The Chat Channel was filled with pessimistic voices.
But Han Xing, the subject of all the discussion, calmly drew his bow and fired arrows.
Before him, several giant pangolin-like monsters lay at his feet.
After half a day, Han Xing had reached the so-called advanced area.
Here, survivors were like people who had left the newbie protection zone.
The clouds nearby were much larger. It was easy to encounter clouds spanning dozens of square meters, and the monsters within them were growing rapidly stronger.
Han Xing did not take risks, nor did he explore those large clouds just to compete for the rankings.
His experience in the Dark Elf territory was still fresh in his mind.
He chose to proceed steadily, specifically controlling his sky island to approach clouds that were only a dozen or so square meters in size.
Compared to the top three on the leaderboard, whose territory areas increased by dozens of square meters at a time, Han Xing's speed could only be called painfully slow.
But he was not in a hurry.
Today was the second day since the points leaderboard had opened. The current first-place Whisperer had only a little over 260 points.
At this rate, territory could grow by at most one to two hundred square meters a day. Reaching 1,000 points would take at least another three or four days.
Just as everyone was focused on exploring,
at sunset in the afternoon, dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead, and thunder rumbled through the sky.
At that moment, all the survivors unconsciously stopped what they were doing and raised their heads.
The same thought appeared in everyone's minds.
It was going to rain.
Once they realized that, all the survivors were briefly stunned before wild joy appeared on their faces.
Because if this rain truly fell, it meant that the water shortage that had plagued them for days would finally be completely resolved!
And this also sent a signal.
Han Xing's Spirit Spring Water would no longer sell...
Although its healing effect was still unique, he would no longer be able to price it however he pleased like before.
Rumble—
Thunder rolled through the sky as lightning flashed!
The next moment, drops of clear rain fell onto everyone's heads.
Then, the rainfall grew heavier and heavier.
Splash—
As a torrential downpour descended, countless survivors began celebrating wildly in mid-air.
Some survivors even tilted their heads back and opened their mouths to catch the rainwater.
The air quality and environment in this world were excellent. Even the rain carried a sweet taste.
The survivors burst into relieved laughter.
After struggling with water shortages for several days, this truly was rain after a long drought.
The smart ones immediately took out every tool they could use to store rainwater and began stockpiling drinking water.
Those without any tools even dug pits on the spot to use as containers.
The Chat Channel was buzzing with activity, and many survivors excitedly discussed the rain.
"Wuwuwu... It finally rained! The past few days have been an absolute nightmare!"
"Heavens, we finally made it through!"
"I can finally take a bath! Even I'm disgusted by my own smell!"
"Let me smell you..."
"???"
The survivors all shouted excitedly.
The celebration in the Chat Channel continued for nearly half an hour before someone suddenly said,
"Great, I finally don't have to buy Xinghe's Spirit Spring Water at such a high price anymore. His prices were just too outrageous..."
"..."
The local network suddenly fell silent for a moment.
This was the first time someone had publicly accused Han Xing of charging outrageous prices in the Chat Channel.
Before this, everyone had viewed Han Xing positively. Some had even elevated him to the position of District 107's savior.
Even when Han Xing's points ranking fell, it had not shaken his standing in the survivors' hearts.
After all, he controlled the lifeline of several thousand people.
But now that the water problem had been resolved, everyone suddenly realized that Han Xing did not seem all that important anymore.
At that moment, a survivor named Hidden Fireworks chimed in. "Actually, I've wanted to say this for a long time. Xinghe's prices were so high that a single trade practically wiped out everything we'd gained over the previous two days..."
"He never considered how we were supposed to survive the battles ahead without equipment. All he cared about was selling water at a high price. He had no concern whatsoever for whether we lived or died afterward..."
Just then, a survivor angrily refuted him in the Chat Channel.
Cyclone Potato: "@Hidden Fireworks, bullshit! If Star God hadn't been selling water these past two days, would you even have survived until now? He saved your miserable life, and now that you've got some backbone, you're turning around and biting him?"
Hidden Fireworks: "@Cyclone Potato, what did you say? Xinghe's water was expensive. Everyone recognizes that as fact. Why can't people say it?"
