Chapter 135 What is warmth if not love?
"How about it?"
“It’s a bit strange,” Lu Mingang replied. “It’s like someone is stuffing food directly into your stomach, even spoonful by spoonful.”
Ten minutes later, he patted his stomach, picked up his lunch basket, and sure enough, all the food inside was gone.
"Should I put my food in the lunch basket from now on?"
Lu Mingang asked, but there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes. He had finally seen the person he had missed for so long, but it seemed that there would be even less contact with him in the future.
However, Lu Mingang quickly let it go. Who else could be closer to Shen Dixin than him?
Meanwhile, Chen Dixin was already enthusiastically rummaging through the things that had been brought back.
Lu Mingang had roughly categorized them, piling all the ship upgrade materials in an open space, since he could see how much there was just by opening the panel.
Weapons and medicines were kept in the original boxes. After Shen Dixin took them all to the arena, the supplies, which were already scarce, were quickly replenished, and a second wooden box even split off.
The fleet has warehouses. Chen Dixin plans to put all the weapons in the base's warehouse later. Team members who need them can register and exchange them for contributions according to their needs.
Her ship was already heading towards the stronghold at full speed. It has to be said that with the crew's help, the ship's speed was indeed much faster, and the speed of collecting supplies from the sea surface had increased visibly. The salvage work that could originally be completed by two robots now required additional manpower.
Fortunately, they were not short of manpower at the moment. Lu Mingang only glanced at the situation before summoning two more little elves to help.
In the past two months, his brewed wine has sold well. Perhaps because he is a chef, Lu Mingang has made rapid and good progress in the winemaking industry.
He tried all the recipes and possible ingredients that Shen Dixin had previously searched for, and even improved some of them, so that their shop could also have a special drink like Explosive Liquor.
He had plenty of white coins from the start, and every time he went to the port, he was like a miser, buying nothing except the cheapest little elves. Since Chen Di was not in the mood, he had to help her accumulate wealth so that she wouldn't be strapped for cash when she returned.
It can only be said that Shen Dixin is really big-hearted. He leaves the things on the ship to Lu Mingang and the things outside the ship to Coffee, and the two of them do a better job than the other.
The little elves got busy, carrying stacks of planks taller than themselves to the cabin, while various supply boxes were left to dry under the sails.
Chen Dixin adjusted the instructions, letting them settle down and pack the messy supplies into wooden crates. Although this didn't affect their usability, it effectively brightened her mood.
The main attraction is the purple-grade and above items and various rare resources, such as her 193 forging stones and 193 backpack expansion slots!
Shen Dixin's first reaction was to take out Dark Night. She only used this knife when she was fighting weak opponents in close combat. Because her basic skills were not solid, she would try to avoid close combat when facing strong enemies. Wouldn't it be better to use a gun?
Once outside the arena, it's impossible to find so many formidable opponents.
The crossbow, which fires at most two bolts at a time, has a frankly low attack frequency. It's still better for killing sea monster minions, especially since it has the matching Night attribute. Shen Dixin has no intention of abandoning this knife that has been with her since she was a nobody.
[Required for weapon evolution in the Dark Night: 150 Forging Stones, 300 Sea Serpent Gallbladders, 200 Chaos Fangs, 200 Fine Steel, 100 Mixed Ore, 20 Corrupted Ocean Hearts]
The materials needed for another evolution are more than ten times more. If Chen Dixin hadn't become a real dog tycoon, he wouldn't have been willing to evolve at all.
She has a chance to choose the type of supplies almost every three games, and has accumulated nearly a hundred kinds of supplies, totaling 193 sets, the lowest of which are blue-grade materials like iron ore.
She has both high-quality steel and mixed ore!
Shen Dixin smiled. The most valuable material was already in hand. Was there any difficulty left?
As soon as she opened her acquisition window, the crowd of onlookers arrived even faster than the surging sea creature materials.
Call Me Your Majesty: Friends, look what I've found! Sister Chen's shop is getting a buy-in deal, and it's even marine animal materials! Don't you think she's back?
