The Deal Behind the Scenes-Longevity Water for the Eye of the Storm

Therefore, it is clear that Gao Linzhi made the right choice in coming here.

This was a lucky accident.

Moreover, before he could even ask about the matter, this C-level personnel was summoned by Tongzi to be assigned a task.

"In two days, the institute will be sending people to the eye of the storm."

"You need to lead the team well. If we succeed this time, I'll give you six months of leave and arrange women for you."

The boy drew the pie very smoothly.

Sure enough, two days later.

The boy led a small squad of soldiers out to drive the crowd away, then tied their hands together and strung them in a chain.

Only Gao Linzhi was not linked together, as he was the team leader.

"Come on, the time has come when the master needs you!"

"Be proactive, don't make the master work hard!"

Of course, it's impossible to take the initiative.

The starving people had just had enough to eat for two weeks, and their will to survive was at its strongest.

Some people chose to cower in the corner of the house, some tried to escape, and some pleaded for mercy.

The most horrific incident involved someone smashing their own leg; the stark white bone fragments looked incredibly painful.

This is clearly a tactic to appease the Latins.

Gao Linzhi greatly admired the other party.

Such determination and endurance are something most people couldn't withstand.

Many people would rather die a quick and painless death than risk becoming disabled.

"Hmph, even if your bones are broken, you still have to get on. I'll just throw you down so you can be the first one, and it'll save me the trouble of holding you still." The boy immediately ordered his men to lift the disabled man onto the cart.

Gao Linzhi followed the group all the way to the southwest corner of the imperial city, where there was an inner city dock.

In other words, the imperial city was deliberately extended to the seaside, creating a cape city.

A section of the city wall and gate extends into the sea, inside which is a large pier.

Clearly, this was used by the royal family to escape during a crisis.

At that moment, a large ocean-going vessel was anchored on the dock.

Driven by the soldiers, more than a hundred starving people rushed onto the boat.

One by one, they realized something was wrong and, like pigs and chickens waiting to be slaughtered, began to stir.

"Let us go!"

"We are law-abiding citizens!"

"We'll do our best to repay what we ate!"

The starving people shouted themselves hoarse, which quickly drew the ire of the Noble Personage on the ship.

The boy then used a silencing talisman, picked up a leather whip, and began striking them on the head one by one.

Whether they shouted or not, they were all beaten until their heads were bleeding.

Gao Linzhi simply watched.

In another time and space, this has been the way things have been for thousands of years, without ever changing.

When you lack the ability to escape the so-called royal domain, you can only accept this fate.

The starving people were then forced onto the boat.

Gao Linzhi quickly followed suit and boarded the ship.

The large ship weighed anchor and set sail, and the gates of Haicheng opened.

At first, the large ship was sailing on the sea.

When it had traveled more than a hundred miles away from the island, it suddenly took flight.

Suddenly, a gigantic, deathly white hand appeared from beneath the sea and reached out to grab the ship.

Seeing the ship take off and the giant hand retreating listlessly beneath the sea, Gao Linzhi truly understood from the details why the Sky Wolf Dynasty's influence was unable to cover the surrounding islands.

The only option is to let them reproduce on their own, allowing them to establish their own independent communities.

The Sky Wolf Dynasty certainly had a way to cross the sea.

It relies on making the ship fly.

However, it is clear that the operating cost of such a spacecraft is extremely high.

Air freight is much more expensive than sea freight; that's common sense.

If it weren't for the eye of the storm, which is of immense value, they wouldn't have been able to fly across the sea using large ships.

Before long, a flock of seabirds appeared in the sky and began to attack the large ship frantically.

At that moment, just as the starving people were panicking, a large number of high-frequency flashes suddenly appeared around the ship, accompanied by a piercing noise.

Numerous runes stood out on the deck and hull.

Gao Linzhi sensed an energy fluctuation emanating from the center of the cabin.

Moreover, the energy is getting stronger and stronger.

Clearly, the large ship is consuming some kind of energy to unleash extraordinary power in order to fight against these frenzied seabirds.

Sure enough, the boy soon came over to him and said:

"Don't panic, the gentlemen have already activated the Heavenly Talisman, using Sky Crystal."

"The situation will improve as soon as the Sky Crystal is used."

Sure enough, the seabirds soon left one after another.

However, Gao Linzhi noticed that the boy also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

I see.

This kind of voyage requires a special kind of Sky Crystal, which can be compared to spirit ore or Spirit Stone in the spiritual energy revival.

