Chapter 115: Digital Cruise (Twenty-Eight)

Chapter 115: Digital Cruise (Twenty-Eight)

...It's truly glaring.

Even in this critical moment, Ning Suisui couldn't help but close her eyes, ready to drift with Jie Fangcheng, since this big shot was so powerful, passing out on the spot wouldn't be a problem.

Next, she felt something pressed against her mouth.

Wearily, Ning Suisui opened her eyes, enduring the blinding red sunset and fluorescent green lights, to see what Jie Fangcheng had pushed towards her.

A bottle of system potion.

Having cleared numerous instances, the players' physical abilities had greatly improved. The only concern in the sea was the marine creatures, never the issue of breathing. For someone like the unconscious Yan Xiaotong, the concern of holding one's breath ceased to exist at her level of physical ability. Drinking potions underwater was, of course, possible.

But being possible is one thing.

Looking around, after Jie Fangcheng had cleared the area, with the sea creatures either dead or injured, the surrounding water was filled with unknown substances. Ning Suisui didn't have the boldness of Nie Shuangshuang to drink a potion mixed with unknown additives at this moment.

It would be the same if she drank it later, right?

With that thought, she stored the potion away, nodding at Jie Fangcheng with polite gratitude.

Jie Fangcheng looked at her in shock, swinging the staff in his hand excitedly.

What does that mean?

Ning Suisui was confused.

But she faintly felt that something was amiss... Why did it seem like the trio had sunk a little further down?

At that moment, a thin, nearly imperceptible red thread finally latched onto Jie Fangcheng, and then the thread started pulling upwards with force.

Jie Fangcheng was holding Ning Suisui in his right hand, and Ning Suisui was holding onto Yan Xiaotong, the three of them were being gradually hoisted up, resembling grasshoppers strung on a line.

By the time they reached the surface, Ning Suisui had barely begun to utter a "thank you" when Jie Fangcheng extended his hand.

"?" Ning Suisui was bewildered.

Jie Fangcheng looked at her, "If you are not going to take the medicine, give it back to me."

Ning Suisui was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help but smile wryly, "Come on, big brother, that system potion is just worth ten thousand points, is it really necessary?"

Having collected such numerous players' items during the mission that are worth billions in total, are you really fretting over a system potion worth ten thousand points?

This seems like something Zhong Daoan would do, in Ning Suisui's mind, Jie Fangcheng was generally more spendthrift... um, generous.

Jie Fangcheng was practically on the verge of tears.

For other players, a system potion worth ten thousand points might indeed seem trivial, but only Jie Fangcheng knew his own predicament. Initially, a kind person had given him sixty thousand points, and now he was left with just thirty thousand.

The boat had traveled some distance now; at the bow, Zhong Daoan looked pale, an invisible red thread connected from his heart to Jie Fangcheng.

The skills that Zhong Daoan could utilize now were very much in line with the abilities of an average player who had only cleared the instance four times. His most frequently used skill, "Thousand Mile Red Thread," was a low-offensive skill, considered as rather ineffective in the hands of other players.

In Zhong Daoan's hands, this skill allowed him to locate individuals he wished to track and predict their approximate movements. At this moment, it transformed into a rescue rope, gently towing the three individuals across the water, much like flying a kite.

After Jie Fangcheng emerged from the water, he realized that utilizing this skill seemed to be extremely taxing on Zhong Daoan's energy and focus, and immediately gestured for him to stop using it.

Standing beside Zhong Daoan, Nie Shuangshuang waved her hand in confusion, asking without understanding, "What does Brother Jie mean by that? 'Comrades, you've worked hard'?"

Zhong Daoan ignored her, releasing the thread that had extended from his body.

Initially, it was through Zhong Daoan's thread that Jie Fangcheng and the others managed to surface, being towed forward by the thread. Once released, everyone saw Jie Fangcheng flounder a couple of times in the sea while holding Ning Suisui, before slowly submerging into the water.

It was only then that Nie Shuangshuang realized, exclaiming, "Oh my! Brother Jie can't swim!"

As she spoke, she rolled up her sleeves, preparing to jump in. Meanwhile, Ning Suisui finally understood why Jie Fangcheng was so anxious to give her the potion. She quickly drank it, and shortly after, holding Yan Xiaotong in one arm and being gripped by the collar by Jie Fangcheng, they appeared before everyone once again.

If only she had the [Material Pack], she could have transformed it into a speedboat.

Now, the weapon worth an unknown fortune had been lost in the sea, evidently becoming quite hard to retrieve.

As Ning Suisui contemplated this, despite feeling so heartbroken that she felt like fainting, her hands were still quickly pulling out a square blanket from the system bag and tossing it onto the sea surface.

The item [Magic Carpet], although it couldn't fly very high, could at least keep up with the boat ahead.

The trio climbed onto the magic carpet, rapidly approaching the cruise ship; Zhong Daoan was well-prepared, lowering a soft ladder for them.

Jie Fangcheng was the first to climb up. As Zong Daoan's hand rested on the soft ladder, Ning Suishui exchanged a glance with him, immediately chiming in enthusiastically, "Here, here, here!"

Zong Daoan offered a courteous smile, "Well, let's settle at five hundred million for each of the two of you. No objections, right?"

"?? Seriously?!"

Ning Suishui went to haggle with Zong Daoan. Meanwhile, after climbing up, Jie Fangcheng shook his wet hair; the clothes he wore were drenched and clung to him, retaining only their green glow.

Nie Shuangshuang approached somewhat sheepishly.

"Brother Jie, why did you just jump in like that?"