In Your Name: You mean that player who's been quiet but still holds the top spot on the leaderboard? Isn't it confirmed that they're cheating?
Salty Fish King: Really? Does that mean the fleet is going to upgrade and expand? I want to go in and raise fish too! I want to live in a house on the island!
Meteorite Border Collie: You're such a jealous person who can't stand seeing others do well. If I had a cheat, I'd kick you into the sea first. You've been eating too many fish and you're starting to resonate with sea monsters, haven't you?
Mars guards the heart: It's more reassuring to have Sister Shen guarding it.
Today is a good day: Is she the boss of the First Fleet? Can't we ask her to change the deputy leader? That woman is always making things difficult for me. My application to join is perfectly fine, and I'm ranked 87th, much better than her. Why is she blocking me from joining? I think she's trusted the wrong person. Entrusting the fleet to someone like that will only lead to its downfall.
Shen Dixin ignored the complaint. She believed in trusting those she employed and not employing those she didn't trust. Coffee managed the fleet very well and met all her demands, which was enough for her.
As for the top players on the leaderboard... in reality, most of the players recruited by the fleet don't have a ranking on the leaderboard.
If someone is too strong, they will have unrealistic expectations about their treatment and may even demand that the fleet allocate resources to them.
The so-called coffee was making things difficult for him, but it was just that he couldn't provide what the fleet needed. On the contrary, the mid-to-upper-level players were very clear about their own strength and knew what they needed. They didn't mind being Shen Dixin's tool at all. That's exactly what she needed!
The channel has many new faces. After multiple server merges, the current 20,000 players are vastly different from the 20,000 players before Shen Dixing left. Perhaps only half of them will survive.
After observing for a while, Shen Dixin spotted several familiar names and couldn't help but smile knowingly.
Although she needed a lot of materials, she quickly gathered them thanks to her wealth.
—Weapon Evolution!
The Dark Night, having evolved once again, hasn't changed much in name or appearance; in fact, it's become even more understated.
Its quality hasn't improved; it's still gold. After all, multicolored items don't usually appear on normal items.
Shen Dixin had expected this and was not disappointed. Instead, she took out the Luminous Stone. She had been hesitating about where to use the last Luminous Stone, besides the [unclear] and the Moonlight Necklace. Should she use it on the helmet that restores her status? Or the boots that have a time-stopping effect?
It seems she won't have to hesitate for long; the Dark Night, with its greatly enhanced stealth attributes after evolution, is exactly what she needs!
【Item Name: Dark Night】
【Item Quality: Multicolored (Fake)】
【Durability: 8000/8000】
[Equipment Attributes: Strength 24]
【Equipment Effects: Shadow (Conceals your form; stamina consumption doubles every minute during this period), Nightwalker (When walking in the dark, all attributes increase by 10%; presence decreases continuously when not attacking; damage increased by 5% every five minutes for the next attack), Midge (When your whereabouts are not revealed, attacks have 100% lifesteal).】
[Item Description: Fool, what I wanted was stealth! Giving me such a flashy sword, what kind of assassin am I? Go back to the furnace and get reforged!!]
Shen Dixin couldn't help but stroke the blade of Dark Night up and down, almost kissing it!
Sensing its master's excited expression, the weapon at its waist stirred restlessly, eager to clash with the opponent; it was the strongest weapon!
The Dark Night class has an extremely rare lifesteal effect, which isn't too difficult to trigger. It would be even better if it could be shared with other classes.
With its help, the Moonlight Necklace also advanced to Five Colors (Pseudo). The stats and attributes remained unchanged, but Shen Dixin could feel that all the functions left by Lotes could be used, creating a space without any restrictions on types!
The remaining colored stone was not used by Chen Dixin easily. It would be safer to wait until the engineers had done all the possible modifications and upgraded it to the highest gold quality level before using it.
She couldn't possibly use all 193 backpack expansion slots by herself; that would be too extravagant. Besides, with the new space, Chen Qingxin didn't need too many slots.
