Chapter 200 - 175: Let’s Find an Excuse to Rob Them

Chapter 200: Chapter 175: Let’s Find an Excuse to Rob Them

Rowan Rhodes’s raft was even more exquisite than they had imagined, looking more like a vacation villa. While other players were fighting to survive, she looked like she was on vacation.

"If my raft could be built like this, I feel like I could strut around unchallenged," Elias Ziegler said, his tone laced with obvious envy. He originally thought his own raft was quite decent, but in front of Rowan Rhodes’s raft, it was absolute trash.

"It’s fine. If we work hard, we’ll reach this level one day," Harold Thompson said with brimming confidence.

Simon Quinn shot Harold Thompson a sideways glance. By the time they reached this level, who knew what kind of new realm Rowan Rhodes’s raft would have evolved into. Fall behind once, and you fall behind forever. He thought that if her deterrent force wasn’t so overwhelming, he would truly want to incite Harold and the others to make a move. They could try to destroy her raft while she was away. If they succeeded, they would be able to take over all of her resources. What a satisfying outcome that would be!

While Harold Thompson and his group were observing the raft, the Seagull Family was also observing them through the glass windows. Seabird One and the others had been poised and ready, preparing to attack if the intruders continued to approach, but the group had stopped just outside the safe zone. This undoubtedly proved one thing: the other party didn’t want to fight them. Seeing that the situation was indeed just as they had guessed, due to their Natures, the Seagull Family wouldn’t act rashly either. They would wait for Rowan Rhodes to return and handle it. Until she returned, they would guard the home well.

"Those are the players who wanted to bully me before!" Void Beast Atticus said loudly, having also been observing from the glass window. After staring for a long while, it came to a sudden realization. "They are bad guys!"

Hearing Void Beast Atticus’s words, Seabird One and the others’ eyes grew a bit more vigilant.

"They aren’t good people, but they don’t dare make a move against us. That means they know this is the master’s raft. Let’s stick to the original plan. As long as they don’t attack us, we won’t attack them first," Seabird One said. It spent a lot of time with Rowan Rhodes and knew that there were channels for players to communicate with each other. It had seen her reply to messages many times, and occasionally, when it was curious, she would explain things to it. Among those explanations, she had mentioned how many players would constantly switch sides or use high-sounding excuses to seek personal gain. This was especially true for players appearing in the same sea region and belonging to the same district. Therefore, sometimes, just because someone wasn’t a good person didn’t mean they had to be beaten to death with a single strike. If they couldn’t judge the situation, they would let Rowan Rhodes judge it.

"Uh-huh," Void Beast Atticus replied. It was still quite calm, as it hadn’t actually suffered any real harm at the hands of Harold Thompson and the others. Moreover, it understood that since it was following Rowan Rhodes now, it should prioritize her interests.

The two sides thus entered a phase of tacit understanding, both waiting for Rowan Rhodes’s return.

At this very moment, the World Channel of District 122 was paying close attention to the news between Harold Thompson’s group and Rowan Rhodes. After all, ever since Harold Thompson and his group said they were converging on her location, there had suddenly been no further updates from either side. This truly kept many players hanging in suspense. It was like dropping a massive piece of gossip, only to leave the drama unresolved. The feeling was incredibly agonizing, leaving everyone itching with curiosity.

"So, how are things progressing now?"

"Regardless, Ms. Rhodes definitely won’t be on the losing end."

"They wouldn’t dare make a move against Ms. Rhodes anyway!"

"Could it be that they’re still hoping to get a slice of the pie from Ms. Rhodes?"

"Dropping half the drama and disappearing is way too much."

"I don’t think Ms. Rhodes will be polite to them. If she hasn’t appeared yet, she might be busy teaching them a lesson!"

"God! I won’t be satisfied until I see how this drama ends."

"I wonder if we’ll have a chance to run into them!"

"Speaking of which, I was following Harold Thompson’s wind direction earlier. Does that mean I have a chance to encounter them?"

