Chapter 38 Maritime Peril 13

Chapter 38: Maritime Danger 13

A translucent panel popped up in front of Su Han, displaying the following information:

Name: Su Han (Verified Identity)

Level: 3 (Experience Points 5/30)

Occupation: Nutritionist (With Advanced Skills, Experience Points 5/30)

Satiety: 360/360

Cleanliness: 360/360

Stamina: 360/360

Then, a mechanical voice announced, "System processing, please hold."

After about half a minute, it continued, "You have earned 15 (survival days) * 5 = 75 points."

"You've earned an extra reward and may choose two options from the following as your reward."

"A, Experience Points +5."

"B, Get a med kit with 5 detox pills and 5 burn creams."

"C, +50 Points."

After some thought, Su Han chose options A and C. She had to go for the experience points, and compared to the med kit, she needed the points more to stock up in the game store. After the third round of the game, she could no longer rely entirely on entering the game for supplies.

Thus, her experience points became 10/30.

After making her choice, the mechanical voice announced as usual, "You have successfully advanced. Be ready for Round 4 tomorrow at 8 AM sharp."

With that, the player automatically exited the game, and the game capsule hissed open.

Su Han stood up and rushed to browse the game forum, eager to see how others were doing.

On the forum, a new hot post had already appeared, titled "Criminal gangs are running wild in the game, is anyone going to do something about it?"

The original poster then spilled all the details of his ordeal. On his server, some jerk poisoned the water supply! So on the first day of the game, just after having lunch at the buffet and drinking mineral water, he was poisoned! His stamina took a nosedive to 52%, then he was robbed and even killed!

In the post, the original poster was fuming, "I’ve got my Portable Storage, with plenty of supplies—I could easily survive a hundred days hiding in the deep mountains. But because of poisoning! I died so miserably! Is this game even playable?? Strongly demand sanctions against criminal gangs and the resurrection of victims!"

The original poster was full of resentment, but the replies below were snarky and sarcastic.

1L, "Being successfully poisoned shows you weren’t careful enough—skill issue, honestly."

2L, "This is an online survival game, it’s got PvE and PvP, being targeted is normal. Did you think you were playing a single-player game?"

3L, "What’s the OP’s deal with the apocalypse? To be fair, if the background of the instance appeared in reality, people would be the real threat, not nature."

4L, "They pulled it off with their skills, why should they be sanctioned? The heroes of troubled times are exactly this kind of people. Being able to poison on a large scale is their skill—if you can’t handle it, tough luck, OP could’ve taken over a server."

5L, "Survival games, working together with friends, overcoming all difficulties to survive to the end is a victory; playing the villain and wiping out everyone else is still a win. Victory achieved by strength—if you can’t handle it, tough luck."

...

The original poster was furious, "Damn! Are we really okay with this toxic behavior??"

16L, "There are always people who think that players who cause chaos in the game will turn into murderers in real life. Can you even distinguish between reality and virtuality? This is a game! Isn't it normal to kill a few characters?"

17L, "Suddenly I remember my mom. Watching bloody horror movies will make you violent, playing hunting-type online games might lead to crime, watching R-rated movies will turn you into a pervert. Yet I've done all of the above more than once, and I'm still a law-abiding good citizen."

18L, "Hahahaha, you've exposed yourself! All I can say is, share the details."

Until 25L, someone finally spoke up for the original poster, "Server C23, right? I'm also a victim!! On the first day, it was total chaos, and on the second day, the system reported that out of 1000 people, only 117 were left. Among them, 108 players and 9 NPCs. Just after hearing the notification, I got eliminated."

26L, "The server I was in was quite normal. Made it through the first 10 days on stored supplies, then was chased by pirates and couldn't take it anymore, so I quit the game. Overall, it's not easy to clear, but surviving 10 days to pass is quite manageable."

27L, "Report! Ban! Clean up the game environment!"

28L, "Isn't this kind of person too dangerous? Will the game developers provide an explanation?"

29L, "What explanation? They didn't cheat."

30L, "Isn't the game using real-name registration? I think the police should talk to the poisoner."

31L, "Talk about what? Arresting someone for using poison in the game and eliminating other players? Don't joke, there's no such law in the world. At least wait until he does something in real life, then you can arrest him."

32L, "If you can think it, C23 players can do it! Believe it or not, using poisoned water to extinguish a fire? The liquid instantly turned into gas, poisoning a group of people. I'm really unlucky to be assigned to C23 server."

...

Further down, two opposing groups started arguing, but neither could convince the other.

