Chapter 82: Orca Chief

"With the way things are now, it should be fine, right?"

Lily Rhodes watched the scene unfold, her heart pounding in fear, yet she didn’t dare step forward to intervene.

However, Shelly was still fast asleep and didn’t show much of a reaction, so it probably wasn’t a major issue.

This phenomenon lasted for about an hour. It only stopped when the Sky Garden separated from the ground, the water flow vanished, and the root system on the earth disappeared along with it.

Looking at the Sky Garden, which had no other changes except for its slightly darker soil, Lily thought for a moment before transplanting another cabbage onto it. In the brief time she had gone to see the Bee King, the cabbages planted in that same patch of soil had grown a full size larger.

After she finished transplanting the new cabbage, it initially wilted. However, it didn’t wither rapidly like before; instead, it quickly perked back up. The transplanted vegetable seemed to have been pumped with growth hormones, rapidly expanding at a visible rate.

Seeing this, Lily’s eyes widened.

It seemed the scene from earlier wasn’t a bad thing; in fact, it was highly beneficial. It was just that the Sky Garden was ultimately too small. Even if she planted vegetables in every available inch, it wouldn’t yield much.

"Forget it, I’ll just leave it here for now."

With the current sweltering weather outside, there was no telling how badly the Sky Garden would be scorched if she moved it out in the open. Shelly was massive anyway, and this Floating Isle wasn’t even as large as the Stargazer Tower she had acquired previously.

After settling the Sky Garden in a suitable spot, Lily was about to return to her room to rest for a bit. However, right at that moment, a Baby Orca charged toward her like a small speeding truck.

Then, this "truck" came to a sudden halt mere inches away from Lily.

Startled by the abrupt approach, it took her a good while to recover her composure.

"Why did you come over here instead of playing with your friends?" Lily asked with a smile, patting the Baby Orca’s head.

Hearing this, the youngster nudged her with its snout, seemingly trying to curry favor.

Just then, a few larger orcas swam over. Leading them was the Orca Chief.

"Did you need me for something?" Lily asked, looking at the chief.

"We wish to go out and hunt, and we hope you will permit it," the Orca Chief said respectfully.

Over the past few days, their lives had been unprecedentedly peaceful without the constant worry of sudden danger. Although orcas were the apex predators of the ocean back on Azurea—and remained top predators here—they weren’t the only ones. The ocean in this world was vastly larger and far more treacherous. Therefore, despite the orcas’ status as rulers of the sea, the hidden killers lurking in the depths would target their calves as prey, even if those assassins couldn’t take down an adult.

Now that they had this safe haven, they could leave their young behind and finally hunt to their hearts’ content without any worries.

Understanding their request, Lily nodded in agreement. "You may. Unless there is an absolute emergency, you all have the freedom to come and go as you please."

At her words, the Orca Chief cast her a deeply grateful look.

What Lily didn’t know was that for these marine creatures, acknowledging a Survivor as their master was an incredibly risky endeavor. Once the decision was made, it could never be changed. They could not attack the Survivor and had to obey their every word. Even if they were unwilling, they could not defy their master’s commands.

The Orca Chief had chosen to lead the entire Orca Pod into servitude out of gratitude for saving their lives, but also because it recognized Lily’s immense potential.

Although Lily seemed to spend her days using her Talent to listen to trivial things, the Orca Chief—an old whale who had lived for countless years—had once seen someone with the exact same Talent. In fact, that person’s Talent had been vastly inferior to Lily’s, yet her strength had been utterly terrifying, and her abilities were absolute. Had she not been betrayed and backstabbed by her teammates, that person never would have died.

The Orca Pod departed, leaving only the young ones behind. Lily looked at the Baby Orcas bouncing around, already showing their true colors as little terrors. She snapped her fingers, and a massive pile of snacks fell from the sky.

"Quiet down, everyone. Whoever is the most well-behaved gets this pile of snacks."

The moment she spoke, the Baby Orcas, who had just been clamoring to go out, instantly fell silent. They stared at her with wide, innocent eyes.

If she hadn’t just witnessed their rowdy behavior, she genuinely would have thought they were a bunch of sweet little angels.

After pacifying the Baby Orcas, Lily returned to her room, ate a little something, and then carried her golden pet egg upstairs. She didn’t go to her bedroom on the second floor; instead, she headed straight for the third floor. From there, she could observe almost everything happening on Shelly’s back and the surrounding area.

The temperature outside had risen again, breaking past fifty degrees Celsius. It was a heat genuinely capable of baking someone to death. The cooling potions Lily sold had practically become a strict necessity for every Survivor.

Aside from the cooling potions, some people had also started selling ice blocks in the trading zone. Originally, without Lily’s interference, these ice blocks would have been fiercely fought over, and the Survivor offering them would have made a massive fortune. Unfortunately for him, he was simply out of luck. He had no choice but to sell them at a low price, forced down the path of thin profit margins and high sales volume.

To Lily’s surprise, these ice blocks hadn’t been frozen by the seller; they had been directly mined. It seemed the environments the players found themselves in varied wildly.

With the resources currently in her hands, she could do absolutely nothing and live comfortably for the rest of her life. Yet, she couldn’t stop. She had no idea what the future held. To face the unknown tomorrow, she had to grow stronger and hoard even more supplies. Only when her warehouses were stuffed to the brim would she finally feel a sense of security.

Just then, Mimi Bishop sent over a private message.

Mimi Bishop: "Boss, I’m almost done merging the blueprints. I’ll send a few over to you first. Also, someone somehow found out about our connection and said they want to collaborate with you. He couldn’t reach you through direct messages, so he’s trying to contact you through me."

Lily Rhodes: "Collaborate? On what?"

Mimi Bishop: "He didn’t tell me. He said he can only tell you directly."

Reading this, Lily paused for a moment before replying.

Lily Rhodes: "Then tell him to contact me directly."

Mimi Bishop: "You got it, Boss! ????(?•??-?)?"

Shortly after ending the conversation, a new message popped up in Lily’s inbox.

Zachary Locke: "Hello, I’m Zachary Locke. I want to make a deal with you. Once it’s done, we’ll split the profits fifty-fifty."

Lily Rhodes: "Tell me what it is first."

She wasn’t some naive rookie who would just blindly agree to whatever someone proposed.