Chapter 24: Opening a Round of Good Eggs
Chapter 24: Opening a Round of Good Eggs
Of course, Chen Sui shamelessly accepted the token.
With Douziyü's Lanternshark helping out afterward, it actually made things considerably more convenient for Chen Sui.
By the end of the full day, when Chen Sui tallied it up, not only had he hunted thirty percent more sea beasts than before, he'd also taken down two extra Superior sea beasts.
And one Tyrant Squid egg had dropped.
"Let's add each other as friends — I want to go out to sea with you again tomorrow."
Just before leaving, Douziyü called out to Chen Sui.
"Sure, fine."
Chen Sui nodded. "But now that you have a Superior sea beast, you shouldn't need my help anymore. Just build a good relationship with the owner of the sea beast recycling shop — he'll write you a rental letter of introduction, and then you can head out to sea on your own."
"No."
"No?"
"I can't do it yet. I only know how to spend money in-game. I'm not very good at this kind of thing."
Douziyü said.
"Uh…"
He had to admit — this girl was remarkably straightforward.
"I'll pay you. Three hundred Fish Coins a day to take me along."
"Deal."
Chen Sui agreed immediately. Money made everything easy to discuss, and it wasn't any trouble either — having her help did genuinely speed things up a bit.
The two settled the matter, added each other as friends, and then parted ways.
Chen Sui stopped by the sea beast shop to check on Hai Linlin, then planned to log off and head home — that had been the plan, anyway.
But Hai Linlin grabbed his arm. She blinked her big eyes at him, expression a little hesitant. "Big Brother, can I have a word with you in private?"
Uncle Hu Chao had been picking apart a Red-Mantled Tide Crab nearby.
Hearing this, he muttered to himself, "I wonder if my clothes are dry yet," and got up to head to the back courtyard.
Chen Sui glanced at Hai Linlin, and a few guesses began to form in his mind.
Hai Linlin turned and ran over to fetch a stool for Chen Sui. Before she'd even set it down, Chen Sui said, "Your sister doesn't like me?"
Hai Linlin froze, then looked up and met Chen Sui's smiling face. All her mental defenses crumbled at once, and every carefully prepared preamble went out the window.
"How did you know?"
"Just a guess." Chen Sui sat down. Hai Linlin's expression was like that of a child caught between two quarreling parents — deeply conflicted.
"I'm sorry."
Hai Linlin lowered her head.
"It's fine. What are you apologizing for? Sit down."
Chen Sui pulled over the other stool and patted it.
Hai Linlin let out a sigh and visibly relaxed.
"Big Brother, I was going to try to feel out her attitude first, but it was completely hopeless."
"It's alright. You and your sister are in a difficult situation — her being cautious is only natural."
Chen Sui shook his head. "If it were me, I'd also tell you not to trust strangers so easily."
Hai Linlin said indignantly:
"But I'm not a child anymore."
"When are you ever not a child in the eyes of your family elders?"
Chen Sui shot back.
Hai Linlin fell quiet for a moment.
"Linlin, even if your sister doesn't like me, it's fine. Don't let it upset you. We can each do our own thing — just don't tell her."
Chen Sui said.
After a long pause, Hai Linlin finally looked up. "Big Brother, you must come from a happy family, right?"
The expression on Chen Sui's face stiffened for just a moment, then he said:
"Kids shouldn't go poking around in grown-up business!"
"Fine, fine, don't say it then." Hai Linlin threw herself into Chen Sui's arms. "Hug me."
"That didn't sound like you were asking."
"Mm… Big Brother, thank you."
"Don't mention it. Now that you've said your thanks, let go — hugs cost extra."
And so the days passed, quietly and uneventfully, for a few more days.
More and more players were falling down the rabbit hole of Azure.
The forums were flooded with all kinds of player reviews and impressions.
Some unknown casual player: "Incredibly immersive experience. Other games lie to you for one hundred years and you still can't leave the beginner village — pathetic. Come try this one and get beaten half to death by starter mobs until you question your life choices."
Danian Studio: "In terms of hardcore depth across every dimension, there's nothing to complain about. Even for a studio like ours doing gold-farming and grinding, it still feels genuinely fun and rewarding."
PigEatingFeed: "Every aspect of this game is the most hardcore virtual game I've ever played. A game that puts this much care into every little detail deserves a perfect score from me."
