Chapter 83: Not Going

The other party didn’t reply immediately. It took a while before a new message appeared.

Zachary Locke: "I discovered a new island and want to explore it with you."

Lily Rhodes looked at the sentence, her expression remaining mostly unchanged.

It was just an island. In fact, ever since the weather had turned hot, the probability of finding islands had significantly increased. This was evident from the variety of wild fruits and coconuts appearing in the trading zone. She had also taken advantage of this trend to add quite a few varieties of wild fruits to her inventory, along with medicinal herbs like Ganoderma and ginseng.

Therefore, when Zachary merely mentioned a brand new island and asked to explore it together, Lily’s first reaction was not joy, but vigilance. It was just an island. He could easily explore it as soon as he landed, so why did he insist on bringing someone else along? Didn’t he know that island resources were strictly first come, first served?

Ever since the first person chose to build a city, many others had gradually chosen to abandon their vehicles and establish their own cities. To build a city, aside from immense determination, the most crucial requirement was having a territory that belonged absolutely to oneself—an island. The quality and size of the island directly influenced the city’s prosperity after its construction.

Although Zachary had no intention of building a city, the resources on any island were limited. With one more person, his own harvest would instantly be halved.

Lily: "That reason isn’t enough to convince me, Mr. Locke. If you truly want to cooperate, please show your sincerity instead of hiding things from me. Otherwise, I’ll suspect that this so-called cooperation is essentially a trap.

"A treacherous snare you’ve set specifically for me.

"After all, there are plenty of people out there looking for me right now."

Lily wasn’t exaggerating. There really were many people searching for her, with some even willing to spend heavily to purchase information about her whereabouts. Unfortunately for them, back when she was on the surface, she had killed everyone who encountered her. Afterward, she dove to the bottom of the sea. The only person she had run into was Mimi Bishop, who had since become her subordinate. Because Mimi relied entirely on Lily for survival, she naturally wouldn’t leak her information.

As for her location, even if Mimi wanted to reveal it, she couldn’t. Under these circumstances, Zachary’s appearance was highly suspicious.

With these thoughts in mind, while waiting for Zachary to reply, Lily closed her eyes and held her breath. She concentrated, tuning out all the background noise until only the sound of flowing water remained—the voice of the ocean. She fully immersed herself in this state, completely losing track of time.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Lily slowly opened her eyes. Glancing at the time, she couldn’t help but widen her eyes. Three hours had already gone by! In her perception, only a brief moment had passed.

However, those three hours weren’t without their gains. By listening to the voice of the ocean, she had basically pinpointed the locations of all the islands in this sea sector. She wasn’t sure exactly where the island Zachary discovered was, but it shouldn’t be anywhere nearby. That was because all the islands she sensed were completely packed with Survivors seeking refuge from the heat. According to Zachary, the island he found shouldn’t have been discovered by anyone else yet.

After sorting out her thoughts, Lily looked at the private message panel. During those few hours, Zachary had sent over a very long message detailing the specifics of the island he had discovered.

Zachary: "Many fierce beasts inhabit this island, and some of them have even awakened special abilities. The fact that you were able to upgrade your vehicle to Level 11 proves that you are very strong, which is why I want to cooperate with you.

"I’ve explored it. There are at least twenty Golden Treasure Boxes and five Diamond Treasure Chests on the island. There is a high probability of finding Treasure Chests even higher in tier than the Diamond Treasure Chests. Once we succeed, the two of us can split all the Treasure Chests evenly."

Lily: "That does sound very tempting, but I refuse. The risk is too high, and I don’t want to take my chances."

Perhaps because she already had everything she needed, she was indeed tempted by the Treasure Chests Zachary mentioned, but not to the point of absolute necessity. After refusing, the most she felt was a slight sense of regret.

Zachary: "To think you would refuse. It seems I misjudged you."

Seeing this, Lily didn’t reply. However, judging from his response, she knew her choice wasn’t wrong. Still, based on the information Zachary provided, even though Lily couldn’t pinpoint the island’s exact location, she had already determined its general direction.

Right then, a faint noise suddenly came from outside—Shelly had finally woken up.

Lily went outside and saw Shelly poking its head out of its shell. "You’re finally awake."

Hearing this, Shelly smacked its lips. "Hungry."

Lily couldn’t help but laugh. "Eating right after waking up. I didn’t realize your digestive system was this good before."

Then again, those Scarlet Anemones really didn’t seem very filling.

"There are still quite a few Scarlet Anemones left. Have some to tide you over for now," she said.

At Lily’s words, Shelly sprang into action. This time around, Shelly had grown significantly larger after leveling up. Previously, swallowing a Scarlet Anemone in one bite had been a bit of a struggle. Now, it was like eating little red snacks—gulping them down one by one without any effort.

While Shelly ate, Lily stared fixedly at the little turtle’s vehicle panel without blinking. The upgrade progress was rising, though the speed was nowhere near as fast as it had been prior to the level up. Still, it was much faster than her painstakingly saving up Energy bit by bit.

It seemed the foods listed in the compendium were most effective during the initial upgrade. After the first level up, their effectiveness greatly diminished, though they still provided a much faster boost than ordinary food.

"It looks like the foods in the compendium aren’t single-use items," Lily thought.

As she pondered this, she watched Shelly eat the entire patch of Scarlet Anemones, bite after bite. After swallowing the largest anemone, Shelly spat out a box radiating a seven-colored light.

Lily’s eyes lit up at the sight. It was actually a Seven-color Treasure Box!

The moment Shelly saw the Treasure Chest, it immediately delivered the box to Lily. She took the Treasure Chest and opened it. Inside lay only two yellowed blueprints.

[Black Gold Fish Bone Armor: Crafted entirely from the bones of an Obsidian Fish. Incredibly hard.

Crafting Material: Black Gold Fish Bone]

[Black Gold Bone Knife: A weapon crafted from the sharp teeth of an Obsidian Fish.

Crafting Material: Obsidian Fish Teeth]

It looked like these were two equipment blueprints, and they formed a complete set. Moreover, items obtained from a Seven-color Treasure Box were definitely of high quality. However, she had no idea what an Obsidian Fish even was or how to get one; she had never even seen one before.