Challenge Result

Relieved, relieved—he was still alive.

Wasabi felt nothing but regret in his heart. He never should have listened to Missing Teeth's instigation from the start. He had been one of the players denouncing Ling Chu in the Nearby Channel when he received a private message from Missing Teeth, asking if he wanted to join the siege against her.

Missing Teeth said he had killed a Pirate before, and killing a Pirate didn't increase Sin Value—instead, it rewarded Justice Points. Pirates loved to kill and plunder, so their loot was especially rich. Missing Teeth had a gun and a Special Profession; with a few more people joining the encirclement, killing Ling Chu would be no problem. Afterwards, he'd split a quarter of her belongings among them.

He couldn't resist the temptation and agreed. He never expected that this greed would nearly cost him his life and waste a precious spore. And now, with medicine already scarce, if this wound wasn't bandaged, his health would keep draining.

Wasabi clutched his shoulder, which throbbed with sharp pain, hatred flashing in his eyes. He had already given up attacking and fled, yet Ling Chu still wouldn't let him go—that shot was meant to kill.

At least he survived. Where there's life, there's hope. He'd settle this grudge another day.

[Nearby Channel]

[Player Ling Chu has killed player Missing Teeth.]

[Player Ling Chu has killed player A Quan.]

[Player Ling Chu has killed player Rippling Sun.]

The channel was flooded with these glaring kill notifications.

The atmosphere fell into dead silence.

Whether from shock or fear.

For a full minute, no one spoke or chatted in the channel. Those who had been denouncing Ling Chu earlier didn't dare utter a single word.

Only Squid Ball, never one to miss a spectacle, posted: "Three against one and you still lost? If you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Too bad. I always said Missing Teeth was short in every way—looks like his life was short too."

Ling Chu made no comment.

She wasn't some saint. When people came bullying her to her face, she wasn't about to just take it.

Those few had simply come to die.

Ling Chu confiscated the Shotgun from Missing Teeth's body. The other two had nothing valuable on them—just two Iron Pickaxes. Their good gear was probably stashed on their ships.

After looting the bodies, Ling Chu saw she still had some time left and quickly went to dig up more sea urchins.

When the two hours were up, the system chimed its prompt on time.

[This Public Challenge has ended.]

[According to statistics, the top ten players by cleanliness are as follows:]

[1. Ling Chu, Cleanliness 1562 points]

[2. Moyudawang, Cleanliness 325 points]

[3. Little Bear Biscuit, Cleanliness 301 points]

[10. Half Summer, Cleanliness 289 points]

[The above players will receive system rewards. Players not ranked will receive a participation prize: Wheat Bread*1, Mineral Water*1 bottle.]

[All players will be forcibly expelled from this public sea area in ten minutes, or may voluntarily leave early.]

[Congratulations on achieving first place in this Public Challenge. You have been awarded System Blind Box*1, Rare Ice Crystal Ore*5, Pompom Sea Urchin Decorative Ornament*1, Mysterious Fruit*1, and the special title "Ocean Scavenger."]

[Public Chat Channel]

Moyudawang: Is there some kind of rigging! I busted my ass digging up over three hundred starfish and I'm only second! How do you get over a thousand cleanliness—does killing people add to it or something??

Half Summer: ...Talking like that, you don't want to live?

Moyudawang: Who cares? Once we're out of the public sea, who knows where anyone is? If they can find me from this, they're impressive.

Moyudawang: System, explain yourself! If I'd known killing added cleanliness, I'd have gone for it too.

[System: Killing does not increase cleanliness. The cleanliness of killed players is not transferred to the killer.

Due to player questioning, the cleanliness breakdown for the first-ranked player is now displayed.

This player has cleaned 672 Pompom Sea Urchins, Cleanliness +1344 points

Cleaned 87 Long-spined Sea Stars, Cleanliness +87 points

Cleaned 5 Exploding Sea Urchins, Cleanliness +50 points

Cleaned 5 pieces of ocean garbage, Cleanliness +81 points]

Ling Chu was a bit surprised herself when she first saw her 1500+ cleanliness, until the system listed the details. Titch had been helping her collect sea urchins nonstop—combined with her own, over six hundred wasn't strange.

She had gathered one Exploding Sea Urchin; the other four were probably from Titch. As for the five pieces of ocean garbage, four of them were Treasure Chests worth 20 cleanliness each, hence the 81 points.

Moyudawang went silent.

Squid Ball: What happened, cat got your tongue? The top cleaner still had time to kill a few people—how's that for a slap in the face?

Ling Chu had killed the Missing Teeth she despised, so Squid Ball unconsciously found herself defending Ling Chu.

[Player Moyudawang has left the public sea area.]

[Player Half Summer has left the public sea area.]

Two messages of retreat popped up in the channel.

Ling Chu wasn't in a hurry to leave. She took a quick look over her new rewards.

She put aside the System Blind Box and Mysterious Fruit for now, planning to open the Treasure Chest and Blind Box all at once once she left the public waters while the Double Luck effect was still active.

[Rare Ice Crystal Ore: A hard rare ore imbued with cold aura, lowering the surrounding temperature. Anything it touches will freeze. Can be used to craft equipment.]

[Pompom Sea Urchin Decorative Ornament: Place it on a ship to increase the ship's Durability Value by +5.]

[Title: Ocean Scavenger]

[Your good deeds in cleaning the ocean have spread among the sea creatures. Equipping this title increases Sea Creature Affinity by +10 and Swimming Speed by +10.]

The Ice Crystal Ore was a material for making weapons and equipment, with the prefix "Rare" attached—it sounded like a good find. The Pompom Sea Urchin Decorative Ornament added 5 points of Durability Value, while Ling Chu's small Sailboat had a total Durability Value of only 8 points.

As for the last title, the effect of increasing Sea Creature Affinity was still uncertain. Would a high enough affinity lead to situations like today, where a school of fish led her to a Treasure Chest? That remained to be verified.

The Swimming Speed boost was straightforward enough. She only had this one title for now, so it was better than nothing.

After reviewing the rewards, Ling Chu and Titch surfaced one after the other.

By now, most of the surrounding ships had dispersed.

Some players had immediately chosen to exit the public waters after the challenge ended.

After all, there was a "deranged pirate" here who had killed four people—everyone scrambled away fast.

Ling Chu climbed aboard her own Sailboat, dried herself off with a clean piece of Cloth, then ordered Titch to take the helm while she prepared to clean up the battlefield.

The ships left behind by those four unlucky souls still needed to be claimed. Ordinary players generally didn't have portable storage items, so any good loot would be stashed in their ship's hold.

Ling Chu had Titch steer the Sailboat toward the nearest unmanned vessel, when she suddenly noticed another Sailboat nearby that hadn't left. Sitting on it was the doll-faced girl who had asked about her sailboat pattern earlier.

"Here, take this back. I can't draw."

Ling Chu pinched the card between two fingers and flicked it spinning back onto the doll-faced girl's boat. The latter reached out and caught it.

The doll-faced girl was about to say something when she suddenly noticed that Ling Chu's small Sailboat was moving steadily forward even though she wasn't steering.

Only then did she spot Titch standing at the stern, the half of his face visible beneath the brim of his Pirate Hat revealing stark white bone.

It was a sku—a skeleton!!!