"The person above should give it a try and then give us a live broadcast."

"Didn’t someone guess earlier that Ms. Rhodes was already out gathering resources? Maybe they just haven’t crossed paths?"

"@Zelda Parrish, Ms. Parrish, do you guys know the current progress?"

"..."

The heated discussion on the District 122 World Channel continued.

Zelda Parrish and the others, who had a relatively close relationship with Rowan Rhodes, had already sent private messages to warn her. They also suspected that she might be gathering supplies at the sunken ship on the seabed, lacking the mood to check the World Channel and private messages. What if Harold Thompson and his group lost their minds and attacked her raft while she was away?

Meanwhile, the heavily discussed Rowan Rhodes was currently dismantling the sunken ship on the seabed with great joy. With every dismantling action, she obtained a massive amount of metal resources and metal parts. Naturally, as she worked, her stamina continuously dropped. However, after discovering that the Water-Repelling Pearl allowed her to use Healing Ointment and consume food underwater, she couldn’t be bothered to return to the raft, choosing to recover her condition directly on the seabed. She had returned to the surface previously because her stamina was low and she had been gone for so long that the little guys at home were worried. Now that she had reported in, her Nature allowed for a bit more freedom.

After yet another round of dismantling, Rowan Rhodes’s stamina was left at a mere twenty percent. Exhaling softly, she began to replenish her condition. While retrieving items from her inventory slots, she noticed that Zelda Parrish and the others had sent her quite a few messages. For them to be this anxious, there was likely some urgent matter.

Taking advantage of the brief downtime, she opened her private messages to read them. It turned out to be a swarm of warnings, telling her to be careful because Harold Thompson and other players had discovered the sunken ship. Looking at the messages, Rowan Rhodes couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Her gaze then fell on the District 122 World Channel, where the matter was currently being discussed. Scrolling up through the chat history, she saw the entire sequence of events.

Did she need to return to the raft?

Rowan Rhodes decided that she did not. No matter what kind of scheme the other party was plotting, she wouldn’t give them a single slice of the pie. Rather than returning to the surface to face their potential requests for joint development, it was better to devour everything by herself. As for the raft, she wasn’t worried in the slightest. Not only was her raft an impregnable fortress compared to the others—making it impossible to breach—but even if they could break it, she was still within the raft’s covered "range," meaning she could mobilize all the resources in her inventory. Never mind defending; she could utterly annihilate them from a distance.

In fact, she actually hoped that Harold Thompson and these players would make a move against her. That way, she would have a justifiable reason to seize all their resources as her own. She thought that once she finished gathering resources and returned to the raft, she would see exactly what they intended to do. If they displeased her even the slightest bit, she would just rob them blind! It wouldn’t be her initiating the attack; it would be them delivering themselves right to her doorstep.

Having finished her calculations, Rowan Rhodes began to reply to the concerned messages from Zelda Parrish and the others.

[Rowan Rhodes: I’m fine. I’m currently gathering resources on the seabed and still need a bit more time. I’ll head up later.]

This simple sentence undoubtedly revealed her casual nonchalance. Zelda Parrish and the others couldn’t help but chuckle when they saw it. That was so like her!

Immediately after, Skye Schuyler couldn’t resist asking if she could post this sentence to the World Channel. For no other reason than wanting to watch Harold Thompson and his group make fools of themselves. After all, quite a few players had been rubbed the wrong way by Harold Thompson’s group in the past. Watching unpleasant people suffer misfortune was a truly joyous occasion!

Upon receiving Rowan Rhodes’s permission, Skye Schuyler immediately relayed the message.

"Skye Schuyler: I just sent some words of concern to Ms. Rhodes, and she said, ’I’m fine. I’m currently gathering resources on the seabed and still need a bit more time. I’ll head up later.’ Haha, Ms. Rhodes has plenty of confidence in her raft! @Harold Thompson, what do you guys think?"