After Waking Up I Inherited the Earth [Interstellar] – CH46

Chapter 46

Carrying a bucket, a small shovel, tongs… Xie Xingchen ran excitedly to the beach.

It seemed like no one had been here for a long time, because the shore was piled with all kinds of things the sea had washed up.

There was so much stuff!

Just at a glance, you could see starfish, shells, razor clams, scallops, hermit crabs… there were even jellyfish and sea urchins?

The ocean was really too amazing!

Xie Xingchen’s eyes curved into a smile. “Everyone, look! There’s so much seafood here—hahahaha. We’re definitely going to have a huge haul today!”

Spreading his arms as if to embrace the sea, Xie Xingchen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he squatted down, picked up a beautiful conch shell, and said to everyone, “Look—isn’t this conch really pretty? They say if you hold it to your ear, you can hear the sound of the ocean~”

The large conch he picked up wasn’t just perfectly shaped—its color was a lovely white with a soft hint of pink. One glance was enough to make it hard to look away.

Even if it wasn’t food, it was just too pretty.

Pretty enough that Xie Xingchen spotted it at a glance among all the delicious things.

Sometimes, aesthetics really are universal.

Even across multiple species and civilizations, most people still thought the conch in Xie Xingchen’s hand was gorgeous.

[Wuwuwu I really want one! Boss Xie, can you raffle off conch shells?]
[I want one too! A conch that lets you hear the ocean—does it really work?]

Whether conches used to be that magical, Xie Xingchen didn’t know. But the one in his hand really could let you hear the ocean!

It wasn’t an exact match, but it was at least 80% similar.

So he nodded without the slightest guilt. “It really can! I just heard it.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the pitiful little “1” in the upper-right corner of his vision instantly jumped upward—within seconds, it became the delightfully pleasing “19.”

That change made Xie Xingchen’s smile even more sincere.

He said cheerfully, “There are lots more pretty conches here. I’ll pick a few more and show you!”

Then he got moving.

Bend down—pick a pretty conch. Bend down—pick another. By the end, he even tossed the ugly ones back.

Even so, he collected a whole bunch.

Or rather, the conches here were all beautiful—each one looked like a work of art!

When those different-colored but equally pretty conches were gathered together, the viewers watched, and the “Make Everyone Jealous” fan quest meter shot up rapidly.

Fans that were basically “free pickups” felt amazing.

Xie Xingchen’s grin grew wider. He said happily, “How about we do a giveaway first? After we finish shore-foraging, we’ll do another one?”

He hadn’t rushed into giveaways earlier because he wanted to bundle everything into one big package—but now he felt individual giveaways might be better.

At the very least, more people could win!

[Wow, a giveaway! Yes yes! But what are we drawing? The fruits you picked earlier?]
[Nooo! I don’t want fruit—I want conches! Can we draw conches? Pretty conches!]

Xie Xingchen said, “The giveaway has three parts. First is a fruit bundle: mangoes, passionfruit, and lemons—100 bundles total. Second is a vegetable bundle: chilies, scallions, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes—also 100 bundles. Third is the conches: each prize is one large conch plus some small shells—100 prizes total.”

That was only 300 prizes altogether.

Sounds like a lot, but his livestream had millions of viewers—this was worse than one in ten thousand.

The unlucky ones wailed and begged him to increase the prize count.

But—

Xie Xingchen shrugged helplessly. “I want to increase it too, but you watched the stream—this is everything I’ve found so far. Aside from what I need to keep for myself, I’ve put all the rest into giveaways for you.”

The viewers: Okay… Boss Xie really is an honest guy.

Seeing everyone settle down again, Xie Xingchen continued, “But let me tell you something first… You all know Earth is a wasteland planet. It doesn’t have wormhole receiver coverage everywhere like other planets do, so I can’t ship the giveaway prizes immediately. I’ll have to send them after I return to my settlement.”

That was common sense, and normal people could understand.

Still, it wasn’t something people encountered often, so he gave them the heads-up in advance, in case anyone got their hopes up too early.

After everyone said it was fine, Xie Xingchen quickly tapped a few buttons and reminded them, “Okay, the giveaway program is set! One-minute countdown—get ready to grab gifts!”

He was so fast people didn’t even have time to react.

They’d seen too many streamers say “giveaway” and then dangle it forever to lure more viewers into the room. It had been ages since they’d seen a streamer who actually did a giveaway the moment he said he would.

Xie Xingchen set it to manual grab mode. That didn’t mean he manually chose winners—it meant the viewers manually grabbed prizes.

They had to frantically tap their light-brains. Each tap would form a small glowing net.

When the giveaway timer hit, gifts would rain down from the sky. Their nets would automatically fly out to catch them. If a net caught a gift, that meant they won. If they caught multiple gifts, they won multiple prizes.

