HLM – Chapter 1048 Lakeside Cabins

Since almost no one was fishing, the deck was mostly empty. Atulu set up a grill there. No one knew where he got the squid from, but he was happily flipping them back and forth over the fire.

The Snow Fox Princess twitched her little black nose and scampered over, staring expectantly at the grill. With a mischievous grin, Atulu scooped up a dab of chili paste with his finger and offered it to her. She didn’t hesitate—she went straight in for a lick.

A miserable yelp rang out. Her eyes instantly flew wide open. She frantically stuck out her tender pink tongue, licking at her nose and mouth, but only succeeded in smearing more chili paste on her nose. And since the nose was the most sensitive spot, the pain overwhelmed her completely.

Eva hurried over with lemon water to wash her clean. The princess hugged Eva’s leg pitifully, whimpering with teary eyes—who knew whether from the spiciness or simply the outrage.

“When we get back on shore, you’re dead. Dale is going to kill you,” Juan said gleefully.

Atulu laughed awkwardly. “This is one hell of a misunderstanding! How was I supposed to know she’s so greedy? I thought she’d at least sniff it before eating. Who knew she’d just bite first and ask questions later!”

But the snow fox had sniffed it—she simply decided the chili paste smelled good enough to ignore the sharp, spicy sting hiding underneath…

Dale treated the snow fox like a treasured baby. And knowing how cunning the fox was, it would definitely go running to her to complain. Atulu was guaranteed to get scolded later.

But for now, no one cared. Atulu’s squid-grilling skills were impressive. He didn’t use a lot of seasoning, but the skewers were incredibly fragrant. Under the warm sunshine, Wang Bo ate grilled squid while sipping sweet potato wine—life couldn’t be better.

Once the White Horse Riding the Waves entered Lake Hawea, it began operating. In China, many coastal cities had similar yacht tours: visitors bought a ticket, got on board, circled the sea, and came back.

But Wang Bo didn’t use that model. Each time the yacht entered the lake, it sailed for two hours. The ticket itself wasn’t expensive; instead, the on-board services were. Barbecue, fried fish, snacks, massages—everything was clearly priced, and the profit came from these extras.

For adults, a ticket cost ten dollars. If someone wanted to rent a fishing spot, it was fifty. Food and entertainment were all add-ons.

After jogging around the lake for a few days, Kidd came to him. “Boss, our lake water is so clear—standing on the pier, you can see the little fish and sand at the bottom.”

“Of course,” Wang Bo said proudly.

The Heart of the Lake had risen to Level 2. It could purify impurities, automatically filter the water, and even organize the growth of underwater plants. The aquatic vegetation grew beautifully without becoming messy.

“So,” Kidd continued, “why don’t we launch lake cabins as a hotel model?”

“Lake cabins?” Wang Bo froze.

Kidd opened a webpage. “You know Tahiti, right?”

“Of course. Old Robert’s hometown. I heard the whole town might be shut down,” Wang Bo said.

Kidd winced. “Not the town—Tahiti, the islands. Australia’s Tahiti Islands, one of the most beautiful near-shore archipelagos in the world.”

Many of Tahiti’s island resorts extended out into the ocean. They looked like piers, but were actually wooden walkways stretching over the sea, lined with overwater cabins built in local indigenous style—beautiful and iconic.

The webpage showed them: beneath a blue sky and over crystal water, a wooden walkway extended into the ocean, with small cabins on both sides. Each one was around twenty square meters, built of wood with thatched roofs.

The magical part was that they seemed to float—gently bobbing with the waves.

Wang Bo’s eyes lit up. “Hey, these houses are floating on the water?”

Kidd shook his head. “Not really—they’re built on foundations driven into the seafloor, wooden piles and stone pillars. When waves roll in, it just looks like they’re floating.”

But Wang Bo had a different idea. “Then what if we built cabins like this—but actually let them float? What do you think?”

The idea excited him. Sunset Town had limited hotels and inns; during peak season, rooms were hard to find.

He’d once thought about turning the White Tower into a luxury hotel, but later realized tourists cared more about food. Sunset Ranch’s meat products were the real attraction, so the White Tower became a large restaurant instead.

Now that he finally had a chance to build a unique kind of lodging, he was eager.

Kidd stared at him. “Boss… your imagination is something else. I’m pretty sure no floating hotels like that exist anywhere in the world.”

“Exactly. If we build them, people will flock here just for the experience,” Wang Bo said enthusiastically.

He called Porter, Hani, Charlie, and the others together to brainstorm.

Calling Porter was the right move—he had deep connections in the construction industry and had seen a lot.

After hearing Wang Bo’s idea, Porter thought for a while and said, “Wang, it’s a good concept. I think there’s something that might help—an extremely buoyant synthetic material.”

The material was called superhydrophobic microporous metal fiber, developed by the Ocean University of China. Hearing that, both Wang Bo and Qingyang laughed—what a coincidence; that was their alma mater.

“It was originally designed for shipbuilding—an attempt to spark a revolution in the industry. From the reports I saw, this material has massive buoyancy. A piece the size of a life jacket could hold up a horse!”

Porter couldn’t remember all the details, so he searched the New Zealand construction materials website and pulled up a report.

The structure was complex. In simple terms, it was created by treating 200-micron metal fibers with substances like silver nitrate, then folding them into layers.

The research team wanted to build entire ships out of it, improving buoyancy and load capacity. If successful, it would indeed be revolutionary.

But revolutions are never easy. The material had issues—poor flexibility, high water-resistance drag, and more. While prototype models floated extremely well, their movement performance was terrible.

However, for constructing floating cabins, those disadvantages became advantages.