Offline oil and coal.

They're all the same thing.

"Where did this Sky Crystal come from?" Gao Linzhi asked.

"This is something that appeared after the arrival of extraterrestrials."

"It must be obtained from the bodies of mature, powerful demons, and these demons must be over a thousand years old."

"The officials at the Imperial Observatory are currently trying to figure out a way to produce it."

Gao Linzhi frowned slightly. He had defeated many bosses but had not found this thing.

It was probably artificially synthesized by the imperial court.

The game won't reveal it directly.

Similar to gasoline, it is refined from petroleum.

The extraterrestrial beings the boy mentioned likely refer to the Demonic Creatures lairs generated in the game.

Only with nests can a large number of BOSSes, that is, adult demons, be produced.

Otherwise, relying on natural generation would have led to their extinction long ago, given the efficiency of human exploitation.

Without a power advantage, the plants and animals that coexist with humans will either be extinct or coexist with humans, becoming like rats, mosquitoes, or poultry.

However, even if the imperial court could produce them artificially, it could not afford to supply such regular flights.

It can only be used in emergencies.

Not long after the seabirds left, the large flying ship encountered an aerial storm.

The storm seemed to be targeting the large ships.

The large ship activated its runes again, accelerating away and finally shaking off the storm.

They encountered several dangers in just one hour of sailing.

In this situation, how would one use such a large ship to travel between different places?

The risk was too high, so high that even the colonists of the Age of Grand Voyage couldn't withstand it.

The once dense array of runes on the ship has visibly diminished.

Many runes have stopped shining, clearly indicating they are disposable materials.

Clearly, this kind of activation, besides consuming energy, also represents a huge drain on the runes themselves.

These are clearly talismans used for exorcising and warding off evil spirits.

And the quantity is enormous.

However, when faced with something strange, their best course of action is still to run away.

Only if escape is not an option should driving them away be considered.

Like those seabirds.

It wasn't that the large ship didn't want to escape, but rather that the seabirds were flying too fast and had to be driven away.

Driving them away is obviously much more costly than letting them escape.

Escaping can also speed things up.

And at this time...

The boy said something unintentionally:

"Sigh, this voyage alone could burn through at least ten years' worth of revenue for three Prefectural Island."

Therefore, it is clearly unsuitable for suppressing the surrounding islands.

Even if we were to capture those rebellious, independent islands, the cost of transporting them wouldn't be enough to cover even a single instance.

Feudal dynasties have historically chosen to gradually abandon regions that were unable to make ends meet.

Every time there's a disturbance, it's suppressed; every suppression results in a loss.

So they chose to retreat, withdrawing from one fortress after another.

Finally, I'll come back completely.

The most typical example is the abandonment of nomadic areas.

After a full three days and four nights of sailing.

At dawn, they sailed their large ship for tens of thousands of miles, crossing the ocean, before finally arriving near Wolf Snake Island.

They only glanced at it from the sky a few times and didn't pay much attention to it.

A boy casually remarked, "Sir, there's a thriving town of extraterrestrials down here."

"We'll talk about it when they get to the top," the old Daoist priest said nonchalantly.

Gao Linzhi sneered inwardly.

It was just another trick.

These feudal dynasties all waited until the tree grew too big before they started cutting it down.

After passing through the Wolf Snake Path, they continued south.

Another day passed, and they finally discovered the Eye of the Storm that Gao Linzhi had explored.

The large ship hovered a hundred miles away from the Eye of the Storm, and everyone began their work with great intensity.

The young attendants and the old Daoist priest with the whisk were no longer relaxed as before; instead, they all became busy.

They packed up the equipment, moved it out, and placed it on the deck.

Gao Linzhi's eyes were opened once again.

A large, handcrafted telescope; the lenses are clearly hand-ground.

Because it is engraved with various runes, showing obvious signs of handcrafting, and each rune has a different level of precision, it is clear that it could not have been produced on an industrial assembly line.

In reality, feudal dynasties could not support genuine industrialization.

Gao Linzhi saw a familiar person.

That's Ouyang Jing from the Imperial Observatory's high tower laboratory from last time.

She came out of the cabin, wearing a mask and a white coat.

She led a group of people to the deck railing and began the Eye of the Storm.

"You few collect seawater, you few set up a protective barrier."

"You guys, take a few people and test it out."

It has to be said.

Judging from his orders alone, Ouyang Jing is an extremely cruel and inhuman person.