But Xie Xingchen had no sense of sportsmanship!

No warning, and not even enough prep time.

By the time everyone snapped out of their shock and tried to make up for it, most people only managed thirty or forty taps—meaning thirty or forty nets.

That wasn’t bad… except the unlucky ones could have a mountain of nets and still lose to the “chosen ones” who hit the jackpot with a single tap.

Xie Xingchen: Yep. The world is still unfair.

And nowhere was that unfairness more brutally displayed than in a giveaway.

Seeing the top donor [Kitty Meow-Meow] generate a whopping forty-five nets and still win nothing, Xie Xingchen felt genuinely sorry for them.

He said, “This viewer named [Kitty Meow-Meow]—how about I send you one gift separately?”

They were the undisputed #1 on the leaderboard. And earlier, he’d even mistaken them for a minor, which got him teased—so giving them one gift wasn’t unreasonable.

[Kitty Meow-Meow] really wanted to refuse… but in the end, they accepted shamelessly.

Xie Xingchen didn’t know the internal struggle. Seeing them say “Okay,” he nodded. “Then fill in your address along with the others!”

With one quick operation, he had the 300 winners and [Kitty Meow-Meow] fill in their addresses together.

After that, he led everyone back into the joy of shore-foraging.

There was just too much stuff on the beach. Some things he recognized, some he didn’t.

He didn’t really dare touch what he didn’t recognize, but the things he did recognize made him practically drool.

Grouper, clams, sea urchins, “cat’s-eye snails”!

This was basically a giant free all-you-can-catch seafood supermarket!

His voice got so excited it changed pitch. “Look! This is grouper—steamed, it’s amazing. These are clams—you can stir-fry them, and if you add some chili, it’s insanely good. This spiky thing like a hedgehog is sea urchin—super fresh and really nutritious. And this…”

He picked up a cat’s-eye snail, then—being mischievous—suddenly squeezed hard toward the camera.

A jet of water shot straight at the lens, scaring the viewers into screaming.

[AAAAH! Damn it, Boss Xie is so mean!]
[I almost died—I’m at work! I screamed and my coworkers all looked over. Wuwu… their “what species is this” stare makes me want to flee the planet overnight!]
[Hahahaha the person above is worse—I only scared my kid into crying his lungs out, hahaha…]

Seeing everyone freak out, Xie Xingchen finally burst into laughter.

Under the sunlight, his handsome features were dazzling—he looked like he was glowing while he laughed.

Among the viewers, there were people who used to know Xie Xingchen well. Watching him now—laughing without a trace of gloom—they were confused.

Was this bright, sunny person really the same gloomy, stubborn Xie Xingchen from before?

Most of the people who knew him couldn’t believe it. Only a small number who’d known him since childhood felt a quiet emotion—

The proud, sunny boy from back then had finally come back.

The Fu brothers had known Xie Xingchen since childhood. That was why they remembered exactly what he used to be like.

Seeing the “reborn” Xie Xingchen after his divorce gave them feelings too complicated to name.

Stifled, melancholy, regretful, annoyed… and guilty, all at once.

In the end, they couldn’t find a single word that fit.

But looking at Xie Xingchen’s radiant smile, they understood—deeply—that their relationship could never return to what it once was.

The sea was full of strange creatures. Most tasted good, but some were better than others.

After seeing so much, Xie Xingchen started getting picky.

But no matter how picky he got, when he saw kelp, his eyes still lit up!

A long strip of kelp floated on the water like a rag. When Xie Xingchen bent down to pick it up, the viewers wanted to rush through the screen and shake him awake.

But before they could even type, Xie Xingchen was already thrilled.

“Wow! Look what I got! I found kelp! This is a treasure! You can eat it fresh or dry it later—then you can make cold kelp salad, kelp soup, kelp-and-mung-bean sweet soup… oh, and you can grind it into kelp powder to boost umami!”

The more he talked, the more excited he got.

He was extremely satisfied with this long strip of kelp.

It was so big it could last him forever.

And since he mentioned “boosting umami,” he explained a little more: “What I mean by ‘boosting umami’ is adding something to make the savory flavor pop. Usually you can grind mushrooms, kelp, sea intestines, dried shrimp… into umami powder.”

After he went on and on about umami, he suddenly remembered oyster sauce.

He said, “Oh right—speaking of umami, we have to mention oysters. Oysters can be simmered down to make oyster sauce. The method is super simple: just cook oysters into a concentrated juice… and since we’re talking about oysters, I have to mention garlic grilled oysters!”

He slurped a little drool, then continued, “Garlic grilled oysters are insanely delicious—one bite of silky, fresh oyster, one bite of fragrant garlic and chopped chili, and then the boiling hot juices burst in your mouth!”

Whether the audience got hungry or not, he certainly made himself hungry.

Since he didn’t see oysters on this part of the beach, he decided to head toward the rockier area.

