Chapter 119 - 113: The Way of Survival

Chapter 119: Chapter 113: The Way of Survival

[District 122: (95779 / 100000)]

"Abyssal Octopus? What’s that? Has anyone encountered it?"

"So there are actually bosses in this game?"

"Adding the word ’boss’ makes it sound like this Abyssal Octopus is no simple existence."

"The point is that Rowan Rhodes can actually take down a boss. Her strength is absolutely terrifying."

"I just have one question: are we going to encounter bosses too?"

"Celia Lynch: I haven’t seen one. The regular mutated marine creatures are more than enough to give us a run for our money."

"Zelda Parrish: I haven’t encountered one either, but the mutated marine creatures here are definitely fiercer than the ones people are talking about in the World Channel."

"So it’s tied to strength. The stronger you are, the tougher the marine creatures you face."

"Holy crap, this Sea Survival Game is biased!"

"I think a little bias is a good thing."

"Yeah, if we ran into a boss like that, we’d be completely doomed."

"Does that mean only the top-ranked player in each district will face this boss?"

"Skye Schuyler: I just went and asked around. The resident players in other districts haven’t encountered it."

"Is it a special ’perk’ exclusively for the global number one?"

"I’d rather pass on a perk like that."

"Boss Rowan Rhodes is totally badass!"

"Honestly, I was getting dizzy from being attacked by all sorts of marine creatures just now, but seeing the notification that Boss Rowan took down a boss completely woke me up. If she can survive such extreme difficulty, how can we give up?"

"Although the marine creature attacks outside are pretty fierce, it seems we can harvest a lot of resources from them. Is the game basically telling us to abandon fishing and focus on fighting the creatures instead?"

"Actually, I feel like today is just a giant seafood brawl."

"I’m stuck in my cabin and a bit bored right now. If anyone can whip up some good food, I’m willing to buy it."

"Really? I’ll list some right now. I just made some garlic lobster."

"..."

Thanks to Rowan’s formidable performance, the players of District 122 found themselves burning with fighting spirit. After all, by following her lead, they had all tangibly experienced the benefits of the relentless grind. Even though the air outside was toxic and mutated marine creatures were invading, nearly everyone had accumulated a decent stockpile of weapons, food, resources, and medicine. Dealing with this crisis wasn’t a huge problem. At the very least, they should all be able to survive the natural disaster. They were even in a good enough mood to exchange resources and buy gourmet food in the Trading Hall.

Compared to the peace in District 122, the reactions from players in other districts were far more intense. Inside the Sea Survival Shop’s massive group chat, many resident players from various districts were fishing for information.

"Victor Zimmerman: An Abyssal Octopus boss? How strong is it?"

"Mason Jacobs: I just faced a sea snake, and it nearly took half my life."

"Silas Raines: My raft keeps getting shocked by jellyfish. I’m practically going ZAP ZAP ZAP over here."

"***: It seems we’re all encountering different marine creatures."

"***: I think it’s survival of the fittest. Any marine creature that manages to survive this long has to be vicious."

"***: I tried salvaging some resources from the sea and found a lot of mutated marine creature corpses. These corpses are highly corrosive. When I hauled them onto my raft, they ate right through the wood."

"***: Hey, why are you all using your real names? Aren’t you afraid of being targeted?"

"Victor Zimmerman: Not at all. I noticed there are tons of people with the same exact name. My name used to have numbers attached to it, and I wondered what that was about. After chatting around, I realized it was just to distinguish us. But when we talk in the World Channel or group chats, those numbers don’t show up."

"Luna Gable: My name had numbers too. Guess I can expose my real name then."

"***: How are things in everyone’s districts?"

"***: Several hundred people in our district have already died. All of them were poisoned to death."

"***: Same in our district."

"***: Don’t you guys have Healing Ointment, Masks, and air purifiers? With just one of those, it shouldn’t be that bad, right?"

"Lance Yeats: Demand vastly outstrips supply. Many low-level players simply can’t grab any, and they can’t trade for them within their own districts either. They can only try to tough it out, and eventually, they just die."

