Plop!
Lin Yuan poked his head out of the water.
He looked at the boundless blue ocean all around him, then looked down at his own undamaged self.
"I... am still alive?"
He still remembered that because of bad luck, he had gone to a nearby famous Taoist temple to have his fortune told.
That Taoist priest had sworn to him at the time:
"Your fortune has reached its extreme low before turning prosperous, your life is about to be turned upside down, and you are about to hit a stroke of great luck!"
Lin Yuan had believed it at the time, but who would have thought the great luck the priest spoke of was a Dongfeng truck!
When he woke up again, he found himself dropping into the water.
"Is this the ocean? Why did I drop into the middle of the great sea?"
While he was wondering, a loud voice sounded in his mind.
[The Global Sailing Game System has started successfully.] [The World Chat Channel has opened.] [Welcome everyone to the beginner-exclusive sea area -- Paradise.] [All players' physical states have been adjusted to their best, and exclusive ships have been issued according to traits.] [There is currently no Main Quest, please find a way to survive and adapt to this ocean as soon as possible.] [The resources and dangers of this ocean are far more than they appear, come and explore to your heart's content!] [Note: Please protect your exclusive ship well, it is your foundation, and it can only be repaired, not rebuilt.]
Lin Yuan attentively listened to the system's introduction, his emotions not excessively stirred.
Although this ocean did not sound all that peaceful, his life was practically a bonus, so he had no qualification to complain about anything.
Then he would just live well, and by the way experience this world!
After setting his goal, Lin Yuan quietly treaded water, waiting for the system's subsequent news.
Waiting and waiting.
Waiting.
The voice of the system never appeared again, as if there was nothing left to say.
"?"
"System, did you forget something?"
"Didn't you agree to issue an exclusive ship to everyone?"
"Where is my ship? Where is my such big ship?!"
It seemed to have heard Lin Yuan's complaint, as the previous voice appeared again.
However, this time it was no longer the grand voice coming from high above, but rather ringing right beside his ear.
It was similar to the difference between a server-wide announcement and a private chat.
[Detected that the special ship "Lin Yuan" is not bound to a player, and has generated complete self-awareness.] [Searching for special-circumstance contingency plan... No corresponding plan.] [Analyzing emergency countermeasures... Analysis complete.] [Treating the special ship "Lin Yuan" as a player, opening player permissions and player panels to it.] [According to the current situation, the player panel and ship panel are fused, consequences unknown.] [Fusing...] [Fusion complete, new panels and functions can be explored independently.] [Emergency situation handling complete.] [Bye-bye~]
Hey, it even said goodbye, this system was quite humane.
Lin Yuan was almost laughed out of anger.
He originally thought the system would reissue a ship, but he did not expect this kind of result in the end.
Meaning in the Global Sailing, only he had to rely on himself to swim, right?
Alas, he was unlucky enough himself, and he did not know what other people's ships looked like.
Thinking of this, Lin Yuan's heart stirred slightly, and an interface appeared in his consciousness.
It was precisely the World Chat Channel.
At this moment, he did not know how many people were sending messages in the channel, and the text was flying downward quickly like a waterfall, making it impossible to see the specific content at all.
Lin Yuan concentrated his attention, and quickly familiarized himself with the operation method.
With the channel refresh temporarily locked, he could clearly see what the others had written.
"Wait, what's going on? You suddenly tell me to set sail, and I haven't even brushed my teeth!"
"Heh heh, I'm finally saying goodbye to my boring life. I'm going to be the king of the sea, no matter what!"
"With so many people here, nobody'll see if I sneak a bite of shit, right?"
There were plenty of other messages like that, most of them pretty pointless.
But that was only natural. At times like this, the ones speaking up were mostly the more flighty types. Most of the others were watching and thinking, just like Lin Yuan.
After scrolling for a while, Lin Yuan finally spotted a useful message.
"Does anyone know how to steer this kind of ship? I don't see any sails. (Image attached)"
Below it was a picture that looked like a selfie. It showed a middle-aged man with an honest, simple face standing on the deck of a large, flat ship. In a blank space on the image was a line of small text:
"Ship name: Green Prairie"
"Ship type: Specialized for cultivation"
"Ship durability: 7500/7500"
There was more information below, but it had been censored.
Lin Yuan kept scrolling. There were plenty of similar messages.
Someone had gotten a compact exploration ship made entirely of steel.
Someone else had gotten a ghost ship covered in seaweed and half-rotted.
There was even a player who posted a picture of himself standing on a raft, with the caption:
"Help! Who could have it worse than me? Even a dog wouldn't get stuck with a ship this bad, right?"
Lin Yuan immediately felt personally attacked.
He kept scrolling and found that some people had posted their own information too.
"Everyone, I was bitten by a sea snake. What should I do?"
"Player name: XXX (censored)"
"Player health: 90/100 (poisoned)"
"Player attributes:"
"Strength: 5 (reduced to 3 after being poisoned)"
"Speed: 10 (reduced to 5 after being poisoned)"
"Stamina: 4 (reduced to 2 after being poisoned)"
Lin Yuan kept looking. He saw plenty of similar messages.
But because messages in the World Chat Channel refreshed too quickly, no one could respond effectively to anyone else, so the amount of useful information was quite limited.
He wondered whether a chat channel that let players communicate effectively would become available later.
After closing the World Chat Channel, Lin Yuan turned his attention back to himself.
Since things had come to this, he might as well take a look at that so-called fusion panel of his.
Perhaps because of the panel fusion, Lin Yuan felt much more at ease in the water now. It seemed he could easily keep half his body above the surface without treading water, as if he really were a ship.
With a thought, his personal panel appeared before him.
"Player name: Lin Yuan (ship)"
"Player health: 10000/10000 (replaced by ship durability)"
"Player attributes:"
"Strength: 100 (replaced by weapon power)"
"Speed: 8 (replaced by ship speed)"
"Stamina: * (no data)"
"Sanity: * (no data)"
"Special abilities:"
"Wooden Armor (passive): Ignores all attacks unable to break through 10 cm of wooden armor. Effective only against physical attacks."
"Harpoon Attack: Summons and fires a steel harpoon, dealing heavy physical damage to the target. The cooldown is determined by the level of the harpoon equipped on the ship."
"Emergency Repair (Paradise exclusive): Outside of combat, wood can be consumed to directly restore ship durability. This skill is a benefit for new players and can only be used in the Paradise Sea."
The more Lin Yuan read, the wider his eyes grew.
Wasn't this just putting the ship's attributes on himself?
A ship that could walk around in human form?
After seeing the other players' attributes just now, he knew all too well what level his own panel was at.
It was a crushing advantage!
Not only did he have stats dozens or even hundreds of times higher than an ordinary player's, he also had a whole series of special abilities.
This wasn't cheating. It was a system bug-no, a game feature.
Lin Yuan's lips curled up.
"What else is there to say? Lin Yuan, activate!"
Just as he was brimming with confidence, a sudden, inexplicable pang of unease seized him.
Following his instincts, he looked down. Deep beneath the seawater below, a shadow had appeared.
The shadow seemed very far from the surface. In Lin Yuan's field of vision, it was only a faint, flickering black speck.
Yet he felt an immense, formless pressure emanating from it.
His instincts told him the shadow's true form was probably astonishingly huge.
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