He said, “I suddenly really want oysters! How about we go to the rocky area and look?”

It sounded like a question, but he didn’t wait for an answer. He straightened up, grabbed his bucket, and marched toward the rocks.

The viewers—already driven crazy by his descriptions—were delighted.

Who wasn’t a foodie?

They didn’t even know what oysters tasted like, but Xie Xingchen had described them so vividly!

No time for hesitation—charge!

But the ocean was just too generous.

Xie Xingchen had barely walked a hundred meters when he saw something floating in the water that looked like it might be oysters.

Why “might be”?

Because the “stone” formed by several fused shells was almost as big as his face.

Xie Xingchen: ! (shocked pupils.jpg)

He stepped forward and lifted the “big stone” without thinking.

Several oysters stuck together weighed at least ten-odd jin (over 5 kg).

Using his shovel, he hammered hard along the cracks. Soon the oysters loosened and fell away.

The remaining mud dropped into the sea, splashing up gray, murky water.

Staring at the massive oysters, Xie Xingchen fell silent for a moment.

Then, half-confused, he held up an oyster even bigger than his face and said, “These… are oysters?”

His baffled expression made the viewers laugh.

[Hahahaha I’m dying—Boss Xie said he’d take us to find oysters, and now he’s not even sure what oysters look like!]
[Honestly, I love it when Boss Xie looks confused. He’s like a cute sunny puppy, a handsome boy-next-door—aaaaah!]

Yes. Those were oysters. Super gigantic oysters.

Holding them with both hands, Xie Xingchen’s expression turned extremely complicated.

Wait… could oysters this big actually taste good?

Bigger than his face!

Would the meat be tender?

Or would it be old and tough?

He wasn’t sure.

Still puzzled, he tossed the giant ones into the bucket and decided to look for smaller, “normal” oysters.

Thankfully, not all oysters were jumbo monsters.

After walking another dozen meters, he finally found oysters only slightly bigger than his palm!

Compared to the earlier ones they were small, but Xie Xingchen knew these were still huge—back in the 21st century, these would’ve been pricey premium goods everyone fought over.

But the viewers didn’t know that.

They’d seen the first giant oysters and assumed that was what “mature” oysters looked like—so they thought these were babies.

They started telling him to release them.

[Boss Xie, those oysters are too small! They’re not grown yet, right?]
[Let! Them! Go! You can’t make newborn oyster babies go to work!]
[Boss Xie, be rational! You ignore the huge ones and target the small ones—what’s wrong with you? Don’t drain the pond dry!]

As interstellar people who had migrated endlessly, history taught them that stripping resources recklessly was dangerous.

Seeing Xie Xingchen “go after the small ones,” they panicked.

But—

Xie Xingchen tilted his head and explained with a wry smile, “Don’t worry. I’m not picking babies. These are already big. Normally an oyster is only about half my palm. These are bigger than my whole palm.”

He even held one up against his hand. Sure enough, each one was bigger than his palm.

So…

Everyone looked back at the bucket.

Were those first gigantic oysters… the grandfathers of the oyster world?

Netizens: Emmm…

Netizens: Fine…

There were lots of oysters in this stretch of water. Xie Xingchen didn’t even move much before happily gathering a whole bucket.

Though “a bucket” sounded like a lot—inside were only about twenty oysters.

He straightened up, pounded his lower back, and said regretfully to the viewers, “Seafood has to be eaten fresh! So we can’t do a giveaway right now. But before I leave, I can pick some fresh seafood and do a giveaway then!”

Since he put it that way, nobody argued.

Even though they were jealous of his haul, they also felt satisfied just watching. The chat was full of harmonious praise and friendly chatter.

Just then, a strip of kelp floated by. Xie Xingchen walked over without thinking, intending to collect it.

And at that moment, a red emergency comment popped up, scaring everyone:

[Boss Xie, run! There’s a long red mutated beast behind you!]

The viewers: ?

[Damn, seriously? Why would there be mutated beasts here?!]
[Wait—AAAA it’s real! I see it too, behind Boss Xie! It’s flailing around!]
[RUN RUN RUN! Boss Xie, forget oysters—your life matters! Who has Boss Xie’s contact? Call him and tell him to run!]

Seeing Xie Xingchen still immersed in his happy foraging, viewers wanted to jump through the screen and drag him away.

This wasn’t the time to worry about ingredients—his life mattered!

But Xie Xingchen didn’t see the comments. Just earlier, to keep the screen from blocking his view, he’d turned off the livestream overlay. Until he turned it back on, he wouldn’t see any warnings.

[He’s insane, he’s really insane—please don’t let a happy event turn into a tragedy!]
[He should be okay… right? It doesn’t look that big. Boss Xie can probably handle it?]
[Naive. We’re not scared of one little beast—we’re scared he’ll hit a nest! If there’s one, who says there isn’t a second?]
[Stop jinxing it—damn it, a second one showed up!]

