Extracting all things: My attributes grow infinitely.

Jiang Chuan sat on the flying boat and read through the entire file that Qin Tianheng had given him.

Tiannan City, one of the thirty-six cities in Lingnan, has a permanent population of about 300,000.

This city is about the same size as Tianyuan City.

However, located on the southern coast of the Federation, far from the front lines and the political center, its presence is extremely low.

The city lords of each generation were either disillusioned individuals who had been ostracized and forced to come here.

Either they come here to accumulate titles and retire comfortably.

The latter is exemplified by Wen Shiliang.

He originally only needed to work here for five years to get a vice-ministerial level position and a higher retirement benefit, but unexpectedly, something happened.

The latter half of the dossier is about the economic situation of Tiannan City, which is more than ten pages long, but it actually only talks about one thing.

Blood algae.

Blood algae is the main economic crop in Tiannan City and several surrounding towns.

It is also the lifeblood upon which the entire city depends for its survival.

This aquatic crop is an excellent material for making therapeutic agents.

At least 20% of the healing potions circulating in the Federal market use blood algae produced in Tiannan City.

This revenue stream accounts for 45% of Tiannan City's annual fiscal revenue.

but.

Jiang Chuan, however, discovered a problem.

"Residents in coastal areas have relied on fishing for generations, but blood algae need to be planted in shallow sea areas, which will inevitably take away the living space of fishermen."

"Regarding the fishermen..."

"But this report didn't mention it at all."

Jiang Chuan was born into a poor family in both his previous lives.

Although his status is different now, his way of thinking is fundamentally different from that of officials who only value political achievements.

He could tell at a glance that there was something fishy going on.

And just so happens.

Wen Shiliang disappeared while visiting a village where blood algae were grown.

Jiang Chuan pondered for a moment. The Federation had already informed Tiannan City of his impending appointment.

now.

Presumably, all the officials and dignitaries of Tiannan City are already waiting outside the city to greet them.

However, instead of going to Tiannan City or notifying any local officials, he went directly to the location where Wen Shiliang had disappeared, following the map coordinates.

Bailang Village.

Just by hearing the name of the village.

I can already imagine a stunning resort with white waves and golden sand.

But what Jiang Chuan actually saw was an endless expanse of dark red.

On the side closer to the coast, vast fields of blood algae gleamed with a dark red luster under the sunlight, stretching all the way into the depths of the sea, like a boundless dark red ribbon.

The sea breeze carried a strong stench of decay, the distinctive smell of fermented blood algae.

The fumes were nauseating.

He walked along the bumpy dirt road into the village, where most of the houses on both sides were old stone houses.

The plaster is peeling off the wall.

The doors and windows are crooked.

Several villagers in tattered clothes were squatting by the roadside.

There are both old and young people.

They stared blankly at the sea, not even reacting when he passed by.

An old man in his fifties squatted at his doorstep, holding a pipe in his hand. The pipe had long since gone out, and he just kept puffing on it, staring blankly at the Red Sea in front of him.

Jiang Chuan stopped in front of him, blocking his view.

The old man slowly raised his head, his cloudy old eyes scanning him up and down before lowering his head again: "Where did this kid come from? Don't loiter around here if you have nothing to do."

Jiang Chuan pulled out a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and waved it in front of him.

The old man's eyes suddenly lit up, and his withered hands reached out almost instinctively.

But Jiang Chuan pulled his hand back.

He then said, "Answer a few questions for me, and this banknote is yours."

"Ask away! Ask away!"

The old man's voice became louder, and he seemed to have been injected with chicken blood.

Jiang Chuan pointed to the sea covered in blood algae: "Didn't Bailang Village used to make a living by fishing? How come it's all turned into this now?"

The old man paused for a moment, his excitement fading and replaced by an indescribable bitterness.

"Fishing?"

The old man gave a wry smile: "That happened five or six years ago."

He pointed to the Red Sea: "In the past, the seawater was so clear that you could see the bottom. The Dragon King also took care of us coastal people. Back then, when we went out to sea, we could catch a lot of silver fish with one net. Although we couldn't sell them for a high price, it was enough for the whole family to eat and stay warm."

"Later, the city issued an order to cultivate blood algae." The old man chuckled self-deprecatingly, "saying that this stuff could be sold for a lot of money, ten or a hundred times more profitable than fishing, and that we should all switch to cultivating blood algae."

Jiang Chuan asked, "You just agreed?"

"Can I refuse?"

The old man raised his eyelids and glanced at him, his eyes full of helplessness: "Who dares to disobey the city lord's orders? If you don't plant blood algae, your fishing boat license won't be renewed. Without the fishing boat license, you can't go out to sea to fish. If you don't plant it, there are plenty of people who are willing to plant it."

"At first, everyone tried planting some. Blood algae grows quickly; it grows back after being harvested, and the price is indeed higher than fishing."

"But later, everyone realized something was wrong."

The old man gripped his pipe tightly, his knuckles turning white: "This thing reproduces too fast. Its roots penetrate the seabed, growing denser and denser, completely covering the reefs where fish spawn. Without a place to lay their eggs, the fish and shrimp are becoming fewer and fewer in number."

"What's worse is that this thing can get tangled in fishing nets."

"When you throw a fishing net in, what you catch isn't fish, but clumps of rotten, bloody algae. A fishing net worth several thousand dollars is wasted just like that."

"The blood algae are rotting in large quantities, and they've made the seawater extremely murky."

"In just two or three years."

The old man's voice trembled slightly as he sighed, "All the fish in the nearshore waters are gone. Our ancestors have made a living by fishing for generations, but now we can't even catch a fish the size of a palm."

Jiang Chuan was silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Isn't there blood algae? Isn't the profit from growing blood algae higher than from fishing?"

The old man's expression changed.

A fear that was very familiar to Jiang Chuan surfaced on that deeply lined old face.

That's what ordinary people at the bottom of society do when faced with an irresistible force.

Instinctive fear.

The old man swallowed hard: "Harvesting blood algae... that's a deadly job."

"The blood algae looks soft and limp, but its stems are actually covered with barbs that contain toxins. If you touch the skin, it will swell up like a bun. If it is not treated in time, the toxins will seep into the bone and the whole arm will become necrotic."

"That's not all."

The old man's pupils contracted slightly: "Beneath the blood algae lurks the 'Crimson Scale Serpent,' whose venom is terrifyingly potent. One bite, and a person is gone in the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea."

"Back then, there were a few people in the village who didn't believe in the superstition. Relying on their youth and strength, they wanted to get rich by growing blood algae, but they were all bitten to death by red-scaled snakes during the harvest."

Jiang Chuan frowned: "The City Lord's Mansion ordered the planting of blood algae, didn't they prepare corresponding protective measures?"

"Protection? Of course."

The old man scoffed, a smile more painful than a grimace: "There are professional protective suits in the city, costing tens of thousands of yuan per set. Who can afford them except for the wealthy? How can ordinary people like us, who can barely afford food, afford protective suits?"

Jiang Chuan's gaze turned cold: "Then why is the blood algae still being cultivated here?"

The old man suddenly shut his mouth.

He looked around to make sure no one was paying attention before lowering his voice even further: "No individual farmers dare to plant there, but the Yu family has taken over. You're from out of town, so you might not know the Yu family, but they're the biggest powerful family in Tiannan City. They have people working in the City Lord's Mansion; they wield a lot of power!"