Chapter 61: Great Misfortune!

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Great Misfortune!

Lin Ji’s breathing quickened. He hurriedly opened the Trading House and began frantically searching for items related to "quality of life," "furniture," and "entertainment."

It was shocking to see.

Only one night had passed!

Items that had been ignored in the Trading House just yesterday—carpets, sofas, water purifiers, even decorative blueprints priced at just a few Evolution Points—were now largely out of stock!

The few items that occasionally appeared had prices several times or even over ten times higher than yesterday!

"Just as I thought!"

Lin Ji gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath.

"The top Guilds and those monstrously strong players who’ve progressed the fastest and already upgraded their Vessels to Level 4 must have seen the Level 5 upgrade requirements!"

"They know Comfort Level is a hard requirement, so while most people are still unaware, they’re frantically buying up goods at low prices and hoarding them!"

The profits from this information gap were even more lucrative than robbery.

By the time the majority reached Level 4 and realized they needed Comfort Level, the prices of these items would absolutely skyrocket!

Watching the continuously rising prices of lifestyle blueprints in the Trading House, Lin Ji felt as anxious as if a cat were scratching at his heart.

He wished he could sell everything he had to hoard a few more blueprints right now!

Even if he didn’t use them himself, he could make a fortune reselling them later!

But reality slapped him hard in the face.

"Evolution Points... running on empty."

Lin Ji glanced at his pitiful double-digit balance and sighed helplessly.

Even knowing this was a guaranteed money-making opportunity, it was useless without funds.

He closed the System Panel and walked alone to the balcony outside the Captain’s cabin on the second deck.

The sea wind howled, whipping his clothes violently.

Lin Ji stood before the railing, gripping the cold alloy guardrail tightly with both hands, his gaze fixed intently on the distant horizon.

In the opposite direction of the Dead Silence Fog, at the edge of his vision.

He could faintly make out an extremely tiny black dot, even catching a glimpse of a faint, dark Red glow flickering.

That was the [Magma Floating Island], shrunk to an unimaginable scale!

Not only did it hold opportunities for modifying Vessels and enhancing weapons, it was also his hope for solving the power crisis and earning massive amounts of Evolution Points!

"I can’t keep following the usual pace."

Lin Ji muttered to himself, a fierce determination flashing in his eyes.

"Since some have already started planning for Level 5, I must accelerate my pace!"

"Otherwise, by the later stages..."

"All that awaits me is being mercilessly crushed by those major Guilds!"

Looking at the distant black dot flickering with a dark Red glow, Lin Ji felt an unprecedented sense of urgency rising within him.

He knew all too well that in this battle royale-like game, falling behind even one step meant being beaten at every turn.

Those top Guilds were already laying the groundwork for Level 5. If he didn’t pick up the pace soon,

He would inevitably be left far behind, becoming nothing more than prey on someone else’s chopping block.

And that [Magma Floating Island] ahead was currently his only hope for turning the tables.

"But..."

Lin Ji’s brow furrowed slightly, his fingers habitually tapping lightly on the cold alloy railing.

"A place that can provide opportunities for Level 4 or even Level 5 advancement definitely can’t be without danger."

"A Resource Point of this grade must have long been targeted by those major factions."

"Then this battle... is absolutely going to be a tough fight."

Lin Ji had never been one to be blindly arrogant.

He possessed an extremely strong sense of crisis and never fought unprepared battles.

Thinking this, he immediately communicated with the system in his mind.

"Activate [Eye of Insight]—Fortune Prediction!"

This was a special ability of his B+ grade talent, one that consumed a tremendous amount of Spiritual Power and could only be used once per day.

It allowed him to briefly glimpse the fortune or misfortune of a future event.

[Ding! Target locked: Journey to the Magma Floating Island.]

[Consuming Spiritual Power for calculation...]

As the system’s prompt faded.

Lin Ji felt a sharp pain in his brain, and the scene before his eyes instantly twisted and blurred.

Immediately after, an incredibly vivid image was forcibly shoved into his mind as if he were experiencing it firsthand!

In the image, the sky was shrouded by thick volcanic ash, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur.

And standing directly in front of Lin Ji was a woman.

A woman with an exquisitely beautiful face, a devilish figure, yet exuding a bone-chilling, deranged aura!

She wore a dark red leather bodysuit that barely covered her body, exposing large swathes of fair skin to the scorching air.

The astonishingly ample curves on her chest trembled violently with her sick, maniacal laughter.

Her eyes, which should have been charming and alluring, were now filled with crimson blood vessels, radiating a madness that sought to destroy everything!

"Die! All of you, die! Hahaha!"

The woman let out a shrill, insane laugh.

The next second, she abruptly spread her arms wide.

Lin Ji only saw the dark red rocks beneath her feet instantly shatter.

A terrifying pillar of magma, like a small erupting volcano, shot straight up from the ground, completely engulfing Lin Ji’s location in an instant!

"Boom!"

The image abruptly ended.

"Huff... huff..."

Lin Ji’s eyes snapped open as he gasped for breath.

His back was already soaked with cold sweat, and even his legs trembled slightly, uncontrollably.

"Too real..."

Lin Ji wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, his heart still pounding with lingering fear.

Although the previous image hadn’t carried real physical pain.

The despair and suffocation of being instantly swallowed by magma and facing death.

Had truly let him experience what real death felt like!

Extreme misfortune!

Absolutely a situation with nine deaths and one slim chance of survival!

That woman’s strength definitely surpassed any Awakened Lin Ji had encountered so far!

Even his proud Second-tier Constitution combined with rock armor would be as fragile as paper before that terrifying volcanic eruption.

"Someone from the Apocalypse Guild..."

Lin Ji gritted his teeth, his expression turning extremely grave.

At the very end of the image, he had vaguely seen an eye-like emblem embroidered on that madwoman’s leather suit.

It was the emblem of the Apocalypse Guild—the very top-tier guild that had been frantically purchasing Steam Cores in the Trading House earlier, and the one founded by Gu Yihan’s father!

It seemed this Magma Floating Island had indeed been claimed by them already.

Against a monster of this caliber, a direct confrontation would be nothing short of suicide.

Just as Lin Ji’s mind raced, debating whether to abandon this operation, several lines of system notifications surfaced in his thoughts once more.

[Fortune Prediction concluded.]

[System calculation result: Nine deaths, one life (Extreme Misfortune).]

[Generating a solution to break the deadlock...]

[Option One (Highest Success Rate): Immediately turn the ship around, abandon the opportunity on the Magma Floating Island, and seek out other low-level Resource Points to survive. Cost: Completely lose the qualification to compete in the first tier, with a high probability of being consumed by the Dead Silence Fog in the later stages.]

[Option Two (Moderate Success Rate): Conceal your presence and wait for the right moment. After the Apocalypse Guild and the island’s overlord-level monster have worn each other out, steal the core resources. Cost: Extremely easy to be discovered, with minimal room for error.]

[Option Three (Lowest Success Rate · But Most Recommended): Bribe and turn the enemy’s core combatant to maximize gains.]

Seeing the third option, Lin Ji was stunned.

Bribe that crazy woman?

With his pitiful few dozen Evolution Points right now?

She was a high-ranking combatant of the Apocalypse Guild—even a single hair plucked from the guild’s leg would be thicker than him!

What could he possibly use to bribe her? His life?