ctnovel Chapter 130 So green, so green, so green
Chapter 130 So green, so green, so green
Chapter 130 So green, so green, so green
For the next six days, Yu Wang strictly followed his plan, releasing a batch of food he had sourced from the "Environmental Protection Ship" on the trading channel at regular intervals and in fixed quantities each day. In return, he received basic materials other than timber.
After releasing the product for six consecutive days, the inventory was completely cleared out, leaving only what was reserved for themselves.
In addition, when stopping at the rest area, Yu Wang specifically sought out some local ethnic merchants to collect some duck and goose feathers to make down jackets.
The quantity is decent, enough to make over two hundred pieces.
Eight o'clock in the morning.
Zhang Xinlan mentally prepared herself before mustering the courage to push open the cabin door. A chilling blast of cold air rushed in, making her shiver violently.
"Hiss—!" She gasped. "Luckily, we bought some warm clothes in Shell City, otherwise we really wouldn't have made it. I looked at the nautical chart; this ocean current doesn't lead directly to the Glacier Sea, we need to transfer there. Just how cold must it be over there?"
Halfway through her muttering, she suddenly noticed that Yu Wang, who was standing on the deck next to her, was only wearing a not-too-thick windproof jacket, with ordinary clothes underneath, and some wooden supply boxes that he hadn't had time to open the night before at his feet.
"Wait a minute, how come you're not cold wearing so little?"
In this freezing weather, the rhinoceros beetles can only be active for a short while at midday. The rest of the time they hide in the cabin of the "Ghost Pirate" ship, warming themselves by the stove where the chef duck cooks. They are half-dead every day, and they will probably die if the temperature drops a little more in a few days.
Zhang Xinlan was quite reluctant to part with their ability to automatically pick up floating objects, so she obtained some supplies from Yu Wang and approached Lin Che, hoping to order a batch of cold-resistant insects.
Meanwhile, Lin Che is already working hard to cultivate them, and it's estimated that we'll see results soon.
Hearing the voice, Yu Wang replied without looking up, "Oh, this? I'm testing the warming potion Lin Wei sent. It's working quite well; I think it can withstand temperatures above -5 degrees Celsius. Would you like a bottle?"
"A warming potion?!" Zhang Xinlan's eyes lit up. "There's such a good thing! I want to try it!"
The warming potion was commissioned by Yu Wang, who approached Lin Wei to order it. Lin Wei was struggling to submit her practical assignment for the witch apprentice's stage assessment at the time. She felt that a potion suitable for cold environments was a promising and practical choice, and that it would definitely have a market in cold seas in the future. So she readily agreed to the deal and quickly delivered several finished products.
In addition, Yu Wang asked Lin Wei to buy some materials for him when she went to the Witch Alliance to hand in her assignment.
The witches are a group of researchers with very strange tempers. To add, they are a group of researchers with very strange tempers who are also cat lovers.
Even if you force them to come to you using the "Universal Supply Ship Summoning Card," they probably won't let you in unless they come to you of their own accord.
However, the expansion modules of "Little Yellow Duck"—Duck Electromagnetic Cannon, Duck Crown, and Duck Staff Dormitory—all require extraordinary materials to build.
The place with the most complete collection of extraordinary materials is probably the Witch Alliance.
Therefore, it's more convenient to buy it directly from an insider rather than risk wasting a "universal supply ship summoning card".
Zhang Xinlan removed the cork from the medicine and carefully took a sip.
The liquid entered her mouth, carrying a spicy ginger flavor and a faint sweetness of honey. As it slid down her throat, a warm current quickly spread from her stomach to her limbs, dispelling the chill from her skin. She felt as if she were soaking in warm water, so comfortable that she couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow—it's delicious! And the effect is immediate! What did you trade with her for it? Potions must be expensive these days, right?"
Yu thought for a moment: "The price is acceptable. It's in exchange for the chef's duck-made minced meat and eggplant, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, hot and sour soup, braised pork ribs, two pounds of steamed buns, and a pot of white rice."
Zhang Xinlan: "————?"
Holding the half-full bottle of warming medicine, she suddenly felt a little ungrateful for her good fortune.
Just as she was about to gulp down the remaining potion, her exceptional vision noticed a small fleet of three survivor boats approaching the Little Yellow Duck in the distance.
These days, Yu Wang has spent a lot of time in the various resting areas of the ocean currents in order to make transactions, so it is understandable that he was overtaken by some special ships that were originally ahead and might have a speed advantage.
To truly secure a leading position in the exploration, ocean currents alone are not enough; we must at least reach the glacial sea and utilize the ship's short-range flight module to cross several icebergs that other ships would have to detour around.
