Chapter 22: Sea Beast Frenzy

Seeing this, Lily Rhodes turned to look inside the tent. An alarm clock sat there, traded from another Survivor not long ago. The time displayed was 11:55 PM. In less than four minutes, it would be the next day.

Behind them, several sharks followed Shelly at a leisurely pace, like hunters waiting for the right moment to strike.

Lily glanced at the surrounding Arrow Towers. There was no sign of them activating. These Arrow Towers had both automatic and manual modes, and each activation consumed a Crystal Core. She had previously wanted to test their power, but found that neither mode worked. At the time, she guessed it was due to the novice protection period. During this phase, the outside marine life couldn’t attack them, and they likewise couldn’t do anything to the creatures.

After ensuring that every Arrow Tower was fully loaded with Crystal Cores, she returned to the tent. She put on the Soft armor and other equipment she had selected from the Self-selected Weapon Box, then took a sip of water produced by the cooling water stone. In an instant, her drowsiness was dispelled.

While waiting out the last few minutes, she opened the System panel. In the regional channel, many people had already noticed that something was wrong.

"What do I do? There are so many sharks around my vehicle. I’m so scared. Someone please save me!"

"Same here! There are so many sharks, and the way they’re looking at me is terrifying."

Those who were prepared felt confident, eager to test their mettle against the sharks outside. However, those who had harbored wishful thinking were now filled with regret. Due to the novice protection period over the past few days, there had been very few casualties. But it was predictable that after tonight, a massive number of Survivors would go offline permanently.

Lily exited the regional channel and opened the Advanced materials trading group. Although there were few people in this chat, each member was incredibly strong and held a massive amount of supplies.

Mr. Grant: "Damn it, I’ve got at least twenty sharks on my end. Gentlemen, I feel my time is almost up. Who has a smoke? If I can’t take a drag before I die, I won’t rest in peace."

Mr. Mercer: "Look who’s ignoring you. We won’t fall for that trick a second time. If you want a smoke, trade something for it."

Mr. Vaughn: "Well, sorry about that. I already finished off the last cigarette."

A selfie immediately followed in the chat. The photo showed a disheveled, bearded young man with a weathered face, holding a half-smoked cigarette and looking provocatively at the camera.

Mr. Grant responded with a string of garbled characters. It seemed he was swearing profusely.

Seeing this, Lily remembered the cigarettes she had obtained from opening a Treasure Chest not long ago. She asked, "You guys want smokes?"

Mr. Grant: "You have some?"

Mr. Vaughn: "You have some?"

Mr. Mercer: "You have some?"

Mr. Rhodes: "You guys are quite in sync. I unpacked two cartons not long ago, but you’ll have to trade for them."

With that, she directly posted trade links for nine cartons of cigarettes along with various liquors—white spirit, red wine, and beer. She disliked the taste of alcohol; it gave her a headache. She only kept a small portion for cooking, which was more than enough for her needs.

The moment she posted this, it completely blew up the group, drawing out the remaining four members.

Mr. Chandler: "I’ll take all the red wine. It’s mine."

The others immediately voiced their dissatisfaction. Everyone was there to trade; it wasn’t fair for him to claim everything with just a single sentence.

Lily thought to herself that these items were even more popular than she had anticipated. The people in this group were also wealthier than she had imagined.

After completing all her trades, Lily obtained quite a few good things. Unfortunately, there were no blueprints or Skill Books among them. Even though those men coveted her goods, they hadn’t completely lost their minds. No matter how precious alcohol and cigarettes were, they only satisfied physical cravings. Their value couldn’t compare to blueprints and Skill Books.

However, Lily did manage to secure many useful items crafted from blueprints. Among them was a wooden cabin. As long as she could acquire the corresponding blueprint later, she would be able to upgrade it. With this cabin, she finally wouldn’t have to live in a tent anymore.

In addition, she gained a crucial piece of information: the Survivors were about to face various disasters. They could only survive in this world by enduring these trials. Each disaster would appear randomly and last anywhere from seven days to a month, and every single one would be incredibly dangerous.

Right at that moment, as the alarm clock struck midnight, the System’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears simultaneously.

[Congratulations on safely passing the novice period and officially becoming a Survivor. Now, are you ready to say hello to this world?]

[Disaster Type: Sea Beast Frenzy

Duration: Seven days

Hint: During the day, the Sea Beasts’ attacks will not be particularly fierce. That will be your only chance to catch your breath.

Please try your best to survive.]

*A greeting? It felt more like a hard slap to the face.*

Lily had no time to gauge anyone else’s reactions, because the sharks tailing her suddenly accelerated. One of them abruptly raised its head, revealing a gaping maw filled with vicious intent, as if it wanted to swallow her whole.

However, just then, a golden light suddenly flared around Shelly, blocking the shark’s attack. Immediately after, the two Arrow Towers in the back sprang into action. Two massive arrows shot out simultaneously, striking the two closest sharks. Pierced by the projectiles, the beasts instantly stopped moving.

Seeing this, Lily had Shelly halt its advance. According to the System, the disaster couldn’t be escaped. These sharks would continue to tail her vehicle. Rather than fleeing passively, it was better to take the initiative and attack.

Besides, after what just happened, she could see that the sharks’ attacks were completely useless against her. In contrast, the Arrow Towers dealt fatal damage to the beasts. Since that was the case, what was there to fear? She just needed to face them head-on.

All four Arrow Towers activated simultaneously. Every arrow fired directly consumed a Crystal Core, but fortunately, they didn’t miss a single shot, so it couldn’t be considered a waste.

Before long, this wave of sharks was completely wiped out. Before the next wave of Sea Beasts arrived, Lily hurriedly retrieved all the shark corpses.

"These arrows are actually still usable!"

Lily pulled an arrow out of a shark’s body. Because they were formed from Crystal Cores, the arrows felt more like metal to the touch. Most importantly, they could be recycled and reused.

Although Lily had collected quite a few Crystal Cores, she was raising a money sink of a pet. Furthermore, the market price of Crystal Cores was rising steadily, making them increasingly difficult to acquire.