“…”

His viewers were losing their minds.

Nothing was scarier than mutated beasts.

One or two might be manageable, but they usually appeared in swarms.

Ants could bite an elephant to death. Even an S-rank mental power user would struggle against a horde of mutated beasts!

Now the beast behind Xie Xingchen had gone from one to two. Who knew how many more might come?

The thought of Boss Xie getting killed made viewers tremble.

And to make it worse—

He’d turned the screen off?!

Now their comments were useless.

Gritting their teeth, the viewers decided to go to Starblog for help.

Millions of viewers in the room and none were his close friends—but Starblog had so many people. Surely someone could find a friend of his?

They didn’t ask for much—just someone who could warn him.

They only hoped those beasts were slow enough to give them time.

But maybe the universe loved messing with them.

They spammed Starblog for minutes. Tens of millions more viewers poured into the stream. Yet among all those people, not a single one turned out to be Xie Xingchen’s friend (or at least not one who wasn’t blocked).

The fans were about to explode.

[How can there be THIS many people and not one friend?!]
[No way. Boss Xie is so nice—how can his friend list be that small?!]
[Someone, anyone—warn him! Those two beasts are getting closer!]
[I can’t watch this anymore…]

The two red, long, many-legged creatures crept closer and closer. In the viewers’ eyes, it was hopeless.

But—

At that moment, Xie Xingchen turned around. He saw the “mutated beasts”!

Xie Xingchen’s eyes widened. He let out an incredulous “Huh?”

The viewers: !

The viewers: There’s hope!

But unlike what they expected—Xie Xingchen didn’t run.

He actually… charged straight at them?

Viewers slammed their desks: Are you sick?! Why go toward it? RUN!

Worried there might be countless more “beasts” lurking in the water, viewers wished they could flee for him.

But Xie Xingchen’s thoughts were the complete opposite.

He practically wanted to grow two extra legs and sprint over—he was afraid the “beasts” would escape.

He rushed over, and with quick, practiced movements, he grabbed one flailing red, long, many-legged “beast” in each hand—each one longer than his arm.

His face lit up again with the delighted joy of a farmer at harvest.

The viewers’ faces filled with despair. They looked at Xie Xingchen like he was already dead.

Everyone knew: unless your mental power was at least S-rank, meeting a mutated beast was a near-death sentence.

Because mutated beasts came in clusters—one meant two meant countless.

Boss Xie not only didn’t run… he went straight up?

He had to be courting death!

Fans were so angry their heads buzzed.

Not just fans—even ordinary citizens were sweating for him.

They still wanted to buy Earth Shop products!

They didn’t want the boss to die!

But now Boss Xie had one “beast” in each hand?

Their hearts sank. It felt like their cheap green plants were about to disappear forever.

In just a few minutes, the viewers went through an emotional roller coaster: second-by-second agony, panic, despair, hope… and despair again.

Then—

Xie Xingchen, holding two fiercely struggling giant lobsters, was so excited he nearly jumped.

Giant lobsters!

Lobsters longer than his arm!

And so lively!

Heaven!

This sea was treating him far too well!

Grinning like an idiot, Xie Xingchen shoved the two lobsters right up to the livestream orb—and, with a mischievous hand, kept shaking them.

The viewers watching nearly suffocated.

But Xie Xingchen didn’t know. He only knew he’d caught two giant lobsters on the beach.

He was over the moon!

He laughed, “Hahahaha, I can’t believe there are giant lobsters here! Look—aren’t these two super lively?”

Viewers: …No, you’re the lively one.

Xie Xingchen continued, “Giant lobster is so delicious! The meat is firm yet tender and has that sweet seafood taste. You can make sashimi, marinate it raw, or make salt-and-pepper lobster, typhoon-shelter lobster, lobster balls… lobster porridge, and more!”

Viewers: ?

The viewers were stunned by his endless list of dishes.

Giant lobsters?

Those red long many-legged “mutated beasts”?

Cook them?

What in the world—had Boss Xie become so ferocious he wanted to eat mutated beasts now?

The chat stared in disbelief. Their brains stopped turning.

Watching Xie Xingchen chatter happily, some viewers genuinely wondered whether they should crowdfund money to send him to a doctor.

And when they saw him excitedly grab another sideways-walking red multi-legged “mutated beast” and casually name it a “bread crab,” they wanted to crowdfund even harder.

Viewers: Mom… wuwuwu… Earth is terrifying!

Earth has mutated beasts! And they’re two kinds of weird, scary “juvenile-stage” mutated beasts!

Viewers: So here’s the question… is this an entire mutated beast nest?

At that moment, no one believed Xie Xingchen when he said—

These weren’t mutated beasts.

They were food.

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