Chapter 130

A translucent subtitle popped up in front of Tao Sai's eyes.

You killed the character [Gao Shan Feng], and gained 116 attribute points (which can be freely allocated).

You have acquired the skill [Observation - S-Rank]: Using this skill, you can choose to observe a parallel universe, with the observed parallel universe being considered your subjective universe. Each time you use this skill, a ten-day cooldown period begins.

[You have acquired the skill [Space Warp - Level A]: After using this skill, you can open a wormhole and warp to any coordinate within the range, with a warp range of 500 kilometers.]

[You have acquired the skill [Strike B-Rank]: After equipping this skill, after every third attack, the next attack's destructive power will be tripled.]

[You have acquired the skill [Instant Step B-Rank]: After equipping this skill, when your instantaneous speed reaches 10m/s, you will dash forward 5 meters.]

[You have acquired the skill [Faith in Victory - C-Rank]: After equipping this skill, you firmly believe that you can defeat every powerful enemy.]

[You killed the player [Gao Shan Feng], the player's information has been erased.]

【You grabbed [gold coins x69140]. 】

The subtitles will automatically disappear after being displayed for more than three minutes.

The view turned to the boundless wasteland and the endless dark night sky. In the quiet background, Tao Sai's slightly rapid breathing calmed down.

At this moment, due to the announcement of a player being killed, the entire world channel fell silent, and all players in Zone 3 were shrouded in an atmosphere of fear.

[Feng] is no ordinary player; her nickname is well-known even on the World Channel. She is a female player, a skilled fighter with considerable combat prowess, and a former member of Jiange. Following the war between Hailou and Jiange, she repented and chose to side with justice, playing a crucial role in the conflict. She became Hailou's ally.

And she was inexplicably killed at such a point in time?

It was late at night. As soon as they saw the announcement on the world channel, Guo Pei and the others simultaneously flew out of their respective captain's cabins. The eight refugee ships were now sailing in formation. They boarded the Chengyun and searched everywhere for Feng. They anxiously searched every cabin, but couldn't find any trace of Feng.

Only a soft chair and an empty milk tea cup were found behind the railing of the second-floor bridge platform. The sponge of the soft chair was not dented and was not warm, which proved that the owner had been away for a long time.

The movements of all the crew members on the "Chengyun" became sluggish, which indicated that the player's identity had been transformed, and the first mate, who was a tool man set up by Feng in advance, became the player of this refuge ship.

"There are no signs of fighting." Guo Pei said after carefully checking the surroundings.

"Could it be that Xiaofeng was kidnapped first?" Shi Jiahui analyzed with a nervous look.

Tang Yingxue nodded affirmatively, but after thinking it over carefully, she easily found the irrationality. "But even if that's the case, there's always time to react, right? Besides, Xiaofeng's injuries are almost healed. She's so powerful that she could even hold her own against Sister Sai. How could she be abducted without any reaction?"

This really doesn't make sense. If they really encounter a powerful enemy, even if Xiaofeng can't handle it alone, she will definitely be able to mobilize the tool crew on the "Chengyun" to fight back.

These tools, devoid of subjective thoughts and souls, were pure fighting machines. She only needed to send a signal, and the tool crew would risk their lives without hesitation. But it was obvious that none of the crew had made any combat preparations.

There was only one possibility. Shi Jiahui was driven to this point by her own logic. "Xiaofeng left on his own initiative."

But this was also outrageous. Ever since they brought Xiaofeng here from the Jiange garrison, she hadn't said anything else to them or shown any signs of abnormality. And tonight, they all had dinner together. Using fresh ingredients grown in Shi Jiahui's large warehouse and the cooking skills of Aunt Li and the others, they had laid out a table full of dishes. This was Xiaofeng's first time eating Chinese food, and she took it well and enjoyed the meal, even offering to get more.

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. It was too brain-wracking. Tang Yingxue could only give up and said, "I'll go ask Sister Sai."

After all, Sister Sai hasn't made any response since the announcement came out, so she might know something.

Guo Pei nodded and said, "Okay. Then I'll go to the World Channel to explain and calm everyone down."

After all, the atmosphere of unity and cooperation among players that has just been established cannot be destroyed directly due to unexpected situations and become a mess again, allowing the conspiracy of those bastards on Paradise Island to succeed.