To expect any humanity from someone who treats their fellow human beings as mere material is wishful thinking.

Gao Linzhi decided that this time, he would also throw the other person into the Eye of the Storm, so that she could personally test the effect.

She didn't care about the lives of ordinary people at all.

Gao Linzhi witnessed firsthand how the enemy's men directly selected two starving civilians, then piloted a small airship and threw them into the Eye of the Storm.

And that Eye of the Storm was clearly not a real eye.

Gao Linzhi's previous guess was wrong.

It resembles the gaping maw of a Taotie.

As the person fell, the constantly spinning vortex suddenly opened up.

It suddenly swallowed the two of them whole.

Then things calmed down even more.

The vortexes slowed down considerably, as if they were digesting something.

Gao Linzhi.

It turns out the previous irritant was similar to chili powder; if you choked on it, you would sneeze.

The other side is currently using various experimental samples to test the reaction of this Eye of the Storm.

Three days later.

Gao Linzhi quietly sneaked into a cabin, where Ouyang Jing collected a large amount of information and discussed something with the old Daoist priest.

"Daoist Master Tiansheng, it seems the laws governing this Eye of the Storm are in the hands of those extraterrestrials."

"Does your execution department have any way to arrest one or two key personnel and interrogate them? This would be much more useful than our blind experiments," Ouyang Jing said calmly, as if she were catching a puppy or kitten.

"They're not easy to catch. They're seasoned veterans from Island No. 8. They're very difficult to capture. They're experienced and won't be easily fooled," Daoist Master Tiansheng said, shaking his head.

"Don't you have any strategies?" Ouyang Jing asked, still somewhat unwilling to give up.

Anyone who does scientific research understands how comfortable it would be if there were shortcuts.

"They've already run out of tricks. Those veteran players are much more cunning than the new ones. They're all slippery and will log off to hide at the slightest sound. They're also using decoys, puppets, and proxies with great enthusiasm. You might think you've caught someone, but it turns out to be just an ordinary native villager who's been hypnotized and controlled by them."

"They seem to be behaving in a very rigid manner, acting according to the habits of the players, but in reality, their souls are still those of villagers. It's just that their thoughts have been hypnotized into the shape of the players," Daoist Master Tiansheng said helplessly.

"Damn it, these extraterrestrials are so cunning. If only they had stayed that stupid." Ouyang Jing said angrily.

"There's no way around it. The fools have all been quickly captured by our people, and those who remain are naturally the cunning ones. Unless we choose to capture the clever ones and leave the fools behind."

"That's true. It seems we need to find a way to trade with the smart ones among them."

After overhearing the conversation, Gao Linzhi then witnessed the transaction taking place.

The player from Island No. 8, New Century Amber, the same ID who once competed with him for the leaderboard and reached 88,888 points, brazenly appeared on the deck.

Of course, Gao Linzhi believed that this might be the other party's double or puppet.

Displaying your game ID above your head isn't a difficult task.

For example, you can find a new player and change their name to the same one; you just need to add some invisible special characters.

The simplest is a space; if a space doesn't work, there's also a period...

In short, scammers use all sorts of methods.

Many people don't understand and mistake the scammer's ID for an official one, thus being deceived by so-called "benefit accounts," "discount accounts," or "insider accounts."

After careful observation, Gao Linzhi indeed discovered something fishy about the player's ID.

The other party is actually [New Century Amber].

That tiny dot, so very tiny, is barely noticeable when it's hanging on your head and covered by a hat or other decorations.

If Gao Linzhi hadn't been prejudiced, anyone who saw it at first glance would have overlooked it.

"My friend, it's not difficult for you to obtain the rules of the Eye of the Storm. Just give us one thing," New Century Point Amber said with a smile.

Clearly, this new player had been hypnotized into the shape of real amber.

His expressions, words, and actions were all manipulated by the real Amber behind the scenes.

"What is it?"

"The Longevity Water? We've heard that your Imperial Observatory obtained the Longevity Water, which can extend one's lifespan by two hundred years, from somewhere."

"Impossible. There's only a small gourd. It's not enough for the emperor and prime ministers to share, let alone for you," Ouyang Jing refused directly.

She couldn't help but be surprised; these players were well-informed, suggesting that they were colluding with high-ranking officials within the imperial court.

This information was likely leaked by a high-ranking official who didn't receive a sufficient share.

"Hehe, we don't need much, just a tiny bit for research," New Century Amber said confidently.

"That's negotiable."