Red-name Colin: "How much are you planning to sell it for?"
Xu Xiangdong: "That name... Are you Mr. Colin?"
"Uh, I didn't expect the person selling water to be you. I'm a little moved. I'm your fan. How about this: one Thorn for three liters of water?"
Colin was very interested in the Thorn in his pocket, but then he decisively turned him down.
"Not interested."
Of course, the main reason was that the other guy was too greedy. Who knew if he was really a fan? He wanted to trade one Thorn for three liters of water. Did he think Colin had never seen one of these before?
After replying, Colin immediately listed one Thorns of Suffering for every 100 milliliters of water on the Trade Market.
Just as he'd expected, plenty of people had these things. After all, thanks to Colin's "secret leak" yesterday, a great many people had survived, and some lucky ones had these items.
Colin was reaping the rewards of having saved people by leaking the secret.
At that moment, the man from before panicked when he saw this.
He hadn't had any water for a whole day, and he'd also eaten two pieces of bread. If he didn't drink something soon, he really was going to die of thirst.
Seeing that Colin had listed them for 100 ml each on the auction house, and that he hadn't managed to grab even one, he couldn't help regretting his decision.
"I should've known better than to ask for so much." His throat was so dry it felt like it was about to start smoking. As he regretted his decision, he cursed that guy under his breath for making such a loss-making trade and ruining the market.
He sent a request to trade one Thorn for 50 ml of water, but when he got no response, he couldn't help getting angry. "What savior? He's just a piece of trash!"
After raging helplessly for a while, he realized that the other man no longer needed Thorns.
"Should I trade this thing for a little water?"
He took a blood-red gem out of his Inventory, his expression shifting uncertainly.
By then, Colin had gathered all the materials, including the Mist Points.
Then, following the instructions, he put everything into his Inventory, lit the Hurricane Lamp, and walked out of the Wooden Cabin.
[Would you like to upgrade to a Level 2 Territory?]
Yes!
Without a moment's hesitation, Colin made his choice.
In an instant, the materials in Colin's Inventory rapidly disappeared.
Then the Parchment in Colin's hand suddenly unfurled on its own and hovered in midair. A series of white, brilliant but not dazzling rays shone from within it.
The light fell upon the Wooden Cabin.
The next second, the cabin dissolved in the light, as if it had been blown away like a dandelion.
His home was gone.
Colin froze.
But soon, in the radiance projected by the Parchment, a gray-white house's foundation began to take shape from the ground up, gradually sketched out of thin air.
It looked just like 3D printing.
From nothing, the walls, doors, windows, roof, and fence appeared.
Starting from the bottom, a single-story house covering more than a hundred square meters was gradually created before Colin's eyes.
Colin's eyes were filled with shock.
This method of creation, like something from an advanced civilization, was truly astonishing.
Even when he used the hint, all he got was the answer, "You cannot understand."
But there was no way to confirm whether it was the "hint" itself that couldn't understand, or simply Colin.
By now, the outline of a glowing house had been sketched out.
Next came the more detailed "depiction," as ever more intricate interior structures were rapidly drawn into being.
"What level of existence could the creator of the Parchment possibly be?"
Colin was stunned.
With just a few materials, creating a house was as easy as an ordinary person drawing on paper with a pen.
But unlike an ordinary person, this unknown advanced civilization—or unknown higher being—was "drawing" directly in reality.
About three minutes later.
The single-story house had been created.
The white light on it gradually "faded," like molten steel exposed to the air.
Just then, Colin heard a "ding-dong" in his head.
The Level 2 Territory had been built!
[Ding-dong: Congratulations to Survivor "Colin" on successfully expanding his territory to Level 2!] [Notice: Congratulations to Survivor "Colin" on becoming the first Lord to own a Level 2 Territory!] [Notice: Rewards will be issued shortly!] [Notice: Rewards have been issued!]
Amid the series of notifications, it wasn't just Colin—the World Channel exploded, too.
Those few messages marked "Notice" were collective notifications sent to all players, just like the ones Colin had "heard" that morning.
"Holy crap! I heard the system say someone got a Level 2 Territory. Did you guys hear that?"
"It sounded like a global notification. Everyone heard it. This world's got another monster now!"
"Wait, did you notice? The announcement said 'Colin'—the same 'Colin' who taught us how to light our lamps yesterday!"
"Colin is awesome! voice cracking.jpg"
"No wonder someone kept trading water for basic materials just now. I thought, 'What kind of idiot would do that?' Turns out I was the clown!"
"Guys, did anyone memorize the materials list?"
"I did! The big shot just traded for 2,000 stone, 26 Thorns of Suffering, 1,000 Timber, 500 clay, and 30 Mist Points. If nothing unexpected happened, those must be the materials for upgrading to a Level 2 Territory."
"How did you remember it so accurately?"
"He probably didn't manage to grab any water from the very first listing. Otherwise, he wouldn't remember it so well."
"Stop talking. My mouth's getting dry."
"What good is remembering? Can you find that many materials? Who knows whether the big shot Colin had any other key materials. Do any of you have the exact blueprint? Instead of worrying about this, you should go mine some more. If nothing unexpected happens, lots of people will be trading for water soon."
"Sure enough, someone's trading water for basic materials again!"
"Damn, 100 ml of water for 500 stone? Why doesn't this idiot just die!"
"Shit, I saw an even more ridiculous one. They want 30 Mist Points for 100 ml. Are they stupid?"
"Someone snapped up 500 stone for 100 water. What's wrong with them? Look, they've raised the price again. This is helping the bad guys!"
"Damn it! 1 ml for 100 stone. Don't let me find out who you are! I'll beat your ass with my mom's shoe!"
"Waaah, I miss big shot Colin. Two hundred milliliters of water for 200 stone. He didn't raise the price at all. So conscientious!"
After Colin successfully upgraded to a Level 2 Territory, quite a few people figured out how to do it themselves.
These people had surplus resources, especially water, so they immediately followed Colin's earlier example and started trading for materials on the Trade Market.
On top of that, many people had prepared materials just now in hopes of getting water. This time, as long as they had water and could afford the materials, they snapped them up immediately.
But this also led some people with ulterior motives to list things at wildly inflated prices.
For a while, the Leaderboard was in chaos.
What Colin hadn't expected was that these people would make him look like a model of generosity instead of a heartless profiteer.
It left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry. As for the rewards, there wasn't much to them: "Hardened Black Bread*99," "Compass*1," and "Wristwatch*1."
These things weren't much use to him, since he could get the relevant information through hints.
As a large number of trades were completed on the Trade Market, some players quickly leveled up.
At that moment, a new system notification appeared!
[Notice: Survivor progress has been assessed. The "Leaderboard" will be opened shortly!]
Before you continue