The three ships gradually approached, and it became clear that the lead ship was a modified two-masted sailing ship with a reinforced metal ram at the bow. Several people were standing on the ship, and the leader was a woman with short, neat hair wearing a fur coat. She was waving at the Little Yellow Duck.
Yu Wang and Zhang Xinlan exchanged a glance, becoming more vigilant, but did not immediately adopt a hostile stance.
In the past week, the survival strategies of all human survivors have been undergoing a quiet but dramatic change in the ever-worsening environment of the "Sea of Abundance".
In the past, when the weather was clear and the visibility in the sea was acceptable, as long as one was careful enough, it was possible to spot the basalt plants lurking underwater in advance and thus avoid risks.
But now, the seawater in the entire area has turned into a thick, dark green, with extremely low visibility, resembling a pot of overcooked spinach soup.
Without radar or X-ray vision devices, everything underwater is unknown, and the outline of the Bone-Eating Flower cannot be detected by the naked eye in advance.
The survivors walked each stretch of road with trepidation.
Therefore, the survivors are forced to change their previous habits.
Previously, when human ships met at sea, they would either avoid each other from a distance or have a brief encounter to conduct a transaction before parting ways as soon as possible.
They almost never drive together.
Now, regardless of which region the other party is from, as long as they meet on the sea and confirm that there is no obvious hostility between them, they will take the initiative to approach each other, form a temporary formation, and move forward together.
The ships stood close together, forming a large shadow, mimicking large sea creatures to guard against attacks from the carnivorous flowers.
Furthermore, the scope of safety is also changing.
At first, a mere ten-meter-long shadow was enough to deter the Bone-Eating Flowers from causing trouble.
Later, it took 20 meters, then 30 meters, and now it takes 40 or 50 meters to be barely safe. It has expanded extremely fast!
The "Little Yellow Duck" is thirty meters long, and the "Ghost Pirate" is twenty meters long, already on the verge of danger.
Even if this small fleet hadn't approached today, Yu Wang would have sought out suitable local ethnic boats in the ocean current rest area to join him on his journey.
Perhaps due to the frequent venturing into the sea to deal with the invasive venomous plants blocking its path, even though it rinsed its body with fresh water immediately after each trip, the sea helmet worm still developed health problems.
A small white flower bloomed on its majestic unicorn horn, and its movements became much slower.
On the glossy carapace, the wood grain is faintly visible.
Yu Wang was worried that if things continued like this, the future deep-sea admiral, the sea helmet worm, would become obsolete.
Therefore, they chose to find others to help them wade through the flowerbeds whenever possible, in order to reduce the frequency of the sea helmet worms diving.
The two-masted sailboat stopped at a safe distance. The short-haired woman leading the group picked up a megaphone, her voice carrying clearly in the sea breeze: "Friends up ahead! We mean no harm! My name is Lu Ping, from Region 13! I'm the leader of this temporary team. We'd like to discuss whether we could temporarily team up and travel together for a while? More people and more boats mean more shade, which is safer!"
"Yu Wang, District 14, teaming up is no problem."
After a brief exchange, the three ships approached each other.
Yu Wang's gaze swept over the three enemy ships: the leading two-masted sailing ship showed many signs of modular expansion and had quite a few general-purpose modules, so its combat power should not be weak. It had a level two triple-shot cannon at the bow and two water rocket cannons on the hull.
The two boats behind were a covered boat with a level 2 arrow tower on it, and the other one was a speedboat that he was familiar with. However, judging from its size, it should be a level 2 yacht with two water cannons on it.
Regarding the personnel, there were three boats and three people, one man and two women. Judging from their standing posture and the natural eye contact between them, they had obviously been sailing together for some time and had a certain tacit understanding with each other.
Upon receiving an affirmative reply, Lu Ping visibly relaxed, a relieved smile spreading across her face: "Great! We've finally found new partners. In my division, a three-person team was attacked yesterday by a gigantic carnivorous flower with a diameter of thirty meters; their ship was destroyed and everyone perished—with you joining us, our safety is much higher."
She paused, then explained her intention: "Our goal is to cross this ocean current and head straight for the nearest 'Akasha Ferryman' current, using our high speed to climb the monthly mileage leaderboard."
Yu Wang quickly recalled the nautical chart in his mind, confirmed the location and direction of the "Akasha Ferryman" ocean current, and nodded, saying, "We are the same; we want to use the ocean current to travel as far as possible in the shortest amount of time."
He understood that the mileage leaderboard only compared the distance moved. Whether the survivor was pulled by a sea monster, carried on a boat, or used ocean currents, the game didn't care how the survivor moved.
With the Ocean Current Express Pass now available, the mileage leaderboard will likely be dominated by survivors who possess it for a long time to come.
After hearing Yu Wang's words, the three people on the two-masted sailboat opposite—Lu Ping, a young man with a somewhat timid look in his eyes, and a lively girl who looked to be in her early twenties with pigtails—all showed joy on their faces.
