Volume One, Chapter 21: Daily Quest—Fishing?
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Li Chuan had just shifted his gaze back from the distance when his peripheral vision caught a flash of pure white.
“What are you doing?”
Zhao Laixi looked up.
“You—you let him go just for this, right?”
Li Chuan was speechless.
“You sure have a vivid imagination. I’m not desperate enough for that yet. Why don’t you go find them over there? With your looks, I’m sure you can scrape by for a few days.”
Zhao Laixi lowered her head, her expression unreadable.
“There are more people over there.”
“I’m just saying I like you. I’m not the kind to be casual about these things.”
“Stop it!”
Li Chuan cut her off brusquely.
“Don’t force me to expose you. Doing anything to survive isn’t shameful—that’s instinct—but don’t try to fool me with sweet talk. I hate being lied to!”
Zhao Laixi unbuttoned all her shirt buttons, deliberately revealing glimpses of the pure white beneath. She widened her eyes innocently.
“What did you say? I don’t understand.”
Li Chuan looked steadily into her eyes.
“You’re trying to use my stronger plant spirit and the fact that others won’t accept me because of my title to exploit my loneliness for your own needs, right?”
Zhao Laixi slowly lowered her head.
“Is there anything wrong with thinking that way?”
“I’m just a woman. Reaching level eight and completing the novice missions is already my limit. I don’t have the courage to face greater dangers, is that wrong? I want to survive. I don’t want to become that ugly withered tree! Is that wrong?”
Li Chuan sighed and shook his head.
It surprised him somewhat that she would admit her intentions so openly.
“No, it’s not wrong. Everyone wants to live. But you chose the wrong person. See, I’m cold-blooded. Anyone who stands in my way gets killed! Because I want to live too—at least until the day I unravel the confusion in my heart.”
People are often trapped for life by what they couldn’t have in youth, yet sometimes a moment or a scene can unlock a lifetime’s mystery.
What exactly has she been through? And why did she drag me here? These were questions Li Chuan needed to answer.
Zhao Laixi silently buttoned her shirt again and turned to walk toward the player gathering area.
The grilled dog meat skewers were ready, but Li Chuan had little appetite. After eating a few large chunks, he took out some animal hide from his backpack and lay down beside Little Green.
As the twin suns set, biting cold returned. White mist rose slowly, and faint voices from memories whispered near Li Chuan’s ears.
By the crackling campfire, Li Chuan stared at the regional chat panel and drifted into a drowsy sleep.
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Li Chuan no longer felt confused, nor did he wake from the cold, because Little Green had somehow learned to add dry wood to the fire.
Li Chuan was stunned when he witnessed this — it even felt surreal.
When did a woody plant light its first campfire?
...
Early morning, the twin suns rose, frost melted.
Li Chuan ate breakfast as a huge luminous screen suddenly appeared in the gray sky, visible to all.
[Central Screen of Aman Forest, Forbidden Zone]
[Today’s Weather: Scorching]
[Daily Quest: Anyone want to try fishing for sea fish in the wonderful ocean?]
[Quest Difficulty: Intermediate]
[The Green Sea is a marvelous place where you can feel the vastness of the world and the insignificance of yourself. Grab a fishing rod and catch two fish for me to taste.]
[Quest Rewards: 100 Copper Coins, 100 Experience Points, 1 Bronze Treasure Chest, 1 Temporary Photosynthesis Capsule (Blue)]
[Quest Penalty: Become my food!]
[Time Left to Accept Quest: 1 hour 59 minutes]
This was the so-called daily quest the “stragglers” had mentioned.
Catch some sea fish? Become its food?
Li Chuan was only half-clear about the quest description.
Judging by the rewards alone, this daily quest had to be done at least once, or players couldn’t obtain the photosynthesis capsule to carry their plant spirit away.
But no rush; there were still two hours before the screen disappeared. He’d see what others in the chat said.
Unordered Island regional chat channel.
Current survivors in the area: 214/1000
Liu Haizhu: “Fishing two fish is a quest too? I think I can do it—I’m a chosen fisherman!”
Dong He Liushui: “One of my ‘stragglers’ said not to look at the quest content, but at the difficulty level.”
Taishang Zhunjun: “Difficulty? Then ask quickly, what does intermediate difficulty mean? I have a straggler here too, but she seems clueless.”
Yang Liu Xiyao: “At least she knows to sleep with you, you scoundrel!”
Taishang Zhunjun: “None of your business. We’re consenting adults, you fat cow.”
Gao Chu Bu Sheng Han: “For low level difficulty, about half the survivors make it. Intermediate is about half as well. For high difficulty and above, almost no survivors. This is info I gathered from dozens of stragglers; hope it helps.”
Yi Chao Fengyun Qi: “So basically, the safest way is to encounter and complete a low-level daily quest within three days, then find a key in the Withered Wood Forest.”
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Zhi Zhan Hua Bu Re Cao: “The problem is, who guarantees that the difficulty on the second and third days will be low? What if it gets harder instead?”
The chat fell silent for a while.
Gao Chu Bu Sheng Han: “I asked some stragglers who’ve been here longer. They said, yes, that does happen.”
By the barely dying campfire, Liu Haizhu stared in shock at the gaunt straggler before him.
“You mean there’s a group of players whose daily quests have been high difficulty or above for three days in a row?”
The straggler’s left shoulder was somewhat swollen.
“Yeah, that group turned into the largest number of us stragglers.”
“Boss, can you give me some more food? You see, if I don’t eat more, my plant spirit is going to consume me.”
“Sigh…”
Liu Haizhu sighed and handed the straggler a loaf of bread.
He looked up, gazing at the humanoid withered trees growing across the desolate land.
What kind of hell is this? Is our ultimate fate to be devoured by our plant spirits and become withered trees on this land?
...
Damn it!
Li Chuan steeled his resolve, gritted his teeth, and directly chose to accept today’s daily quest.
The lowest daily quest was low-level, then intermediate. There might be many higher levels beyond that, but Li Chuan had no intention of dragging himself into that half-human, half-ghost straggler state.
Swish.
Some players watching him gasped.
“That killer disappeared. He’s going to do a daily quest, isn’t he?”
Someone answered.
“What’s strange about that? To complete Main Quest One, you have to complete a daily quest once.”
“Yeah, it’s good he’s going. If he dies, he deserves it. If he survives, he’ll pave the way for us.”
Li Chuan felt his vision whiten.
The next moment, he found himself on an immense, endless sea.
Except... why was the color of this sea so strange?