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As the refuge ship is upgraded, new features are unlocked.
Tao Sai indeed saw the newly added [Interaction] module on the system's main page.
But this newly added module was a new feature she had never seen before in other games, not even in the game she completed.
Interaction?
She silently pondered the meaning of these two words.
What does "interact" mean? Who are they interacting with? It definitely can't be a bug, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
Player!
Tao Sai focused his attention on the word "Interaction" and the function panel opened.
The new interface is divided into four sections: World, Friends, Alliance, and Enemies. The World channel allows users to post, but currently, the entire section is empty. Tao Sai speculates that this may be because everyone is afraid of being the first to post in the World channel and becoming a target of public criticism.
Of course, there may be another possibility. After she and her crew worked hard, she is temporarily the first player to unlock the new function?
The Friends section explains that players can add each other as friends, but what they can do after adding friends remains unknown and unexplored. Below the search box, there's a "Players You May Know" section, but it currently doesn't have any information.
Alliance should be a function similar to gangs in games. Currently no alliance has been established. It costs 1 million gold coins to create an alliance yourself.
The enemy panel can mark players as enemies, but the functionality is still unknown and Tao Sai has no subjects to test it on.
All in all, everything was just as she expected. The original single-player game had completely transformed into a large-scale online game.
The system informed us that the newbie protection had been lifted. This meant that the mysterious force separating players from each other was actually due to the game's newbie protection mechanism.
Now that she has left the novice stage, she could be discovered by other players at any time and encounter them unexpectedly in a friendly or aggressive manner.
Thinking of this, Tao Sai frowned.
To avoid being discovered by other hostile players, which was unrealistic, or to avoid being killed by other players, she had to act preemptively, resolving the problem before the hostile players could strike. However, whether they were hostile players or the characters they owned, they were not game NPCs, not artificially created data or programs, but living people, with flesh and blood, thoughts, and souls just like her. She couldn't kill her own kind.
In this case, there is only one way left: develop yourself and strengthen your own strength.
To be honest, when the shelter ship was upgraded to level 3, the cabin deck space and capacity increased, which was enough for a small group of them to avoid the natural disaster. Tao Sai began to think of slacking off. After all, the food they grew was enough for them to eat, and they had beds and thick winter bedding. Once the problem of food and clothing was solved, she thought that she could just complete the main task at most and then lie down in the natural disaster.
But now the situation has taken a turn for the worse and the urgency has suddenly reached its maximum.
She had no choice but to bear a heavy responsibility on her shoulders. This was not a game that could be restarted indefinitely after a game over. She was responsible for the safety of everyone on the refugee ship. They shared weal and woe, and they had become a community with a shared destiny.
Tao Sai looked at the girls busy in the large empty warehouse, then at Aunt Li and Grandma Zhou who were preparing meals in the open kitchen, and Uncle Zhou who was chatting with several medical staff from the orthopedics department on the deck. Instead of feeling happy, she felt stressed.
In less than a minute, she solidified her inner thoughts: First, strengthen herself; her own strength is the foundation of everything. Second, upgrade the refuge ship's defense and early warning systems as much as possible to improve the team's self-defense capabilities.
However, relying solely on one's own strength is still a bit weak, so perhaps forming an alliance with other friendly players would be a good option. The netizen [Ronaldo] on Weibo and his roommate could be potential development targets.
Thinking of this, Tao Sai immediately opened his phone and clicked on the private message on Weibo. After thinking for a moment, he sent him a message.
"What level is your ship now?"
About five minutes later, the other party replied.
[Ronaldo]: "Level 2. My roommate and I are still frantically grinding for experience points to level up. How about you guys?"
Towser was particularly mindful that he only mentioned himself and his roommate in the dialogue, perhaps without developing other characters.
It seemed like her current game progress was quite fast. This was normal, considering she'd previously jumped into a crack in the ground to blast the wormhole, built fortifications, and summoned the entire crew to kill monsters, working like crazy, yet she'd only just reached level 3.
Tao Sai typed back: "I just reached level 3. I have some new information now. Would you like to hear it?"
[Ronaldo]: “Yes!”
Tao Sai thought for a moment before sending a long message: "Didn't we discuss this before? Players seem to be separated by an invisible force. Now I know the truth. It's actually the game's novice protection mechanism. Once you reach level 3, the novice protection will be unlocked, and an additional interactive function will appear. The interactive function has four functional sections. The world channel is currently closed. The friends section allows players to add each other as friends. Players should be able to form alliances similar to game guilds. The enemies section allows players to be marked. Many other functions are still to be explored."
