Long-spined Sea Star and Pompom Sea Urchin

The symbol on this sail is... a Pirate!

There are actually pirates appearing in these public waters!

The man was so startled his whole body trembled. He immediately spun the helm and moved his raft farther away.

[Ghost Skull Sail: A unique ghost fire pattern with an unmatched eerie aura! Causes any player who sees it to gain +1 Fear Value]

"Wow, sis, did you draw that pattern on your sail yourself? It's kind of cool."

Another voice came from behind Ling Chu. She turned her head and saw a young girl with a baby face. When the girl looked at the sail, there was a fleeting fear in her eyes, but more than that, curiosity.

Ling Chu didn't reply.

From that man's expression alone, it was clear that Pirates weren't well-liked.

Add in the trouble Sanfuye had stirred up earlier, and most players already held a prejudice against Pirates.

Unless she had no choice, Ling Chu didn't want to cause trouble. She just wanted to complete this challenge smoothly.

Ling Chu's silence came across to the baby-faced girl as tacit agreement.

"Here, take this card. Can you draw one for me too?"

The baby-faced girl flicked her wrist, and something like a card flew toward Ling Chu. She caught it and looked.

[Sail Logo DIY Hand-drawn Card]

[One-time consumable]

[Allows you to draw a desired pattern that will be synced and displayed on the sail.]

Before Ling Chu could respond, 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 lasts 2 hours. The objective is to clean up seabed trash and hazardous organisms. The final judgment will be based on cleanliness level, and the player with the highest cleanliness wins. Please note, some hazardous organisms are lethally dangerous. Clean with care~]

[Cleaning tools have been air-dropped onto each player's raft. Best of luck with the challenge!]

As the words faded, an Iron Pickaxe, an Iron Shovel, a set of Snorkeling Gear, and a Net Bag materialized out of thin air onto the deck—tools issued by the system.

[Nearby Channel]

"Are we just going straight into the water like this? No life jacket or anything?"

"You're an idiot. How are you supposed to dive with a life jacket on?"

"I can't swim. If I'd known I'd have to go in the water, I wouldn't have joined. What's the penalty for staying on the boat and not going down?"

"Great 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. Normally, this channel was completely blank, but now it was buzzing with unprecedented activity.

Some were still agonizing over whether to go into the water, while others had already taken action.

Splash—

The sound of someone entering the water rang out. Ling Chu had already put on her Flippers, Diving Mask, and Snorkel and leaped into the sea.

Ling Chu had the Necklace Blessed by Mermaid, which granted an extra two hours of underwater breathing time—just enough to complete this challenge.

It was as if it had been tailor-made for her.

If she weren't afraid of drawing too much attention, she wouldn't even need to bring the Snorkel.

The splash of Ling Chu entering the water was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, snapping the others out of their daze.

Everyone scrambled to put on their gear and jumped into the sea.

This challenge was all about who could clear the most trash within the time limit. Aside from those land lubbers too afraid to go in, no one wanted to fall behind.

After entering the water, Ling Chu's first move was to observe her surroundings.

The waters here weren't deep—at most fifteen or sixteen meters.

The seawater was clear, with high visibility. She could clearly see large stretches of reefs and coral growing on the seabed.

Most of the coral was already dead and bleached. In the crevices of the reefs, countless black sea urchins and starfish were densely packed, and among the cracks were scattered piles of marine trash, covering the originally dark brown rocks in black.

Not far away, a massive Trench split the underwater world in two. Near the Trench, the seawater naturally formed whirlpools, and passing schools of fish swam around them to avoid the currents.

As long as she didn't swim near the Trench's whirlpools, there was no danger.

She passed by a reef and casually pulled a tangled piece of fishing net from a crevice.

[You have cleaned up a piece of marine trash. Cleanliness +1]

She then moved closer to examine the overgrown sea urchins and starfish.

She vaguely remembered that this kind of starfish, with its many legs and spines, was called a Long-spined Sea Star. It fed on coral and was a true coral destroyer. The massive coral die-off here was likely its doing.

So she casually used her dagger to pry off one sea urchin and one starfish.

[You have harvested a Long-spined Sea Star. Cleanliness +1]

[You have harvested a Pompom Sea Urchin. Cleanliness +2]

[Long-spined Sea Star: Edible, but tastes terrible. No one would normally eat it unless they were starving.]

[Pompom Sea Urchin — edible, can be eaten raw as sashimi, delicious taste, rich in nutrients.]

After surveying the terrain, Ling Chu returned to the ship.

Titch had been standing at the stern of the sailboat, steering, with a dozen meters between each vessel, so he hadn't yet been discovered by other players as a skeleton.

Ling Chu pulled out a Sports Suit she'd gotten from a System Blind Box earlier and handed it to Titch, telling him to put it on. She also gave him the Iron Pickaxe, Net Bag, and Flippers.

"Follow me down to collect sea urchins. The more the better. When the net bag's full, dump them on the ship."

Worried that Titch's Skeleton Frame would sink straight to the bottom once underwater, she gave him the Flippers as well. Her own swimming was good enough that she could move fast without them.

"Oh, sea urchins. I know those. Joseph used to dive down and dig some up for us to go with our drinks."

Titch assumed Ling Chu was craving sea urchins to eat. Without a second word, he pulled on the sports outfit, strapped on the Flippers, and topped it all with his Pirate Hat. As long as no one got close enough to see his face, he looked no different from any ordinary player.

Plop, plop—

Titch followed Ling Chu in a sharp dive back beneath the sea.

Ling Chu gestured a split-up signal to Titch, then picked a reef thick with sea urchins and got to work.

[Your servant has harvested a Pompom Sea Urchin. Cleanliness +2]

Sure enough, any sea urchin Titch collected counted toward her Cleanliness score too.

With a helper, breaking into the top ten wouldn't be hard.

The tip of the Iron Pickaxe wedged into the gap between the sea urchin and the reef. Ling Chu pried hard, and a round, plump urchin slid into her hand.

Since Pompom Sea Urchins gave more Cleanliness than Long-spined Sea Stars and were also edible, Ling Chu naturally chose to dig for urchins.

She'd seen plenty of sea urchin harvesting videos on a short-video platform before. The divers in those clips could slice off four or five urchins in an instant with their tools, which looked incredibly satisfying. But when it came to actually doing it herself, she found it wasn't that simple.

Some sea urchins grew in the nooks and crannies of the reef, requiring a deft touch to pry out. The occasional surge of waves also kept shifting her body off course.

Still, the urchins here were dense. Ling Chu simply gave up on the ones stuck deep in crevices and only collected those clinging to the reef's surface, which were easier to dig out.

She used her usual fishing Fish Basket to hold the sea urchins. When it filled up, she dumped them straight into her Ring Space, saving the time of returning to the ship.

The basket in her hands was visibly growing fuller.

Just as she was focused on gathering sea urchins, an accident happened in an instant.

A dull thud echoed through the Seawater. Not far directly ahead of Ling Chu, a sea urchin in another player's hand suddenly exploded. In that same moment, he was turned into a pincushion by the burst of spines, seemingly half-unconscious as he struggled back up to the surface.