100L, GM appeared and replied, "After verification, the behavior of players on C23 server did not violate any rules, please do not report multiple times."

That is to say, conflict is implicitly permitted.

Some were furious, cursing, claiming the game would corrupt children.

Some didn't care, "It's a game, it's all about fighting and tricking each other."

120L, GM replied again, "Survival games have age restrictions, only citizens aged 16 and above can successfully register, no minors."

Citizens aged 16 and above, that is, adults, already have the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

Players did not accept this explanation and continued to argue noisily. But after that, the GM never appeared again.

"It's definitely possible." Su Han quietly became more cautious and continued browsing the forum.

Suddenly, she saw the previous hot post being bumped up. The original poster claimed to have discovered a shocking secret, becoming a top player was no longer just a dream, he was about to reach the peak of his life!

I wonder how he's doing now. With some curiosity, Su Han clicked in.

However, the original poster, who should have been happily reporting good news, was crying and reporting the situation, "In the later stages of the last game, gathering gold and jewelry, selling them off cheap at the start of the next round, could quickly obtain a large amount of funds. I finally found the key to success, but who knew the lock had been changed! The third game background was on a cruise ship, nowhere to resupply, money became worthless, damn it!!!"

"Pfft," Su Han couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Under the post, there were a lot of "hahahaha", "laughing uncontrollably", "I feel for the OP, but I can't stop laughing".

67L asked, "Is the OP an idiot, how could he reveal the hard-earned experience?"

The original poster replied angrily, "I got eliminated in the third round! No chance left to become a top player!"

70L replied, "Thanks to the OP, new trick acquired. Wait, one day I'll take your place as a top player."

After that, the original poster did not reply anymore, probably too depressed to speak.

"Since I'm out of the game and there's nothing to gain anymore, I don't mind sharing the tricks I've mastered," Su Han sighed softly, feeling that staying ahead was getting harder.

In the forum, some players were still fervently discussing survival necessities. "Here's how hard it is to get stuff: tools > daily necessities > water resources > food. Actually, if you've got tools and enough everyday items, you can survive."

Someone complained, "You'd have to be a real pro for that..."

"Easier said than done - why don't you try it in the game?"

"Water resources are easier to obtain than tools? I disagree! Give me enough daily necessities, water resources, and food, and I'd totally outlast any survival guru."

"Bragging about who can last longer when you've got everything? That's just low..."

Others were wailing, lamenting their miserable experiences. "I must be kinda dumb. Since there were three options at the start, I just assumed there were only three professions in the game. When I met a player whose profession wasn't within my knowledge, I actually asked how they got a hidden profession... Ugh, I wanted to die of embarrassment!"

1L, "LOL, there are tons of jobs in the game! When you first enter the game, only three are randomly presented for players to choose from."

2L, "So players are competing based on luck from the start. I'm a miner, a piece of gold is 20g, worth 500 Bei. Someone else is a jeweler, a gemstone worth tens of thousands of Bei. I just started crying, it's so unfair."

3L, "The lucky ones get three decent options: good, excellent, one in a million. The unlucky ones get three crappy options, all equally terrible. Well, we can start playing the game now. (crying in sadness)"

4L, "I got stuck picking from the worst options. My gaming buddy asked me why I didn't choose a better profession, I... when did I ever have a choice?! I was too depressed to even talk about it."

Su Han scanned through the entire post and found that there was hardly any useful info. But then again, it made sense; valuable information wouldn't be casually shared online.

After a while, someone posted official statistics on the forum. Su Han got excited and checked it out right away.

"15.7 million players participated in the third round of the game, 8.95 million players advanced. That means an elimination rate of 43%. Compared to the previous two rounds, the elimination rate has significantly decreased, as the difficulty mostly lies in clearing the game, and surviving until the 10th day is relatively easier."

"According to statistics, a total of 310 players cleared the game. This makes no sense! How could anyone clear it? How did they do it!!"

"The pros are light-years ahead of me."

"310 players cleared the game." After obtaining the desired information, Su Han was about to close the forum. Suddenly, someone added her as a game friend.

She clicked on the message and found it was from Zhong Rui. The content was just two words, "Let's team up."

Su Han was momentarily silent—she had almost forgotten about this.

After agreeing to add as friends, the two went to submit a team application. Fifteen minutes later, the team was formed. From then on, no matter what the scenario, as long as neither was eliminated, they would enter the same server to play together.

The system reminded, "You and your teammate will enter the same server, but your starting positions in the game will be random. That is, you'll have to track each other down in the game."

Su Han, "..."

Zhong Rui, "..."

Sounds like a real pain.