After leaving the aquarium, Yan Zi returned to her own ship, while A Jiao and Ci Gua remained outside.

I used all the remaining talent points on the items I acquired today.

She drifted off to sleep, feeling reassured.

...

The next day.

She was awakened by a mechanical sound.

[Ding! Welcome to the Harbor! Each icon represents a region. Once you enter a region, you cannot re-enter and exit the same region to plunder resources!]

Our companions in the sea have ways to help their fellow inhabitants progress together; it's just a question of whether the petty-minded humans are willing to lend a hand to their fellow human beings.

Unfortunately, the all-powerful system cannot group you all together in one place; the sea area can only be opened temporarily! I imagine those of you in the sea area have already surpassed level 20, right?

[Poor other regions! Not a single region has been willing to share yet! To prevent one region from dominating, our system has decided to activate sharing! Regions can choose to refuse, or they can choose to help regions other than their own.]

The system has opened sharing channels! Let humanity help and support one another, and strive together.

Yan Zi heard these sarcastic remarks early in the morning, and her brows furrowed. She hadn't expected this; it turned out that only their sea area had been opened up, which was not a good thing.

She immediately got up, washed and dressed, and then prepared breakfast.

During her meal, she also checked the comments section.

Sure enough, a commotion broke out inside!

[King of Leverage (Tibetan Forest Region): I'm in the Forest Region. There's practically nothing developed here except for the forest. Are there any brothers from the Ocean Region who can lend me a hand? Next time we develop this area, I'll bring you guys over.]

[Rose (Desert Region): All I see here is desert, nothing but desert. There's no sea at all. Does anyone have an address? I can go there myself!]

[Overlord (Yellow Sea Region): We all say this is a special resource area. How can you expect us to give you a spot without offering something in return?]

[Rose (Desert Region): It's just a spot; we can go there ourselves. We don't need to take up your quota. Is that not allowed?]

[Soda Cracker (Island Area): We can trade you the address of this place for resources, why should we give it to you for free?]

[20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Yellow Sea Region): Anyone wanting to hitch a ride with me, 200 gold coins each. There are only five slots available so far, so don't miss out!]

[Fan 130 (Yellow Sea Region): If anyone needs a ride with me, it's 300 gold coins each. There are only four slots available right now, so don't miss out!]

[...]

[Treasure Boy (Tibetan Forest Region): Hey you guys in the Yellow Sea region, can you please stop being so insidious? Don't you understand mutual support? Are you already trying to fleece yourselves?]

[Su Wanying (Island Area): If there are any mermaids out there, we can play together. I also have qualified people here. There are eight in total. If you are interested, please bring your price.]

[...]

As Yan Zi scrolled through the messages, she was surprised to find that Su Wanying was also among the group of comments.

They only agreed to play together if the other person mentioned there were mermaids...

Yan Zi left the chat area and then moved to private messages: "@Su Wanying, where are you now? Have you found the old village chief to do the quest?"

While Su Wanying was busy replying to the mermaids, an important message popped up. She immediately clicked on it and saw a familiar stranger.

"Yan Zi? Why did she suddenly message me?"

She was unsure for a moment, so she told the mermaid next to her about it.

Under the mermaid's tutelage, Su Wanying is now completely obedient. Even her elderly relatives are tied up in the small house and only given food and drink each day.

"You should find a way to get her to give you more resources!"

Su Wanying suddenly broke free, somewhat confused: "But she's a big shot! She didn't say she'd give it to me, so I can't ask her for it. She won't give it to me."

The mermaid stroked her cheek forcefully, his eyes seductive as he stared directly into hers.

"Su Su, but she's your boss. Your underlings are starving. Shouldn't she give you some resources?"

Su Wanying felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, and then, still half-asleep, she sent a message to him.

"Boss Yan Zi, I'm in a pretty difficult situation right now. My mermaid is seriously injured. Could you give me some orange water?"

Yan Zi was somewhat confused when she saw the message she received.

Was it that mermaid who tricked her into saying those words again?

Yan Zi: "What do you need all this for? Aren't mermaids supposed to have strong regenerative abilities? How did you get injured? Why hasn't your level increased? You're still at level 11?"

When Su Wanying saw the message she received, she felt a pang of pain in her heart.

It was as if she had lost something important, but she couldn't seem to grasp it back.

Su Wanying was about to reply when the mermaid next to her grabbed her shoulder.

He stared at her with almost obsessive eyes, "Su Su, your boss doesn't care about you at all. She must have given all these resources to that kid. She's sexist; she likes men and not women!"

Su Wanying instinctively retorted, "No way, the boss wouldn't do that!"

The mermaid once again used his charm spell.

"If she really cares about you, why doesn't she ask you anything? Even after you've humbled yourself and asked her like this, she still remains unmoved!"

Su Wanying: "Yes! She's bad!"

Seeing that her scheme had succeeded, the mermaid once again whispered in his ear that she wanted her regional channel.

This time, Su Wanying relinquished her authority over the assignment of permissions, and the mermaid directly seized control of her and began to squander her resources!

Yan Zi kept a close eye on Su Wanying's situation and discovered that she was actually selling... a large amount of white equipment.

"Something feels off."

Yan Zi hesitated for less than three seconds before choosing to buy them all.

"Su Wanying" doesn't seem to care who the buyer is; she just keeps racking up gold coins.

All white equipment is available for 100 gold coins!

The remaining healing potions and crafting blueprints were also sold off for one gold coin each.

Yan Zi was speechless. Was this guy planning to empty his pockets?

She just completed the acquisition.

They swept over here and bought the same things from her.

Wind and Clouds: "Boss, I saw you buying Su Wanying's things. Do you want me to help you sell them?"

Yan Zi: "Shouldn't we keep this for her?"

Wind and Clouds: "This is her own choice. She's willing to give up everything to support a man, so there's nothing to say. It's better to exchange those things for better resources than to keep them."

Yan Zi was somewhat surprised to hear this, thinking he wanted to help her take these things back and then give them to her...

Yan Zi: "Alright, I'll get them for you at the original price later. You can just sell them yourself then."

She sorted through all her belongings, doubling everything that needed to be doubled. After five chances, she transferred everything to him, leaving only some white-tier equipment that hadn't been doubled yet.

...