Chapter 145 Pre-battle Preparations: Leading Everyone to Unleash Their Power
If Sea Survival were to open a forum, the hottest topic right now would definitely be—what's it like to use cheats in a game?
"No way, how did she know that there was a diamond treasure chest buried under the first berry bush near the crescent-shaped spring on the resource island?"
"So installing a stabilizer means you can use the accelerator card without limit? What about all that time I threw up twice a day because of it?!"
"How about we chip in some money to build a fleet? The big boss said last night that cooperative survival would be easier, and her analysis of how to share costs sounds really useful! We can also use speed-up cards several times more efficiently, and we really can't afford them after the price goes up."
"I'm selling off some accessories wholesale. I just got them from the dwarves yesterday. They're all lacking in basic attributes, so they're all 50 wood planks. If you want higher quality ones, DM me."
"Do NPCs have memories? Has anyone noticed that the wandering merchant has been appearing less frequently lately? I did some research and realized he hasn't been here for two weeks. Could it be that he's been exploited too much lately?"
"Ten planks and one portion of red algae, the main ingredient of the special bait the boss mentioned last night! Only staying for two hours, contact me as soon as possible if you need it."
The atmosphere at sea was unusually vibrant. With Chen Dixin openly giving them preferential treatment, there was basically nothing they couldn't solve. For the rest, they could ask for help from advanced players on the same channel.
When there is no survival crisis, humans are always generous in showing kindness to their fellow human beings. When someone takes the lead, people who want to protect their group will naturally emerge one after another. At this time, no one will dare to mock them.
The perfect persona she cultivated through her two-pronged approach is almost imprinted in people's minds. Even the players who harbored the most ill will towards her no longer doubted Shen Dixin's determination to dedicate everything to her clan.
Her theory of genocide and the disaster of the following year were accepted by everyone, and theoretically, she should have gathered a lot of faith. However, the "spiritual leader" that Hunter Blade mentioned was nowhere to be found.
Her mental strength did indeed improve rapidly, but that was the result of her own hard work! After obtaining the cultivation method that could quickly restore her mental strength, Chen Dixin rarely slept anymore, maintaining a frequency of sleeping only once every few days just to avoid breaking down.
Practicing for twenty hours a day, plus the moonlight constantly being digested in the body, it would be strange if there wasn't progress.
Perhaps people haven't truly experienced disasters, so their beliefs are too superficial?
It must be. Under her protection lately, the players have been living a very comfortable life. In half a month, the number of people eliminated is less than one-tenth of that in the previous disaster.
Humans are an extremely resilient species. They prefer to rely on themselves, and most people will not helplessly place their hopes on others unless they are in dire straits.
Chen Dixin half-closed his eyes, the vermilion hanging on his side occasionally causing the recliner to rock. The wisdom dew was still taking effect, and his intelligence was growing with his level. Now he knew how to take the initiative to care for and look after his master.
As she sorted through the remaining details, she used the biting sea breeze to calm herself down.
In just over ten days, Shen Dixin seemed to have undergone a complete transformation, and the sharp edge he once displayed disappeared.
She squandered the spoils of war, worth millions of basic resources, and completed the first and second city walls.
With the first line of defense in place, the others can be added later.
This included eight million basic supplies raised from the fleet crowdfunding, and Coffee's long-cherished secret stash of money finally came in handy.
The cost of the city wall far exceeded expectations, mainly due to the addition of a second wall made of metal.
Building the metal wall wasn't too difficult; digging trenches to bury the city wall was the most time-consuming part. Chen Dixin and his men finished digging it in a day.
The main problem was the cost. This was a powerful weapon that Shen Dixin ordered from the bald engineer from the very first day he made the plan, and he almost spent all his savings on it.
The engineers spent a week just gathering the raw materials. They then reforged nearly a thousand sprites into a single unit, which not only had a new outer shell but also retained some of the intelligent systems, allowing it to be equipped with weapons and defend itself autonomously.
Such a massive project was naturally carried out directly at the base. After observing for a long time, Shen Dixin asked the engineer as if facing a formidable enemy.
"How exactly did you lose?"
"Supplies were insufficient, and people starved to death or bled to death. Moreover, we didn't have the time or resources to make this thing back then. Who would have thought that the sea monsters would come ashore during the day and attack indiscriminately?"
If their game process is similar to that of humans, then perhaps many people hadn't even encountered sea monsters many times before the disaster struck.
The engineer mentioned it casually, then proudly patted his chest and began to lavish praise on the metal defense line that he had poured his heart and soul into.
On the day the city wall was completed, all the fleet members at the base came, including Xingtu Wanli, who stayed at home and never went out.
Shen Dixin scanned the room and found that almost all of them were unfamiliar faces.
Since her return, the fleet has expanded rapidly and now has three hundred people, all of whom were selected by Coffee and her team.
It doesn't matter if they're unfamiliar with you, as long as they listen to you.
My luck is on my side. This guy is also a homebody raising worms, and his combat power is so low that he can't catch her when he's trying to recruit men. He's been building the city wall for several days, and this is the first time I've seen this.
