The logo on that sail was... a pirate!
Pirates could actually appear in these public waters!
The man shuddered in fright. He immediately turned the wheel and moved farther away.
[Ghost Skull Sail: An unusual ghost-fire pattern with a one-of-a-kind eerie style! Players who see it gain +1 Fear Value]
"Wow, girl, did you draw the design on your sail yourself? It's pretty cool."
Another voice came from behind Ling Chu. She turned to look and saw a young girl with a baby face. When she saw the sail, a fleeting trace of fear appeared in her eyes, but curiosity made up most of her expression.
Ling Chu did not reply.
It was obvious from the man's expression that pirates were not well-liked.
On top of that, the incident Sanfuye had caused earlier had given most players an even stronger bias against pirates.
Unless absolutely necessary, Ling Chu did not want to cause trouble either. She only wanted to complete this challenge smoothly.
In the baby-faced girl's eyes, Ling Chu's silence seemed more like an admission.
"Here, take this card. Could you draw one for me too?"
The baby-faced girl gave her wrist a hard flick, tossing a card-like object toward Ling Chu. Ling Chu caught it and took a look.
[Sail Logo DIY Hand-drawn Card] [Single-use item] [Draw the design you want, and it will appear on the sail at the same time.]
Before Ling Chu could reply, everyone received a system notification at the same time.
[All participating players have entered the public waters. The challenge is about to begin.] [This challenge will last two hours. The objective is to clear marine litter and hazardous organisms from the seafloor. The final cleanliness score will be used for evaluation, and the player with the highest cleanliness score will be the winner. Please note that some hazardous organisms are deadly. Clean carefully~] [Cleaning tools have been air-dropped onto your rafts. We wish you all an enjoyable challenge!]
As the voice faded, an Iron Pickaxe, an Iron Shovel, a set of Snorkeling Gear, and a Net Bag suddenly dropped onto the deck. They were the tools provided by the system.
[Nearby Channel]
"Are we really just going straight into the sea? They didn't even give us life jackets or anything?"
"Are you stupid? How are you supposed to dive wearing a life jacket?"
"I can't swim! If I'd known we had to go into the sea, I wouldn't have participated. Will there be any punishment if I stay on the boat and don't go down?"
"Good idea. Who knows how deep this water is? I'm not going down either..."
The Nearby Channel displayed messages from players within a ten-kilometer radius. Usually, the channel was completely empty, but now it was livelier than it had ever been.
Some people were still hesitating over whether to enter the sea, while others had already taken action.
Splash—
Then came the sound of someone entering the water. Ling Chu had already put on her Flippers, Diving Mask, and Snorkel before leaping into the seawater.
Ling Chu had the Necklace Blessed by Mermaid, which could increase her underwater breathing time by two hours—just enough to complete this challenge.
It was as if it had been tailor-made for her.
If she were not worried about attracting too much attention, she would not even need to bring the Snorkel.
The commotion caused by Ling Chu entering the water was like a pebble dropped into a still lake, jolting everyone who had yet to react awake.
The others hurriedly put on their gear and jumped into the sea.
This challenge was all about who could clear the most trash within the allotted time. Aside from the few landlubbers who did not dare enter the water, no one was willing to fall behind.
After entering the water, Ling Chu first observed her surroundings.
The waters here were not deep. They seemed to be at most fifteen or sixteen meters deep.
The seawater was clear, with excellent visibility. She could clearly see large expanses of reefs and coral growing on the seafloor.
The coral had mostly died and bleached. Numerous black sea urchins and sea stars grew densely in the cracks between the reefs, while a great deal of marine litter was mixed among them, covering the originally dark-brown reefs in black.
Not far away was a huge Trench, as though it divided the underwater world into two. The seawater near the Trench naturally formed a whirlpool, and passing schools of fish avoided it as they swam by.
As long as she did not swim near the whirlpool by the Trench, there should be no danger.
As she passed a reef, she casually pulled a clump of torn fishing net from a crack in the rocks.
[You cleared one piece of marine litter. Cleanliness +1]
She then moved closer to observe the rampant sea urchins and sea stars.
She vaguely remembered that this kind of spiny sea star with many legs was called a Long-spined Sea Star. It fed on coral and was a genuine coral destroyer. The large-scale death of the coral here was probably its handiwork.
Thus, she casually pried off one sea urchin and one sea star with her Dagger.
[You obtained one Long-spined Sea Star. Cleanliness +1] [You obtained one Pompom Sea Urchin. Cleanliness +2] [Long-spined Sea Star. Edible, but very unpalatable. People generally do not eat it unless they are starving.] [Pompom Sea Urchin. Edible and suitable for sashimi. Delicious and nutritious.]
After observing the terrain, Ling Chu returned to the boat.
Titch had been standing at the stern of the Sailboat, steering the vessel. The boats were all more than ten meters apart, and no other players had yet discovered that he was a skeleton.
Ling Chu took out a Sports Suit from one of the System Blind Boxes she had opened earlier and handed it to Titch to put on. She also gave him the Iron Pickaxe, Net Bag, and Flippers.
"Come into the sea with me and collect sea urchins. The more you gather, the better. If the Net Bag gets full, dump them onto the boat."
She was afraid that Titch's Skeletons frame would sink straight to the bottom after entering the water, so she gave him the Flippers as well. Her own swimming skills were good enough that she could swim quickly without them.
"Oh, sea urchins. I know those. Joseph used to dive into the sea and dig up sea urchins for us to eat with our liquor."
Titch thought Ling Chu had a craving for sea urchins. Without a word, he put on the Sports Suit, strapped on the Flippers, and placed the Pirate Hat on his head. As long as no one came close enough to look at his face, he was no different from an ordinary player.
Splash, splash—
Titch followed Ling Chu and plunged back beneath the sea.
Ling Chu gestured for Titch to split up, then picked a reef covered in the most sea urchins and began working.
[Your servant obtained one Pompom Sea Urchin. Cleanliness +2]
Sure enough, the cleanliness score from Titch's sea urchin gathering was also added to hers.
With a helper, breaking into the top ten would not be difficult.
The tip of the Iron Pickaxe wedged into the gap between a sea urchin and the reef. Ling Chu pried outward with all her strength, and a round sea urchin slid into her hand.
The Pompom Sea Urchin gave a slightly higher cleanliness score than the Long-spined Sea Star, and it could be eaten too. Naturally, Ling Chu chose to dig up sea urchins.
She had seen plenty of sea-urchin-gathering videos on a short-video platform before. In them, divers could instantly cut four or five sea urchins loose with their tools, and it looked incredibly satisfying. But only after actually doing it did she realize it was not that simple.
Some sea urchins grew in the craggy cracks of the reefs, requiring precise force to dig out. The constantly surging waves also caused her body to drift from time to time.
However, the sea urchins here were densely packed. Ling Chu directly gave up on those wedged into cracks and only gathered the ones attached to the reef's surface that were easy to pry loose.
Ling Chu used the Fish Basket she normally used for fishing to hold the sea urchins. Whenever it was full, she simply emptied it into the Ring Space, saving herself the time of returning to the boat.
The Fish Basket in her hand visibly grew fuller.
Just as she was Focused on gathering sea urchins, an accident happened in an instant.
A muffled boom came from the seawater. Not far ahead of Ling Chu, the sea urchin in a player's hand suddenly exploded. He was instantly transformed into a hedgehog by the sea urchin's blasted spines. Apparently half-conscious, he struggled upward toward the surface.
Before you continue