Chapter 90: The Air Force is Impossible. 【VIP】
The player tracked the newly-spawned quest, "Mysterious Crystal Sea," and teleported to the anchor point closest to the quest's target.
I walked straight ahead, collecting all the shiny things I saw, and ran to the beach.
A long cordon was drawn along the seashore, with military police, scientists, and psychic NPCs pacing nervously around it. They wore uniforms, armed with various instruments and weapons, and stared at the shimmering, crystalline sea ahead with a warlike gaze.
Occasionally, there were a few people fishing on the beach, and they all looked unhappy.
The sea was no longer a flowing blue, but a solidified crystal structure shining with a strange luster. Occasionally, huge creatures beyond common sense could be seen swimming in it.
"All outsiders, stop immediately!" a military police NPC shouted to the player.
The player, Huang Ming, glanced at her, used [Vector Manipulation] to push her away, and then stepped directly through the cordon.
The military police NPC who was trying to stop her froze for a moment, feeling himself being pushed away by an invisible force. He had no room to resist and could only watch her walk in.
Some of the scientist NPCs around pushed up their glasses, boldly staring at the player while whispering, a morbid fanaticism on their faces.
The military and police NPCs held their weapons tightly, and after talking to their companions for a while, they pretended not to have seen anything and ultimately took no further action.
The player braved the complicated and strange gazes of the NPCs and walked unimpeded all the way to the edge of the crystal sea.
An NPC wearing a tattered windbreaker and with a tired look on his face was leaning against the embankment smoking.
She seemed indifferent to everything around her. Even when a huge crystal-feathered whale leaped up from the distance and landed beside her, she just flicked the ash from her cigarette.
The player stops in front of her.
The player tries to talk to her: "Hi?"
NPC: "...Yes, I am the guide here."
System unfolds the scroll:
【Event: Fishing Ceremony】
You sit on the embankment of a crystal ocean as gigantic feathered whales pass through the edge of the material world, leap up, and then quickly fall back into the brilliant crystal structure.
Hundreds of anglers crowded together, phase-shifted rods in hand, their baits sinking to the crystalline depths.
People offer prayers to the Crystal Mother by fishing, and the Mother will give corresponding rewards according to each person's consciousness. After that, the high priest hangs a piece of gold on the fish hook and casts it into the solid ocean.
"To put it simply, as long as you offer sacrifices, you can catch anything here, even fish," the guide translated without any reverence.
After a brief introduction, the player stared at the guide NPC.
The guide NPC slowly turned her head, her eyes were devoid of any light, like two dusty glass beads.
"Here, your fishing rod." She casually pulled out a fishing rod that looked much larger than her pocket from her windbreaker pocket and handed it to the player. "If you want to fish here, you need this."
The player took the [Phase Shift Fishing Rod] and curiously poked at the front end. The fishing line there seemed to be connected to another dimension.
"If I offer a sacrifice, I can catch what I want." The player tilted his head. "Anything will do?"
The guide nodded, his eyes expressionless, a look of weariness, like a half-dead man. "Gold, blood, faith, the future, the past... or anything else, as long as you deem it valuable."
The player pondered for three seconds.
Gold, the first thing to exclude is this, players can buy wine for free without spending a penny!
Faith, future, past... We can try these later. Now there is something simpler and more convenient that we can use.
That's blood! As everyone knows, blood in games is the health bar, which can be restored at any time. In this world without a satiety level, players can replenish their health by eating a lot of vegetables without affecting their movements.
This is like paying nothing at all! It's free!
"Just catch whatever you want, the unknown is the most interesting!" the player shouted. Her consciousness was connected to the fishing line in her hand. She could hear the friendly voice of the crystal sea in front of her, rushing towards her from all directions.
[The crystal nourishes reality with its own body, and what sacrifice will you offer to satisfy the hunger of the transcendental world?]
"I want to donate blood." The player said impatiently. She felt a vitality being sucked out of her body in an instant, like pouring a whole glass of water into a bottomless pit.
【You offered 99% of your health as a sacrifice.】
There's nothing wrong with my body, I just feel empty.
The player shook her hands and jumped up and down for a while. Now with only 1% of her health, she looked like she could be killed by the tail of any fish in the sea.