Tang Yingxue sent several messages in the Alliance channel, @ing Sister Sai. Ten minutes later, she still hadn't received a reply. She suspected Sister Sai had fallen asleep. Sister Sai possessed the skill [Deep Sleep], which allowed her to sleep soundly until dawn. If she was truly asleep, there was no way to wake her remotely, except by making loud noises in her ear.

Without Tao Sai as her backbone, Tang Yingxue, who had been about to fall asleep, was now extremely alert. She urged everyone on the channel to speed up the refugee ship to prevent a possible surprise attack from Paradise Island.

Guo Pei, on the other hand, attempted to stabilize morale in the world channel. He tried to dispel outrageous conspiracy theories, but he couldn't offer a definitive explanation. Even with Hailou's credibility, the players couldn't avoid panic.

After truthfully revealing what had just happened, the players in the channel erupted in heated discussion. All sorts of theories arose, with one widely accepted theory emerging: Feng had once been a member of Jiange, but the people on Paradise Island were no pushovers. To better control him, they might have secretly implanted something like a time bomb in Feng's body, perhaps a marker for a skill. They were waiting for the possibility of betrayal, and then they would manipulate it to explode, thus taking Feng's life.

This statement also has its flaws, that is, Paradise Island did not detonate it in the first place.

It was late at night, but the players in Area 3 showed no sign of falling asleep. Staying awake was also a form of vigilance.

However, as time went on, other topics began to emerge in the world channel's chatter. Fewer and fewer people remembered the nickname "Feng," until it vanished to zero. The hype was fading. Unconsciously, the nickname slowly shifted from "Feng" to "that player."

The wind was forgotten.

This is because after Feng was killed, her data as a player was erased by the system background, if the game system really exists.

Thousands of kilometers away, Tao Sai silently watched the messages on the two channels jumping around. Some were @ing her, some were asking her questions, but she ignored them all, didn't reply, didn't show up, as if she had disappeared.

After taking a long time to calm down, she took a long, deep breath, closed her eyes, lay down, and fell into a deep sleep.

Consciousness sank into the deep sea, and when I woke up, it was a new day and a new world.

When Tao Sai woke up the next day, she felt that her body functions had recovered by at least 90%. If she could sleep for another two to three hours, she would probably be able to recover to full strength.

But there was no need for that, and she was anxious to go back.

The waves rose and fell, and the morning sun slowly peeked out from the horizon. At the same time, a miniature wormhole vortex appeared above Cricket Island, and Tao Sai leaped straight out of the vortex.

She first used [Gravity Adaptation] to hover in the air. After looking around, searching, and folding, she quickly locked onto the fleet of Hailou sailing in formation on the distant sea.

She landed smoothly on the deck of the Deep Sea Fish, surrounded by only her crew members who were on meticulous alert.

At this point, the others were probably still resting in the cabin.

It was a good opportunity for her to focus on one important task first: upgrading the refuge ship. After the past few days of frantic work, the experience points, gold coins, and various materials she had accumulated were enough for her to upgrade to the next level.

Bringing up the translucent panel, Tao Sai focused his attention and clicked [Upgrade], then clicked [Confirm].

In an instant, a blue beam of light shone down from the sky, covering the entire "Deep Sea Fish". The beam of light moved with the voyage of the refuge ship, and the hull was always wrapped in blue light.

Amidst a blue light, the upgrade began. The white metal hull seemed to melt, dispersing into shimmering fragments before coalescing into a brand new, solid form. The most noticeable effect was the complete cleansing of salt and dirt from the hull, as if it had been completely reborn. Beyond the hull, all the existing objects on the shelter ship were smoothly relocated to their corresponding positions. For example, the plastic storage boxes and rows of five-tiered plant racks cluttering the deck were moved parallel to the larger, more spacious deck, though their placement was slightly messy and needed adjustment. The rooftop solar panels and turbofan generators were also moved to their corresponding positions, but the wiring needed to be reconnected, as no provision had been made. This was the first time player Tao Sai had ever seen a level 5 shelter ship. As for the crew resting in the cabins, they remained in their respective cabins, and those still asleep in their beds were not even woken. This was because each upgrade of the shelter ship could be considered a continuation and expansion of the previous level. The interior and exterior remained largely unchanged, primarily adding cabins and space.