Finally, I've found a stable teammate with the same goals.
The girl with pigtails to Lu Ping's left chimed in, her tone a bit talkative: "I knew it! Sister, we should have just found teammates in the ocean current a long time ago! Otherwise, like before, we'd finally find a team on the surface, only to realize we were on different routes near the current's entrance and have to split up, wasting time. And if the other team was sensitive, they might think we were in Versailles, which could easily cause trouble. Besides, look, lately small algae have started inexplicably growing on the surface! It's the same on the ship; the algae are spreading incredibly fast, and we have to spend time cleaning it every day—it's such a hassle!"
I really hope to leave here soon and go to the next glacial sea mentioned on the nautical chart. Freezing to death is better than becoming a vegetable.
Her complaints actually brought out the common predicament of many survivors, which inadvertently brought them closer together.
Zhang Xinlan, who was standing to the side, listened with deep feeling and nodded in agreement.
The Little Yellow Duck has a ship cover that prevents algae growth, but her Ghost Pirate ship, if not cleaned for the last two or three days, will have algae growing onto the deck.
If you slack off any more, the seaweed will grow small flowers, and smelling them up close for too long will make you dizzy, nauseous, and seriously disgusted.
So, in addition to practicing shooting and training every day, Zhang Xinlan has also had to take a few ducks with her as laborers and clean the boat with great effort.
Later, she discovered that the algae wouldn't grow to that height on the deck on its own in a short time; it was that annoying takeout fish that ran around carrying its treasure that caused it. That guy would often deliberately use its tail to create big waves, splashing seawater saturated with algae spores onto the deck of the "Ghost Pirate," which led to the algae frenzy.
"Oh right, the boat hasn't been cleaned yet—" Zhang Xinlan's face immediately fell when she thought of this.
Just as Zhang Xinlan was secretly lamenting her situation, on the other side, Yu Wang and Lu Ping's conversation was progressing smoothly.
Lu Ping and her two companions did indeed come from the same region, but they belonged to different initial sub-regions.
They were originally in a small to medium-sized fleet of eight ships, sticking together for warmth.
However, as the environment of the "Sea of Abundance" deteriorated at a visible rate, some crew members in the fleet developed green hair and became delirious.
For their own safety and to secure better ranking rewards at the end of the month, the mutants decided to break away from the main group and use their newly acquired Ocean Current High-Speed Passes for faster maneuvering.
Soon, both parties quickly finalized a temporary partnership agreement that was acceptable to each other:
Ocean currents don't require power; you only need to control the direction.
First, the boats are arranged in a "V" shape, because the boats lose durability faster, so the five boats take turns serving as the naval commander.
The so-called consumption is nothing more than losing three to five points of durability per day, and Yu Wang doesn't care about those repair materials.
But for some ships that didn't even have the resources to fully upgrade their cannons, supplies were indeed scarce and barely scraped together.
Every bit of durability counts.
Secondly, after leaving the ocean current, the formation proceeds at a relatively safe speed of 15 knots towards the entrance of the next ocean current.
Finally, there's the issue of night watch.
Yu Wang said he could give it to his summoned creature, and if Lu Ping was worried, she could send someone out at night as well.
Neither side raised any objection to this.
The five ships tried to stay close together, connecting their silhouettes into a larger, more unified whole. After adjusting their formation and course, they resumed their journey.
Time flies, and the curtain of time completely enveloped the world.
After sunset, the game notification sound rang precisely in the ears of all survivors, breaking Ren's silence:
[Ding! Time for today's mileage summary!]
[Let's take a look at the amazing performances from each division today!]
【Holy crap! What's going on? Survivors in some zones seem to have fallen in love with this green home, with their average daily mileage hitting a new low!! Are they meticulously cultivating the seaweed gardens on their ships? Or are they getting too caught up in playing hide-and-seek with the carnivorous plants?】
With an undisguised sarcasm in his tone, Sui En released the data:
[The worst average mileage today belongs to Region 01 and Sub-region 19. Congratulations! You have all earned the honorary title of "Deep Sea Gardener" (Effect: Increases seaweed attachment speed on the ship's toilet by 10% for the next 24 hours). Keep up the good work and strive to transform the ship into a moving underwater forest as soon as possible!!]
[Think that's the end? As punishment for your three consecutive days of finishing last! The second raid difficulty will be significantly increased! Remember, this is your last chance!!]
Yu Wang opened the constantly updating mileage leaderboard. It seemed he remembered correctly: Region 01, Sub-region 19, was the sub-region where "Right-Wing Saints" were located.
Shi Ran might find it satisfying to see others suffer setbacks, but a cornered dog will easily jump over the wall.
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