Cyclone Potato: "@Hidden Fireworks, fact my ass. You're the only ungrateful bastard saying that, so don't drag the rest of us into it."
Hidden Fireworks: "I #@$*..."
The two began hurling insults at each other.
Then another survivor said, "That brother above is right. Xinghe's water really was too expensive. I traded a Warrior Skill Book for less than 500 milliliters of water. Tell me, wasn't that outrageous?"
Cyclone Potato angrily said, "Bullshit! Why didn't anyone complain it was expensive back then? Now you're all jumping out and yapping here?"
Hidden Fireworks shot back, "Cyclone Potato, is Xinghe your father? Why are you defending him so fiercely?"
"You're right, he is my father! Let me tell you, my dad holds grudges. Be careful, or he'll remember all your names and never trade with you again!"
Cyclone Potato's threat seemed to have worked. Thinking of what had happened with the Lei Conglomerate, the survivors who had accused Han Xing suddenly shut their mouths.
At that moment, some of the spectators also stepped forward to say a few fair words.
"It wasn't exactly outrageous. In that situation, it was already good enough that someone could provide water."
"Yeah. If you thought it was expensive, you could just choose not to buy it later."
"Anyway, no one lacks water starting today. There's no need to blame anyone anymore."
There were still many rational and reasonable people in the local network, and they all spoke up for Han Xing.
The people who thought his prices were too high also fell silent.
The dispute gradually faded away.
However, after today, Han Xing's monopoly would be broken, and his popularity would decline along with it.
Even his fall out of the top three no longer sparked discussion.
Now, everyone's attention was on Whisperer, Black Hawk, and the others.
Han Xing naturally saw the discussions about him in the local network.
There was no ripple in his heart. Instead, he laughed. "Cyclone Potato, when did I suddenly get a son as old as you?"
"You made it sound so real. I haven't even had a girlfriend before!"
At that moment, Cheng Jianyong and Shen Yun were busy exploring sky islands and had not seen the argument in the Chat Channel.
Otherwise, given their personalities, they would definitely have argued with those guys until dawn.
But at that moment, Clever Little Sheep suddenly sent him a message.
Han Xing opened it and saw, "Keep it up, I support you."
She had also attached a very cute encouraging sticker at the end.
A faint Critical Strike smile appeared on Han Xing's lips. He guessed that the young girl had seen some of the negative comments about him in the local network, so she was trying to encourage him.
Shaking his head, Han Xing did not take those people's comments to heart.
A smile appeared on his lips.
"Those guys don't think they'll never have to buy anything from me besides Spirit Spring Water in the future, do they?"
Suddenly, the smile on his face froze. It turned into a shocked expression as he said, "Damn it, I forgot to bring in the bedding when it started raining! The bed and furniture are all soaked!"
At this stage, Han Xing had no construction blueprints. Most of his furniture was left out in the open, placed directly within his territory.
After one heavy rain, all of it had been soaked.
After the heavy rain, the wind swept away the clouds.
The next day, Han Xing continued maintaining his pace, gradually clearing the small clouds in this area.
His ranking also fell from fourth place all the way to sixth.
Whisperer was still in first place.
After two consecutive days without rest, Whisperer's territory points had reached 348, more than fifty points ahead of second-place Black Hawk and third-place Papaya Star Spirit.
However, changes in Han Xing's ranking no longer drew any discussion.
The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. Everyone now felt that it would already be good if Han Xing could remain in the top ten.
By nightfall,
Han Xing's ranking had fallen out of the top ten as expected.
Early on the third day,
Han Xing had 260 territory points, placing thirteenth.
Meanwhile, after grinding relentlessly through the night, Whisperer's territory points had already exceeded 400.
Second-place Black Hawk and third-place Papaya Star Spirit had also caught up. The gap between the three of them was now less than fifty points.
Everyone was focused on exploring.
By the end of the third day, Whisperer's points had directly surpassed 600!
Black Hawk and Papaya Star Spirit had also exceeded 500 points.
Now, the prestige of these three people was rising rapidly in the Chat Channel, and the teams they belonged to had also begun recruiting heavily.
Before you continue