Lin Chen casually extended the fishing line he had just taken, as if it was connected directly to an invisible abyss.
She held the fishing rod in her hand and waited in a serious manner. The sea was calm, and a deep sound emanated from the huge crystal structure as it swam through it.
There was zero fatigue around them, as the other NPCs surrounded them and observed them mechanically, occasionally asking them to stop and check their bodies.
After waiting for less than ten seconds, I felt a slight pull on the fishing rod.
"It's hooked!" The player's eyes lit up, and he immediately tightened the fishing line and started to retrieve the rod.
Well... as for the fish, there is some resistance, which requires a little effort, but for players with a strength of 251, this resistance is insignificant.
She shook the fishing rod easily, and the fishing line was reeled in with a squeak.
A glittering object was pulled out of the crystal sea. It wasn't a fish, but rather a strangely shaped bullet.
Before the player could take a closer look, the bullet automatically fell off the fishing line and disappeared into thin air, and then the icon of the system backpack flashed.
[Obtained Item: Fated Cause of Death x1]
[Embedded between the dead man's eyebrows, penetrating cracks in objects, this bullet will always be where its hole should be.]
Lin Chen cheered loudly, "It still has to be our Emperor Bow Siming!"
Then continue to fish happily.
She cast her fishing rod into the crystal sea again and waited for the next bite.
The decadent and world-weary guide NPC next to her glanced at her, said nothing, and just lit another cigarette.
Lin Chenwangan didn't care about the reactions of the guide NPC or other NPCs around her. Her attention was focused on every vibration coming from the fishing rod.
There are no complicated plots, no difficult enemies, and no deadly traps. You just need to keep offering sacrifices and fishing.
So simple! So pure!
As soon as I hook a fish, I get so mad that I forget everything and risk my life!
Players feel as if they have returned to the original joy of the game, that most primitive sense of satisfaction of getting rewards through simple actions.
What’s more, the things you catch go directly into your backpack, saving you the trouble of picking them up. Great!
She focused on the simple task of fishing, casting and reeling in time and again, sacrificing 99% of her health each time, each time she caught an unknown object, each time that object automatically entered her backpack.
How can an endless 99% not be considered an endless amount of blood?
Everything around her became blurry, leaving only her, the fishing rod, the crystal sea, and the ever-increasing item icons in her backpack.
——
Zongtian Shantouhuo's brows were twisted into a knot.
In the surveillance footage, the Player—no, now it’s a younger-looking human juvenile whose name is suspected to be “Lin Chen”—is doing the so-called “fishing” in an incredible way.
"Reporting, the subject's vital signs have periodically plummeted to a theoretical near-death state over the past hour, then stabilized at 1%." The technician's voice trembled with disbelief. "This process has been repeated... sixty-seven times. No external treatment or recovery methods have been detected."
There was dead silence in the conference room.
Everyone present was a top Neon expert in handling paranormal events, from high-ranking military and police officers to top scientists and core members of the Special Ability Unit. They had witnessed countless bizarre superpowers and dealt with crises that defied common sense.
But this "Player" in front of me is a crusher of common sense.
"Is she...is she sacrificing her own life force?" A biologist adjusted his glasses, his gaze filled with confusion and a morbid excitement. "She loses a precise amount of life force each time. This is simply...perfect energy control, or perhaps the embodiment of the rules of the game?"
"The rules of the game?" The military commander nearby snorted unkindly. "What does she think this crystal sea is? A fishing game in a video game?"
No one can answer.
The fact is, they have been helpless ever since this "Crystal Sea" suddenly appeared off the coast of Kamakura, transforming the original ocean into shining solid crystals, accompanied by the phantoms of giant creatures that only exist in myths or nightmares.
Instruments malfunctioned, the laws of physics twisted. Unmanned probes sent in never returned, and anyone, even those with special abilities, who approached would become possessed and begin fishing, their energy drained by the strange crystalline structure.
Now, people around this crystal sea have to take turns every once in a while, and they have to be protected by psychic-type people with special abilities so that they can barely stay nearby.