After sending the message, the person on the other end seemed to think for a long time, probably after discussing it with his roommate, before sending a new message: "The game has become so weird... I have a strange feeling. I feel like players might be able to plunder each other, or even kill each other. Otherwise, why would a newbie protect this thing?"
Tao Sai echoed, "It's possible."
She did not intend to reveal the fact that she had killed the player Jiang Yifeng, because this was a stain on her. If she wanted to form an alliance with other friendly players, she had to keep this matter to herself.
[Ronaldo]: "If that's the case, it's terrible. I feel like I can't move forward without forming a team. Let's form an alliance!"
Tao Sai replied without hesitation: "Sure."
[Ronaldo]: "Great! You've leveled up so quickly, you must be a top player. You must guide us losers!"
Tao Sai: "I've only played the game for a few days, and everyone's skill level is actually about the same. But if we form an alliance early, we can share information and discuss things together, which can help us avoid risks and make fewer mistakes. It's much better than trying to cross the river by groping in the dark alone."
[Ronaldo]: "That's right! So we must be united and work together for mutual benefit! Oh, by the way, let's not talk about that for now. My roommate and I will continue to level up. We'll get in touch when the time comes."
Tao Sai closed the private message interface with him, and suddenly realized that there were too many messages related to her on her personal page to count.
In a short period of time, the first few Weibo posts she posted were dug up again and were clicked, reposted and commented on crazily. The private messages were hidden by the system because she had previously set the system to not receive messages from people she didn't follow. However, the comments on the blog posts were countless, and the comments kept growing higher and higher. In particular, the post "Survival Guidelines for Insect Tide and Natural Disaster" was regarded as a masterpiece by netizens.
Tao Sai quickly scanned the highly-rated comments.
[Never Loved You]: Everyone, please share this (21,000 likes)
[Poignantly]: Thank you blogger! This is so life-saving! (18,000 likes)
[Soul Compatibility 100%]: Forward and let more people see it!
[It’s your little bun]: The blogger must be an angel sent by God to save us.
[婕6骜]: I was surrounded by a swarm of insects just now. At the critical moment, I remembered this Weibo post and jumped into the river. I survived the disaster and saved my life. I am really grateful to you, blogger.
[Human Observer]: Boss, forgive my ignorance.
…
Tao Sai flipped through the pages until the end, a rare smile of relief appearing on the corner of his mouth.
Because of her action, she saved countless people. There is nothing more gratifying than this.
After logging out of his personal homepage, Tao Sai began to browse domestic and international news.
The most popular entry at the moment is [Emergency release from Country A]. Tao Sai clicked on this entry and saw that many official influencers were broadcasting the press conference live.
…
Country A in America.
The President is holding a national security press conference, which is being broadcast live around the world.
A reporter raised his hand and asked, "Mr. President, what scale of natural disaster is this insect swarm we're facing?"
"Deadly, devastating, unprecedented." The president adjusted the microphone, his eyes serious. "When the insects emerge from the ground and converge into a swarm, their destructive power is astonishing. Currently, no material in the world can effectively resist the swarm. Our military experts have estimated that the insects' reproductive capacity far exceeds the total number and production rate of all weapons on Earth. To be precise, it is completely out of the same league. This means that even if humanity exhausted all its weapons and ammunition, it would still be unable to eliminate the insects. Therefore, for the survival and the growth of civilization, there is only one option for the world: seek refuge."
The president's last two words echoed in the conference hall for a long time, and all the participants looked gloomy.
The reporter continued, "Mr. President, what is the federal asylum strategy?"
"It's a fact that bugs often spawn at plate boundaries, earthquake zones, seismic faults, and so on. According to our current information, bugs repel water, and swarms of bugs will actively avoid water. Therefore, with the assistance of government think tanks, the Federation has developed a basic evacuation strategy. The Federation will dispatch all its ships, requisitioning as many civilian and commercial vessels as possible, to first relocate residents of the affected areas to islands away from seismic faults, where they will urgently construct evacuation bases."
…
A European country.
Iris Harbour.
Several 10,000-ton cruise ships were anchored in the harbor, and the square area on the shore was crowded with people. People were carrying backpacks and luggage, moving step by step towards the anchorage.
The female reporter announced in front of the camera: "As you can see, the people of Iris City have begun to leave. Cruise ships will take them to Prince Island for refuge. The six cruise ships are expected to carry 110,000 passengers at a time."
…
Indian Ocean, Reunion Island.
