Chapter 150 - 139: Permanent Aftereffects

Chapter 150: Chapter 139: Permanent Aftereffects

Time slipped by, and before anyone knew it, the clock struck midnight.

[Sea Survival Game Calendar: January 13, 0:01. Current temperature: 16°C. Weather: Heavy fog. The air carries a massive amount of viruses. This has officially escalated into a Virus Disaster. Players, please strive to survive.]

Rowan Rhodes paused as she watched the official announcement of the Virus Disaster. Now that it had evolved into a full-blown disaster, the situation was entirely different. The third day would be the most severe phase of the event. However, observing District 122 and the main chat group, Rowan noticed that things in this life were going vastly better than in her previous one.

Because a batch of players had suddenly died yesterday after ignoring their poisoned status, today’s survivors were extremely vigilant about their conditions. At the slightest sign of trouble, they immediately used Healing Ointments and Antidotes. Of course, this only applied to players who actually had resources on hand, and among them, the death toll was extremely low. As for those with meager supplies, they had long since been reduced to mere statistics.

Rowan shifted her gaze to the District 122 world channel.

[District 122: (94,802 / 100,000)]

"It’s officially been renamed to a Virus Disaster."

"I have a feeling this third day isn’t going to be easy to get through."

"I think so too."

"After all, it’s officially escalated into a disaster now. Things are only going to get worse."

"I feel like our resources are being drained way too fast during this Virus Disaster."

"Yeah! We’ve really had to invest a lot of resources just for Antidotes, masks, and oxygen."

"The air itself is terrifying. It’s an invisible attack, and the only way to deal with it is by sinking a ton of resources into purification."

"All I can say is thank god we still have air purifiers, masks, Eira Grass, and Antidotes. Otherwise, I really don’t know what would happen."

"True! Even though today will be the hardest day, as long as we make it through, we’ll get a rest day. That’s a small comfort, at least."

"During every disaster, that rest day is the only thing keeping me going."

"I’m just afraid the game will go completely ruthless later on and wipe out the rest days entirely."

"Bite your tongue! Stop jinxing it."

"Compared to others, our situation is actually pretty good. Let’s do our best to survive!"

"Hope to see you all tomorrow. I’m going to sleep."

"Good night. Early to bed, early to rise."

"..."

As the players chatted, the world channel gradually quieted down. Yet, judging from the atmosphere, it was clear that they had grown accustomed to the disasters. Their thoughts were focused solely on how to survive and how to acquire more resources to keep living. Their mindset had leveled up once again!

Rowan fell silent as she watched the players’ mentalities shift. As time passed, they would only grow more and more used to the Sea Survival Game. This was a good thing. From the bottom of her heart, Rowan felt that the current environment was infinitely better than her previous life. At the very least, it was a virtuous cycle. No matter how much darkness lurked beneath the surface, the overall trajectory was heading in a positive direction. That was enough.

Stifling a yawn, Rowan inspected her entire raft. Once she confirmed everything was secure, she went straight to sleep.

While the majority of players fell into a peaceful slumber, the fog blanketing the ocean continued to thicken.

Celia Lynch wasn’t asleep yet. Wearing her mask, she stepped outside to observe the durability loss on her Equipment. Initially, she had assumed that even if the virus concentration rose to a certain level, things wouldn’t change too drastically. But reality proved her wrong. During the first hour, her Equipment held up fine. However, by the second hour, its durability suddenly began to plummet. Reacting swiftly, Celia immediately retreated indoors.

Even so, by the time she got back inside, she discovered that not only was all the Equipment she was wearing completely ruined, but she had also contracted the poisoned debuff.

Toxic! It was way too toxic!

Celia realized that the viral concentration in the air today was on an entirely different level compared to before. Looking at her poisoned status, she immediately applied some Healing Ointment to restore her health. She wanted to test the waters and see what the difference was between getting poisoned on the third day of the Virus Disaster versus the previous two days—specifically, how the Healing Ointment would fare.

Since she had just been poisoned moments ago, her health bar had only dropped slightly. But after using the Healing Ointment, Celia froze. Her health bar had indeed risen, but it didn’t return to full. The tiny fraction of empty space was barely visible to the naked eye, but the numerical deficit was undeniably real.

The Healing Ointment couldn’t restore her to full health? Celia’s heart inexplicably tightened. She hurriedly consumed an Antidote.

Only after using the Antidote did her health bar finally fill up completely. It hit her instantly: if a player contracted a debuff during this Virus Disaster and didn’t use an Antidote, it might leave them with permanent lingering damage. It was fine for players who actually possessed Antidotes. But for those without them? After this disaster ended, they might lose half their total lifespan! This was a monumental discovery.

Celia immediately typed up her findings and tagged Zelda Parrish in the world channel. Naturally, Zelda wasn’t asleep either; after finalizing their prior agreement, she had been waiting for this exact moment.

Reading the contents of the message, Zelda couldn’t help but stare blankly for a second. In the blink of an eye, she posted the entire chunk of information onto the Sea Survival Shop, making sure to credit Celia Lynch by name. Ever since Rowan Rhodes began publishing guides directly under her own name, many players had followed suit. Most did it to build a reputation. As long as their guides proved useful, doing this a few times would guarantee them recognition in the market. That was exactly what Celia had planned.

While Zelda handled the publishing, the District 122 world channel erupted into fervent discussion.

"Holy crap, I knew staying up late would pay off with new information."

"Day three is even more toxic than we imagined!"

"It’s a full-blown disaster now, of course it’s toxic!"

"So does that mean we’re screwed if we don’t have an Antidote?"

"If you protect yourself well and avoid getting poisoned, you can survive without one. But if you do get poisoned, you absolutely need an Antidote. Otherwise, your maximum health will permanently decrease after this disaster ends??"

"That’s literally permanent damage!"

"Damn, these chemical attacks are way too realistic."

"They call it the Sea Survival Game, but it isn’t just a game. None of us get a second chance to start over, so everyone needs to be extra careful!"

"We’re already being careful enough! It’s just that disasters are almost impossible to completely defend against."

"I wonder what the next one will be?"

"Why are you already thinking about the next one? Let’s survive this one first!"

"Does anyone have any spare Antidotes on hand? I’m looking to buy."

"Even if I had spares, I wouldn’t dare sell them right now! I’m keeping them to save my own life."

"My main issue is that I don’t have a single one, and I can’t snag any from the shop! Luckily I haven’t been poisoned yet, but I’m terrified of what will happen if I get infected today."

"Not having an Antidote and still managing to avoid getting poisoned this whole time is a skill in itself!"

"Then we just have to wait! Wait until the final hour of the disaster. If anyone has leftovers by then, they’ll definitely sell them. We can cure ourselves then."

"That’s actually a pretty good idea! We’ll be relying on you guys when the time comes."

"I agree."

"If I have any left at the very end, I’ll sell them."

"..."

Within District 122, the desperation for Antidotes reached an absolute peak. Meanwhile, in the other districts, players who had purchased Celia’s information grew equally tense.