"***: I’m getting a little curious about how many players in District 122 are still alive. They’ve ranked first twice in a row."

"***: I have a feeling Rowan Rhodes is in District 122, which is why their survival rate is so high."

"***: Honestly, from the start of the game until now, I feel like Rowan Rhodes isn’t even playing the same game as the rest of us. She’s just way too overpowered. We’re not even on the same playing field."

"..."

It was safe to say that the chatter among these resident players somewhat reflected the thoughts of every district. Right now, discussions about Rowan across the various district World Channels were only more rampant. Rowan had truly achieved the feat of having her legend spread everywhere.

Meanwhile, Rowan was also keeping an eye on these two interfaces, paying special attention to District 122. At this very moment, the District 122 Trading Hall was flooded with all sorts of delicious food. Rowan realized that the benefits of Harvest Day were simply massive. The emergence of various seeds had greatly enriched the players’ dining tables. If not for this event, players would have had to wait until they reached the Coastal Waters Region to get their hands on large quantities of fruits and vegetables. The small islands in the Shallow Sea Region offered very few fruit and vegetable seeds—basically, only a portion of the Protos players possessed them. And those Protos players weren’t necessarily suited for Farming.

In her previous life, players were only able to eat and drink freely, recreating Azure recipes, after reaching the Coastal Waters Region. However, those delicacies didn’t have much to do with her back then; she was lucky just to have a full stomach. That was why she cared a bit more about food in this life. For many players, it had only been a dozen days or so. Moreover, during the latter half of those dozen days, as their raft levels increased, they had unlocked quite a bit of decent food. They hadn’t really been mistreated, and only a small minority of players had actually gone hungry. But for Rowan? It had been months.

Having just endured a grueling battle with the Abyssal Octopus, Rowan was exhausted. Before she even had the time to clear the battlefield, she needed some good food to soothe her soul. In an instant, she purchased many of the gourmet dishes that had popped up in District 122. Thinking about the sheer amount of resources the Abyssal Octopus had drained from her, Rowan reached out directly to Skye Schuyler via the Sea Survival Shop’s private messaging function.

"Rowan Rhodes: Can you make something delicious out of an octopus?"

"Skye Schuyler: Yes! Of course I can!"

"Rowan Rhodes: What do you want in exchange?"

"Skye Schuyler: Do you have an air purifier or an Antidote? If not, then forget it."

"Rowan Rhodes: I have them."

The two quickly reached an agreement. To Rowan, this was the first boss she had taken down, so it was worth making a nice meal to reward herself. Of course, she was also taking this opportunity to start cultivating her own "team." As the saying went: if you can’t build a team, you’ll work yourself to death alone. Leaving certain resources in the hands of others could yield better Equipment, so why not do it?

On the other end, Skye buzzed with excitement as she looked at her trade with Rowan. She never expected Rowan to seek her out to craft something. Did this mean the big boss acknowledged her strength? Come to think of it, they had already engaged in some invisible trading in the District 122 Trading Hall before. She was determined to perform well and latch onto Rowan as a powerful patron. And just like that, she had already succeeded! In the Sea Survival Game right now, an Antidote was incredibly hard to come by. However, she had a sneaking suspicion that Rowan might be pulling some strings behind the scenes. Perhaps, once Rowan accumulated enough of them, they would all be able to buy Antidotes in the District 122 Trading Hall!

With that thought, Skye approached her cooking platform and took out the octopus tentacle. The moment it materialized, she was genuinely stunned. It was ridiculously thick. Judging by the size of the tentacle alone, one could easily imagine the massive bulk of the Abyssal Octopus. A top-tier boss player truly lived up to her reputation!

After a brief moment of awe, Skye steadied herself and began prepping the tentacle. She needed to make several different flavors. Naturally, it would be even better if she could infuse these dishes with special Effects. She had a feeling that if she did a good job, Rowan wouldn’t treat her poorly in the future. She was determined to work hard and hone her Cooking Skill, ensuring her finished products became increasingly valuable. This, too, was a way of "surviving" in the Sea Survival Game.