She stared in disbelief, touching and tapping around the city wall, almost turning around to grab a weapon and poke it. It took her a long time to calm down, and she asked Tao Ling in a daze, "Sis, isn't this supposed to be sea survival? We were farming and digging ditches just a few days ago, how did it suddenly evolve into an iron fortress?"
What on earth did she skip?! So this planet has technology? What happened to the mystical arts?
"We've always had them. You said you didn't need the little sprite we gave you last time for raising Gu, so you didn't take it. I think the city wall was modified from that."
"I thought they were house-elves from a magical world, just given some food and able to do chores. Xiaoming always said that it was very convenient for him to use the elves to chop vegetables. Who would have thought they were from the technological side? Why call a perfectly good robot an elf!"
I answered instinctively, and immediately regretted it. I asked on the spot if the freebie of the little elf was still available, because it's a robot!
Before she could even process the shock of her worldview being altered, she witnessed an even more explosive scene.
Chen Dixin waved his hand, and the sphere at his waist flew out and quickly assembled into a gun. He casually pressed it against the city wall, and after recording the information, it could interact with the city wall. It even knew how to find the perfect angle to fire.
"Whoosh—" Several crossbow bolts shot out, forming a simple heart shape on the ground. Even though they were just experimental bolts fired randomly, their fletchings were almost completely embedded in the ground, and their power should not be underestimated.
Shen Dixin was very satisfied with the performance of the □□. She tossed it up and down, and the light spots reflected by the metal drew a perfect arc in the air before landing steadily back in her palm.
Unfortunately, her cool demeanor lasted only three seconds. Slightly embarrassed, Shen Dixin asked everyone to help her dig out the crossbow bolts, as they were stuck too deep and the machine's retrieval system didn't have that much suction.
After the construction, the soil near the city wall was compacted. Several people were covered in dust from digging, but my luck seemed to be shining brighter in my eyes.
"Sister Chen, your crossbow works really well! Where did you get it?"
Lu Mingang glanced at it and said with a smile, "It was built by the engineers who built the city wall. It is said that the cost is equivalent to one-fifth of the cost of the wall."
Yes, Shen Dixin specifically instructed that the white coins earned from selling wine should be saved to upgrade weapons.
In addition, Lu Mingang's ship was successfully upgraded and opened the cellar. These days he has been managing two cellars by himself, one of which is in super evolution mode, and he has sold wine to almost every corner of the channel!
It's easy to imagine how amazing the profits were.
As usual, I'm dreaming and envious, thinking, "If only I had one, how comfortable that would be!"
Surprisingly, this time someone actually paid attention to her nonsense.
Shen Dixin smiled and said, "Yes, I've prepared weapons for you."
She then went back to the ship herself. Her backpack had plenty of compartments, and it's estimated that only Chen Dixin could bring out twenty or thirty items at once.
With a few clangs, weapons of various shapes and sizes piled up into a small mountain on the ground. I excitedly rushed over, poking at this bow and tapping that sword.
Having practically tried out every single weapon, he looked up, still wanting more, and asked, "Are these weapons free to take, or are they assigned?"
"It's sorted out." Shen Dixin buried her head in picking through the items. "The ones I prepared for you are of even better quality." They're even better than the treasury she had painstakingly saved up in her previous life.
After returning to the ship, only the original five teammates remained, waiting for Chen Dixin. Upon hearing this, their eyes lit up.
"I knew the boss would care about us the most!" The coffee shop, a major contributor to the success of the project, proudly raised its head.
One by one, the items fell into the hands of their new owners; the coffee and Lu Mingang's items were hammers.
The hammer seems to have some kind of virus, spreading rapidly from one person to ten, then to a hundred. Now, half of the people in the First Fleet use hammers, their faces still covered in the dust from carrying bricks, making them look like a construction crew when they go out.
However, it must be said that the hammer is really easy for people with no combat experience to pick up.
Tao Ling even received two items: a flying combat wheelchair for her to use before merging, and a long sword for close combat after merging.
Unfortunately, not everyone can handle the flying wheelchair. The ups and downs were like riding a roller coaster. Tao Ling turned pale and vomited uncontrollably on the spot. The onlookers couldn't bear to look away.
My luck was on my side; I peered out and my gaze fell upon the weapon I had my eye on.
"What about mine? This hammer or this stick?"
Chen Dixin suppressed a laugh and pulled out a suit of armor made of chains and iron plates from the bottom. The light brown matte outer skin looked heavy and swollen like a rice dumpling once it was wrapped around him.
"this."
"Huh?" I was shocked. "That's not right. Why is mine armor, and it's so weak? Sister Chen, this is blatant discrimination! I'm a very strong fighter now, okay?"
Shen Dixin said seriously, "Don't underestimate it."
She picked up a belt from the ground, wrapped it around her body, and the armor instantly attached itself. Then, she pressed a button on the belt, and an arc-shaped protective shield appeared in front of her in the blink of an eye.
There's also a full-wrap mode, a portable mode, a racing mode...
One can't help but marvel at how practical a tortoise shell is!
Imagining myself protected by it, passing through countless bullets without being touched by a single leaf, I was so moved I almost cried.
