Chapter 146: White Fog Spreads Over the Entire Island

Chapter 146: Chapter 146: White Fog Spreads Over the Entire Island

She also sent a special warning to Shi Zhiyi.

Being on a boat with no islands nearby was, paradoxically, safer.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Just as Shi Zhile sent the message, a video call came in from Shi Zhiyi.

"Lele, Wen Bai and I will reach Stone Island in an hour at most. Have you set up traps around the island?"

Shi Zhile, who had just lain down, shot back up. "That fast? A couple of days ago, didn’t you say it would take at least six or seven days?"

"We traded fresh fish with other players for wood, then used the wood to upgrade our boat. With the speed boost, we’re naturally moving much faster."

In this extreme heat, it was difficult for players to go out fishing during the day, and at night, they feared monster attacks.

Even though they were surrounded by the sea, they still had to trade with other players for marine goods.

And because they were by the sea, resources like fish were much cheaper compared to other goods.

Shi Zhiyi and Wen Bai had seized this opportunity to trade away their fish.

"Lele, what did you just send me?"

Shi Zhiyi checked her messages. A moment later, her brow furrowed. "Monsters are coming ashore tonight? Is this information reliable?"

Monsters coming ashore meant they would be surfacing from the water, putting both players on the islands and those fishing at sea in danger.

Shi Zhile replied, "The information is highly reliable. In any case, you need to be extra careful."

"I’ll be careful. I’ll get to Stone Island as fast as I can. Protect yourself, and wait for me to make it ashore."

Hearing their conversation, Jiang Yuxing turned and stared at Shi Zhile. She ignored him, ending the call and sending a message to Shi Zhiyi.

[The shelter is upgrading tonight. If monsters really do come ashore, Advanced monsters might appear around Stone Island. The highest could be around Level Six, and you’ll need a weapon of at least Level Three to harm them. Send me your coordinates. I’ll come meet you.]

Worried that Shi Zhiyi’s weapon wasn’t a high enough Level, Shi Zhile sent over her own Level Five Axe.

Over the past half-month, she had upgraded another axe to Level Five, but this time, she had done it the hard way, using up actual materials.

Shi Zhiyi messaged back: [I have a spear. You keep the axe for your own protection.]

Shi Zhile: [I have another one. Just keep it.]

After a moment’s thought, she also sent over five pairs of tattered underwear.

[Contentment Brings Happiness: Light the underwear on fire. You’ll be immune to monster damage within one meter of the flames. Monsters are afraid of fire, and even more afraid of high heat.]

Shi Zhiyi accepted the tattered underwear.

After ending the conversation, Shi Zhile moved Mr. Wen, deck chair and all, into her Planting Space.

Only then did she have time to deal with Jiang Yuxing.

Jiang Yuxing rested his chin in his hand, his jet-black eyes fixed on Shi Zhile without blinking, an unnerving stare that could make anyone’s heart race.

Shi Zhile copied his pose, propping her own chin up. "Fishing this late at night is so boring. Want to do something... stimulating with me?"

Wang Peng covered his ears and whimpered, "Is this something I should be listening to? I shouldn’t be on the boat, I should be *under* the boat."

Jiang Yuxing lazily leaned back again. "By ’stimulating,’ you mean going to kill monsters, don’t you."

’Shi Zhiyi is about to reach Stone Island. Knowing how Shi Zhile loses all sense of reason when it comes to her sister, there’s no way she wouldn’t go to meet her now. Monsters are on the loose, and she doesn’t know how many there will be. She’s afraid of being overwhelmed, so of course she’d want to drag me along.’

Shi Zhile leaned closer. "Isn’t killing monsters stimulating enough? If five monsters show up, it’s a three-two split, your favor. If six show up, four for you, two for me. You come out ahead no matter how you slice it."

The corner of Jiang Yuxing’s mouth twitched. Wang Peng immediately raised his hand. "Me, me, me! I’ll go too! I want a cut!"