The entire upgrade process lasted about ten minutes. The upgraded "Deep Sea Fish" was a true standout in the fleet. Its protruding portion alone was significantly taller than the other refuge ships, and even more impressive compared to Guo Pei's third-level ship.

Tao Sai intuitively felt that the "Deep Sea Fish" could accommodate about twenty "Li Bai" ships.

In reality, the upgrade primarily increased the ship's length and width. Tao Sai lacked any measuring tools, so she instinctively estimated that the ship's overall length from bow to stern might have doubled, approaching 200 meters, and its maximum width would have increased by roughly 1.3 times, to around 20 meters. A Level 4 refuge ship was roughly the size of a small warship, while a Level 5 upgrade would have already reached the level of a destroyer.

She called up the properties page of the refuge ship, and in the line of full load displacement, there was an eye-catching number: 12,140 tons, a 10,000-ton destroyer!

A larger displacement means that the ship has a deeper draft and is less likely to be pushed by waves. Standing on the front deck of the refuge ship, Tao Sai clearly felt that the hull was more stable and the frequency of ups and downs had decreased.

It was the first time for Tao Sai to board such a majestic ship, whether in reality or in a game. She could not hide her excitement and could not help but walk around and inspect her "kingdom".

Passing through the thriving crop racks, the deck forward of the bridge remains largely unchanged. This is because the bridge's cockpit needed to be closer to the bow, allowing for better observation of the route and sea conditions. The added space is primarily located aft of the bridge complex. Further aft, the bridge connects to the large open warehouse, which has nearly tripled in size. It originally housed a variety of items—tables and chairs, industrial power supplies, exercise bikes—that gave it a sense of living. However, the expanded area has suddenly become much more spacious, appearing empty. This, however, is a positive development: the crew now has more room to maneuver, and in inclement weather, they no longer have to make room to bring in crops from the deck.

Behind the large warehouse, a large open-air platform has been added, roughly the size of two basketball courts and even large enough to accommodate one or two helicopters. This platform can also be used to place shelves and storage boxes for growing crops, expanding the planting area, and can also be used to dry some grains in sunny weather.

The bridge has been raised one level, adding more rooms and offering a wider view from the cockpit, allowing for a wider view of the sea. Beyond that, the exterior and interior remain largely unchanged. While the bridge of any other warship is the heart and brain of the ship, the shelter ship's bridge currently lacks this function. It's merely a bare skeleton, requiring players to assemble their own components. They'll need to purchase the control center, early warning system, attack system, defense system, and more from the [Mall].

After upgrading, the largest increase in space is found in the cabins below deck. The original Level 4 shelter ship had two levels of cabins below deck, totaling 36 small, four-person rooms. The Level 5 shelter ship, however, has five lower decks, with 42 small rooms per level, for a total of 210 rooms, enough to accommodate 840 people. Adding the 16 larger rooms on the bridge, the total capacity is approximately 900. Of course, as the ship's population grows, food pressures increase. Once the food stored in the storage rooms is consumed, simply cultivating crops on deck is insufficient. Shi Jiahui's skill, [Time Shift], is needed to quickly cultivate crops. At the same time, they must also carefully collect and preserve seeds to ensure sustainable agricultural development. Lan Xiaojia can handle this task. However, Shi Jiahui's skills alone are ultimately limited. Cultivating a single crop takes her approximately ten minutes, primarily due to stamina consumption. While she can equip a plant to continue using it when she tires, it's not very efficient. We can only wait for development, and wait for Tao Sai to develop one or more similar ripening skills, and equip Lan Xiaojia with them, so that self-sufficiency can be achieved inside the shelter ship.

Tao Sai's main concern right now is the power issue. It's crucial to the comfort of the refugee ship; the difference between having enough power and not having it is enormous. However, the ship's space is limited, and both solar and wind power are relatively inefficient. As the population grows, power will inevitably become difficult to supply. Tao Sai ponders whether she might be able to develop a skill that can generate electricity in the future. She firmly believes such a skill exists. Her current [Thunderbolt] can conjure arcs and balls of lightning from the natural world. If there were a device that could absorb and transform the electricity in her palms, she could become a human-powered generator.

Of course, the larger the refuge ship is, the more likely it is to be exposed on the sea and become a target of enemy attack.