"Aren't there any others?"
Shen Di thought for a moment, then pulled out another gray-green leather armor. "This is Xinghe's. Ask him if he wants to trade with you."
"...Fine, I'll take this one!"
After distributing the equipment to his teammates, Chen Dixin released a bunch of uniform armor, all equipped with simple mechanisms that could transform into protective shields and makeshift walls in times of crisis.
"These are for other people. You can decide how to distribute the coffee. You don't need to send them all out. If there aren't any suitable recipients, just put them in the warehouse."
Coffee rubbed his hands together eagerly, "Alright boss, with these equipment hanging in front, they'll definitely work even harder!" His tone suggested he wasn't planning to give anything away for free.
With so much high-tech equipment, it's impossible to spend all the resources to buy it. In fact, the equipment that Shen Dixin instructed them to order was only reserved for five people with whom they had a good relationship.
All the other equipment and modifications were taken from the engineer. In one trip, he swept away all the rare materials he had painstakingly earned by selling the Sea Monster Compendium, as well as the regular items that were easy to sell in the warehouse.
After that incident, the engineer lay in bed for three whole days with dead fish eyes, and every time he closed his eyes, he saw his precious babies grow wings and fly away.
It wasn't until Shen Dixin dragged the captain over that the two of them, one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, threatened him to consider the bigger picture while also encouraging him that his actions would be recorded in history, that he reluctantly began to work.
Fortunately, the white-faced people had lost their bodies for too many years, and their minds were somewhat unclear. Chen Dixin dragged them over to build the city wall, and within a few hours they were fully focused on it.
Few outsiders know about the changes to the base; the banquet hall has long been closed to the public, and there are no outsiders on the island now.
The players thought they were building a beautiful home, planting crops and raising fish.
After all, the concept of "Noah's Ark" abandoning its weaker kind is too sensitive. Even if Shen Dixin raises funds, she only does so within the fleet. Otherwise, with her current reputation, it wouldn't be a problem for her to get everyone to donate five or six thousand to her.
The large amount of resources flowing out from the construction of the city wall has significantly increased the supply of high-level materials in the entire channel, causing the prices of materials such as steel bars and gear sets, which previously required premium purchases, to drop.
The large-scale acquisition of rocks even briefly spawned a new side business – demolition experts, who would carry bombs to resource islands to blast mountains and sell suitable rocks cheaply to the First Fleet.
Earning eight or nine hundred basic supplies a day is very easy, especially suitable for professions with a lot of free time, such as monster hunters and fishermen.
Even if some players realize that the number of stones being purchased is abnormal, they just assume that the quantity has been miscalculated and instead work even harder to exchange for stones, fearing that the purchase will stop at any moment.
The chain reaction eventually affects the ship's level, but upgrading is beneficial to individuals. If players want to facilitate the flow of resources, the more resources they have, the better.
The channel itself isn't the problem. With a little guidance, such as announcing the benefits of upgrading ships or suggesting that everyone stockpile resources, people's minds can be changed.
A sensible player would wisely focus their efforts in other areas, like stockpiling buff food and healing items. Why fight ship to the death? It would be better to use resources to build more cannons.
As for other channels, Chen Dixin can't reach them all, so he can only try his best to give everyone some motivational speeches every night, hoping that everyone will voluntarily contribute their resources before they die.
As long as they are not reclaimed by the system, the remaining people will have much more resources available to them.
Aside from the fact that she couldn't access the chat channel, Shen Dixin had no way of knowing what was happening outside and could only grope her way forward in the dark. She didn't know if others would agree with her idea.
The fewer than 15,000 people in this channel are as insignificant as a speck of dust in the face of all humanity. There is much that Chen Qingxin can do, but perhaps not much that he can change.
She closed her eyes tightly, sweeping away all other thoughts.
Our supplies are not yet adequate; we cannot afford to fall into a situation where we are out of ammunition and food.
Currently, she has enough food to sustain 10,000 people for three months. Her medicine consists of 90% bloodworms, and there aren't many medicines that can restore blood. She can make do with what she has to last for one or two months without any problem.
But this is the limit; items that are beneficial for combat, such as trap bombs and protective shields, are basically out of stock.
For items with recipes, you can craft them by hand; for items without recipes, you can make them yourself. The good news is that almost all special professions in the channel have been recruited, resulting in a considerable number of items produced.
Organizing defensive warfare exercises should not be overlooked; the use of high-tech city walls alone is a science in itself.
The city wall built by the engineers had no gates; it was entirely controlled by commands, allowing for the creation of gaps of any size.
How to attack a sea monster through a gap without getting hurt? How to safely retreat if you want to escape the city wall in melee combat? What to do if there are unexpected situations, such as a small sea monster breaking through the gap?
After calming her mind and reflecting, several coping techniques and management measures immediately came to mind, and she began to draft them in the chat box.
The uncertainty and anxiety from before have long since vanished. Let's just try our best and treat this as a war fought alone.
Compared to the blizzards of a few days ago, the light snow seems harmless, but only those in the midst of it know that the temperature hasn't risen at all. These are the last three days of the first year, and danger is brewing.
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