Shi Zhile opened a Teleportation Gate and, with exaggerated coyness, went to pull Jiang Yuxing up. He put up a show of resistance before letting her pull him from the deck chair.

The three of them stepped through the Teleportation Gate together.

The icy seawater submerged their knees. Standing in the middle of the ocean, the three of them stared at each other in dismay.

Gazing at the white fog that now enveloped the entire island, Shi Zhile was completely bewildered.

’What’s happening? The fog wasn’t like this when I left. The shelter was supposed to be upgrading, so why has the fog wrapped around the whole island?’

She reached out to touch the fog, attempting to absorb it into her space. However, an invisible wall blocked her touch. The attempt to absorb it had clearly failed.

’If this fog is made of energy, then someone must have ’paid-to-win’ on my behalf.’

Wang Peng glanced at the fog-shrouded island, then looked at Jiang Yuxing with eyes full of deep-seated grievance.

’Talk about blatant favoritism! Back when Volcano Island was about to erupt, the first person he’d asked for help was Jiang Yuxing. He wanted to use his connections to ’pay-to-win’ and save his island, but his ’good’ Brother Nan had righteously refused him. He’d even said that using back-door methods was shameful and that players shouldn’t defy the laws of nature. He even mocked him, saying that if he couldn’t even handle a little thing like Volcano Island, he might as well go hang himself. But now, when it came to Zhile, here he was, ’paying-to-win’ and sending energy. How incredibly attentive of him. So what if she ignored him for half a month? Did he have to go this far?’

Jiang Yuxing summoned a sailboat, and he, Shi Zhile, and Wang Peng boarded one after another.

Seeing the frustrated look in Shi Zhile’s eyes, Jiang Yuxing couldn’t help but smile.

"We haven’t seen each other for just half a month, and you’ve really gotten stingier. Now you’re so defensive you won’t even let me set foot on your island.

"You talk to me when you need me and toss me aside when you don’t. I guess I really am just a tool to you."

"A tool? Don’t you dare accuse me wrongly. I’ve never ’used’ you."

Jiang Yuxing froze for a second. It wasn’t until he saw Wang Peng’s leering, mischievous grin that he understood her double meaning. In an instant, his entire face flushed red.

Shi Zhile brushed her wind-tousled hair from her face and summoned her panel to check the coordinates Shi Zhiyi had sent.

"First, we’ll go meet up with them. Then, we’ll head back and stop about a hundred meters from the island to observe.

"If it’s a single monster, we’ll kill it together. If they show up in a group, we fight first. If we can’t win, then we run."

’Treasure chests mostly contain common supplies; rare items are few and far between. If I want to get new types of loot, I’ll have to get it from monsters. Even though there’s no official confirmation that monsters drop loot, I’m sure they have treasures on them—and rare ones at that.’

The sailboat wasn’t moving. Shi Zhile looked at Jiang Yuxing, confused.

Under the moonlight, she saw him blushing, glaring at her with a mixture of shame and indignation. He looked for all the world like a virtuous maiden who had just been scandalized.

Shi Zhile was speechless.

She took out a deck chair, cut open a watermelon, and then lay back, casually eating a slice as she watched the show.

"Let’s go! We need to go get my sister."

The sailboat set off toward the deep sea. All around them was pitch-black, with only the cold, clear moonlight spilling across the surface of the water through a faint mist.

Half an hour later, the faint sound of rushing water drifted from the distance, mingled with the clash of weapons.

Jiang Yuxing stopped the sailboat and stood on deck, peering through a telescope.

Wang Peng’s panel displayed a map of the sea. He pointed west of their sailboat. "There’s an island about one hundred fifty meters to the west. The sound is coming from due south of us. It could be players from that island who went out to sea tonight and ran into monsters."

Shi Zhile said, "If you’re fighting a monster, you’d hear splashing, but not the sound of weapons clashing. And judging by the time, my sister’s boat should be somewhere around here."