HLM -Chapter 1204 The Plan to Reclaim Land from the Lake

Hearing this, Professor Sandra became delighted and said, “That’s wonderful! As long as you’re willing, it’s fine. Their numbers aren’t very large—they’re used to living on small islands.”

Wang Bo asked, “You mean… you want me to build a small island on Lake Haweya?”

The Twin Lakes were pristine, with no islands at all.

Professor Sandra smiled sheepishly. “This is the best approach.”

Reclaim land from the lake!

Wang Bo took a sharp breath and thought to himself: Principal, you really don’t hold back—you’ve given me a huge challenge right off the bat! This isn’t just claiming a plot for a school; this is literally filling a lake to create land!

Professor Sandra, worried he might refuse, added, “Actually, tuatara are very precious animals. Their numbers are rare…”

“About a hundred thousand, right?” Wang Bo guessed. He wasn’t completely uninformed; he had seen these creatures on TV before.

Professor Sandra chuckled. “Our conservation efforts have been going well. Yes, there should be around a hundred thousand.”

Although that was not a small number, New Zealand still devoted itself to protecting tuatara. Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch all had dedicated reserves.

Under local animal protection laws, if someone finds an injured or unhealthy tuatara in the wild, they are obliged to take it to a reserve until it recovers before being returned to the wild.

New Zealand didn’t do this purely out of kindness—tuatara hold an important position in bionics research.

Wang Bo remembered a program saying that the most unique feature of tuatara is that, like Erlang Shen, they have a “third eye.” In reality, this organ senses light and lets tuatara know whether it’s day or night, or winter or summer.

Tuatara have no ears—or at least, no external ear structures—but they can hear sounds. The reason is still unclear and has not yet been studied. Current theories suggest they have auditory tissues on their skin. Many scientific institutions are searching for these tissues and trying to isolate auditory cells, which may influence the next generation of musical instruments.

Also, don’t think that the third-eye tuatara’s other two eyes are useless. Each eye can see independently, focus separately, and contains a “dual-function retina” with two types of photoreceptors for day and night vision.

Wang Bo knew all this—but it was useless to him personally; it was valuable only to Lincoln University.

If it were just about releasing tuatara into the wild, he would be more than willing. Tuatara were a popular part of New Zealand’s tourism projects.

But filling a lake to create land just for this? That was a huge cost. Tourism alone wouldn’t recoup the investment.

So Wang Bo hesitated.

Professor Sandra looked at him expectantly. Building a branch campus required purchasing new equipment and funding countless expenses. They didn’t have the budget for a tuatara bionic ecosystem and had no choice but to turn to Wang Bo.

After careful consideration, Wang Bo spoke slowly: “Lake Haweya is too important to risk disturbing its ecosystem. But Lake Wakana could be used for land reclamation.”

Lake Wakana and Lake Haweya are called the Twin Lakes. They are almost connected, separated only by the Inke Peninsula.

In terms of shape, the Twin Lakes resemble a distorted figure-eight, with the upper and lower loops being the two lakes, and the middle connecting section being the Inke Peninsula.

The peninsula separating the lakes is small—less than half a square kilometer—surrounded by vast waters on both sides. Wang Bo asked, “Couldn’t the Inke Peninsula serve as their habitat?”

Professor Sandra shook her head. “No. First, Highway 6 runs through it. Second, it’s not an island—it’s part of the mainland. Predators like rats could come and go freely.”

Wang Bo said, “Then let’s reclaim land in Lake Wakana. I’ll fund it.”

Professor Sandra smiled wryly. “Not Lake Haweya?”

Wang Bo firmly refused, giving a reasonable excuse: What if reclamation affects the aquatic ecosystem and damages the freshwater corals?

Upon hearing this, Professor Sandra immediately nodded—freshwater corals were indeed the true treasure.

In reality, Wang Bo knew that reclaiming land in Lake Haweya wouldn’t really disturb its ecosystem. But he saw an opportunity—an opportunity to expand territory outward.

Though the Twin Lakes were often said to belong to Sunset Town, in truth only part of Lake Haweya was under the town’s jurisdiction. Lake Wakana had nothing to do with Sunset Town.

However, the name “Twin Lakes” was very famous locally, and it sounded better than Haweya or Wakana Lake alone, hence the designation.

By reclaiming land in Lake Wakana and creating an island, Wang Bo could extend tourism there. And since he would fund the island, he would own it outright.

Normally, an opportunity like this wouldn’t come his way. But applying under the pretext of establishing a new tuatara reserve in New Zealand had a high chance of approval.

Wang Bo opened the door. The tuatara, sensing he meant no harm, crawled out to bask in the sun.

Cold-blooded animals love sunbathing, and New Zealand tuatara were no exception. In natural conditions, they slowly bask in sunlight on good weather days to warm their bodies.

But today was different. Professor Sandra hurriedly drove them back inside. Temperatures above 28°C are fatal for these cold-blooded creatures!

It’s remarkable that tuatara have survived since hundreds of millions of years ago—they are delicate. Temperatures above 30°C can kill them, while near-zero temperatures induce hibernation.

So, it is the oceanic climate of an island nation like New Zealand that allows these remarkable lizards to survive. Elsewhere in the world, they would have gone extinct long ago.

For now, the tuatara were part of Sunset Town. Wang Bo waited for government approval of the reclamation report. Meanwhile, the report urging the tuatara to attend further study programs had already arrived.

So in early March, Wang Bo had to bid farewell to his parents and beloved wife and head to Wellington.

Just as he was about to leave, the teacher appeared, holding Dale with a helpless expression: “Mr. Wang, Ms. Eva, please discuss with Dale. Using hot milk for a water fight… might not be such a good idea?”

Wang Bo was shocked: “What? You put hot milk in the water gun?”

Dale smiled sheepishly: “It wasn’t too hot, just a little warm.”

Wang Bo glared at her: “When we had dinner that day, what did you promise? Didn’t you say anything? No credibility at all?”

Dale said with a pout: “I said I wouldn’t use hot water. I never said I wouldn’t use hot milk.”

The teacher laughed and cried at the same time: “The worst part is I checked Dale’s backpack—there’s honey, hot ink…”

Wang Bo turned to Eva: “I wasn’t this crazy when I was a kid.”