She only expanded her grid to fifty, sold half of the remaining half, and kept the other half in the fleet warehouse as exchange items.
After processing a large amount of supplies, the other good items obtained through tips were rather fragmented.
There are gemstones that look unremarkable but have a golden quality that makes even the most discerning star charts exclaim that they are blindingly bright.
There are thermos cups that can heat up regardless of temperature and without energy. I don't know which kind soul came up with such a thoughtful idea. These things are very useful in winter, as you can always have hot water.
With a 40% damage reduction attribute, this top-tier shield is not only invincible, but also makes you an absolute force to be reckoned with. If it doesn't require two-handed wielding, you can certainly use it yourself.
There are some relics of the merfolk that were lost and wandered. Heaven knows how many ancestors the merfolk had. Keep them safe and give them to Soraya next time.
There are also items that aren't very useful but are full of fun, such as bed sheets and duvet covers with adjustable patterns, and tissue boxes that can be filled with wooden boards so you can always pull out tissues, so you won't need to buy paper anymore.
She even found the last missing piece of her marine mammal encyclopedia (fragment) inside! How did they know she needed this...?
The more I look into it and cleanse my heart, the more I feel that the people with white faces might genuinely like her. Look at these things, how happy they are!
Thermos cups, tissue boxes, towels, wind chimes... she tirelessly ran in and out, placing everything in the most convenient places.
The villa, decorated by her, looked so warm and inviting that it brought tears to Shen Di's eyes.
At the same time, she inwardly apologized for having doubted the white-faced man's intentions. Yes, Chen Dixin was indeed such a materialistic person! To have so many useful and interesting things crammed into her—what else could it be but love?
Without her noticing, the corners of her mouth turned up in a wide smile that she couldn't suppress.
On another boat not far away, Lu Mingang secretly watched her through the window, his smile quickly spreading.
Shen Dixin put on the thermal clothing given to her by the pale-faced man. This was not a cheap item she had taken from the person in charge; it was a purple-grade thermal item!
Generally speaking, warm clothing is essential for everyone in winter. Even if you can't afford to wear thermal clothing, you'll probably stick on some heat packs or hold a hand warmer, otherwise getting frostbite is a minor issue.
If the system determines that it is "frostbite", then the entire area cannot be moved. The only thing to do is take medicine and keep warm. If the situation worsens and becomes "severe frostbite", there is basically no hope of recovery. Losing health every second, reducing all attributes to 10%, and having difficulty moving are enough to kill a person.
Lu Mingang had already prepared the warm items, but there were no purple items, the highest grade was only blue, and there were no higher blueprints available. Players hadn't developed their own crafting to that level.
I heard that all the trap masters have switched to researching hand warmers, blacksmiths have stopped making weapons and are now making hand warmers, clothing craftsmen are all producing warm clothing, and even gem craftsmen like Star Chart Masters are starting to wonder if jewelry made from Flame Crystals and Rubies would have a cold-proof effect.
The high-end cold-weather suit was indeed different. As soon as he put it on, Shen Dixin felt the cold was firmly blocked out, and his bare hands became flexible, as if his frozen blood had resumed its flow.
After carefully changing the color of the new bed sheets, Chen Dixin lay down and within five seconds felt the light in front of her being blocked, and she could smell a warm scent, like a freshly dried quilt.
Hanming circled around and landed on Chen Dixin's shoulder. "It's been a long time, my love!"
"Azure brought you a gift!" It deliberately puffed out its shiny chest, revealing the cloth bag hanging on it.
Shen Dixing went out of the house and looked out. What came into view were three mountain bream, each one no smaller than the ones Shen Dixing had caught.
Upon smelling the familiar scent, Zhu Sha became excited and slid down from its small water tank to the front of it. Its tentacles pried at the fish and at Chen Dixin at the same time, indicating that it wanted to eat this!
Now, the Mountain Fish is no longer considered anything special by her; she can easily exchange a lot of purple ingredients as long as she has the resources.
