Chapter 77: The True Use of Deep-Sea Diving Equipment

Meanwhile, Lily Rhodes stared at Shelly’s upgrade panel, her eyes widening in disbelief.

"No way, what exactly have you been eating lately?"

Lily sat atop Shelly’s head. She had recently discovered this was the best spot for sightseeing. From here, she could take in the beautiful underwater scenery—provided the turtle wasn’t actively feeding, of course.

Seeing the upgrade progress on the vehicle panel jump straight to fifty percent, her voice almost cracked with excitement. No one knew better than her just how difficult it was to gather Biological Energy. Although she had been steadily collecting it recently, there weren’t many willing buyers, so she had prepared herself for a long, drawn-out grind. Yet, in such a short amount of time, the progress was already halfway there.

"Shelly, did you eat anything special recently?" Lily asked.

Hearing this, Shelly thought for a moment. "I’ve just been crushing those annoying bugs on the seafloor. Whenever I got hungry, I ate the red anemones nearby. They actually tasted pretty good, but it’s a pity there were so few of them."

"Red anemones?" Lily frowned slightly. "Can you still find them now?"

"I ate them all."

Refusing to give up, Lily decided to check it out for herself. She needed to know exactly what kind of anemone could increase Shelly’s Energy so rapidly. At her strong insistence, the turtle brought her back to the patch where the anemones grew. Although they had been completely devoured, the remnants on the seabed clearly indicated what had once thrived there.

Just then, a thought struck Lily. She pulled out the biological special vehicle food illustrated guide. Sure enough, alongside the Oceanic Krill and Golden Squid she had discovered earlier, a third type of food had appeared.

"So this is called a Scarlet Anemone."

It was a type of red anemone that only began to grow when the water temperature rose. Its surface resembled fresh blood, earning it the name Scarlet Anemone. Not only could Shelly consume them, but they were also edible for humans. Unfortunately, they required specific environmental conditions to grow, making mass cultivation impossible. Still, their appearance allowed her to verify her previous theory.

"Shelly, we’re going to keep searching along the seafloor," Lily said. "The water temperature is rising, which makes it the perfect time for Scarlet Anemones to grow."

Hearing the promise of more tasty food, Shelly instantly cheered up.

While Shelly scoured the ocean floor for more anemones, Lily lay back in the rocking chair in her courtyard and browsed the messages in the regional channel. She wanted to see if anyone else had won a ticket for the Doomsday Ship like she had. In the recent event, only the top hundred participants received rewards. Since some time had passed since the distribution, many people had already finished showing off their prizes. Lily had to scroll back manually to hunt for the information she needed.

To her surprise, she actually found something. Someone had posted a picture of a Doomsday Ship ticket identical to hers, also won from the lottery draw.

"I wasted my one and only lottery draw on this thing. Who even knows what this ticket is used for?" read the message. Immediately below it, several others echoed the same complaint.

"It seems the drop rate for these tickets is pretty high," Lily muttered, her face devoid of any joy. In her experience, the more frequently an item appeared, the lower its overall value.

However, she wouldn’t know its true worth until she actually boarded the Doomsday Ship. According to the item Introduction, the ship was supposed to be absolutely safe, making it sound just like a designated safe zone.

She continued reading the chat. Many of the top hundred Survivors had posted their rewards. Interestingly, the top ten prizes mainly consisted of roulette spins, resistances, and titles. Those who received a resistance didn’t get a title, and vice versa. From the eleventh to the twentieth place, the rewards included a lottery draw, as well as a chance to draw a new vehicle and change their primary vehicle.

Someone showed off their new special vehicle, and the replies were flooded with sheer envy. But Lily knew that drawing a good vehicle didn’t matter as much as the decision to replace the current one. Every special vehicle had its own unique upgrade path. Swapping out a primary vehicle meant all the hard work poured into the previous one would go up in smoke. Of course, the old vehicle wouldn’t disappear entirely. But on the vehicle leaderboards, the primary vehicle’s score was the only one that truly mattered; secondary vehicles accounted for less than a tenth of the total score. The Survivors who managed to break into the top twenty already had high-Level vehicles and ranked highly on the leaderboards. If their primary score was wiped out overnight, it would essentially mean starting from scratch.

"Now that the event is over, what did you guys do with the deep-sea diving gear on your vehicles?" a brand-new message suddenly popped up.

"What else is there to do? I dismantled it, obviously. Was I supposed to keep it as a souvenir?" someone replied.

"Just a heads-up, you probably shouldn’t dismantle it. I just found out that even though the event ended, the deep-sea diving equipment still works, and it doesn’t lose durability anymore. Well, if your gear is already battered and torn, pretend I didn’t say anything." The sender then attached a photo of themselves diving underwater. "It’s way cooler down in the ocean than up on the surface."

This revelation sent shockwaves through the chat.

"Are you serious?! But I already scrapped mine! What do I do now?!"

"I just tested it, and it’s true! Thank God I was too lazy to take it down."

"Hehe, I kept mine too. I just thought it made a good sunshade. It’s a bit stuffy, but it beats baking under the sun."

"Does anyone have brand-new deep-sea diving equipment? I need it for my vehicle."

"Isn’t it available in The Supreme Shop?"

"No, it sold out ages ago."

Reading these messages, Lily suddenly recalled that when she fused the Gold Spirit Pearl into her sailboat, she had integrated the deep-sea diving equipment along with it. She hadn’t paid much attention at the time, but thinking back, the diving gear seemed to have transformed as well.

Thanks to this news, the price of deep-sea diving equipment skyrocketed instantly, whether it was designed for Survivor use or for vehicles.

Vehicle-mounted gear allowed entire vessels to submerge, while personal equipment enabled Survivors to dive into the ocean themselves to hunt for sunken Treasure Chests. This was vastly more efficient than simply casting a fishing rod or scooping up crates floating on the surface. Furthermore, many people discovered that the seafloor held far more loot than the surface, and every single one of them was a Bronze Treasure Chest.