Xiao Hao drank a Blood Potion, rinsed himself off, and lay exhausted on the bed.
[This streamer deserves all the hype!]
[He got spotted before he even reached the corpse mountain, and I thought he was an idiot. I thought he was on level one while I was on level five. Turns out he was in the stratosphere!]
[He let himself get spotted on purpose!]
[To make sure he held aggro, he turned on his phone light to taunt them again after hiding.]
[Then he kept the seahorses and the Ghost chasing each other to buy time while he searched the corpse mountain for Soul-Replenishing Grass!]
[God, even when the Soul-Replenishing Grass gave away his position at the end, he stayed calm and figured out an advanced way to use his skill!]
[It looks simple, but the terrain he hid in, the split-second decisions about where to run, how and where to draw the seahorses and the Ghost back and forth-all of that takes serious brainpower!]
[Is this how you're actually supposed to play the game...]
[Mom asked why I was watching the stream on my knees.]
[Ever since I opened stream 869, I can't stand watching the other players. They're just noobs flailing at each other. They can't even beat a level-zero mob without a drawn-out fight.]
[This streamer's tactics are more advanced and require thought. The other beginners fight like they're playing a basic turn-based game.]
Xiao Hao struggled to hold back a smile.
The viewers had overlooked something.
Scouting the terrain beforehand, mapping out coordinates, and so on really did take a lot of brainpower.
But the hardest part was actually landmarks and directions.
After all, he was on the seabed, where there was almost no light, and his night vision had a very limited range.
If someone was dropped into a vast, boundless desert without anything to guide them, they would only keep walking in circles, unable to escape.
Right-handed people would circle counterclockwise, while left-handed people would do the opposite.
So when Xiao Hao fled, he would unconsciously veer off course. That remained true even though Shadow Transformation did not require him to use his legs.
It was like a blindfolded right-handed person riding a bicycle. They still could not keep going straight and would only ride in circles.
The real challenge was keeping his brain working at full speed while he fled at top speed, correcting his direction in time and orienting himself by the inconspicuous landmarks he remembered along the route.
In truth, Xiao Hao did not think his brain was anything special. He merely did everything he could and left the rest to fate.
He was just like most ordinary people.
Just as ordinary.
Otherwise, he would not have been a mere corporate drone in the real world.
He was simply doing everything in his power to stay alive. Nothing more.
Still, that did not stop him from enjoying the praise of viewers from another world.
[Too bad the streamer didn't know picking Soul-Replenishing Grass would leave a soul aura on him. Otherwise, he could have made the plan even better.]
[Yeah, I was terrified for him when they passed each other on opposite sides of that little hill.]
[Good thing the corpse mountain was full of chaotic soul auras. Otherwise, our streamer wouldn't even have had a chance to escape.]
Xiao Hao had wanted to review the operation, only to discover that the chat had already done it for him.
Indeed, he had not been cautious enough.
When gathering the Soul-Replenishing Grass, he had sniffed it. It had no scent at all.
He had thought that once he gathered the Soul-Replenishing Grass, put it in his Space Slot, and hid somewhere with complicated terrain, he could make a clean getaway. He had never considered that a "soul" could have an aura too.
That was beyond his field of knowledge. Fortunately, he had escaped unharmed despite the scare.
Xiao Hao opened the marketplace. There was nothing in the entire market that he did not already have in his Space Slot.
He opened the forum. The players were still just as dispirited.
He was about to close it when the players who had been waiting desperately for an expert immediately noticed that he was online.
"Boss! Boss! Number 869! Do you have any more Blood Potions?"
Blood Potions?
Xiao Hao checked his Space Slot. He had six bottles.
"Veterans, does anyone sell Soul-Replenishing Grass?"
"I bet that damned Ghost told me about Soul-Replenishing Grass on purpose to drag me into hell!"
No wonder the players knew about Soul-Replenishing Grass. Other Ghosts had told them.
But as Xiao Hao read those lines, he felt increasingly that something was off.
That was not how people from his country spoke.
It seemed the game not only spanned the entire world, but also had a built-in translation function.
That made sense. The wild monsters only ever uttered the same few syllables, yet Xiao Hao could understand them. He had the game's translator to thank for that too.
As for Soul-Replenishing Grass, Xiao Hao had a dozen stalks.
But they did not have anything he wanted.
"If you need Soul-Replenishing Grass or Blood Potions, bring out whatever treasures you've been saving. If you have something I want, we can trade."
That set off an uproar.
"Aaaah! The boss has Blood Potions again! And even Soul-Replenishing Grass!"
"I have iron blocks..."
"Number 869: No materials. I have enough."
"Number 869: Oh, I don't need food either."
"???"
"Then what do you need?"
"Oh, God, I'm still worrying about food, and someone else already has all his basic needs covered!"
"Are we really playing the same game..."
Messages flooded the forum.
Xiao Hao waited quietly.
He knew very well that the game contained plenty of miraculous items and equipment.
He had found some in treasure chests himself, and had looted even more from the Ghost.
Unfortunately, many of those items did not interest him.