Initially, the government carefully selected several serious criminals as expendable subjects for testing. However, due to the lack of knowledge of the connection between the anglers and the consciousness of the sea, they were nearly killed and escaped.
After dealing with this group of people, I will send in control-type psychics to force them to pray, from the original pen to the high-tech of the future...
"Crystal Mother" generously gives anglers everything they want.
Similarly, if you want to get something of value, you have to exchange it with something of the same value.
"Crystal Mother" accepts everything in this world, whether it is money, organs, inorganic matter, or illusory memories, luck, and emotions.
He welcomes everyone and always makes the most fair and just judgment.
If it weren't for the expansion area of this crystal sea, it would become larger and larger and faster with the passage of time.
Some experts speculate that at this rate, it will only take about half a month for this crystal to spread and cover the entire Pacific Ocean.
Otherwise, they will keep it hidden and will not actively try to let the Player solve it.
In addition to those arranged by the government, there are also some emaciated "anglers" who gathered spontaneously and performed this strange ritual using "phase-shift fishing rods" given by self-proclaimed "guides."
Then, "Player" came in with such swagger.
She ignored all warnings and used a power perhaps similar to gravity to push away the military police who tried to stop her. The military police later reported that it felt like they were gently pushed away by an invisible hand and they had no intention of resisting at all.
Then, she took the fishing rod from the equally mysterious "guide" and started fishing.
"Have you analyzed what she caught?" asked Zhongtian Shantouhuo in a deep voice.
"Most of them disappeared directly, as if they were teleported into the Player's different dimension. There were a few... we barely managed to capture images." A few blurry images appeared on the screen: a bullet with an ancient shape, a small handful of ashes, and a flower with vigorous vitality that could be felt through the screen.
The intelligence analyst added, "Based on lip reading, she seemed very satisfied with the 'catch,' especially the mention of the word 'Imperial Bow.'"
Imperial Bow?
Another incomprehensible word, but it sounded like a respectful name for a creature? Or perhaps a weapon?
"The point is," the original biologist spoke again, his voice rising with excitement, "her cell activity... in our limited remote monitoring, her physiological state after each 'sacrifice' remains extremely weak but... stable. No shock, no signs of organ failure, it's as if... as if her body considers this state normal!"
"How... horrible." Taneda Santohuo whispered.
The "Crystal Mother" who achieves everything, gives everything, and receives everything cannot absorb complete and vigorous vitality.
He looked at the tiny figure in the picture, casting his fishing rod into the magnificent yet dangerous crystal sea again and again.
Her expression was focused and joyful, completely immersed in the purest happiness, a happiness that was completely out of tune with the surrounding military police who were as if facing an enemy, the scientists with fanatical expressions, and the "anglers" who looked ashen.
She seemed to never tire, never fade away. Her life seemed like a number that could be flipped at will, an insignificant consumable in a game.
"Doesn't she need to eat to recover?" a young observer couldn't help but ask.
"She did eat some dessert after causing the 'Whale City' phenomenon on top of the □□ Building," the intelligence officer replied. "But since starting this 'fishing trip', she hasn't been observed eating or using any recovery items. Her vitality... seems to be maintaining that constant 1% in a way we can't understand."
Just like the characters in the game, as long as they are not attacked, they can still be alive and well with only 1 point of health.
This realization actually made the atmosphere in the meeting room more relaxed.
Just like the opponent you originally thought you could still compete with, the more you get to know her, the more you realize the gap between you and her. When the gap becomes as huge as the one between the earth and the center of the universe, you become extremely relaxed.
Since there was no chance of winning anyway, they might as well just give up. At least the Player hadn't shown any hostility towards them yet.
"Continue monitoring." Taneda Santouhuo rubbed his temples and gave the only order he could. "Record the characteristics of everything she catches, analyze her behavior patterns... Also, make sure no one disturbs her."
He had a hunch that this "Player" was seizing the power to change the world from this mysterious crystal sea in a way that was beyond their reach.
And they could only watch from the sidelines, like a group of mortals watching the game of gods.
On the screen, Player finished the shot again with a childlike smile on his face.
She seemed to have caught something "interesting" again, and then without hesitation, she sacrificed her life again and threw the fishing line into the unfathomable crystal.
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