Purchasing a defense system was imperative. Tao Sai naturally didn't want to see the "Deep Sea Fish" become a sea graveyard for hundreds of people, or sink forever into the deep sea. After the upgrade, she still had plenty of gold to purchase defense systems. Basically, no defense system could guarantee the safety of the refuge ship 100%. The only one that could do so was the extremely expensive [Invisibility].

After turning on [Invisibility], the refuge ship will enter a parallel space and disappear in this dimension. It cannot be detected or attacked by the outside world and is absolutely safe until the [Invisibility] time runs out or it turns itself off.

After confirming the purchase on the control panel, Tao Sai splashed out his cash without hesitation, spending 10 million gold coins to purchase the Invisibility Defense System. This 10 million was just the activation fee; future renewals would cost another 5,000 gold coins per day.

Such high costs are currently only affordable to a handful of high-rollers like Tao Sai in the entire third zone. This is because she possesses the powerful skill [Collapse], which inflicts massive damage to insects. This skill not only increases her current gold balance, but also provides her with a steady stream of gold in the future. Other players who want to reach her level may need to reach the very late game.

The rest of the crew certainly couldn't afford the cost of activating [Invisibility] at this point, but the ships of the Sea Tower were operating in formation. In the event of an emergency, the crews of the other ships could evacuate to the Deep Sea Fish and then activate [Invisibility] to avoid the threat. Human safety was paramount. If a player's refuge ship was destroyed, they could reattach it to a new vehicle and upgrade it, but if they were gone, they were gone for good.

It was still too early. After Tao Sai finished announcing his safe return in the alliance channel, he walked towards the bridge.

At this moment, music from the radio sounded on the ship. This was the wake-up call and also the rallying cry for the crew to do morning exercises. By this time, the crew had basically developed a good habit of doing some simple exercises every day when they got up to stretch their bodies.

The music grew in volume as the crew gradually woke up, went up to the deck, and assembled in the large empty warehouse. Outside the large empty warehouse was the rising sun and the refreshing sea breeze. Everything was beautiful.

Tao Sai didn't bother him for the time being and came to the captain's room alone. With nothing to do, she just opened all the [Reward Blind Boxes] and [Gold Reward Blind Boxes] accumulated after completing the tasks in [Season S2].

The most common [Blind Reward Boxes] were opened with a hundred consecutive draws. Tao Sai's translucent screen before her eyes flickered with a dazzling array of rewards. Of course, as expected, most of the rewards were quite mediocre, but some were still somewhat useful, including a number of practical items, including goods, medicines, tools, instruments, and other items that humans might not be able to produce for a long time to come. As for game items, Tao Sai received a fair amount of experience points and gold coins, but for her current level, these coins were insufficient. A few thousand experience points wouldn't even significantly increase her experience bar. As for skills, after opening nearly 20,000 [Blind Reward Boxes], Tao Sai did indeed unlock five new skills. However, all of them were C-rank or lower, and not very practical. Tao Sai allocated these skills to her crew members as appropriate.

Finally, Tao Sai left it to open the [Gold Reward Blind Box], but he didn't have too high expectations because this game is very rebellious. Once the player has expectations, the result will definitely be contrary to his own subjective will.

Tao Sai had just opened the first [Golden Reward Blind Box], and before he had time to check the subtitles of the reward, he heard a cry of surprise.

When they woke up early in the morning and saw the message sent by Tao Sai on the alliance channel, Guo Pei and others could not contain their excitement. They did not even bother to wash up and rushed to the "Deep Sea Fish".

This was also the first time they had seen such a majestic ship in real life. They were obviously more excited than Tao Sai and hurried up the stairs to the captain's room to look for someone.

Pushing open the hatch, Guo Pei, who was walking in first, stepped forward and said, "Boss, you're finally back. By the way, let me tell you, last night..."

Halfway through his speech, his voice stopped abruptly and his mind froze.

Tao Sai looked at them calmly.

"...Boss, I think I seem to have forgotten something." After a long pause, Guo Pei scratched his head and racked his brains to recall, but he couldn't figure it out.

"Right, right, right," Tang Yingxue nodded in agreement, her emotions fluctuating. "Sister Sai, I felt the same way today!"

Shi Jiahui on the side also wanted to raise her hand.

"I haven't forgotten anything. If you can't remember, don't think about it." Tao Sai said lightly, his eyes slightly gloomy.

Then, she changed the subject and said to Guo Pei, "Xiao Guo, have you communicated enough? We'll take Xiao He to purify the virus first."