But this is a heartfelt gift from Azure!
This guy actually gave away three fish. Shen Dixin hadn't forgotten how Zhan Lan was heartbroken when she had only caught a few back then.
I'll send her something later. What should I send? Kids shouldn't drink alcohol, I wonder if she'd like some baby sea creatures?
Keep them as pets; if you don't like them anymore, you can eat them!
Cloth bags can only store things temporarily and cannot preserve them. However, with such cold weather, leaving things in them for a day or two is fine, and they can even last for ten days or half a month without any problems.
Chen Dixin instructed the little elf to put the frozen mountain fish into the ice storage.
It's not for preservation, since the freezer is only -30°C, which is similar to the weather outside; it's just that I can't stand food being carelessly thrown on the ground.
The drooling Zhu Sha got all the fish. Shen Dixin thought that the Mountain Lan Fish was just an ordinary purple ingredient for players, and the only special thing about it was that it was a bit big. Zhu Sha was different. It liked to eat it and eating the Mountain Lan Fish was quite beneficial to it.
Investing in a pet that will never betray you is a worthwhile investment, after all, Zhu Sha is now a combat power on par with Lu Mingang.
[Race: Candle Jellyfish]
[Level: 14]
Experience Points: 15000 (Daily cap 1400)
[HP: 320/320]
Stamina: 172/210
【Attributes: Constitution 15 (1), Strength 24 (1), Agility 27 (1)】
[Skills: Strike, Intimidation, Elasticity (You can adjust your limbs at will; flexibility increases your resistance to physical attacks, granting you 20% physical immunity), Illumination (Puts all enemies within a 100-meter radius into a dazed state for five seconds; 12-hour cooldown)]
[Talents: Concentration, Poison, Candlelight (Mental resilience increases by 20% under the glow of the Candlelight Jellyfish)]
Loyalty: 95 (It will stand by you through thick and thin, even in life and death.)
Although there is still a gap between the three dimensions of cinnabar and those of players wearing equipment, consuming Wisdom Dew brings not only wisdom, but fundamentally a leap forward in the level of life.
According to it, upon waking up, it found that all its attributes had increased by five, it had awakened new skills, some skill effects had changed, and its mind was clearer than ever before. Under these circumstances, it would not be a problem to fight six or seven players with similar attributes.
The effect of candlelight is doubled, giving me more confidence to calm my mind when facing mental attacks.
And... level 14? She looked at Zhu Sha, then opened Yuan Bao's panel. Level 13, every single one of them was a higher level than her!
Shen Dixin felt a rare sense of defeat. Good heavens, her level had actually been surpassed by her own pet!
Yes, although there are fights to be had every day in the arena, killing a beast only gives 300 experience points at most, so Shen Dixin doesn't earn much experience at all.
While this is partly due to the fact that pets require less experience to level up, the leaderboard is now dominated by level 13 players following closely behind Shen Dixin.
She steadily suppressed the other players with her level 12 character and level 7 ship.
The initial excitement, anticipation, confusion, and unease surrounding the discovery that someone had surpassed Chen Dixin gradually turned into normalcy.
Now, even if someone levels up to level 14 or 15, they won't be surprised.
Whether you're ranked first on the left or right, or Chen Dixin, what's the point of fighting over rank? You only have two free attribute points anyway, it won't make a difference.
It's one thing if your level doesn't increase, but it's another thing if your attributes do.
Shen Dixin trained for two months, and apart from fighting on the field, she never relaxed for a moment. All of this paid off handsomely, as she raised her initial attributes to 9, 9, 9, only three attribute points away from the limit.
Her current stats are Constitution 28 (18), Strength 42 (21), and Agility 21 (17), and she has unlocked the second passive ability for Agility.
[Desperate Measures: When both health and stamina are below 30%, movement speed increases by 100%, and stamina consumption decreases to 50%.]
Shen Dixin felt that she would have a hard time using this passive ability.
As they approached the island, a port and lighthouse were built at the outpost, appearing and disappearing in the continuous snow and fog.
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