The Pleasure Nicotine Cigarette, for example, gave smokers ten times the pleasure, but its side effect was permanent addiction to smoking.
Xiao Hao had tossed that trash item into his Space Slot and soon forgotten about it.
Fortunately, the Ghost's wealth had made Xiao Hao rich in one fell swoop. He had obtained plenty of miraculous items and equipment from its lair.
Most of the items were cards, mainly used to defend the Coral Shell Room, while the equipment was meant to be worn.
Wild monsters would not attack the Coral Shell Room on their own, so Xiao Hao skipped the cards.
His main focus was these two pieces of equipment.
The first was a featureless mask, black all over.
The game described it as follows.
Shadow Mask: Special equipment. Wear it to obscure your face and gain immunity to detection skills.
Xiao Hao tried it on. His entire face turned into shadow, much like Shadow Transformation. The only difference was that it turned just his face into shadow.
Most importantly, merely obscuring his face with this piece of equipment did not consume energy.
The second piece of equipment was a pair of silk gloves.
Retry Gloves: Copy any one skill from any guardian. Only one skill can be copied at a time. Copying a new skill erases the previous one.
Once he put them on, the gloves seemed to merge into the skin of his hands without affecting his sense of touch at all.
To use the gloves, he only needed to select a guardian's skill as though choosing a skill for himself. It would then be temporarily copied onto his personal information panel.
Xiao Hao was still playing solo, so he had no use for the Shadow Mask yet.
The Retry Gloves, however, were immensely useful.
He could leave offense to his guardian and copy Jade Armor to make up for his lack of defense.
Xiao Hao tried using the Jade Armor skill, and a suit of jade armor actually materialized around his body.
The conjured armor not only looked outrageously badass, but was also weightless and did not hinder his mobility at all.
Unfortunately, Xiao Hao could feel his stamina draining while he wore it.
Just as Xiao Hao was finishing his equipment tests, one of the buyers seeking Soul-Replenishing Grass finally lost patience.
Anyone who could escape a Ghost-type wild monster was no ordinary person.
"Are you collecting equipment?"
The moment they asked that, Xiao Hao knew they had a piece.
"Yes."
"Take a look at this. If my life weren't hanging by a thread, I'd never trade it away."
With that, the other player sent a screenshot of an equipment description. It was a pair of black Martin boots.
Bouncing Martin Boots: While wearing these, you can land unharmed no matter how high you jump from. They also greatly increase the wearer's jumping ability.
He did not know what use they would have yet, but he traded for them anyway, just in case.
The next player trading for Soul-Replenishing Grass sent him a card.
Slowdown Card: When wild monsters attack your base, this card reduces their attack speed. (Duration: 8 hours)
Yes, every card had a time limit.
These cards seemed to be telling Xiao Hao that one day, the game would lift the restriction preventing wild monsters from attacking the Coral Shell Room.
The Deep-Sea Ghost would surely return.
Without hesitation, Xiao Hao traded for the card.
The last person who wanted Soul-Replenishing Grass was the one who had been begging everyone on the forum, constantly calling them "veterans."
Unfortunately, he had neither equipment nor cards.
If Xiao Hao had more supplies than he could ever use, he would not mind playing the saint.
But he had risked his life for these things. He would leave "charity" to those better equipped to afford it.
Unable to obtain Soul-Replenishing Grass through pleading, the other player gritted his teeth and initiated another trade request.
It was a promise.
In exchange for Soul-Replenishing Grass, he would carry out one command from Xiao Hao unconditionally.
Even if Xiao Hao ordered him to die, he would have to obey.
Of course, the promise had restrictions too. Xiao Hao could not exploit a loophole by ordering him to "obey several more commands," or anything similar.
With the game acting as guarantor, Xiao Hao was not worried that the other player would break his word.
What he considered was whether the other player was worth it. This promise came with considerable risk.
The man might die the very next second, rendering the promise worthless.
Far away on the seabed, that player sat on pins and needles.
A few minutes later, the game notified him that the trade had succeeded. In his excitement, he accidentally fell off the bed. Only after calming down did he realize that his forehead was covered in cold sweat.
In the end, Xiao Hao had decided to make the investment.
The fact that the man had survived an attack by a Ghost-type wild monster meant he was stronger than the average person.
In that case, a binding promise was not a bad deal.
With a little luck, he might even make a huge profit.
Of course, Xiao Hao did not expect the man to become especially powerful. The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.
It was a casual investment, and Xiao Hao soon put it out of his mind.
As for the players seeking Blood Potions, most of them were indeed trying to get something for nothing.
They did not even have a decent "promise" to offer, so Xiao Hao firmly refused.
Having browsed the forum long enough, Xiao Hao casually logged off. Suddenly, a notification appeared on the game panel.
[Player notice: The three-day beginner protection period is about to end. The restriction preventing monsters from attacking the Coral Shell Room will soon be lifted.]
A chill settled in Xiao Hao's heart as he read the notification.
If nothing unexpected happened, something unexpected was about to happen.
He had not thought he would have to face the Deep-Sea Ghost again so soon.
Before you continue