Chapter 25: I Pulled a Super Hidden Rare!
Chen Sui was momentarily blinded by that streak of blue light. In an instant, the information about the egg flashed through his mind — it was a Tyrant Squid's egg.
The next second, the shell cracked open, and a pudgy, earth-yellow octopus crawled out. Its face was honest and simple, its eyes guileless and dull — the whole creature looked like nothing more than... a harmless fish.
"This thing is Blue Quality?"
Chen Sui had barely formed the question before he caught sight of its stat panel, and every last trace of doubt vanished.
[Deep-Sea Fortress Octopus]
Quality: Rare (Perfect)
Rank: Wavecrest Rank, Tier 1
Talent: Blood of the Titan Demon (Any food it devours becomes nourishment that makes it stronger, and causes its body to grow larger.)
Once an utterly unremarkable Deep-Sea Fortress Octopus, the ancient bloodline of the Titan Demon ancestor has begun to awaken. Perhaps one day it will grow into a terrifying sea titan, reclaiming the glory of its forebears. (Quality will improve as it grows.)
After reading through the panel floating before his eyes, Chen Sui's hands began to tremble uncontrollably. His jaw quivered, his cheeks shook.
After a long moment, he managed to stammer out a string of broken words:
"I — I — I — I — I… holy sh*t."
"This is just Blue Quality?"
Heart pounding, hands shaking — after so long, he'd finally pulled something incredible!
Chen Sui nearly leapt to his feet in excitement. This was no ordinary Blue — it was a Blue that could grow in Quality.
He stared at the word "Perfect" appended after "Rare," and it felt like a bolt of electricity shooting straight to the top of his skull.
Meanwhile, inside the fish tank, within a rocky canyon built into the habitat's scenery, a clumsy little octopus drifted slowly through the water.
It shot out a tentacle with lightning speed, snatching a nearby small fish and swallowing it whole. Its compact form moved like electricity — dart, snatch, swallow, snatch, swallow — the motions repeating in rapid succession.
Even at this tiny size, it already displayed a glimpse of a sea demon's ferocity.
In just a few hours, it had devoured every small fish in the surrounding waters clean.
The octopus's body had already grown to twice its original size, and its rank had advanced to Tier 2.
"So this is the Blood of the Titan Demon?"
Chen Sui watched the scene before him, barely able to contain his excitement.
Devour to grow stronger and larger — a completely unique path to advancement.
"What about the other eggs?"
Chen Sui temporarily suppressed the joy welling up inside him. While his luck was running hot, he hatched the remaining dozen or so eggs all at once.
A few unremarkable sea beasts emerged.
Then came another flash of blue light.
The glow left Chen Sui staring blankly:
"Holy cow… what kind of luck am I having tonight?"
Was this burning through his lifespan or something?
This egg turned out to be a Lanternshark Egg.
The shell shattered, and a bizarre, multi-legged shark the size of a bus appeared, a massive swaying lantern hanging from its fearsome face.
[Waterstrider Giant Shark]
Quality: Rare
Rank: Wavecrest Rank, Tier 3
Talent: Intimidating Presence (Fish of five tiers lower or more will automatically retreat.), Illuminate (The light from the lantern atop its head illuminates the surrounding waters for hundreds of meters.)
An exceptionally ferocious and rare lord of the sea. It can walk on the water's surface or swim beneath it. Encountering one in the wild leaves you with only one option: hope it makes it quick.
"The talents are a bit off-meta, but with this, I might not need a fishing boat to go out to sea anymore."
Chen Sui mused.
Ideally, a Waterstrider Giant Shark should have offensive or debuff talents, but functional ones like these were perfectly fine too.
Twenty-eight eggs, and two of them had come out at higher Quality. Chen Sui absolutely refused to believe this was just his own luck. He turned his gaze toward the Celestial Rainbow Conch in his fish tank.
"So the luck aura is real!"
"And here I thought it was just filler text to pad out the description!"
A mascot has its own value — even without any combat ability, Outstanding Quality is Outstanding Quality for a reason!
"Alright, tonight was a complete success. Time to sleep!"
Chen Sui immediately washed up and climbed into bed, ready to drift into a sweet, blissful dream to celebrate.
