam up to me, everything was still dark. It seems to be very sensitive to light sources, and it looks like an Anglerfish, which should have a luminescent substance on its fin spines ”

“That would be a glandular cell.” Li Li couldn’t help but speak, “The glandular cells of the Anglerfish can secrete luciferin, which, catalyzed by luciferase, can glow through a chemical reaction with oxygen. But where can we get these glandular cells for it? Do we give it a flashlight?!”

“We don’t need a flashlight.” Bai Youwei lightly shook her head, “If my guess is correct, there should be a light bulb in this house that will match it.”

“Light bulb!?” Li Li yelled! He thought that Bai Youwei was being unduly imaginative!

Yan Qingwen nodded, “If this Anglerfish monster can generate electricity, it’s highly possible there’s a light bulb.”

Li Li:

“But this house has many light bulbs, which one is it?” Teacher Cheng asked.

“The one that won’t light up,” Bai Youwei said confidently.

Everyone looked at each other.

Out of all these light bulbs, which one doesn’t light up? Now that the first and second floors were flooded and the electricity was gone, it was impossible to test them, unless

Their eyes involuntarily went to the rabbit in Bai Youwei’s arms.

Shen Mo spoke up, “The light in the storeroom doesn’t work.”

Everyone was taken aback.

“I’ve searched the storeroom,” Shen Mo said, “I tried the switch a few times, the light didn’t turn on. I thought the bulb was spoiled, but now that I think about it, it seems like that’s the only light in the entire house that’s spoiled.”

Listening to this, Yan Qingwen added, “In that case, you go and get the bulb from the storeroom, I’ll go and remove the other lights we haven’t switched on. Then we can compare.”

Shen Mo nodded slightly.

The two men agreed and one after the other went into the water.

Outside the window, the rain was relentless.

The rain had flooded everything, only the small triangular roof of a house could be seen from the oceanic expanse. Inside the house, the people were sitting on the half piece of remaining attic floor, waiting for the last piece of news…