The trading market opens

Wind-Ear's words immediately drew a chorus of agreement.

But the longer Lin Yuan looked at the picture, the more speechless he became.

Wasn't this just when he had been lying in the coffin recovering while Lilia stood guard for him?

Everyone was making such a fuss over nothing.

That said, the picture had been taken with quite an eye.

Lilia was usually carefree and casual, yet the picture had captured that rare moment when she inadvertently revealed an elegant, mysterious air.

Of course, the lack of sound had also contributed greatly to the effect.

Lilia was the classic silent beauty: she looked lovely when she kept quiet, but the moment she opened her mouth, she could infuriate anyone.

If only she didn't have a mouth.

After a moment's thought, Lin Yuan looked at the doll girl, who was yawning in boredom:

"Lilia, did you notice anything unusual while standing watch last night?"

"Does an adorable, invincible beauty getting kicked out of her home late at night by her unscrupulous captain count?"

"That doesn't count!" Lin Yuan was exasperated. He hadn't expected the girl to still be holding a grudge over his taking over her coffin last night.

"Then there was nothing else unusual."

"You didn't see any other ships or anything like that?"

"No."

"Did you zone out for a long time or fall asleep last night?"

"Reporting to Captain Paranoia: no."

That was a little strange. How had Wind-Ear taken the picture?

Screenshots were a built-in game feature, and Lin Yuan had tried it himself. Its zoom range was very limited.

Given the clarity of Wind-Ear's picture, if he had used the system's built-in screenshot function, he would have had to be within a kilometer at least.

Lilia had excellent night vision and perception. There was no way she would have missed a ship appearing at that distance.

It seemed Wind-Ear was no ordinary person. He had probably obtained some supernatural ability or item.

He called himself Wind-Ear, but he was really a clairvoyant.

Still, was he really bold enough to scan the sea at night with clairvoyance?

Lin Yuan didn't think Wind-Ear would risk his life for no reason. He probably had some purpose behind conducting such a wide-ranging observation at night and had happened to spot Lilia.

There were hidden talents among the players, too.

In the channel, everyone was still chatting away, speculating about what the terrifying being inside the coffin could be.

The players all had vivid imaginations: the corpse of an ancient god, a priceless treasure, something indescribable... their guesses covered everything.

"It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it isn't some unlucky player," Research Institute 3154 suddenly chimed in.

His words immediately jolted everyone.

Right, if there was a player inside that coffin, wouldn't that mean the eerie girl was a being that hunted players everywhere?

For the players, that would be the most dangerous possibility of all.

Research Institute 3154 ignored the speculation his words had sparked and directly tagged Wind-Ear, asking whether he had any clearer pictures and offering to buy them.

Just then, the system's voice rang out again.

[Congratulations to all surviving players. You have made it through a memorable day.]

[The market and trading functions are now available.]

[Everyone may list supplies for sale or purchase them on the market, or conduct private trades with specific players.]

[Private trades may only be conducted between players in the same region.]

[Players in the same region may now exchange private messages.]

[Special notice: a surprise awaits all players after nightfall tonight. We recommend making good use of the trading function before then to improve yourselves and your ships as much as possible.]

"A surprise... sounds more like a fright," Lin Yuan couldn't help quipping.

It even told everyone to improve themselves as much as possible. No matter how he looked at it, nothing good would be coming.

It was most likely some special danger or eerie event.

Despite those thoughts, Lin Yuan immediately opened the newly appeared market interface.

The interface resembled a stock exchange from his previous life. Everyone could post sell or buy orders for items at prices they set themselves.

The system would automatically match orders, completing trades with matching sale and purchase prices.

That saved a lot of trouble. Otherwise, with billions of players each listing their own goods, the interface would surely have been utter chaos.

But the current setup had a problem too: all trades had to be conducted in Shell Coins.

Yet no one could determine the value of Shell Coins.

Common bulk goods like timber were fine. With enough people both selling and buying, prices should stabilize quickly.

Special items were more troublesome, since there was simply no way to determine their prices.

For example, Lin Yuan saw someone listing an old-fashioned pistol for ten thousand Shell Coins, presumably afraid of losing out by pricing it too low.

Ten thousand Shell Coins would take opening roughly a thousand Shell Treasure Chests. There was no way anyone could afford that right now.

And the trading market showed no seller information or option to send private messages, making price negotiations impossible.

From the looks of it, the trading market was fine for buying ordinary materials, but not much use for anything else.

Truly valuable things would still have to circulate through private trades between players in the same region.

Private trades also had another advantage: bartering was possible, and players were more likely to favor that kind of trading when a game had just launched.

No wonder Research Institute 3154 had wanted to reserve Lin Yuan's strange fish corpse in the chat channel beforehand. He must have known in advance that this situation would arise once the trading market opened.

Just as Lin Yuan thought of this, a notification appeared on the system interface. It was a private message from Research Institute 3154:

"Zero, how much are you selling that strange fish corpse for? Name your price. Do you want Shell Coins, ordinary supplies, special items, or information?"

"Information? Do you know some secrets about this game?"

"A few. I'm sure you've noticed that I know a little more about this seafaring game for everyone than ordinary people do."

"Why?"

"Hmm... I can tell you that for free. The arrival of this seafaring game for everyone wasn't without warning. In fact, we discovered some clues a long time ago and deduced quite a few things."

"We?"

"Yes, we're an organization, and ours isn't the only organization like this. Working with us would be very helpful to your survival in this game."

"Oh? Are you saying that if I don't sell you this strange fish corpse, I won't be able to get by at sea?"

"Not at all. We're an organization focused on research, and we don't seek to solve problems through violence. But other organizations aren't the same. You can take my words as a friendly reminder."

When Research Institute 3154 mentioned other organizations, Lin Yuan's first thought was Wind-Ear.

A player so obviously unusual now seemed very likely to belong to some organization.

The people in these organizations were a little like beta testers in a game. They knew more than ordinary players and would level up faster too.

Although Lin Yuan currently had an enormous advantage over everyone else, it wasn't impossible for them to catch up if he didn't improve himself.

With that thought, he sent Research Institute 3154 a message directly:

"All right, I can see your sincerity. I'll name my price, then. I'd like to trade the strange fish corpse for a shipboard weapon, preferably something as powerful as a cannon."

The corpse wasn't much use to Lin Yuan. If he could trade it for a weapon that could be installed in the left-hand weapon room, he would immediately gain a massive boost in combat power.