Transport planes took off and landed at the airport, and tents and other supplies were continuously carried out from the cargo holds. A refugee camp was being built in full swing on the flat ground just two kilometers away from the airport.
…
Tao Sai kept reading news from all over the country and abroad. News of the Zerg swarm and natural disasters poured in. In just one day, traces of the Zerg swarm were discovered in more and more cities. In the encounters and confrontations with the Zerg swarm, humanity, without exception, was defeated.
The whole world has become a mess, and all kinds of remarks are rampant.
Some countries have begun using large ships to organize the affected people to board ships, with the destination being islands in the sea.
Of course, some countries chose to fight to the bitter end, mobilizing the country's armed forces and weapons to try to defeat the insect tide.
Domestically, national forces are urgently operating, with numerous ships and other transport vehicles deployed to relocate residents from affected areas, including Nanzhou City, to islands. All affected residents were transferred to the neighboring city's seaport last night and are currently being temporarily relocated to Donglin Island in batches via sea and air transport.
Tao Sai consulted Feng Bi and the others. It was too troublesome to go to the neighboring city's seaport to reunite with the hospital and their families, and they couldn't contact them. They were not sure whether they were still at the port. Anyway, they were all seeking refuge, so they would rather stay on the refugee ship.
So they discussed it and decided that the refugee ship would leave Nanzhou City directly along the Yangtze River and head towards Donghai City at full speed.
The water distance between Nanzhou City and Donghai City is about 500 nautical miles, and it takes about one day and one night for the refugee ship to sail there at its speed.
This time, Tao Sai decided to take turns driving the refuge boat with Zhou Ning and Zhou Weixing.
After the tasks were assigned, Zhou Weixing was in charge of driving for the first four hours. He only needed to drive along the Yangtze River waterway at cruising speed, and the work was very simple.
Tao Sai left the cabin and returned to the captain's room to sit for a while. Suddenly, he remembered something very important. They had spent a total of 76,000 gold coins, 10,000 of which were spent on upgrading the fishing boat, and there was still a total of 66,000 left.
If gold coins are left idle, it is a waste and resources are not fully utilized.
She quickly entered the system's [Mall] and purchased a set of early warning and defense systems. Although both were basic systems, they still cost her twenty thousand gold coins. The early warning system significantly improved the safety and security of the refuge ship.
Tao Sai plans to use the remaining gold coins to buy two skill blind boxes. It would be best if each character has suitable skills so that the team can play the greatest role.
The [Skill Blind Box] in the [Mall] is priced at 5,000 gold coins, and the [Purple Skill Blind Box] is priced at 10,000 gold coins. However, considering her unlucky physique, the [Skill Blind Box] is very likely to contain C-level or D-level skills. C-level or D-level skills are useless and have little use, and are far inferior to skills above B-level.
Thinking of this, Tao Sai decided to spend 15,000 gold coins to buy one blind box of each type.
After the gold coin payment was successful, she went into [Backpack] to open the blind box.
【You opened the [Skill Blind Box]. 】
The system jumped for two seconds.
[You have acquired the skill [Toxin Immunity·D-Level]: After using this skill, you will be immune to any toxins for 10 minutes (upgradable).]
Tao Sai held his forehead with his hand. It was just an ordinary skill. Wearing a gas mask might achieve the same effect. The key was that there was no time limit for wearing a mask.
She focused her attention on the [Purple Skill Blind Box] in the inventory.
【You opened the [Purple Skill Blind Box]. 】
[You have acquired the skill [Gravity Adaptation·Level A]: When you use this skill, you can automatically adjust the gravity acting on your body.]
For the first time ever, she drew an A-level skill. The skill description was only a short line of words. Tao Sai read it over and over again, and became more and more excited.
As we all know, humans are constantly affected by the Earth's gravity, which limits us to walking on the ground. But if the gravity we experience could be adjusted at will, would that mean we could float freely on the water? Or, even more boldly, if we could adjust the gravity to a level lower than the buoyancy of air, we could fly?
When Tao Sai thought of this, her eyes lit up. She quickly got up from the bed, ran onto the deck, and equipped herself with the skill [Gravity Adaptation].
She tried to use her driving skills to reduce the gravity on her body.
She felt it thoroughly, and it seemed... nothing had changed?
She tried to take two steps forward, her steps were quite light, as if she was floating over.
Continuing to use her skills, this time she directly adjusted the gravity acting on her body to the limit.
At this moment, she looked down and found that her feet were off the ground and her whole body was suspended in the air. Due to the buoyancy of the air, she was still rising.
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