When Ning Suishui had jumped in earlier, Nie Shuangshuang had hesitated quite a bit.

If she had the kind of abilities that Jie Fangcheng had, she would have jumped in without a second thought to rescue them. But with her current abilities, jumping into the sea would mean becoming fish food, not a rescuer.

To save the duo of Ning Suishui, Jie Fangcheng was the only one aboard capable of doing so.

Yet, it seemed like Jie Fangcheng wasn't too fond of Ning Suishui and her company. Nie Shuangshuang was torn between hoping that Brother Jie would save them and not wanting to exploit their friendship by presuming he'd assist people he didn't like. As she was contemplating how to persuade him, in a blink, Jie Fangcheng took two strides and dove straight into the sea.

At this moment, Nie Shuangshuang’s normally straightforward mind tangled in knots. Saying thanks seemed too formal, yet not saying anything felt improper given that Jie had indeed saved them from peril.

Jie Fangcheng was oblivious to her intricate emotional whirlpool, accepting the towel Zong Daoan offered to dry his hair, he responded with a somewhat confused, "Hmm".

Nie Shuangshuang stuttered, "You... I thought you really didn't like Suishui and the others. I assumed you'd find them not worth saving."

Jie Fangcheng shook his head, "Disliking them is my personal preference, they haven't done anything wrong."

Nie Shuangshuang exclaimed in surprise, "You don't think they're at fault?"

Jie Fangcheng smiled, "They are just ordinary people in the game."

At this moment, Zong Daoan, having just raided the inventory of the Golden Leopard Squad, approached holding a glowing item. Hearing what Jie Fangcheng said, he also smiled, appearing to be in good spirits.

"What's this?" Although Jie Fangcheng wasn't particularly interested in collecting items, prioritizing speed instead, he was curious about what items Zong Daoan could procure for a whopping one billion points.

Zong Daoan handed him the item, a sapphire earring.

Upon inspection, Jie Fangcheng was immediately smitten.

"A real treasure! Too bad I don't have pierced ears."

Nie Shuangshuang was dumbfounded.

"The 'Goddess' Prayer'? Why would Suishui give this to you?!"

This equipment had a single attribute: enhancing the skill strength of the wearer.

It ranked twenty-fifth on the item leaderboard and was the most well-known item belonging to Ning Suishui, second only to the "Material Package."

What was Ning Suishui thinking? Was she giving up on her life in the game?

Jie Fangcheng didn't realize its worth. Holding the earring in one hand, he activated a skill and sprinted a few steps, then expressed his surprise, "It seems it doesn't work just by holding it, does it need to be worn on the ear?"

Nie Shuangshuang's mind was a muddled mess. She replied subconsciously, "Items like these earrings need to be properly worn to be effective. But Suishui doesn't have pierced ears either; she seems to have a tool that can secure the earring on the ear... uh."

Jie Fangcheng had already gone to find Ning Suisui.

It broke Ning Suisui's heart to give away the earring, and now Jie Fangcheng was even asking for the tool to secure it.

"It's useless to you now anyway," Jie Fangcheng remarked.

Tears streaming down her face, Ning Suisui pulled the tool from her bag and thrust it into his arms.

"Take it, just take it! I don't want to see it again!" she exclaimed.

Jie Fangcheng accepted it and returned.

It was a piece of junk, a clip-on silver ornament, which when clipped to the ear, made the ear stick up. The earring could be secured perfectly at the hollow-carved spot on the ornament.

At that moment, Jie Fangcheng, dressed as a green elf, had his ears clipped up, showcasing pointed silver ornaments on the tips, from which the sapphire earrings emanated a gentle blue glow.

If one could overlook his fluorescent green attire, his get-up complemented his face, giving him a certain elfish charm.

Nie Shuangshuang couldn't help but be momentarily entranced. The next moment, Jie Fangcheng dashed a few steps and found his speed had indeed increased considerably. He jubilantly exclaimed, "The skill is Ning Suisui's, the tool that enhances the skill is Ning Suisui's, and the tool that secures the enhancing tool is also Ning Suisui's. Shuangshuang, your friend is a good person!"

Nie Shuangshuang: "..."

It's a good thing Suisui didn't hear that, or she might have picked a fight with him!

.

With Ning Suisui's involvement, everyone had come to understand that these NPCs not only carry points but also seemed capable of issuing commands to the players.

And they abide by the same rules as the players.

Yan Xiaotong, who was assigned a mission by one NPC, suddenly had her points increased to four hundred.

The only difference from players was that upon receiving a task from a high-point NPC, players seemed to be compelled to carry out the commands immediately.

Ning Suisui pondered deeply.

Surrounding her, the members of the Golden Leopard squad gathered.

Having witnessed the near-death experiences of Yan Xiaotong and Ning Suisui, their mindsets had undergone changes.

"Suisui, I think we should abandon this dungeon," Yan Xiaoxi proposed first, "Our original plan of killing NPCs for points is proving to be difficult. The human NPCs might be weak, but their point values aren't necessarily low. Moreover, if they start assigning tasks to us... we have already suffered so much at the hands of that one, maybe we should just give it up, shall we?"

Ning Suisui scanned the group.

She shook her head, "But none of us have acquired any ranking skills till now."

"To pass the 'Reincarnation Trials', one must possess a ranking skill... but this is merely Ji Chaoyang's assertion, it isn't mentioned in the rules. How is he so certain about it?"

Ning Suisui hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up.

"Actually, both Chairman Zhang and I had suspicions before. Ji Chaoyang might not just be a player; he might truly be as Zhang Dao'an described... the one controlling the game."