LittlePinky: "Any veterans willing to carry a newbie? First time playing."
Walking through the plaza, Chen Sui could feel the noticeable buzz of activity all around him.
This was perhaps one of the rare games where the online player count after launch exceeded even the open beta numbers.
But that had little to do with him. Over the past couple of days of egg-farming, both Terror Crab and Fishfolk Wavecrest had reached the ninth tier of Wavecrest Rank, and he'd stockpiled a good number of sea beast eggs — so Chen Sui had been thinking about opening eggs and how to advance his sea beasts' levels.
"Brother Chen! Brother Chen! The rankings have been updated!"
Just then, Lu Chengzhi came over with a few people from Seven-Star Studio.
"Rankings?"
"The leaderboard!"
Lu Chengzhi said hurriedly. "Take a look, quick."
As he spoke, he pulled out a scroll and unrolled it.
It was actually a physical paper document in the game? Chen Sui had assumed it would be a digital version.
He opened the leaderboard.
Chen Sui's gaze naturally fell on the spot Lu Chengzhi was pointing to.
— 4th place: mlgbfirst
Below it was a brief description: Suspected to be the biggest schemer in Azure. Known main combat pet is a Superior Quality Fishfolk. Most details remain unclear. Currently ranked 4th.
Suspected biggest schemer?
After reading the entry, Chen Sui raised an eyebrow. "That's completely baseless. This leaderboard isn't very accurate."
"Brother Chen, you really are too low-key — it's no wonder they'd think that. Nobody knows to this day where your Fishfolk came from."
Lu Chengzhi had already seen the leaderboard, so he wasn't surprised.
"What about the others? Let me see…"
Chen Sui's eyes moved upward, and he saw three names ranked above him.
3rd place: Douziyü
A pampered young miss. Not particularly skilled at the game, but by a twist of fate obtained a Superior Quality Ferocious Lanternshark. With better strategy and execution, her ranking could potentially climb higher.
2nd place: Chongwu
A super free-agent player. Unconventional playstyle, but planning and strategy are nothing short of perfect. Main combat pet is a Mutant Adamantine Bluemantle with an Illusory Chromatic Talent.
1st place: Tianxing
Rich.
"Huh? Why does this person only get a two-word description?"
Chen Sui was puzzled. Everyone else had at least some information about their main combat pet revealed, yet this person was dismissed with just "Rich."
Lu Chengzhi explained:
"He bribed Tiangang to have his information hidden."
"…That is indeed rich." Chen Sui nodded.
As for the others, he didn't look too closely, but figured they were probably in a similar situation.
It had been over half a month since the open beta began. The top players should all have gotten their hands on Superior Quality sea beasts by now — and some of them had probably even obtained letters of introduction to enter the open sea.
Chen Sui felt a faint sense of urgency.
"My progress really has been too slow lately."
So… he went home, didn't even have time to eat, took a quick shower, and sat down in front of the fish tank, ready to open eggs.
[Greater Queen-of-the-West Spinefish Egg ×5 (Blue)]
[Vassal-Face Fish Egg ×4 (Blue)]
[Tyrant Squid Egg ×13 (Blue)]
[Lanternshark Egg ×6 (Blue)]
Twenty-eight eggs in total.
Plus countless other miscellaneous eggs on top of that.
It couldn't be helped — Superior sea beasts were genuinely rare. After all this time, managing to get these twenty-eight eggs was already considered good luck.
"Been saving up for days. Time to finally open them."
"I remember the Celestial Rainbow Conch is a symbol of good fortune — it should bring me some luck, right?"
Chen Sui gazed at the scene inside the fish tank, silently offered up a little prayer, then clicked to open an egg.
[Greater Queen-of-the-West Spinefish]
Quality: Superior
Talent: Intimidate (reduces all opponent attributes by 10%)
An ugly relative of the lionfish, its massive mutant size has made it a predator of the ocean.
[Tyrant Squid]
Quality: Superior
Talent: None
[Lanternshark]
Quality: Superior
Talent: None
After opening over a dozen in a row, Chen Sui hadn't pulled a single standout top-tier pet. Most had no talent at all, and the ones that did had useless ones.
Chen Sui didn't react at all. He was used to this sort of thing by now.
"Well… being an unlucky player is just part of gacha."
He calmly clicked open the next egg.
Crack, crack.
After a few sounds of a shell breaking.
A burst of blue light shone out from within the egg.