Night fell.
* * *
"Tonight is the first night Father God has closed his eyes. The weather will turn cold — tell the tribe to be careful and rotate the watch."
Wavecrest spoke in the language of the Fishfolk.
"Chieftain, you…"
"I will go kill more crabs. Their numbers need to be kept in check."
Wavecrest lowered his head, his expression neither joyful nor sorrowful.
The wound where his arm had been severed was exposed in the firelight, raw and savage.
Nine months had passed since the Fishfolk Tribe was invaded by the Terror Crab leading a swarm of Red-Mantled Tide Crabs. Four newborns had appeared in the tribe.
But on the Red-Mantled Tide Crab's side, after one breeding cycle, they had multiplied until they blanketed the hills and filled the valleys.
There could be no letting up — they had to kill as many Red-Mantled Tide Crabs as possible, or the tragedy of nine months ago would repeat itself.
"Chieftain, the rest of us can guard the beach just fine. You should get some proper rest."
"No."
Wavecrest's voice was calm, as though it were the savage wound itself speaking. "The moment I close my eyes, the blood and bodies of my tribe always appear in my dreams. I can never forget the sight of those monsters slaughtering my people. Peaceful sleep — that will never come, not until I have avenged my tribe or been swallowed by the sea forever."
He then glanced at the Fishfolk beside him — this one was his friend, and his most trusted confidant.
"From today onward, you are the Chieftain of the Fishfolk Tribe."
"Chieftain, what do you mean by that? What are you going to do?"
"I have reached a certain bottleneck. I can feel it — some inexplicable instinct is guiding me back to the embrace of the sea."
Wavecrest rose to his feet, his low voice carrying a fierce, aggressive edge. "Father God is calling to me. I must return to the homeland of our Fishfolk."
With that, he turned and walked out.
While the other Fishfolk gathered in the cave to look upon the newborns, filling the air with laughter and warmth, he stood at the edge of a cliff, facing the pitch-black sea, gazing at the dark horizon shrouded in distant mist.
His eyes were reverent, his lips murmuring:
"Father God…"
He lowered his head and looked at his webbed hands, his gaze deep and distant.
He stood there motionless for a long time. Then, suddenly, his body tilted forward, and he fell toward the surface of the sea below.
No other movement — his expression serene, as though returning to a mother's embrace.
Splash.
Water scattered into the air.
And then the sea was still for a long, long time.
After that night, the Chieftain of the Fishfolk Tribe was gone.
* * *
The next day, Chen Sui had just logged into the game when he noticed the world around him was far quieter than usual.
He looked around and found very few players in the village — only scattered figures here and there, and even the NPCs were noticeably fewer.
"Hey, big shot."
A voice nearby caught Chen Sui's attention.
A player jogged over, and Chen Sui immediately recognized him as a member of Seven-Star Studio.
"Big shot, Brother Lu asked me to wait for you here. A merchant ship came in today — it's docked near The Docks."
"A merchant ship?"
Hearing those words, Chen Sui recalled that the old man at the recycling shop had mentioned something about this.
But he hadn't gone into detail.
"Yeah, apparently there are quite a few rare items and baby sea beasts for sale. Everyone's already headed over."
"Let's go take a look then."
Chen Sui nodded. Perfect timing — Wavecrest was about to advance in rank soon, and this was a good opportunity to find out exactly what it took to help a sea beast rank up.
The Docks.
A large crowd had already gathered. Players, NPCs, casual players and studio players alike — even Qihai Studio, which had been keeping a low profile for some time, had shown up.
"Wavecrest."
Chen Sui called out.
Wavecrest's figure materialized out of thin air and charged straight into the area where Qihai Studio was gathered. In an instant, several players were cut down by the sweeping strikes of his spear.
Zhang Yuhao's eyes went wide with fury. The moment he saw the Fishfolk, he knew it was Chen Sui — an indescribable sense of suffocating frustration surged through him, and he immediately shouted:
"Don't push your luck!"
The words had barely left his mouth before Wavecrest's spear took off his head. In the blink of an eye, every last member of Qihai Studio lay dead in a neat, orderly row.